But so-called “memory projects” in Colombia have made some inroads, and as Shannon Young reports, could offer some guidance for activists trying to create such projects in Mexico.

Cardboard-reinforced photos with captions on a string make for a simple memory exhibit in downtown Bogotá during a protest.

Colombia has suffered from decades of political and drug-related violence. The human toll has been enormous. Yet in the once hard-hit city of Medellín it was only last December that the mayor held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new “House of Memory” museum. The museum is an effort to document and record the city’s history of conflict – so that it never happens again. Researcher Luna Blanco worked to develop some of the exhibits.

(Luna Blanco clip – reporter interprets)

Blanco says the government began to show support for the memory process around 2004. It took years to turn that support into the museum in Medellín. But government support seems to have waned. A new mayor placed a construction fence around the museum and put it in a state of operational limbo.

That may be why many Colombians have opted for more informal ways to remember what happened – and to honor the victims of violence.

(AMBI: Street sound from Bogota’s 7th avenue – fade down under narration)

In the capital, Bogotá – along Seventh Avenue – a major thoroughfare leading to the main plaza – there are hand-painted memorials on light

Memorial plaques in the site where Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated in 1948. The leftist politician’s murder was a watershed moment in Colombia’s decades of political violence.

posts and modest plaques on the sides of buildings. Some of the signs commemorate victims in the very spot where they were killed.

But Bogotá also has more formal memory exhibits.

One exhibit – developed by the Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation, an institution whose members include relatives of victims — is currently making the rounds in the city’s public libraries.

(Library ambi – fade under….)

The exhibit consists of stand-up banners printed with illustrations and stories of those killed, disappeared, or displaced in Colombia’s long conflict. Large maps indicate the location of specific crimes, and there’s a book for visitors to share stories.

Catherine Reina is the cultural program coordinator at Bogota’s Parque El Tunal library:

Catherine Reina: Library members of all ages have come to see the exhibit. But we’ve seen the greatest impact among senior citizens who more easily remember what happened or have a direct connection with the stories. We’ve held workshops here in the hall with both elders and school aged kids in order the re-enforce the work presented . So it’s not just a matter of looking at the map and walking through the exhibit rooms. Visitors also carry out an exercise that delves deeper.

For decades, there’s been an air of taboo surrounding certain aspects of the conflict in Colombia, especially when it comes to victims of political violence in which state actors are believed to be aggressors or negligent accomplices. With the passage of time, that taboo has somewhat faded in Colombia – thanks in part to groups which have continually found the courage to speak out in creative ways.

Mural on the University of Antioquia campus to commemorate Ana Fabricia Córdoba, outspoken organizer for displaced Afro-Colombians, murdered in 2011 in Medellín.

And Luna Blanco – the memory researcher in Medellin – thinks there’s a lesson there for her counterparts in Mexico.

Luna Blanco: “I think, if anything, it’s about overcoming fear; to overcome fear and to speak out. And of course overcoming fear is very difficult in these types of territories and circumstances, but it’s what I would say.

But in Mexico today, that’s easier said than done. Drug-related violence in Mexico remains intense and victims relatives complain there’s a lingering perception among officials and the media that most drug war victims are themselves criminals.

(Jorge Verastegui clip – fade down as reporter interprets)

Jorge Verástegui is a member of FUUNDEC, an association of relatives of missing persons in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. The group has held talks with state and local officials in attempts to change the way disappearances are handled by authorities.

Jorge Verastegui: And their first reaction is to criminalize the victims and to intimidate those who try to speak out. Eventually the government agrees to meet with the families, but it never comes around to recognizing the problem.

But as in Colombia, victim’s relatives in Mexico have found creative ways to express support for their loved ones.

Verástegui – whose brother and nephew disappeared in 2009 –participates in regular gatherings in Monterrey’s main plaza to embroider the

View of a memory exhibit in Bogotá’s Parque El Tunal library.

stories of victims on handkerchiefs. While the purpose is to create a memorial, the weekly sewing circles have also created a space for other victims’ relatives to come forward, share stories, and meet others with similar experiences.

Verástegui sees it all as part of a long and slow movement towards developing an institutional memory of the conflict in Mexico.

Jorge Verastegui: We cannot forget what’s happened. We have to force the government to first recognize the problem and then document what happened, and what went wrong. We have to create the conditions for future generations to know what we lived through and what they shouldn’t have to experience again.

If Colombia’s experience is any guide – it’s a process that will take time… even after the violence ebbs in Mexico’s brutal drug war.

For The World, I’m Shannon Young.

(This report originally aired on the Oct. 25, 2012 broadcast of “The World”. Original post: http://www.theworld.org/2012/10/memory-colombia-mexico/)

photo via twitter user @gmarin1

A car exploded shortly after midnight in a posh neighborhood of Ciudad Victoria, capital of the Gulf Coast border state of Tamaulipas. The attack apparently targeted the home of the state police chief. Two personal security agents were killed. Three civilians and four police were injured, one of them critically.

Police were reportedly drawn to the scene by a grenade attack shortly before the car bomb exploded.

The use of vehicle-based explosives has increased in Tamaulipas within the past year. Just last Friday, a car bomb exploded in broad daylight outside of Nuevo Laredo’s city hall. That attack injured seven civilians and led to a fresh military deployment to the city ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

Since early 2010, Tamaulipas has become infamous for drug war related violence and opacity in transmitting information about security risks to the general population. Some analysts label Tamaulipas a “narco state” due to widespread and persistent accusations of engrained official corruption.

Tamaulipas has been ruled for more than 8 consecutive decades by the PRI, the party now poised to return to Mexico’s executive office. The issue of drug war violence was barely mentioned by candidates during their campaigns.

Of the hundreds of permits granted to foreign mining companies in Mexico, more than half have gone to Canadian firms. Some of the more contentious mining projects involve operations within indigenous territories. A common complaint in these cases is the lack of community consultation beforehand.

AMBI: reading statement at protest

At a recent protest in front of a state office for foreign investment, indigenous rights activists called on the government to abide by the terms of the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169 and consult with local communities before approving projects within their territories.

Residents of San Jose del Progreso – where Canadian firm Fortuna Silver owns a 55 million dollar mine – say that didn’t happen.

(Bernardo Vasquez audio in Spanish, reporter interprets)

Mine opponent Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez said residents began to notice the then-mayor was holding long, closed door meetings with businessmen in 2006…and that residents were only informed of the plans for the mine once the project was in its exploratory stage.

Vasquez, a college educated avocado farmer, became a lead organizer. On the night of March 15th, he became the second opponent of the San Jose mine murdered this year. He spoke with FSRN weeks before his death and alleged the mine was funding local officials who, in turn, created an armed group to intimidate opponents of the mine.

This is something Fortuna Silver CEO Jorge Ganoza denies.

JORGE GANOZA: “We categorically deny any involvement of the company or its subsidiaries in acts or even condoning any such violence.”

Ganoza told investors during a teleconference this week that the conflict in San Jose pre-dates the arrival of the Fortuna Silver owned mine.

JORGE GANOZA: “What we are aware of is a long, historic conflict in San Jose that is a cause of local struggle. This is not unusual in Oaxaca which is a state marked by local political disputes and land struggle.”

But many San Jose residents say the rift within the community is more recent. Eustacio Vasquez Ruiz says the mine is the root cause of the social division within the town:

EUSTACIO VASQUEZ RUIZ: “Everything started to change when this mining company arrived. It started to divide our people…and I think that’s the aim of these big companies; to divide and conquer. And those of us who have experienced it first-hand can attest to it.”

That statement came during a press conference held in Mexico City last week ahead of a demonstration in front of the Canadian Embassy. During the question and answer session, an audience member from the state of Veracruz stood up to make his own statement.

(Guillermo Rodriguez audio in Spanish, reporter interprets)

The man introduced himself as Guillermo Rodriguez, a member of a newly-formed group which opposes plans for an open pit gold mine near Mexico’s only nuclear power plant. The project is known as Caballo Blanco and the permit belongs to Goldgroup, another Canadian-owned firm. In his short speech, Rodriguez said Bernardo Vasquez’s murder struck a personal nerve because he had travelled to Veracruz just weeks before his murder to share the experiences of the anti-mine struggle in San Jose.

GUILLERMO RODRIGUEZ: “We say that Bernardo isn’t dead. He’s been planted and he sewed a powerful seed in Veracruz. And in our most recent meeting of our organization, we determined that we will honor Bernardo’s memory by fighting until the Canadian mine, Caballo Blanco, is eradicated.”

Over the past few of years, opposition to mining projects in indigenous territories has been relatively contained and limited to regional struggles…but the recent murder of activist Bernardo Vasquez seems to be changing that. His death has focused international attention on controversial mines in Mexico and established a concrete connection between previously isolated environmental and indigenous rights movements in southern Mexico.

Bernardo Vásquez and Rosalinda Dionicio in the CPUVO office in San José del Progreso. Photo credit: Dawn Paley

A prominent opponent of a Canadian-owned mine in Mexico has died after armed men opened fire on his car. Bernardo Vásquez was the outspoken leader of a regional movement opposed to a silver and gold mine in southern Mexico. The mine is operated by a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver. Shannon Young reports from Oaxaca, Mexico.

Thirty-two year old activist agronomist Bernardo Vásquez was fatally shot while driving along a rural highway about one hour south of Oaxaca City, Mexico.

Bernardo Vásquez’s brother Andrés and a cousin, Rosalinda Dionicio – both active in the local anti-mine struggle – were also in the car when armed men opened fire. Both sustained serious gunshot wounds and remain in the hospital.

(audio: Leovigildo Vásquez in Spanish, reporter interprets)

Another brother told local reporters on Friday that Vasquez received a death threat about three weeks ago.

Bernardo Vásquez documented the violence of a pro-mine group he said has been funded – and armed – by mining interests since 2009.

(audio: Bernardo Vásquez decribes documentation file – fade under)

Last month, Vasquez showed CBC News a case file containing a list of crimes committed by the pro-mining group which included

Men open fire on residents protesting the installation of infrastructure to pipe water to the mine

photographs of members carrying high-power rifles reserved exclusively for military use. Bernardo Vásquez said his group was planning to turn over the folder and other documents to the Canadian Embassy. He said the state government refused to adequately respond to the January murder of a local mine opponent.

Bernardo Vásquez: “The state can no longer continue to protect these men, especially with all of the evidence we’ve made public. We’ve filed more than twenty criminal complaints against these people and not one case has advanced. It’s clear the state government – or at least its attorney general – is protecting them.”

Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s poorest states and the government actively promotes investment opportunities in the mining sector.

The apparent lack of political will to prosecute violent crimes against opponents of the mine in San José has spanned years and political administrations. Father Martin Garcia, the area’s former parish priest, was brutally attacked in mid 2010, allegedly by members of the pro-mine group; many of whom he could identify by name. No one has been formally charged.

(audio: Father Martín García in Spanish, reporter interprets.)

Andrés Vásquez Sánchez read a spray-painted death threat aimed at his brother, Bernardo in February 2012

Father Martín García says he and many parishioners felt the government should inform and consult with local populations before approving projects within indigenous territories.

Bernardo Vásquez’s organization saw the fight over the local mine as a part of a larger set of demands for greater self-determination and territorial control in Oaxaca; Mexico’s most indigenous state.

Bernardo Vásquez: “The problem with the San José mine isn’t just limited to San José del Progreso. It’s a problem for the whole state of Oaxaca, for the whole nation. It’s practically a war declared on the small towns and their people because government officials, in their eagerness to look productive, are giving away our gold like in times past.”

The gold and silver mine in San José began full operations in September 2011. On its website, Fortuna Silver states it expects the mine to produce “1.7 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold” this year.

A spokesperson for the company says it is in touch with local authorities about Vasquez’s murder and says it doesn’t know if his death is connected to his work as an anti-mine activist.

The murder comes as C-323, a bill which would allow foreigners to file tort claims against Canadian mining companies in Canadian courts is before the House of Commons.

Shannon Young, CBC News, Oaxaca.

(NOTE: The above is a transcript of a report produced for the March 17, 2012 broadcast of the CBC Radio program, The World This Weekend.]

Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez speaking at a mining opposition event in Xalapa, Veracruz (Feb 25, 2012)

A well-known environmental activist in Oaxaca, Mexico was murdered Thursday night in a highway ambush about an hour south of the state capital. Thirty-two year old Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez – a vocal opponent to a Canadian-owned mining project – was shot multiple times in the chest when armed men attacked his car along the road which connects his hometown, San Jose del Progreso, to the regional hub of Ocotlán.

His brother, Andrés Vásquez and his cousin, Rosalinda Dionicio – both active in the local struggle against the mine – have been hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Bernardo Vásquez died upon arrival at a regional clinic.

The men responsible for the attack have not been identified, but the organization Vásquez led – the Coordinating Committee of the United Towns of the Valley – has meticulously documented the actions of a group they say has been funded and armed by mining interests.

In a recent interview with FSRN, Bernardo Vazquez Sanchez described how in 2006, the then-mayor of San Jose del Progreso signed a deal with mine representatives without consulting the town’s residents.

Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez: “We found out about it in 2008. That year was marked by demands and peaceful protests against the mayor. In 2009, with the occupation of the mine, the pressure became more notable. And it was in May of 2009 when we found out about the pro-mine organization. And it was that month when we began to see armed men who belonged to said organization. Those armed men who belonged to that organization, are now part of the town governing council and they’ve now brought in guys from other towns to act as their gunmen.” 

Water reservoir in San José del Progreso

The mine in San José del Progreso operates as Minera Cuzcatlán, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver.

Bernardo Vázquez showed FSRN a case file of documentation, including photographs of men with weapons reserved exclusively for military use. His group had identified the men by name and – in the face of state government inaction – had planned to deliver the evidence to the Canadian Embassy.

While opposition to the mining project is a main thrust of the Coordinating Committee of the United Towns of the Valley, it’s part of a larger set of demands for greater self-determination and territorial control in Oaxaca; Mexico’s most indigenous state.

Again, Bernardo Vazquez Sanchez.

Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez: “The problem with the San José mine isn’t just limited to San José del Progreso. It’s a problem for Oaxaca. It’s a nationwide problem. It’s practically a war declared on the small towns and their people because government officials, in their eagerness to look productive, are giving away our gold like in times past.”

The gold and silver mine in San José began full operations in September 2011. On its website, Fortuna Silver states it expects the mine to produce “1.7 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold” this year.

Although opposition to the mine will likely continue, Thursday night’s murder of Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez means local movements of mostly indigenous small farmers in the Ocotlán Valley have lost a young and committed leader.

[This report was produced for the Friday, March 16, 2010 broadcast of FSRN]

[FIREWORKS]

Public celebrations like New Year’s Eve and Independence Day draw huge crowds to Oaxaca City’s central square. The celebrations include fireworks, live music, and…

[FOAM FIGHT]

…playful fights with spray foam. By the time the party is over, empty aerosol cans blanket the square. It’s an amazing amount of litter…but not all of it ends up in a landfill.

[COLLECTING CANS]

RAMIREZ (in Spanish, voiced over): “So we pick it up, as much as we can. We’re able to gather around 10, 15, even 20 sacks full and they last us all year.”

That’s local artist Miguel Ramirez. More than four decades ago, he started turning these cans into toy airplanes, helicopters, trains, antique cars…and even UFOs.

Mr. Ramirez has a toy workshop in his home, where he shows me how he turns the empty spray cans into raw material for his creations.

[Miguel Ramirez cutting cans – reporter describes process]

He takes one of the cans out of a sack, holds down the valve to release any remaining air, then knocks the valve off. Then, he hammers the tip of a knife into the upper side of the can and cuts off its top. Ramirez uses the tops to make the wheels for his trains and cars. Next, he cuts off the bottom of the can…. Bottoms make good reflectors. Then, he slices up the can’s metal seam with scissors.

RAMIREZ (in Spanish): “Then you open it up, then flatten the metal.”

Ramirez uses a thick piece of wood to do that.

RAMIREZ: “From there, you wash it with a good amount of water. Once it’s clean, you let it dry, shine it with newspaper and then fold over the edges.”

[SANDER STARTING UP]

He makes sure to leave no sharp edges. What he can’t fold into a side seam, he smooths over with a sanding wheel. Ramirez transforms the sheet metal into car chassis, steam engine chimneys, and decorative ladders for his UFOs. Solder holds everything together.

All of his creations… which can be up to 2 feet long…. have moving parts and some make sounds – like this airplane.

[PLANE CLICKING SOUND]
RAMIREZ: “That’s what gets the attention of young people, children and even adults (laughs).”

Ramirez and his wife take to the streets occasionally to sell their pieces…but it’s a bit  tricky. They don’t have an expensive street vendor’s license. So they have to do their selling while walking. They cradle a model or two in their arms while carrying others in tote bags slung over their shoulders.

Patricia Diaz has bought several pieces from Ramirez and recalls the 1st time she saw him and his wife.

PATRICIA DIAZ (in Spanish, voiced over): “I saw them walk by selling these toys, or these objects made from sheet metal. I went downstairs to inquire and they had already walked ahead. I had almost lost them, but I caught up and well, I really liked what they had. It’s really lovely and well done work.”

The work is also very labor-intensive. Miguel Ramirez says he can produce 6 trains or cars in one month. He repairs electronic appliances to supplement the family income, but says his heart is in his handcrafted artwork.

RAMIREZ: “The work is very labor-intensive, but it’s worthwhile. I feel good doing this work.

One of his handmade cars or trains costs about 50 dollars. That’s about  the same as a remote controlled vehicle or a brand name plastic toy truck of the same size. The big difference being the metal toy is more likely to survive an entire childhood.

The victims were identified as 20 year-old Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús and 21 year-old Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino. The student organization behind the protests stated a third student, Edgar David Espíritu, died Monday night. However, at the time of this writing, Espíritu is reportedly alive but in a coma.

State authorities initially denied police shot at protesters, but a video released by Milenio TV shows a man in plainclothes firing a high caliber rifle from a police line in the direction of the protests. The police in video made no attempt to stop or apprehend the gunman.

La Jornada published a photo today showing plainclothes police with high caliber rifles at the scene of protest in Chilpancingo. El Universal also published video of plain clothes police armed with rifles.

Students mobilized on Monday to pressure the governor to appear at a budget negotiation meeting that had been cancelled and postponed for months.

In addition to the killings, at least 20 people were arrested. At least one has been released with serious facial bruising. The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, which is providing legal counsel to some of the detained, stated a 19 year-old claimed he was tortured into making a false confession about firing a rifle during the protest.

Tuesday afternoon, Guerrero’s governor announced the dismissals of the state attorney general and the state police chief and his deputy.

Mexico’s system of rural academies (the Normales Rurales) was set up to train children of marginalized small farmers to become teachers in rural communities. The schools have been hard hit by budget cuts and reduced enrolment opportunities over the past 10 years.

sign and flowers from a recent march against violence

The following is a transcript of a documentary produced for FSRN which aired November 25, 2011. The audio is available for download here .

The so-called Drug War has drastically altered life in Mexico. More than 40,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive in December 2006 against the country’s powerful organized crime groups. Drug war-related violence has become increasingly brutal – and public. Criminals have branched into activities like extortion and kidnapping. The military has taken over civilian law enforcement in many parts of the country. At least a quarter million people have been displaced. The end result is a traumatic strain on Mexico’s social fabric.

In today’s special documentary, FSRN’s Shannon Young brings us “Mexico’s Drug War in Context”. Stay tuned.

Militarized prohibition and its current effects on-the-ground in Mexico

Much of what is visible about the drug war to people outside of Mexico comes in the form of news reports about massacres, political scandals and military aid packages.

Deaths are measured in the tens of thousands, military spending in the hundreds of millions, and drug revenues are estimated in the tens of billions of dollars…but some of the most profound changes on the ground in Mexico have occurred in the details of day-to-day life.

Sanjuana Martinez is an investigative journalist based in Monterrey. The northern industrial city once associated with economic prosperity has become the center of a violent tug-of-war between various criminal organizations.

SANJUANA MARTINEZ (female VO):“People hardly go out anymore, the plazas are empty, nightlife has ended. Violence is generalized; mass murders, shootouts, massacres have become routine…people left hanging from bridges, beheaded, cut into pieces, femicide made invisible by the drug war. This is all part of a panorama of barbarity, of butchery which has created a change in the social fabric as well.”

While many parts of Mexico have experienced a spike in violence, overall the hardest hit areas are in the north along the border with Texas.

[REYNOSA SHOOTOUT AUDIO]

Shootouts, like this one in the manufacturing hub of Reynosa, can occur without warning and in broad daylight.

Another border city, Ciudad Juarez has become a so-called “world murder capital”. But when it comes to statistical murder rates, or documented homicides per 100,000 residents, the border area’s rural communities have been hardest hit. Such is the case with the Juarez Valley, an agricultural region east of of Ciudad Juarez.

One family’s experience in a small border town devastated by murder

One town in the valley, Guadalupe, has suffered more drug war homicides per capita, than anywhere else in Mexico, according to government data released in January.

Among the murder victims are 6 members of the Reyes Salazar family.

(Olga Reyes Salazar speaks – reporter interprets)

Olga Reyes Salazar says the border town was once a nice place which drew binational visitors. She recalls how people in Guadalupe and other nearby towns would host dances on the weekends in which residents from both sides of the border would get to know each other. She says it’s a way of life that’s now sorely missed.

Olga’s sister, Marisela Reyes Salazar says daily life changed dramatically with the militarization of the region.

MARISELA REYES SALAZAR (female VO): “The military would come to the towns and go into homes without any kind of warrant, groping and hitting people, even stealing groceries from small farmers and maquiladora workers who worked hard all week to provide for their families. That’s when people started to be afraid to go outside to the store, to visit the plaza, to go out for an ice cream or what have you. It started with the militarization of Ciudad Juarez and the Juarez Valley.”

Their sister, Josefina Reyes Salazar, became outspoken about alleged military abuses. In 2008, Josefina’s oldest son, Miguel Angel, was picked up by soldiers, accused of ties to criminals and later released.

Months later, another of Josefina’s sons – Julio Cesar – was assassinated at a wedding party attended by hundreds of townspeople. In January of 2010, Josefina herself was murdered, shortly after passing through a military checkpoint. Since then, three of Josefina’s siblings and a sister-in-law have been killed. The extended family has since fled the Juarez Valley.

A US Embassy cable on Josefina Reyes Salazar’s murder downplayed her activism and suggested the killing may have been related to her oldest son’s alleged ties to organized crime. Miguel Angel Reyes was detained a second time in 2009 and has yet to go to trial.

(Marisela Reyes Salazar speaks – reporter translates)

Marisela Reyes Salazar says the family has always been open to an investigation into the allegations. She says authorities have held her nephew for years without pressing formal charges.

MARISELA REYES SALAZAR (female VO):“We’ve always held our heads high and we are no longer willing to allow anyone to humiliate us, to kill us again. We’re going to struggle. We’re not willing to shed another drop of our blood.”

Historical context of the drug trafficking industry in Mexico

The industry based on the trafficking of illicit substances has been present along many parts of the US/Mexico border since the enactment of drug and alcohol prohibition nearly a century ago. But Mexico has never before experienced the current level of bloodshed related specifically to the control of a black market economy.

Sociologist and prominent organized crime researcher, Luis Astorga says the industry shifted when Mexico’s political system transitioned away from a one-party state.

(LuisAstorga speaks – reporter interprets)

While drug trafficking emerged in Mexico at the start of the 20th century, the groups involved were subordinate to state power. Astorga says this subordinate role began to change along with Mexico’s political system and that the dissolution of the one-party state’s centralized policing institution in the mid 1980s not only altered the government’s ability to contain the political opposition, but also to contain and control the strongest criminal organizations.

 Astorga says the one-party system hegemony at the federal, state, and local levels gave it the leverage and control necessary to act as a de-facto referee among criminal groups, but the rise of other political forces changed the rules.

 Like merchants and traders centuries ago, cartels have used a strategic corridor which runs through Ciudad Juarez. It’s located at a point to either avoid or enter the Rocky Mountains and is mid-way between the Pacific and Gulf coasts.

 (Julian Contreras speaks – reporter interprets)

Long-time resident Julian Contreras says violence associated with the drug trade in Ciudad Juarez used to be contained to those who had a stake in it, but that murders targeting civilians increased in 2007. Contreras says this made residents desperate for order. The government response was to send thousands of soldiers…after which, the murder rate spiked.

During a visit to Washington DC earlier this year, President Felipe Calderon told an audience that some sectors within Mexican politics disagreed with a frontal attack against organized crime groups and urged him to continue with the tacit tolerance of the past.

FELIPE CALDERON: “My perception is that that is not possible, or at least is not possible anymore with the new business of the criminals because either you allow them to do anything they want in your whole territory – so the best you can do is to give them the key of your house – or you combat them directly and with the full force of the state. There is no other option.”

US MILITARY AID, MERIDA INITIATIVE, AND ILLEGAL FIREARMS TRAFFICKING

 Receptions in Washington have been warm for Calderon. US officials, including President Barack Obama, have recognized that bilateral cooperation between the US and Mexican governments is far closer now than what IT had been under the conservative nationalist PRI party which ruled Mexico for more than 70 years.

BARACK OBAMA: I have nothing but admiration for President Calderon in his willingness to take this on. The easy thing to do would be for him to ignore the corrosive, corrupting influence of these drug cartels within Mexico. That would be the easy thing to do. He’s taking the hard path and he’s shown great courage and great risk in doing so and the United States will support him in any ways that we can to help him achieve his goals because his goals are our goals as well and they should be the goals of the Mexican people.

Past US interventions in Mexico have made the Mexican public wary of close military ties between the two countries. But the militarization of the drug war and a 1.6 billion dollar military aid and training package known as the Merida Initiative has given the US government unprecedented access to Mexico’s armed forces and intelligence apparatus. The Merida Initiative was originally announced in 2007 as a 3 year program but there’s no clear end in sight.

Mexico City-based political analyst Laura Carlsen has been tracking Merida spending.

LAURA CARLSEN:“Most of it is going to private contractors. Now, there we have a real problem to track it because public information is scarce on this. But with the amount of outsourcing that we know that the State Dept and the Defense Dept does and some of the contracts that we’ve been able to see, we know that a lot of this money is going to contractors – and the military equipment, of course. That’s easier to track. So, they’re a huge lobbying force within Congress to say ‘Let’s ramp up the drug war in Mexico; this is good business’. And that’s exactly what’s happening.”

The Merida Initiative is often compared to Plan Colombia and the two US-funded drug war programs are beginning to merge with US-trained Colombian special forces training their Mexican counterparts, a measure outlined by Congress member Connie Mack and Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield in a recent congressional hearing.

CONNIE MACK: A lot of people say ‘Why don’t we put our military down there?’. You and I know what the sovereignty issues…uh, the gringo can’t go down there. But I think the Colombian special forces can assimilate better from a cultural standpoint and it was an intriguing idea that we heard on that trip that we thought could provide some assistance.

WILLIAM BROWNFIELD: Mr. Chairman, I not only think it’s an intriguing idea, I think it is an excellent idea. It would probably not surprise you to learn that I am a great fan and admirer of what the Colombian people and their government and their institutions have accomplished over the last 11 or 12 years. I think they are now quite capable of exporting some of those capabilities through training and support elsewhere in the region.

But US-funded military aid hasn’t been the only source of firepower to flow into Mexico in recent years. Many weapons found at crimes scenes in Mexico have been traced back to Texas, where thousands of licensed firearms dealers do business…and where weapons can be purchased without background checks at regularly-held gun shows.

[GUN SHOW AMBIENT TONE]

At a gun show in Houston, firearms instructor Gary Burris explains the process for purchasing an AR-15 on display.

SY:This says right here private sale. What does that mean?

GB:Private sale means that an individual owns this gun and he’s selling it privately, meaning that there’s no tax, that there’s no paperwork involved. So, for instance, you can come and buy this gun and walk out the door with it.

SY:What’s the difference between having to do paperwork and ‘no paperwork’?

GB: To submit the paperwork to the ATF.In other words, you don’t have to show identification to prove you’re whatever. This is actually the gun show loophole that they’ve been talking about for a long time. Good, bad or indifferent, that’s a possibility that a bad guy could get it that way.

In addition to purchases made through the gun show loophole, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms knowingly allowed thousands of guns to cross into Mexico under operations “Fast and Furious” and “Wide Receiver”.

Victims push back against stigmatization and organize a movement

The concrete results of allowing weapons to flow from the US into Mexico are difficult, if not impossible, to measure. But other patterns are recognizable. Magazine reporter Marcela Turati, who grew up in the northern state of Chihuahua, began to notice changes in social behaviors in response to the violence.

MARCELA TURATI (female VO):“First, there’s a phenomenon that’s visible in many cities and that’s fear. People will spontaneously start building ever higher walls around their neighborhoods because they feel unprotected. People will stop using public spaces, stop greeting their neighbors. Whereas a funeral used to draw a crowd, people will stay away out of fear that the person murdered was up to something and the killers may show up at the funeral parlor and kill those who have come to pay their respects. The first thing lost in an area is the community bond.”

The fear of attending funerals was fueled by the perception, supported by official statements, that the vast majority of those killed were involved in criminal activities.

This perception began to shift in the wake of the January 2010 Villas del Salvarcar massacre in which 15 people, mostly high school students, were gunned down at a neighborhood birthday party in Ciudad Juarez. President Calderon, who was visiting Japan at the time, told the international media the victims were gang members. Although he later retracted his statement, residents were infuriated.

[Luz Maria Davila confronts Calderon]

During an official event, Luz Maria Davila, who lost her both of her children in the massacre confronted Calderon before the lens of the national news media. It was the first time relatives of stigmatized murder victims seeking to clear the names of their loved ones received widespread media attention.

Another important shift in public perception of drug war victims came in March of 2011 after the massacre of seven young men in Cuernavaca. One of them was the son of recognized poet Javier Sicilia. Within a week, Sicilia was helping to lead a nationwide protest movement that criticized both cartel violence and the government’s militarized strategy.

[public reading of the 'Estamos Hasta la Madre' open letter]

The movement provided a space in which those who had lost loved ones were able to come forward and tell their stories without stigma.

Disappearances, displacements, opportunistic crime, and impunity

Marches and other public events also brought attention to what had been a less visible crime; the disappearance of thousands of people across the country. Angel Bautista, whose brother Sergio disappeared in 2008, described the search process.

ANGEL BAUTISTA (male VO): “It started out with putting up posters, going to the morgues trying to find a trace of my brother. Then we filed a police report and we’ve received zero results. When mass graves were discovered, we gave DNA samples to see if there was a possibility that my brother was in one of them. But we’ve been constantly ignored, which is why we’re now mobilizing.”

Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has documented more than 5,000cases of persons considered “disappeared”. Some non-governmental organizations say the number is much higher and exceeds 10 thousand. A United Nations fact-finding mission called for the creation of a database to track disappearances, but this has yet to happen.

Some relatives of the disappeared say police have refused to take their reports or will insist on categorizing armed abductions as missing persons cases.

(Marcela_Turati speaks – reporter interprets)

Journalist Marcela Turati says people will sometimes carry out their own investigations when police institutions refuse or fail to act. She’s seen how women whose daughters disappeared many years ago in Ciudad Juarez are now sharing the investigative skills they learned with women whose sons have disappeared in the context of the drug war.

Lack of public faith in government institutions is no secret…and impunity is a well-documented reality.

Poet and activist Javier Sicilia voiced this concern both in a famous letter penned after his son’s murder, as well as during face-to-face talks with President Calderon.

JAVIER SICILIA (male VO):“The problem Mr. President is that you think the bad guys are on the outside and good are on the inside. The problem Mr. President is that you launched a war with institutions that are rotten, with institutions that don’t bring the nation security, institutions with high rates of impunity.”

Academic and government-funded studies vary slightly, but the most commonly cited statistic puts the successful prosecution rate for crimes at only 2 percent. Again, Laura Carlsen.

LAURA CARLSEN:“That means 98 percent of crimes that are committed are not ever punished. When you have a situation like that, then it’s easy to branch out into other areas of crime. It’s easy for common criminals to feel bolder about committing homicides and crimes because they figure it’ll just be chalked up to the drug war now with blood flowing in the streets, practically another one isn’t going to make much difference, so we’re seeing what’s called ‘opportunistic crime’ as well.”

Opportunistic crime can take on many forms; from predatory rape-murders to illegal logging of protected forests to forced displacement campaigns funded by regional land bosses.

[CHANTS FROM A MARCH OF INDIGENOUS DISPLACED PERSONS]

Some indigenous communities have organized their own efforts to push back against criminals and corrupt officials operating within their resource-rich territories. But these community organized efforts are up against well-armed opponents and the apparent indifference of government institutions.

Lack of access to justice and the rise of para-militarism

(Loretta Ortiz speaks – reporter interprets)

Law professor Loretta Ortiz says the institutional abandonment and lack of political will to punish those responsible for crimes creates scenarios which have already started to emerge: para-militarism, lynchings, and the eye for an eye use of vigilante armed force.

Privately-funded armed groups have existed for decades in rural Mexico, particularly in areas marked by land disputes, but another force has surfaced in the context of the drug war; so-called narco-paramilitaries.

[MATA-ZETAS VIDEO COMMUNIQUE]

A group calling itself the Mata-Zetas or “Zeta Killers” went public this summer by posting a video communique to YouTube. The group expressed support for the government of Veracruz and admiration for the armed forces. It claimed to be affiliated with the New Generation of Jalisco Cartel and said its aim is to wipe out members of the Zetas, a criminal organization which itself was founded by defectors from an elite military unit.

Many aspects of Mexico’s drug war can be predicted by observing what has already occurred in Colombia. Paramilitary groups have been responsible for some of the most gruesome crimes in Colombia in recent decades. Victims there have included labor leaders, small landowners, and members of the political opposition.

Proposed counterinsurgency designation and its politics

Plan Colombia, like the Merida Initiative, was originally a counter-narcotics military aid package. But in 2002, Congress approved a provision that expanded the scope of authorized activities to include counterinsurgency strategies.

Some US congress members are pushing for a counterinsurgency designation for the drug war strategy in Mexico. Among them is Florida Republican Connie Mack.

CONNIE MACK: “The counterinsurgency measures must include; 1) An all US agency plan including the treasury dept, dept of justice, CIA, US immigration and customs enforcement, the state dept and others to aggressively attack and dismantle the criminal networks in the US and Mexico. 2) Once and for all, we must secure the border between the Unites States and Mexico, doubling Border Patrol agents, fully funding and delivering on the needed border protection equipment such as the unmanned aerial vehicles and the completion of double-layered security fence in urban, hard to enforce areas of the border. 3) We must take key steps to ensure local populations support the government and the rule of law over the cartels, such as by promoting culture of lawfulness programs.”

Mexican officials – and some US government officials – have objected to the use of the term “insurgency” to describe the activities of organized crime. The counterinsurgency strategy implemented in Colombia was mainly directed at the country’s leftist guerrillas while right-wing paramilitaries continued to operate or were demobilized under an amnesty deal.

Questioning prohibition, maintaining the status quo, and other possible paths

Sociologist and researcher Luis Astorga says that while it would be a mistake to negotiate with organized crime, the war on drugs itself is un-winnable.

LUIS ASTORGA (male VO): “It’s an un-winnable fight because there’s an anthropological constant which has shown that human consumption of psychoactive substances is as old as humankind itself. Therefore to act like one can gain control over these types of substances – or even wipe these substances off the face of the earth – is to not understand these types of historical and cultural processes.”

Even President Calderon has started to question prohibition in veiled references to “market alternatives”.

FELIPE CALDERON (male VO): “That’s a debate that needs to happen on an international level…What economists say is that market alternatives reduce the inflated prices paid on the black market…The price of drugs on the black market are not determined by Mexico, but rather by the American market which is why if alternatives are to be explored, they must be done so from there.”

The drug war in Mexico is using military force, with the support of a superpower, to enforce a policy of prohibition against against the fundamental economic laws of supply and demand. Yet, policies that alter the confrontation of these two forces are considered politically taboo.

Sociologist Luis Astorga explains the possible scenarios moving forward.

LUIS ASTORGA (male VO): “What we could aspire to without modifying the rules of the game as far as anti-drug policy goes is either to have institutions as solid as the advanced democracies or the other scenario, which hopefully no one supports, and that is to return to an authoritarian system. Otherwise, the rules would need to be changed on an international level as quickly as possible and that’s not on the short-term horizon. No one at the United Nations assembly is proposing this.”

While a United Nations convention signed in 1961 greatly influenced the adoption of prohibitionist policies among member nations, the United States remains a key player in upholding the policy…and in theory, US civil society could play a central role in repealing prohibition.

But the geopolitics may seem distant and abstract to the very real consequences experienced on the ground by countless people, including Olga Reyes Salazar..who, after fleeing her hometown with her extended family has joined a movement of drug war victims in Mexico.

OLGA REYES SALAZAR (female VO):“I’d like for everyone to get together and really stop this war. What we’ve been though has been awful. To lose 6 relatives in less than 3 years is very sad and very ugly. It wouldn’t want it for anyone else to have to go through it, not even my worst enemy. Much less having to leave your home without knowing where you’re going or which path you’ll take. More than anything, I’d like to see people unite and become aware of what is happening so that they won’t have to go through the same – if they haven’t already.”

This sentiment – a combined cry for help and warning to others – started coming from Ciudad Juarez nearly two decades ago in reaction to the unpunished murders of young women. It intensified with drug war related violence…which, like femicide crime, has since spread far beyond the city where it had been most concentrated.

Journalist Sanjuana Martinez says the damage already caused by violence and impunity will have lasting effects.

SANJUANA MARTINEZ (female VO): “It’s going to be very hard to heal the wounds. We have Colombia as a reference where there were more than a million deaths, paramilitary groups, drug cartels, state violence…and they are wounds that are still open twenty years later. I think it’s going to be very difficult to recover from this. It’s an enormous nationwide tragedy. The drug war is a delusional, failed policy because it’s against a nebulous enemy; an enemy which attempts to buy off and corrupt all of the state’s forces, which it has shown itself able to do. And the wounds caused by this are major. There’s a lot of bitterness and hate and all of this bitterness and hate is causing more violence.”

Although this prediction may sound grim – it’s a likely scenario – especially if policies on both sides of the border, including militarism and prohibition, remain as unchanged as the demand and consumption rates in the United States; the world’s largest drug market.

[CLOSING CREDITS]

El Llano park in Oaxaca City is just one of the places in Mexico where you’re likely to hear this…

[DISTANT WHISTLE IN PARK]

That’s the sound of steam-cooked plantains and yams…well, the sound of the cart they travel in. The cart itself is an icon of street vendor ingenuity.  Its owner, Cesar Perez, explains.

CESAR PEREZ (voiceover): “This cart works with steam. I’m gonna make the sound for you. This sound is to let people know that the yam and plantain vendor is on the way. (STEAM WHISTLE sound)

The whistle works in the same way as an ice cream truck’s jingle. The sound projects for a couple of blocks, giving customers time to collect spare change and head outside by the time the vendor passes by.

[PARK TONE]

Local people call this invention a “camotero cart,” after the Spanish word “camote,” or “yam”. The cart resembles a rustic locomotive. It has a metal barrel that lies on its side, with a hole cut on the outer end. That’s where Perez feeds the wood that fuels the fire. The plantains and yams rest in a drawer situated over the flames. The smoke escapes through a sheet metal stovepipe on top.

The fire just keeps the food warm. Perez says the actual cooking process occurs before he hits the street.

CESAR PEREZ (voiceover): “You have to let the food cook to a certain point. Because if it only cooks a little bit, it tastes nasty. So it needs 2 hours of cooking before I leave home in order for it to be done.”

The end result is yams and bananas with a soft texture and smoky baked flavor that’s not easy to duplicate at home.

Meanwhile, every so often, water from an upside-down soda bottle releases steam into the cart’s cooking chamber. That keeps the food from drying out. The steam also creates the distinctive whistle sound when it escapes from the metal barrel through a special tube.

CESAR PEREZ (voiceover): “When the water falls on the hot part of the tube, it’s expelled at fairly high pressure which is what produces the little noise.”

The whistle on Perez’s home made cart has a pitch that’s a bit lower than others – something he did on purpose.

CESAR PEREZ (voiceover): “It’s different because each person has their own sound. That way they know it’s Mr. Cesar’s cart, of Mr. Julio’s or Gilberto’s – they know how to distinguish the sounds sometimes.”

The sound of the steam whistle is something that’s ingrained in the memory of Bernardo Sanchez, a young man who walks up to purchase one of Perez’s plantains.

BERNARDO SANCHEZ (voiceover): “Ever since I was little, I remember buying plantains from the cart that passed by my house. Now it’s a matter of tradition. Every time we hear this type of whistle, we know that they’re the baked plantains.”

The carts are also powered by traditional methods: some are pushed by hand and some use front-loader cargo tricycles. Either way takes effort, since a cart can weigh well over 100 pounds. Perez prefers the tricycle model, saying it allows him to cover more ground with less exertion.

[PARK SOUND, KIDS PLAYING]

After a couple of sales, Perez makes a wide loop around the park then heads off on the city streets, whistling along the way.

[DISTANT WHISTLE, PARK SOUNDS]

For the World Vision Report, I’m Shannon Young in Oaxaca, Mexico.

(NOTE: This segment originally aired on the January 9, 2010 program of the World Vision Report.)

A group of attorneys and human rights activists are seeking to have Mexico’s president, other government officials and several top drug cartel leaders investigated for war crimes.

The attorneys plan to file a complaint with the International Criminal Court naming Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and at least 8 other drug traffickers and government officials. At a press conference announcing the initiative, lead attorney Netzai Sandoval listed off specific crimes he wants the court to investigate in Mexico. It’s a long list.

SANDOVAL: “We are petitioning the court to investigate forced disappearances, the recruitment of children under 15 as hit-men, extrajudicial executions by soldiers, mutilation as a form of intimidation, attacks against the civilian population, forced displacements, the raping of women and girls, acts of torture perpetrated and tolerated by the army, attacks targeting drug rehabilitation centers, and the kidnapping, sale and enslavement of migrants by Mexican immigration authorities.”

Sandoval argues there are war crimes and crimes against humanity and thus, fall well within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Mexico’s organized crime groups have gained a reputation for brutality – and that’s well documented by the media. But reports of abuses by Mexican security forces receive less attention. Sanjuana Martínez is an investigative reporter based in the northern industrial city of Monterrey. She has extensively documented the violence in the border states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila.

MARTINEZ: “Mexicans are living in the middle of two types of violence – narcoviolence and state violence – which is perpetrated by the armed forces and federal police against the civilian population. In this country, we’re not used to speaking about state-sponsored violence. It’s not politically correct, particularly because the armed forces have a lot of power and impunity, so hardly anyone stands up to up to them.”

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón defends his military strategy, even if he admits it’s not perfect. Here’s what he said in a meeting with relatives of drug war victims, just days after plans for the ICC complaint were announced.

CALDERON: It is not the state that’s committing acts of repression and murder. Yes, we do have a responsibility – which I’ve recognized and apologized for – because the state hasn’t been able to fulfil its proper role by protecting its citizens from violence. But the state has not systematically murdered, mutilated or disappeared people, as was the case under the military dictatorships of Argentina and Chile – or like what happened in Bosnia and other countries.

Calderón has also pointed to the recent creation of a special office for crime victims to show that his government is making efforts to heal social wounds and strengthen government institutions. It’s too soon to judge the new agency’s performance, but many observers have expressed scepticism.

(Roll Loretta Ortiz clip, reporter interprets)

Law professor Loretta Ortiz, who supports the petition to the International Criminal Court, says the Mexican government has a history of creating special commissions when certain types of crimes become too big to ignore and that these special commissions produce few – if any – real results. Ortiz points to the failures of special panels set up to investigate the Ciudad Juárez femicides, or crimes against journalists.

Different estimates put Mexico’s criminal impunity rate at between 95 and 98 percent – meaning only a tiny fraction of crimes committed end up being punished through the courts. Attorney Netzai Sandoval says that’s part of the reason he’s filing the complaint with the International Criminal Court.

SANDOVAL: “We’re not fighting to have more drugs in Mexico and the world. Quite the contrary, we’re also naming in our lawsuit drug traffickers who are killing young people, recruiting children, and attacking our country’s way of life. What we’re hoping to bring about with this petition to the ICC is the end of impunity and human rights violations in Mexico.”

More than 17 thousand Mexicans have signed an online petition urging the International Criminal Court to open an investigation. Another 3 thousand have signed on paper. Sandoval’s legal team says this represents that largest show of popular support for a particular case in the court’s history. The attorneys will submit their petition to the ICC on November 25th.

 (Transcript of report produced for The World. Original audio here)