PROTESTS OVER CALDERON'S "WAR ON DRUGS"

The article below it taken from “MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK:  WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS,” APRIL 25 - MAY 8, 2011.  It gives helpful background to understand what Mexico is undergoing right now with the "war on drugs."

Poet and journalist Javier Sicilia carried a Mexican flag as he departed Cuernavaca on Thursday leading a 50 mile "March for Peace with Justice and Dignity" to Mexico City. Sicilia, whose son was killed on March 28 in Cuernavaca, is leading a national movement against violence that is highly critical of Mexico's ineffective and corrupt political class. "We cannot understand a war that is badly planned, that is badly directed," said Sicilia in pointed reference to President Calderon. "We cannot understand why he does not understand why the criminals are out there. If they are out there, it is because the institutions and the State are co-opted." The Calderon administration has been badly stung by Sicilia's growing popularity. On Wednesday night before the march, Calderon issued a pre-emptive statement: "We must redouble our efforts, because if we stop fighting, they will kidnap, extort and kill all over the country." Sicilia responded on Friday with words that cut to the quick: "The State controls nothing. Felipe Calderon wants to listen, but the country is no longer in his hands. He has no vision. He cannot imagine a better world. He does not see that the cruelty and impunity, the killing, can also be blamed on our failing institutions."   CLICK HERE to read more.