Mexico

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<p><strong>Frontera NorteSur</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Completing an epic journey across Mexico, the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity arrived late last week to a tumultuous welcome in Ciudad Juarez, the beleaguered border city poet and caravan organizer Javier Sicilia calls Mexico’s “epicenter of pain.”</p>

<p><strong>New America Media</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The “march” — as it is euphemistically called — is the talk of Mexico’s media and slowly drawing international attention.</p>

<p><strong>New America Media</strong></p>
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Premieres Sunday, May 15 at 10pm

By Julio Martinez

<p><strong>Washington</strong><strong> DC Bureau</strong></p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article was reprinted with permission from the Washington DC Bureau, a nonprofit news service focused on the environment and national security. </em></p>

    On March 8th something historic will happen in Mexico. Following a three-day trek from the south, thousands will gather in Mexico City to protest a U.S.-supported militarized drug war that has cost nearly 40,000 lives in just four years.

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<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; On May 5, 1862, Mexican troops defeated an invading French army in the outskirts of Puebla, a city around 60 miles east of Mexico City. How did events come to this point; what were French troops doing in Mexico and why?</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; On September 15, 1810, a priest, Miguel Hidalgo, sounded the church bells to unite Mexicans in a war of independence from Spain. Independence was declared the following day, September 16th. But it took Mexicans 11 years to oust the Spaniards.</p>

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<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets last week to protest violence related to drug trafficking and the Mexican government’s inability or unwillingness to prevent it.&nbsp; U.S. and international activists who want to show solidarity with the people of Mexico must recognize that the most effective step we can take is to bring the war on drugs to an end.</p>