The Big Story

From the LAHT (read the whole story)

Civil groups have signed in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez a Citizens’ Pact for Peace with Justice and Dignity demanding the end of the “militarist strategy” that the government employs to fight organized crime, particularly drug cartels.

“We demand the immediate end of the war strategy, the demilitarization of the police, the army’s return to the barracks and the withdrawal of military jurisdiction,” said one of the 70 points of the accord that also requests sound political judgment of President Felipe Calderon and Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia.

The Calderon government, which took office in December 2006 and ends in 2012, launched the strategy of sending thousands of soldiers and federal agents to points of conflict.

To date there have been some 50,000 soldiers and 36,000 police engaged in that work, while retired military personnel have taken on the responsibilities of police chiefs in some municipalities.

The Citizens’ Pact was prepared over several days during the Caravan for Peace, led by poet Javier Sicilia, which left last Saturday, June 4, from downtown Cuernavaca en route to Ciudad Juarez, the murder capital of Mexico.

The long document, which was read Friday night at the close of the caravan, was prepared by several organizations working in nine separate discussion groups.

To replace the militarist strategy, the organizations propose “citizens’ safety seen from the perspective of human rights.”