Thread: 300 attend Juárez march for peace

300 attend Juárez march for peace

by Alejandro MartÃ*nez-Cabrera \ El Paso Times
Posted: 05/08/2011 12:00:00 AM MDT

JUAREZ -- Sprinkled through the mass of protesters marching through downtown Juárez on Saturday, curious onlookers could spot the faces of young women printed on T-shirts or someone's name written across a banner.

They were the names and faces that demonstrators don't want the world to forget.

To the slow beating of a drum, about 300 people marched in silence in the latest call to end violence in the city and as a show of solidarity with the several demonstrations demanding peace in Mexico that took place throughout the week.

At the head of the procession were several protesters holding large mantles that displayed the names of the approximately 8,000 people who have been killed in Juárez in the past three years.

Julia Monarrez, a researcher at the Northern Border College in Juárez, said this was the first time a comprehensive list of those who have died violently since the wave of violence started in 2008 has been compiled.

"If (their names) are not registered, it's like their deaths are not worth crying for and their lives were not worth living," she said.

With sorrow in her face, Isabel Aguilar carried the picture of her teenage granddaughter, who was killed in January 2010 at the massacre at Villas de Salvarcar, where 14 other students also died.

"We are tired. We want an end to the violence," she said.

Several banners hanging from people's necks also showed the pictures of Luis Carlos Santiago, a 21-year-old photojournalist for Juárez newspaper Diario who was killed last fall, or of Manuel Arroyo Galván, a professor with the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez who was killed in 2009.

Itzel González, a psychologist with the nonprofit Women's Worktable Network, went to the march holding a banner with the image of Marisol Escobedo, an activist who sought the detention of her daughter's confessed killer and was killed last year outside the Chihuahua state government palace.

"We can no longer wait in our houses waiting for things to fix themselves. We have to put an end to the bloodbath drowning our country," González said.

People across Mexico started marching Thursday to demand an end to the violence that has accompanied Mexican President Felipe Calderón's strategy to dismantle drug cartels.

The call to march was made by a Mexican poet and journalist, Javier Sicilia, whose son, Juan Francisco, 24, was found dead in a car in late March in Cuernavaca, in the state of Mexico. A message in the car was signed CDG, presumably initials of the Gulf drug cartel. Sicilia, other activists and their supporters started marching in Cuernavaca and will finish today in Mexico City.

In Juárez, protesters marched about half a mile from the city government offices to the monument to Benito Juárez.

For some of the few merchants that remain open for business in the city's once vibrant downtown, the silent group that moved through streets lined with abandoned buildings was an eerie sight. Some peeked curiously out the doors of their stores. Others, who watched from shaded areas, saw the march as a futile effort.

"I don't think this will solve anything. What's broken is broken, and it will continue to break," said Reyes Hernández, a parking attendant who watched the march while sitting on a chair. "Every time I see protesters, I think it's a waste of time because when it comes to the government, these things go in one ear and out the other"

González disagreed and said it was necessary to protest and demand justice, but she acknowledged the march had not attracted the numbers she had expected.

"I do see some new faces, but we continue to be very few given the magnitude of things Juárez," she said. "But whether we're 10 or 100, the important thing is to continue marching."

Alejandro MartÃ*nez-Cabrera may be reached at a.martinez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6129.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/juarez/ci_18019047

I don't think this will solve anything. What's broken is broken, and it will continue to break," said Reyes Hernández, a parking attendant who watched the march while sitting on a chair. "Every time I see protesters, I think it's a waste of time because when it comes to the government, these things go in one ear and out the other

That kind of has a ring to it,doesn't it?

My prayers are out to these people as they should stand up and march in their own streets and take back their country from the cartels (and their government).

You would think that some of these people in the US who are screaming for immigrant rights would care about all that is going on in mexico since these people have the diversity pill that america seems to need so bad! I see it as further proof that they only care about the illegals already here because they are the parisites that live off them! If these groups really cared for the "LATINO" people than they'd be screaming for mexico to clean up or at least our politicians to put pressure on those issues. Their lack of concern towards their own people in their homeland show the true nature of these people. We only lost 3,000 on 9/11 1/10 of mexico has lost and look at how we came together as a country as people!

Excellent point!

Sadly, I'm not sure they have the self-awareness to see this at all.

Welcome aboard Eleanora