Open Letter to the people of El Paso, Texas (And all americans)

This is a letter written by someone in Juarez that want a change.


Open letter to El Pasoans
Carlos Murillo G.
Ciudad Juárez, February the 17th, 2010
Dear neighbors, friends, brothers and sisters:
At this moment Ciudad Juarez is living the worst period of its recent history. As you may know, the city is in the middle of a violent War against Drug Cartels (Guerra contra el narco); more than four thousand people had died so far as result of the decision took two years ago by the Federal Government and the illegitimate President Felipe Calderon of having a front war against the drug cartels.
It was not a democratic act; it was not a campaign promise from Calderon, neither consulted with the Mexican society nor the people of Juarez. It is an authoritarian decision based on the fraud results of 2006 presidential polls, when Calderon wasn’t the real winner but, he had to distract all the attention of it to legitimate his government. Therefore he put us a situation without having enough knowledge of what to do, increasing the military presence on the streets, criminalizing Ciudad Juarez as a whole, and violating the Individual Warranties (Human Rights) of the Mexican Constitution. Since the presence of the thousands of military and Federal Preventive Police (Policia Federal Preventiva) all kind of crimes have raised , and worst of all, the killing of innocent people like children, teenagers, women, students, academics and social activists. This “war” looks more like a social cleansing, since many poor people and many in the opposition of the Government´s politics are being killed, more than 90% of the murders still unsolved.
In two years the results are very disappointed: the cartels stand still, drug consumption is increasing and not a single drug lord has been captured in Juarez or in the state of Chihuahua. The war against the drug has failed, but Calderon, Governor Reyes Baeza and Major Reyes Ferriz (who lives in El Paso) don’t want to change their strategy and have not responded to people of Juarez demands. This government attitude is taking us, people of Ciudad Juarez, to search solutions by our own, because of the politicians indifference; we are desperate to return to a peaceful state. The Calderon response to our claims has been to send more soldiers’ presence and more human rights violations.
At this point, we need your support. First of all, because the drug issue is not exclusively a Mexican problem, it is yours too. The drugs that cross our borders and the fire arms that kill many here have the same address: The United States of America. The violence we are experiencing in Mexico and Juarez is part of bad politics based on erroneous misunderstanding on drugs and addictions. We need to unite efforts together, the violence can cross the border at any time, and you are in risk too.
As part of border community, it is of vital interest for both sides of the Rio Grande to take part in the ending of this slaughter. We know you are concerned about the region’s future, as well as in the increasing immigration from Juarez to El Paso and other areas of the United States, because of this war and the economic crisis, which has hit us very hard on the Maquila, our principal economic source.
It is absolutely necessarily to push your governments and representatives to investigate and stop the gun sale to this side of the border, and to increase the pressure on drug legalization. As you must know, the drug prohibition is an important part for the unstoppable violence, black markets, human misery and exploitation, since is a profitable business the way it works. You must remember your history, when the Volstead Law criminalized the alcohol beverage consumption, but organized crime increased substantially, making the Prohibition period one your worst eras, creating powerful and infamous antiheroes like Al Capone. This kind of prohibitions does not work on Democracies for the reason that limits the freedom of choice and doesn’t stop vicious deviance on society.
We know that any advance on changing the drug status on the United States will have a positive impact on Mexican Government, who prefers to evaluate advices from American institutions than from Mexican society. We are not your enemies; for the contrary, we seek to live in harmony with you and to increase the living quality in Mexico, so we can develop better societies, and you can visit us without danger and so do us.
We already know the bitter taste of violence by our own and it’s a sad thing. We don’t want to see further violence, watching our youth kill or die for a bunch of bills or even worst, assassinated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, because of this stupid “war” that nobody’s ask for. We prefer a Juarez were children can play and grow safely, without troubles, where people can go to their jobs and return to their homes in peace, with no military waiting at the corner to treat you like a gangster, in a society where Justice prevails over the criminals. That’s all we need. That’s all we ask for.
For your attention, thank you.