Friday, December 2, 2011

Mexico is "at war" and not ready for 2012 elections, says peace activist Javier Sicilia

Noted Mexican peace activist Javier Sicilia says his country is in a "state of war," and is not ready to have a democratic election in 2012. Voters will go to the polls July 1 to elect a new president, who will serve a six year term beginning next December.

After his son was murdered in March, Sicilia became an outspoken critic of the Felipe Calderón administration and its aggressive strategy of using the Mexican armed forces against the drug cartels. He has led protest marches all over the country, and has spoken out forcefully against the government's militaristic approach to dealing with organized crime and the escalating wave of drug trafficking violence which is wracking the nation.

Sicilia spares no one the whip, frequently expressing disdain for prominent Mexican politicians. He did likewise last night when interviewed by CNN's Carmen Aristegui, telling her "we're not really voting for individuals, rather we should be asking (each other) which cartel we're going to vote for." A poet and writer, Sicilia recently authored a book entitled "We've Had It Up To Here." He calls for a truce between the government and the cartels.

"The whole thing is a farce," added Sicilia, speaking of the impending elections. "I've never heard of anyone going to vote in a country consumed by war. Pesonally, I plan to cast a blank ballot." He told Aristegui, "The problem is that the State, as we know it, is in crisis. It's collapsing (due to drug violence), together with its economy."

When asked about the statistical probability of an Institutional Revolutionary Party victory next year, Sicilia said that PRI had not reconstructed itself, but simply readopted all "the trash of its old policies." PRI dominated Mexican politics for about 70 years until it was ousted from office in 2000. Most opinion polls show the PRI nominee, Enrique Peña Nieto, far ahead of the leading contenders in Mexico's two other major political parties.

Mexico's 2012 presidential election: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/mexicos-2012-presidential-election-364.html

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