The Little School is not a resurgence. Zapatistas have been too busy, working hard to advance their autonomy. They enthusiastically answered every single question during my homestay.
As drug war violence spirals out of control in many parts of Mexico, people living in the countryside of the state of Guerrero are threatened by traditional forces of the Dirty War —the military, paramilitary groups, and corrupt political bosses—, but now also narco-paramilitaries and drug-trafficking organizations.
Mexico’s peace caravan visits the southern border, where Central American migrants report violence and abuse in their travels north.
Several thousand people marched on Acapulco, Guerrero, this past Saturday chanting, “We don’t want war, we want education!” The march occurred during poet Javier Sicilia’s visit to the seaside city as his caravan of drug war victims makes its way to the Mexico-Guatemala border.
Gunmen armed with AR-15 and AK-47 assault rifles massacred thirteen people in a Torreón drug rehabilitation center on Wednesday. The massacre occurred less than twenty-four hours before poet Javier Sicilia and his Citizens Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity were scheduled to arrive in Torreón for a rally against the drug war. The rehabilitation center is located just three blocks from the rally site.
The murder rate in Durango skyrocketed after President Felipe Calderón declared war on organized crime in late 2006. The number of executions soared 1,401 percent from 67 in 2005 to 939 in 2010. With 910 murders so far in 2011, Durango is set to surpass 2010’s murders by the end of June. When the Citizens Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity arrived in Durango on Monday night to protest the drug war, thousands of locals turned out to greet it.