Mexicans march against drug violence

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12992664

Protest marches have been held in more than 20 cities across Mexico against the drug-related violence sweeping the country.

Thousands of people joined the protest in the main square in Mexico City, chanting "no more blood".

Some called for President Felipe Calderon to resign, saying his strategy had exacerbated the bloodshed.

As the marches got under way, police said they had found at least 40 bodies in a mass grave in Tamaulipas state.

Around 35,000 Mexicans have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon began deploying the army to fight the the cartels in December 2006.

The demonstrations were inspired by the poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, whose son was killed last week.

Mr Sicilia has blamed Mexican politicians as well as criminal gangs for the violence, saying they have "torn apart the fabric of the nation".

Small demonstrations were also held in New York, Buenos Aires, Paris, Madrid and other cities around the world.

Pain

Javier Sicilia called for the protests after his 24-year-old son, Juan Francisco, was found dead inside a car along with six other people in the city of Cuernavaca last week.
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“Start Quote

The citizenry has lost confidence in its governors, its police, its army, and is afraid and in pain”

End Quote Javier Sicilia

In an open letter to Mexico's politicians and criminals published in Proceso, he said President Calderon's campaign against the drugs gangs was "badly planned, badly carried out and badly led".

"The citizenry has lost confidence in its governors, its police, its army, and is afraid and in pain".

Mr Sicilia also condemned the criminals as "subhuman, demonic and imbecilic".

"We have had it up to here with your violence, your loss of honour, your cruelty and senselessness," he wrote.

Before joining the demonstrations, Mr Sicilia met President Calderon in Mexico City.

He said the president offered his condolences and briefed him on efforts to find his son's killers.
Mass grave

The Mexican government says it is making progress against the drug cartels, and has captured or killed many of their top leaders.
Mexican writer Javier Sicilia cries as he hugs family members after the death of his son Javier Sicilia says Mexicans have had enough

It says much of the bloodshed is the result of fighting between rival criminal gangs.

This view was echoed by the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Michele Leonhart, at an international conference in the Mexican City of Cancun on Wednesday.

"It may seem contradictory, but the unfortunate level of violence is a sign of success in the fight against drugs," the DEA chief said.

The cartels "are like caged animals, attacking one another," she added.

In the latest violence, police in the northern state of Tamaulipas, on the US border, said they had found a mass grave containing at least 40 bodies.

The human remains were uncovered in the same area where the bodies of 72 migrants from Central and South America were found last August.

Tamaulipas state has been the scene of bloody confrontations between rival drugs gangs who also exploit migrants heading to the US.