Friends,
Right now, hundreds of Mexican peace activists, along with FOR Research and Advocacy Director John Lindsay-Poland, are marching to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas to sign a national pact for peace and justice.
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Take action now!
Send an email to the State Department.
This link above will open a new email to:
- Arturo Valenzuela, United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affair, valenzuelaaa@state.gov
- cc: Roberta Jacobson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, jacobsonrs@state.gov
- cc: Vanessa Acker, Human Rights Desk Officer in US Embassy in Mexico, ackervg@state.gov
What to say:
1. That the the Mexican Attorney General's office:
- give a detailed explanation of the operation,
- make a complete investigation of what occurred and by whose orders, and
- punish those officials and police officers responsible for this incident.
2. That the U.S. State Department make a public statement in support of the peace initiatives undertaken on the peace caravan, and condemn this attack on human rights defenders.
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The peace caravan is led by poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, who galvanized national sentiment against the Mexican government's war on drug traffickers that has resulted in nearly 40,000 murders since 2007.
Yet incredibly, just last weekend, the Mexican government broke into and ransacked the offices of the Juárez human rights organization sponsoring the peace caravan -- without so much as a warrant.
Join FOR in taking action
Please join FOR's National Council in calling on the U.S. State Department to condemn this attack on human rights defenders and call for an investigation by the Mexican Attorney General.
The Mexican police targeted the Paso del Norte Human Rights Center, led by Father Oscar Enríquez, who has advocated for the rights of the poorest and most defenseless citizens for more than ten years in Juárez, which has the highest murder rate in the Western Hemisphere -- despite deployment of federal troops and police to the city in 2007.
"The break-in is the wrong message for the Mexican government to send to this democratic movement for peace and justice," FOR's National Council wrote. "We urge the State Department to express to the Mexican government the importance of fully investigating this break-in, and sanctioning those who ordered it and carried it out."
Please take a moment to send emails to the State Department, described at right, as we join with Mexican activists in working for peace and justice in our hemisphere!
FOR peace and justice,
Mark C. Johnson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
And on behalf of the FOR National Council:
- Malik Nadeem Abid, Valley Stream, NY
- William Bontrager, Shortsville, NY
- Andrea Briggs, Alhambra, CA
- Laurie Childers, Corvallis, OR
- Paul Dekar, Dundas, ON
- Daniel de la Pava, Chicago, IL
- Martha DiGiovanni, Manchester, CT
- Lucas Johnson, Atlanta, GA
- Mark Meade, Louisville, KY
- Greta Mickey, Dundee, NY
- James E. Murphy, Ithaca, NY
- Jennifer Newell, Port Orchard, WA
- Peg Rivers, Piscataway, NJ
- Bill Scheurer, Lindenhurst, IL
- Sarah Schindler, New York, NY
- Sam Smith, West Chicago, IL
- Vishaka Smith, Seattle, WA
- Phil Stoltzfus, Northfield, MN
- Rick Ufford-Chase, Stony Point, NY
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