Blurb: Women across Mexico have taken to the streets to publicly march and declare their stance against the ongoing corruption and abuse they have suffered during the decade-long war on drugs. On the eve of el Dia de Los Muertos this year, countless mothers, sisters, and friends, took to the streets to chant “ni una mas” (not one more) in protest of the number of women who have been kidnaped, raped, tortured, and murdered during the war on drugs. The time for women to integrate into the security sector, government, and peacebuilding efforts is now. http://ebuddynews.com/mexican-women-protest-violence-impunity-day-dead/ Ni Una Mas: Women’s’ Voices Matter in Mexico’s War on Drugs. “The war on drugs has normalized misogynistic violence” said …show more content…
As the decade-long war on drugs in Mexico persists, so do the effect this silently violent war is having on the lives of Mexican women. Since 2006 when Mexico officially declared a war on drugs, violence against women has risen dramatically. Yet women continue to be left out of the peacebuilding conversations. The Mexican government has made efforts to “officially” include women in peace conversations, the security sector, and in government, but the reality of the Mexican state is not quite as rosy. Without the voices and presence of women in government, military, and peacebuilding efforts, Mexico continues to be a misogynistic state, plagued by rampant impunity, and violence against women. Former President Felipe Calderon publicly stated that the Mexican government has found a direct correlation between the war on drugs and the rise of violence against women. Powerful, armed men on both sides of the conflict have reportedly used violence against women as a way to advance their agenda. In a “machista society”, where discrimination and misogyny are common place, women are more vulnerable to all kinds of violence, from targeted retaliations to sex trafficking and domestic …show more content…
Nothing. Over the decade-long war on drugs, Mexico has seen a rise in military activity but the concern among civilians, especially women, is that the tactics used by the government’s military to fight the war on drugs have gone unchecked. Corruption and impunity have exacerbated an already harmful culture of abuse against women. Military men and drug cartels know their actions will have no consequences and continue to use violence against women as one of their methods of operation. In response, women across Mexico have taken to the streets to publicly march and declare their stance against the ongoing corruption and abuse. One of the most recent and most powerful marches took place on the eve of el Dia de Los Muertos. As the country prepared for a celebration in honor of their desist family members, mothers, sisters, and friends, took to the streets to chant “ni una mas” (not one more) in protest of the number of women who have been kidnaped, raped, tortured, and murdered without consequence during the war on drugs. Their voices inspired similar protests across the country to take place, but their voices should not
Miguel Melendez’s book, “We Took the Streets” provides the reader with an insightful account into the activities of the Young Lords movement established in the latter years of the 1960s and remained active up until the early seventies. The book’s, which is essentially Melendez’s memoir, a recollection of the events, activities, and achievements of the Young Lords. The author effectively presents to the reader a fascinating account of the formation of the Young Lords which was a group of college students from Puerto Rico who came together in a bid to fight for some of the basic rights. As Melendez sums it up, “You either claim your history or lose authority over your future” (Melendez 23). The quote is in itself indicative of the book’s overall
In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
The novel, The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela is a great perception of the Mexican Revolution. The stories of exploits and wartime experiences during the Mexican Revolution was fundamentally driven by the men. The war was between the people and the government. Throughout the novel, these men had to isolate themselves from their families and battle for a cause they greatly believed in. Even with not enough resources, the people were able to fight aggressively in order to overthrow the government. Regardless of the men who were at war, there were two females who played a significant role in the Mexican Revolution, Camila and War Paint. While the representation Mariano Azuela captures these ladies and their role in society are accurate, he neglects
As she tours her hometown, one can see the horrendous circumstances in which her community thrives in, for example, to get from one side to the other they must cross a makeshift bridge where the water has begun to change color such as black, green, even beginning to foam. Numerous health problems have arisen due to the toxic waste that is being dumped into the streams that therefore leading to runoff when it rains such as sores developing on feet and legs, weakened immune system, spots that appear on the limbs, etc. Lujan, a third world feminist (could also be known as an environmental feminist as well) exposes the unsanitary environment in which she lives in, desiring a greater community where her children can live in without the worry of diseases or the contamination of their water sources. Though she was not always a promotora/advocator it was not until Lujan came face to face with a sign inviting women to participate in a health survey furthermore learning about the health risks that she made the decision to be outspoken about the cause. She took workshops to help her better apprehend labor and women’s rights in order to promote laws and speak out against illegal acts conducted by businesses. Therefore, it only makes sense that women would be the most outspoken group of the maquiladoras since they make up eighty percent of the
Relations between the United States and Mexico have become increasingly strained, due in part to American’s contribution to ever-growing cartel violence in Mexico. The United States has been the main contributor to the cartels’ takeover of Mexico, and the current policy approach of limiting the United State’s role has failed. History has exhibited our inability to make peace with Mexico, and without considerable reform to our approach to the “War on Drugs” relations between the countries will not improve.
Martinez, Demetria. 2002. “Solidarity”. Border Women: Writing from la Frontera.. Castillo, Debra A & María Socorro Tabuenca Córdoba. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 168- 188.
In the United States, women fought not only against the patriarchy, but against racism and xenophobia. While in Mexico, women were prepared to take up arms and defend their country, despite the fact that they were unable to vote.
Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
The Mexican drug-trafficking cartels are said to have been established in the 1980s by a man named Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, also known as “The Godfather”. With the help of Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, Miguel started the Guadalajara Cartel, which is one of the first to have thrived from association with the Colombian cocaine trade. The two men who helped Miguel Gallardo establish the cartel were arrested, so Gallardo, the single leader of the cartel “was smart enough to privatize the Mexican drug trade by having it run by lesser-known bosses” (The Five Most Famous Drug Cartels”), that he often met with in Acapulco. Eventually Miguel was arrested as well which caused the split of the Guadalajara Cartel into the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel.
Goodman, Donna. (2009, March 13). The struggle for women’s equality in latin america. Retrieved from http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/03/the-struggle-for-womens-equality-in-latin-america/
Mexicans claim that the war in drugs only made the cartels more violent and the state authorities more tainted. The result is that guiltless onlookers are often caught up in the crossfire. For periods, drug transferring groups have used Mexico's fragile political system to make "a network of corruption that ensured distribution rights, market access, and even official government protection for drug traffickers in exchange for lucrative bribes," (Shirk,2011).
Indigenous people of the world have historically been and continue to be pushed to the margins of society. Similarly, women have experienced political, social, and economical marginalization. For the past 500 years or so, the indigenous peoples of México have been subjected to violence and the exploitation since the arrival of the Spanish. The xenophobic tendencies of Spanish colonizers did not disappear after México’s independence; rather it maintained the racial assimilation and exclusion policies left behind by the colonists, including gender roles (Moore 166) . México is historically and continues to be a patriarchal society. So when the Zapatista movement of 1994, more formally known as the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación National (Zapatista Army of National Liberation; EZLN) constructed a space for indigenous women to reclaim their rights, it was a significant step towards justice. The Mexican government, in haste for globalization and profits, ignored its indigenous peoples’ sufferings. Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico, consisting of mostly indigenous peoples living in the mountains and country, grew frustration with the Mexican government. It was in that moment that the Zapatista movement arose from the countryside to awaken a nation to the plight of indigenous Mexicans. Being indigenous puts a person at a disadvantage in Mexican society; when adding gender, an indigenous woman is set back two steps. It was through the Zapatista movement that a catalyst was created for indigenous women to reclaim rights and autonomy through the praxis of indigeneity and the popular struggle.
Failing to find a positive opportunity for work, Maria’s next job is seemingly much worse in multiple ways. Maria gets offered enough money to hold her over for a long time in Colombia, by becoming a international narcotrafficker, even though it still “yields ve...
McDermott, Jeremy. “US Targets Colombian Rebels as War against Terrorism Escalates.” Scottsman.com. February 10, 2002.
In addition, these women were often subjected to control, domination, and violence by men” (Global). This validates Azuela’s stance on how women should stay within their traditional roles because fighting for equality has been ineffective even today.