'No More Drug War' Caravan to Visit Five Impacted Countries on Way to UN Session in NY Paz Vida y Justicia
go to original March 26, 2016

On Sunday, April 10th the Caravan will be received with a Concert for Peace, Life, and Justice at Mexico City’s main square. #AltoalaGuerraContraLasDrogas #PorLaPazLaVidayLaJusticia #NoMoreDrugWar

Starting in Honduras on March 28th, the Caravan for Peace, Life and Justice will travel through El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States with the goal of reaching New York City on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs beginning on April 19.

Made up of a diverse group of people including victims of the drug war, families who have lost relatives to violence or incarceration, human rights defenders, journalists, faith leaders, activists and others, the Caravan will travel through some of the places most affected by the war on drugs with the purpose of giving way to an inclusive, collective and open dialogue on drug policy and creating alternatives to the failed prohibitionist regime.

Why Latin America?

As one of the primary regions for drug production and trafficking, Latin America has become a hub of human rights violations, organized crime, systemic impunity and environmental destruction. In Central America, the legacy of brutal civil wars combined with militarization strategies funded by the U.S. has given way to some of the most dangerous cities in the world, forcing thousands to abandon their homes in search of safety and risking deportation once they reach Mexico’s southern and northern borders.

In Honduras, Garifuna, indigenous and rural communities have been hit the hardest through gang violence and drug trafficking operations encroaching on their ancestral lands. Speaking out against the drug war comes at a high cost and those who engage in social justice and environmental activism are brutally silenced, as evidenced by the recent murders of Berta Cáceres and Nelson García from the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

In neighboring El Salvador, between 20 and 30 people are murdered every day and approximately $400 million (USD) are paid by civilians in extortions every year. Similarly, Guatemala’s drug trafficking networks are responsible for 45% of homicides and overcrowded prisons with almost three times the people they can hold. Crossing into Mexico, over 150,000 people have been murdered and more than 27,000 disappeared since 2006, along with approximately 120 journalists who have been killed since 2000. There, the human cost of the drug war has been largely fueled by militarized national security strategies financed with a $25.6 billion (USD) budget from the U.S. as of 2016.

While Latin America has paid a heavy price for implementing interventionist drug policies, the devastating effects of prohibition are not unique to the region. In the United States, over 2.2 million people are currently incarcerated and 80% of those in federal prisons for drug offenses are black or Latino. Drug law violations have been the main driver of new admissions to prison for decades and while federal and state governments have spent $1 trillion on the drug war in the past 40 years, federal assistance for harm reduction initiatives, such as syringe access programs that would help tackle the upsurge in opioid overdoses, has been nonexistent.

Read the rest at PeaceLifeJustice.org

The caravan begins travel on March 28th, starting in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The next country on the route is El Salvador and then Guatemala. Around April 7th the caravan heads into Mexico with events and visits planned in Chiapas Guerrero, Morelos, Mexico City and elsewhere. The caravan travels north, arriving at the US border on approximately April 14th. Arrival in New York (via Washington, DC) on April 18.



• Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Monday, March 28
• La Ceiba, Honduras – Tuesday, March 29
• El Progreso/San Pedro Sula, Honduras – Wednesday, March 30
• La Esperanza, Santa Rosa de Copán/Poy, Honduras – Thursday, March 31
• Chalatenango, El Salvador – Friday, April 1
• San Salvador, El Salvador – Saturday, April 2, Sunday, April 3
• Esquipulas, Guatemala – Monday, April 4
• Guatemala City, Guatemala – Tuesday, April 5
• Huehuetenango, Guatemala – Wednesday, April 6
• Oaxaca, Mexico – Thursday, April 7
• Cuernavaca, Mexico – Friday, April 8
• Guerrero – Saturday, April 9
• Mexico City – Sunday, April 10
• Mexico City – Monday, April 11
• Monterrey, Mexico – Tuesday, April 12
• Monterrey, Mexico – Wednesday, April 13
• TX/Border/ Austin, TX – Thursday, April 14
• fly from Houston to DC Friday, April15
• D.C. – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17
• NY – Tuesday, April 19

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