Activists Want Mexico Bicentennial Monument Dedicated to Victims of Violence Latin American Herald Tribune
go to original April 3, 2013

Araceli Rodriguez, a victim of violence; writer Juan Villoro; poet and peace activist Javier Sicilia; and filmmaker Carlos Bolado (from left to right) pose together on Tuesday, April 2, 2013, in Mexico City during a press conference organized by the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity to call on the government to turn Mexico's Bicentennial Monument into a memorial to victims of violence. (EFE)

MEXICO CITY – An online campaign launched by human rights activists seeks to turn Mexico’s Bicentennial Monument into a memorial to victims of violence, organizers said.

Activists want to once again ask the government with the support of the public “to redefine and turn this ‘stela of disgrace’ into a real center for remembering and for the culture of peace,” Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity founder and poet Javier Sicilia said.

The poet, whose son and six other young men were murdered by drug traffickers in 2011, called in January for turning the monument into a memorial to Mexico’s thousands of victims of violence.

The goal is to “bring to life and keep alive” the dead and disappeared, Sicilia said.

The 104-meter (340-foot) tower of light, whose budget is now up to 1 billion pesos ($78 million), has been plagued by cost overruns, delays and allegations of corruption.

The war on drugs launched by former President Felipe Calderon, who was in office from 2006 to 2012, left about 70,000 people dead, or an average of 32 victims per day, in Mexico, officials say.

A total of 3,919 people have been killed in drug-related incidents since Dec. 1, 2012, the day President Enrique Peña Nieto took office, the Milenio newspaper reported Monday.

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!