'I WANT TO SCREAM' MEXICANS DEMAND END TO WAR ON DRUGS

MORELIA, MEXICO-The sun has just set on Plaza de Armas when Maria
Trujillo, a woman with close cropped hair in her mid-50s, steps on the
stage. Shaking, she holds a poster with photos of four men, aged 20 to
35.

"The pain and the impotence make me want to scream," she says, her
voice breaking. "I am the mother of four sons who disappeared. Today
they were mine, but tomorrow, they could be yours."

Trujillo's brief, powerful speech in Morelia, capital of the state of
Michoacan, marked the end of the first day of the Caravan for Peace,
Justice and Dignity.

Led by renowned Mexican poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, the
caravan is crossing Mexico, passing through the cities along the way
that have been most affected by drug violence.

It's meant to gather families of victims, saying that only by sharing
pain can they stop feeling alone.

An estimated 500 people travelling in 13 buses and about 25 cars left
the city of Cuernavaca on Saturday at the break of dawn on their way
to Mexico City and Morelia, the first two of 10 stops on their way to
Ciudad Juarez, the world's murder capital.

"With this pain in our hearts, we're going to march all week to the
heart of the most wounded city in the country," Sicilia said during a
speech at Mexico City's independence monument, El Angel de la
Independencia.

Ciudad Juarez is "the symbol of our pain. The symbol of everything
that could come to this country if there isn't a reorientation in the
political life of the nation."

When President Felipe Calderon was elected in 2006, it was Michoacan,
his home state, which was chosen as the location where he declared the
war on drugs.

But since then, an estimated 40,000 people have been killed and
another 3,000 people have disappeared. The killings jumped 60 per cent
last year alone, with 15,273 deaths reported compared to 9,616 in 2009.

According to the National Human Rights Commission, most crimes go
unsolved, with arrests in only 2 per cent of the cases.

Juan Francisco was one of those murdered. On March 28, his body was
found stuffed in a car with six others in Cuernavaca, a beautiful
colonial tourist town south of Mexico City.

They had been bound, gagged and asphyxiated. Francisco wasn't part of
a cartel; he was a 24-year-old student - Sicilia's son.

Since his son's death, Sicilia has sworn to never write another verse
of poetry again. Instead he's spearheaded a national movement calling
for peace.

On May 8, he completed a four-day, 80-kilometre march from Cuernavaca
to Mexico City which attracted an estimated 100,000 to Mexico City's
main square. It was the biggest in the history of the Cuernavaca and
it inspired simultaneous marches in 34 countries around the world.

Much like Sicilia's first rally, the caravan to Ciudad Juarez has
attracted a broad cross-section of society. Students, workers, artists
and intellectuals - all social classes appeared because all kinds of
families have lost a loved one to the war on drugs.

They chant for Calderon to call back the military and bear signs with
the movement's signature phrases: "Estamos hasta la madre" (We've had
it up to here), or "No + Sangre" (No more blood).

When the caravan arrives in Juarez on Friday, leaders from various
civil society groups will sign the Citizen's Pact For Peace, Justice
and Dignity. This six-point plan for peace demands include:

. an immediate end to the war on drugs

. authorities escalate the investigation of unsolved
crimes

. the government curbs corruption, impunity and money
laundering

. an educational and employment strategy for young people is
developed.

Carolina Corral, a 27-year-old Phd student from Queretaro has been
part of the movement since its inception in April and has documented
many testimonies as part of an online video collective (
www.emergenciamx.org).

"You can't just sit back and wait. We're sick of all the violence,"
Corral said. "What we want is to come up with solutions to demand from
the government, but especially to find ways to create community
organization, especially for safety. A dialogue with the government
will come after our dialogue is done."