Cambridge —
I am appalled to learn that outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon has been selected to teach at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Calderon’s 2006 decision to use the Mexican military to fight the Mexican drug cartels brought on one of the most violent periods in Mexico’s history. During his six-year presidency, some 40,000 to 100,000 people have been murdered. Many of those people were innocent bystanders. Tens of thousands of people were displaced. Thousands are missing and orphaned.
Author Charles Bowden is a veteran expert on Ciudad Juarez and Mexico’s drug war. He labeled the Mexican Army as the biggest (drug) cartel of them all.
Has Calderon’s U.S.-backed war on drugs been beneficial to either Mexican or American societies? Those within the Bi-national Drug Enforcement Industrial Complex will say yes. Those who know the truth will say no. Illegal drugs are more prevalent and potent than they have ever been. Billions of U.S. dollars still are flowing south as Mexico’s drugs flow north.
Chapo Guzman, Mexico’s -- and the world’s -- most notorious cartel leader is still doing going strong in Mexico.
Thugs and corrupt officials control Mexico’s streets. Complaints of military corruption, murder and civil rights abuses abound. It is also very common for Mexican journalists and government officials to be forced to either accept bribes or be killed if they challenge the system.
Does Harvard University care about what the majority of Mexicans and many Americans know about Calderon? Does Harvard University know that students and faculty at the University of Texas (Austin) protested and convinced UT decision-makers not to employ Calderon?
Or are those who profit at Harvard within the same elite who profit from our failed drug war? Put another way, is Calderon being rewarded for his obedience to the U.S. government’s war on drugs?
I have started a petition to Harvard President Faust to deny Felipe Calderon as a Harvard Fellow. Please educate yourselves and sign if you agree.
At some point we Americans need to start doing the right thing. Hiring Felipe Calderon is not one of them.
Calderon’s 2006 decision to use the Mexican military to fight the Mexican drug cartels brought on one of the most violent periods in Mexico’s history. During his six-year presidency, some 40,000 to 100,000 people have been murdered. Many of those people were innocent bystanders. Tens of thousands of people were displaced. Thousands are missing and orphaned.
Author Charles Bowden is a veteran expert on Ciudad Juarez and Mexico’s drug war. He labeled the Mexican Army as the biggest (drug) cartel of them all.
Has Calderon’s U.S.-backed war on drugs been beneficial to either Mexican or American societies? Those within the Bi-national Drug Enforcement Industrial Complex will say yes. Those who know the truth will say no. Illegal drugs are more prevalent and potent than they have ever been. Billions of U.S. dollars still are flowing south as Mexico’s drugs flow north.
Chapo Guzman, Mexico’s -- and the world’s -- most notorious cartel leader is still doing going strong in Mexico.
Thugs and corrupt officials control Mexico’s streets. Complaints of military corruption, murder and civil rights abuses abound. It is also very common for Mexican journalists and government officials to be forced to either accept bribes or be killed if they challenge the system.
Does Harvard University care about what the majority of Mexicans and many Americans know about Calderon? Does Harvard University know that students and faculty at the University of Texas (Austin) protested and convinced UT decision-makers not to employ Calderon?
Or are those who profit at Harvard within the same elite who profit from our failed drug war? Put another way, is Calderon being rewarded for his obedience to the U.S. government’s war on drugs?
I have started a petition to Harvard President Faust to deny Felipe Calderon as a Harvard Fellow. Please educate yourselves and sign if you agree.
At some point we Americans need to start doing the right thing. Hiring Felipe Calderon is not one of them.
Read more: LETTER: Deny Felipe Calderón as a Harvard Fellow - Cambridge, Massachusetts - Cambridge Chronicle & Tab http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1107418337/LETTER-Deny-Felipe-Calder-n-as-a-Harvard-Fellow#ixzz2ETRcNZaI
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