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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Harvard's Motto "Veritas" (Truth) Is A Drug War Lie


(Photo credit Jessica Rinaldi Reuters)

Six years of his bloody, senseless drug war, 100,000 dead and 25,000 people missing, and Harvard grants Ex-Mexican President Felipe Calderon the first Angelopoulos Global  Public Leader fellowship.

As Author Charles Bowden commented  about this Harvard Crimson article http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/1/31/calderon-protests-kennedy-school/

"After 375 years I am surprised Harvard University can’t tell right from wrong."

Harvard's Kennedy School Dean David Ellwood stated the Kennedy School administrators  believe the fellowship offers students the opportunity to “engage with world leaders and to ask difficult questions on important public policy issues.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/12/4/defend-calderon-appointment/

Seriously?  How many of Harvard's students or faculty were raised in areas such as Ciudad Juarez where Calderon's drug war has torn communities apart?  This is about the privileged and the poor where the former lives a secluded and moneyed life completely insulated from the drug war horror of the later.

The actual difficult question here HKS Dean Ellwood is "Why does Harvard ignore Calderon's legacy of blood and corruption?

http://truth-out.org/news/item/13001-calderon-reign-ends-with-six-year-mexican-death-toll-near-120000

Defenders of Calderon give him a hero status as having the "huevos" to take on organized crime.  HELLO, this is Mexico, where organized crime clandestinely runs the majority of government, politics, the military, and all federal, state and local police.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/world/americas/mexico-detains-3-generals-tied-to-drug-cartel.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

For those of you who don't know, the world's most powerful  cartel leader, El Chapo Guzman is still running free in Mexico after he escaped from jail some 12 years ago.  My guess is that Caldron's "war on drugs" was just an excuse for "government" sponsored  corporate (cartel) takeover which employed non-other than  El Chapo Guzman.    Read this NPR article questioning why El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel seemed to be favored in the drug war.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/mexican-drug-lord-joaquin_n_1073905.html

http://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/126906809/mexico-seems-to-favor-sinaloa-cartel-in-drug-war

So tell me, just how much "Veritas" (Harvard's motto on their coat of arms) is there with Calderon's selection as the first Angelopoulos Global Leader fellowship?

Harvard has shot down (surprise-surprise) our bi-national petition to have Calderon's fellowship rescinded.    Here is the email sent to co-petitioner Eduardo Cortes and me.

 


·         http://secure.wlxrs.com/$live.controls.images/is/invis.gif

Dean_Ellwood's_Office@hks.harvard.edu

Office, Dean's

Dean_Ellwood's_Office@hks.harvard.edu

·          

·         Send email

·         Find email


To j_m_randolph@hotmail.com, cecortesr@hotmail.com

From:
Office, Dean's (Dean_Ellwood's_Office@hks.harvard.edu)
Sent:
Tue 1/29/13 9:57 AM
To:
j_m_randolph@hotmail.com (j_m_randolph@hotmail.com); cecortesr@hotmail.com (cecortesr@hotmail.com)

Dear Mr. Cortes and Mr. Randolph,

Thank you for taking the time to hand deliver a copy of your petition. We understand your concerns and respect the effort you have made.

One of the fundamental tenets of the Kennedy School is the free exchange of ideas. In keeping with our educational mission, the School has a long tradition of providing an opportunity for leaders from around the world to speak to and interact with the community on important public policy issues. Just as important are the opportunities that these engagements provide students to ask unfiltered and often challenging questions of these leaders. 

Mr. Calderón’s one-year fellowship will provide members of our community with the unique opportunity to engage in rigorous discussion and active debate, while exploring the choices and the consequences of alternative strategies for dealing with the hardest problems faced by national leaders. We consider this to be an integral part of our school’s academic and intellectual life.

I commend your deep commitment and your efforts on behalf of what you believe. 

Respectfully,

David                                                                                                                                              David T. Ellwood, Dean                                                                                                               Scott M. Black Professor of Political Economy

Harvard Kennedy School                                                                                                                      79 JFK Street                                                                                                                           Cambridge, MA 02138

 Our new goal is 100,000 signatures:  one for every life sacrificed as a result of Caldron's ill-fated drug war.  Please help with signatures.  I will deliver the appeal to Harvard again once it gains  100,000 signatures to .

http://www.change.org/petitions/harvard-100-000-signatures-one-for-each-person-sacrificed-during-felipe-calder%C3%B3n-s-senseless-war

 

 

   

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