Last week we sent you the announcement of a high profile public fast starting on Jan 29th -- the first anniversary of a massacre of 18 teenagers in the Villas de Salvárcrar neighborhood of Juárez. On this day, there will also be a bi-national rally taking place on the border between El Paso and Juárez. 

Global Exchange is organizing a small delegation from San Francisco to join the fasters from across Mexico. If you want to be updated from Juárez, please consider subscribing to our blog service.

Also, we repeat our requests that you send letters of support to the organizers of this event:

Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte
cdhpasodelnorte@hotmail.com

With Copies to:

Felipe Calderon, Mexican President, felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
César Duarte, Chihuahua Governor, despachodelejecutivo@hotmail.com

Sample texts in Spanish and English.

It is clear that this tragic violence is fueled by U.S. military aid to Mexican security forces through the Merida Initiative. Help us grow our petition of calling on the Obama Administration to uphold human rights and halt drug war aid to Mexican security forces.

We also wanted to acknowledge the passing of two wonderful men who, in very different ways, gave unstintingly of themselves to the most downtrodden -- “los de abajo”-- in Mexico.

The remarkable life and transformation life of Bishop Don Samuel Ruiz is encapsulated in this obituary by Laura Carlsen.

John Ross, the rebel journalist who often gave us permission to republish his provocative missives on this listserve is remembered here.

In solidarity,

Ted Lewis
Human Rights Program Director