U.S. Tour by Mexican Peace Movement Leader
From February 1-14, 2012, the Fellowship of Reconciliation will host Mexican peace movement leader Olga Reyes, who has seen six members of her family killed in the last two years. The tour will visit the areas of: San Francisco (Feb. 1-3); Portland, OR (Feb. 4-7); Dallas (Feb. 8-11); Tucson and Phoenix (Feb. 11-14). At events in the Bay Area, Dallas and Arizona, she’ll be accompanied by FOR’s John Lindsay-Poland.
Background
Olga Reyes Salazar comes from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, in Mexico. Her sister, Josefina Reyes, was a prominent activist for human rights and demilitarization in Juárez until she was murdered January 3, 2010, after one of her sons had been jailed and another murdered. In February 2011, Olga’s sister, brother, and sister-in-law were abducted, and subsequently found killed. Olga’s mother Sara issued a remarkable appeal to the kidnappers of her children in February, just before the family house was burned down.
See an interview with Olga (in Spanish). Read an account of the Reyes Salazar family’s experience (in English).
Since the killing of her two siblings and sister-in-law in February, Olga has participated in the two “caravans of consolation” led by poet Javier Sicilia, that traveled from central Mexico to the U.S. border in June and to Chiapas and the Guatemala border in September.
Olga brings a powerful testimony of the human costs of the drug war, militarism and gun trafficking, and of the growing movement to forge a different path in Mexico. The United States plays an important part. Please consider hosting Olga in your community as part of the long-term work of the changes we need.
