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LULAC CALLS FOR BINATIONAL DIALOGUE TO END VICIOUS CYCLE OF DRUG-RELATED VIOLENCE AND THE START OF PRODUCTIVE ACTIONS

March 07, 2023
Contact: David Cruz - (818) 689-9991
davidcruz@lulac.org

Nation's Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Sends Condolences to Families of Americans Killed in Mexico Gunbattle and Warns Against Partisan Political Rhetoric

Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued a statement in the wake of two Americans killed in Matamoros, Mexico. The FBI reported that four Americans were kidnapped Friday in the Mexican border city across from Brownsville, Texas. Witnesses said four people in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates were caught in cartel crossfire before being taken by force from the scene. Mexican officials reported Tuesday that they located the bodies of two Americans and rescued two survivors, one of them wounded.

Domingo Garcia, LULAC National President
"LULAC sends heartfelt condolences to the families of the Americans who were killed and prays for the recovery of the two persons who were found alive. We urge the FBI and American government officials to work with their counterparts in Mexico and apprehend and bring to justice the persons who committed these criminal acts of attacking innocent American visitors, killing two. Unfortunately, this type of deadly violence is faced daily by Mexican citizens and Americans living near the border in the seemingly endless war on drugs. The stream of drugs continues into the United States, where the demand goes unchecked, and politicians fail to provide rehab and prevention dollars to stop the demand side of this terrible issue. Also, according to the National Institutes for Health (NIH), more than three million Americans are addicted to legally produced and sold opioids in America by legal drug dealers in the US.

To attempt to scapegoat drugs as a 'Mexican border problem' fails to address why American consumer demand has not decreased despite billions spent on police and prisons. We must deal with the violence fed by the insatiable demand for drugs and stop the ignorant political rhetoric, such as building a border wall or sending American troops into Mexico. Such talk only feeds into the wrong mindset that the military-police-industrial prison complex is the solution. Proof of that is that El Chapo is in prison, and Pablo Escobar is dead, but the drug flow continues unabated. These actions have not solved anything in the last fifty years and will not solve drug-related problems in the future. LULAC calls for an emergency border conference with political and community leaders from the USA and Mexico to find real solutions to reduce the demand for drugs and stop the flow of guns and corrupting cash to Mexico."

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About LULAC

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation's largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights volunteer-based organization that empowers Hispanic Americans and builds strong Latino communities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, with 1,000 councils around the United States and Puerto Rico, LULAC's programs, services, and advocacy address the most important issues for Latinos, meeting the critical needs of today and the future. For more information, visit https://lulac.org/