Border Report Live: Peacebuilding in a cartel 'war zone'
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) -- Everard Meade is not sure when he'll be able to return to the Mexican state of Sinaloa, where he's been on a peace-building mission for about a decade.
Meade launched Proceso Pacífico there in 2015 in the state capital of Culiacan, which delved into chaos earlier this month when two factions of the Sinaloa cartel began fighting.
The Sinaloa cartel co-founders, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, are in U.S. custody, and their sons are warring for control.
Authorities say at least 40 people have died as of Thursday.
"They're going through a really tough week," Meade said. "It's kind of a succession struggle."
For regular folks, "it's like being in a war zone," he said, noting that roads are being blockaded, vehicles are being torched, schools are closed, and soldiers patrol the streets while the endless drone of helicopters can be heard above.
One goal of Meade's organization is to identify those most affected by cartel violence, whether or not they are direct victims or related to victims of crime.
Another goal is to try to find solutions to the violence.
Meade appeared on Border Report Live and shed light on some of those efforts that can vary from opening a school to mobilizing entire communities to confront crime head-on. He said the people ultimately know what's best for them, and he urges them to share their ideas.
"The people who have the best solutions are often the people who are closest to the problem," he said.
Everard is a specialist in violence, migration, and peace studies. He has a doctorate in Latin American history from the University of Chicago. He was a professor and co-founder of the human rights program at the University of California-San Diego, and later director of the Transborder Institute at the University of San Diego.
He explained that Proceso Pacífico itself is modeled after a college course with different programs and diplomas.
According to the group's website, one program requires participants to put in hours and "collect testimonies from those most affected by violence, implement strategies to reintegrate them into the social fabric, and catalyze a new generation of more effective solutions to the problem of violence."
Meade acknowledges that going into these so-called "war zones" and inevitably dealing with individuals tied to organized crime can be terrifying.
However, he believes the work alone gives them an advantage, adding that once people learn what they are there to do, they are mostly left alone.
- Everard Meade
- Director of Proceso Pacífico.
- Ph.D. in Latin American history from the University of Chicago and is a specialist in violence, migration, and peace studies. He was a professor and co-founder of the human rights program at the University of California-San Diego, and later director of the Transborder Institute at the University of San Diego, where he established new graduate programs in border studies and applied peace education in the border and Baja California.
- Frequent expert and commentator on binational issues, with over 300 media citations and 25 published editorials. He published the first comprehensive history of the death penalty and its abolition in Mexico. and translated and edited the only version of journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas' books to be published in English.
- Meade has a book pending called "Gritando al vacío: violencia y resistencia en México contemporáneo" ("Shouting into the Void: Violence and Resistance in Contemporary Mexico").
- In Culiacán, Sinaloa, he is a special columnist for El Debate, and has directed six versions of the diploma course in peace building with his colleagues in Construyendo Espacios para la Paz, in collaboration with La Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, El Tec. de Monterrey Sinaloa, and other local partners.
- He has served as an expert witness in over one hundred cases on behalf of people fleeing persecution in Mexico, setting a number of national precedents for those seeking asylum and protection under the Convention Against Torture. He is co-founder and head of the advisory board of Ameri-Mex Dreams en Acción, an organization that advocates for deportees in Tijuana, Baja California, and a member of the advisory board of the Immigrant Justice Project, of the Mexican Bar.
On Border Report Report Live (Fridays at 11 a.m. ET), Meade explains how he and his associates navigate Mexico's political climate, as well as the challenges brought on by drug wars, to fulfill their mission.
Proceso Pacífico roughly translates to "peaceful process" and is also a nod to Meade's work in cities along the West Coast, like Tijuana. The group also has projects in the United States and Colombia.