TBI to Highlight Grassroots Efforts to Combat Violence in Mexico

Veronica Leyva to address USD Community

Faced with an unfathomable increase in violence and a hard-hitting economic crisis, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and other cities along the border are struggling to survive. During the "Ciudad Juárez: The definitive neoliberal city" speaking tour, grassroots organizer Verónica Leyva will discuss the struggle at the border to confront militarization, violence against women, increased internal migration, and the ties between the narcotic conflict and neoliberalism.

In her talk, Leyva will analyze President Felipe Calderon's army-led war on drugs and the millions of dollars promised in US aid for this war via the Merida Initiative. She will report on her own experience of the violent repercussions of these security initiatives for social struggles, women, and civil society along the border.

Verónica Leyva is a grassroots organizer in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. She spent ten years working in the maquiladora industry, and has been organizing in her community for fifteen years conducting workshops on worker's and women's rights as well as participating in the struggle for justice for the victims of the femicides in Ciudad Juarez. She has worked with various organizations in civil society struggling to change the overall living conditions in her community, and was most recently working with CETLAC (Centro de Estudios y Taller Laboral), until joining the Mexico Solidarity Network team.

This event is open to the public and press. For more information please visit us at: www.sandiego.edu/tbi.
 
WHO: Verónica Leyva -- a grassroots organizer in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

WHAT: "Ciudad Juárez: The definitive neoliberal city" is Verónica Leyva’s  speaking tour. She will discuss the grassroots struggle at the border to confront militarization, violence against women, increased internal migration, and the ties between the narcotic conflict and neoliberalism.

WHERE: University of San Diego
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, Rooms H&I
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA
                               
WHEN: Tuesday, November 2, 2010 from 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.