Anti-Drug War Graffiti in Mexico City

"Calderonismo" -- In reference to Mexico's President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa

These stencilled graffiti appeared on a corner I pass to go to work, Cuauhtemoc and Morelos in the Delegacion Coyoacan. It's a well-traveled corner, in between a vibrant market and a main thoroughfare. A school sits a couple of blocks away. Coyoacan is one of the oldest, most established, and wealthy places in Mexico City. It's a favorite place for a Sunday afternoon stroll. The ice creams are delicious.

The stencil on the left, with a person pointing a gun at somebody's head, with the word, Calderonismo, underneath it, suggests that the President has not offered the country anything but violence. Whether that's true or not is obviously up for debate. But Mexico is certainly beset with little but a concern for violence, much of it from the drug war, and for which some people obviously blame President Calderon.

"Ni uno mas -- Crucifix -- Ni uno mas." (Not one more.)

Since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon entered office in Mexico, 35,000 people have died. And an unkown number have disappeared without trace. The cross is a symbol to commemorate the dead, and the words "Not one more" coupled with the reference to Calderon in the previous graffiti implicitly reject the chilling statisic of 35,000 dead.