This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Wearing red duct tape with the words "No More Blood" written on it, Melodia Gutierrez on Wednesday tried to make people in Utah think about drug violence in Mexico.
"At this point it is an international crisis," Gutierrez said.
She was among a band of about eight who stood outside the Mexican consulate in Salt Lake City holding signs carrying the protest slogan, some of them written in Spanish as "No más sangre." Similar protests have occurred in cities around the world for the past week.
The worldwide protests were called for by Javier Sicilia, a poet whose son was one of seven students killed recently in a single act of violence. The protesters want the Mexican government to find a way to end its war with the cartels, which has led to the killing of civilians as a means of extortion, intimidation and revenge.
Stefany Marquez, who helped organize the Salt Lake City protest, said she knows people who have been murdered in Mexico. Marquez said she is from the Mexican state of Morelos, where the seven students were murdered, and lives in Park City.
"I think there must be another way to deal with the cartels," she said, "and if legalizing [drugs] is the best option, just take it."
Gutierrez wants Utahns to contact the Obama administration and tell it to apply more pressure on the Mexican government to protect civilians. Both countries, she said, should legalize and regulate narcotics.
"Unless we're all safe, nobody's safe," Gutierrez said.