Narco News Consulta Calls Public Meeting, Thursday, November 10, in Long Beach, California

To the Consulta, we’re also adding a public meeting that will be held this coming Thursday, November 10th, at the bi-annual 2005 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Long Beach, California.

The Narco News Consulta meeting – one of many interesting forums next weekend at the same locale - will be conducted at the Westin Hotel at 333 East Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach (near Los Angeles) on Thursday evening from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m. in the hotel’s Tokyo-Vancouver Salon. The general public is invited, as well as the drug policy experts and advocates and other friends, old and new, who will also gather together.

Narco News Acting Publisher Luis Gómez and I – invited to the conference to participate in panels and other discussions about the drug war in Latin America - will attend the Consulta meeting to listen to anyone and everyone that has advice, counsel, criticism, ideas or proposals to offer for The Narco News Bulletin, The Narcosphere, and the School of Authentic Journalism as to how we will continue to do this work of reporting on the drug war and democracy from Latin America in the months and years to come... The major motive for extending the Consulta another month stems from the large volume of people all over América and the world that have requested phone calls to speak with your correspondent. The process of making these calls has been so far extremely worthwhile but I have a long backlog of calls still to make and try to give each call as much time and thought as every voice deserves. We beg pardon and patience to those who have requested a phone call but have not yet received one: to you, I say, you’ll be hearing from me soon. To those of you that have already given your time and thoughts to us during these phone calls, thanks again.

The other motive is that virtually every phone consultation held so far has been worthwhile, bringing fresh ideas, story tips, new colleagues and allies, to our table of Authentic Journalists and Readers and so, additionally, we are opening up the Consulta to anyone that missed the November 1 deadline to request a phone call to do so now by sending an email to consulta@narconews.com with your name, city or town, time zone, and preferred hours to receive calls. If you do that in this month of November, you, too, will be hearing from me.

Since this is a season of listening – and the listening is not completed yet – that is all I have to say at the moment: that, and, well, one more thing: My eternal gratitude to the Narco News Team of Authentic Journalists, Co-publishers, Readers, Supporters and Whistleblowers who continue to do the important daily work of Narco News, day and night, breaking news story after news story, laying waste to the information blockades of the Commercial Media, while I focus my time on listening to everyone that has something to say with an ear toward the future of this project that continues shaking our hemisphere and – based on what I’m hearing from all of you – must continue to do so.

If you will be in or near Long Beach on Thursday, see you there. ¡Hasta la Victoria, siempre!