Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Mexican poet Javier Sicilia will head a new peace caravan to the United States next August, to request that Washington halt the sale of illegal arms to Mexico, which "has left many dead and caused only pain."

Sicilia explained that The Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) is preparing a protest in the U.S. capital, at which various U.S. and Mexican civil organizations are expected to attend.

In this event, Sicilia will ask the US to cancel the assistance given to Mexico via the Merida Initiative, a plan devised in 2007 under President George W. Bush, to help in the fight against organized crime, because "it is not working," he said.

"This caravan seeks to raise awareness in America, Mexico, and Central America about the pain and suffering this violence has caused us. The US must assume responsibility for the violence in Mexico, because it contributes to the thousands of deaths from guns that have illegally entered our country," he said.

The United States, "has a legal firearms industry which is arming Mexican crime," said the poet at the end of a press conference at the presentation of the latest film by Marcel Sisniega, based on his novel "Through the Silence."

The poet insisted that the Mexican government must fulfill its commitment to "...investigate the deaths left by the war against drug trafficking, and protect the rights of the families of the victims." Also to use the money confiscated from drug lords to help those affected by violence.

The Movement for Peace was formed in April 2011, after the death of Sicilia's son, Juan Francisco, at the hands of organized crime. The movement calls for an end to the anti-crime strategy of President Felipe Calderon who, when he came to power, brought thousands of soldiers and federal police to the streets.