el enemigo comun

Gloria Arenas visited the Otro Plantón at Molino de Flores and voiced her commitment to speak in all possible places for the freedom of the 12 political prisoners of Atenco now that the case is in the hands of the Supreme Court. She and others present also participated in an act of protest outside the prison, denouncing prison conditions such as a lack of water for more than three days, telephones that haven’t worked for more than three days, and the total lack of attention to dormitory classification. People who are not senior citizens or disabled or mentally ill are placed in areas reserved for them, resulting in violence among the prisoners and worse conditions for those who have a special condition.

Gloria also received a phone call from Inés Rodolfo Cuellar who has become the spokesperson for the imprisoned comrades. Several other individual prisoners sent out letters to Gloria and Jacobo, which Gloria gladly promised to answer.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

THE OTHER CAMPAIGN GOES ON!

During her visit to the Molino de Flores Otro Plantón, Gloria Arenas Agis read the following statement:

My name is Gloria Arenas Agis, former political prisoner. I’m here today at the gates of Molino de Flores to demand freedom for the political prisoners in this prison and those in the Altiplano prison.

The federal Supreme Court has decided to hear the petition for a protective order in the case of the 12 Atenco political prisoners. Right now, the highest court in the land has the opportunity to correct the tremendous outrage of their imprisonment. It has the opportunity to resolve a conflict in which the dependence of the State of Mexico’s judicial bodies on the Chief Executive has been clearly shown.

It is both politically and legally untenable to keep these 12 prisoners behind bars. Their imprisonment only shows that vengeance rules in this case and that the judges have followed orders from above. The illegality of the prisoners’ arrest and imprisonment is so obvious that people all over the world have demanded their freedom ever since 2006. Last year, members of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) traveled to 12 different states in the country and were received in a show of solidarity by social organizations that organized 100 public events and actions to demand freedom for these 12 prisoners. Several days ago, 11 Nobel Prize winners met with the Secretary of the Interior to deliver a letter to Calderón seeking freedom for the Atenco prisoners; they also met with a magistrate and with several legislators.

Nobel Prize winner Jody Williams said, “What they’re doing to the Atenco political prisoners disgusts me. I mean they’re doing this because it’s a political issue.” In effect, that’s the way the imprisonment of the three prisoners in the maximum security Altiplano prison and of the nine prisoners at Molino de Flores is seen in Mexico and the world –as a filthy, rotten business, a foul display of illegality that has nothing to do with justice or with the state of law. It’s an act of vengeance against the FPDT, which succeeded in avoiding the expropriation of their lands where an airport was to be built. It’s a message sent to teach an insubordinate people a lesson for defending their lands and rights, for standing in solidarity with other struggles, and for telling others about their experience. The imprisonment of the Atenco prisoners is a message sent to keep their example of organization and resistance from being followed by other peoples throughout the country who are now being dispossessed. The imprisonment of the 12 political prisoners of Atenco is also a security message to world capital that says: “Capital can strip peoples of their lands, pollute and loot the natural resources of the country, and the Mexican state will take care of jailing and punishing resistance at all costs to make sure this example will not be followed by others.”

The imprisonment of the Atenco political prisoners is an attempt against freedom of expression and organization that exposes the authoritarianism of the federal, state, and local governments. The Atenco case is political and not legal because the state Governor is campaigning for the Presidency of Mexico in the 2012 elections and wants to send out a forceful message even though it’s based on a chain of illegal acts.

The political nature of the case cannot be hidden from people in this country and the world, and neither can the illegality of the trials and sentences of the three FPDT members and the nine growers found near the scene of the repressive attack against the people of Atenco. In its zeal to lock them up, the government at all three levels has expressly resorted to crimes of repression in the name of defending a non-existent state of law.

Several decades ago, the crime of “social dissolution” was invented, and it was necessary to repeal the statute in order to free political prisoners. Today the measures that criminalize people’s struggles have to do with “organized crime,” “aggravated kidnapping,” and “damage to public thoroughfares,” and these are applied respectively to social organizations, to the retention of functionaries, and to roadblocks, all of which are characteristic expressions of social movements. Putting manifestations of discontent and dissidence on the same level as totally unrelated common crimes is typical of dictatorships. And these are precisely the charges leveled against the Atenco prisoners.

The organized crime charge has been dropped, but the prisoners were tried, found guilty, and sentenced for aggravated kidnapping and for damage to a public thoroughfare. They’ve been unjustly imprisoned for four years. The prison terms of 112 for some and 31 years for others are an abomination that seriously harms the entire country.

The federal Supreme Court’s verdict must be favorable because the social struggle is not a crime. But converting social activists into criminals is, in fact, illegal; it’s a crime. Furthermore, there’s no evidence whatsoever of the participation of the Molino de Flores prisoners in the events, so, according to law, there are no grounds for a guilty verdict. Legally, there is no proof of the responsibility of those charged; accordingly, they must be found innocent of the crimes for which they were tried. The verdict must be favorable because the case of the 12 prisoners is plagued with government misconduct and arbitrary actions beginning with the arrest and continuing throughout the entire judicial process; thus the sentences are illegal.

But the imprisonment of these 12 political prisoners is not the only legal travesty in this case that has damaged the country as a whole; there is also the impunity for the rapists of at least 26 women, the torturers of the 207 people arrested, and the murder of a child and a youth on May 3 and 4, 2006, in Atenco. Authorities at all levels are the intellectual authors and the perpetrators of these crimes, and this matter falls into the public domain. Impunity for these authorities clearly shows the political nature of this case and shows the rotten illegality now impossible to cover up with lies in the news media.

IMMEDIATE FREEDOM FOR THE 12 POLITICAL PRISONERS OF ATENCO!

February 26, 2010

For more details and photos of Gloria Arena Agis’s visit at the Otro Plantón at Molino de Flores, see http://penaldebraye.blogspot.com

by carolina

Abraham Ramírez Vásquez, Juventino García Cruz and Noel García Cruz, the first political prisoners of the Ulises Ruiz regime in Oaxaca, are from the Zapotec town of Santiago Xanica. The three members of the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI) and the Popular Anti-neoliberal Oaxacan Magonista Coordinating Body (COMPA) were arrested on January 15, 2005, after hundreds of preventive and judicial police opened a crossfire on a group of 80 men, women, children and old people who were unloading bricks from a truck as part of a community work project. Abraham, Noel and Juventino were seriously wounded by gunshots. The people responded to the attack with sticks and stones, but more police came in, dragged the three wounded people out of the clinic, and took them to a house to be tortured by the police. After a few days, they were taken to the Ixcotel prison and then to the prison at Pochutla. Despite their serious wounds, they received no medical treatment until 36 hours after being admitted to the Pochutla hospital.

The comrades were jailed under prefabricated charges of homicide, attempted homicide, kidnapping, and felonious assault. In truth, they were being punished for daring to choose their own local officials according to their own customs and traditional decision-making process, and for protecting the rivers, forests, and ecosystem from the destruction caused by the big Huatulco hotel chains.

Several hours after the January 15 shooting, around 300 police showed up in Xanica and stayed for six months. Townspeople were subjected to constant searches, interrogations and surveillance. The police profaned their houses, held children at gunpoint, and harassed the men when they went out to work in the fields. Arrest warrants were issued for many people, who have lived with the constant threat of being detained. When Subcomandante Marcos was on his way to the area with the Other Campaign in 2006, Sergio Ramírez Vásquez, Leoncio Cruz and César Luis Díaz were arrested while putting up posters to announce an event. Policemen and their civil henchmen tortured Sergio and tried to hang César, who was rescued by the women and children of Xanica.

2009 was no exception to five years of mistreatment and abuse. At the first of the year, Abraham Ramírez Vásquez submitted a denunciation of torture to the National Human Rights Commission and sent this message to the public: “…Today, January 15, 2009, marks the fourth year we’ve been held captive by tyrants protected by laws that give them the right to kidnap, kill, and disappear our brothers and sisters who go against their projects. We say to the neoliberal puppets headed by the killer Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) and to his scroungy dogs turned loose on a crime spree to fill the prisons with innocent people, that our people’s only crime is demanding their rights. As these killers well know, our rebellion comes from the heart and we’ll never just sit back and watch this injustice go on. All their chains and cells and walls aren’t strong enough to keep our voice from being heard… They sell our resources to the highest bidder while our people bear the brunt of the direst poverty, and then they act like they’re so concerned about how terrible the economic crisis is….”

On January 31, 2009, a heavily armed police commando made a surprise appearance at the San Pedro Pochutla prison to move Abraham Ramírez Vásquez to the higher security Miahuatlán prison. Calls for urgent action in his support were sent out by CODEDI, Indian Organizations for Human Rights in Oaxaca (OIDHO) and the Magonist Autonomous Collective (CAMA); the three groups make up the Zapatista-Magonista Alliance. On Tuesday, February 10, CAMA called a press conference and rally at the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico City.

In a letter sent to Josefina Jaime Quiroz on March 5, 2009, Abraham wrote: “When they took me out of the Pochutla prison, I wasn’t informed of anything. They didn’t give me time to get my things together, and my wife along with my three children, who are four, six and eleven years old, were left inside, putting their lives and physical integrity at risk. What do you have to say about the rights of women and the rights of children that sound so nice in the articles of our Constitution? The psychological damage inflicted on my children is irreparable, as is the loss of my belongings, kitchen equipment, products used in food preparation, refrigerator, grills, gas tanks, paintings and handicrafts that were thrown out into the street. All this simply reflects the scorn that you have for the life of your fellow man”.

On March 19, 2009, Abraham began a short hunger strike to demand his release from the punishment area of the security prison where he is isolated and barely fed, where his family members are unable to visit him, and where he is only allowed to go outside for exercise one hour a day.

On Friday, March 20, around 30 members of Nodo Solidale demonstrated outside the Mexican Embassy in Rome, Italy. They reported: “Despite the presence of an overly large deployment of police and guards, we shouted out our rage and demanded the immediate freedom of the comrades for more than two hours.”

At the beginning of May, the family members and APPO militants who make up the Xanica Prisoners Committee, set up camp to demand freedom for the three political prisoners.

On May 19, 2009, Carolina Cruz of CODEDI sent out a denunciation of a foiled search of the town of Xanica on the night of April 25: “Once again the intimidation of the marginalized peoples in our state is on the rise. They send us military troops, supposedly to disarm the citizens when the reality is that entire families have nothing to eat. Many children didn’t eat breakfast before going to school today, and the federal government is shoring up its battalions sent out to intimidate Mexican people. Troops came to Santiago Xanica on April 25 to do a general house search in the town that night. Under federal orders they had searched towns in the surrounding area in the early morning hours the day before. In a show of power, they went in raping people, stealing their money and jewels, and they came to Xanica the next day with the same intentions. They weren’t able to do what they wanted, thanks to the intervention of citizens and comrades, but they stayed in the town for three days. Today they went up into the mountains, and we ask: What is their next plan? The children are terrorized. They’re afraid. When will they come back? Are they nearby? What will they do to us? In this region, everybody lives with this fear….”

On June 10, 2009, members of the Xanica Prisoners Committee demonstrated outside the 4th Criminal Court to demand freedom for Abraham, Noel and Juventino.

On August 4, 2009, the First Penal Court at Santa María Huatulco dictated a prison sentence of 8 years for Juventino and Noel García Cruz.

On October 2009, a Pulque Fair was organized by CAMA at the Libertarian Social Center to raise funds for the political prisoners of the Zapatista-Magonista Alliance.

On November 5, 2009, the Xanica Prisoners Committee demonstrated outside the State Human Rights Commission to demand the intervention of the state Ombudsman in the case. Their representative Yolanda Ramírez Vásquez, Abraham’s sister and also member of the Sentenced Prisoners Committee for Absolute Freedom, denounced the Commission’s failure to act.

On November 11, 2009, Yolanda Ramírez Vásquez stated that even though Juventino and Noel’s sentence was dictated on August 4, it was only recently that one of the parties was notified of this sentence. She said: “They were forced to sign a document that was their sentence although they didn’t know it, thereby leaving the youth with no right to appeal. Neither their family members nor lawyers were informed of the decision.”

On November 23, 2009, members of the Xanica Prisoners Committed demonstrated outside the Court at Santa María Huatulco to pressure the Judge Magaly Medina to release Abraham Ramírez Vázquez and the two brothers, Noel and Juventino García Cruz. A banner and graffiti demanded freedom for the three and an end to the hostile acts against Abraham.

On December 12, 2009, the State Assembly of the Section 22 Teachers Union issued a statement “supporting freedom for the Xanica prisoners: Abraham Ramírez Vásquez and Noel and Juventino García Cruz and repudiating the unjust sentence of 8 years in prison for the latter two”.

In closing, we go back to Abraham Ramírez Vásquez’s message of January 15, 2009: “We must always remember, people, that if we bow down to this treatment, our children will suffer the consequences. We were born free. We love freedom. So seeing as how all those puppets still don’t wear chains, we’ll never slack off in our struggle. And since so many of us have been killed, disappeared, or locked up, we can’t take one step backward.”

To support the prisoners of Santiago Xanica, come to the dance on February 18 at 6:00 pm at the Multiforo Cultural Alicia, Av. Cuauhtemoc 91- A, Col. Roma. $40 pesos. Groups include Santocho Antifa (on their second anniversary), Salario Mínimo, Son Solidaridad and the Tlaxiqueros. Sponsors: Colectivo Autónomo Magonista, Cruz Negra Anarquista and Alianza Magonista Zapatista.

February 18, 2010 – From Casa Chapulin – Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, husband and father of three children, was released from prison for wrongfully being accused for the killing of Indymedia journalist Bradley Ronald Will. Will was shot on October 27, 2006 by paramilitary troops under the orders of governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz while he was recording a mobilization in Santa Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca during the 2006 APPO movement.

Amidst the clouds and rainy day, the Martinez Moreno family was greeted by community members, teachers, friends, and media. Family and friends marched from the prison to the Zocalo. Juan Manuel was imprisoned for approximately 16 months without any solid evidence or witnesses proving him guilty.

photos by Sylvia Gonzalez

Juan Manuel (green shirt) walks free with his family, friends, and teachers at his side while leaving Ixcotel prison.

The media captures the release of Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno

The family greets friends waiting for the freedom of Juan Manuel

The family stands strong as they receive the support of the crowd

Family members, friends, teachers, and community members march from the prison to the Zocalo to celebrate the liberty of Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno

Rally in the city center

In this clip, a community member shares with us some words while waiting for the release of Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno. Juan Manuel was imprisoned for over 16 months for being wrongly accused for the assassination of Bradley Will, Indymedia reporter.

In this clip, Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno shares with us words of hope upon recently being release from prison. He was imprisoned for over 16 months for being wrongfully accused for the murder of Bradley Will, Indymedia journalist, who was documenting a mobilization in Oaxaca during the 2006 APPO movement

To all media outlets
To the public body
To all community members

As many people already know, Emeterio Marino Cruz, one of the many social justice fighters that was repressed by the assassin governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO) and Felipe Calderon, filed a criminal complaint against Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, Jorge Franco Vargas, Sergio Segreste Rios, Aristeo Lopez Martinez, Daniel Camarena Flores, Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, and Evencio Nicolas Martinez on charges of abuse of authority, attempted murder, physical torture, moral torture, psychological torture, cruel and inhumane treatment, destruction of public service, and injuries.

This complaint was filed at the Mexican Attorney General’s (PGR in Spanish acronym) office. But after time, the complaint was suspended. Months later we found out that the complaint was in the hands of Evencio Nicolas Martinez, agent and defendant of the state of Oaxaca. Again, another crime was committed, because he did not step up to be a judge in this case and because he delayed the process that should proceed according to law.

A couple days ago, the Licenced Wilfrido Bemardino Garcia Olivera, agent of the Public Ministry and associated with the Mexican Attorney General of the State of Oaxaca (PGJE in Spanish acronyms), announced that the aforementioned people denounced by Emeterio are exempt of all criminal charges, and therefore there is no guilty party for the actions on July 16, 2007.

It is clear what we have already known, that “justice” in our country was not intended for the poor.

It is for that reason that we make this public denouncement. This is an act of total impunity, but nothing strange for a country where a union of more than 60,000 workers could disappear from one day to the next, where the state is saturated with military and paramilitary troops under the pretext to stop narcotrafficking, a country that passes reforms to make the powerful more powerful, a country where the freedom of expression is a crime and the price is either death or imprisonment, as is the case for the political prisoners and those who were assassinated in 2006.

It is for this reason that we make this call to organize and mobilize since this is the only way to achieve justice.

2010 will be a year in which justice and repression will switch names, where even if the tyrant URO leaves his position of power, it will not guarantee that there will be change in Oaxaca.

We know that the impeachment of URO will not be easy but it is not impossible either.

Fraternally,

Emeterio Marino Cruz y familia

To all media outlets
To the public body
To all community members

On January 28, 2010 a local newspaper published an article written by Reynaldo Bracamontes titled “Political Alliances: The Only Exit in the Face of Oppression: Emeterio”. In the article Emeterio supposedly says that the Political Alliance is the citizen’s alternative in order to free ourselves from the oppression of the current PRI government.

We deny this supposed declaration. The press conference held on the 27th of January was held in order to show the total impunity of the government in Oaxaca.

Our position on the elections has been clear since the moment we joined the struggle. We are sure that change will not come from a political party and it is even less likely to come from this corrupt alliance, which allegedly contains leftist political parties. In reality the leftist parties are like all political parties, reformists and thieves. All of the political parties supported the repression in 2006-2007. Change is only possible with the reorganization from the people of Oaxaca.

We remember the experience in 2006 when the PRD took advantage of the crisis in the state by declaring a punishment vote against the PRI and the PAN. They won the election, but once in power they abandoned the people. The PRI, PAN, PRD, PT, CONVERGENCIA, and other parties ordered the repression against the people of Oaxaca and allowed the PFP to enter the state in October of 2006. These experiences made the political situation in Oaxaca and the rest of the country very clear to us.

We completely reject all the political parties that are participating in the Political Alliance because they are all the same as the PRI, but with another name.

We will continue moving forward without political parties. The only popular power is in the people and we will continue moving forward with the people through this period of reorganization.

Our dignity has no price. Our ideas are clear. We will not stop until there is profound change not superficial change.

Sincerely,

Emeterio Marino Cruz and Family

How can we ever express our gratitude when there just aren’t enough words. And the emotion that whirls in our throats, our heads, our hearts, unnerves us and keeps churning, seeking an exit like a trapped bird beating its wings against the bars of its cage. And the words stick in our throats. That’s how I feel because you’re here brothers, sisters, all of you.

Because you drank from my chalice of bitterness, grief, rage along with me, and made my fear, my anger, my impotence yours. It’s not my intention to praise you or to move you with empty words. I’d reproach myself and you wouldn’t accept it.

Putting one’s conscience above mean interests devoid of solidarity principles is inconceivable for those who have let themselves be dragged down by greed and personal abundance, denying their brothers and sisters, denying their people. They’ve put a price on their dignity.

They’ve forgotten their roots, thereby denying a decent, dignified future to their offspring. They’ve become the puppets of those who repress us, those who pursue us, those who jail us, those who massacre us, those who hand over our homeland to the foreign interests that are the cause of our rebellion. And they condition what rightfully and legitimately belongs to us ––a life of freedom and dignity, the right to health, education, jobs, tranquility, and land, things that all human beings deserve, just as our ancestors said when they gave their blood for the people 500…200…100 years ago.

What are we going to celebrate? What do we have to remember? What do we need to reflect on? The abuses are still being replicated and there’s no lack of puppets who’ve fallen to new levels of servile, immoral shamelessness. They’ve put a price on everything, even the blood and the dreams of our ancestors.

[Placing conscience above mean interests] is inconceivable for those who never experience the absence of bread at their table.

It’s inconceivable for those who have forgotten that our origins give us our identity –what we are today and what we’ll continue to be ––living by principles of unity as a great family; shaping the mornings of each new day without forgetting our yesterdays, even the hardships and shortages; longing for a new day with more light for our children, for our sisters and brothers, for everyone; always sharing our sorrows, our joys, our bread, our willpower.

These are principles passed down to us by our grandparents that we carry on in our blood, that emerge from our skin, from the voices of each child, each woman, each young person, each old person, each brother, each sister, all of us together. Our present has been forged from heavy blows, from blood, from grief and rage, and even so, we hold hope in our hearts and we still keep on smiling when everything goes wrong.

We’re made of pounded metal forged in fire that doesn’t break apart or tarnish; on the contrary, it shines more brightly.

It holds an active reflection, a date with our past, an inner journey to light the lamp that guides our way.

It’s the reflection of ourselves as the owners of time, which enables us to design new futures without borders for those who want to share their bread, for those whose hands grow fruit for everyone, and for those who hold love in their hearts for others.

In this slice of life that’s ours to share, we’ve learned…

-that resisting isn’t the same thing as conforming, that withstanding hardships is not the same as resigning ourselves, that faith doesn’t fall from the sky, that hope isn’t brought in by the swallows;

-that we have to resist by struggling; that we withstand hardships so we won’t fall down, but instead will be able to take the next step;

-that hope is built through actions, and that by joining our hands, hearts, and songs, we can make the sun come up;

-that we’ve never been alone, that we need to come together again as brothers and sisters;-that we don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to be free;

-that what belongs to the people must be defended with a fight to the death, that it can’t be bartered, that defending it is our obligation, and that every sacrifice is an honor;

-that when we raise our voices to be heard, it’s not to arouse the pity of those at the top, but to awaken our brothers and sisters, and

-that the root of all social inconformity is the seizure of the labor of the people by those who institute the most perverse forms of control and subjugation.

Injustice is offered to our people in all shapes and sizes ––small, medium, large, and if necessary, extra-large. Which do you prefer? All are easily affordable, depending on how combative you are.

And if your pocket is empty and your hunger is unbearable, and if you speak out or join up with others to shout louder or demand justice, the system has the time-tested antidote ready in all kinds of packaging –threats, clubbing, teargas, punitive prisons, persecution, life sentences and other innovations carefully administered to the people with just the right dosage of repression and death.

We’ve learned that no sacrifice is in vain when adversity is resisted in relentless struggle, but that indifference and a lack of consciousness of our reality blurs our vision and complicates things, deterring the struggle against our natural enemy, our common enemy, the one that tricks us with alcohol and circus used as make-up for its perverse face.

On this journey, women have shown us their true place, the one they’ve always held with their tremendous force ––women who engender hope deep within, who embellish our dreams with a kiss, who weave us an overcoat of caresses and take us by the hand to inaugurate our own destiny, who know our childhood secrets and lovingly hold even the smallest memories in their hearts, who never disown us before anyone, who become fierce beasts if they see we’re in danger, who break the silence to shout “Enough is enough!”

Daughters, sisters, compañeras, mothers, who give their all without asking anything in return, who become flowers to adorn our universe, who become eternal stars with a light that never goes out, who give birth to luminous dawns, and who light up the world with a wink of the eye! To you, sisters, our eternal gratitude.

To all of you who have welcomed us, to all of you who have written to us, to the fathers and mothers of children who’ve been massacred, pursued, jailed, threatened, I am deeply saddened by the pain and suffering you’ve been through and are still going through. It is hard for me to express my feelings in the face of such adversity. I know that words don’t heal your wounds, but I feel obliged to send you my humble greetings and a warm embrace of respect and admiration.

To all my brothers and sisters who have worked so hard for our freedom, I send you greetings and my heartfelt desires for your well-being and revolutionary convictions.

To the comrades in the camp outside the Molino de Flores prison at Texcoco, all our affection.

Here, there and everywhere, the struggle will go on! Zapata lives! The struggle continues!

To all our brothers who have already gotten out of prison, I offer you a moment of applause and our commitment to keep up the struggle!

Héctor, Felipe and Ignacio.

Neither time nor distance keeps us apart!

It’s our obligation to dig our battle trenches right where we are!

Long live the struggles of all oppressed peoples!

Long live the struggle of SME!

“Join in the march to the beat of the drum. Listen to the people speak through my voice. Join in the march to the beat of the drum, march to the beat of the revolution!”

NACHO

January 22, 2010

Four Foreigners Detained without Justification in Oaxaca, Mexico on Thursday January 28th 2010

Oaxaca — January 30, 2010

Press Release

On Thursday January 28, at around 9 p.m. Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, James Wells and Jennifer Lawhorne were eating ice cream in the zocalo of Oaxaca. At that time, one of us recognized the face of the governor of Oaxaca who was about nine feet away from us. As a friend of Brad Will, a U.S. journalist who was killed in Oaxaca in 2006, one of us took advantage of the governor’s presence to ask him about the case of Mr. Will, which to this day remains unresolved. We didn’t receive a response from the governor who continued walking and we continued strolling in the zocalo with our ice creams. Five minutes later, between six and eight police agents, some in official uniform and others dressed in plainclothes, surrounded us, demanding to see our identifications and made us walk with them to a municipal police truck. While the police forced us to get into the back of the truck, we asked them why they were taking us away and to where they were going to take us. The police refused to give us any information. We were actually very afraid and worried for our safety.

After traveling for half an hour, we arrived at the police headquarters of Santa Maria Coyotepec, located outside of the Oaxaca city limits.. Once we entered, the police took photographs of us and asked us questions. We demanded the presence of an attorney, which was denied by the police officials. We spent an hour there surrounded by police, faces covered with ski masks, who humiliated and threatened us. Later, the police put us once again in the police truck and without telling us to where we were going, we left the headquarters. The truck stopped about half a block away from the state General Procuradaria of Justice (PGJO in its letters in Spanish), the police ordered us to leave our belongings in the darkness of the street and when we refused to do that, they insisted by threatening us for half an hour while recording us with video. After entering the offices of the PGJO, the police ordered us to leave our belongings with them and that we make a declaration one by one without the presence of an attorney. We remained firm that we weren’t going to do anything until our attorney arrived.

After waiting for more than an hour, we were taken to a room where we supposedly were going to make a call to our lawyer. While in the room, a police officer read to us a document explaining our charges and to our surprise we were accused of scuffling and causing harm to two police agents. In that document, our arrest was ordered and without making the call to our lawyer, we were pushed and dragged out of the room, while twisting the wrist of one of us. That’s how we were taken to the jail cells at 12:30 in the morning. At 1:30, we were allowed to see a lawyer, Jesus Alfredo Lopez Garcia, who we agreed to be our legal representative. From then on we knew that we were going to spend the night in jail. Throughout the night, the police continued to intimidate us, asking us why we were there. We continued to state that we didn’t do anything to cause our incarceration because we never committed any crime. Confused, we did our best to sleep on the cold jail floor.

The next day, Friday January 29, we learned that the gravity of charges that had been filed against us had increased. One of us was taken to make a statement when she learned that we were being accused of assaulting two police officers and damaging a police radio valued at about $3000 (USD). We continued to demand our right to not make a statement. At around 4p.m., our attorney informed us that for a lack of evidence, we were going to be set free without charges and without having to pay bail, under the provision of passing through a review with officials from National Immigration Institute. Upon arrival at the federal immigration offices located in the center of the city, we presented our passports and visas and shortly we were allowed to walk free.

After learning about the situation, the U.S. consul, Mark Leyes, invited us to visit him at his office the same evening and told us that he was sorry for what had happened to us. We would like to thank the attorney Jesus Alfredo Lopez Garcia from the Mexican Protectorate for Human Rights, our friends and family members for all of their support and care.

Sincerely,
Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, Jennifer Lawhorne and Jimmy Wells

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a bad night in oaxaca
http://unamalanocheenoaxaca.blogspot.com

by the Free Víctor Herrera Govea Support Committe

FIRST OF THE YEAR 2010

Our compañero Víctor Herrera Govea is still unjustly held prisoner since his arrest at the march of October 2, 2009, where he was beaten and accused with the lie of having robbed an OXXO convenience store…

WE NEVER FORGET AND ARE KEEPING UP
THE FIGHT FROM PRISON…

…He’s inside, we’re outside..

We stand against the forgetfulness, the fatigue, the desperation, the uncertainty.

that you say you’re sorry and beg for a pardon for fighting and living with dignity…

From inside prison we’re determined to keep on being free despite the walls, guards, harassments, lies against us and court dates.

Heads up: This week they should make a decision about granting a protective order.

http://vsencapsulamiento.wordpress.com

by Jen Lawhorne

A community radio in southern Mexico celebrated five years of being on the air despite all of the harassment it has suffered from local, state and federal authorities. Transmitting in the language of its people, amuzgo, Radio Ñomndaa has become a bastion of organization in the region.

In Port au Prince, Haitians Are Helping Each Other with Their Hands and the Few Tools They Can Find

By Ansel Herz
Special to The Narco News Bulletin

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI, JANUARY 14, 2010: The roof of Haiti’s national penitentiary is missing. The four walls of the prison rise up and break off, leaving only the empty sky overhead.

The gate to the jail in downtown Port-Au-Prince is wide open; the prisoners and police are all gone. Bystanders walk freely in and out, stepping over the still-hot smoldering remains of the facility’s ceiling. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday afternoon broke it to pieces.

“I don’t know if he’s alive or not alive,” said Margaret Barnett, whose son was a prisoner. “My house is crushed down. I’m just out in the street looking for family members.”

“Where is the help?” she asked. The former government employee spits the question again and again, hands on her hips. “Where is the help? Is the UN really here? Does America really help Haiti?”

In the absence of any visible relief effort in the city, the help came from small groups of Haitians working together. Citizens turned into aid workers and rescuers. Lone doctors roamed the streets, offering assistance.

At the crumbling national cathedral, a dozen men and women crowded around a man swinging a pickaxe to pry open the space for a dusty, near-dead looking woman to squeeze through and escape.

The night of the quake, a group of friends pulled bricks out from under a collapsed home, clearing a narrow zig-zagging path towards the sound of a child crying out beneath the rubble.

Two buildings over, Joseph Matherenne cried as he directed the faint light of his cell phone’s screen over the bloody corpse of his 23-year-old brother. His body is draped over the rubble of the office where he worked as a video technician. Unlike most of the bodies in the street, there was no blanket to cover his face.

Central Port-Au-Prince resembles a war zone. Some buildings are standing, unharmed. Those that were damaged tended to collapse completely, spilling into the street on top of cars and telephone poles.

In the day following the quake there was no widespread violence. Guns, knives and theft weren’t seen on the streets, lined only with family after family carrying only their belongings. They voiced their anger and frustration with sad songs that echoed throughout the night, not their fists.

“Only in the movies have I seen this,” said 33-year-old Jacques Nicholas, who jumped a wall as the house where he was playing dominoes tumbled. “When American send missiles to Iraq, that’s what I see. When Israel do that to Gaza, that’s what I see here.” Late at night, Nicholas heard false rumors that a tsunami was coming and he joined a torrent of people walking away from the water.

Nobody knows what to expect. Some people said Haiti needs a strong international intervention – a coordinated aid effort from all the big countries. But it was evident on the streets that no immediate cavalry of rescue workers was on the way from America and other nations.

“My situation is not that bad,” said Nicholas, “but overall the other people’s situation is worse than mine. So it affects me. Everybody wants to help out, but we can’t do nothing.”

Haitians are doing only what they can. Helping each other with their hands and the few tools they can find, they lack the resources to coordinate a multi-faceted reconstruction effort.

A popular radio host here reminded everyone that the strength of the Haitian people cannot be underestimated, posting on his Twitter: “We can re-build! We overcame greater challenges in 1804” – the year Haiti threw off the yoke of colonial slavery in a mass revolt. As the days tick by and the bodies pile up, it will take bold vision and hard work on that scale for Haiti to recover from Tuesday’s tremors.

source: http://narconews.com/Issue63/article4010.html

by Jenka, KBOO.fm

A Mexican judge has once again called for the release of human rights activist Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno. Moreno was charged with the murder of Indymedia journalist Brad Will in 2006, despite the fact that there was no evidence against him. On December 31, 2009, a Mexican judge recognized this lack of evidence, and ordered Moreno’s release within fifteen days.

Supporters of Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno say that he was framed for the murder because he is an activist who has pointed out corruption in the Mexican government. Several off-duty Mexican police who were caught on film shooting at Brad Will have not been charged with any crime. This past October, another judge ordered Moreno to be released due to lack of evidence, but the Mexican Attorney General’s office appealed the order. Moreno has been in jail for over a year, despite the fact that over one hundred eyewitnesses say that he was not present at the scene of Brad Will’s murder.

This is an interview with Kathy Will, Brad Will’s mother, about Juan Manuel’s case.

source: http://kboo.fm/node/18611

Wind power projects on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southeastern Mexico harm land of Zapotecan farmers.

During the months of November and December 2009, journalists from the Netherlands traveled for a project called LA Ruta. The intent of the project is to report on the Millennium Development Goals from the perspective of the civil society and social movements.

In this important video, LA Ruta visited Juchitán, Oaxaca on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southeastern Mexico to report on the conflict between Zapotecan farmers and wind energy firms.

Download the video

by Oaxaca Libre

Narrations in Movement: Oaxaca 2006. This is a publication by the alternative news media Oaxaca Libre and Revolucionemos Oaxaca, in collaboration with the Universidad de la Tierra in Oaxaca and Swarthmore College in the United States. It’s a product of the Seminar on Creative Journalism held in the last semester of 2008 in Oaxaca. The stories are told by people who lived in an encampment, by those who rediscovered the streets in marches, by those who smelled the tear gas of repression or felt the warm blood of a friend or family member only seconds after their loved one was hit by a bullet…

Here are their perspectives. Teachers, journalists, students, vendors, lawyers attended the Seminar… Some were over seventy years old, dialoguing with young people under twenty. But day in and day out, they all experienced the heroic actions of 2006. And they came together to tell what they saw. Here you have many voices assembled by the speakers themselves. They are convinced that only stories have meaning, and they joined up to tell them in this book that we’re presenting today to commemorate the significant events that took place one November 25th.

Here they are. Again. It’s time to touch them, feel them, live them.

Starting around 10 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, December 13, the main plaza in San Salvador Atenco started to fill up with young people of all ages ready to move their bodies to the sounds of jarocho, trova, hip hop, reggae and, more than anything ska, ska, and ska! These festivities marked the end of a successful tour to spread information and build support for the 12 political prisoners and 2 politically pursued people from Atenco. They also marked the beginning of a new stage in the campaign to bring them home in 2010.

Comrades came from Oaxaca, Monterrey and several other states and countries, including Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and the United States joined in the campaign to learn more about it while enjoying the vibrant rhythms, hot or cool, of the trova from Chile, Cuban music with Radio Son, son jarocho with Los Cojolites of Veracruz, intense songs of Vicente Cayo and hip hop soul by the Chilean singer Moyenei. A lot of people also came mainly to hear some of the best-known bands in Mexico ––Panteón Rococó, Los de Abajo, Los Guanabana and the Cyberpachukote Sound System. Some already knew a lot and others just a little about the defense of these lands and the price paid for it, but everybody knew where they were headed and nobody has missed out on the fact that the word “Atenco” means “resistance.” Even though there was some impatience over the time spent reading statements, the rebellious spirit of the music was contagious, as was the solidarity shown by Roco, Odisea, “el Oso”, Dr. Shenka, and other musicians who got everyone jumping while they shouted out for the freedom of the prisoners and called on the crowd to express their feelings for Calderón and other known tyrants.

The same hands that fixed and served the rice, beans, chicharrones in green sauce, tortillas, and jamaica punch all day long, were waving in the air to a ska beat that night. Just in case Enrique Peña Nieto, Wilfredo Robledo Madrid and the rest of the state killers, rapists and torturers think they’ve stamped out the love of life and rebellious spirit of San Salvador Atenco, they’re sadly mistaken.

Reading from a statement by the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), Trinidad Ramirez del Valle said: “On this tour, we visited the states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Jalisco, Baja California, San Luis Potosí, Guerrero, Morelos, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Puebla, Michoacán and Oaxaca. We held 93 events that consisted of marches, meetings, forums, workshops, conferences, festivals, rallies, video-debates, and protests. On this tour, we met with 119 sister solidarity organizations, and gave 26 radio and television interviews.” The statement describes the situation of violence and repression in the country, the criminalization of the social movements, the growing militarization, and the increase in poverty, “intensified by the economic crisis generated by neoliberal policies geared towards the concentration of wealth in the hands of the political-economic class in power.” It also emphasizes that this crisis has moved “the people and its organizations to mobilize and generate consciousness in the population to speak out and make a message of hope and dignity visible in order to change the reality that Felipe Calderón, Enrique Peña Nieto, Ulises Ruíz, Juan Sabines and many more try to maintain so they can keep on exploiting, dispossessing and oppressing us.” The statement warns that government still plans to build the airport and is now sending agents from the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) to buy up lands under the pretext of an ecological recovery project, but says the lands are NOT for sale.

Compañera Trini thanked the Committee for Freedom and Justice for Atenco, Youth in Alternative Resistance (JRA), Women without Fear, and Advisory Services for Peace (SERAPAZ) for helping to organize the Festival and gave special recognition to Roco and recently released political prisoner Jacobo Silva Nogales, awarding them machetes and bandanas.

In an interview, Heriberto Salas of the FPDT talked about the main accomplishments of the tour: “The most important thing was building ties with other struggles in different parts of the county, a way for us to add force to our own struggle and others as well. Everywhere we went, we proposed a 6 point program.” These points consisted of the formation of a coordinating group, network, or meeting of support for the prisoners; the adoption of a prisoner for the purpose of sending letters to him since communications are very important in helping people withstand prison; fundraising every 6 months; a coordinated action in 2010 to commemorate May 3 and 4 on the fourth year of imprisonment; efforts to enlist more organizations in the cause; and lastly, appearing in person or writing letters to pressure the Department of Internal Affairs to gain transfers for the prisoners in Altiplano and to pressure the Judicial Branch to release them.

Heriberto pointed out that “in addition to strengthening the ties that we already had with some comrades, we also met other groups who are in resistance against the theft of their lands, resources, and jobs in many towns and cities throughout the country. We showed our solidarity with these real struggles that are going on right now with our presence and our actions.”

This was evident at the beginning of the tour in Chiapas, “the heart of resistance in the country,” where the FPDT met with Las Abejas of Acteal and the Good Government Councils of Los Altos and Oventic. They said: “Solidarity is the caress of the peoples, the premise that moves us forward. Without it, we wouldn’t be capable of being here. You have shown us that struggle is the only road that brings us together as sisters and brothers, and so, following your example, we’ve come back to find you once again, because if this weren’t possible we wouldn’t have the strength to continue. Without your struggle this world wouldn’t be better than it was before. Thanks to you, we can shout out to the world that hope has a brown face and a rebellious smile, that your struggle is the mirror that we look into. That’s why we’re here with you, looking into each others’ eyes, our mirrors. Brothers and sisters Zapatistas, we want you to know that in you we find the breath of life that keeps us going, that Zapatismo has marked the road we’re traveling”. In San Cristobal, representatives of the FPDT participated in a meeting on political prisoners along with representatives of Voces Inocentes, the Voz del Amate, the ejidos of Mitzitón and San Sebastián Bachajón, the FNLS and the MOCRI. In Tonalá, they marched with the Regional Autonomous Council of the Coastal Zone of Chiapas in support of the civil resistance to paying electricity bills.

Other solidarity actions included a protest at the Monument of the Miner in Taxco in support of the miners who have been on strike for more than two years, demanding a wage increase, better working conditions, and job safety. In Atoyac, the travelers marched with the Campesina Organization of the Southern Sierra (OCSS) to the city’s zocalo, where they placed a wreath of flowers on the monument to Lucio Cabañas and formed an honor guard with their machetes raised high. At a march in Tlapa, they showed their solidarity with the opposition to La Parota dam and reservoir, and also with the students at the rural teacher training schools and the indigenous communities of the Montaña region who have suffered government repression.

In their tour through Oaxaca, where UBISORT paramilitaries prevented them from entering San Juan Copala, the FPDT showed their solidarity with the struggles of many communities and participated in the march to demand justice for the brutal repression in 2006: “Today, November 25, we remember with rage and courage how the people of Oaxaca were the targets of a massacre committed by a murderer just like Enrique Peña Nieto ––Ulises Ruiz, who has gone down in history as one of the cruelest governors in Mexico ….Today we’re here as part of the Campaign for Justice and Freedom for Atenco, “12 Prisoners, 12 States”; we’re here in the last state of the tour, and we chose this honorable people because of the ties of sister and brotherhood that exist between our struggles….”

Compañero Heriberto stressed that the immediate task is to achieve freedom for the political prisoners, not only of Atenco, but of the country and the world. “This is a political issue that can’t be reduced to a legal matter,” he said. “The courts are closing the road to us, little by little, but we’re counting on the force of the civil society to open it. What’s needed is political mobilization to get the prisoners out of prison. The year 2010 offers us a chance to make deep changes in Mexico and we’re going to do that through peaceful, civil struggle.”

The Committee of Freedom and Justice for Atenco alerts us that “during 2010, a decision will be made on the final petition for judicial relief that the 12 political prisoners have filed.” The Committee calls “on one and all to strengthen our initiative that seeks only freedom and justice. This is the time for organization; this is the time for mobilization. LET’S ALL FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN 2010. Let’s participate, one and all, in the National Campaign for Freedom and Justice for Atenco.”

http://atencofpdt.blogspot.com/

http://www.atencolibertadyjusticia.com/new/

x carolina

Central Penitentiary, State of Oaxaca, December 16, 2009

TO THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
TO HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE GROUPS
TO THE DEMOCRATIC TEACHERS OF SECTION 22, SNTE, OAXACA, OAX.
TO THE LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS MEDIA
TO THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA, MEXICO, AND THE WORLD

We, the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience of the Loxicha Region who are still locked up in this prison, are writing to your organizations to let you know about the recent murder of an Indigenous Education professor who was working in the Loxicha Region and about the killings of other citizens. Day by day, state repression against the Zapotec people of Loxicha is heightened, creating an intolerable political climate precisely at the time when people are beginning to reconstruct the social fabric that was torn apart by State repression in 1996. For this reason, we, the Loxicha political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, from our battle front, vigorously repudiate the cowardly murder of professor ELEAZAR MARTINEZ ALMARAZ, who was shot down on the morning of December 14, as well as the murders of other Zapotec people, whose cases have resulted in absolute impunity.

We hold the state and municipal governments responsible for these bloody deeds, as well as the paramilitary groups that operate in the region, destabilizing the residents’ social life.

We hereby demand that the relevant authorities promptly investigate and punish the masterminds and perpetrators of these crimes in accordance with the law. Enough is enough of all this injustice by the authorities and impunity for them. It’s their duty to see that the people live in peace and harmony.

Respectfully yours,

POLITICAL PRISONERS AND PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE OF THE LOXICHA REGION, OAXACA

C. AGUSTIN LUNA VALENCIA
C. FORTINO ENRIQUEZ HERNANDEZ
C. ALVARO SEBASTIAN RAMIREZ
C. ABRAHAM GARCIA RAMIREZ
C. MARIO AMBROSIO MARTINEZ
C. JUSTINO HERNANDEZ JOSE
C. ZACARIAS P. GARCIA LOPEZ

by Amig@s de Mumia, México

To the sound of drums, a little over a hundred of us demanded freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal outside the United States Embassy in Mexico City on December 9, 2009, as well as for Leonard Peltier, the men and women of MOVE, the Angola 3, Sundiata Acoli, Los Cinco, Francisco Torres, Hugo Pinnell, Ruchell Magee, Marilyn Buck, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the Puerto Rican Independentistas, David Gilbert, Ramsey Muñiz, the environmental prisoners and all the social activists that this government intends to bury alive. We also demanded freedom for the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners resisting torture and imprisonment in Israeli jails.

We accuse the United States government of kidnapping Mumia Abu-Jamal and holding him in conditions of torture for 28 years and of making an ongoing attempt on his life. In spite of all the evidence of racial discrimination in his trial, the Supreme Court of the United States ––the highest court in the land–– has denied him justice and, in so doing, has become party to these crimes. Despite photographic evidence that completely destroys the ridiculous scenario put forward by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office of the shooting death of policemen Daniel Faulkner in 1981, the managers of the national security state are now redoubling their efforts to execute this revolutionary journalist. If they’re not able to apply the death penalty, which is nothing but premeditated murder, they plan to hold him captive in silence for the rest of his life. We support the demand for a federal civil rights investigation and all actions necessary to win his freedom.

We also accuse the United States government of fostering political prison and the extermination of the social struggle here in Mexico by training and equipping military and police forces to repress the social movements. We demand freedom for Ignacio del Valle, Felipe Álvarez, and Héctor Galindo, now held with long vengeful sentences which amount to life in prison, and freedom for the prisoners in Molino de Flores, the recently arrested comrades Victor Herrera Govea and Emmanuel Hernández Hernández, and all political prisoners in Oaxaca, Campeche, Guerrero and the entire country. We say NO to Plan México and NO to the construction of more prisons.

Our moderator Armando spoke of Mumia Abu-Jamal as a comrade we’ve supported for a long time, condemned to death or life in prison for “being a critic of the highly racist society of the United States, whose own Declaration of Independence refers to indigenous people as ‘merciless Indian savages’ and which is built on the slave labor of people brought there from Africa. The history of the United States has been one of slavery, imperialism, and the robbery of the wealth of other peoples, all of which we have experienced in Mexico. And since Mumia is a good critic, he brings out these things. That’s why he’s in prison”.

After reading Mumia’s essay on Oscar Grant, whose murder by a BART policeman sparked a rebellion in the streets of Oakland at the first of the year, one of our members, Hilda, commented that although Mumia Abu-Jamal is now officially condemned to life in prison, there is a big effort to execute him and that his life is in grave danger. She explained that this essay is one of many things he has written on different issues, including Atenco, Oaxaca, the war in Iraq, from his small cell on death row where he has no physical contact whatsoever with his family or friends. She mentioned that it’s a paradox to speak of this situation on the eve of the celebration of International Human Rights Day, and she also denounced the numerous human rights violations in Mexico by the Army, a body that has no business patrolling the streets.

It gave us great pleasure to have ex political prisoner Jacobo Silva Nogales with us at this rally. He and Gloria Arenas Agis, recently won their freedom after spending ten years in prison for guerrilla activity with Jacobo arguing their right to rebellion. He said: “And who is Mumia Abu-Jamal? The first time I heard that name I was in prison, and I learned that he was also in prison. I learned that he was a political prisoner, and I was also a political prisoner…. Mumia is a mirror that we’re proud to look at because what we see is admired and respected; it’s what the rest of us are, if only slightly and in exceptional moments. But he’s also a mirror that’s feared because it shows what can happen when self and duty become one and the same thing. The mirror admired and respected; that’s Mumia ––an admirable struggle and a death sentence. So it also reflects those who have sentenced him. It reflects their fear of a better world for the many. That’s why they want him dead; that’s why we want him alive…. It may seem hard, at times, to win freedom when you’re in a prison where they try to ban your very dreams, but it’s possible to get out of there if the dreams from the outside come together with those on the inside…. I know this, because not long ago I was in a place like that, and I was able to get out, and so I’d like to tell him that I think he can get out, too ––that he can, that we can, win out over those bars that are blocking the freedom of his body, like he’s been able to win out over those that block his freedom of spirit. By defending Mumia, we’re defending our own selves!”

Also present were family members and comrades of Víctor Herrera Govea, recently arrested in the annual October 2nd march in commemoration of the Tlatelolco Massacre, simply for being young and protesting in the streets of Mexico City. His sisters invited everyone to participate in the activities in his support and read a letter that he sent to the rally, which says in part: “Today it’s not only in México that we’re experiencing the oppression of the prison system. This is also the case in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was once a reporter for the Black Panthers, has been in jail for 28 years, sentenced to death or life imprisonment….The way his trials have been conducted reflects the nature of the ghetto experienced in the United States, a country where 42% of the prison population is made up of African-Americans….Once again, we find ourselves under attack by the neoliberal prison system. As lovers of freedom and anarchists who defend life lived in collectivity, we are not exempt from government espionage and measures of repression and oppression….The only thing left to do is keep on struggling for our prisoners in Mexico and those outside the country like Mumia Abu-Jamal, who’s been incriminated for a murder he did not commit….There’s no evidence whatsoever against us, either….To Mumia, our heartfelt desire to see him free. To the government, the worst of all possible downfalls”.

We read a letter recently published in La Jornada by political prisoner Felipe Álvarez of the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) of San Salvador Atenco: “Eight years after we launched a resistance struggle against an invasive, oppressive, murderous system, I ask you to keep on struggling. There’s no torture that will ever make us give up our ideals; they can chain my body but never my consciousness. Neither can they chain the dignity and spirit of our peoples who are fighting for what belongs to them. The government still intends to dispossess us of what is ours and put it at the service of empire, taking our lands, water, oil, light, and the little wealth we have left….It’s only those of us who struggle for land, natural resources and freedom who can gain the independence, sovereignty, and homeland that those who are looting our country talk so much about. Brothers and sisters, you live in my heart! Not one step backwards! Zapata lives! The Front continues!”

Doña Fili spoke: “Mumia, there are a lot of young people here who hadn’t even been born when you went to jail. We, as mothers, see you as our son and demand your freedom. We will never tire of demanding your freedom. You live in a highly advanced country. Advanced, yes, but in death…You’ve resisted a country that has killed our peoples…In our countries, they impose tyrants, but we’ll bring them down…You are part of our people, Mumia. You’ve marked our history. That’s why we’re here, Mumia. Your spirit lives in each one of us.”

We appreciated the presence of the Federation of the Socialist Campesino Students of Mexico (FECSM), which has been in a struggle against government plans to convert rural teacher training schools into mere technical schools in places such as Tiripetío, Michoacán and Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. Their representative Isaías sent his greetings to Mumia, and said: “Comrades, as a Federation, we’ve had prisoners; as a Federation, we’ve been beaten; as a Federation, we’ve been tortured by the federal government, so we lend our solidarity to all those who struggle from below….We’ve seen how the imperialists have increasingly taken over our freedom and our resources. We have the same enemy and we’ll struggle with you against this common enemy.”

Daniel, speaking for the collective Shouts of Street Rage (GRC), said: “28 years have gone by. Those numbers may be easy to say. 28 años. But I’ve reached the conclusion that my mother was a child when a person, a thinker, a journalist was taken prisoner. Why? Because, as we know, the State is afraid of people who, with their words, their gaze, their actions, generate actions that destroy the system we talked about. You mothers walking by in the street, I ask you: What if Mumia Abu-Jamal were your son? What if they had taken away his freedom and what if he were locked up on death row thinking, ‘Damn! They could shoot me up with drugs tomorrow and end my life!? This comrade, in spite of being behind bars, not being able to see the light of day, not being able to hug his family, has stayed active and is still present in the social processes ––from inside, yes, but he’s part of things. Is it right to just stand by when we see a life in danger right before our eyes? When we see false evidence, a new trial denied, the death penalty, a life sentence, total injustice and impunity? And now the question is– what are we going to do?

From Chiapas, we received greetings from the poet Xmal Ton, adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the EZLN: “This song is dedicated to all our comrade political prisoners in Abya Yala, which is America, in all the continents of the world. Thank you for your bravery and your force, which are the breath of life to us. Thank you for your spirit of struggle, which is the road we take every day. For the liberation of all of us who struggle for our great, sacred mother, which is the Earth.” We read her poem “Four words,” dedicated to all political prisoners and especially to the grandfather Leonard Peltier: “Four words fall from the sky. Do not be sad. Four words fall from the sky. They will heal you. Four words fall from the sky. The morning is ready for you. Four words fall from the sky. The fire will warm your heart. Four words fall from the sky. The air will pray for you…”

After reading the poem, our comrade Bisharú commented: “I feel very close to Mumia because of his words, because of the way he talks about the social movements. Sometimes I feel ashamed when I think that somebody in his conditions can be much freer than the rest of us. He has shown us that freedom is not only seen in actions, but also comes through in Mumia’s words that have brought life and liberty to many of us.”

We denounced the attacks against the Zapatista communities and read a recent letter from the Gómez Saragos brothers, of Bachajón, Chiapas, to all the national and international organizations, where they say: “…we belong to the organization of adherents to the other campaign of the EZLN, and we’re here for defending our territory while the government wants the PRI party members to have it, but we…don’t want them to take away our land because that’s where we work to support our children. That’s why we’re prisoners. But we thank you for your valuable support and hope that you’ll continue to support us in reaching our goals.”

Yazmín of the Chanti Ollin spoke of the recent effort by the city government to take this occupied space away from us, and then she read the text written this past November 25 by Nzingha Shakur-Ali, daughter of political prisoner, Dr. Mutulu Shakur: “My dad goes before the parole board December 2nd. Thinking about my family and the families of other political prisoners and freedom fighters around the world… i am SO truly blessed to come from the family i do, from the Hearne clan, from the Shakur clan. It’s a different way of life in many ways, being children of revolutionaries. Our parents fought, were imprisoned, were exiled, and died fighting for basic human equality; and all the while growing up in discipline and knowledge, love and respect for not only our people, but for all people. we think differently; we see the world differently…. now Mutulu is in Florence, Colorado, the #1 maximum security prison in the united states also known as the ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies, ADX houses the prisoners who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control. It is the highest level security federal prison in the united states, and generally considered the most secure prison in the world. Individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement.” That means he gets 1 hour, by himself, outside his cell in heavily guarded area. All of our visits are behind glass and he often handcuffed…. these things come to mind as his parole hearing draws near. They have and continue to do everything they possibly can to keep him in prison… i am humbled by those who, like mutulu, saw their difficult path before them and even still chose to stand and fight, rather than lay down and continue to be enslaved….i give thanks for the people who fought and are still fighting for freedom and equality…. My blood? is a million stories. FREE ‘EM ALL. Peace.”

Victor of the Popular Kitchen of the Che Guevara Auditorium talked about the way prisons exemplify capitalism, commenting that for Mumia Abu-Jamal, “the American dream, for whites only, was just a prison and the Black Panther Party was his road to freedom.” He quoted from Mumia’s book, We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party: “I went to jail…. I was here for defending my people. I was here because I was a member of the Black Panther Party. Within a few weeks I was back, no worse for the wear. I was out of jail and back in the swing of things. I was working on the paper, selling them, and editing stuff…The days were long. The risks were substantial. The rewards were few. Yet the freedom was hypnotic. We could think freely, write freely, and act freely in the world. We knew that we were working for our people’s freedom, and we loved it. It was the one place in the world that it seemed right to be.” In speaking of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s relationship to the MOVE organization, Victor said: “Mumia rediscovered people bent on freedom and an organization that was an alternative to the logic of the coercion and degradation of human beings by the panoptic prison. But the prison system still existed along with its forms of repression and sabotage. In the face of the genocidal attacks by the North American system against the MOVE movement, Mumia could not remain silent; he denounced the massacre.” Victor concluded his presentation, citing Mumia’s essay “Absence of Power”: “The police are agents of white, ruling-class, capitalist will––period. Neither black managers nor black politicians can change that reality. The people themselves must organize for their own defense, or it won’t get done.”

Pachón of Mexico City Anarchist Black Cross read the following text: “Mumia’s case is not isolated; it’s part of a strategy of social control by governments to try to break the righteous social movements and silence people who make them uncomfortable. The United States is the country with the highest percentage of its population imprisoned, the majority of whom are Black or Latinos. More and more people in jail. That’s what the goverments and private industry want so they can build more and more prisons….Mumia’s example should give us the strength to redouble our efforts to win his freedom. IN conclusion, we want to call attention to the cases of other political prisoners in the United States and name some of them: Abdul Azeez, Abdul Majid, Alvaro Luna Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Avelino González Claudio, Bill Dunne, Byron Shane Chubbuck, Carlos Alberto Torres, Chuck Sims Africa, Daniel Mcgowan, David Gilbert, Debbie Sims Africa, Delbert Orr Africa, Ed Poindexter, Edward Goodman Africa, Erik Oseland, Eryn Trimmer, Francisco Torres, Fred “Muhammad” Burton, Garret Fitzgerald, Gerardo Hernandez, Hanif S. Bey (B. Gereau), Herman Bell, Jaan K. Laaman, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Jalil Muntaqim, Janet Holloway Africa, Janine Phillips Africa, Jeffery “Free” Luers, Joseph “Joe-Joe” Bowen, Leonard Peltier, Luce Guillen-Givens, Luis Medina, Malik Smith, Maliki Latine, Marilyn Buck, Marshall Eddie Conway, Matthew Depalpma, Max Specktor, Michael Davis Africa, Mondo We Langa (D. Rice), Monica Bicking, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Nathanael Secor, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Rene Gonzalez, Robert Seth Hayes, Romaine Chip Fitzgerald, Ronald Reed, Ruben Campa, Russell Maroon Shoats, Sekou Kambui (W. Turk), Sekou Odinga, Sundiata Acoli (C. Squire), Thomas Manning, Tsutomu Shirosaki, Veronza Bowers Jr., William Phillips Africa, William ‘Lefty’ Gilday, Zolo Agona Azania”.

Despite sound problems, the comrades of The Other Culture closed the rally with their original song dedicated to Mumia as a gesture of solidarity, and also brought copies of their new CD highlighting the song. Several images of Mumia were left behind on the ground and the concrete barriers around the Embassy, along with the ashes of the stars and stripes.

Amig@s de Mumia, México

PHOTOS: Thanks to Pedro
VIDEO: Thanks to Serch of rz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3by8iAh7e3Q
and notilibertas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EazikbFhI1M
AUDIO: Thanks to Clayton http://www.archive.org/details/MumiaAbu-jamalSolidaridadD.f.Mexico12-9-09

by VOCAL

On the 4th of December in the community of Jamiltepec, thousands of people from at least 22 communities along the Oaxacan Coast, plus teachers from the Pinotepa sector of the Teacher´s Union (Section 22) participated in a march in order to declare their opposition to the imposition of the “Paso de la Reina Multiple Use Hydraulic and Reservoir Project”.

Dozens of signs expressed total rejection of the megaproject. The march was lead by representatives from each community. Women wore white dresses painted with black slogans that denounced the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the bad government. Hundreds of posters, of all sizes, were carried by men, women, elderly, and children. Each one declared his/her opposition to the project and commitment to defend mother earth and the water, and demanded respect for the people and their communities in a different way.

The march was lead by the Paso de la Reina community, the most affected community since they, along with a few others, will be forced to leave in order to build the damn in their territory along the Rio Verde. “The Dam is not being built, The Dam will not be built, The people who are affected by it will not allow it!”. The intense coastal sun seemed to make the shouts of the marchers vibrate as they walked. Behind Paso de la Reina community, stood the Tataltepec de Valdés community, followed by Plan del Aire, Santa Cruz Zenzontepec, Santiago Ixtayutla, Villa de Tutupec de Melchor Ocampo, Jamiltepec, y Tetepec. The teachers from the teacher´s union brought up the rear of the march.

The marchers stopped in front of the Offices of the Federal Electricity Commission, located on Luis Donaldo Colosio Avenue in Jamiltepec. The people inside the office appeared nervous, and one person, who did not identify himself as a worker, began to take photos of the marchers. The communities proceeded to block access to the office with signs and surrounded the building shouting slogans in resistance.

In the protest, the Council of the People in Defense of the Rio Verde (COPUDEVER), called on the marchers to stay firm in their struggle for the earth, water, and their lands and pointed out that that majority of the communities are strongly rejecting the Dam. The communities also began to create alliances that strengthen their struggles against megaprojects since it is not only along the coast that the bad government and the interests of transnational corporations want to impose the destruction of communities and their ancestries.

This December 4th, you could feel the resistance and firmness that dozens of communities along the coast are using to refuse and demand one more time: NO DAM!!

source: http://www.casacollective.org

While Indigenous and Local Organizing Continues

By Nancy Davies
Commentary from Oaxaca
The Narco News Bulletin

November 30, 2009

Within hours of meetings between indigenous activists from San Salvador Atenco in Mexico State, from Chiapas, and from Oaxaca, government repression arrived in the town of San José del Progreso, and death in the municipality of San Juan Copala. San José del Progreso is the site of the mine La Trinidad owned by the Canadian transnational Fortuna; Copala is the municipality which declared its autonomy at the height of the social struggle in 2006.

Peoples of Oaxaca and social organizations including the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) of San Salvador Atenco decided to join forces to prevent the construction of dams, wind generator projects, highways and mining on indigenous territory. During a meeting which took place on November 29 in Zaachila, Oaxaca, Adán Lopez Santiago stated, “It is necessary to fight united because if not neoliberalism will enslave us.” Lopez Santiago represents the Council of Peoples in Defense of Land and Territory which convoked united delegates from the struggle against eolic parks on the Isthmus, as well as Peoples in Defense of the Río Verde who oppose the construction of a hydroelectric dam called Paso de la Reina. The dam would affect 3,100 hectares covering six towns.

The meeting demanded absolute respect for self-determination of the indigenous peoples, and also included a call to refuse to sell their lands or permit them to be expropriated. A national integration of the movement in defense of land, territory and natural resources has gotten underway in opposition to the neoliberal stance of the various governments.

The same day, a convoy of State Preventive Police (PPE) entered San José del Progreso in the Ocotlán region. The population immediately surrounded the police, and demanded the removal of their town president Oscar Venancio Martinez Rivera for having conspired in agreement with state officials. The PPE, who arrived at 10:00 PM, claimed to have received an anonymous call about an attack on La Trinidad mine. Bernardo Vasquez Sanchez, one of the anti-mine group, immediately telephoned the sub-secretary of government of Oaxaca to deny that any attack had emanated from the San José population. The state government had made a prior agreement that the PPE would not enter the town. The mine, Vasquez Sanchez reminded the sub-secretary, lies two kilometers from the town where the police had been surrounded.

The same Sunday the 29th at 8:45 PM José Ramírez Flores, President of San Juan Copala; Severo Sánchez González, the mayor; and Macario García Merino, Secretary, issued an urgent call for solidarity. “…the aggression took place in the context of activities of solidarity with Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra, de San Salvador Atenco. In the past months aggressions against the autonomous municipality have been systematic.” their bulletin began.

The story unfolded that representatives of the social movement from the FPDT Atenco were prevented from entering the town of San Juan Copala for a meeting. The FPDT is visiting twelve states, one in honor of each of its political prisoners. The group United for the Social Well-Being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT), said to be a PRI-affiliated organization closely tied to Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO), PRI president Jorge Franco Vargas, and Pepe Mejia, refused entry to the Atenco delegation. The town authorities in turn declared that URO, Franco Vargas and Mejia would be held responsible for any confrontation because of their prior collusion on November 1 when an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made against their municipal president José Ramirez Flores and the secretary Timoteo Alejandro Ramirez. At that time, the arrested culprit confessed to being an UBISORT member and of having received 250,000 pesos to kill the two men; he also admitted receiving a monthly salary from UBISORT of 1,000 pesos for destabilizing the autonomous municipality.

On the same Sunday afternoon of the 29th, paramilitaries affiliated with the PRI groups UBISORT and the Movement for Triqui Struggle Unification-Party of Popular Unity (MULT-PUP) attacked the municipality of San Juan Copala. The outcome was the death of one schoolchild, and three others wounded. There may have also been PRI-paid members of the Triqui Independent block (MULTI) which was founded as an anti-PRI organization in 1995.

The attackers blocked the road into town to prevent entry of the FPDT delegates who intended to participate in a meeting with the autonomous municipality. Jorge Albino Ortiz, spokesperson for the San Juan Copala authorities, wrote in the alarm that a group of MULT paramilitaries circled behind to the hills overlooking the town, while UBISORT held the entrance road. From the heights, the paramilitaries shot their high caliber weapons on two occasions, once at 3:00 and the second at 6:00 o’clock. When the shooting started, Albino Ortiz continued, pistoleros from UBISORT joined the attack, aiming down the road toward the children’s boarding school. A school child, Elias Fernandez de Jesus was killed; three of his school-mates were wounded.

The followers of MULTI from other communities and neighborhoods mobilized toward San Juan Copala to reinforce the autonomous community, headed by José Ramirez Flores. They managed to avoid a further aggression.

Ramirez Flores, whose urgent call was received on November 30, accused the alliance of UBISORT and MULT-PUP of being coordinated “from the highest spheres of the state government”, to destroy the autonomous municipality. “This is not an alliance of right now, it goes years back. We don’t believe that it is all the MULT-PUP, but principally its directors.” San Juan Copala, founded in 2006 during the social movement, has asked the government repeatedly to cease trying to attack San Juan Copala through its puppet organizations.

The director of UBISORT, Rufino Juarez Hernandez, said that the organization blocked the road to prevent the entrance of the Atenco commission because they should have no part in the social political conflict in the Triqui zone.

“What has Atenco to do with San Juan Copala, what has the APPO to do with San Juan Copala? They are outsiders. We Triquis know ourselves, in our culture and in our traditions, all the rest are unwanted animals, they don’t understand our speech,” he was quoted by Las Noticias. At the same time in another press dispatch, another leader of UBISORT, Antonio Garcia Cruz said that the town of San Juan Copala didn’t recognize as municipal president José Ramirez Flores, so in his place he designated Anastacio Juarez Hernandez, brother of the other UBISORT leader.

The Triqui region is abandoned by the government. The internecine deaths and vengeance seem interminable. MULT insists that the government has not wanted to intervene in the area of injustice and violence which endured more than 350 deaths in the past three years, including the assassination of two young women radio broadcasters. According to human rights workers, government neglect of the area includes total lawlessness, lack of paved roads, lack of drainage or potable water. The area is highly marginalized economically. Since villages lack local schools, children live in a “shelter” school during the week to attend school.

The Triqui peoples are historically part of the Mixteca peoples, but split away into three separate groups. The Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala legally is part of a region governed by the PUP. It is where UBISORT has been receiving money to act aggressively against the autonomous municipality, which in terms of state power and control, cannot be tolerated. Attacks against the municipality date from its offer of aid to other companions in struggle, such as the Zapotecos of Loxicha, the Community Police in the state of Guerrero, and the repression at San Salvador Atenco.

“Denouncing these facts before public opinion we refer to our right to continue our Project of autonomy and to place ourselves in solidarity with our companions in struggle. We demand that the government of the state cease to attack us through its puppet organizations,” the public pronouncement by the municipal authorities concludes.

source: http://www.narconews.com/Issue62/article3958.html

Mexico City

“Judicial police, after beating people up and telling lies and covering things up, how do you explain all this at home when you’re asked: what do you do?”

This question written on a poster is one of many that around twenty demonstrators hurled at the judicial police who covered their faces as they left the courtroom in the prison known as the Reclusorio Sur after appearing to give false testimony in the case of the young political prisoner Víctor Herrera Govea on Thursday, November 19: How does it feel to be a torturer? Did you enjoy putting out your cigarette on our comrade’s face? Do you have a mother? How much do they pay you for torture? How much do you earn for a kidnapping? Don’t you feel sick when you look at yourself in the mirror?

Letter demanding freedom for Victor Herrera Govea

For being only 21 years old, Víctor has thrown his grains of sand into the most important struggles that have happened in Mexico in recent years. He may not be seen as a movement leader, but he’s much loved by the people who are always in the streets demanding justice and freedom. As word got around about his brutal arrest, lots of comments about what he’s done could be heard: “I know he helped out on a work brigade in Chiapas.” I saw him in Oaxaca when he was helping to build [the ecological project] La Cacita.” “He has his problems, just like we all do, but at the camp outside Molino de Flores prison, he was there.” “It’s not for nothing that he’s known as ‘Atenco’”. “I think he was with the comrades who were selling flowers and candy outside the bars all night long to raise money to get some other comrades out of jail”. “I knew him when we were in the same class together in the school of Humanities”. “Yeah, he’s an adherent to the Other Campaign”. “Sure, we know him. He’s an anarchist isn’t he?” In his own statement written on October 15, Victor also mentions his work in informational brigades to spread the word about struggles “like people defending themselves against the Parota dam and reservoir” and “the dispossession that’s going on in Tlahuac for the construction of Line 12 of the subway.” He says: “Now more than ever we’re seeking freedom for all the political prisoners in the country like Jacobo Silva and Gloria Arenas [recently released] and the comrades from the Loxicha region in Oaxaca and those at El Amate in Chiapas”.

When Víctor Herrera went to the annual march held on October 2 to commemorate the State murder of students in ’68 and to oppose the repression now going on in Mexico, he was beaten, tortured, arrested and incriminated on charges of aggravated gang robbery and property damage. By aggravating the charges and charging Victor with gang activity, the capital city PRD government of Marcelo Ebrard aims to turn this young activist into a criminal to be able to lock him up for years even though there’s not a bit of evidence against him.

In a call to several November actions, the Committee in Support of Freedom for Victor says: “Víctor Herrera Govea…is one of more than 200 political prisoners that state and federal governments are now holding in the prisons of this country: La Palma and Molino de Flores in the State of Mexico; El Amate in Chiapas; and others in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Campeche, Veracruz, and Tamaulipas. In Mexico City, we’re also experiencing repression and the imposition of neoliberal policies; you can hear all about this from the street vendors forcibly pushed out of the downtown area and public spaces in different districts of the city, the artisans of Coyocán, the communal landholders of Tlaltenco, and others. The “War on Organized Crime” has caused more than 5,000 deaths from one end of the country to the other.”

“There is no justice in this country. Those guilty of bank fraud and corrupt government functionaries go free, while the people you’ll find in jail are farmers who’ve been defending their land, forests and water; indigenous people defending their traditional forms of government, people demanding fair electricity rates, or young people fighting for a better world.

In violation of the law, only the immediate family was allowed to be present at the hearing on November 19, while Victor’s comrades were removed from the courtroom, but not before he saw they were there to support him. They say he looks strong and in good spirits. His mother Eduviges Govea thinks the pressure put on the authorities in several public actions has had the effect of putting them on notice that they’re responsible for his security while he’s in jail.

As it turns out, the judicial agents will have to come back again to testify because only three of the four subpoenaed appeared, so their testimonies were postponed. Meanwhile, supporters are organizing an overnight watch outside the prison on the night of November 29, and support the next day when Victor is scheduled to testify.

He can receive letters at presos2deoctubre@hotmail.com
For more information, see: http://viclibre.acervo.org
Contact: libertadavictor@gmail.com

x Carolina

Cintalapa, Chiapas, November 17, 2009
Amate # 14

First of all, we send warm greetings to all national and international organizations in hopes that you’re in good health in the company of your loved ones.

We’re sending this communiqué to let you know that we, Antonio and Jerónimo Gómez Saragos are prisoners in El Amate # 14 in Cintalapa, Chiapas, due to the fact that we belong to the organization of adherents to the Other Campaign of the EZLN and also because we defend our territory that the government wants to leave to the PRI. We don’t want them to take our land away from us because that’s where we work to support our children. That’s why we’re prisoners.

But we thank you for the valuable support you’ve given and continue to give to help us achieve our aims.

Comrades of different national and international organizations, we are eternally grateful for your valuable support in winning our immediate freedom since we are suffering in this prison where we’re being held unjustly, and so we now ask for your continued support along with that of our organization.

Respectfully yours,

Comrades held prisoner in Amate # 14, Cintalapa, Chiapas
C. Antonio Gómez Saragos and C. Jerónimo Gómez Saragos

TODAY ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE EZLN
LONG LIVE CARACOL 4 OF MORELIA
LONG LIVE THE OTHER CAMPAIGN
LONG LIVE ZAPATA