When Brad was killed, the people photographed firing guns at the protesters were police, police commanders, and operatives and bodyguards for the PRI party, including Pedro Carmona, Abel Santiago Zarate aka “El Chino,” Juan Carlo Soriano aka “El Chapulin,” Commander Manuel Aguilar Coello, and Juan Sumano. They are directly linked to the corrupt Governor Ulises Ruiz, and we demand their arrest.
Since Brad’s death, Ulises Ruiz’ government has been attempting to bring charges for Brad’s killing against Brad’s friends, APPO people, witnesses, and those who risked their lives trying to get Brad to a hospital. We join the National Commission on Human Rights, and Reporters Without Borders in finding these attempts to be an absurd and outrageous attempt to divert attention from the real killers. We demand an end to this smokescreen and the punishment of innocent people including Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, Hugo Colmenares Leyva, and Octavio Perez Perez.
Brad is only one of dozens of activists, reporters, civilians, and unarmed people killed by the State response to the Oaxacan movement for justice and freedom. Friends of Brad Will not only demands justice for them, but demands what they demand: the end of corrupt brutal rule by Ulises Ruiz.
We join in solidarity with the friends and family of Marcella Sali Grace Eiler, an international solidarity activist working with CIPO, Colectivo Mujer Nueva and with the witnesses of Brad’s death who was found brutally raped and murdered September 26th 2008 in San Jose del Pacifico in the state of Oaxaca. Her death is part of an escalation of violence against women in an era of neo-liberal trade agreements and drug wars. We demand an end to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), and Plan Puebla Panama (now known as the Mesoamerica Project), and to the the cultural and political systems that have permitted the raping and killing of women.
A year almost to the day after Brad was murdered, the Bush Administration announced the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico), providing at least $1.6 billion in US armament, training, and resources to the same police and military forces that killed Brad and many other activists and journalists in Mexico and Central America under the pretense of stopping narco-trafficking. Already the weapons have been used in massacres and repression of activists in Morelos and Chiapas. Along with the AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers, Tikkun, Wespac, Witness for Peace, Cispes, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, The Friends of Brad Will demand and end to the Merida Initiative.
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Nuestras Demandas para el Segundo Aniversario de la Muerte de Brad
Cuando se mataron a Brad, las personas que aparecen en las fotos, disparando pistolas contra las manifestantes, fueron la policía, los comandantes de la policía, y los operativos y las guardaespaldas del partido PRI, como Pedro Carmona, Able Santiago Zarate “El Chino,” Juan Carlo Soriano “El Chapulin,” Commander Manuel Aguilar Coello, y Juan Sumano. Son ellos quien tienen relaciones directos con el corrupto gobernador Ulises Ruiz. Exigimos su detención!
Desde la muerte de Brad, el gobierno de Ulises Ruiz ha sido intentando traer cargas para el asesinato de Brad contra los amigos de Brad, la gente de la APPO, los testigos, y aquellos que se arriesgaron su vida tratando de llevarle a Brad al hospital. Unimos con la Comisión Nacional para Derechos Humanos y Periodistas Sin Fronteras en nuestro encuentro de que este intento es una manera absolutamente absurda e intolerable de desviar la atención lejos de los asesinatos verdaderos. Demandamos que se acabe con esta curtina de humo y el castigo de gente inocente como Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, Hugo Colmenares Leyva, y Octavio Perez Perez.
Brad es sólo uno de docenas de activistas, periodistas, civiles, y personas desarmadas asesinado por la respuesta del Estado contra el movimiento Oaxacana para justicia y liberación. Los amigos de BradWill no sólo demandan justicia para ellos, sino también las mismas demandas que demandan ellos: el fin del gobierno corrupto y cruel de Ulises Ruiz.
Unimos en solidaridad con los amigos y la familia de Marcella Sali Grace Eiler, una activista de solidaridad international trabajando con CIPO, Colectivo de Mujer Nueva, y con los testigos de la muerte de Brad quien se descubrió violada brutalmente y asesinado el dia 26 de septiembre 2008 en San Jose del Pacífico en el estado de Oaxaca. Su muerte es una parte de la escalación de la violencia contra las mujeres en una época de acuerdos comericales y guerras de drogas. Demandamos que se acabe con el Tratado de Libre Comercio de Norteamérica (TLCAN), el Tratado de Libre Comercio de Centroamérica-República Dominicana-EEUU, y el Plan Puebla Panama (alias el Proyecto Mesoamérica), y los sistemas culturales y políticas que han permitido las violaciones y los asesinatos contra las mujeres.
Casi un año al día después de que se mataron a Brad, la administración de Bush anunció la Iniciativa Merida alias Plan México, porporcionando por lo menos 1.6 billiones de dólares para el armamento de EEUU, la formación, y los recursos para la misma policía y fuerza militar que se mataron a Brad y otros activistas y periodistas en México y Centroamérica debajo de la pretensión de parar narco-traficantes. Las armas ya han sido usado en matanzas y represiones contra activistas en Morelos y Chiapas. Junto con el AFL-CIO, los Trabajadores Siderúrgico de los EEUU, Tikkun, Wespac, Testigos para Paz, Cispes, Judios para Justicia Económica y Racial, Los Amigos de Brad Will demandan que se acabe con la Iniciativa Merida.
source: http://www.friendsofbradwill.org
Tags: Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission Blames Plan Mexico for APPO Arrests
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2008/10/mexicos-national-human-rights-commission-blames-plan-mexico-appo-ar
letters from Brad and Sali’s families for Day of the Dead
Activists passed out about a hundred copies of these letters in Spanish in San Cristobal (attached) during Day of the Dead. They set up a letter for our fallen comrades. Sali and Brad’s pictures were up with Subcomandante Pedro, Comandante Ramona, Andres Aubry, Digna Ochoa, Che Guevara, and many others.
Marcella “Sali” Grace Eiler
September 30, 1987 – September 15, 2008
Sali is loved and cherished as a daughter to Barbara Healy and John Eiler, a stepdaughter to Catherine Eiler, a sister to Claire Eiler, Cavan Telford, and Erin Telford.
Sali was a citizen of our planet. Sali believed that the earth and the animals and people who inhabit it have the right to grow and thrive, and deserve respect.
Sali was young, beautiful, had a powerful heart and a deep passion for justice.
- Sali supported animal rights, and fought against cruelty in animal experimentation.
- Sali worked with “Food Not Bombs” in a number of North American cities, recovering food and turning it into hot meals available to anyone. She believed food is a right, not a privilege.
- Sali worked with “Los Sobravivientes”, teaching English to Central American torture survivors who had come to live in Oregon.
- Sali worked with “Cascadia Forest Defenders” saving the last of the old growth tree forests in Oregon from logging.
- Sali contributed to “Indymedia”, a collective of independent media organizations and journalists offering grassroots coverage of news events in communities throughout the world.
- Sali worked with “No Mas Muertes”, a humanitarian movement that provides water, food and medical assistance to migrants walking across the Arizona desert.
- Sali worked with “CIPO-RFM”, a movement that promotes peaceful co-existance of autonomous, self sufficient communities and indigenous people, and defends the territorial, economic, social, political and cultural rights of those communities and individuals.
The brief outline above highlights issues that spoke to Sali. These are a piece of the whole. Sali was so much more. She was a singer, a banjo player, a dance teacher and performer, a band member of Cinzana, an accomplished artist in North America and Mexico. A wonderful cook and herbalist, a beloved daughter, sister and loyal friend to many. An inspiring humanitarian, a courageous woman of warmth, laughter and endless energy who believed anything was possible. Any change achievable. Any goal possible.
Marcella “Sali” Grace Eiler was raped and murdered on September 15, 2008. Our family and friends throughout North America and Mexico deeply mourn her loss. We feel the outpouring of love and support coming from Sali’s people in Oaxaca, in Mexico, and across North America. We appreciate all that you have done and will do in Sali’s memory.
* Justice must be served in Sali’s cruel and tragic death. *
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October 27 will mark the 2nd anniversary of Brad’s death, just before the Day of the Dead celebration of fallen loved ones. We would like to take this opportunity to send our love and support to all of the other families who have lost loved ones and found themselves, like our family, at the mercy of the impunity that exists in Mexico.
Our family misses Brad desperately and his wonderful sense of humor. We are so proud of the his legacy, his efforts to help the downtrodden and his hope to give a voice to the voiceless.
Brad was filming in Oaxaca with the intention of doing a documentary based on the situation there. He was trying to expose the deaths that occurred to demonstrators and the lack of accountability by the authorities. What he was attempting to document is exactly what happened to him. He was shot by the paramilitaries and, since then, the authorities have attempted over and over again to ignore the facts and blame the innocent. The “investigation” that has been carried out at both the state and federal levels has treated the case (and Brad’s life) with callous disregard. From the outset, there has been a concerted effort to “drop” the case for lack of “evidence”. * EVIDENCE* – take a look at his video!! Is there any question where the shots came from? And now, to add insult to injury, the prosecutors are attempting to frame innocent people for his death. Many of those people that were near him at the time he was shot not only knew him, and loved him, and respected him BUT ALSO put their own lives at risk in an attempt to save him. We will not rest (nor will Brad) until justice is served!!
We thank you for your commitment to truth and we commend your efforts to remember those that gave their lives for their beliefs in justice.
The Will family