El Enemigo Común

by Scott Campbell

On Saturday, July 31, around 50 individuals from various collectives and organizations in the city of Oaxaca blockaded Calle Benito Juárez in front of the federal courthouse for two hours to protest the escalating aggression against the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala. Initial reports from the region indicated that 400 paramilitaries from the state-backed Union for the Well-Being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT) have entered the autonomous municipality accompanied by 300 Oaxaca state police in an effort to crush the autonomous project underway in San Juan Copala, a municipality of 70 families who have been under siege by UBISORT and the Movement for Triqui Unification and Struggle (MULT) paramilitaries for seven months.

Protesters demanded an end to the siege, an end to state-backed paramilitary aggression, the immediate exit of paramilitary, police and military forces from San Juan Copala, implicated Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz as the one responsible for the violence, and expressed their support for the autonomous municipality. After two hours the blockade was lifted and a march made its way through town to the city’s central plaza.

Breaking: San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, Under Paramilitary Control Following Police Raid

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x carolina

Six buses, several cars and vans, and a trailer truck packed with 35 tons of food, medical supplies, etc. left the Mexico City Zócalo for San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, at 9:20 the night of Monday, June 12. The name of the Caravana, “Beti Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola”, is in honor of a strong, much loved human rights defender who worked tirelessly for the unification of the Triqui people, and of a comrade from Finland who worked with the VOCAL organization on food sovereignty and climate change projects, also much loved and appreciated for his stance of solidarity. The two were murdered by the UBISORT paramilitary group led by Rufino Juárez on April 27 of this year for daring to participate in the first humanitarian caravan to the Autonomous Municipality. Their motive? Breaking through a paramilitary siege that has forced 700 families to live without light, water, school, medical attention and with very little food ever since last November 27.

Now the aim of the second caravan is the same, to break the siege. To get into the Autonomous Municipality to deliver the supplies, participate in an informational program on this dignified Triqui community’s experience with self-government, to record testimonies of human rights violations in a town where you can get shot any time you step outside your door. A town where dozens of people have been killed in recent months, including last May 20, when a commando of men described as “non-indigenous” shot down Tleriberta Castro Aguilar and her husband Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez, the natural leader and prime mover of autonomy in San Juan Copala.

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April 30, 2010

Communiqué update:

On the armed attack on the Support and Solidarity Caravan to the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca

We want to let you know that DAVID VENEGAS REYES is with us and is just fine, and that NOE BAUTISTA JIMENEZ is hospitalized at the IMSS, where his family and friends who are taking care of him have been harassed and intimidated. We have denounced the ongoing physical and moral attacks against our comrade.

On the APPO mobilization and denunciation in the city of Oaxaca

At the march called by comrades in some of the APPO organizations, we started out from the Fountain of the 7 Regions with grief, rage, and righteous indignation to show our support for the process of building autonomy in San Juan Copala, and to demand punishment for the murders committed by the paramilitary Union of Social Welfare of the Triqui Region (UBISORT).

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Friends of Brad Will Action Alert

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Please read, take action, and spread the word!

As you may know, on February 18, 2010, Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno – the Oaxacan social activist falsely accused of the 2006 murder of Indymedia reporter Brad Will – was released after 16 months in prison. This is an important victory, but Martínez Moreno, his family, and other activists remain at risk.

Since his release, Martínez Moreno and his family have been subjected to constant harassment. They have received death threats and the government-linked paramilitaries which eyewitnesses and photographic evidence tie to the murder of Brad Will have frequently been seen standing outside the Martínez Moreno home.

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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.

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