El Enemigo Común

Two Criminals on the Loose

Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and Felipe Calderón share the same crimes; both of them were imposed on the people in the most outrageous and costly election frauds in recent decades, one as Governor of Oaxaca and the other as President of Mexico. They formed an alliance to kill, disappear, jail, torture, and ruthlessly persecute hundreds of Oaxacan women and men for political reasons.

The spurious alliance of these two depraved figureheads reveals just how rotten their political parties are; the PRI and PAN prop each other up in order to stay in office against the will of the majority of the people of Oaxaca and Mexico.

Some of their crimes have already been documented by human rights organizations, especially the International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights, and the documentation has been presented to international bodies such as the European Parliament. Unfortunately there has not yet been enough support among Mexican people for such efforts in order to see that these criminals are punished.

Juicio Popular Nacional Contra Gobernates Criminales

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The members of the Youth Encounter of the Oaxacan Social Movement have set out on the “Jaguar Path for the Regeneration of our Historic Memory and Territorial Defense”. At noon on May 5, the Caravan left the city of Oaxaca and will visit several different communities in the next few days to support, participate, and spread the word about the processes of resistance and struggles of the peoples of Oaxaca in defense of their ways of life.

The caravan was announced at a press conference covered by local and alternative news media outside the Section 22 teacher’s headquarters, where it was explained that the effort was agreed upon at the Youth Encounter of the Oaxacan Social Movement last January in the town of Zaachila, Oaxaca.

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The film “el enemigo común” scratches beneath the surface of neoliberalism, at some of the most hidden atrocities in recent North American history. An exposé of repression and resistance, “el enemigo común” documents paramilitary activity against indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico from 2002 through 2005.

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 Audio introduction by film maker Simón Sedillo: Neoliberalism y el Machete: Play Now | Play in Popup

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2 MORE REPORTERS MURDERED BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT

Felicitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista, ages 22 and 20, were Indigenous Journalists assassinated on April 7th, 2008 in a shooting by government supported paramilitaries near San Juan Copala in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. According to survivors six men began firing at their car with AK-47 assault rifles. The police found twenty spent bullet cases on the The police found twenty spent bullet cases on the road.

Their murders are only the latest in the massive Government violence against journalist and everyday people in Mexico. According to Reporters Without Borders annual report Mexico is the most deadly country in the Hemisphere for Journalists. In 2007 two were killed and three vanished and in 2006 nine journalists were murdered and three were missing, making the country second only to Iraq for the number of journalists killed.

Download the fact sheet as a pdf | Baja la hoja del hecho en español como pdf

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Phil writes: April 21st, 2008, was the first day of the Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit, in which the presidents of Mexico and the United States, and the prime minister of Canada met to discuss security and trade, as well as the neoliberal and militaristic integration of North America. In protest, the local community organizers of New Orleans held the People’s Summit, in which visiting activists met with local organizers to discuss the history of racism, oppression and capitalism in North America and how to resist those things now and into the future.

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April 18th, 2008 - Root Force writes: The Bulldozers have arrived, and clearing has begun in preparation for the construction of I-69, the NAFTA superhighway, in Southern Indiana. Under contracts totaling more than $25.3 million from the Indiana Department of Transportation, Gohmann Asphalt and Construction of Clarksville, Indiana, has demolished homes and trees along the first 1.77 miles of the proposed mega-highway, and will soon begin the actual road construction. This is the same Gohmann Asphalt and Construction that was fined $8.2 million this past December for defrauding the public with false asphalt density tests on road projects.

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On April 7th, 2008, two indigenous Triqui women who worked at the community radio station La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (The Voice that Breaks the Silence), in the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala (Mixteca region), were shot and murdered while on their way to Oaxaca City to participate in the State Forum for the Defense of the Rights of the Peoples of Oaxaca. Three other people were injured.

According to the state attorney general, the victims are Teresa Bautista Merino (24 years old) and Felícitas Martínez Sánchez (20 years old). Francisco Vásquez Martínez (30 years old), his wife Cristina Martínez Flores (22 years old), and their son Jaciel Vásquez Martínez (three years old) were also injured in the attack.

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