El Enemigo Común

Oaxaca, March 6, 2008.

Comrades:

It is with much joy and vitality that we bring you the news that yesterday, Wednesday, March 6, 2008, our comrade DAVID VENEGAS REYES “ALEBRIJE” PROVED HIS INNOCENCE AND BY SO DOING RECOVERED HIS PHYSICAL FREEDOM. After 11 long months of imprisonment, the doors of the central penitentiary in the state of Oaxaca opened for the first time to let “el Alebrije” walk out.

Outside the prison, dozens of people awaited his release. Meanwhile, the state police brandished their arms to try to intimidate the people who have struggled all these months to win David’s freedom and that of the other comrades still locked up.

At approximately 5:30 p.m., “el Alebrije” came out of the prison with his arm raised and his head held high.

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February 19th, 2008 - Santa María Ixcotel, Oax. Political Prisoners Committee writes: In Oaxaca alone, 28 social activists and comrades are now imprisoned for political reasons. Eighteen of them are in the Santa María Ixcotel Central Penitentiary: David Venegas Reyes, Adán Mejìa Lòpez, Vìctor Hugo Martínez Toledo, Miguel Ángel García, Pedro Castillo Aragón, Gonzalo López Cortéz, Isabel Almaraz Matías, Agustín Luna Valencia, Eleuterio Hernández García, Álvaro Sebastián Ramírez, Urbano Ruiz Cruz, Cirilo Ambrosio Antonio, Abraham García Ramírez, Fortino Enríquez Hernández, Ricardo Martínez Enríquez, Justino Hernández José, Estanislao Martínez Santiago, and Mario Ambrosio Martínez. In the Pochutla Regional Prison the following three comrades are held: Abraham Ramírez Vázquez, Noel García Cruz, and Juventino García Cruz. There is one prisoner in the Villa de Etla Penitentiary––Zacarías P. García López––and one more is in the Cuicatlán Regional Prison––Flavio Sosa Villavicencio. Four comrades are in the Tehuantepéc Prison: José Luís Sánchez Gómez, Amado Castro López, Nicasio Zaragoza Quintana, and Edmundo Espinosa Guzmán, and another is in the Juvenile Facility: Jaciel Cruz Cruz.

In response to their imprisonment, some of the comrades held as political prisoners in the Central Penitentiary have formed the Santa María Ixcotel Political Prisoners’ Committee, with the aim of struggling for freedom inside the prisons and creating a voice of their own that represents the positions and opinions on the freedom struggle. This initiative does not seek to advance any organization or group in any way. On the contrary, it seeks an end to manipulation and efforts to discredit the freedom struggle.

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Entrevista de la Comisión Civil Internacional de Observación por los Derechos Humanos (CCIODH) a Flavio Sosa en el penal de Cuicatlán, Oaxaca, México, el 12 de febrero de 2008. Esta entrevista se hace pública a petición del entrevistado.

Entrevista de la CCIODH a David Venegas en el penal de Ixcotel, Oaxaca (Mexico). 12 de febrero de 2008. Esta grabación se hace pública a petición del entrevistado.

Más audiovisuales por la CCIODH

Report from the First APPO Youth Encuentro
January 15th, 2008 - Comision de Prensa y Propaganda CODEP writes:
On January 12th and 13th the first APPO Youth Encuentro was held in Zaachila, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Among the many Plans of Action agreed upon by the diverse group of young folks, was a march on January 15th for the liberation of political prisoners in Oaxaca, in particular David Venegas Reyes.

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TO THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA
TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO
TO THE PEOPLE IN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE
TO THE NEWS MEDIA

Our comrade, friend, and brother in the struggle David Venegas Reyes, also known as Alebrije, has been able to prove his innocence for the third time in federal court for the events of November 25, 2006.

On December 27, 2007, the third protective writ was issued in favor of David. This new writ protects him from a pre-trial detention order issued by the judge at Tlacolula de Matamoros due to a legal trap set on September 18, 2007, which consisted of a “reclassification of offenses,” or, in other words, changing the name of the offenses for which David had been declared innocent two times in federal court.

The following summary briefly describes the steps in the legal situation of our comrade and brother David Venegas Reyes.

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x David Venegas Reyes “Alebrije”

The year 2007 came to an end in Oaxaca, a long painful year of injustice, repression, forced disappearances, state elections, and death, but also a year of dignified, heroic resistance by many men and women. As powerful forces and politicians benefit from the current state of affairs, they delight in proclaiming the return to peace and quiet in Oaxaca and a reconciliation among its inhabitants, but beneath their speeches, through their dubious, cautious, fearful ––and above all, repressive and violent––– actions, the truth comes out: the social polarization and sharpening of social contradictions is more drastic and more serious than ever. While they speak of peace, their arms, shields and clubs bark of war.

In 2006, the Mexican government refused to grant the peoples of Oaxaca a superficial victory that didn’t affect the system of exploitation and misery that misgoverns us. The departure of Ulises Ruiz from the government of Oaxaca wouldn’t have affected the economic, political and ideological bases of this state of affairs. By convoking new elections, the political class that rules the country would have maintained the belief in the legitimacy of their democracy and constitutional order. If they had done this, some of the leaders on the APPO council, the traditional politicians, would have been glad to raise their hands and volunteer to become part of the system, and the movement of the peoples of Oaxaca would have surely turned out to be what the comrade and political prisoner Flavio Sosa termed a democratic, humanistic movement––euphemisms for an electoral movement headed by the PRD party. (en español)

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