El Enemigo Común

Central Penitentiary, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, December 24, 2007.

TO THE WOMEN AND MEN WHO STRUGGLE FOR
EQUALITY, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM FOR THE
PEOPLE OF OAXACA, MEXICO AND THE WORLD

From this prison, the Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience of the LOXICHA Region send fraternal greetings and a heartfelt embrace to all of you who have contributed to the struggle of the Loxicha prisoners and the prisoners imprisoned for political reasons in the state and in the country.

In spite of our unjust circumstances during these eleven long years, we tirelessly keep on struggling for our freedom with our heads held high. Now we’re spending another Christmas in this prison, far from our loved ones because neither the state nor federal government has shown any political will to resolve our longstanding problem and let us go free.

Even though we’re locked up behind four walls, we steadfastly maintain our dignity because the crimes we’re accused of are fabricated by the judicial authorities themselves. Today we wish each one of you a Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year and hope that peace and tranquility will reign in your homes. (en español)

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Central Penitentiary, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, December 2, 2007.

TO THE NEWS MEDIA
TO THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
TO THE DEMOCRATIC TEACHERS IN SECTION 22 OF THE TEACHERS UNION
TO THE POPULAR ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLES OF OAXACA
TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

“51 YEARS AFTER THE GRANMA SET SAIL FOR CUBA”
“33 YEARS AFTER THE MURDER OF LUCIO CABAÑAS BARRIENTOS”

Today, December 2, 2007, is the commemoration of two important dates in history. From our prison cells, we recall these historic events that have bequeathed important experiences relevant to future generations immersed in a generalized situation extending throughout the territory of Mexico, Latin America, and other countries in the world. Due to the bad system of government in Mexico, the economic resources and natural resources are in the hands of a few men who have subjected the large majority of the people of Mexico to extreme poverty, and these policies are being applied to all the Latin American countries and other countries in the world. Yankee imperialism is the number one enemy of all the world’s peoples and has produced inequality, racial discrimination, and crimes against humanity as it imposes its heinous policies aimed at controlling all the countries in the world. The imposed policies have forced peoples in Mexico and the world to organize jointly in order to defend our resources and territory. (en español)

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November 2, 2007 - Virikota writes: On November 2, 2007, approximately 50 people gathered at the Cinco Señores intersection for a politico-cultural activity to remember the “All Saints Battle” of last year, when hundreds of Oaxacans organized to stop the entry of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) into the Benito Juárez Autonomous University.

At about 7:45 am today, people were beginning to organize today’s activity when a group of heavily armed police arrived in two Lobo trucks and one Nissan. They came in street clothes, bearing arms.

By threatening and pointing their guns at the compañerxs, the police were able to disperse the demonstration. They herded people onto their trucks and managed to arrest approximately 20 compañerxs. As of this time, we don’t know where they are. Others have taken refuge in homes, schools, or other secure sites in view of police threats to arrest them if they are seen on the streets.

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November 3rd, 2007 Claudio writes: I’m sending out the testimony of our comrade Nicéforo Urbieta, arrested and subsequently released on November 2 in Oaxaca.

Today, Friday November 2, at around 7:00 a.m., people from various neighborhoods were gathering at the 5 Señores Circle to erect a traditional altar in commemoration of the dead among the peoples of Oaxaca. People were arriving with flowers, special bread, candles, and food, as well as sawdust, pigments, and truckloads of sand for creating figures on a funeral carpet.

Just then, a black car without license plates charged a group of comrades who were beginning to organize the event, trying to run over them; the car then made a high-speed exit. At the same time, pairs of policemen armed with AK-47 and F:A.L. high-power assault rifles walked up and down the sidewalks, and others took photos and videos of the participants so as to intimidate them and make a police record of them. Having done this, they left. (en español)

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Central Penitentiary, Oaxaca; September 25, 2007.

TO THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA
TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD
TO ALL HONEST PEOPLE
TO THE SOCIAL AND DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS
TO THE NEWS MEDIA

On September 25, 1996, Deòdoro Carrasco Altamirano and Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, Governor of Oaxaca and President of Mexico at the time, initiated a direct campaign of extermination, genocide, and ethnocide against the Zapotec indigenous communities of our region. The repression was initially focused on the municipal seat San Agustín Loxicha, a marginalized town submerged in the most extreme poverty and hunger. Supposedly, the operation that Ernesto Zedillo called “all the State’s force,” was to arrest guerrillas. In this first flashy military-police operation, the members of the Municipal Government were arrested, as well as other citizens who have now been unjustly imprisoned for eleven years. A total of twelve indigenous people were framed for the federal offenses trumped up by the judicial authorities at the time, the state Attorney General Roberto Pedro Marguez Ballesteros, and others. Groups of white guards, sell-outs and local power bosses who have only attacked the people and looted our natural resources took their revenge, implementing a policy of terror and fear. To justify our supposed guilt for the false charges of belonging to an armed group, which we categorically deny, we were cruelly tortured both physically and psychologically at the time of our arrest and forced to sign blank pages. (en español)

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In view of the abuses against all of our comrades held as political prisoners and in view of the ELEVEN YEARS OF UNJUST IMPRISONMENT OF OUR INDIGENOUS ZAPOTEC BROTHERS FROM THE LOXICHA REGION, WE URGE YOU TO DEMONSTRATE ON September 25, 2007 (the 11th anniversary of the repression in Loxicha).

Oaxaca de Juàrez, Oaxaca, September 21, 2007

Compañeros and compañeras:

We wish to inform you that yesterday, September 20, 2007, the Oaxaca state government authorities made yet another dirty move against our compañero David Venegas “El Alebrije”.

Just a few days before, the federal authorities had responded to the petition for a protective writ for David against the pre-trial detention order on charges of SEDITION, CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY, and ARSON, granting him a protective writ for the second time. He is due to be released, given that the federal authorities recognized that there was no legal basis for any of the three charges against him. (en español)

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Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax. September 15, 2007

To the peoples of Oaxaca,
To the peoples of Mexico,
To the peoples of the world,
To the indigenous peoples,
To the Other Campaign:

Eleven years after the unjust imprisonment of twelve Zapotec men and women from the Loxicha region, the undersigned collectives, spaces, persons, and organizations demand:

THE IMMEDIATE FREEDOM OF ALL INDIGENOUS PRISONERS IN OAXACA AND MEXICO!

AN END TO THE REPRESSION AND DISPOSSESSION OF INDIAN PEOPLES!

The jails of Oaxaca now reveal the war unleashed by the state government and those who have served it down through the years. By means of a silent war, the corporations and all the political parties are trying to do away with the Indian peoples, plunder their natural resources, erase their history with blood, and take their territory away from them. (en español)

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International Day of Action Against Repression and for the Liberation of the Political Prisoners in Mexico

The Other Campaign in New York, Movement for Justice in El Barrio writes:
As Mexican immigrants living in the United States we are making a special call to all Mexicans and Chicanos here in the U.S that are members of the Other Campaign that we join with this day of action on Wednesday, July 18th so that together with those struggling in our native country we can liberate our beloved Mexico.

Additionally, we are making a call to people all over the world to organize protests and actions as part of an international day of action against repression in Mexico. We are asking that these actions also take place on Wednesday, July 18th of 2007.

To Our Zapatista Sisters and Brothers:
To All Organizations, Groups, Collectives, Families, and Individuals in “The Other Campaign”:
To All Mexicans and Chican@s in The Other Campaign in the United States:
To All International Adherents to the Sixth Declaration:

(en español)

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