TO THE PEOPLE OF OAXACA
TO CONSCIOUS PEOPLE AND STUDENTS
TO THE COLLECTIVES AND ORGANIZATIONS IN STRUGGLE AND RESISTANCE
TO ALL THOSE WHO CARRY A NEW WORLD IN THEIR HEARTS

With profound indignation we denounce the aggression we were subjected to this May Day by the state and municipal police in the service of the rich and the state government, under the command of the criminal, murderer, and fascist Gabino Cué Monteagudo (which has been called the “government of change”), showing again the repressive policies guiding the repressive forces of the state and capital, in coordination with the murderer and oppressor of Atenco, Enrique Peña Nieto, not caring that all kinds of people had been participants in the demonstration, from children, elderly, even mothers. This is the change that we have received during the three years of his government, though his actions follow the same repressive policies of the tyrant Ulises Ruiz, without forgetting Peña Nieto who now sitting in the presidential chair continues his dirty, repressive and murderous policies. Today, as yesterday, we remain oppressed, just like the compañeros in Guerrero, Michoacán, DF and other geographic locations and resistance groups.

This aggression was carried out while we participated in the May Day march, sincerely and honestly protesting against the structural reforms driven by the capitalist state and neoliberal policies.

In this brutal attack, the police detained some of the youth who were protesting, such as:

• Javier Martínez Pantaleón
• Omar Pérez García
• Gerardo Fisher Luna
• Abigail Fajardo Hernández
• Israel Gallardo Cruz
• Jorge Antonio López Esteban
• Epifanio Sánchez Caballero
• Claudio Atoneogenes Estebez Rojas
• Mauro Alberto Vásquez López
• Salvador Vasquez Suarez
• Felipe Franco Flores
• Irving Bernardo
• Alberto Manuel Muñoz
• Mario cruz Castillo
• Omar Gonzales Herrera
• Jorge López Chávez
• Desirée Villavicencio cruz
• Susana Irais Ramírez Giménez
• Danei Giménez Hernández
• Miranda Vargas Sánchez
• Alfonso Vázquez Belleza
• Javier Dario Canul Melchor
• Fredy Damián López Méndez
• Pedro Cesar Ruiz Gopar
• Javier Martínez Pantaleón
• Francisco Armando Álvarez Espíritu
• Omar Pérez García
• Ausencio Reyes Arista
• Julio Diego Vázquez
• Manuel Ramírez Jiménez
• Pedro Peralta José
• Luis Alfredo Hernández Sánchez
• Mario Vásquez Pablo
• Fernando Guzmán Gutiérrez
• Paulina Rueda Castellanos

Some compañeros were attacked by paramilitaries who kidnapped other youth with a red Tsuru with license plates TKR 5739.

Along with the physical and psychological attacks, our compañeros were also sexually assaulted. There are photos and videos of our compañeras being stripped as they were being detained, without knowing what awaited them ahead.

We are also aware of two compañeros wounded by bullets that were fired during the demonstrations.

And of others who were beaten and others who remain missing.

In the face of these repressive acts, we demand the immediate release of all our compañeros, holding responsable the commander, facist and repressor Gabino Cué Monteagudo, the State Attorney General Manuel de Jesús López López, the Public Security Secretary Marco Tulio López Escamilla, the head of the police operation, Commander M. Aguirre, and all those officers who participated in these brutal attacks.

FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!!
MAY MEMORY BURY THOSE WHO CONDEMN THE RESISTANCE!!
IN THE RESISTANCE, OUR RESPONSE IS NOT VIOLENCE, IT IS SELF DEFENSE!!

COLECTIVO BARRO NEGRO
CONSEJO INDIGENA POPULAR DE OAXACA – RFM
ESTUDIANTES UNIVERSITARIOS INDEPENDIENTES
COLECTIVO LIBERTARIO MAGONISTA

The post Statement on the May Day arrests in Oaxaca appeared first on El Enemigo Común.

Letter on March 30, 2013

Thursday, March 28, we, Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo and David Venegas Reyes, were violently detained by members of the State Investigatory Agency (AEI), accused of robbing a taxi driver who minutes earlier had given a ride to David Venegas Reyes and two compañeras, and who tried to rob them but they didn’t allow it. After getting out of the taxi, they arrived at the house of Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo, and when we left for the store the agents detained us, and without any explanation, violently put us in police vehicles in spite of the fact that several neighbors tried to stop them because there was no reason for our detention. To avoid more violence, we decided to let them take us. Yet in spite of that, David Venegas Reyes was beaten in the face, back and chest by an agent during the drive to the State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE), in La Experimental, Oaxaca, and later was again beaten in the face and stomach by another agent in the PGJE building.

From there we were taken to the PGJE cells in Ciudad Judicial in Reyes Mantecon, Oaxaca, and it is from this location on March 29 we learned we are accused of the crime of violent robbery for which we have no right to bail. The PGJE accepted the accusation and brazenly lied about the fact that the police violently detained us. They released a statement saying the police were present during the robbery and attack on the taxi driver and had caught us “red-handed,” which is absolutely false. It would take a long time to describe here the series of lies the government of Oaxaca has uttered in order to detain us and deny us bail. But everything became clear on Friday afternoon upon entering the Central State Penitentiary and we learned that they issued a second arrest warrant for David Venegas Reyes for injuries caused to Griselda Gomez Lorenzana and other PRI leaders during a December 2 march against the imposition of Enrique Peña Nieto to the Mexican presidency, and where these women physically attacked David and to which he responded to the aggression. This case remains pending before the court and David was ordered released by the court and as such cannot be detained for this incident.

The behavior of the PGJE and the government of Gabino Cué show that the clear intention behind the fabrication of this robbery is to criminalize us for robbery and thereby be able to issue another arrest warrant against David Venegas Reyes in order to please the PRI and Enrique Peña Nieto. The government of Gabino Cué has acted as a cudgel to defend the PRI since the APPO movement in 2006 and up until now in the struggle against the imposition of Peña Nieto. We will continue the struggle against the PRI and its neoliberal, privatizing policies. Gabino Cué forgets that he and the whole corrupt clique that surrounds him came into power not because of who they are but because of the complete rejection of the PRI, that we the people of Oaxaca have opposed and which since 2006 murdered 26 compañeros and compañeras of Section 22 and of the peoples of Oaxaca during the government of the murderer Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

Gabino Cué betrays the trust of those who at one time believed in him, but no, not us, as we never believed in the farce of the so-called “bourgeoisie” in Oaxaca, and we always understood that a change of masters and of political parties in power means nothing for those yearning for justice, freedom, dignity and peace that we the peoples of Oaxaca and Mexico have fought for over the past 500 years. The sellout Gabino Cué continues on the path of all those oppressors of the people, signaling a dark future for Oaxaca. We make a fraternal and urgent call to all those persons, organizations and peoples who share our desire for justice to actively join us in solidarity in order to obtain our physical freedom. The powerful are very sure that the movement is weakening and is incapable of rebelling in the face of the abuse of power.

Second letter from Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo and David Venegas Reyes

March 31, 2013

Today, March 31, 2013, being held in the Santa María Ixcotel Penitentiary in Oaxaca, we want to denounce that instead of being sent to the preventive holding section as is the norm, we were placed in a section for prisoners who have already been sentenced. We are the only two who have recently been placed in this area. Yesterday (March 30), at approximately 10am, the section we were in had a “routine” inspection that consisted of humiliating treatment for all the prisoners, including those who have sentences, and we were stripped totally naked and forced to do squats in front of the prison guards in order to show that we weren’t hiding drugs in our anuses. Why would there be drugs inside of a prison? After this inspection and while we were giving statements to the Public Ministry, a book and toilet paper were taken from the cell we are being held in.

Where we are, we are only allowed to leave to go to the bathroom and bathe twice a day for a very short time, which does not meet our needs.

We are not asking for special treatment or privileges of any kind. We are political prisoners of the government of Gabino Cué and we demand they do not humiliate us or violate – more than they already have – our human rights. We are willing to face trial for what the government and its PRI figureheads accuse us of. We are sure that if this trial is based in truth and justice we would not be here; however the government of Oaxaca abuses the power which the people of Oaxaca have confided in it and which Gabino Cué has betrayed. Not just because of our unjust imprisonment but because of the enormous series of injustices and attacks that the “new government of the sellouts” has committed against communities, organizations and people who struggle.

We call specifically on human rights organizations in Oaxaca, the country and the world to be alert to and to check if they attack our human rights inside of this central penitentiary of Santa María Ixcotel, Oaxaca.

Fraternally and combatively,
Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo
David Venegas Reyes “Alebríje”

“Do all the good that you can, by all the means that you can, in all the ways that you can, in all the places that you can, at any hour that you can, with all the time that you can.”
- Graffiti on the walls of our cell.

Statement from David Venegas Reyes

April 2, 2013

In my defense:

I have not been to many countries, the farthest I’ve reached is Guatemala, but I am convinced that the Oaxacan media is the worst in the world.

Pragmatic mercenaries who without ideological distinction sell themselves to the highest bidder. Their objectivity is a joke and their subjectivity is money. Among them, the worst are the ones who are the most consistent, the minority who loyally follow their respective masters and political parties. Be they in power or not, they are their loyal lackeys. The “best” are the majority, and they change their opinion just as money changes hands.

Fortunately, and as always, there are exceptions; serious journalists dedicated to the truth. But they are the exception that proves the rule. They are like new thread used to mend a rotten rag – a regrettable waste.

In recent days, since my incarceration in the Central Penitentiary of Santa María Ixcotel, some media outlets have said that I am a career criminal and recall that I was jailed in 2007 under the murderous government of Ulises Ruiz, accused of possession of cocaine and heroin; as well as having set fire to eight buildings in the historic center of the city of Oaxaca on November 25, 2006, the day of repression by the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) against the peoples of Oaxaca. Other media outlets say that I am a disgraced ally of Gabino Cué. But what no media outlet says is that since my detention and incarceration on April 13, 2007 and up to this moment, I have been detained seven times by two governments. Twice during the government of the murderer Ulises Ruiz and five times during the current government of the hypocrite Gabino Cué; as well as surviving the PRI-UBISORT paramilitary attack against the humanitarian caravan to San Juan Copala on April 27, 2010, ordered by Ulises Ruiz, where Bety Cariño and Jyri Antero Jaakkola were murdered. Much less do these media outlets mention that in all these cases I have been freed after proving my innocence of the various crimes they made up and that this shows the deceitfulness of the governments who accused me.

I have never taken legal action against those who have accused me, nor have I cared about what the governments, political parties and media think about me. Unlike all of them, who live to sell to the people of Oaxaca – of course, even if they believe it – a false image, created by themselves, of themselves as democrats; I live from my job as a waiter, handing plates of food to workers on their way to their jobs. However, when one of these lies manages to makes its way through the walls of this prison, I can’t but help to respond with a little bit of truth, in the hope that it can make its way back from this little prison to the great vision out there.

Each version, different from one another, does nothing but reveal the source of the poison. The PRI press, which says and shouts loudly that I am a disgraced ally of the government of Gabino Cué, as well as the Gabinista press which says that I am a career criminal to whom the law is finally being applied, and finally I am where I belong. Each of them are somewhat right, which I will explain: The day I was detained with my compañero Feliciano Efrén Hernández “El Gallo,” we shared a cell in the PGJE – and now in prison in Ixcotel – with a man detained for robbing some pills and moisturizer from an Aurrera store while the Oaxacan media was bought and bribed with a trip to Mexico City, paid for with money from the peoples of Oaxaca, by the government of the sellout Gabino Cué and his countrymen from the Spanish company Moreña Renovables. All so that they could see with their own eyes the wonder that are the wind parks in Oaxaca, “wonders” that seek to impose themselves with blood and fire against the will of the Binizaa and Ikjootg peoples who resist being displaced from their lands and who fight to defend their ancestral way of life in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec against these foreign wind power companies.

The Oaxacan media are modern-day Malinches, dazzled by the mirrors of the Spanish companies, who like the monarchies of 500 years ago grunt like pigs searching for gold in our lands.

They are right, today everyone is where they should be and with whom they should be. They – the Oaxacan media – rely on and eat from the hand of the government of Gabino Cué and from the foreign companies who loot Mexico, while I, like the mess food in prison, in the company of criminals of poverty, ignorance, hunger and lumpenization, yes, everyone is where they should be and with whom they should be.

But just as today they share the riches with the looters and the corrupt, they will also share the fate that the people of Mexico hold for them in a not too distant future.

A fraternal greeting to the free, alternative and dignified media, and to those few serious and honest journalists in the mainstream media. But primarily to all those free men and women who think for themselves, and with the light of their own intelligence illuminate the darkness which the mass media wishes to submerge us in.

We remain here, resisting and certain that in the end, as always, the truth will triumph and will set us free.

From the Central Penitentiary of Santa María Ixcotel,
Oaxaca de Magón, April 2, 2013.

David Venegas “Alebríje”

The post Three letters from political prisoners David Venegas and Efrén Hernández from Ixcotel Prison in Oaxaca appeared first on El Enemigo Común.

Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, México.

To all the people of Mexico
To the people and governments of the world
To the free independent media and community radio stations
To the local, national and international press
To human rights organizations

Brothers and Sisters- On March 26, during the failed eviction by the state police against the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of the Isthmus (APPJ) who have been opposing the installation of a wind power corridor by maintaining an encampment on the road that leads to Playa Vicente, the facilities of community station Radio Totopo suffered an attack by the Oaxaca State Governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo in cahoots with the Mayor of Juchitán Daniel Gurrión Matías. The cables that provide light to our space were cut and it is important to note that this space not only operates the radio station but is also a community and cultural center. This center has served the local population with many activities including academic counseling for children, a stage for artistic expression, and a meeting place for members of our community to speak in our native language. With the current situation of our rejection of the wind power companies’ project it has become a space to share information using our FM radio signal and also to open space for assemblies.

On the 26th we were able to connect the power with the help of the community and transmit a special program about what had happened and inform the local population about the threat of these wind power companies in our territory. We also broadcast with loudspeakers throughout the city of Juchitán, an action which was well received by the people .

Today, in response to our communication and community outreach an action of sabotage was carried out by against our facilities robbing work equipment and our transmitter and the power cables were cut once again. This action doesn’t appear to be carried out by authorities but instead by a para-police vigilante group.

We understand this to be a clear message to silence the voices of our community. Yet another attack against the decisions made by communities to organize themselves and struggle for what belongs to them and defend it.

Since the radio is a central point of communication and dissemination we understand that this should not allow our work as open communicators and community members to be adversely affected and therefore seek the means for people to be informed about what is happening in our community and likewise denounce the state government of Oaxaca, the Juchitán municipal government and the companies that at the expense of our blood and our territories try to impose their wind power farms. With the sabotage we suffer in our facilities and future detrimental actions to the cultural space in which we participate we declare the following:

Stop the attacks on liberated community radio stations!

Stop the repression against popular communicators!

No to the installation of wind farms in our territories!

An injury to one is an injury to all!

From the Seventh Section of Juchitán de Zaragoza

Communicators of Radio Totopo

The post Statement on Attack on Radio Totopo appeared first on El Enemigo Común.

March 31, 2013.- Not long ago, Oaxaca was ruled by a despot named Ulises Ruiz. He was accused of crimes against humanity committed against the teachers’ movement and the people who came out in solidarity with them.

That tyrant arrested countless political activists — members of collectives, organizations and communities who rose up against his crimes against humanity. Yet the arrests continue even though he’s no longer in office. Why so, if the new governor is of a different political party and still refers to his administration with the slogan “government of change”?

The name of the current ruler is Gabino Cué. As was formerly the case, he tolerates groups of gunmen who ruthlessly attack townspeople resisting the enormous wind energy projects on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. During his term of office, murders have gone unpunished against people opposing mining taking place without community consent.

The arrest of David Venegas last March 28, along with Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo, is just one example of how political repression is still taking place in Oaxaca.

David Venegas, popularly known as “El Alebrije,” is an anarchist and political activist, well-known for having participated in Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom (VOCAL), a collective formerly based in La CASOTA in the historical center of the city of Oaxaca.

But David Venegas is not only known as an organized anarchist, but also as someone who has acted in solidarity with the struggles of other people resisting state repression. We remember that he participated in the peoples’ movement in Oaxaca in 2006-2007. We remember that he participated in the humanitarian caravan that set out for San Juan Copala on April 27, 2010 and was attacked by paramilitary forces in the Triqui region, and that he was in hiding after that attack in which Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakola were murdered. We remember his unconditional support for the displaced Triqui people. Last year, while many sectarian ‘old guard’ groups opposed the #Iam132 student movement, David Venegas acted in solidarity with that movement. In recent months, he has joined in the solidarity actions against the wind parks on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec that are imposed against the will of the communities without any previous consultation.

Some media have reported the most recent arrest of David Venegas with headlines like this one: “AEI (State Investigatory Agency) arrests dangerous suspect accused of robbery and assault and battery.” Even well-informed reporters like Pedro Matías of Proceso seem to have forgotten that David Venegas’ prior arrests were always for political reasons, and that each time, the government was obliged to drop the charges. Pedro Matías fails to mention the political motives for those arrests, and with a pretense of “neutrality” says that Venegas “has previously been arrested for the commission of a number of different crimes, including possession of cocaine on April 13, 2007.”

But some of us remember what happened. We remember, for example, that on April 13, 2007, David Venegas was disappeared after being detained and that trick photos were taken at the site of his arrest after he was beaten, featuring a little mound of cocaine placed in front of him and his face swollen from the blows he had received. Afterwards, he was taken before the public prosecutor. We remember that the trick photos were analyzed in detail in the independent media, demonstrating the way the montage was put together, and the torture to which he had been submitted. We remember that he was finally absolved [after spending eleven months in jail]. How is it possible that Proceso reporter Pedro Matías doesn’t remember any of this? How is it possible that the other commercial media don’t remember?

It’s clear that there has been no change in the forms of repression from the regime of Ulises Ruiz to that of Gabino Cué; neither have there been changes in any of the structures of the system, such as the public prosecutors’ offices. Who doesn’t remember the mass arrests in November of 2006, when the detainees from the insurrection against Ulises Ruiz were loaded onto helicopters and sent to a prison in Nayarit, many miles away? The public prosecutors had already prepared backpacks for each person arrested, which contained an identical kit: 2 quart-sized molotov coctails, vinegar, a piece of cloth, a gas mask, a black sweatshirt, a bandana, etc.

So then, very much in the old style, David Venegas and Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo, are now arrested and accused of robbing a taxi driver, and once they are jailed, another arrest warrant is presented based on recent charges filed by a PRI group.

In January of 2012 David Venegas was arrested under direct orders from “on high,” when yet another caravan was underway in which people displaced from San Juan Copala were trying to return to their community besieged by paramilitary forces in collusion with the new Gabino Cué government. The governor himself had publicly stated to the news media that David Venegas was a “professional agitator.”

The persecution against David Venegas and other social activists has not ceased under the Cué administration.

In Oaxaca’s “government of change,” nothing has changed, or perhaps it has changed to stay the same. The arrests of political activists continue, with fabricated charges and the same old public prosecutors and judges. Arrests are made under standing orders from above in order to demobilize and silence the people.

The arrest of David Venegas and Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo occurred just before Peña Nieto’s upcoming visit to Oaxaca.

In Oaxaca actions are being organized to win the freedom of David Venegas and Feliciano Efrén Hernández Pablo, while nationally and internationally, a cybernetic campaign is underway to publish solidarity photos.

For more information on the case (in Spanish), see: Proyecto Ambulante.

The post Why are political arrests still being made in Oaxaca? The case of David Venegas, el Alebrije appeared first on El Enemigo Común.

On the 3rd and 4th of May 2006, during the police operations in Texcoco and Atenco (Mexico), the Mexican State (the 3 levels of government and the three central police agencies) tortured 207 people who they arrested, and sexually tortured the women who were captured that day.

From that day on, the women who were arrested began a legal process against the Mexican State, which has reached international courts.

This Thursday, March 14, 2013, The Inter-American Comission for Human Rights (IACHR) will hold a hearing in which a team of women will give their testimony.

We must stand in solidarity with these women!

Proposal:

Take a picture, with a message of solidarity “Together we stand with the women of Atenco before the CIDH” and other messages in the same vein. Circulate the image around the internet and send a copy to the Human Rights Center Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez:   comunicacion@centroprodh.org.mx

-Come to the press conference in Mexico City on Thursday the 14th at the office of the Human Rights Center Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, at Serapio Rendón 57A, Col. San Rafael, México DF, at 9 am.

NOTE:
Make sure to visit and spread the word in all the media outlets you can reach (websites, press, independent media, organize photo exhibits, radio programs, cultural weeks, etc) about the project Mirada Sostenida (Sustained Gaze) by Liliana Zaragoza: www.miradasostenida.net

Fuente: El Gran Kilombo Antifascista, CGT Chiapas. 12-Mar-2013

Statement in Solidarity with the women filing charges for the Atenco case before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights

Seven years have gone by since the 3rd and 4th of May, 2006, when in the streets of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco, the three levels of government, together with the three main political parties, and the whole apparatus of the Mexican State, unleashed their violence and brutality by means of their police and judicial forces against men and women who defended their right to work and solidarity among those at the bottom. During the police operation, 207 people were violently arrested and tortured physically, psychologically, and sexually during the the time they were taken from the town to the Santiaguito and La Palma prison. Afterwards they were dragged through judicial processes for years, inside and outside of prison.

In those days of 2006, solidarity between those at the bottom and to the left rose up throughout Mexico. From the rebellious dignity of the Mexican southeast, to the painful border in the north, it rose above borders, throughout the entire planet. That solidarity, that pain and rage that is born down below makes us never forget those days, that violence, the torture, the prison. We will not forget the inherent stupidity of the State and its violence, nor the dignity that challenged it, the dignity that rose up from the prisons. We down below and to the left, do not forget those days, that violence, nor those signs of solidarity and dignity.

Following those repressive days, a group of women who had been arrested and tortured by the Mexican State decided to file charges against the government for the sexual torture they were forced to suffer. The charges began in the national courts where, as expected, they were silenced and forgotten. This paved the way to file charges in international bodies such as the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. In these seven years, these women have pushed forth the international court case with strength and dignity, bringing the Mexican State to court and making evident the nature of the capitalist system as well as the role of the State itself.

This Thursday, March 14th, 2013, the women will appear before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, and in response we raise our voices, our solidarity with them and with their dignity. We send them the message that they are not alone in the struggle against the State who imposes oblivion of the violence and torture they inflict. We say to the women: we are with you, from whichever corner of the Earth in which we stand. We raise all of our solidarity with you, to accompany you in this struggle that you took on.

The women declaring to the CIDH have made it clear that their struggle is to achieve reparation for their lives, and that reparation is not limited to legal spaces, but rather is built, that reparation is made from below and to the left, reclaiming their lives, and making it clear that the State violence could not break them, that they, together with their collectives, their organizations, have become stronger on this path, and not due to the application of the law, but rather to the solidarity and dignity that comes from the very bottom.

This is why we call upon collectives, organizations, family members, peoples, and individuals to make a public statement using all the media that is within our reach, in solidarity with the women filing charges in the CIDH in the case of Atenco, so that they know they are not alone, we are at their side, just like we have been all these years, and we will continue to accompany them throughout the trial, we will continue to be present, with all the solidarity and the dignity they bring out in us.

Long live women who struggle for justice!

Long live women with rebellious dignity!

Memory against oblivion!

Against displacement and repression:

Solidarity!

Red Contra la Represión y por la Solidaridad
(Network Against Repression and for Solidarity)

Source in Spanish: Enlace Zapatista

Source of Photo: Atenco ante la CIDH 2013

The post Urgent Action: Campaign “A photo for the Women of Atenco” appeared first on El Enemigo Común.

On March 6, 2013, the members of the First Courtroom of the National Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) in Mexico decided that twelve years of injustice aren’t enough for Alberto Patishtán Gómez. When the judges had the opportunity to assert competent jurisdiction for doing a thorough study that would have shown the innocence of the Tzotzil schoolteacher, they declared themselves incompetent. Incompetent? How true, how true. Incompetent in doing their job. Incompetent in seeing that justice is done.

The parasites Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, José Ramón Cossío and Jorge Pardo Rebolledo, who receive salaries of approximately 4 million Mexican pesos a year (without counting benefits, Christmas bonuses, and additional funds) aren’t interested in reviewing the case of an honorable schoolteacher sentenced to 60 years in prison for the heinous crime of struggling for social justice among poor, indigenous people. A hearing had been announced for the purpose of discussing the proposal drawn up by Judge Olga Sánchez Cordero and supported by Judge Arturo Zaldívar. But no. In less than ten curt, bureaucratic words about the proposal being unfounded, the three judges blocked the measure. They didn’t even feel it was necessary to give their reasons. So blatant was the arrogance of power.

Alberto Patishtán’s family members, on the other hand, had traveled all the way from Chiapas with high hopes that justice would at last be done. But their optimism turned into consternation, outrage and sadness when they heard what the judges said.

After leaving the courtroom, Gabriela Patishtán, Alberto’s daughter, said in an interview: “We are outraged and disappointed about the judges’ response. It seems that for being an indigenous man with no influence, my dad was denied his freedom even though he’s innocent. But the French woman Florence Cassez, who is backed by influential people, was released even though she’s guilty. There’s no justice in our country. There’s no equality.”

Hector Patishtán, Alberto’s son, added: “We’ve lost our faith in justice in Mexico. Once again discrimination against indigenous people is obvious. And if the Supreme Court had recognized my father’s innocence, it would have helped thousands of other innocent people who have spent many years in prison, too.”

Cecilia Santiago, who came to Mexico City with the family, said: “We’re outraged. This shows just how racist justice is in Mexico. We’re sad and concerned… They’ve turned their back on us.”

During the almost two-hour wait for the judges to arrive, Gaby, Hector and their uncle Faustino López Ruiz talked about their hopes and expectations outside the courtroom. “For the first time since my Dad lost his appeal based on constitutional violations in 2003, we have a new legal strategy that should oblige them to order his release,” says Gaby. “I feel kind of nervous because there’s a lot at stake today,” adds Hector. Will they have to present new exculpatory evidence? The lawyers Leonel and Sandino Rivera explain that they’ve already presented a document of jurisprudence that compels the annulment of evidence obtained through violations of due process, such as the false testimonies of officers who swore they were in two different places at the same time.

Family members also spoke about the life and struggle of Alberto Patishtán in his community and in the prisons of Chiapas. “We’re from the town of El Bosque in the mountains of Chiapas,” said Faustino López Ruiz. “From the very first moment when they arrested Albert on June 19, 2000, up until now, he has always had the support of the community. Back then, we were all sick and tired of the injustice and repression that existed. Alberto said that there was no reason for us to put up with that, that we had to get organized. The authorities know he had nothing to do with the ambush [in which seven policemen were killed]. He was somewhere else and they know it. In El Bosque we hold Alberto in high regard. We care about him. We miss him. And we want him back with us.”

Gaby notes that her father was working honorably as an elementary schoolteacher and was also helping people get organized because they had suffered a lot. “The municipal president was really corrupt. The elections were coming and he wanted to stay in power. Unfortunately, just when my dad had helped people document all the abuses against his administration, the ambush took place. The president’s son was shot, and they put the blame on my dad. His case is political. He’s innocent.”

Alberto Patishtán’s family members mention some of the violations of his rights that have occurred, such as his arrest without a warrant, his torture, and the fact that he was forced to make a statement without a lawyer being present. He didn’t have a translator either. In spite of the evidence in his favor, he was unjustly charged with federal offenses of homicide and aggravated assault, damages, and possession of firearms for the exclusive use of the Army.
Furthermore, during all these years that Alberto has been in prison, he was denied adequate medical diagnoses that would have detected a brain tumor which gave him terrible headaches and almost left him blind.

Hector and Gaby say their father is known in El Bosque and in the prisons of Chiapas as a man who always looks out for poor people and helps them organize to obtain justice and human rights. Without him, there would have been no prisoner organizations such as La Voz del Amate in CERESO # 14 in Cintalapa, or Solidarios con La Voz del Amate in CERESO #5 near San Cristóbal de las Casas. These groups have held several hunger strikes that have resulted in the release of hundreds of indigenous people. Patishtán’s son and daughter say that on October 10, 2011, their father was secretly transferred to the Guasave prison in Sinaloa, 2,000 kilometers away from home in reprisal for starting a hunger strike.

When Albert was arrested in the year 2000, Gaby was only nine years old and Hector was three. They say their family has suffered because of not having him at home. They’ve been able to visit him in the prisons of Chiapas, but “it’s not the same.” And when they transferred him to Guasave, it was even more difficult. “The authorities put all kinds of obstacles in our way,” says Gaby. “For example, we had to give them not just one, but five birth certificates. There was a lot of humiliation and long hours of waiting to see him for just a few minutes.” Héctor adds that he traveled from Chiapas to Sinaloa twice without being able to see his father even once. He says the new ultra maximum security prison where Alberto was held is “a torture center like Guantánamo.” He says the prisoners are isolated there and that Alberto was only able to go out into the yard once a week.

“Even so,” says Gaby, “my dad always has a positive attitude and helps other prisoners.” How has he been able to organize so many people inside the prisons? “It’s his faith,” says Hector. “He’s a very spiritual man.” “Yes,” says Gaby, “and he’s firmly committed to struggling. He never gives up.”

What will happen now? Gaby says that “independently of what just happened, God is going to open other doors for us, and we’re going to keep right on struggling to win freedom for my dad.”

Attorney Leonel Rivera explains that “The First Courtroom let an opportunity go by to establish significant precedents, and this leaves us confused and outraged…We are filled with consternation over the votes of judges Pardo Rebolledo, Cossío Díaz and Ortiz Mena. But of course there are still possibilities that Patishtán will gain his freedom. Our arguments are solid. Now the case goes back to the First Collegiate Tribunal in Chiapas, which will have to make a decision. In the event that it decides the case is inadmissible we’ll have to proceed through the Inter-American court system.”

Cecilia Santiago says that “from his cell in CERESO 5 Alberto will surely be calling for actions of resistance and dignity as part of an ongoing struggle to win his freedom because he’s innocent…and also because thousands and thousands of men and women in Mexico are unjustly imprisoned…Alberto’s spiritual and moral strength and leadership will give us the strength to go on.”

Hector says: “Despite the judges’ decision, we haven’t lost the war. Just the opposite is true. This is going to serve as an experience that will give us strength and positive energy. We want to ask that all of you listen to what we have to say. We’re going to need your support in the demonstrations that will surely be taking place in the upcoming days and weeks. It will be a great help for the family.”

PS: Among the many messages, letters, prayers, statements and acts of solidarity that have been forthcoming in Chiapas and the world to demand freedom for Alberto Patishtán, the words of one comrade in particular take on a special meaning. They come from Kuy Kendall, who was seriously wounded when he was shot in the head by the police during the protests against the inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto last December 1, and is still hospitalized. On November 8, 2011, in a demonstration outside the offices of the Federal Prison Administration of the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) in Mexico City to demand immediate freedom for all those who had been on hunger strike and for the return to Chiapas of Alberto Patishtán, who was still being held incommunicado after his transfer to Guasave, Kuy asked: “Where is he? We want to know where Alberto Patisntán is. Give us an answer. Be minimally democratic. Where are you holding him? That’s the question. We want to know every detail and we’re informing you that we want his immediate freedom. That’s why we’re here. To demand freedom for a comrade who has committed no crime.”

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Qui ziuu di’tu (You won’t take one step forward!) was the watchword on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec when the festive, combative Caravan in Defense of the Land and Territory got to the Álvaro Obregón community on the afternoon of February 17 in a show of solidarity with the Binnizá (Zapotec) people.

The day before, upon getting a promise from Gabino Cué’s Secretary of Government to respect and abide by the peoples’ decision to stop Mareña Renovables from building a wind park on the communal lands of San Dionisio del Mar, the peoples in resistance on the Isthmus stated that they welcome this advance but in view of a previous betrayal by Cué, they are determined to stay on the alert until Mareña Renovables definitively states that it will “get off our land and never come back.” In a meeting with community members on February 16, Secretary Jesús Martínez Álvarez also promised to refrain from using armed force to repress the peoples in resistance. The Assembly insists that those responsible for “the rest of the wind projects on the Isthmus must also respect the decision of the peoples and honor the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially in the case of the three Bii Sti Igu parks scheduled to be built (using the same practices Mareña has used) on the lands of the Binnizá indigenous people of Santa María Xadani. We remain resolute in a state of ALERT and will not take one step back in the defense of our territory.”

The Assembly reports that the Caravana “followed the route of the Binnizá people’s most important ancestral sites on the Isthmus, starting out from Juchitán, making the first stop at Santa María Xadani, crossing through the territory of San Blas Atempa in the Santa Rosa de Lima community where a new contingent joined in along with another from the Ikoots town of San Mateo del Mar, and finally arriving at the heroic town of Gui’xhi’ ro’ (Alvaro Obregón), where the caravan was received by hundreds of women, men and children who applauded and thanked everyone for their support in the struggle against the plundering of the territory by transnational capital. The peoples came together at the regional level in the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Defense of the Land and Territory in the Community Assembly of Gui’xhi’ ro´’, where fishermen, farmers, housewives, students, elders and the townspeople in general joyfully celebrated this gesture of solidarity….”

Carlos Sánchez of Radio Totopo explains in an interview conducted by the Autonomous Paths Collective that “The only access by land to the Barra Santa Teresa is through the Álvaro Obregón community. People there will be the most heavily affected. They traditionally go out to fish from that community, and they’ll no longer have access to the lagoon. The people there are Zapotecs with a long history; they’re the children of revolutionaries, the children of retired soldiers who fought with General Charis Castro, who rose up in arms against the federal government in 1919 and demanded the return of communal lands that were in the hands of local power bosses. The community is opposing the wind park; more than half of the population is against it. What the governor and Mareña Renovables say about us only being 20 people is a lie. Today there was a dialogue table with the Secretary of Government and he could plainly see that we weren’t just 20 drunks; we were more than half the town”.

According to the Assembly’s report, “Once we were in the headquarters where we organize resistance to the wind park, a rally was held in which all the speakers underscored their support and solidarity to this just struggle that we, the indigenous peoples on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are waging against multinational capital. The corporations have the support of all three levels of government and are trying to divide the movement by offering money to fishermen in different communities on the Isthmus, but they’ve come up against the steadfast, unshakeable decision of organized peoples who are defending our land and territory and our living space. At the same rally support was also shown for the alliance between the Binnizá and Ikoots people in defense of the Laguna Superior.”

“The sweet, melodious sound of our mother tongue, diidxazá, can also be firm, hard, and pointed when we tell Mareña Renovables qui ziuu di’ tu. With that expression we make our position absolutely clear: You won’t take one step forward! We won’t take one step back in this righteous, courageous struggle.”

For more information, visit:
la Asamblea de los Pueblos Indígenas del Istmo de Tehuantepec en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio

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March in Álvaro Obregón. February 10, 2013

Today, February 10, 2013 is certainly a watershed in the struggle for the defense of the land and territory on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. After the successful resistance against the repression ordered by Oaxaca state governor Gabino Cué to shield Mareña Renovables, the peoples of the Isthmus are at a decisive moment in their struggle to defend their territory. The Assembly held today and the sizeable march in Álvaro Obregón has provided the ideal setting for announcing townspeople’s decisions, expelling false political leaders and their political parties, and beginning the construction of a Community Police.

At the old General Charis military quarters, the scene of the historic resistance of February 2, men and women from San Dionisio del Mar, San Mateo del Mar, Xadani, Emiliano Zapata, San Blas Atempa, Unión Hidalgo, and Juchitán, among other communities, came together in the morning to ratify their total rejection of the wind projects in the region and demand the immediate expulsion of Mareña Renovables from the territories of the Isthmus.

The Assembly and march come on the heels of the desperate, venomous statements made by Gabino Cué Monteagudo last February 6, when he said: “They’re just tiny groups of people who spend their time drinking, attacking the police, and holding up social projects that the company is committed to implementing for the benefit of the community.”

The decisive actions taken by community people are a clear demonstration of the resistance against the advance of transnationals in regional towns.

The Community Assembly of Álvaro Obregón states: “In the full exercise of our right to self-determination and autonomy as Binnizá indigenous people of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and in view of the violations of our territorial rights by the state government and corporations, we have resolved that as of tomorrow we will begin to organize the first detachment of our Binni Guia’pa’ Guidxi’ (community police) in defense of the land and territory; it will be made up of people from our communities.” During the march, this decision was underscored with signs, banners and chants demanding the exit of all repressive forces, making it clear that no kind of state or federal police is welcome and that access to the Mexican Army and Navy will be blocked.

Upcoming resistance actions are proposed for February 13 in San Dionisio del Mar, and a call is being sent out for national and international solidarity and for the participation of indigenous peoples of the region and the country to cover the Humanitarian Caravan and Solidarity Cavalcade with Guidxi’ro Resistance that will be held on Sunday February 17, setting out from different points to then converge in Álvaro Obregón. Plans also call for shoring up the collection of provisions and supplies at Radio Totopo in Juchitán, and the Universidad de la Tierra in Colonia Reforma, City of Oaxaca.

Heading up today’s march was a large group of boys and girls, followed by dozens of women, then hundreds of men, women, young people, elders, Zapotecs and Ikjots, chanting with all their might: “Zapata lives! The struggle continues!”, “Mareña Renovables out now!”, and a message that could presage the future of the governor of Oaxaca, “Gabino Cué, out now!”

So this is the way resistance is being strengthened from within. Now it’s time for the peoples of Oaxaca, the country and the world to show their heartfelt support for the righteous people of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Source in Spanish: Proyecto Ambulante

Spanish language video:

MANIFIESTO DE LA ASAMBLEA COMUNITARIA DE GUI’XHI’ RO ÁLVARO OBREGÓN

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Indigenous peoples on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are resisting a new police offensive to impose the construction of a mega wind park by the Spanish transnational Mareña Renovables in the Barra de Santa Teresa of San Dionisio del Mar. This wind park, the largest in Latin America, would completely do away with the habitat, natural resources and food supplies of the fishing and farming families of the Barra and would also destroy their sacred sites. Moreover, the project is a direct violation of their human rights as an indigenous people.

As a form of protest, members of the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of the Land and Territory took over the town government offices a year ago and still occupy them. As of last October 29, they also maintain a blockade in Colonia Álvaro Obregón to prevent Mareña Renovables from entering the Barra to start construction.

Despite the fact that the Seventh District Court of the State of Oaxaca has ordered the suspension of the megaproject, emphasizing that “the authorization conceded to Mareña Renovables implies the deprivation of the collective rights to property, possession, use and enjoyment of the communal lands of the Barra Santa Teresa,” the police aggression continues.

Urgent calls for solidarity are reproduced below:

Alert from the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of the Land and Territory, February 2, 2013.

“URGENT. All day today police officers were harassing townspeople of the Álvaro Obregón neighborhood who are guarding the entrance to Barra Santa Teresa. Despite the presence of representatives of the International Peace Brigades and Code DH, a tense calm was perceived, at best. Around 8 pm, when the Human Rights observers had gone, a confrontation occurred when policemen tried to go into the Barra and evacuate the comrades, who were able to repel the attack. Nevertheless, several people were wounded, although the exact number has not yet been ascertained.

We also denounce the fact that hired gunmen paid by the company and the state government are looking for human rights defenders Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza, Isaul Celaya, Carlos Beas and Bettina Cruz Velázquez, with the intent to kill them. We know that Rodrigo is one of the most sought after defenders at this time and hold Mareña Renovables responsible for any act of violence or attack against his physical integrity or that of the other human rights defenders; the President of the Board, Jonathan Davis, bears specific responsibility as evidenced by his statements demanding that the state government of Oaxaca “take specific measures to guarantee his investment.” We ask that you stay on the alert, given that we expect the tense situation to get worse during the night, including further attacks against the communities and human rights defenders.”

On February 1, Saul Celaya López of the Assembly of San Dionisio del Mar, Oaxaca, in Defense of Our Territory sent the following message:

“At this moment, agents from several different police forces are attempting to break the blockade that has been maintained in the Colonia Álvaro Obregón to impede the entrance of Mareña Renovable into the Barra Santa Teresa de San Dionisio del Mar; they are using force to comply with the whim of Mareña Renovable, thereby violating the protective order in our favor.”

Urgent Communiqué from the Assembly of the Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of the Land and Territory, January 31, 2013

On January 30, around 7 o’clock in the morning, a person claiming to be a biologist drove up in a white van to the entrance of the Barra Santa Teresa from Álvaro Obregón. He had a document bearing the logo of Mareña Renovables. The Zapotec farmers and fishermen who have been guarding the entrance since last October 29 told him he would have to leave due to a judicial order that prohibits the company from entering the Barra.

About 10 o’clock that morning a man who responds to the name of Donald sent by the Secretary of Government of Oaxaca (SEGEGO) arrived, along with 6 truckloads of state policemen. He told the people on guard that the government wanted to talk to them to negotiate Mareña’s entrance into the Barra. He also said told them that they were “nobody,” claiming that 60% of the people of Álvaro Obregón want Mareña to come in because it will mean work for them.

When the comrades showed him a copy of the protective order decreeing the suspension of the project, Donald answered that it meant nothing to him because it was from San Dionisio and that they were being deceived. Neither did he give any credence to the minutes signed last November 8 of a meeting between the government, the company and the communities, in which the latter expressed their inconformity with the wind park, and the company and the government accepted their reasons. When the state government representative saw that the comrades would not budge, he withdrew along with the state policemen at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

The next day, January 31, at 10 o’clock in the morning, two truckloads of state policemen arrived at the entrance to the Barra to ask the comrades to attend a dialogue with the state government and Mareña Renovables; once again, the comrades refused. At that time two people in a van tried to get around the barricade in order to go into the Barra, but they were detained by the guards. This act was described as a kidnapping by state government official Rodrigo Velásquez García, who claimed on the radio that the people of Álvaro Obregón had kidnapped two people, a fact that was denied by a state policeman who was there at the time.

After this incident, the SEGEGO representative in the Isthmus (Donald) arrived with two truckloads of state police, demanding that comrades allow them to go into the Barra so the company could begin to work because job opportunities were being lost. He also stated that the people of Álvaro Obregón were not the owners of the Barra. Our comrades told him that as a representative of the state government elected by the majority of the people, he should be looking out for them and not for the interests of a foreign business. They added that if he wanted a dialogue, Governor Gabino Cué himself should come or at least the Director of the SEGEGO and that the community would no longer accept emissaries because anything they might discuss and sign would just be thrown in the trash can.

That same day, according to NSS Oaxaca, “in the context of the International Conference on Renewable Energy being held in the city, the President of the Board of Mareña Renovables, Jonathan Davis Arzac, warned that they would take their wind energy project to another state if they weren’t offered guarantees for their investment.”

In his statements, Davis Arzac minimized the resistance movement against the wind park, ignoring the will of the communities of San Dionisio del Mar, Álvaro Obregón, San Francisco del Mar, San Mateo del Mar to refuse to permit the looting and destruction of the Barra Santa Teresa area. He gave an ultimatum to the state goverment, demanding that officials allow and guarantee the initiation of construction work and “take measures to assure the security of the investment,” and stating that if this does not happen, “no other business will ever set foot in Oaxaca again.”

These statements pose a serious risk for the community people in resistance, implying a clear threat against the movement ––a threat that is likely to be made good tomorrow. In view of the events of the last few days, it is feared that beginning tomorrow and during the next few days, the state and federal governments will try to enter our territory by perpetrating a bloodbath, as has been done in other communities.

So we want to denounce that tonight, ÁLVARO OBREGÓN and SAN DIONISIO DEL MAR are BESIEGED BY HUNDREDS OF STATE AND JUDICIAL POLICE. And furthermore, it has come to our attention that this afternoon a meeting was held with the Attorney General of the Public Defenders Office of Matías Romero and representatives of the Human Rights Commission, the Secretary General and the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Oaxaca, in which strategies were orchestrated to attempt to murder our comrade RODRIGO FLORES PEÑALOZA, a teacher belonging to Section XXII of the Teachers Union in Oaxaca and a human rights defender.

English translation of communiqué published by the: Asamblea de Pueblos Indígenas del Istmo de Tehuantepec en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio

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Self-Determination and Self-Defense in Cherán, Michoacán

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