To the peoples of Oaxaca
To the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca
To the people of Mexico
To the peoples of the world
To the general public

Today, July 30, 2010 at approximately 12:15, just after noon, a group of heavily armed UBISORT men accompanied by state police who were also heavily armed, went into San Juan Copala shooting into the air, striking the women comrades, and then violently occupying the Municipal Government Building.

As has been reported in a number of different news media, the acts of provocation against the autonomous municipality began on Monday, July 26, when UBISORT paramilitaries shot up the community space for two hours, wounding 35 year-old María Rosa Francisco, who has been disappeared since she went out for firewood that day. The paramilitaries shot everything that moved, including dozens of domestic animals.

These acts were a prelude to what happened yesterday, Thursday, July 29, when paramilitary leader Anastacio Juárez was killed. He was a UBISORT member and brother of PRI paramilitary leader Rufino Juárez, the main person responsible for the ambush of the peace caravan on April 27 of this year and the cowardly murders of Bety Cariño and Jyri Antero

The style of the killing of this paramilitary leader in an undetermined spot, whose body was “recovered” by state authorities precisely in San Juan Copala, is the same as that of the executions of Aristeo López and Alejandro Barrita, high level police commanders directly responsible for the repression against APPO comrades in 2006. His death only benefits the government. Those who could be direct links between the crimes against the people and Ulises Ruiz are eliminated and their deaths serve as a pretext for criminalizing the popular movement.

Today, the pretext for the entry of the Ubisort paramilitaries and the Oaxaca State Preventive Police into San Juan Copala was the recovery of the body of this dangerous paramiitary. At approximately 2:20 in the afternoon, the police left, but the UBISORT paramilitaries stayed in the Municipal Government Building. It is now in their hands. The entire police operation ordered by the state government served to leave the presidential offices under the control of paramilitary groups.

We affirm that the process of autonomy of the indigenous people in our state, despite the repression, continues to be the road towards constructing the peace and dignity that generates life alternatives for our peoples, communities, and neighborhoods.

The repression against the Triqui people outrages us and summons us to act against the attack on the people of San Juan Copala. In view of the above, on Saturday, July 31, we call for a

CONCENTRATION IN THE CITY OF OAXACA

outside the Federal Courtrooms at Llano at 10 o’clock in the morning.

We also extend this urgent call to all the men and women of Mexico and the world who are filled with grief and rage by these criminal acts to demonstrate outside Mexican embassies and consulates and show your solidarity in any way possible with the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala, shouting out loud:

¡¡¡¡¡ UBISORT PARAMILITARIES OUT OF THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY OF SAN JUAN COPALA!!!!

¡¡¡¡¡¡ NO TO THE MILITARIZATION OF THE TRIQUI REGION!!!!

¡¡¡¡¡ STOP THE REPRESSION AGAINST THE AUTONOMOUS MUNICIPALITY!!!

¡¡¡¡PUNISHMENT FOR THE MURDERERS OF BETY CARIÑO TRUJILLO AND JIRY JAKKOLA!!!!!!

¡¡¡¡¡¡RESPECT THE AUTONOMY OF SAN JUAN COPALA!!!!!!

The Land is Not for Sale! A community in resistance to La Parota dam.

Following our last La Parota post on June 29, when Mexican media reported that the project was postponed until 2018, things were looking good for the indigenous and campesino peoples defending the Papagayo River from destruction and their own communities from dislocation. On September 13, 2009, the Mexican government indicated that the project had been canceled, not allocating any funding for it in the proposed 2010 budget. After a seven year struggle, in which more than six resisters had lost their lives, the dam looked dead in the water.

Less than eight months later, however, the government restarted its push to force through the dam. On April 5, Jorge Antonio Mijangos Borja, director of Mexico’s National Water Commission (CONAGUA) announced that “if necessary, the hydroelectric dam La Parota will be built to provide water and electricity to the port of Acapulco.” He also announced plans for five other dams, three on the coast and two in Tierra Caliente.

The very next day, the state of Guerrero’s “leftist” governor Zeferino Torreblanca said, “[La Parota] is a project we should not abandon.”

Because the dam is slated to be built on communally owned indigenous land (ejidos and bienes comunales), the government must convince local communities to invoke a clause (added to the Mexican Constitution as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA) approving the government’s expropriation of their land. Previously, the government secured this approval through fraudulent “popular assemblies” that were eventually tossed out by federal courts.

Returning to the same tactics, an unelected pro-dam member of the La Concepción ejido convened an assembly on April 18. Lack of quorum and resistance by the Council of Ejidos and Communities in Opposition to La Parota Dam (CECOP) successfully shut that meeting down. The meeting was rescheduled for April 25.

At this second meeting, according to CECOP spokesperson Rodolfo Chávez Galindo, dam proponents recruited taxi drivers and other Acapulco residents, who they paid to illegally vote in an election meant only for community members. As a consequence, the assembly approved the expropriation of land for an access path to the construction site.

CECOP has promised to get this illegal expropriation overturned, just as it has with the past four.

–

source: http://www.rootforce.org/

We call on the Head of Government Marcelo Ebrard to stop criminalizing youth who aspire to and struggle for a more just world; they are singled out just because of the way they think, dress and protest. We stand against this bad capital city government which holds hostages such as Víctor Herrera Govea, showing that it is not much different than the PRI or PAN governments when it jails youth who live in this city of “hope”; evicts poor vendors; grabs the lands of the last peasants remaining in the Federal District and of the residents of neighborhoods and towns where the government is carrying out its tourist projects, highways, and metro lines; and looks down on and represses sex workers.

We proclaim that in this “City of Hope” those at the bottom are not able to aspire to live, to work with dignity, to protect the earth, to commemorate struggles and to travel freely without being exploited, looked down on, repressed, evicted and – like Víctor – unjustly imprisoned.

In view of the above, we demand that the Attorney General of the Federal District order the Public Prosecutor to conclude that there are no charges against Víctor Herrera Govea, as the police who accused him gave false, contradictory and unsustainable statements; there is no evidence of the crimes of which they accuse him, seeing as that he didn’t commit any.

The family members, friends and comrades of Víctor have always maintained his complete innocence. At this moment, Víctor is the only political prisoner from the Other Campaign in the Federal District. Víctor is innocent, just like the indigenous Cucapá comrades from Baja California, the comrades from Campeche who are resisting the high electricity fees and the comrades from Atenco, all of whom were prisoners from the Other Campaign recently freed after proving their complete innocence.

We demand a public audience with the Head of the Government and the authorities responsible for procuring (in)justice to oblige them to recognize that, just as there was no legitimate case against our comrades from Atenco, to be young, to protest and to commemorate October 2 is not a crime.

Committee for the Freedom of Víctor Herrera Govea

———————————————
A group of seven comrades from the Committee for the Freedom of Víctor Herrera Govea and supporting organizations entered and were received by employees of the Attorney General’s Office, among them the Assistant Trial Prosecutor Dr. Martha Laura Almaraz Domínguez and the Principal Coordinator of Counselors Manuel Granados Covarrubias with whom we raised the issue of the more than nine-month unjust imprisonment that our comrade Víctor has suffered. We noted that he is a political prisoner , locked up due to orders sent down from on high, as his detention was carried out in minutes and the order that he be held in prison was given within a few hours without any kind of evidence of the crimes of which he is accused (robbery and property damage). We demanded that the Attorney General order the Public Prosecutor to drop the charges, as they don’t have any kind of evidence to keep Víctor kidnapped, and finally, the Committee delivered a letter addressed to the Attorney General which we attach below. They responded that they are government employees with roots in social and democratic processes, and further that they respect social movements. They denied acting on orders from higher-ups and finished by saying that we shouldn’t doubt that if they find that the charges contain irregularities, by August 5 or sooner, they will acknowledge Víctor’s innocence. We will remain vigilant to the end, as to be young, to protest and the commemorate October 2 is not a crime.

The militarization leads to social-control practices which have nothing to envy from those used by the dictatorships of the 70′s: from video cameras to torture chambers, via disappearances and massacres, the regime uses all its resources to establish new conditions for slavery. In addition to the barbarism of the beheaded, the “wrapped” (encobijados), those cooked in soup (“pozoleados”) and other expressions of savagery which the media use to feed the social fear, we find the technology of electronic espionage (phones and internet) as well as the offers for mercenary imports which “will accomplish” the extermination of the criminals. This is how fear and silence appear as the “magical recipes” (extracted from the manuals for psychological warfare) for habituating the media to censoring itself, managing to also desensitize the population towards state and paramilitary-driven violence against social movements.

It might sound exaggerated to talk about “new slavery”, but it is the wager of those in power: the big national and foreign businessmen, the US government and the Mexican promoters of neo- liberalism are determined to take down every obstacle which prevents them from increasing their profit and their control over the country. It’s all about taking over the natural wealth of the country and exploiting the Mexican workers even more. There are examples to spare. Let’s take a look at the extent of the landlord, boss and politician offensive against the whole population:

1. Militarization. Albeit there has never been a “Rule of Law” in Mexico, today we see the armed forces applying the “Rule of the Strongest” throughout the whole country. The army and it’s blue version, the federal police, are already the only pillar holding up the neoliberal project in Mexico. The sinking of key institutions such as the Powers of the Union and the education and public health systems, together with the intense economical crisis unleashed in 2008, have lead to the “heavy hand” as the one and only proposal from the politicians, irrespectively of their political inclinations eg. Felipe Calderón, Enrique Peña Nieto and Marcelo Ebrard. From Chihuahua to Chiapas, from the “News Divine” to San Juan Copala, the military boots occupy, pester, torture and kill the people living in the territories they are looking to control. The supposed “combat against drug trafficking” is the excuse for entering states like Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas and criminalizing social movements that try to defend their territories, by labeling them as “guerrilla cover-ups” and through this, justify the imposition of the “Law of the club”.

2. Extinction of social rights. As a byproduct of the unfinished 1910 revolution, Mexico has minimum limits to avoid the exploitation of workers and the giving away of the country to foreigners. These are the last obstacles that the present offense is trying to remove. It’s trying to stop us from speaking of the catastrophic situation of the national education, the electrical power service, the devastation of the Mexican farmlands or about the privatization of water and all the rights which are being destroyed after decades of fighting to establish them. No one forgets that the Zapatista uprising was the result of the counter reform to the 27th article of the Constitution. Today we are living through the privatization of the electrical energy system by the liquidation of the state owned companies and the brutal and illegal blow against the Mexican Union of Electricians (SME). Along with this, we see a growing transgenic threat endangering our native seeds. Education is suffering from budget asphyxiation represented by the drama of millions of youths who can’t find work nor available places in schools. Nothing better can be said about social security, since pensions have entered the game of financial speculation through the AFORES and both hospitals and clinics are being dismantled and have to endure the daily lack of medicines and other resources. To top it all, on April 2010, the right winged party, the PAN, proposed a counter reform to the Federal Labor Law which intends to destroy the basic rights of the workers such as the collective bargaining agreement, labor stability, length of the work day and even the basic right to receive payment for working.

3. Giving away of the country to big money owners. The ongoing war has one main objective: to have the great money owners exploit the abundant wealth of the country. Who is benefited by the Monsanto Law and the permits to grow genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Mexican land? The answer is no secret: Monsanto, Cargill, Syngenta, etc. Who gets profit from the extinction of “Luz y Fuerza”? Iberdrola, AES, Mitsubishi, etc. And we could go on the same way referring to the mining industry, wind energy, infrastructure, the financial sector, etc., where multinationals from all around the world are benefited from the open attitude of Felipe Calderon’s presidency to “attract investors”. A special mention must be given to the “national barons” lead by Carlos Slim, who have managed to take over an important “slice of the cake”. The fact that Slim is the richest man in the world shouldn’t obscure the millionaire deals of the Zambranos (owners of CEMEX), the Azcárragas (owners of Televisa), the Hernández (owners of Maseca) and tutti gli altri. While this bunch of thieves pays for their royal-style of life, 50 million Mexicans live in poverty and hundreds of thousands migrate north in search for a better life, only to find death in the hands of the border patrol (the migra), the desert or the migrant hunters.

4. Gringos to the rescue. Like never before, Felipe Calderon’s government has abandoned the country to the hands of the United States government and army. Mexico is becoming an American protectorate. The crucial decisions are tutored by our “generous” neighbors which freehandedly give away dollars and weapons, increasing their influence on the reality of the country. In 2010 only, the joint execution of military maneuvers, the visit of a military delegation lead by the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the order to remove the army from Ciudad Juárez, issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, are three examples of who is in control of the country. The Mexican government has completely subdued itself to the demands of the gringos which can be synthesized in the “Mérida Initiative” and the recent intentions to implement a Mexican version of the “Colombia Plan”. The military aid (weapons, resources, training) will be complemented with the direct action of US soldiers and mercenaries in our country, enjoying of course, of full impunity.

Facing this scenario, the mass misinforming media play a key role. It’s never excessive to be reminded of the participation of the commercial media in numerous destabilizing campaigns in many parts of the world, for example “El Mercurio” in Chile working against Salvador Allende’s government, “The Daily Gleaner” in Jamaica against Michael Manley’s government, “La Prensa” in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas, the right winged media in Venezuela against Hugo Chávez’s government and the TV networks in Honduras against Manuel Zelaya’s government. The “coverage” of the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq deserve special mention since it demonstrates the propagandistic operation with which the great misinforming networks of the United States, especially Fox News, dedicated themselves to “create the enemy” which Baby Bush needed to justify sticking his finger in the Middle East. In the same manner, the “Inter-American Press Society (SIP)” and the “National Endowment for Democracy (NED)” are media-intervention instruments for the CIA in Latin America. These are all examples of the central role of the media in the social domination scheme that we presently suffer.

Mexico has worked as a first class laboratory to experiment with social control techniques through mass media. The modus operandi of these actors was formulated back in the days of Díaz Ordaz. In the National General Archive of Mexico, we can find an official government document of the 60′s which states: “Through the action of political propaganda we can conceive of a world dominated by an invisible tyranny which adopts the form of a democratic government”. These are nearly 50 year-old words which unfortunately haven’t lost their validity. Conditioning and manipulation are the old but effective recipes used by the commercial media to keep us still and quiet while the country falls apart. And this control apparatus isn’t limited to times of crisis, it functions over our daily life. Misinforming-mass media, model our lives through their messages: they dictate codes of behavior, they tell us what, when and how to do things, they establish hierarchies of the acceptable, of the “good” and the “bad”, they elevate or bring down personalities, etc. In the field of social action, commercial media behave like mercenary armies at the service of the best bidder and as efficient guardians of the established order. The “strategic thinking” of mass media is guided by techniques to manipulate the so called “public opinion”. It couldn’t be any other way when we know that behind the presumed “objectivity” of communicators, lie the threads of power weaved into solid nets. For example, we have the owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates as an important stockholder of Televisa while Carlos Slim is one of the owners of The New York Times.

In the past 20 years, politicians and media owners have established a strategic alliance for mutual benefit: the control of the population by the media, which allows thieves and murderers to govern the country, is rewarded with governmental decisions which preserve the Televisa-TV Azteca hegemony over the whole country. While mass media portray themselves as the stage for democracy and diversity, a look at the owners of the radio and TV companies shows how a small bunch of actors control the communication of homogeneous messages which underpin social control.

The operating concessions for public TV are split between Televisa and TV Azteca, which in 2008 controlled 401 concessions representing a little over 87% of the total. This produces millionaire deals. In 2008, Televisa reported income for over 39 thousand million pesos (39 billion pesos, which was 70% of the income from public television) while TV Azteca received more than 9 thousand million pesos (9 billion pesos). The situation in the radio industry is pretty similar: Grupo ACIR controls 160 radio stations in 26 Mexican cities and Grupo Radio Centro has more than 100 stations. These two groups report having 50% of Monster City’s (Mexico City) audience. What kind of diversity or objectivity can exist when the vast majority of radio and TV broadcasters are controlled by 4 companies? In these oligopoly conditions, communication turned into merchandise is malleable and sold to the best bidder.

Commercial media, particularly television, constitute the main “communication” link within the country. Historically, the Mexican State has focused on two things: leaving the communication spectrum in the hands of private businessmen and crushing any initiatives that spur from society in an attempt to break the media monopoly. Defying this monopoly is a crucial task to ensure the transformation of the country. This explains why free, associative, community media represent strategical players in social protest and action.

Recent history highlights the importance of free media. In 1994, the incipient networks built through the internet helped to stop the war against the EZLN (Zapatista Army for the National Liberation) and the indigenous communities in resistance. The spreading of the repressive actions in San Salvador Atenco and the tenacious resistance of the Oaxacan people in 2006 represented a qualitative leap for free media, which learned to open spaces for those who fight against capitalism and their governments. In May, when the commercial media was lynching the farmers from the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (Peoples Front in Defense of the Land) from San Salvador Atenco, the free media opened a space for condemning the torture and violations suffered by the people arrested and transmitted the summonings for solidarity actions to support those detained. Soon after, in the summer and fall of 2006, the free and taken over media, played a fundamental role in the resistance of the people of Oaxaca: Radio Plantón, the station from the democratic teacher’s union, Radio Universidad, which ended up being the last stronghold of the Oaxacan movement, the radio and TV stations taken over by the people, the work of free media like Indymedia Oaxaca and other such initiatives all allowed the people to efficiently fight off the lies of the mass media to the point where the resistance was only penetrated by the brutal intervention of the Preventive Federal Police (PFP).

In the present, when facing the decomposition of the regime and the militarization of the country, free media represent the only windows through which threads of reality can filter through the lies of governmental propaganda. When defying the media monopoly, free media strike at one of the pillars of social control in this country. This explains why they are harshly persecuted, particularly those who have a massive reach, such as radio stations.

It’s true that free radio stations have payed a high price both in blood and demolished efforts by the action of the authorities. The hardening of the regime can also be noticed in this area. According to the Media Laws (which lack any article concerning free or community radios), broadcasting without permission is punishable with a fine and the confiscation of the broadcasting equipment. For decades, this is how the government acted, however, since 2007-2008, the Calderon administration has changed its strategy by using an illegal resource, to accuse those who transmit without permission of “damage to the national goods”, a crime which is punished with 12 years in jail and a 50 thousand peso fine. At the moment, two comrades are subject to legal processes for being accused of this “original” crime: Rosa Cruz from the Purépecha community station Uekakua, which transmitted with 5 watts from Ocumicho, in Michoacán and Héctor Camero, member of Radio Tierra y Libertad from Monterrey, Nuevo León.

With its severity, the legal machinery plays a secondary part in front of the interference, the murders and the physical aggressions against those who build free or community radio stations. In Oaxaca, Chiapas and Mexico City, the use of a more potent signal from another frequency to create interference, has been widely used by local or Federal authorities to try and silence the free and community radios, for example:

Radio Insurgente, which broadcasts for the EZLN, was interfered in Chenalhó.

Radio Plantón and Radio Universidad in Oaxaca City were interfered during the 2006 movement. Presently, Radio Plantón has to jump around different frequencies to avoid being interfered.

In Guerrero, Radio ñomndaa has lost coverage due to the presence of a signal from Acapulco which prevents the “Words from the Water” from being heard in Ometepec, the closest city to Xochistlahuaca.

In Monster City, Regeneración Radio (105.3 FM) and La Voz de Villa (91.7 FM) have been blocked by a transmission of esoteric messages and music, since 2009.

On occasion, the interference takes the form of a counter insurgent act as what happened in Cancún in 2003 during the protests against the OMC meeting, when a warship which was docked in the port, blocked all the unoccupied frequencies to avoid their use by free radios.

The Ké Huelga Radio has faced 4 interference actions during its 11 years of existence. In 1999 and in 2000 during the student strike, with the noise from a siren and presently with two signals, one from an “anonymous” station which transmits esoteric messages and music and the other from Radio Josna, a station associated to the PRI from the State of Mexico, which transmits from Ciudad Neza. As of June, both interference signals have stopped. However, we don’t leave out the possibility of a repressive act from the State against the Ké Huelga or the return of the interference.

To interfere a radio signal which pursues no commercial interest, constitutes a clear negation to the universal right for freedom of speech.

The less frequent murders and physical aggressions, have also slammed the free media. Lets remember the painful murders of Felícitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista as examples. They were communicators for the Triqui people through the radio station “La Voz que Rompe el Silencio” and were brutally murdered in April 2008. The fellow communicators of Radio Nomdaa have also suffered from imprisonment (David Valtierra in 2007), dismantling attempts (2008) and beatings (Obed Valtierra in 2009).

Maintaining a free communication project hasn’t been easy in the face of the capitalist project which, through terror, military force and propagandistic lies intends to create a new paradise for the rich and their servants of the political caste. Our radio station, the Ké Huelga Radio, born in the heat of the 1999 student strike against the privatization of education, has as its main vocation, the opening of a space for mass communication for people and organizations which fight to transform their lives. For 11 years we have interacted with hundreds of protest and resistance experiences from Mexico and the World. Our continuance in the FM quadrant and in the internet has permitted many people to make use of the frequency and use it to communicate and amplify their thoughts and initiatives. This has been possible thanks to the appropriation of the necessary technologies for transmitting and the commitment of hundreds of people who have participated in the project during these 11 years.

Conceived as a space for communication and exchange the Ké Huelga has opened possibilities for dialog and encounter which question and defy two basic mechanisms of social control: miscommunication and media silence. At the “Ké”, we experiment with a type of communication where those of us who talk through the microphones are by no means specialists and we believe that the practice of communicating only makes sense if those who listen break the passivity and share their words. This is clear in the case of social movements which find in our radio the means to communicate their demands and initiatives. In a more daily basis, the “Ké” allows different cultural, social, political and even individual expressions with “no time in the air”, to have channels for mutual discovery and recognition. Where the commercial media finds “audience”, we see comrades.

The “Ké Huelga” radio station is also a place where we learn to fight, to appropriate the knowledge that capitalism reserves only for its misinformation media and, above all, where we learn to establish contact with others that like us, try to change this world which is quickly disintegrating while threatening to reduce us to mere spectators of our own death.

Despite the advances that we’ve achieved, we presently find ourselves in a delicate situation; we are in the middle of a growing criminalization scheme against social movements and free medias. The defense and broadening of free spaces from those in power is everyone’s responsibility. We invite you to participate in the defense of the Ké Huelga by having a program, contributing with the promotion of the project, collaborating with economical support by donating equipment or in any other way you find convenient.

Monster City, May 2010

Ké Huelga Radio
libre, social y contra el poder
http://kehuelga.org/diario
kehuelga@kehuelga.org

Bank Account: Banamex – number 40484 – office 4395
CLABE – Interbank Code = 002180439500404844
Swift code: BNMXMXMM
Translation: Dra-San ( mil gracias! )

––When did you find out you were getting out of prison, don Ignacio?

––We’ve always known we’d get out, from the very first moment.

––Was that due to your trust in the people to free you?

––It had more to do with our rage. A rage we’ve stored up inside us. Maybe at first we felt fear. Anguish, along with troubles, uncertainty, rage, impotence. All that transcends pain. It overcomes suffering. We were never sorry, never repentant. This kind of anger knows no human limits. It builds up inside you and, in a way, helps you avoid physical pain… The rage I’m talking about is recent and has also been with us during years, during centuries, of latent suffering… On the question of whether or not we were going to get out, we knew we would because the struggle was not going to let up. It may have fallen back a little bit out of fear, anxiety. But even though we were separated, with people on the run or in jail, we all thought the same way. We had one thing in mind to begin with. Not to give up. Because our pain was overcome by our rage, our unrest, and the confirmation of what we, as people from the bottom of the heap, have always known.”

So begins the interview with Ignacio del Valle by some of us from the free and independent media on Sunday, July 4, in San Salvador Atenco, during the celebration of the liberation of 12 prisoners that the Mexican State planned to torture to death in its extermination camps, with infamous sentences of 112 years, 67 years, 32 years. There’s music, lots of music. Dancing, lots of dancing. Food, lots of food. Pulque, lots of pulque. Smiles, lots of smiles. Hugs, lots of hugs. Thanks, lots of thanks to everybody who played a part in the victory ––to the women of Atenco who’ve offered us coffee, breakfast, lunch, and supper at every march, rally and event held during the last four years; to Atenco’s old guard, especially to con Francisco Alarcón, who speaks nahuatl and blasts off the old cannon at all the parties and rallies; to the Committee for Freedom and Justice for Atenco; to the social and human rights organizations; to international solidarity.

––Don Ignacio, we’ve had very few triumphs in our movements, but two of these have taken place right here in Atenco. How was this possible?

––People understood perfectly, and this was very clear in everyone’s mind this second time around, that we would not give up or give in. We had been through the same kind of repression before, nine years ago. It was clear that if we stood our ground, we would win. It’s true, of course, that a lot of people fell back, protecting their families, but even so, they were steadfast and participated in many ways.

“América del Valle, we want you in the streets!” This chant rings out over and over during the celebration. It’s a top priority now. América del Valle, whose request for political asylum in Venezuela put the international spotlight on all the injustices in the Atenco case at a critical moment, is still pursued by the State.

Trinidad Ramírez expresses thanks to everyone with her characteristic grace and generosity: “The triumph is yours.” She reads a statement prepared by the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Lands (FPDT), which affirms that the struggle continues with autonomous projects for defending the land and with actions in solidarity with other groups in struggle, including the electrical workers of SME, miners, political prisoners, Zapatista indigenous peoples in Chiapas, the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala, and all the organizations fighting against the plunder of their lands. The statement says: “…To the cry of ‘The land is not for sale; we love it, we’ll defend it!”, our struggle in these lands began in 2001 when Vicente Fox wanted to build his airport. It wasn’t a simple matter to defeat the project because first we had to overcome the idea that there was no use struggling against the government because nobody can win; even so, we did it. We won. We in the FPDT know that history is not fatalistic; it’s something we build. And if we won once, we might be able to do it again… There’ s somebody who’s still not here. América del Valle. We’re going to bring her home. We’ll keep right on struggling until she’s back here with us…”

In the interview, Ignacio del Valle stated: “We’re sure she’ll be able to come back, and not because we think someone will let her do it out of goodwill. No. We’re not asking for an act of goodwill. We´re saying: Do what you’re supposed to do NOW. Why? Because the people demand it. And, in one way or another, the struggle continues. And America herself is resisting and will keep on resisting. But it’s not a passive resistance. It’s an active resistance. Because wherever she is, maybe she’s saying, in her silence, that the struggle must continue. It goes without saying that we don’t have to ask the government for any favors. Freedom is not the consequence of a favor or of an act of goodwill. It’s an obligation, and it’s imperative that the system set her free”.

Another pursued person is back in town and is present at the victory party. Adán Espinoza still faces a minor charge, but is joining in the struggle once more. He insists on the importance of getting organized and of everyone coming together in unity in order to move forward.

Several of the prisoners just released from Molino de Flores are also present at the celebration, including Inés Rodolfo Cuellar, who tells us that, when some of the regular prisoners found out about the release order, they said: “The ‘Atencos’ are leaving. Who’s going to stand up for us now?” And when they walked out the gate, the regular prisoners were there shouting, “ Zapata lives! The struggle continues!” With the release of these prisoners, the Other Encampment outside the Molino de Flores prison was finally lifted, putting an end to a four-year-long act of solidarity by successive groups of comrades from the Other Campaign.

Felipe Álvarez climbed up on the stage and talked about what it takes to get through imprisonment: “Compañeros, I ask this of you. Day in and day out, do what you must to become more conscious, because it’s only with consciousness that we can go ahead, it’s only with consciousness that we can withstand repression, it’s only with consciousness that it’s possible to get through imprisonment. There are all kinds of bastards ––police and guards–– there inside who are always repressing you psychologically and physically. And if you don’t have consciousness, compañeros, you won’t be able to get through what goes on where we were. People that can’t stand it, hang themselves. A lot of Mexican people don’t know about this. They don’t know that in La Palma, in Altiplano, there are people who hang themselves. Sometimes the treatment is so bad when they come into the prison that when they’re taken to the holding cells, they die within just a few minutes. Then the damn cops run around saying, “You went too far this time, dude. That guy is done for.” And people don’t know about the deaths in La Palma because all that doesn’t exist. Human rights don’t exist in La Palma. What exists in La Palma is extermination. Day by day they try to finish you off psychologically and physically, compañeros. I’d like to mention a few specifics about the treatment you get in La Palma. They give you five minutes to eat, compañero. They give you five minutes to shower, compañero. Sometimes with boiling water. If you object and ask why, they say, “You’re an animal, you dumb ass. You’re a criminal. So you just have to take it like an animal and scald yourself with hot water.” I was bedridden, compañeros, two times for fifteen days each time, with serum and with one foot tied to the bedpost. They chained me with a padlock and chain. That’s the way I ate. That’s the way I slept. I’m not telling you this to scare you because then you won’t be back to participate. I’m telling you this so you’ll become more conscious and so we all know what we’re getting into.”

“No forgiving. No forgetting. The killers must be punished!” Impunity still reigns in the Atenco case and demands for justice are heard all day.

––Don Ignacio, what kinds of actions do you think we should take against the prisons. Demand better conditions? Tear the prisons down? Stop prison construction?

––Certainly. Prison construction, as a project, only deals with effects, not causes. The causes are elsewhere. It’s true there’s a crime wave, and most of the people jailed are young men and boys between 18 and 25 years old….But in the communities there are no opportunities for work, study, or job training. So how are they going to cover their most basic proletarian needs for food and a job? I would ask, what difference would it make if five schools were built for every prison? But we’re not concerned with quantity. We want quality education. These issues can’t be seen as separate from an equal distribution of the wealth. If there’s no equal distribution, or at least equitable or fair distribution in keeping with the real needs arising in each community, whether that be a region, a state, or a country, there will certainly be no justice. And the system is not going to resolve this situation. The people on the bottom have to resolve it by initiating a national project. From the bottom up. The people on top will only manipulate it. The problem is not that they’re building more prisons. The problem is that in comparison with education, there’s a huge abyss. And the solution is not building more schools either. It lies in a total change of the system. And to achieve this, we have to get organized. The form this will take will depend on the reality of each region, each season, each place. Right now in our region, Mexico, the dependence we’re experiencing is very similar to that of other regions. We’re facing a huge monster. It’s the international economy. We’re living in a country with a tremendous amount of poverty and, above all, widespread social decomposition, in which the wealth is in very few hands and the vast majority of people are poor. The problem is not to attack poverty. We have to attack wealth. We have to change everything.

––Don Ignacio, what can be said to the Mexican people in general who aren’t organized but who are feeling the effects of the blows dealt by the capitalist system?

–– I don’t think we have to give the first lesson. That lesson has already been given to us by the movements in resistance. We don’t have to repeat the course. We have to be taking the next steps forward, but beforehand, and I want to make this perfectly clear because it’s key, we shouldn’t confuse a small-scale organization with a people or confuse an organization representing the interests of a particular group with a community. Above and beyond being an organization, regardless of its colors, or whether it’s in the center or on the edge or in between, the aim of any organization, above and beyond that of a particular group, is to be a people. And when we understand this situation, we’ll be able to respect each group’s desire to participate in a particular way in times of peace, but in times of war, we have to unite as a people, because before being an organization, whatever its title may be, we’re a people. And that is the most beautiful banner we can take up.

––What is the role of indigenous and original peoples in this process?

––They’re basic. As long as we’re not proposing a change that comes from our roots ––in this case we are indigenous peoples, even though we’re wearing makeup and are penetrated by a foreign culture, but we’re the children and grandchildren of indigenous people; we can’t say that in the next generation we won’t be indigenous people anymore–– the system is the only beneficiary of this loss of identity…”

From the stage, with a sense of humor and reprimands aimed at common pretexts for doing nothing, don Nacho insists that everyone must participate and unite, but for real: “Compañeros, we must stand together. Our skin might get wrinkled, but not our consciousness. Brothers and sisters of my soul, thank you. Thank you for your solidarity…We have to unite. The only damn problem is these positions where we always think we’re right. It’s true, many people are right. They know how to tell if somebody’s doing something well, but if they don’t show up, what the fuck. Things stay the same…. Maybe other people don’t know how to do all this, but they do show up. They may be doing it all wrong, but they’re with you… We’re going to stand by our brothers and sisters at the mines. We’ll make statements, but we’ll also take action. We’re going to join with them, for real. Some say, “We were with you, Nacho. We were at your festival.” Thank you so much. And why in the fuck do I want you at my festival? I want you to be here when the shit comes down….No compas, let’s start joining together.”

Felipe Álvarez leaves us with these words:

“You don’t know how proud and happy it makes me feel to come out and find that you’re still here, to find that you weren’t afraid to end up where we did. That means that the consciousness I was talking about does exist. And that nourishes us, compañeros, and makes us stronger. And we’re going to Chiapas. We’re going anywhere we must, to stand up for our brothers and sisters and show our solidarity with them. Atenco will be there. Let the government take note. Let the damn system take note. Atenco will be there. We need many sons and daughters of Atenco, many sons and daughters of Chiapas, many sons and daughters of Guerrero. We must be everywhere, right? Together, we’re going to make the change that we want to make ––all of us who have been fucked over, all of us who have been repressed. We’re going to make the change. We’re going to run this damn system out of the halls of government. Not with votes, not playing at elections just to get a bone to suck on like those guys over there. We’re not going down that road. Our road is different, isn’t it? Even though there’s lots of mud and shit all around us, we’re not going to get dirty. Because when we’re conscious, we won’t be stained by all that dirt, compañeros. Even though we walk right over it, we won’t get dirty. So I want to thank you again and apologize because they’re waiting for me inside, but I’m back compañeros. I’m here with you again, ok? Thank you. I love you. I love you, brothers and sisters. You’re in my heart. Atenco lives! The struggle goes on! Zapata lives on! The struggle goes on and on! YES? NO? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN, NO!”

I was asked to write a piece about people of color organizing to attend the 2009 SOA Watch vigil and about our plans for 2010. I believe everything happens for a reason.

I am writing this from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.

I find it serendipitous simply because when we talk about people of color organizing, I think it is always important to remind ourselves about painful pasts, in order to remove any blinders we are wearing in the present. Haskell University was originally a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Native American “Boarding School.” Secretary of War John C. Calhoun set up the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824, which became the War Department’s main agency for dealing with Native Americans until 1849 when it was transferred to the Department of the Interior.

The Boarding School program was developed by a U.S. Army Captain by the name of Richard Henry Pratt In 1879. At the time, the Army was concluding that assimilation into white settler society by most Native Americans was impossible, because they simply would not “give up their traditions and ways of life.” So Richard Pratt developed a strategy he called “kill the Indian, save the man.” The idea was probably stolen from the various Christian boarding school programs developed during the Spanish occupation of the Americas. The main idea behind Pratt’s program was that Native families would be forced to send their children to live in these so-called “boarding schools.”

The ugly truth is that all over the United States, Native children were kidnapped by U.S. soldiers, loaded into freight train box cars and sent to concentration camps all over the country. Haskell still has the old “rail trail” distinctly marked at the edge of campus. As you can very well imagine, the boys were trained to be soldiers and the girls were trained to be domestic servants. On a national average eight out of ten girls and at least half the boys were sexually assaulted. Overwhelming evidence shows that less than half the children who originally attended Haskell as a boarding school, survived their experience at all.

Less than 30 miles away from Haskell, the U.S. Army base Fort Leavenworth serves as another continuous reminder of deep dark history, an official history of human devaluation through criminalization. Fort Leavenworth was the epicenter of U.S. Army expansion into native lands in the west. These institutions prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the U.S. government engaged in genocidal practices, and justified these practices by officially criminalizing the act of being indigenous.

The history of the U.S. government criminalizing poor young people begins here. Today inner city and impoverished youth throughout this country are experiencing a new incarnation of the same systematic human devaluation. Black, brown, yellow, immigrant, poor, and yes many Native American communities alive and well in the U.S. today have little access to basic needs and services. This implies a lack of access to the planes, boats, and trucks that fill their communities with weapons and drugs.

The strategy has been broadened to the criminalization of poverty, of youth, and of any form of dissent. The only difference is that instead of forcibly sending young people to “boarding schools” today, the official strategy is to criminalize them, and send them to prison.

The United States of America incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world. The U.S. disproportionately incarcerates people of color from poor communities. Everyday this country has more and more private prisons, prisons run for profit. How do you justify a system that incarcerates its citizens in order to make a profit? Today this updated version of the same strategy to criminalize and “change” young people of color has continued to reap violence in our communities.

This is the story of why we think it is important for young people of color from around the world to have an active role in shutting down the SOA and Fort Leavenworth and Fort Huachuca. From the perspective of young people of color on the front lines of a war against them, this list of places, institutions and industries that contribute to the criminalization and devaluation of their communities is endless.

This last November you may have noticed a lot more black and brown young people with crooked baseball caps, sagging pants and a whole lot of attitude. If you were paying attention, you may have seen some of the creative ways in which we are carrying a message that contributes to shutting down the SOA. Sometimes the TV and newspapers do a good job of making people that act and dress like us look like nothing more than a bunch of criminals. But we know that folks at SOA Watch know who the real criminals are. You will see more and more young people of color at the gates of Fort Benning, until we all shut down the SOA. Hopefully we won’t see each other there for too much longer, and we can start seeing each other on every other front where injustices are taking place.

Let us not forget our history, while keeping a squeegee clean third eye on the present. Young people of color have been and continue to be criminalized not because they are evil or born bad, but because they have always been beautiful, powerful, creative, and relentless when it comes to resisting oppression and meeting us on the front lines of these movements that we share. When you see us, even if we seem loud, or even abrasive, just smile because we all know that we can’t win this fight without one another.

Four years have gone by since that vicious attack by the federal and state governments against our honorable, rebellious people in San Salvador Atenco. Since those savage beatings of men, women and children; the search and destroy of our homes; the murders of Alexis Benhumea and Javier Cortés; the imprisonment of more than 200 comrades; the humiliation and rape of dozens of our women comrades on the way to prison; the deportation from the country of our Chilean, German and Spanish friends who witnessed and suffered the repression. All this at the hands of state, federal and municipal police. All ordered, directed and personally supervised from a spot just a few feet away by State of Mexico governor Enrique Peña Nieto. All this set in motion by the President of the country to make us pay for the affront of having stopped him from grabbing our lands to close the biggest business deal of his regime: the inauguration of a new airport with a deluxe commercial corridor extending for several miles.

related: No Confidence that Mexico’s Supreme Court Will Do Justice in Atenco Case

During these four years, we’ve had to struggle and resist in highly adverse conditions, but even so, we’ve been able to free most of the prisoners. Most of the pursued people have been able to come home, and most important of all, the Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) is alive and struggling tirelessly for the freedom of the remaining prisoners, always on the alert to stop the plunder of our lands.

Today we’re just a few days away from the legal resolution of our prisoners’ struggle for freedom. We’ve played the last legal card we have (a petition for a protective writ), and the decision is in the hands of the highest judicial body we can turn to in Mexico: the federal Supreme Court.

I hope I’m wrong, but all indications are that in the next few days, the judges will make a State decision, leaving some of the Atenco political prisoners in jail. They’ll let a few go and reduce the sentences of others, but the reality is that injustice will prevail. A decision involving speculation of both the PAN and PRI parties, of both Calderón and Peña Nieto, the father and creator of all this carnage. Since there’s a State decision involved (just as there is in the SME case), it’s highly unlikely that the Court won’t abide by it. Only very few judges are willing to disobey an order handed down from the realms of power, whether for fear, personal benefit, pressure, or hidden interests. We only have to look at a few of their recent decisions:

The Court has let a state governor go free and unpunished after taped conversations were released on a national news chain proving his protection of a network of big business pedophiles denounced by Lydia Cacho; the “precious guv” wasn’t the least bit bothered by the Court.

More than 20 people were killed in the repression against the APPO in 2006, and photos of Governor Ulises Ruiz’s hired killers firing on the people of Oaxaca appeared on the front page of several national newspapers, but when the Court reviewed the case, it didn’t put any of the assassins behind bars, much less take any action against the Governor.

But it did free the paramilitaries responsible for the Acteal massacre, including two men who had confessed to the murders.

In the case of the ABC Nursery, the Court upheld the traditional impunity of functionaries who enrich themselves by cheapening the quality of services offered, even in the face of the cry for justice springing from grief over the death of 49 children.

The Court already discussed the Atenco case and came up with a legal aberration, saying that yes, there were human rights violations, but that no one is responsible for them.

In our country there is no justice. It’s clear to me that the Court cannot uphold the indefensible aberration of “aggravated kidnapping”; a clear stand on this issue would revoke the shameful sentences of up to 112 years in prison for our prisoners. But the Court has orders to look for a “legal” maneuver to prevent the release of some of our comrades. All indications are that this will determine the final decision, despite the honorable intention of very few judges to put an end to this deep injustice once and for all (our acknowledgement to them for this). What’s this all about? Handing down a spectacular, exemplary punishment to people who are symbols of social struggle. It’s a way of warning all those who decide to struggle of what will happen to them if they follow through with their intentions. The decision-makers know the situation is unstable. . They’re afraid. They’re trying to discourage people from making any decision to rebel. They’re trying to terrify them. That’s why I think this is a State decision. The political class must make good on its threats, and for now, what better candidates than the rebellious, unbowed, incorruptible campesinos of the FPDT. But we don’t accept this. We want justice, not more tricks from law merchants. We’re not going to resign ourselves to this. We’re going to keep on fighting, because in a country like ours where the doors of justice are closed, the only alternative left to us is to struggle and get organized to stop all this impunity.

I’m now in the Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico, seeking asylum after four years of unceasing political persecution against me, of not being able to be out on the streets, of not being able to see my loved ones, of not being able to go home to my house or to my town. Four years of intimidation but also of unbending resistance. There are several arrest warrants out for me. All of the protective orders I’ve requested have been denied by the judiciary. For me, there are no options left, especially now when the Supreme Court is at the point of committing another brutal injustice.

The charges against me are the same as those against my dad. And in the face of the State decision to keep him locked up, I find myself driven to make this decision to seek political asylum, to continue the struggle from outside the country, more vigorously and in better conditions. I’ve been able to avoid imprisonment for four years, and it goes without saying that if they haven’t been able to capture me, they’re certainly not going to make me turn myself in for crimes I didn’t commit.

It’s to the people of Venezuela and their president that I’m turning for help because I’ve witnessed their strong spirit of solidarity towards other peoples suffering injustices. Some examples of this are the programs offered by the Venezuelan people providing doctors, teachers, cheap oil, and eye surgery to hundreds of thousands of poor people in our America, combating yankee imperialism and predatory capitalism with strength and dignity.

I’m leaving, but I’m not giving up. And from where I am, I want to thank all the humble, honest people who have kept me safe during these years. The only thing I have to repay them with is my struggle and my vital force.

There’s one thing I want my people, the people of Atenco, to know ––the people I love so much and admire for their courage, the people I’ve shared so many projects with, which I hope to be able to come back and carry out along with other comrades. I want my father and mother and my whole family to know this, too, and all my brothers and sisters in struggle in the far corners of my homeland, Mexico: If I keep on struggling it’s because of all of you, and even though tomorrow may be far away, you can count me in the ranks of all of you who resist and struggle for a better country, for a Mexico without political despotism, without the corruption, exploitation, and looting that we’ve suffered for years and that we’re no longer willing to tolerate.

And I want you to always bear this in mind. We will win! Now, more than ever, is the time to unite, to fight together against our common enemy. Miners of Cananea, of Pasta de Conchos, opponents of La Parota, people of Copala, workers of SME, teachers of the CNTE, university students, parents of the children of the ABC nursery, parents of men and women killed in Ciudad Juárez, families of thousands of innocent people killed in this so-called “anti-drug war,” poor and working people without job benefits or decent wages, over-exploited and humiliated ––I speak to you with the greatest respect. We have to stand together. We have to do away with all this plunder and repression once and for all, whether by Felipe Calderón or by the one who wants to take his place, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Let the State hear this, loud and clear. They couldn’t crush Atenco, and they won’t crush me. I’m in struggle and always will be, resisting, because the viciousness and cruelty of those on top will never be able to wither the rebelliousness that’s been sown and watered for years in the lands of our nation. Not all their judges or their lying media or their jails or their persecution will ever stop us on the road to justice and freedom! Whatever our battle trenches may be, we’ll be fighting with our heads held high and our fists raised.

Neither the Venezuelan Embassy, nor President Chávez, nor the millions of Venezuelan people have anything at all to do with the statement I’m making. They have their own struggle, which I admire and feel is mine, but this has nothing whatsoever to do with my decision to come into the Embassy and ask for asylum. This decision has been mine alone.

I’m not willing to stay hidden, hounded, and hobbled any longer. This has been the case for four years, and there’s no sign of any change in the situation. My only alternative for regaining my freedom at this time is to seek asylum from a government of the people that is truly democratic, a people that has stood in solidarity with its brothers and sisters in other lands. I want my freedom to keep on struggling, to keep on studying, to keep on living. That’s why I’ve decided to ask the people of Venezuela and its President, Commander Hugo Chávez, to accept me in their territory until I recover my right to keep struggling in my own country.

May the whole world turn its gaze to what’s happening in Mexico. May it carefully observe what will take place in the next few days: the highest court of justice in our country will show that it is incapable of standing up to a State decision, even when this is the most harrowing, barefaced injustice imaginable.

Tuesday, June 29th is a day of international actions demanding freedom and justice for Atenco. Show your support at your local US Embassy or Consulate or other appropriate spot.

Last Saturday, April 2, 2010, the movie Heart of Time, a journey to the heart of zapatista resistance was presented in the basketball court in Tlahuitoltepec, Mixe, Oaxaca, with the presence of director Alberto Cortés and producer Ana Solares, as part of the Cine Libre Mixe et ääw activities.

Those participating in the introductory panel are: Municipal President C. Antonio Martínez Gómez; Mayor C. Cirilo Díaz Jiménez; Education Director C. Isaías Gutiérrez Gómez and Damián D. Martínez Vásquez of Cine Libre Mixe et ääw, who presented the film club’s project and spoke of its importance to the Tlahuitoltepec community.

President Antonio Martínez Gómez extended his thanks to the et ääw team “for the idea of the film project and the ways in which it will strengthen the culture, education and language of the community. This will be an ongoing project to not simply show the films, but also to reflect on them collectively”. He emphasized that “what we’re going to see today is a film made in a Chiapas community, and it shows us how people there live. Here to present the film are the people who worked on it, and I would like to welcome Alberto Cortés, Ana Solares, and his son Bruno Cortés to be with us here in the community of Tlahuitoltepec”.

Damián Martínez Vásquez talked about the importance of the Film Club and the et ääw project. He spoke first in the ayuujk language, since that is the only language spoken by most of the community, and then read a document describing the project:

“This is a space for a pluralistic encounter, or in other words, a place for viewing cinematographic works with a multiple alternative vision for the purpose of enjoyment, education, exchange of ideas, and reflection on initiating cultural activities”. He added: “It’s a dialogue between peoples, a defense against war, invasion, and the extermination of peoples. The right to create art means achieving peace and a free and emancipated life with a communal vision.”

He also explained the meaning of et ääw:

“et: assigning a place, a space, a landscape, land, and nature
ääw: An open space through which one is introduced to a place. It’s the mouth from which the voice, the word, the sight comes, or an orifice that doesn’t belong either inside or outside; the space is infinite. Together, et ääw as a single word refers to a tunnel, “a window on nature.”

And finally, he spoke to those present about the reasons for opening a film club:

“In opening this space of vision, Cine Libre Mixe et ääw, we are contributing to constructing a new idea of the world and of man, which is enriched from past as well as present experience so that it can be projected into the future. All this is being done in the Tlahuitoltepec community and the Mixe region with the aim of allowing the following notions to bloom and become strong: education, justice, organization, language, fiesta, music, work, collective work projects, people, life, communality, lending a hand, mutual help, respect, history, existence, nature, self-management, autonomy, and community self-determination. These 20 elements should be enriched and consolidated with the aim of understanding our reality and that of others with the help of film.”

Alberto Cortés expressed his thanks to the members of Cine Libre Mixe et ääw for the invitation, and also thanked the community for attending:

“It’s a very great honor that you have chosen this film for the inauguration of the Cine Club. Film is a great means of communication that can tell us stories. We can get to know how peoples live on the other side of the world. It’s an honor that so many of you have come. I hope you like the movie Heart of Time.

Ana Solares explained how the movie was developed little by littleand how the proposal came to be accepted by the communities that form Zapatista bases of support. Solares commented that the project began in the year 2000 through film clubs initiated in several Zapatista indigenous communities. “We showed different films and that’s the way people got to know us, and it’s also the way we opened the door to making the move that we’re about to see.”

She also expressed her thanks to the organizers for inviting her and said that there would be time for questions and comments after the movie.

Alberto Cortés added that “all the characters belong to the Zapatista bases of support since this is a project in which we worked together with them; therefore, it’s a Zapatista co-production, and in a way is also a message, because this movie shows how these communities are experiencing their autonomy and building another possible world.”

The inaugural address to Cine Libre Mixe et ääw was given by Education Director Isaías Gutiérrez. In his speech, he invited the community to participate in an ongoing way in the screenings; he also stressed the importance of continuing to work on this project and urged people to participate by asking questions. Isaías Gutiérrez inaugurated the film club at exactly 19:12 hours.

The audience was captivated by the movie from beginning to end. Even though there wasn’t extensive participation in the question and answer session, Cortés dialogued with the community and explained how Heart of Time was made. At the end, he noted the attendance of 500 people and exclaimed to the community that he was departing with a great sense of satisfaction, since this was the first community in Oaxaca where his film was shown.

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.

But killings and acts of violence go on every day in the country. What made somewhere around 350 people decide to return to the scene of an ambush, knowing that something similar could happen again? For the people from San Juan Copala, it’s clear. Breaking the siege is a matter of life and death. And it’s also a top priority for keeping the autonomy project going.

For a lot of us, sick at our stomachs over so many outrageous abuses where the perpetrators go scot-free, the April 27 ambush was kind of like the attack on the Free Gaza fleet ––a moment when you say “things aren’t going to go on this way,” especially when some of the comrades hit hardest in the ambush immediately say “we have to go back into that territory with a much bigger human rights caravan”.
http://contralinea.info/archivo-revista/index.php/2010/05/09/sobrevivir-a-la-emboscada/

A brief survey of some of the caravaners elicits different responses about what led them to join in: “If I don’t go, what do I do with my rage? How can just shoot down people who went there in peace!” “They’re comrades. We have to stand by them”. “What kind of county do we live in were the police themselves have to ask Rufino Juarez’s permission to go into the area?” “I support what they’re doing in San Juan Copala. The least we can do is take them some food. ” “We have to defend autonomy to get rid of the parasites in the political class”. “So they can’t get away with what they did.” “To break the siege.”

But whatever each person’s reason for going may be, everyone is conscious of the risk. Some say they hope all the international support will pressure Ulises Ruiz to call off his dogs, but it’s clear that any one of us could die in San Juan Copala.

The previously announced press conference is not happening, at least not with the right people, the Caravan organizers. Most reporters show a decided preference for listening to speeches by Alejandro Encinas and other PRD congresspersons, who’ve shown their intense concern for the situation in San Juan Copala for a long time –at least two weeks. (See “Legislators and San Juan Copala Residents Demand Dismantelment of Paramilitary Group” http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/05/21/.) The racist position of promoting the PRD House Coordinator as the top leader will go on all during the Caravan. (See “Encinas Orders Return of Humanitarian Caravan,” http://www.milenio.com/node/461188 .)

Even so, many of the free and independent media projects fight to bring out what’s really happening. In an interview a couple of hours before the departure of the Caravan, spokesperson Marcos Albino Ortiz expresses his thanks for the support of student groups, social and professional organizations, and congresspersons. When asked about the excessive self-promotion of the legislators, which gives the impression that they’re the Caravan organizers, Marcos responds that they’re present “in solidarity and are not carrying their own banner”, and that the Caravan is organized “by the people who are experiencing the violence of the paramilitary siege in their own flesh and blood.” He stresses that the safe arrival of the Caravan is a top priority and says: “We’re closely watching its progress to see what the conditions are and to see whether it will be able to go in or not.” He sends big hugs to all the people who are planning solidarity actions on June 8 in Mexico City and different parts of the world against the injustices against Triqui people. He sends a message of thanks to the Other Campaign for its support for autonomy from the left: “We can’t let San Juan Copala’s autonomy be destroyed. We can’t bow down to State pressure and intimidation.”
http://vientos.info/cml/audios/20100607EntrevistaAntesCaravana/20100607_1918EntrevistaConMarcosAlbino.mp3

Another bus is added to the original 5; as of yet, this one carries only a few people. As soon as we leave the city, the rules are read on each bus and everyone signs a statement promising to respect the decisions made by the Triqui Coordinating Committee, which knows the land and the people better than anyone else. We then organize ourselves into brigades of from 6 to 8 people to look out for each other.

Some of us sleep for a while before we get to Huajuapan de León at 6:30 in the morning, where we get a view of the crescent Moon in Aries in a sky streaked with shades of rose, blue, and yellow, that get brighter as the Sun comes up.

Comrades come in from the city of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Vera Cruz, Campeche, and Guerrero. And our spirits are lifted by greetings from comrades who’ll be protesting in Seattle, Portland, Boston, Vancouver, Barcelona, Paris, and several cities in Greece, Italy, and Germany, among other places.

While the brigades go out for breakfast, the Coordinating Commission meets for a long time to evaluate the constantly changing situation. Another press conference gets postponed. In view of a news flash about a provocative action being organized by PRI party candidate Eviel Pérez Magaña to “welcome” the Caravan to Juxtlahuaca, the route is modified in order to avoid this kind of confrontation. The protection of the lives of the people on the Caravan continues to be a top priority for the organizers. More news of danger comes in, leading to a reconsideration of whether or not conditions exist for the Caravan to proceed.

In the ongoing monitoring of the situation, reports are often fragmentary, contradictory, and confusing. Thisproblem get even more complicated when information and rumors are passed on by word of mouth. As is the case in almost any situation, there are differences of opinion over key issues. In spite of an overall distrust of the PRD due to its betrayal of all the indigenous people of Mexico in 2001, among many other things, some people insist that it would be impossible to advance safely without the party’s presence. Other questions come up. Is it true that Encinas has asked state and federal police to come in? How can we possibly expect them to protect us after what they did in Oaxaca and Atenco in 2006? Won’t they use it as a pretext to occupy the area?

At 10 o’clock, Commission members come out of their meeting. “Let’s go to San Juan Copala!” We grab our things and get on the bus in high spirits.

Now there are more than 400 of us, and we feel strong as we slowly move ahead in 22 vehicles. At 1:08 in the afternoon, a convoy of from 12 to 15 state police patrol trucks and other vehicles of the supposedly non-existent AFI and other police forces block the road going into Juxtlahuaca.

The representatives of the Autonomous Municipality demand a guarantee of safe passage for the Caravan to San Juan Copala from the Oaxaca State Attorney General María de la Luz Candelaria Chiñas. But she’s not interested in talking to them. She’d rather talk to the congresspersons. She assures them that several different agencies are working on security issues. She tells them that the Caravan will only be allowed to go on if the leaders hand over the documents of all participants, a condition that is rejected as a violation of the right of freedom of movement.

At 1:25, most of us get off the buses and start calmly walking ahead, circumventing the police convoy. We’re all happy about making it clear they haven’t been able to intimidate us. A couple of people suggest that we could just keep on walking to Copala, carrying the supplies in with us. When the police cars have to move on ahead of us, we get back on the buses and go on to the town of Santa Rosa in the Mixteca Region. From this time on, most of us don’t get much information about the negotiations due to security considerations. A lot of the following details only came out in subsequent conversations or reports.

At Santa Rosa there are more talks with the Attorney General. To make it short, she assures Alejandro Encinas that freedom of movement exists in Oaxaca, but the government can’t guarantee it.

She says that Oaxaca state police agents and those of the AFI (that doesn’t exist), SSP, PFP, PGR, public prosecutors, human rights officials, and state legislators are all here to provide safety for the Caravan, but that there is no way to give “a 100% guarantee that there will be no problems.” And why is this? Ahhh, of course. It’s because the government simply “has no control” over these “violent Triquis” or over “historic problems” between the MULTI, UBISORT and MULT organizations. She washes her hands of the matter: “The government is not responsible for any act of provocation between them.”

Candelaria Chiñas has several suggestions, including one that UBISORT should stand guard over the Caravan, another that UBISORT should participate in the negotiations in Juxtlahuaca, and still another that the Caravan should hand over part of the food and medical supplies to UBISORT ––conditions that are obviously an insult to the Autonomous Municipality. And where do these original ideas come from? Well, if truth be told, they’re demands made by Rufino Juárez, who doesn’t even blush about dictating the terms of the “dialogue”.

Doctor Adrian Ramirez, President of the Mexican Human Rights League, LIMEDDH, asks how it’s possible that you officials have dealings with “somebody accused of serious crimes that you can’t even control!”

Once again, Marcos Albino and Omar Esparza demand that the authorities investigate the murders in the first caravan and that they guarantee the entry of the Caravan.

Another of Rufino Juárez’s messengers, the President of the State Human Rights Commission, Heriberto Antonio García, states that there are Triquis who oppose the entry of the Caravan. “Rufino Juarez is there a little further on with a group of people….and we think there could be some kind of conflict.” He assures everyone that “they want dialogue. We’ve urged them to allow passage of the Caravan without any obstructions… but they’ve been totally clear about the fact that it is not convenient for the Caravan to enter right now.”

In other words, UBISORT’s word is law. Has the State created a monster it can’t control? Or is it just that it’s not to its advantage to control it right now?

As the Caravan gets into the Triqui Region, the nature of the police operation changes. Now hundreds of state and federal police not only ride around in pickups. They take up positions at every 50 to 100 yards on the ridges, slopes, and other strategic points with their assault rifles pointed at the Caravan. Are they the police? Military troops? Militarized police? Policified troops? Paramilitaries? Parapolice? How can we tell? They all look alike and act the same way.

“They aren’t there for UBISORT”, says one comrade. “They’re there for us.”

From this point on, no one is allowed to get off the bus under any circumstances. Several of us try to document the operation from inside.

There are more talks in Agua Fría, a new evaluation, and another decision to proceed with caution. When we get to a rise called Diamante approaching La Sabana, the police offer to take a congressmen and, apparently, a human rights defender to verify whether or not UBISORT has blocked the road. They find that a row of UBISORT paramilitaries are backing up a row of women and children from their organization at the entrance to San Juan Copala ––an astute tactic to make it seem in the press that the Caravan is against indigenous women and children.

Around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, it’s reported on the buses that “there were gunshots,” that “security conditions do not exist for the Caravan to advance,” and that “we will return to Huajuapan.” Mission aborted. Many of us strongly disagree with the decision and think that by turning back now, we’re losing our best chance to go into Copala and break the siege. We think the mood of people willing to go in despite the risk is a key factor. The Commission considers what we say, but sticks to their decision. They don’t want to risk the life of a single person.

That night, there’s an event at the Flamingos meeting hall, where Jorge Albino and Omar Esparza call for intensifying national and international pressure to break the siege around San Juan Copala. Given the complicity of the State with the paramilitaries, they plan to rely on international bodies like the Red Cross to deliver the supplies. If this doesn’t work, there’s a proposal for a women’s caravan to try once more to break the siege.

After the event, there’s a march and rally in the streets of Huajuapan, and the next day, more talks and evaluations in the city. There’s also a march the next day in the city of Oaxaca, with a contingent supporting San Juan Copala. On Thurday, June 9, the Caravan is welcomed in the Mexico City Zócalo with hugs, smiles, a tear or two, and a lot of reflection about how to move ahead on the road to autonomy ––the road to San Juan Copala.

Second Report.

The human rights convoy is about to go into the community of Agua Fria, a community belonging to the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala, and the Oaxaca State Attorney General, Maria de la Luz Candelaria Chiñas, has announced she wants to establish negotiations between the coordinator of the PRD, Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez, however the decision is not partisan.

The brigade also confirms that since yesterday the UBISORT was recruiting PRI supporters to block the entrance into Juxtlahuaca to stop the humanitarian convoy from entering. UBISORT created a paramilitary fence that does not let the 70 families living under this paramilitary siege to live in peace, until now colluding authorities have done nothing.

Given this information, the human rights convoy returns given that there are no guarantees and the statements from the state attorney general indicate that they have information that members of the UBISORT have installed blockades near San Juan Copala and that other groups affiliated with the MULTI have done the same, which in turn could “generate actions by these people that would be out of control despite the security operations by the state government”. (They recognize the power and impunity enjoyed by these groups).

In a sense the complete impunity enjoyed by these paramilitary groups in the Triqui region is confirmed, as well as that the people of the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala live in a complete state of siege, without food, services and constant harassment. And since this humanitarian caravan is for life, and the governments propose death. And because this humanitarian convoy does not want death but life, the convoy returns to Huajuapan to express, the wave of harassment they have experienced in trying to enter, a small bit compared to the harassment that permeates the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala.

We continue to monitor the situation.

Asamblea en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio del Istmo de Tehuantepec, Brigadas Indígenas 94, CACITA, CASOTA, Coatlicue, Colectivo Revolver, Comunidad Benito Juárez Chimalapa, Coordinadora Juvenil Libertaria, Frente Cívico Teotiteco, Yunhiz Espacio Alternativo, Radio Ricardo Flores Magón, Radio Totopo, Universidad de la Tierra, Familiares de Lorenzo Sampablo, VOCAL, Autonomía Radial, RADIO PLANTON.

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source: http://solidaridadcopala.blogspot.com