This document was distributed at the first Forum on National and International Solidarity with the People of Oaxaca, October 14, in Oaxaca City.
TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY
TO ALL THE COMRADES OF “LA OTRA CAMPAÑA”
TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
TO OUR COMRADES STRUGGLING WITH DIGNITY IN THE STATE OF OAXACA
Oaxaca has been included in the ambitions of national and international capitalist economic powers due to its abundance of natural resources, such as minerals (gold, silver, uranium, titanium), forests, natural aquifers, windpower, ancient varieties of corn;for its earth and for its biological diversity. It is well known what those poowers intend for Oaxaca, through projects such as Plan Puebla Panama, which includes megaprojects such as the Istmo de Tehuantepec canal, as well as superhighways that would connect the entire southeast of Mexico and cut across Central America through to Panama, hugely impacting human rights in the region. The political powers dominant in Oaxaca [the PRI] have been complicit in these plans for many years. We also know the legitimate struggle – the responsibility we´ve carried – in defence of our rights, our land, water, autonomy, the indigenous traditions of numerous and diverse peoples, education, workers´ rights, freedom of expression in all its forms, struggles of independence, health, the fight against genetically modified food, and the rights of women; the list is longer and the people of Oaxaca have carried these struggles and more – and for this we admire them.
We´ve also seen the represion against them, like the militarization of this state. We saw how paramilitary groups sprung up and how the navy mobilized troops to the Oaxacan coast under orders from the federal government, whom we cannot release from responsibility, since we know there have been comrades killed, disappeared, jailed, persecuted, among them also members of La Otra Campaña. We, the organizations and people who make up the Permanent Commission for the Liberation of Political Prisoners, the Return of the Disappeared Alive, and the Cancelation of Orders for the Arrest of Those Who Struggle for Social Justice (also known as the Permanent Commission Por Los Nuestros), we agree with the legitimate denouncement of the governor Ulises Ruíz by the Oaxacan people calling for his resignation. They have brought all the various struggles to bear in confronting the imposition of the interests of the state and guarding the constitutional rights of the people. As it says in article 39 of our Magna Carta, “National sovereignty resides essencially and originally with the people. All public power disseminates from the people and is instituted for their benefit. The people have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter or change their form of government”.
Please receive our greetings – from below and from the left, and be sure that we are present, attentive, and supportive of the struggle for dignity of which you are at the forefront.
The Permanent Commission Por Los Nuestros
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source: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/17/18320827.php
by Comision Permante, translated by emilyn
