Oaxacan police kidnap and beat Woman freedom fighter

December 5th, 2007 – jlaw writes: The dirty war against the Oaxacan people and their struggle for justice continues. Ever since the federal government occupied Oaxaca City in November 2006, the state government has carried out kidnappings, beatings, harassment and arrests against members of the popular movement that demands the destitution of Oaxaca’s governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

The most recent victim of this state repression is Nancy Mota Figueroa, member of the August 1 Coordinator of Oaxacan Women (COMO in its Spanish initials). Nancy was part of the historic taking-over of Canal Nueve, a state-run television station. On August 1, 2006, hundreds of Oaxacan women marched to a state media building to demand that the mass media tell the truth about what was occurring on the streets of Oaxaca. When their demands were denied by directors of the state television and radio stations, the women decided to take over the building and run the T.V. and radio stations themselves. A few weeks later, this station was attacked by paramilitaries who shot up the building, destroying its transmitter. When the Oaxacan people heard of this attack, they took to the streets and seized control of all 12 commercial radio stations in Oaxaca City.

Nancy participated in some of the most critical moments of the Oaxacan resistance. After the federal police invasion of Oaxaca City, she continued working with the COMO and the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca despite threats and police intimidation. Her story joins with many others where people who are struggling for a more just society are brutalized by the government for dreaming of a better world.

What follows is a denunciation from the COMO and a personal testimony from Nancy. Nancy appeared in the documentary “La Toma de los Medios de Oaxaca,” which followed the different seizures of the media. In this video clip Nancy discusses an attack on one of the taken-over stations, Radio La Ley.

To the National and International Community
To the people of Mexico
To the organizations of Women

On Dec. 2, 2007, the woman Nancy Mota Figueroa, member of the August 1 Coordinator of Oaxacan Women (COMO in its Spanish initials) of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), was brutally assaulted by subjects whose faces were covered with ski masks. They put her in a pick-up truck where they covered her eyes with wet blindfolds. They had her inside the truck for half an hour, taking her to different places until they left her at near the Hotel Fortin in a vacant lot. During the time that they had her kidnapped, they threatened to shoot her while asking her about different people from the APPO.

From this situation, the Coordinator of Oaxacan Women demands the ending of our friends’ harassment because we know that this a product of the valiant struggle of our compañeras, especially our friend Nancy Mota Figueroa. We know that we are living in a state where laws are not respected, where the police and paramilitaries under the command of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz enjoy impunity. For this we make an urgent call to all of the democratic organizations and the women´s organizations that they denounce this repression that is now focused on the women who participated in this social and popular movement. We want to make it clear that our struggle is not over, that we continue moving forward because these people are hungry for social justice. We continue demanding the removal of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, punishment to the ones guilty of our friends; murders and the immediate freedom of the political prisoners. We won´t go one step back.

“When a women advances, no man is held back!”

“The woman´s fist is attentive against power!”

Testimony

On Sunday December 2, 2007, around 11:45 or 12:00, I found myself walking along the streets of Jazmines in Colonia Reforma, where the store “Pitico” is located.

At that point, a braking car was heard and when I turned my face. I felt two people lift me up and fling me into a truck. Immediately after, they blindfolded my eyes with a rag that was covered with a liquid. They began to ask me questions referring to what I knew “of the leaders of the APPO. Tell me what you know of Flavio Sosa, Zenen, Erangelio, Patricia Jimeinez y David Venegas.” I did not answer. They continued insisting and I did not answer. Later they grabbed me by the hair and squeezed my hands behind my back and they forced me to put my head between my knees. They pulled back my hair to push two pistols against my head. They asked me if I thought I was a bad-ass or what and I didn’t answer. Immediately afterwards they began to say that I talk to my family, that everything was going to go to shit. In this moment I told them that everything they wanted was with me that they not touch my family. They responded that for this there was only one big-mouth. I heard one of them say, “Shoot her already so that we can dump her.” I heard them cock the gun.

I told them that if they shoot that they do it now because all of this is going to shit. They told me another time “You think you are a bad-ass or what?” When this was happening one guy began to touch me on the back. I got up and kicked him. They forced my arms back and punched me in the stomach. I don’t know how long they had me, the truck was roaming about. When they decided that this was all, they told me that this is the first of many times they will wait for me because I know a lot of information, especially in respect to the APPO. They told me that they would wait for the moment to find me alone. At that point, they braked and said, “Stop your participation if you don’t want this to happen to your brother or more than that. How you like to defend women, for the next time you are going to defend her with proof of rape.” They grabbed me and shoved me out of the car and threw my cell phone at me. They left me behind the Hotel Fortin Plaza, where there is a vacant lot. When they kicked me out of the truck, I called a friend to tell her, but with the fear that they will harass my family. I thought what will happen if I don’t make a denunciation at the moment? Now I do it convinced that we cannot keep silent. Similar things have happened to many friends, and they did not want to denounce it to protect their families but enough already with the harassment. The repression must stop against us.

Attentively,
Nancy Mota Figueroa

Founder and member of the commission of press and propaganda for the August 1 Coordinator of Oaxacan Women. Councilor with the APPO student sector.

Download Video

here’s the denunciation and testimony in Spanish:

A LA COMUNIDAD NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL
AL PUEBLO DE MEXICO
A LAS ORGANIZACIONES DE MUJERES

El día dos de diciembre la compañera Nancy Mota Figueroa integrante de la Coordinadora de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas primero de agosto de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, fue agredida salvajemente por unos sujetos cubiertos con pasamontañas y la subieron a una camioneta donde le cubrieron los ojos con unas vendas mojadas, la tuvieron aproximadamente como media hora dentro de la camioneta llevándosela por diferentes rumbos hasta que la bajaron por el Hotel del Fortín en un lote baldío. Durante el tiempo que la tuvieron secuestrada la amenazaron y le cortaron cartucho a cada rato preguntándole por diferentes compañeros y (as) de la APPO.

Ante esta situación la Coordinadora de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas exige el cese al hostigamiento a nuestras compañeras porque sabemos que esto es producto por la lucha valiente que han dado nuestras compañeras en especial nuestra hermana Nancy Mota Figueroa, sabemos que estamos viviendo en un estado donde no se respetan las leyes, donde la policía y los grupos paramilitares al mando de Ulises Ruiz Ortiz gozan de impunidad. Por ello hacemos un llamado urgente a todas las organizaciones democráticas, a las organizaciones de mujeres para que se pronuncien en contra de la represión que ahora están enfocando hacia las mujeres que participamos en el movimiento social y popular. Queremos dejar bien claro que nuestra lucha no ha terminado que seguimos adelante porque este pueblo necesita de la lucha de sus mujeres, porque este pueblo tiene hambre de justicia social y seguiremos exigiendo la salida de Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, el castigo a los culpables de los asesinatos de nuestros compañeros y la libertad inmediata de los presos políticos. No daremos ni un paso atrás.

¡¡“Cuando una mujer avanza no hay hombre que retroceda”!!

¡¡El puño de la mujer atenta contra el poder!!

Testimonio

El día domingo 2 de diciembre del 2007, alrededor de las 11:45 a las 12:00 horas, me encontraba caminando sobre las calles de jazmines de la colonia reforma, por donde se encuentra una tienda el pitico.

En eso escuche el frenon de un carro, y cuando volví el rostro, solo sentí, como dos tipos me alzaron, y me votaron adentro de una camioneta, inmediatamente después me vendaron los ojos, con un trapo que tenía un liquido, y me empezaron a hacer preguntas referentes que “que sabía de los dirigentes, de la APPO, Dime que sabes de Flavio Sosa, Zenen, Erangelio, Patricia Jiménez, y David Venegas. Yo no respondí, siguieron insistiendo, y no conteste, luego me agarraron del cabello y me apretaron las manos hacia atrás de la espalda, y me obligaron a colocar mi cabeza entre las rodillas, me jalaron de los cabellos, para apuntarme con dos pistolas, y me dijeron que si me creía muy cabrona o que, a lo que no conteste, pero inmediatamente después empezaron a decirme que hablara o a mi familia se la iba a llevar la chingada, en ese momento les dije que lo que quisieran que fuera conmigo, que no tocaran a mi familia, a lo que me dijeron que para eso solo habría la bocota, cuando uno de ellos escuche que dijo, ya disparale para que así se le baje lo cabrona, cuando en eso escuche como jalaron el gatillo, y les dije si van a disparar disparen de una vez, que nos lleve la chingada pero a todos cabrones. Y me dijeron otra vez, piensas que te sientas muy cabrona o que, cuando en eso un tipo me empieza a tocar la espalda, yo me paro y lanzo una patada, a lo que luego ellos me golpean en el estomago, y me doblan fuerte los brazos. No se cuanto tiempo me tuvieron, pero la camioneta daba vueltas, cuando deciden que ya era todo, me dicen, que esta es la primera de tantas que me esperan, por que se mucha información, con respecto a la APPO, y me dicen que esperarían el momento que anduviera sola, en eso se frenan y me dicen ya bájale a tu participación si no quieres que te pase lo mismo que a tu hermano, o más que eso, y como te gusta defender a la mujer, para la otra las vas a defender pero con pruebas de violación, y agarraron y me botaron, y me aventaron mi celular. Me dejaron atrás del hotel fortín plaza por donde hay un terreno baldío. Cuando me botaron le llamé a una compañera, para avisarle, pero el temor a que hostiguen a mi familia o lo que les pueda pasar no denuncie en el momento, ahora lo hago convencida que no podemos guardar silencio, a varias compañeras les ha sucedido algo similar y no han querido denunciar por proteger a sus familias pero ya basta de hostigamiento, que cese la represión contra nosotras.

Atentamente

Nancy Mota Figueroa.

2 Comments

  1. Protest March against Kidnap of Activist in Oaxaca

    On Friday several hundred marched through the streets of Oaxaca to protest the kidnap last Sunday of Nancy Mota Figueroa, member of the Coordination of Women of Oaxaca (COMO, which is part of APPO). Nancy was kidnapped by suspected cops and released an hour later after being tortured.

    photos at:
    http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/12/387365.html

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