[van-announce] 2nd Emergency Humanitarian Delegation to Oaxaca - February 10-16

[Eric Doherty]

>
>
> 2nd  EMERGENCY  HUMANITARIAN  DELEGATION  TO  OAXACA  (MEXICO)
>
> WHEN:  February 10-16, 2007
>
> VICTIMS  OF  ONGOING  REPRESSION  IN  OAXACA  ASK  FOR  CONTINUED
> INTERNATIONAL  PRESENCE  &  ATTENTION
>
> IF INTERESTED, CONTACT:  info at oaxacasolidarity.org.
>
> COST:  US$540 ($90/day), that covers room & board, travel, trip planning and
> hosting, translations, etc.  Delegates are responsible for their own travel
> arrangements and costs to and from Oaxaca.
>
> WHAT:   The RODH (Red Oaxaqueña de Derechos Humanos/ Oaxacan Human Rights
> Network) has again invited the Oaxaca Solidarity Network and Rights Action
> to continue with their work increasing the international presence and
> awareness about the situation in Oaxaca, by organizing educational
> delegations to Oaxaca to learn about development, environment and human
> rights issues in Oaxaca, and to develop and build on international
> solidarity and activism efforts.
>
> This 2nd delegation follows on the December 16-22, 2006 human rights
> educational delegation organized by the Oaxacan Solidarity Network
> (sponsored by Rights Action).  20 delegates — including human rights
> lawyers, journalists, authors, investigators, graduate students and
> activists — met with Oaxacan human rights organizations, victims of
> repression, leaders of grassroots non-governmental organizations and
> government officials.  Reports, articles, documentaries, testimonies,
> photographs, etc, produced by members of the 1st delegation will soon be
> available at www.oaxacasolidarity.org.  (Contact info at rightsaction.org for
> articles and testimonies, as well)
>
> ITINERARY:  During the 6 days in Oaxaca, delegates will meet with families
> of the murdered, tortured, detained and disappeared, leaders of the popular
> movement, human rights activists, journalists, indigenous rights
> organizations … and possibly with government and judicial authorities.  The
> itinerary includes a day-long trip to Tlaxiaco, in the Mixteca Alta region,
> where delegates will meet with the human rights organization Nu'u Ji Kaandi,
> and people who recently were arbitrarily detained because of their
> participation in the non-violent social movement.
>
> WHO:  We invite ANY person or organization to join our delegation, including
> concerned citizens, activists, journalists, lawyers, professors, students
> and others, who, upon return to the U.S. or Canada, will work to put the
> current abuses into the international spotlight.
>
> The goals of the educational delegation are twofold: to provide an in-depth
> understanding of the Oaxacan popular movement and the situation of
> government repression, and to spread that awareness widely upon the
> delegates' return to North America.  The pressure of global solidarity and
> activism can help curb the violence, arbitrary detentions and murders of
> Oaxacans involved in the movement for true democracy and a politics based on
> hope, respect and justice.
>
> The OAXACA SOLIDARITY NETWORK is a collective of concerned U.S. and Mexican
> citizens working to raise international awareness of the non-violent popular
> social movement here, and create international pressure to end the
> widespread human rights violations throughout the city and state of Oaxaca.
> For information about RIGHTS ACTION: www.rightsaction.org.
>
> CONTACT: Oaxaca Solidarity Network, info at oaxacasolidarity.org
>
> ===
>
> RECENT HISTORY OF THE CURRENT CONFLICT:
>
> Oaxaca has long been one of Mexico’s premier tourist destinations, with the
> world-renowned archeological sit of the ancient Zapotec city of Monte Alban,
> a vibrant indigenous culture, diverse artisan and culinary traditions, and
> natural beauty.  It is mainly the economic elites and undemocratic
> government that benefit from the huge tourism industry.
>
> In May 2007, Oaxaca's teachers' union initiated a strike and non-violent
> occupation of the city center, demanding better pay and work conditions, as
> well as improvements to the state's educational infrastructure.
>
> At dawn on June 14, state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (referred to as URO)
> sent in state police to violently break up the peaceful teachers' protest.
> The brutal police action, which included the firing of tear gas from
> helicopters onto the crowd below, sparked widespread indignation and outrage
> in many Oaxacans.  The repressive tactics backfired resoundingly, and
> teachers had retaken the city center by nightfall, pushing back the
> police—mostly through the forces of their numbers and determination.
>
> More importantly, the violent police action sparked a widespread,
> broad-based, non-violent popular movement.  URO has awakened a sleeping
> giant — thousands of students, housewives, small business owners, workers,
> professors, professionals, campesinos, intellectuals and artists have come
> together to demand the governor's resignation.   Collectively, they formed
> the People's Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), made up of at least 350
> different civil organizations working in arenas of indigenous issues,
> sustainable community development, human rights and social justice.   They
> are working to build a transparent, inclusive, participatory political
> system—true democracy from the grassroots.
>
> On October 30, 2006, 4000 Federal Preventative Police (PFP) entered Oaxaca
> with full riot gear, shields, clubs, tear-gas launchers and gas masks;
> backed by more than 30 armored vehicles equiped with water canons, bulldozer
> blades, video cameras and military helicopters.  Mexican President Vicente
> Fox's stated reason for sending the PFP to Oaxaca was "to reestablish
> order"; the true motivation for the arrival of the federal police and
> military forces, however, is to break a widespread people's movement to oust
> Oaxaca's corrupt and repressive governor and build true democracy based on
> social and economic justice and respect for human rights.
>
> The arrival of the PFP has effectively turned Oaxaca into a police state.
> In the city, and throughout the state, there has been — continues to be —
> widespread repression and violations of human rights.  On November 8, the
> RODH (Red Oaxaqueño de Derechos Humanos/Oaxacan Human Rights Network) issued
> a report detailing the serious deterioration in respect for human rights
> since the arrival of the PFP.  Since October 27, 103 people have been
> arbitrarily detained.  Most have been sent to military prisons, in violation
> of Mexican Constitution.  At least 38 people remain imprisoned.  Also since
> October 27, six people have been killed, most by gunmen in civilian clothing
> linked to the state government.  There are 39 documented cases of wounded
> civilians, including 5 journalists, but those are only the documented cases.
> Many of the wounded don't seek "official" medical due to fear of reprisals,
> and many observers say the toll of wounded is in the hundreds.  The report
> also documents the systemic use of torture, illegal search and seizures, and
> threats and intimidations.
>
> Since the recent conflict began more than 6 months ago, 17 people have been
> killed, including U.S. journalist Brad Will, shot in the chest by
> plain-clothed police while videotaping their attack on a neighborhood
> barricade manned by people sympathetic to the popular movement.
>
> JANUARY 7, 2007, UPDATE
>
> [The following was written by a member of the December 16-22 delegation who
> lives in Oaxaca.]
>
> The November 25th armed forces assault (the most brutal of all the
> government attacks against civilians) has proved successful from a
> government standpoint.  It´s more and more evident that it was pre-arranged
> and that the beatings and arrests of innocent persons was planned.  As a
> police official (named J. Franco) was quoted … : ¨It´s better that those
> arrested were innocent.  It makes the rest of the people more afraid."
>
> Hannah Arendt has a great account of this process in her book on Fascism.
> She explains that the beatings and degradation are necessary to the
> terrorist process -- the victims have to be dehumanized in order for it to
> continue.  (That´s why those illegally arrested in Oaxaca were forced never
> to look up -- not because they might recognize one of their captors but to
> prevent human being to human being eye contact.)  There still are relatively
> few tourists, however.
>
> APPO solicited Dia de los Reyes gift donations.  When I went by on Tuesday
> with a few little things I´d bought to donate, the APPO woman at the booth
> in front of IAGO told me a government official had told her that those at
> the booth would be arrested if they didn´t clear out.  Later that day, a
> line of robocobs (armed forces) were standing beside the booth.  They moved
> the next day to a side street facing her.  She said they probably would have
> arrested her and taken everything except there were tourists around.  "They
> don´t want to make anything look bad for the tourists," she said.
>
> The event yesterday, January 6, was wonderful. Tons of balls and toys and
> balloons.  A great musical group playing jarocho music, kids dancing, maybe
> 200 or more people there.  It was held on the wide walkway beside IAGO, not
> on the square itself.  Three columns of robocobs with portable fences
> blocked access from the square -- again so tourists or the big wedding party
> at the convent -- wouldn´t be inconvenienced, but access from Garcia Vigil
> was unblocked.
>
> The day before I learned something new about APPO.  El Universal published a
> [malicious] account quoting "inteligencia del gobierno federal" that over
> 8,000 denuncias are being processed against APPO.  The account states that
> every time someone from APPO leaves the "lucha" he or she is replaced by a
> Central American indocumentado!  It goes on to quote "un alto funcionario de
> la Direccion de Combate a la Delicuencia y el Crimen Organizado" describing
> how APPO is organized along communist cell lines, a description taken from
> Latin American guerrilla profiles 30 years ago.
>
> The government of Ulises Ruiz is spending tons of money on propaganda, which
> makes it all the more important that we get as much global presence here and
> as much information out as possible.
>
> Another note: Relatives of the political prisoners still incarcerated at
> Miahuatlan have set up a planton outside the prison.  Prison officials
> responded by canceling all visits to the prisoners -- not just the APPO
> Indigenous teachers being held there but everyone else in the prison, which
> has put the teachers in jeopardy from other inmates within the prison.
> Clever, these bastards, no?
>
> So much for here. Happy January everybody.
>
> ===
>
> CONTACT:  Oaxaca Solidarity Network, info at oaxacasolidarity.org, if
> interested in joining the delegation.
>
> Please redistribute this information far ‘n’ wide.
>
> For more info: info at rightsaction.org, www.rightsaction.org
>
>
>
>
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