CPTnet
13 December 2006
OAXACA URGENT ACTION: Ask Mexican authorities to release political
prisoners
In response to an urgent request, CPT recently sent Reservists Chris
Schweitzer (New Haven, CT) and Matthew Wiens (Winnipeg, MB) to provide
short-term emergency support to civilians under threat in the southern
Mexico state of Oaxaca (Wah-HAH-kah.) Team members accompanied leaders from
CACTUS (Centro de Apoyo Comunitario Trabajando Unidos - Center for United
Community Support) who received death threats and faced possible arrest or
disappearance by the Mexican government as it seeks to quell massive popular
resistance in the state.
On 25 November 2006, a group of twenty-three people from Huahuapan, Oaxaca
decided to leave a large APPO protest in the city of Oaxaca to avoid a
confrontation with the police. When they got to the bus station, the
Mexican authorities arrested them. Four children were later released, but,
in a very unusual step, the government labeled the remaining nineteen
"highly dangerous" and sent them to a prison in Nayarit, twenty hours north
of Huahuapan. These nineteen people are among over 400 arrested since June
2006 in connection with ongoing APPO protests.
Schweitzer and Wiens have heard reports that many prisoners have been abused
and beaten. Some have received bail as high as $400,000, an impossible
amount to raise for people earning $1 per day. The distance and expense of
traveling to Nayarit has made it extremely hard for many people from
Huahuapan to visit their relatives.
Schweitzer met with families of the prisoners Tuesday evening in a small
chapel in Huajuapan, which was decorated with Christmas lights. Those left
behind after the arrests are in a state of shock. Seventeen-year-old Jaime
made the twenty-hour trip to see his parents in prison. He is home alone
with his fourteen-year-old sister for Christmas.
The prisoners from Huahuapan include
A candy vendor, Ciro Pedroza Guadarrama, forty-five years old, five
children, involved with FENIC (Frente Nacional Indigena Campesina) and APPO.
Jaime Auieliano Martinez Gordillo (fifty-years old) went with his wife,
Maria Perez Gutierrez, (forty-five), and their niece Marta Mendez Perez
(twenty-seven.)Jaime and Maria both repair shoes, and Maria takes in sewing.
Jaime returned to school as an adult to learn law he could defend other
small businesses from repression he regularly saw in the market.
Jaime Legaria Ramirez (fifty-six) went with his son Ignacio Legaria
Hernandez (twenty-two.) Jaime is a small vendor and suffers from heart
disease and diabetes. Ignacio is a student.
These six were all active on the local level with CACTUS, FENIC, and other
organizations. CACTUS and other organizations involved in APPO believe that
their protests comply with Article 39 of the Mexican Constitution that
stipulates when a government (in this case Governor Ulises of Oaxaca) is not
doing its job, the Mexican people have a right to remove it.
ACTION FOR NON-SPANISH SPEAKERS:
Please contact U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or Canadian Minister
of Foreign Affairs Peter Mackay. Say you are concerned about the
deteriorating human rights situation in Oaxaca and ask them in particular to
look into the arrests of the nineteen people from Huahuapan. Ask them to
urge the Mexican government to free these political prisoners so they can be
home with their families for Christmas
Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay Ottawa Office Telephone: (613)
992-6022 Fax: (613) 992-2337 Email: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca
Secretary Condoleezza Rice Go to http://contact-us.state.gov and click on
"Send a Message to the Secretary of State"
By regular mail: U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC
20520
SPANISH SPEAKERS
Peace and Human Rights groups in Mexico are calling on international
supporters to pressure Mexican authorities directly, urging them to stop the
violence and respect human rights. Mention in particular the nineteen
political prisoners from Huahuapan who were trying to return home when they
were arrested.
1) Mexican President: Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa; Residencia
Oficial de los Pinos; Casa Miguel Alemán; Col. San Miguel Chapultepec;
México, DF
11850; Tel: 011-52-55-2-789-1100; Fax: 011-52-55-5-277-2376;
2) Attorney General: Lic. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza - Procurador General de
la República; Av. Paseo de la Reforma #211-213; Col. Cuauhtémoc;
Delegación Cuauhtémoc; México DF 06500; www.pgr.gob.mx/index.asp.
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