Mexico Week In Review: 12.11-12.17

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 12.11-12.17
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Published since 1994, 'Mexico Week In Review' is a service of the
Committee of Indigenous Solidarity (CIS).  CIS is a Washington, D.C.
based activist group committed to the ongoing struggles of Indigenous
peoples in the Americas.  CIS is actively supporting the struggles
of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico while simultaneously combating
related structures of oppression within our own communities.

To view newsletter archives, visit: 
http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mexico-week/

"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
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OAXACA UPDATE I: FEDERAL FORCES PULL OUT

Federal riot police ended their weeks-long occupation of the center 
of the Mexican tourist city Oaxaca on Saturday (12/16), having 
weakened a protest movement trying to oust a state governor. Violent 
clashes between the masked activists and riot police, and a string of 
shootings of protesters, made Oaxaca one of new President Felipe 
Calderon's top problems. But the arrest of several high profile 
protest leaders has weakened the movement against the governor, and 
the frequency and size of demonstrations has fallen.

The federal police boarded trucks and rolled out of the city before 
dawn, handing over security to state police. The federal agents were 
headed for a nearby air base where they would remain until further 
notice, a state spokeswoman said. "It's no longer necessary that they 
guard the streets; we are doing it now," said state government 
spokeswoman Luz Divina Zarate.

The federal force stormed the graceful mountain-ringed city in 
October, fighting fierce battles with leftist activists who had built 
barricades and closed government buildings in a bid to topple state 
Gov. Ulises Ruiz. Police have snatched hundreds of protesters from 
the streets in recent weeks, leading to accusations by rights groups 
of illegal arrests and torture. The protesters accuse Ruiz, who they 
say is corrupt and stole an election, of being behind at least a 
dozen deaths, mainly of activists, since the conflict began in June. 
Gunmen identified by a national newspaper as local government 
officials were filmed shooting at activists at the height of the 
conflict.

Oaxaca is one of Mexico's cultural gems but is surrounded by rural 
areas of extreme poverty that years of corrupt government has failed 
to significantly reduce. Since taking office on December 1, Calderon 
has taken a tough line on Mexico's security problems, sending 
thousands of troops to his home state of Michoacan, where a turf war 
between drug cartels has led to soaring violence. Hundreds of federal 
police left Oaxaca earlier this week to beef-up the offensive in 
Michoacan.

Source: Reuters: 12/16
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OAXACA UPDATE II: RUIZ ADMITS ARBITRARY ARRESTS

Oaxacan Gov. Ulises Ruiz, for months demanded by the populace to step 
down for violent repression, recognized that some 80 percent of the 
214 people arrested November 25 have no relation to the social 
movement. The authorities of Oaxaca admitted that at least eight of 
those people were formally sent to prison, although their names were 
not in the Federal Preventive Police official report, and they were 
not involved in the events.

Attorneys for the prisoners and human rights representatives declared 
this is a situation of glaring violation of the right to freedom, 
typifying the arbitrary arrests and irregular trials. They said there 
are testimonies from every case of the terror lived by the accused 
and their relatives, while only three people have been freed after 
paying some $10,000 for bail.

Faced with the large number of reports of violations of individual 
rights, human rights observers from Spain, France, Germany, and other 
countries will pay a working visit to Oaxaca to organize a 
comprehensive mission to investigate the human rights violations in 
that Mexican state.

Source: Prensa Latina: 12/11
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FARMERS FIGHT GM FOODS

Farmers from 19 Mexican states began a campaign to protect natural 
corn and beans from their transgenic counterparts. The National 
Farmers' Association (ANEC) says the goal is to recover arable land 
now neglected or given over to a different use. Their strategy 
includes assembling a network of companies that exclusively produce 
beans to seek commercial and industrial alternatives.

Another goal is to start negotiations with Congress and the 
Government to pass a law to protect bean and corn production, achieve 
food sovereignty and defend their condition as farmers. The ninth 
ANEC general assembly also discussed financing, sustainable 
agricultural production and the 2007 rural budget.

There was skepticism over a proposal by Agriculture Secretary Alberto 
Cardenas to discuss the agribusiness section of the North American 
Free Trade Agreement. The ANC pointed out that the Mexican Commission 
for Sustainable Rural Development does not represent the majority and 
other groups should be included in these long-promised negotiations. 
In addition, ANEC is demanding the presence of scientists and 
academicians linked to the rural sector, who have evidence of the 
disaster caused by the implementation of such unfair trade terms. 
Huge concerns were also raised over the planned elimination of 
tariffs in 2008 on corn, beans and powder milk under NAFTA.

Source: Prensa Latina: 12/15
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300 MAZAHUA INDIANS SEIZE WATER TREATMENT PLANT

A group of about 300 Mazahua Indians briefly seized a water treatment 
plant on Mexico City's western outskirts and temporarily cut off one 
of the main sources of water for the metropolis of 18 million people, 
the National Water Commission said. The protest was motivated by 
demands for more government development aid, local media reported.

The protesters live in the watershed of the Cutzamala River in the 
high, pine-covered mountains west of Mexico City. The river provides 
almost one-third of the city's water. The Indians broke into the 
treatment plant and closed the intake valves for about four hours, 
the National Water Commission said in a press statement.

In September 2004, the same group staged a similar protest, blocking 
chlorine deliveries but not stopping the water supply. They were 
demanding damage payments for reservoir overflows that damaged crops, 
as well as money for rural development projects and drinking water 
systems for their own communities. In late 2004, the government gave 
them almost $120,000 in damage payments, promised to build water 
systems for them and gave them grants for thousands of Christmas tree 
seedlings to plant for income.

Source: Associated Press: 12/14
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BORDER NEWS: GOVERNMENT DECRIES ABUSES OF MIGRANT WORKERS

Mexican President Felipe Calderon acknowledged that many of the 
illegal migrants from Central and South America who pass through 
Mexico on their way to the United States are abused by criminals and 
by authorities. Pledging to ensure that the rights of Mexicans abroad 
are protected, he also acknowledged responsibility for migrants in 
Mexico. "Just as we demand respect for the human rights of our 
countrymen, we have the ethical and legal responsibility to respect 
the human rights and the dignity of those who come from Central and 
South America and who cross our southern border," Calderon said 
during the presentation of human rights awards to several Mexican 
activists. "Migrants from Central and South America who cross through 
our national territory also suffer abuses, extortion and are victims 
of crime, many times with the complicity of authorities."

The number of undocumented migrants detained in Mexico rose from 
138,061 in 2002 to 240,269 in 2005. Forty-two percent were 
Guatemalan, 33 percent Honduran and most of the rest Salvadoran. 
Calderon also reiterated a promise to work toward strengthening the 
economy so that Mexico "is not the origin of migration, but soon the 
destination for investment." The president, who took office on Dec. 
1, has promised to follow up on the promise of his predecessor, 
Vicente Fox, to pursue an accord with the United States that would 
allow millions of Mexicans to legally enter and work north of the 
border.

Calderon, a native of central state of Michoacan, which sends a large 
number of migrants to the U.S. each year, noted that "like many ... I 
have cousins, uncles, in-laws who are undocumented and live in the 
United States." "Never in history have walls stopped migration or the 
integration of countries and regions," Calderon said.

Source: Associated Press: 12/14
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GOVERNMENT SENDS 6,500 TROOPS INTO MICHOACAN

The Mexican government announced it was sending a force of more than 
6,500 soldiers, marines and federal police to the western state of 
Michoacan to crack down on a wave of execution-style killings and 
beheadings that have left hundreds dead. The operation is the first 
major offense against drug gangs by recently sworn-in President 
Felipe Calderon, who was elected on a law-and-order platform. "We are 
looking to take back the spaces that organized crime has seized," 
said Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez Acuna, flanked by the 
attorney general and heads of the army, navy and federal police. "The 
battle against organized crime has just begun."
Michoacan, Calderon's home state, has had more than 500 killings this 
year, about half of which investigators say are linked to a turf war 
between two rival drug gangs. In apparent attempts to terrorize those 
that oppose them, the gangs have carried out a wave of decapitations, 
placing the severed heads on public display with threatening notes 
including one that read, "See. Hear. Shut Up. If you want to stay 
alive." In the most gruesome case, gunmen burst into a nightclub and 
rolled five heads onto the dance floor. In another, a pair of heads 
were planted in front of a car dealership in Zitacuaro, a town best 
known until now as a nesting ground for monarch butterflies.

Source: Associated Press: 12/11

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The above articles were originally published and copyrighted by the 
listed sources. These articles are offered for educational purposes 
which CIS maintains is  'fair use' of copyrighted material as 
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

end: Mexico Week In Review: 12.11-12.17
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