Mexico Week In Review: 05.29-06.04

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 05.29-06.04
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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 request free searches of our news archive or to contact us
directly, write: cisdc at zzapp.org

"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
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ATENCO UPDATE I: HUNGER STRIKES, PROTESTS AND MOBILIZATIONS

The International Commission for Observation of Human Rights, made up
mainly of European human rights activists, spent the week
interviewing Atenco residents, government officials and human rights
organizations, and trying - unsuccessfully - to visit 27 political
prisoners from Atenco held in two prisons.  The Commission's full
report is expected in September.  Prison officials also denied
visitation rights to family members and conducted several court
hearings in private, both clear violation of Mexican law.  The
Special Investigator for Attention to Acts of Violence Committed
against Women (FEVIM) received seven formal complaints this week from
women who were raped or sexually molested by police during the early
May roundups in Atenco.  Police officials and Governor Enrique Pena
continued to deny any grave misconduct on the part of police, and
sited the results of lie detector tests conducted in private as
"proof."

Most of the 27 prisoners held in Santiaguito Prison entered the
fourth week of a hunger strike that has left many in a weakened
state.  Demands include release of all Atenco prisoners, justice for
those who suffered rape, beatings and torture, and impeachment of
Governor Enrique Pena.  The newly formed organization Women Without
Fear - We Are All Atenco organized a rotating hunger strike and
24-hour vigilance in front of the prison.  Actress Ofelia Medina led
the first group of hunger strikers.

In a biting editorial in Friday's (06/02) La Jornada, Adolfo Gilly
highlighted the use of sexual violence to attack social movements as
a new, and particularly worrisome, state strategy: "With the police
rapes of the women of Atenco, the violence of the Mexican state
surpassed a limit.  Of course, before, the state killed, committed
massacres, tortured, kidnapped, raped and disappeared people.  But
since Tlatelolco Š even with the assassinations and disappearances of
the 70s and successive years, they had not practiced mass rape of
women prisoners as they did recently in the case of San Salvador
Atenco - a collective act of barbarity that no uniformed officer
would commit without orders from commanders."

The case of Arnulfo Pacheco Cervantes, arrested in his home in
Atenco, exemplifies the brutal police excesses.  Arnuflo is
paraplegic.  When police burst into his home early on May 4, his wife
tried in vain to explain his delicate medical condition.  Police
pushed her aside, beating Pacheco, who is in his 60s, with batons,
and breaking five of his ribs.  In prison he has received no medical
attention and his life is at risk because of internal hemorrhaging
from the beatings.  Pacheco is accused of kidnapping and attacks
against a public highway.  As La Jornada reporter Hermann
Bellinghausen noted, "The most notable thing about Pacheco, besides
his advanced age, is that half of his body has been paralyzed for a
long time and he can barely talk.  A person in his state would have
trouble crossing the street, much less 'attack' it."

Last Sunday, more than 50,000 demonstrators organized by the Other
Campaign marched from the US Embassy to the Zocalo, marking the
largest demonstration to date in support of the Atenco prisoners.
International demonstrations increased this week as well, with
actions in dozens of US cities and countries around the world.  The
Mexico Solidarity Network encourages supporters to be as public as
possible in support of the Atenco prisoners.  Banner drops in public
places will keep pressure on the Mexican government to release
political prisoners and prosecute officials for rape and beatings.
Please send photos of your actions to local media and a copy to the
Mexico Solidarity Network.  Next week the Mexico Solidarity Network
will begin distributing a new video on Atenco produced by Promedios,
IndyMedia and the Seis de Julio video collective.  For more
information, contact MSN at MexicoSolidarity.org.

Source: Mexico Solidarity Network Weekly News Summary: 05/29-06/04
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ATENCO UPDATE II: LEADER SPEAKS FROM HIDING

América del Valle, leader of the Peoples' Front in Defense of the
Land, in hiding since the May 3 violence at San Salvador Atenco,
spoke to the international Telesur TV network from a clandestine
location. She said the human rights violations against the people of
Atenco demonstrate that Mexican President Vicente Fox wants to show
he "maintains a firm and strong hand over those at the bottom,"
before he steps down from power. She said the police violence at her
village was an attempt to "intimidate" Mexicans who stand up for
their rights. "In this country, when someone stands up for their
rights, when they fight for the rights of their people, the system
feels attacked and responds by persecuting those people and their
causes. It wants to annihilate them," added del Valle.

Del Valle's father has been in custody since the protests on May 3.
"Right now, there is an arrest warrant over my head, which could mean
prison time for me," she said.

On May 28, thousands gathered at Mexico City's Angel of Independence
plaza for a rally led by Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos to demand
freedom for the Atenco prisoners, 27 of whom remain on hunger strike.
The daily La Jornada reports mobilizations in solidarity with Atenco
from Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and elsewhere around the Americas.

Source: http://www.ww4report.com/: 05/29
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BORDER NEWS: SCHWARZENEGGER SENDS NATIONAL GUARD TO BORDER

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finally accepted a White
House plan to try to curb illegal immigration and said he was
deploying the California National Guard to man the border with
Mexico. President George W. Bush said on May 14 he was sending 6,000
members of the National Guard -- which has both state and federal
roles and many of whose members are currently deployed in Iraq -- to
bolster security at the 3,100 kilometer (1,900-mile) US-Mexico border
for at least one year.

"The plan as it was outlined presented numerous logistical problems
for us," Schwarzenegger told a press conference in the state capital
of Sacramento. Two weeks ago, Schwarzenegger called Bush's
announcement "a Band-Aid solution," suggesting the plan might provide
a temporary fix, but not a remedy. Republican like Bush and governor
of the most populous US state, one-third Hispanic, refused to place
his National Guard under additional strain after having served in
Iraq.

Schwarzenegger said he had reached an agreement with Washington on
the deployment of the California National Guard. He said the National
Guard members assigned to the border would be volunteers and their
mission "must not compromise the guards emergency response." The
governor, who goes up for reelection in November, also stressed that
all costs involved in the border deployment "will paid in full by the
federal government," and that "the Californian NG will end its
mission not later than 31 December 2008."

Source: AFP: 06/02
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MINERS' LEADER SEEKS ASYLUM IN CANADA

The ousted leader of Mexico's miners' union, accused by the
government of corruption, sought political asylum in Canada this
month but was initially rejected, Mexico's official news agency
Notimex reported. It said that Napoleon Gomez, who is currently
visiting Canada, sought refuge there on May 20 after he found out the
Mexican attorney general's office was about to ask Interpol to search
for him. Canada turned Gomez down because he lacked documents needed
to process the request but the miner's leader's supporters are now
trying to get the paperwork to Canada, the agency said.

Strikes and stoppages have wreaked havoc in Mexico's mining sector
for months, as workers loyal to Gomez refuse to recognize contract
talks until he is reinstated. Workers at the giant La Caridad copper
mine in northern Mexico, owned by Grupo Mexico, are among those who
have walked off their jobs to support Gomez. Some union members
accuse the government of orchestrating Gomez's removal from the union
leadership in February and replacing him with a government-friendly
boss, Elias Morales. Gomez denies government accusations he skimmed
millions of dollars off union funds.

Source: Reuters: 03/15
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A CENTURY FROM BLOODY STRIKE, MEXICAN MINERS RUMBLE

Mexico's union movement was born in 1906, bathed in blood on the
arid, copper-rich hills near the U.S. border, when 19 striking miners
were gunned down in a fight over pay and conditions. Exactly 100
years later, miners are again clashing with the government and a
string of wildcat stoppages has paralyzed some of the country's
largest mines and metals plants. In one recent street fight, police
shot dead two striking workers. To add to the miners' woes, in
February, 65 workers were killed in an explosion at a coalmine.

"Everything in life is cyclical. We are about to finish one cycle and
history puts us back where we were 100 years ago." said Francisco
Hernandez, who leads the Cananea section of the national mine union.
"I'm sad to say it, but the government has not progressed." The wave
of stoppages came after the government sidelined union boss Napoleon
Gomez, accused of corruption, in a leadership challenge many union
members say was orchestrated by the Labor Ministry. Gomez is accused
by the government and some workers of skimming off millions of
dollars of union funds, but many workers loyal to him refuse to take
part in contract talks with companies that recognize his rival. That
has led to drawn-out strikes like the two-month stoppage at Cananea's
sister mine, La Caridad, a few dozen miles away, which produced
122,000 tons of copper last year. There, high in the hills that rim
the Sonora desert, a group of workers armed with machetes and
nail-studded clubs vow to fight any attempt to break their picket
line.

At Cananea, one of Mexico's first and largest copper mines, miners
are not on strike, although that may change if the dispute is not
resolved before an August contract negotiation. Sky-high metals
prices have been helped by the strikes, while the violence at the
Sicartsa steel mill, where the two men were killed, and threats of
further stoppages, brings simmering industrial instability in the run
up to July 2 presidential elections.

Despite all this, Cananea miners are in many ways better off a
century after their ancestors stood their ground for the first time
and paved the way for the 1910 Mexican revolution and a sprawling
union movement. The first strike, on June 1, 1906, was called to
demand a daily wage of five pesos, $2.50 at the time. Decades of hard
negotiating with the mine's various owners have brought them a
present wage of around $1,000 (536 pounds) a month, and a share in
profits which this year totaled about $13,000 per worker. The town,
which buzzes as families spend their bonuses on cars and home
improvements, is proud of its heritage. "It's an honor to be from
Cananea," said Martin Perez, 13, who learned about the original
strike at school and looked forward to the special festivities to
mark Thursday's anniversary. "We are a combative town, but a working
town."

Cananea, in Mexico's Sonora state, was built up by U.S.
businessman-adventurer William Greene in the 19th century. His
heavy-handed response to the 1906 strike, backed by the Mexican
government, resulted in the deaths of 19 miners and four Americans.
After Mexico's revolution, which drew inspiration from the Cananea
uprising, unions grew enormously and leaders became rich in return
for keeping members in check.
President Vicente Fox has made moves to weaken union power, but none
has caused so much uproar as the drive against Oxford
University-educated Gomez, a tough negotiator who has won pay raises
for union members. Indignant at the government's refusal to reinstate
legally Gomez, several other Mexican unions are threatening more
one-day stoppages, scheduled for less than a week before the July
elections. Cananea leader Hernandez said the miners would not back
down until the person they consider their leader was brought back and
until people were punished for the Sicartsa deaths. "Cananea is the
seed of all this and it is not over," he said. "Where there is a
miner, there is a person fighting for labor rights and social
justice."

Source: Reuters: 06/02
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URBAN INDIANS IN CIUDAD JUAREZ

Uprooted from the land, more and more indigenous Mexicans are finding
homes in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. New figures from Mexico's National
Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI) report
that approximately 14,606 people from dozens of indigenous groups
call the border city home. Drawn from the INEGI's 2005 population and
housing census, the new population count represents a 74 percent
increase over 2000's census figures. Considering Ciudad Juarez's
floating population, however, the indigenous population registered by
the INEGI is likely an undercount. According to the INEGI, 42
indigenous languages are spoken in Ciudad Juarez, including
Chinateca, Nahuatl, Tarahumara, Mixtec, Zapotec, Popoluca, Huave,
Huichol, Tzotzil (Mayan), and numerous others.

Many of Ciudad Juarez's residents hail from hard-pressed rural zones
where the land is not producing and jobs are few and far between.
"Over there money and grains are missing," said Ciribina Rosa, an
indigenous Raramuri (Tarahumara) who sells herbs in downtown Ciudad
Juarez. "There is no corn to eat."

Working the streets and international bridges as vendors or beggars,
or toiling away as day laborers, noticeable numbers of indigenous
people began arriving to Ciudad Juarez more than 40 years ago. The
largest ethnic group, Mazahuas from Mexico state, number about 4,000
people, according to Carlyn James, the local coordinator of the
Tarahumara State Coordinator. "(Indigenous people) probably come with
the idea of later crossing to the United States to work," James said.
Setting down roots in Ciudad Juarez, indigenous groups have
established distinctive neighborhoods. For instance, many Raramuris
live in three neighborhoods scattered throughout the city and its
outskirts, while Mixtecos from southern Oaxaca state inhabit the
Anapra colonia near the New Mexico border. In the Raramuri colonias,
bilingual schools help teach the children Spanish. According to
James, the Raramuris best preserve their language and cultural
traditions in the hustle and bustle of a busy border city that's also
heavily influenced by US culture.

Among the indigenous population, men still predominate with 55
percent of the population. Some government officials are concerned
about the special problems facing women. A new program sponsored by
the federal Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of Violence
Against Women in Ciudad Juarez seeks to train indigenous women as
promoters against domestic violence in their communities.
"(Indigenous women) live in a triple vulnerability, because they are
women, indigenous and poor," contends Pablo Navarrete, the
commission's Ciudad Juarez director.

South of Ciudad Juarez, urban Indians are gaining in population in
the state capital of Chihuahua City too. According to the 2005 INEGI
census, the number of indigenous people residing in Chihuahua City
increased from 6,823 in 2000 to 9,330 in 2005. Numbering 5,090
persons, the Raramuris constituted the largest ethnic group in
Chihuahua City last year. Statewide, Chihuahua's indigenous
population rose from 103,057 persons in 2000 to 136,661 in 2005. The
leap is attributed to population increases in Chihuahua's two largest
ethnic groups, the Raramuris and the Tepehuans, as well as migration
from Mexican states outside Chihuahua.

Sources: Frontera NorteSur (FNS): 06/02; El Diario de Juarez: 05/30;
Norte: 05/27
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AMLO SAYS HE WOULD 'RENEGOTIATE' NAFTA

Former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the
presidential candidate from the Party of the Democratic Revolution,
said he would ask the U.S. and Canada to renegotiate the North
American Free Trade Agreement if elected in the July 2 vote. Lopez
Obrador said in a radio interview he would negotiate keeping
protection on corn and beans, which become free of tariffs and quotas
in 2008, because it would harm 3 million Mexican farmers. "It can be
renegotiated," Lopez Obrador said in a radio interview on W Radio in
Mexico City. "We have to convince the U.S. and Canadian governments
that there are things that don't work."

Source: Bloomberg: 05/30
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REMITTANCES EQUAL OIL INCOME

Money sent by Mexican emigrants to their homeland reached 5.19
billion dollars, an amount similar to that by Mexican oil profits and
more than direct foreign investment or international tourism. In the
first three-month period in 2006, money sent by Mexicans living
abroad grew 27.5 percent compared to the same period last year,
Banxico (Bank of Mexico) reported. However, in the same period, the
Mexican Treasury had to pay 4.46 billion dollars for foreign debt
interest and utilities received from foreign enterprises. Banxico
informed that between January and March 2006, balance of payments was
in the black by 882 million dollars, equivalent to 0.4 percent of the
Mexican Gross Domestic Product.

Source: Prensa Latina: 05/29

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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: 05.29-06.04
--