Mexico Week In Review: 05.01-05.07

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 05.01-05.07
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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.

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directly, write: cisdc at zzapp.org

"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
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OTRA UPDATE: CAMPAIGN SUSPENDED - RED ALERT IN THE GOOD GOVERNMENT
COUNCILS OF CHIAPAS

As the political demonstration in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, in
this city's Tlatelolco neighborhood, came to an end, in reaction to
the confrontations between flower producers and police in Texcoco
leaving one dead -14 year old child Javier Cortéz- , Delegate
Zero-Subcomandante Marcos announced a red alert in the Zapatistas'
Good Government Councils in Chiapas and the temporary suspension of
the Other Campaign's activities.

The preceding information has been confirmed by telephone from
Tlalteloco by Narco News/Other Journalism correspondent Roberto Chan
Kin Ortega and by Hermann Bellinghausen of the Mexico City newspaper
La Jornada.

Through this morning and afternoon the clash between flower growers
and police has been reported mainly by a few radio stations and
briefs on the La Jornada website. Just a few kilometers away from the
battle-tested town of San Salvador Atenco, according to information
from La Jornada reporters René Ramón and Javier Salinas, "at least
nine municipal police and six flower sellers were injured in a
confrontation that occurred this morning when the farmers, supported
by the Peoples' Front in Defense of the Land (the organization of
Atenco farmers that successfully blocked an airport project on their
land in 2002), tried to set up in front of the Belisario Domínguez
market to sell their products. After the scuffle about 50 Atenco
residents took refuge in an apartment building armed with sticks,
machetes and rocks. Meanwhile, around 500 riot police remain in the
streets and 500 Atenco residents are blocking the Texcoco federal
highway."

Ramón and Salinas' reports in La Jornada maintain that "the tension
rose in the area as federal forces and several helicopters arrived.
In total there are 800 riot police in the zone. One of the people
holed up in the apartment building is Ignacio del Valle, leader of
the Peoples' Front in Defense of the Land. Around 2:45 pm another
clash occurred due to an attempt to remove the Atenco residents from
the Texcoco highway. The protesters began throwing Molotov cocktails
and burning tires."

Source: The Narco News Bulletin: 05/03
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MARCOS REAPPEARS IN ATENCO AND CHALLENGES MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Holding up a shiny bullet cartridge into the evening drizzle of
raindrops, Zapatista Insurgent Subcomandante Marcos tonight
challenged the Commercial Media - by name, Televisa and TV Azteca,
the twin antennas of disinformation in Mexico - saying, "We, the
Zapatistas, have always told the truth." The cartridge, said Marcos,
is the proof that police forces are responsible for the death of
14-year Javier Cortés. His words, evidence that the guerrilla
spokesman of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in its
Spanish initials) is not going to let the truth of this story die
under a wave of media and government dishonesty. And his announcement
- that he will remain in Mexico City "indefinitely" - demonstrated
that he has in his hand the thread of the curtain of deceit woven by
a corrupt and compromised media and intends to keep pulling until
that curtain comes down in tatters.

In response to what he called the "smear campaign" that the two
national TV networks and other Commercial Media have waged against
the fighting citizens of San Salvador Atenco and their (now
imprisoned) leaders in recent days, Marcos, in his first public words
since Wednesday afternoon when he announced that the EZLN has gone on
"Red Alert," he addressed the news correspondents present amidst a
crowd of more than 10,000 indignant Atenco residents, plus a
multitude of students and adherents of the Zapatista Other Campaign
who marched nine kilometers into town with him earlier this evening.
"To the media and its workers," he said. "I have seen you in Chiapas,
risking your lives, suffering hunger, and I have seen how your bosses
change everything. I've seen how your photos, your videos, are
disappeared into the desk drawers of your editors." "There is a lynch
mob campaign against the FPDT (Peoples' Front in Defense of Land, the
organization of the Atenco citizens that stopped a multi-billion
dollar international airport project in 2002) and its leaders,"
Marcos continued, indignantly. "Your bosses are putting themselves at
the service of lies. They are paid by those who have money, and we
don't have it. Well, they are not in the streets. They are not in the
factories. They are not out planting the fields. The Mass MediaŠ is
dedicated to discrediting the good and noble people who fight. The
members of the FPDT are adherents of the other campaign. Ignacio del
Valle and other men and women went out this week to help other
adherents and they complied with that work. And we will support them
just the same."

"And you are the camera operators," he faced into the crowd of
reporters surrounding the steps of the Emiliano Zapata Auditorium.
"It will not be your bosses who face the outrage and insults of the
people. It will be you, the camera operators, video technicians, and
reporters." "Here, below, we don't believe anything that is reported
because we are already familiar with how the media manages
information," he said, reaching into a white plastic bag. "This is
what some citizens brought to us tonight," he said, holding a shiny
object into the air as the drizzle increased into a light rain, and,
yet, nobody left to find cover: nobody moved. The crowd hushed
silent. "This is a rifle cartridge used by the state police of the
State of Mexico. Televisa! Where are you? I am going to deliver a
cartridge to youŠ TV Azteca! Are you here? Here are the cartridges!
Bring them to your bosses! What, you don't want to step forward?"

"I am going to remain for an indefinite period of time in Mexico City
to participate in the mobilizations," Marcos announced, repeating
that the protests will not stop until all the political prisoners
arrested this week - 400 known about, and counting still - are
released. "Workers of the media: Since we began the Other Campaign,
we have not been giving interviews to anybody. We had another idea,
to confront the mediocrity up above. We decided to give preferential
treatment to the alternative media." "But that is about to change,"
he said. "If our word is broadcast uncut and uneditedŠ but first you
will have to present one of these cartridges to your bosses."
Returning to the priority of the day - freedom for the Atenco 400 -
Marcos concluded his remarks, saying, "We are going to mobilize all
over this country. And if the government doesn't want problems it
will have to free all the political prisoners today, or tomorrow at
the very latest."

Source: The Narco News Bulletin: 05/05
====

JUAREZ FEMICIDE UPDATE:  US CONGRESS CONDEMNS THE KILLING OF MEXICAN WOMEN

Finally acting on long-pending resolutions, the US House of
Representatives and US Senate unanimously passed resolutions this
week condemning the murders of women in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua,
Mexico. Sponsored by Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Ca.) in the House and Sen.
Jeff Bingaman (D- NM) in the Senate, the statements contain the same
language. Both the House and Senate resolutions condemn the
femicides, express sympathy to victims' families, deplore the use of
torture in the murder investigations, offer US assistance in DNA
testing, and urge the US President Secretary of State to place the
femicide issue on the official binational agenda of the US and
Mexican federal governments. The resolutions also request a review of
cases where scapegoats are widely believed to have been fabricated,
and urge the Mexican government to punish of errant law enforcement
officials. "Binational cooperation between the US and Mexico will
help bring an end to the murder of women in Ciudad Juarez and closure
to the families," said Rep. Solis after the House vote.

Alfredo Limas, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Juarez
and a member of the Citizen Network for Non-Violence and Human
Dignity, said the resolutions could help prod Mexican authorities
into paying more attention to the femicides. Limas contended the
Mexican government starts to really worry when it "gets scolded in
English." Long organizing for the passage of the resolutions, some US
human rights advocacy groups also considered the US Congress' action
a step forward.  "We hope the passage of this resolution will
encourage the Mexican authorities to redouble their efforts to
investigate the cases that have yet to be solved," said Laurie
Freeman, the Mexico program associate at the Washington Office on
Latin America (WOLA).

The vote came amid a spiraling wave of violence against women in
Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua state. Figures compiled by the WOLA
report 20 murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua
from January 1 to April 25, 2006. Additionally, a woman only
identified as "Maria de los Angeles" was run over by a car and killed
in Ciudad Juarez in an April 29 incident that could have been a
homicide. Also, 13-year-old Reyna Ortiz Rivera was reportedly killed
by her boyfriend in another April 29 incident in Palomas, a small
border town located across from Columbus, New Mexico. Ortiz's alleged
victimizer, 14-year-old Eduardo Mayor, then supposedly shot himself
in the head and was then transported to a hospital in Las Cruces, New
Mexico.

If present trends continue, the cases reported by both the WOLA and
the Mexican press reflects a murder trend higher than the rates for
either 2004 or 2005. Domestic violence, sexual attacks, suspected
narco-related mayhem, and robberies stand out as multiple motives in
the 2006 murders. The ages, identities and backgrounds of victims
suggest that a broad curve of violence against women is expanding.
Apart from the murders, dozens of young women like 22-year- old Edith
Aranda remain missing. Wednesday, May 3, marked the first anniversary
of the schoolteacher's disappearance after she reportedly was last
seen applying for a job at a Discorama music store in downtown Ciudad
Juarez, the site of numerous disappearances. Aranda's disappearance
was remembered by her former pupils and fellow teachers who briefly
interrupted the school day on May 3 to call for renewed attention on
the missing young woman. "Time has passed since the disappearance of
this teacher, and the results promised in the investigations by
(teachers') union leaders have been forgotten," noted Ciudad Juarez
women's activist Paula Flores, the mother of femicide victim Sagrario
Gonzalez.

Human rights activists said they hope the US Congress’ message will
help convince Mexican officials to begin curbing the impunity
prevailing in many murders and disappearances. "Congress was
responding to the fears of many families that they will not see
justice for their daughters," said Kristel Mucino,  WOLA's Mexico
program assistant. "The Mexican authorities should punish not only
the killers, but the public officials whose negligence and
malfeasance have allowed them to go free." Previous to this week's US
Congressional action, various resolutions concerning the femicides
were approved by the city councils of El Paso and New York City, the
mayor of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and the New Mexico State Senate.

Sources: Norte: 05/03-05; WOLA Press Release: 0502; El Diario de
Juarez: 05/01-03; Frontera NorteSur (FNS): 05/05
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MEXICANS MARCH IN SOLIDARITY WITH US PROTESTERS

Thousands of Mexicans marched through the capital and boycotted U.S.
stores on Monday (05/01) to support illegal immigrants demonstrating
for more rights in the United States. Protesters gathered outside the
U.S. embassy and demanded more rights for millions of Mexican
migrants who have staged marches in Americans cities and towns in
recent weeks and were holding a one-day strike and business boycott
on Monday. "We remind the gringos that they are a country of
immigrants. The work that gringos don't like to do is being done by
Mexicans," said Felipe Gomez, a 50-year-old man who joined the
protest march. Many Mexicans showed their support of their U.S.-based
compatriots by refusing to shop for the day at chains like
McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks and Wal-Mart.

More than half the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in
the United States are originally from Mexico. Many work in low-paid
jobs in restaurants, hotels, offices and construction sites and they
send more than $20 billion home to their families every year. The
cash transfers are Mexico's second largest source of foreign currency
after oil exports.

For years, Latin American immigrants in the United States lived in
the shadows, too scared of being arrested and deported to join
protests. But that has changed in recent weeks as hundreds of
thousands poured onto the streets to pressure the U.S. Congress into
passing immigration reforms and dropping proposals that would
effectively make them criminals. "They live on the defensive, hiding
so they are not returned home. They are there just trying to survive
and help the people they left behind," said Carla Sanchez, a
22-year-old secretary at the Mexico City march.

The sight of migrant workers standing tall has helped boost national
pride in a country that is still sensitive to any hint of U.S.
arrogance in its dealings with Mexico. "The migrants are very hard
working and they are good hearted people. We are here because we do
not think they should be treated like criminals or animals," said
Carmen Rivera, a nun who joined a rally in Reynosa on the U.S. border.

Protesters there briefly shut down the border bridge that links it to
McAllen, Texas. Some bore wooden crosses on their backs to
commemorate the hundreds of people who die every year crossing
hazardous territory to reach the United States. "We are supporting
the boycott in the name of all the migrants who have perished here in
the Rio Grande," said Enrique Games, a retiree who joined a march
organized by a local Catholic church, as he looked out over the
river's olive green waters. "It is an important gesture."

Source: Reuters: 05/01
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THOUSANDS DENOUNCE FOX ON LABOR DAY IN MEXICO CITY

After weeks of rising tensions between the administration of
President Vicente Fox and union leaders, tens of thousands of
workers, Communists and revolutionaries thronged the center of Mexico
City on May Day to send a message to the government: The unions are
still here, and they are angry. "Fox, listen! The people are up in
arms," members of the electricians union chanted as they marched from
the Monument of the Revolution to the Zacalo, or central square.
"From north to south, from east to west, we will win this fight, no
matter what the cost."

More than 90,000 workers turned out for the May 1 labor marches,
which in recent years have been quiet affairs. Some called for the
labor secretary to resign, others complained that the Fox
administration's free-trade policies had failed to lift up the
working class. Small groups of protesters called on Mexicans to
boycott American companies like Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola as an act of
solidarity with their countrymen living illegally in the United
States on a day on which many immigrants in the United States
participated in a one-day work boycott.

After the union marches, the spokesperson of the Zapatista rebels,
Subcomandante Marcos, wearing his signature ski mask and appearing
here for the first time since 2001, led students, rural workers,
Communists, anarchists and other leftists from the American Embassy
to the Zocalo. Union members said that relations between organized
labor and the government had hit a new low. Most complained that
their economic condition had not improved much under Mr. Fox's
tenure. "The rich are richer and the poor, we are poorer," said
Arturo Sierra, 38, an electrician. "The government has taken it upon
itself to deliver the country to foreign governments and to the rich
Mexicans, who continue exploiting workers with miserable salaries."

President Fox skipped the festivities, which he has always attended
in the past. Instead, he held a small celebration at his residence,
where he emphasized the importance of unions acting within the law.
Mr. Fox has been locked in a struggle with Napoleon Gomez Urrutia,
the leader of the national union of mine and metal workers, since 65
coal miners died in a mining disaster in Coahuila in February. The
discord has divided the union movement and led to violence. Francisco
Hernandez Juarez, the leader of the National Workers Union, an
independent umbrella group, has charged the government with meddling
in union affairs by trying to oust Mr. Gomez and replace him with a
less combative leader, Elias Morales. Supporters of Mr. Gomez have
continued to carry out wildcat job actions. Two weeks ago, federal
and state police officers stormed a steel plant in Michoacan, where
miners loyal to Mr. Gomez had gone on strike. Two miners died,
drawing protests from union leaders across the country. The strike at
the steel plant was illegal, Mr. Fox said in remarks at his home,
because the workers had no labor dispute with the owners but only
wanted to flex their muscles to help Mr. Gomez. "Mexico needs unions
that defend their legitimate interests within the framework of the
law and respect for the law," he said.

The marches drew a variety of people with complaints against the
government. A group of naked men and women lined part of Paseo del la
Reforma, the city's main boulevard, to call attention to what they
said was the Fox administration's failure to honor agreements with
farmers in rural Veracruz. College students, maintaining that
free-trade policies harm workers, spoke out against globalization.
Two carried a banner that depicted President Bush as a cannibal and
called his government "troglodyte." Mr. Marcos lambasted the Bush
administration in a speech in front of the American Embassy, while
his supporters shouted, "Zapata lives, the struggle continues!" He
accused the Bush administration of having "sown death and destruction
throughout the world" and of spreading a "religion of neoliberalism"
that holds dear "the maximum profit at whatever cost." "The Bush
government has managed in just a few years to make the American flag
for most inhabitants of this planet a symbol of plunder,
authoritarianism, destruction, obligation, contempt and death," he
said.

Source: New York Times: 05/02
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FOX DECIDES NOT TO SIGN DRUG LEGALIZATION BILL

President Vicente Fox reversed course and decided not to sign a drug
legalization bill that critics on both sides of the border said would
turn Mexico into a narcotics haven. Fox administration officials had
said that the president would sign the bill, which set generous
limits for the possession of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, opium,
amphetamines and several natural and synthetic hallucinogens. Late
Wednesday (05/03), the Fox administration said in a news release that
the president would return the bill to Congress to "make the needed
corrections so it is absolutely clear in our country the possession
of drugs and their consumption are, and will continue to be, a
criminal offense."

News that Mexico would allow any adult to possess and use opiates,
marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy and peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus, drew
international criticism. Recreational drug users hailed it as the one
of the most progressive laws in the world. U.S. officials began
meeting privately with Mexican officials this week, trying to
discourage what they described as a welcome mat for drug tourists and
the expansion of the domestic market for Mexican drug cartels. The
Fox administration went on the offensive Tuesday, with Mexico's top
law enforcement official holding a news conference to say the bill
was misunderstood and was in fact a strong new tool in the war
against drugs.

States could impose their own fines on even the allowable amounts of
drugs, and unruly narco-tourists would be escorted to airports and
sent home, officials said. The law would have also given state and
local police the authority to make drug arrests, now the job of
federal police.

But criticism surfaced publicly Wednesday when U.S. Embassy officials
called on Mexican officials to review the bill to avoid the
perception that Mexico tolerates drug use. Fox has been seen as a
strong ally of U.S. efforts to crack down on the multibillion-dollar
drug trade. Mexican Sen. Jorge Zermeno, a member of Fox's National
Action Party, spoke twice in favor of passage during Senate debates
last week but said he was surprised to learn from a reporter that
cocaine was allowed under the legislation. He also said it was a
mistake to broaden the bill to include all adults, rather than limit
it to addicts. The bill could be amended in September when
congressional committees return to work. Fox, who by law cannot seek
reelection, ends his six-year term in December.

Source: Los Angeles Times: 05/04
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SALINAS BOYS: RAUL CLEARED IN FRANCE

A French court has acquitted a brother of former Mexican President
Carlos Salinas de Gortari on money-laundering charges. Raul Salinas
de Gortari and his sister-in-law, Adriana Lagarde, who was also
cleared, were accused of using French banks to send more than $3m to
Switzerland. Judge Jean-Louis Kantor said he found no evidence
linking transfers of money to drug cartels.

Raul Salinas had denied any wrongdoing. Ms Lagarde is in France under
a police control order while Mr Salinas is said to be in Mexico. A
request to move the trial to the Mexican justice system was rejected
by the court. Raul Salinas was an official during the 1988-1994
administration of his brother. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison
for organizing the murder of a senior politician in 1994, but was
cleared last year. After his release, he admitted getting rich during
his brother's presidency, but insisted his foreign bank accounts were
not illegal.

Source: BBC News: 05/02

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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: 05.01-05.07
--