Mexico Week In Review: 04.09-04.15

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 04.09-04.15
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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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ARMY HARASSES ZAPATISTA PEACE CAMPS

Army harassment is reported at both of the ecological reserves
recently declared by the Zapatista rebels at opposite ends of
Mexico-one at Cerro Huitepec in the southern Chiapas Highlands; the
other at El Mayor, Baja California, just south of the US border. In
both cases, Mexican and international volunteers have established
"peace camps" in support of the local indigenous peoples seeking to
reclaim their rights to sustainable use of the lands. In Chiapas, the
local Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center issued a
statement protesting incursions into the Cerro Huitepec reserve by
army vehicles.

In Baja California, volunteers at El Mayor report that an army
helicopter has been circulating above the encampment. Some people
were able to videotape an over flight, revealing masked men aboard
the chopper filming the encampment. They also report men in civilian
dress entering the camp in the very early morning to write down the
plate numbers of volunteers' vehicles.

Source: www.ww4report.com/node/3592: 04/12/2007
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CHIAPAS: RESIDENTS PROTEST ILLEGAL LAND SALES

Representatives of dozens of ejidos (agricultural collectives) in the
northern zone of Mexico's Chiapas state issued a statement denouncing
the approval of illegal sales of collective lands. The protesters,
mostly Chol Maya from the municipalities of Tila and Salto de Agua,
accused the federal Certification Program for Eijdo Rights and Land
Titles (PROCEDE) of skirting regulations by approving sales which had
not been agreed upon by all collective members, as required by law.
The statement said the illegal sales have "left entire families
without their patrimony."

The protest comes as related conflicts in the Lacandon rainforest of
Chiapas, stronghold of the Zapatista rebels, have already come to
violence. Government talks with the Zapatistas have been at a
standstill for years. The long-stalled Zapatista peace plan was to
address precisely these issues, by giving indigenous peoples
constitutional autonomy on their own lands. On April 3, Luis H.
Alvarez, head of President Felipe Calderon's Commission for the
Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI), told reporters that "the
Zapatista National Liberation Army is not the intermediary" for the
Calderon government's relationship with Mexico's indigenous peoples,
and does not represent them.

Source: ww4report.com/node/3591: 04/12/2007
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OAS RIGHTS CHIEF BLASTS MEXICO INDIGENOUS POLICY

Florentin Melendez, president of the Interamerican Human Rights
Commission (CIDH), in Mexico on an official visit, registered protest
on the Mexican government's policy for indigenous peoples. He said
the pre-NAFTA reform of the Mexican constitution's Article 27,
allowing privatization of collective lands, has had a "destructive"
effect on indigenous culture. He especially cited the example of
Chiapas, where the "individual parcelization" of collective lands has
broken up communities, left many without land, and sparked a violent
struggle over conflicting claims.

Source: www.ww4report.com/blog/2: 04/14
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BORDER NEWS I: PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANY PLANS BORDER CAMP

A proposal to establish a private security force training camp on the
US-Mexico border is stirring controversy. The camp in question would
be set up in San Diego County, California, by the North
Carolina-based military contractor Blackwater USA. Now undergoing
official review is a plan for an 824-acre training camp envisioned
for a site near the small town of Potrero, California, which is
located several miles north of the Baja California municipality of
Tecate. The proposed campsite is close to an area called the
"Mushroom Zone," where undocumented workers are known to cross the
border, and near a wilderness area. According to reports, Blackwater
seeks approval for a camp operated by 60-100 former military
personnel who will train up to 300 students at a time in firearms,
urban assault techniques and other skills. If opened, the facility is
expected to include dormitories, 15 shooting ranges and a
helicopter-landing pad.

Residents of Potrero, a town of about 900 people, are voicing their
opposition to the camp. Reportedly, about half the registered voters
in Potrero have signed a petition against the proposed facility.
Resident Carl Meyer told a San Diego television station that the camp
could disturb animals in the zone, while another unidentified
resident expressed concern about noise.

Owned by millionaire Erik Prince, Blackwater defines itself as the
"most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security,
peacekeeping and stability operations company in the world." Author
and journalist Jeremy Scahill, who has written a new book about the
company, regards Blackwater as the world's largest mercenary army.
According to Scahill, Blackwater USA holds a $300-million State
Department contract to provide security for Iraq. Military
contractors in the country receive up to $1,000 per day, according to
a General Accounting Office report cited by Scahill in a recent
article. Killed or wounded personnel from Blackwater and other
military contractors are not included in the official US military
casualty list.

In addition to its work in Iraq and Afghanistan, Blackwater was
contracted to provide security in New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina. On the West Coast, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
has held discussions with the company about providing emergency
disaster relief operations. "Blackwater now envisions itself as the
FedEx of defense and homeland security operations," writes Scahill.
There was no immediate word about the possible missions of graduates
from a future Blackwater US-Mexico border camp. The San Diego County
government will have the final word over whether or not the proposed
Blackwater camp opens.

Sources: Frontera NorteSur (FNS): 04/09; El Universal/Frontera/La
Jornada /Notimex: 04/06
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BORDER NEWS II: APPEALS COURT OKS CONCRETE LINING FOR CANAL

A federal appeals court in San Diego has ruled for the US and against
Mexico in a decision involving millions of gallons of precious water.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals says the
US government can line a major canal along the border with concrete
to keep millions of gallons of water from seeping south. It cites a
law signed by President Bush last year ordering the project to begin.

Backers say it could meet the water needs of more than 500,000 homes
in fast-growing San Diego County. Opponents of the concrete lining
say it will devastate Mexican farmers who rely on the canal's seepage
to replenish their underground water supply. The 82-mile-long canal,
fed water by Colorado River water, was completed in 1942. It feeds
crops along both sides of the border. The court says Mexico already
gets a guaranteed share of Colorado River water under terms of a 1944
treaty and is entitled to no more.

Source: Associated Press: 04/10
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PPP UPDATE I: REGIONAL LEADERS ARRIVE FOR SUMMIT

Heads of state from eight nations, plus Nicaragua's vice-president,
arrived in the Yucatan Peninsula city of Campeche for a quick two-day
"summit" aimed at re-energizing the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), an
ambitious regional development project proposed by former President
Vicente Fox in 2001. The meeting was called by President Calderon,
who also arrived in Campeche (capital of the state of the same name)
and treated his guests to dinner. The president pointed to the
reunion as the beginning of a renewed Mexican interest in its Central
American neighbors. "It's time for us to move closer to our fellow
Latin American countries, especially those in Central America,"
Calderon said. "It's time for Mexico to assume its responsibility . .
. for regional leadership." Pursuing the Plan Puebla Panama is a step
in that direction, he said.

Joining Calderon were the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras, El
Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia, as well as the prime
minister of Belize. Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega is not
attending the summit; his country is represented by its
vice-president, Jaime Moreno. They were met by heavy security around
Campeche's main convention center. A three-meter high metal fence has
been erected around the site, which is being guarded by 1,500 federal
police and 1,500 soldiers in the special presidential division known
as the Estado Mayor. Foreign secretaries from PPP member nations also
arrived, along with governors from nine Mexican states.

The PPP calls for a development corridor from central Mexico through
Central America and into Colombia. As originally envisioned, private
investment and multilateral development banks would finance highways,
maquiladora-style industry, energy development and other
infrastructure projects. Progress has been slow, however. PPP critics
worry about transnational corporations using the project to take
advantage of cheap local labor to extract profits. The environment,
critics claim, will be the biggest victim.

Source: El Universal: 04/10
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PPP UPDATE II: MEXICANS PROTEST PPP SUMMIT

Mexican union activists and members of social and political
organizations rejected the Summit of Heads of State of the Puebla
Panama Plan (PPP) underway in Campeche. Demonstrators protested
against the meeting of heads of State from Mexico, Colombia and
Central American countries that is being held at the Campeche-based
Convention Center, as well as against the agreements to be reached
during the gathering they consider undermine the autonomy of
countries in the area. Hundreds of members of the riot police and of
the Navy and the Federal Preventive Police try to prevent protesters,
including members of the Frente Amplio Progresista (Broad Progressive
Front), to advance. The members of the FAP, a legislative, government
coalition pf Mexican left wing parties, founded in the wake of
presidential elections in 2006, strongly criticize PPP, as it only
benefits large foreign investors, mainly the US. The PPP groups
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
El Salvador and Colombia, who joined as an observer in November 2004.

Source: Prensa Latina: 04/10
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COURT REINSTATES MINE UNION LEADER

A Mexican court ordered the reinstatement of ousted mineworkers union
leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, more than a year after the government
turned him out of office based on complaints of corruption. The
unanimous ruling by three-judge tribunal marks the latest chapter in
a stormy and often bloody battle that caused some of the most serious
strikes in recent years, as Gomez Urrutia's supporters battled what
they claimed was government intervention in internal union affairs.

The government-supported union leaders who replaced Gomez Urrutia
accused him of having misappropriated $55 million that mining company
Grupo Mexico paid to the union as part of the 1990 privatization of
two of the company's copper mines. The money was to have been
distributed among 10,000 union workers. In the end, the judges said
the Labor Department had overstepped its authority and failed to
comply with established procedures in ousting Gomez Urrutia in
February 2006, and ordered him returned to the top post of the
National Mine and Metal Workers Union. It was not clear whether the
ruling could be appealed. The current, government-supported union
leadership was not immediately available for comment.

Gomez Urrutia is believed to have fled Mexico after steps were taken
to prosecute him on charges relating to the alleged misappropriation
of funds. But his supporters battled on in his behalf, and the
dispute led to a five-month, sometimes violent strike in 2006 at
Mexico's largest liquid steel plant, the Sicartsa plant in the
Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, as well as at copper mines.

Source: Associated Press: 04/11
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MIGRANT LABOR ACTIVIST MURDERED

Family members of Rafael Santiago Cruz are expected to bury their
loved one in Mexico City sometime over the coming weekend.  A staff
member of the US-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), the
28-year-old activist was found dead in a union office located in the
northern Mexican city of Monterrey on April 9. Amado Medina, public
safety chief for Monterrey, was initially quoted in the Mexican press
as saying that no signs of violence or forced entry were detected at
the scene of Cruz’s apparent murder. But FLOC members tell a
different story. "He was tied up and beaten to death," said Leticia
Zavala, the FLOC's international vice-president. "If that's not
violence, I don't know what violence is."

In a telephone interview with Frontera NorteSur, Zavala said that
Cruz arrived in Monterrey about one month ago to help administer the
FLOC's campaign with Mexican H-2A guest workers who are recruited for
contract labor in US agriculture. According to Zavala, the FLOC has a
contract that covers upwards of 7,400 H-2A workers who are employed
in 27 crops in North Carolina, principally in tobacco, sweet
potatoes, cucumber and Christmas trees. Most of the guest workers
hail from the Mexican states of Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, Nayarit and
Durango, Zavala said, adding that the temporary field hands travel to
Monterrey, where a US consulate is located, in order to obtain legal
work documents. A native of southern Oaxaca state, Cruz first became
active with the FLOC while he was working in the United States ten
years ago, Zavala said. "He was a lively person. He loved music,"
Zavala recalled. "He was a good Christian. He was working to support
his mom and his younger brothers."

Although the union has not seen a police report about Cruz's death,
Zavala affirmed that the FLOC's cross-border organizing work had
ruffled the feathers of migrant traffickers and others. She said that
the FLOC has experienced previous episodes of harassment and office
break-ins in Mexico, but that the overall situation had been quiet
during the past two months.

Union members are concerned that the larger climate of violence and
impunity in the Monterrey region could impede an investigation of
Cruz's murder, the FLOC leader said. Gangland-style executions have
left at least 48 people dead in Monterrey since the beginning of the
year. On April 12, the Mexican army engaged in a shoot-out with
possible drug traffickers that left one person dead and two arrested
in Marin, a municipality located about 30 miles northeast of
Monterrey. FLOC members are urging that the Nuevo Leon Office of the
State Attorney General conduct a thorough investigation of Cruz’s
murder.  According to Zavala, the union is receiving backing from the
US AFL-CIO and Ohio Representative Marcy Kaptur to prompt the US
Department of State to get involved in the Cruz case. Mexican
non-governmental organizations are also speaking out on the FLOC's
behalf. "There are very few organizations like FLOC that defend the
dignity and rights of workers who have seen the necessity of
emigrating to the United States, and that's why we regard an injury
to them as an injury to the entire society," said Consuelo Morales of
Citizens in Support of Human Rights. "We show our support for the
rest of the members of the FLOC who work in any part of the republic
and in the United States, and we make a firm call to the authorities
of all levels to take the measures within their power to guarantee
the integrity of these worker defenders and their families."

Source: Frontera NorteSur (FNS): 04/12
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LA OTRA UPDATE: MARCOS AND COMANDANTES ARRIVE IN SONORA
By Brenda Norrell

Subcomandante Marcos and 10 Comandantes from Chiapas were welcomed by
O'odham and friends in the state of Sonora and departed for the
Cucapa Peace Camp to uphold Indigenous fishing rights. Marcos
discussed the Intercontinental Indigenous Conference, planned for
northwest Mexico for the fall of 2007. During an interview, Marcos
said he hopes the Intercontinental gathering will "touch the hearts
and recuperate the souls." "When Indigenous Peoples come together
from all regions, they will realize that money means nothing when
compared to the values of Indigenous Peoples."

The Zapatista delegation was enroute to the Cucapa (Cocapah) Peace
Camp in Baja California, in the Cucapa community of El Mayor, 40
miles south of Mexicali near the Arizona/California border. The camp
has been underway since fishing season began in March and continues
through May. The delegation of Mayan Comandantes from Chiapas
included four women and six men. Comandantas Kelly, Susana, Yolanda
and Dalia and Comandantes Tacho, David, Eduardo, Guillermo, Emiliano
and Masho.

Speaking in Spanish and English, Marcos said the Cucapa people have
lived in their territory for 9,000 years and were fishing long before
Spain, the United States or Mexico existed. "They take care of the
land, the air, the water, trees, the natural world."

Marcos said the government of Mexico has falsely accused the Cucapa
of destroying the natural world. At the same time, the Mexican
military pretends to be fighting the drug traffickers. "The Mexican
Army is not fighting against drug dealers. They are fighting against
Indian people." "The Cucapa are doing the same thing they have been
doing for 9,000 years. The Cucapa and other Indian people called for
this camp in defense of nature. So they can fish without detentions
or being put in jail," Marcos said.

Marcos visited the Indian tribes in northwest Mexico during the
Zapatistas' Other Campaign in the fall of 2006. The neighboring
Quilihua women had taken a vow to stop having children and become
extinct rather than try to survive without their ability to fish.

"We said we will come and stay with you, without guns, only with our
words," Marcos said during the interview Sunday. Marcos said the
world has not responded to the desperation of Indigenous Peoples.
"The United Nations does not have ears to hear that pain."

Marcos urged American Indians in the United States to unite with
Zapatistas in the struggle for Indigenous rights. Marcos said before
the days of politicians and enterprises, Indian people were here.
"We, the Indian people, lived here on this land. The money people
came and brought drugs, prostitution and all of the diseases of the
money people," Marcos said in English. Marcos pointed out that the
Tohono O'odham people live on both sides of the international border,
in Sonora, Mexico and in Arizona in the United States. "But it is the
same people. If the O'odham in Mexico and the O'odham in the United
States come together, they can realize a force more powerful than
money."

Marcos said that even when Indian people have money, there are those
that say, "An Indian is an Indian." "No matter how much they say they
love us, it is not true. They can not love us because of the color of
our skin." Marcos called on Indigenous Peoples to claim their destiny
as Guardians of the Earth. "Everything that is life will be killed.
We must join the fight to save the earth. The gods gave us that
mission. We must take care of the earth together, but with respect
for our differences, Yaqui, Mayo, Tzetzal. Each people have their own
identity, depending on their culture." "The people with money said we
are a barbarous people, but our people are people of peace. We fight
only if they attack us. The government thinks we are failures, but
they have to know that we are Guardians of this land."

Source: www.narconews.com/Issue45/article2623.html: 04/10

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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: 04.09-04.15
--