Mexico Week In Review: 01.08-01.14

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 01.08-01.14
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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: VIOLENT CONFRONTATIONS RESUME

Eight days after the talks between the federal government and the 
opposition movement in Oaxaca ended, violent confrontations have 
broken out again, and next week's talks to work toward a solution 
seem to be ruled out.

At least 100 members of the municipal State Preventive Police moved 
in on a sit-in begun several days ago by the committee for families 
of relatives of missing and political prisoners outside of the 
regional prison in the southern mountains. During the operation the 
agents beat and arrested about 12 supporters of Oaxaca People's 
Popular Assembly (APPO) who were attending a march of protest against 
the action.

The action was repudiated by a delegation of the International Civil 
Commission of the Human Rights Organization, the Commission of 
Justice and Peace from Oaxaca-Antequera Archdioceses and the Mexican 
League for the Defense of Human Rights. The university students from 
the Federal district and members of APPO marched up to the TV station 
to denounce the violence, ordered by Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz. The 
demonstrators said they wanted to inform the country about the events 
in Oaxaca, and said that the spontaneous mobilization was only the 
first among many they will carry out in the country.

Source: Prensa Latina: 01/14
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BORDER UPDATE:  U.S. BORDER PATROL SHOOTS DEAD MIGRANT

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a 22-year-old Mexican who 
was crossing illegally into the United States, U.S. police said. The 
agent shot Francisco Dominguez, who had crossed into Arizona with 
family members and other migrants, while trying to take him into 
custody, Cochise County Sheriff's Office spokesman Carol Capas said. 
She declined to give further details, including why the shooting 
occurred, because of an ongoing investigation. A spokesman at a U.S. 
Border Patrol office in Tucson, Arizona, could not be reached for 
comment.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry said it instructed the Mexican Embassy in 
Washington to investigate the shooting of Dominguez, who came from 
the state of Puebla. "The ministry is concerned about these kinds of 
situations of disproportionate violence that lead to the loss of 
human lives," it said in a news release.

Source: Reuters: 01/14
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PRD MEMBERS LINKED TO KILLING OF STATE LEGISLATOR

A murder scandal shook President Felipe Calderon's National Action 
Party (PRD) as federal police announced that a legislator's husband 
conspired with a state party leader in the killing of a local 
congressman. Guerrero state congressman Jose Jorge Bajos was fatally 
shot Jan. 4 outside the offices of the state government's radio and 
TV station where he was scheduled to be interviewed. Federal police 
said they arrested Aldi Gonzalez, the husband of legislator 
Jacqueline Orta, in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, Guerrero's 
largest city.

Police allege Gonzalez joined with National Action's state leader, 
Ramiro Arteaga, in paying a hitman 20,000 pesos (US$1,816; euro1,398) 
to kill Bajos. Armando Chavarria, secretary-general for Acapulco's 
state of Guerrero, said the plotters killed Bajos so Orta could step 
into his job. Orta had been on the list of replacement legislators 
and assumed Bajo's seat in the Guerrero state legislature when he 
died.

Also arrested were Nicolas Ortega, accused of carrying out the 
killing as well as Gonzalez's brother and step-brother, also 
suspected of involvement in the plot. Authorities said they were 
searching for Arteaga, who attended a news conference in which party 
officials demanded a solution of the killing and expressed 
condolences to Bajo's family. Jose Espina, national secretary-general 
of the conservative National Action Party, demanded a full 
investigation and said his party wants all those responsible to be 
arrested.

Source: Associated Press: 01/12
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CALDERON TO FIGHT SOARING TORTILLA PRICES

President Felipe Calderon vowed to tackle the soaring price of 
tortillas, a corn-based foodstuff that is a dietary staple for 
millions of the country's poor. Angry housewives shouted at Calderon 
at public appearances this week, pleading for him to bring down 
tortilla prices that have shot up as much as 400 percent in recent 
months. "We will take all the measures within reach of the federal 
government to avoid escalating prices," Calderon said. But he added 
the government did not fix tortilla prices.

For many poor families, tortillas are the main source of calories. 
The minimum wage in Mexico is about $4.50 a day. Tortilla prices have 
climbed steeply across Mexico in recent weeks, reaching 30 pesos 
($2.72) a kilogram (2.2 pounds) in Durango state, according to La 
Jornada newspaper, up 400 percent from 6 pesos (54 cents) in 
November. "The tortilla has never cost so much in the country's 
history," said leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who 
narrowly lost last July's presidential election to Calderon.

Mexico, considered by many archeologists as the birthplace of corn, 
now imports much of the grain from the United States, where prices 
rocketed 80 percent to their highest levels in a decade last year 
because of demand for corn-based ethanol fuel. Mexican government 
officials say the recent leap in tortilla prices has as much to do 
with speculation and hoarding by unscrupulous traders as with high 
U.S. prices. The Federal Competition Commission regulatory body will 
launch a probe into tortilla prices. "The objective of the 
investigation is to determine whether there is any collusion to fix 
prices, restrict amounts of the goods or divide markets between 
competitors," it said. Mexico lifted price controls on tortillas in 
the 1990s, and is unable to directly fix the cost of the foodstuff.

Calderon vowed to clamp down on price speculators, hold down the 
price of some corn flour sold by the government and scour the planet 
for cheaper grain to import "I don't care if they have to bring it 
from thousands of kilometers, what matters is that this is not an 
argument to raise prices," he said while on tour in Veracruz state. 
One of Calderon's main priorities since taking office in December has 
been to try to convince poor Mexicans he has their interests at heart.

Source: Reuters: 01/11
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AMLO UPDATE: 'LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT' HAS OWN TV SHOW

In the early hours of last Tuesday (01/09), former presidential 
candidate and self-proclaimed "legitimate president" of Mexico, 
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), started his brand new TV show, 
called "Let the Truth Be Told." The main purpose of this weekly, 
half-hour long, late night program directed by filmmaker Luis 
Mandoki, is to "overcome the media blockade" against the left by 
several mainstream media companies. The show will be transmitted on 
the national TV Azteca network all year long, and has a price tag of 
US$1 million, according to Obrador sources. Funding will come from 
supporters' contributions.

Its long awaited debut experienced several worrying setbacks. In more 
than 12 states the show was not broadcast and in some cases it was 
canceled. The Interior Ministry declared this was caused by 
"technical difficulties? of TV Azteca.

"Let The Truth Be Told" was anchored by actress Dolores Heredia, who 
introduced a reflexive Obrador sitting in his office -- in the 
background a Mexican flag and a picture of President Benito Juarez, a 
legendary historical figure. His first subject was to complain about 
the lack of democracy in the country because of the program's 
inappropriate schedule from 1:00 to 1:30 in the morning; but he 
applauded TV Azteca's courage in selling him the space.

Then he referred to his activities, the process of organizing a vast 
network of supporters in each and all of Mexico's 2,500 
municipalities to counterweight Felipe Calderon's rightist government 
initiatives. The "legitimate president" called Calderon a "chocolate 
soldier" for his recent photo-ops dressed as an army soldier to 
support recent unsuccessful military operations against drug cartels.

He said that he staunchly opposed the use of army and police forces 
to repress social movements, and cited the widespread violence in 
Oaxaca on Nov. 25. He alleged that this unnecessary bloodshed was "to 
protect a corrupt, authoritarian and tyrant governor" referring to 
Ulises Ruiz.

Finally he told the audience that he had won the presidential 
election and called Felipe Calderon a "puppet of the powerful." "We 
are never going to accept an authority originating from vote fraud... 
the Right dehumanize everything...they will not take from us the 
right to have hope," concluded Obrador.

Source: 
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=339595&rel_no=1: 
01/11
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HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER TO SEEK JUSTICE FOR SLAIN U.S. JOURNALIST

An award-winning human rights lawyer said he will work with others 
seeking justice for U.S. activist-journalist Bradley Roland Will, who 
was shot dead in Oaxaca in October. Miguel de los Santos, director of 
the Network of Community Defense, which provides legal defense, said 
Will's case is important to ensuring freedom of expression in Mexico. 
He said he will use his legal skills to pressure state and federal 
investigators to solve the case. "It's important that those 
responsible are punished," De los Santos said. "If there is no 
justice, groups can go on killing journalists."

Will, 36, of New York, had been covering a leftist protest movement 
looking to oust Oaxaca's governor. He was working for Indy Media, a 
Web site run by a network of independent centers, when he was killed 
during a fight between protesters facing off against armed off-duty 
police officers and local government officials. State investigators 
arrested two town officials in the killing, but released them after 
state Attorney General Lizbeth Cana suggested Will may have been shot 
by a protester. Protest leaders said Cana fabricated evidence to 
protect the governor's gunmen. De los Santos, who lives in the 
southern city of San Cristobal de las Casas and has defended 
Zapatista rebels, won the Reebok human rights award in 1995 for 
defending Indian prisoners.

Source: Associated Press: 01/11

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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: 01.08-01.14
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