News and Analysis
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MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK
WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS
JUNE 2-8, 2008
1. ZAPATISTAS UNDER INCREASING ATTACK
2. FEDS CLOSE TWO COMMUNITY RADIO STATIONS
3. FORMER PRI GOVERNOR SENTENCED TO 36 YEARS
4. US PROSECUTIONS OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS INCREASE
5. TEACHERS SETTLE STRIKE, BUT CONTINUE PROTESTS IN OAXACA
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
1. ZAPATISTAS UNDER INCREASING ATTACK
Zapatista communities throughout Chiapas are coming under increasing attack from paramilitary groups, local PRI and PRD affiliates, the police and the army. On Monday, Zapatista communities in the highlands around Zinacantan complained when local PRD officials prevented access to critical community water supplies. The Junta de Buen Gobierno in Oventic said, “Our support bases cannot continue without access to water… We have always had the peaceful will to reach an agreement,” but the PRD “does not have the will. They try to impose and humiliate those who aren’t part of their party.”
On Wednesday, the Junta de Ben Gobierno in Oventic criticized the Federal Electrical Commission for allowing a group of 800 PRI affiliates to cut service to the ejido Huaquitepec. Also on Wednesday, a military caravan including more than 200 troops tried to enter the Zapatista communities of Hermenejildo Galeana and San Alejandro, located a stones throw from La Garrucha, one of the five caracoles that house the Juntas de Buen Gobierno. The convoy included a small tank and officials from state and local police forces as well as the Federal Attorney’s General office. They tried to enter the communities under the pretext of searching for marijuana. Cultivation of marijuana and the use or sale of illegal drugs are strictly prohibited in Zapatista communities, which don’t even allow the consumption or sale of alcohol. A tense confrontation ensued in which military authorities insisted on entering the communities while hundreds of Zapatistas armed only with sticks, stones and machetes blocked their passage.
The invasion of La Garrucha is not an isolated incident in the canyon region of Chiapas. On May 19, the federal army surprised Zapatista families in San Geronimo Tulija, part of the autonomous municipality of Flores Magon, and destroyed two houses without explanation. On May 23, a huge convoy of troops traveled through a number of Zapatista communities, supposedly looking for marijuana plants. On May 29, the army accompanied by state police, local police, officials from the Public Ministry and members of the state Human Rights Commission tried to enter El Carrizal, a community in which the Campesino Organization Emiliano Zapata (OCEZ) has a strong presence. Military authorities claimed they were looking for an illegal marijuana plantation. Members of OCEZ blocked the incursion and denied the presence of marijuana in their communities.
The stepped up provocations appear to be part of a “law and order” strategy handed down by federal authorities. In a recent meeting with the International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights, Chiapas Governor Juan Sabines reported that Calderon recently sent a mandate to governors throughout the country – “during my administration there will be no Zapatistas and no machetes.” Machetes are a reference to the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) which was famous for brandishing machetes in public demonstrations. Under the guise of the war on drugs, Calderon is attacking organized civil society in an effort to reduce political opposition. FPDT leaders were recently sentenced to 67 year prison terms, and the army would not initiate public movements like the recent events near La Garrucha without the approval of Calderon. In this context, the crackdown on community radio stations (see article below) is worrisome, especially given the number of unauthorized stations in Zapatista communities.
Perhaps in recognition of the increasingly tense situation in Chiapas, Governor Sabines released two Zapatista political prisoners this week after serving twelve years of their sentences. These were the last political prisoners remaining from the 1998 military campaign to dismantle Zapatista autonomous communities.
The Mexico Solidarity Network calls on Zapatista supporters to serve as emergency human rights observers in indigenous communities in Chiapas. For more information, please refer to the two principle organizations that coordinate human rights observation in Chiapas: CAPISE at capise.org.mx or the Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center at frayba.org.mx/observadores.php.
2. FEDS CLOSE TWO COMMUNITY RADIO STATIONS
The federal government abruptly closed two long-standing community radio stations this week in Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey. Friday night at least 250 federal police surrounded a small station located in a private home in Colonia Tierra y Libertad on the outskirts of Monterrey that has operated for the past six years without a formal license. Police arrested one disk jockey, Hector Camero, one of the historic leaders of the colonia and a former activist in the Labor Party. Police arrived with high powered weapons in a seven vehicle convoy about the same time that three children were leaving the radio station after broadcasting their weekly program “Pequeños Locutores,” which features discussions of children’s rights. The 100-watt station broadcast at 90.9 on the FM dial. The station focused most of its programming on labor rights and political analysis.
On Wednesday afternoon, agents from the elite Federal Preventative Police (PFP) and the Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) violently broke into Radio La Tremenda in Nuevo Laredo. The sounds of breaking glass and screaming employees could be heard live at about 1:55pm. Officials held four employees and dismantled the broadcast equipment. The arrestees could face prison terms of up to 12 years for broadcasting without a license.
The closures are part of a law and order campaign by the Calderon administration that initially unfolded as a “war on drugs.” But it quickly became clear that Calderon was targeting political dissent as well. There are hundreds of community-based radio stations throughout Mexico, especially in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, that may be under threat of closure. Community radio is often the only alternative source of news and analysis in a country where a handful of elites control the two television empires, TV Azteca and Telemundo, and daily newspapers can often cost a quarter of a day’s wages.
3. FORMER PRI GOVERNOR SENTENCED TO 36 YEARS
Mario Villanueva was sentenced this week to 36 years in prison for his links with drug cartels while he served as Governor of Quintana Roo. Villanueva, a leader in the PRI, turned the state into a transfer point for cocaine from South America, ordering state police and other officials to assist the cartel lead by Amado Carrillo Fuentes, also known as Lord of the Skies for his use of large jet aircraft to transport drugs. Villanueva opened the Chetumal airport for drug transfers and ordered local police chiefs to assist the criminal operations. Villaneuva maintained large bank accounts in Mexico, the United States, and Switzerland that far exceeded his earning capacity as governor.
In related news, a majority of Mexicans believe the government is losing its battle against drug cartels. According to a poll published by the conservative newspaper La Reforma, 53% of Mexicans say the cartels are defeating security forces, while only 24% see the government winning. Violence has soared since President Calderon launched his “war on drugs” a year and a half ago. With more than 25,000 army troops stationed in cities throughout the country, drug-related homicides jumped 47% this year to 1,378 as cartels struggle for control of lucrative markets and local police alliances shift from one cartel to another. Calderon’s strategy has come under increasing criticism from both the right and the left. Manuel Espino, former president of the PAN and current leader of the Democratic Christian Organization of America, accused the federal government of a failed strategy organized “for political reasons.” And human rights groups, most recently Amnesty International, have criticized the army for repeated abuses. In the face of increasing criticism, Calderon convened an unprecedented cabinet meeting on Friday in which he exhorted federal officials to publicly “defend” his security operations.
4. US PROSECUTIONS OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS INCREASE
Federal law enforcement agencies in the US have increased criminal prosecutions of undocumented workers to record levels by filing charges against virtually every person caught crossing the border without documents along some stretches of the US-Mexico border. The new policy replaces “catch and release” in which undocumented migrants were generally deported within hours of being arrested. Officials say the threat of jail time and a criminal record act as deterrents, but critics note that the strategy is not sustainable as border prisons are quickly filling and border police find little time for other law enforcement tasks like drug smuggling. The new program, dubbed Operation Streamline, is currently in effect along the border in parts of Texas and Arizona, but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wants to expand it to the entire border because “it has a great deterrent effect.” Sen. Edward Kennedy’s office criticized the program as “straining the capabilities of the law enforcement system past the breaking point.”
T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council doesn’t like the plan: “It’s going after desperate people who are crossing the border in search of a better way of life.” Officials credit the program with a 20% drop in apprehension rates along the border in 2007, and an expected 15% drop this year. But critics note that the slumping US economy is most likely responsible for decreasing immigration. Family remittances to Mexico declined by 2.4% between January and April, a strong indication that undocumented workers are having a hard time finding jobs. In any case, the limited extent of the program simply encourages undocumented migrants to cross in more dangerous desert areas that are less patrolled. Operation Streamline currently covers only 500 miles of the 2,000 mile border, mostly in relatively low traffic areas.
Criminal immigration cases filed by the US Justice Department doubled this year to 13,500, outnumbering all white-collar, civil rights, environmental and other crimes combined. It’s estimated that nearly a million undocumented migrants enter the US each year in search of work, and less than 2% face criminal prosecutions under Operation Streamline. Despite the low percentage of prosecutions, border officials are overwhelmed with the logistical and legal demands. Last year, federal officials in Arizona were so short on resources that they decided not to prosecute a number of marijuana seizures of less than 500 pounds. Some critics are also concerned about issues of justice. “If a US citizen were placed in any other country on the planet and had to resolve a case in a day that could result in being deported and having a criminal record, we would be outraged, and so would our government,” notes Heather Williams, the first assistant to the federal public defender in Arizona.
5. TEACHERS SETTLE STRIKE, BUT CONTINUE PROTESTS IN OAXACA
Concerned about a reinvigorated round of protests in Oaxaca that may have escalated into a replay of 2006, Interior Secretary Juan Mouriño and union president Elba Esther Gordillo signed a settlement this week ending weeks of road blockages and marches by Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE). Gordillo agreed to allow state union elections on September 25 and 26 after Section 22 leaders ceded to most of the her conditions. But members of the dissident union faction disagreed with their leadership and objected to including representatives of Section 59 in the election process. Section 59 is a small competing branch of the SNTE formed in Oaxaca during the 2006 APPO led demonstrations as a challenge to the more radical Section 22. Section 22 leaders agreed to end their permanent presence in the center of Oaxaca City and return to classes on Monday, but the rank and file decided to continue the protests until at least June 14. One of the principal demands of Section 22 is the removal of Governor Ulises Ruiz.
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM:
Summer 2008, May 24 – July 5: Study in Chiapas and Mexico City, focusing on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, including the Zapatistas, labor organizing and urban movements. The program features guest professor Dr. Adam Morton from the University of Nottingham. Adam is a renowned expert on Gramsci. Eight university credits.
Summer 2008, June 15 – July 26: Study the theory and practice of Zapatismo in Chiapas. Eight university credits.
Fall 2008, September 7 – December 13: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, Mexico City and Ciudad Juarez, focusing on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, including indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements.
Spring 2009, January 25 – May 2: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, Mexico City and Ciudad Juarez, focusing on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, including indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements.
Fall 2009, September 6 – December 12: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, Mexico City and Ciudad Juarez, focusing on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, including indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements.
CHICAGO AUTONOMOUS CENTER (3460 W. LAWRENCE AVE.)
ESL and Spanish Literacy classes:
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, 6:30-8:30pm.
Classes utilize popular education strategies to increase conversational English capacity and basic reading and writing skills in Spanish.
Cultural events and political workshops:
For a full schedule of cultural events and political workshops, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network at 773-583-7728 or visit http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/communityforum
SPEAKING TOURS:
Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org to schedule an event in your city.
October 19-31 (Northwest): Plan Mexico. Carlos Euceda will discuss Plan Mexico (aka the Merida Initiative), a bilateral security initiative that will provide $1.5 billion in US military financing for Mexico’s army and intelligence forces.
October 12-24 (New England): Border dynamics. Veronica Leyva, a native of Ciudad Juarez, will speak about maquiladoras, immigration and struggles for land along the border, with particular emphasis on the Lomas de Poleo struggle. Veronia is the MSN staff person in Ciudad Juarez. She worked for seven years in maquiladoras and six years as a labor/community organizer before joining the MSN staff in 2004.
November 9-21 (Midwest): Immigration dynamics and Braceros. A representative of the National Assembly of ex-Braceros from Tlaxcala will discuss current struggles by Braceros and the lessons of the Bracero program for the debate on immigration reform. Braceros were Mexican guest workers who came to the US under a post-World War II treaty.
November 9-21 (California): Immigration dynamics and Braceros. A representative of the National Assembly of ex-Braceros from Tlaxcala will discuss current struggles by Braceros and the lessons of the Bracero program for the debate on immigration reform. Braceros were Mexican guest workers who came to the US under a post-World War II treaty. Macrina Cardenas, President of the MSN board of directors, will accompany the tour.
/>NOVEMBER 26 – DECEMBER 9, 2007
1. INVESTIGATION OF OPDDIC
2. SUPREME COURT RULES IN LYDIA CACHO CASE
3. SENATE APPROVES ELECTION REFORM
4. BORDER CROSSING DEATHS INCREASING
5. APPO RETURNS TO THE STREETS
6. UNT CELEBRATES TENTH ANNIVERSARY
7. BUSH ADMINISTRATION SENDS ULTIMATUMS TO BORDER PROPERTY OWNERS
8. DEPORTATIONS RISING
9. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
1. INVESTIGATION OF OPDDIC
The government of Chiapas called last week for an investigation of the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Communities (Opddic), a paramilitary group aligned with powerful state PRI leaders. Governor Juan Sabines called for the Federal Attorney General and the National Human Rights Commission to investigate Opddic’s finances and recent actions, including death threats against the Autonomous Council of San Andres and violent attacks in the municipalities of Chilon and Tumbala. The request follows dozens of public denouncements by the Juntas of Good Government and non-governmental organizations, and increasing international pressure on the state government. In the most recent attack, eighty members of Opddic entered Bolon Ajaw, an autonomous Zapatista community, and threatened community members with machetes and high caliber weapons. At least one community member, Manuel Hernandez, was beaten unconscious, and 41 Zapatista families were forced to leave Bolon Ajaw. Opddic has at least 68 legal cases pending that demand the removal of Zapatista communities from lands liberated during the 1994 uprising. Given Opddic’s strong political connections with the PRI and the federal office of Agrarian Reform, it remains to be seen if the investigation will be serious, or merely a publicity effort to cover up the increasingly violent actions of Opddic.
2. SUPREME COURT RULES IN LYDIA CACHO CASE
In a close 6-4 vote, the Supreme Court exonerated Puebla Governor Mario Marin for abuse of authority in the case of journalist Lydia Cacho. Marin sent Puebla state police to arrest Cacho in the Yucatan, then transport her by land in a 30-hour trip back to Puebla, after Cacho published a book accusing close allies of Marin of running a child sex abuse ring. Shortly after the arrest, the media released a recorded telephone call between Marin and Kamel Nacif, a Puebla businessman and leader of a child sex ring, in which Nacif congratulated Marin and offered the “Gober preciosa” two bottles in expensive cognac for his troubles. During the conversation, Marin bragged that “the old bitch” got her due and suggested that he could arrange for Cacho to be sexually molested in prison. The Supreme Court rejected the telephone call as evidence, even though Marin never challenged its validity. The Court also refused to address the existence of child sex rings operating in Mexico. Cacho is expected to take the case to the International Human Rights Commission, which could embarrass the Supreme Court if it finds against the Puebla Governor. The decision drew widespread criticism from liberals and conservatives alike, and called into question the independence of the Court. President Felipe Calderon, who won a controversial presidential election last year in which PRI support proved critical, has publicly defended Marin and other troubled PRI governors. Many analysts speculate that his support for Governor Marin was part of a deal with PRI leaders that allowed his fraudulent election victory to stand. Calderon’s support for Matin certainly influenced the Supreme Court. Calderon refused to comment on the decision.
3. SENATE APPROVES ELECTION REFORM
The Senate approved a controversial election reform that would remove small parties from effective electoral competition and consolidate the power of the big three parties – the PAN, PRI and PRD. The reform would also severely limit the influence of media giants Televisa and TV Azteca by making most campaign advertising free and by limiting the ability of television stations to endorse particular candidates. Mexico’s major business groups opposed the reform because it would restrict their ability to run independently financed campaign commercials.
The PAN and PRI voted unanimously in favor of the reform while the PRD divided its votes. The PRD is aligned with two smaller parties, the Workers Party (PT) and Convergencia, which may cease to exist if they don’t receive at least 2% of the vote in the next round of elections. The reform would also prohibit coalitions, which have been the foundation of recent elections, allowing smaller parties to gain a presence in the Senate and lower house by aligning with the more established parties. The reform is widely interpreted as a way to remove Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from effectively campaigning for the presidency as a coalition candidate in 2012. Professional politicians from the three major parties don’t like the current coalition system because it forces the major parties to share proportionately awarded electoral posts with their minor partners.
4. BORDER CROSSING DEATHS INCREASING
At least 4,745 immigrants died crossing the border over the past thirteen years, according to a report by the National Human Rights Commission entitled “We All Know, Nobody Admits It: Thirteen Years of Immigrant Deaths.” Since the initiation of Operation Guardian in October, 1994, on average at least one immigrant per day died at the border, though the numbers are increasing to nearly two immigrants per day over the past couple of years due largely to increased border vigilance on the US side. The death toll reached 2,533 from 2001 to 2007: 491 in the San Diego region, 1,221 in Arizona, and 821 in Texas.
5. APPO RETURNS TO THE STREETS
Thousands of protestors from the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) participated in the largest demonstration in recent months on the first anniversary of the invasion of Oaxaca City by the Federal Preventative Police (PFP). The November 25th march demanded freedom for political prisoners and the removal of Governor Ulises Ruiz. Last year, more than 3,000 Federal Preventative Police fought with protestors to establish marshal law in the state capital. At least 23 protesters were killed over several months of protests and hundreds were taken into custody. To date, no one has been charged with the murders.
6. UNT CELEBRATES TENTH ANNIVERSARY
The National Workers Union (UNT) celebrated its tenth anniversary last week amidst questions concerning its relevance and political agenda. The UNT faces “a lack of credibility, disputes among the collective leadership, relatively conservative strategies, and a lack of consistency between what is said and what is done,” according to a report entitled “Ten Year Balance of the UNT.” Yet despite its problems, the UNT remains the only democratic union central in Mexico. The collective leadership, formed by the heads of the National Social Security Workers (SNTSS), the Telephone Workers of Mexico (STRM), and the National Autonomous University of Mexico Workers (STUNAM), is increasingly ineffective as power disputes and personality differences inhibit concerted political actions. In addition, the UNT faces challenges in the neoliberal era as workers lose negotiating power. Yet, despite its many difficulties, the UNT has grown from 500,000 members and 22 union affiliates to 1.5 million members and 200 affiliates.
7. BUSH ADMINISTRATION SENDS ULTIMATUMS TO BORDER PROPERTY OWNERS
The Bush administration is sending legal warnings to hundreds of property owners along the US-Mexico border who are preventing federal authorities from conducting land surveys in anticipation of construction of a 16-foot wall that would divide the two countries. “They are trying to intimidate us,” said Mayor Chad Foster of Eagle Pass, Texas. Foster heads a group of local politicians, businessmen and land owners who oppose the use of their lands for construction of the wall. The group is calling instead for improved river banks along the Rio Grande. Hundreds of border landowners stand to lose large parts of their properties if the 700-mile wall is constructed.
8. DEPORTATIONS RISING
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is increasing deportations to record levels in anticipation of 2008 presidential elections in which immigration promises to be an important issue. In 2006, ICE deported 195,024 immigrants, an 11.6% increase over the previous year. Of this group, 88,662 had criminal records. In the first trimester of 20076, ICE deported 125,405 immigrants. Some of the increase is due to policy changes, including the elimination of “catch and release” practices along the border. The ICE budget for 2007 increased by 25% over the previous year, and the number of Fugitive Operation Teams increased from 18 to 50 units.
9. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM:
September 9 – December 14, 2007: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, Mexico City and Ciudad Juarez, with a focus on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, 16 credits.
January 27 – May 2, 2008: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala and Mexico City, with a focus on indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements. 16 credits.
February 3 – May 9, 2008: Study in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua City, Mexico City and Chiapas, with a focus on border dynamics, urban movements and indigenous movements. 16 credits.
May 24 – July 5, 2008: Study in Chiapas and Mexico City, focusing on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, including the Zapatistas, labor organizing and urban movements. The program features guest professor Dr. Adam Morton from the University of Nottingham. Adam is a renowned expert in Gramsican thought.
June 15 – July 26, 2008: Study the theory and practice of Zapatismo in Chiapas.
CHICAGO AUTONOMOUS CENTER (3460 W. LAWRENCE AVE.) English classes - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, 6:30-8:30pm: English classes utilize popular education strategies to increase conversational English capacity.
Literacy classes in Spanish – Literacy classes utilize popular education strategies to teach basic reading and writing skills.
Cultural events and political workshops – For a full schedule of cultural events and political workshops, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network at 773-583-7728 or visit http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/site/communityforum
SPEAKING TOURS:
Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org for a full schedule of Spring speaking tours featuring speakers from Mexico.
Feb 25 - Mar 10, 2008 - Oregon, Washington, Montana – Plan Mexico with Carlos Euceda. After attending law school in Honduras, Carlos dove into the struggle for Indigenous Rights with CONPAH (Confederación de Pueblos Autoctonos de Honduras). Carlos will discuss Plan Mexico, officially dubbed the “Mérida Initiative” but more commonly referred to as “Plan Mexico” because of it’s similarities to Plan Columbia. Instead of providing aid that would address the current economic crisis caused by past US policy this plan calls for direct donations of military and intelligence equipment, and training programs.
Feb 25 - Mar 10, 2008 – Upper Midwest - Border Politics with Veronica Leyva, community activist from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Veronica will discuss the struggle at the border to confront militarization, increased internal migration, insecure living conditions for women, and now a new threat by land developers to displace communities such as Lomas de Poleo where community members are facing violent displacement in already difficult living conditions.
April 15 – 28, 2008 - Florida and Georgia - Immigrants' Rights / The “Other Campaign” with Mario Canek, a community activist from Mexico City currently living in Chicago and a 3rd generation migrant to the U.S. Canek will speak first-hand on Mexico’s current social movements as well as organizing work in the US around immigrant rights issues, recognizing important links for bi-national organizing.
ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY INTERNSHIPS:
Develop markets for artisanry produced by women's cooperatives in Chiapas and make public presentations on the struggle for justice and dignity in Zapatista communities.
Interns are currently active in: New York City; El Paso, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; Rochester, NY; Albuquerque, NM; Washington, DC; Chico, CA; Stonington, ME; Minneapolis, MN; Berkeley, CA; Grand Rapids, MI; Salem, OR; Santa Cruz, CA; Chatham, NJ; Rutland, MA; Chicago, IL; Corpus Christi, TX; and Houston, TX
NOVEMBER 19-25, 2007
1. BUSH POSTPONES PLAN TO PUNISH EMPLOYERS OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS
2. IMMIGRANTS INCREASINGLY ARRESTED IN THEIR HOMES
3. PLAN MEXICO
4. CALDERON LABOR REFORM
5. ZAPATISTAS DELIVER AID TO FLOOD VICTIMS
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
1. BUSH POSTPONES PLAN TO PUNISH EMPLOYERS OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS
The Bush administration abandoned its legal defense of a new rule issued in August that would have punished employers who hire undocumented workers. Instead, the administration will revise the so-called “no-match” program in an effort to meet concerns raised by a federal judge. The Bush administration planned to issue 141,000 no-match letters, covering 8 million employees, to employers with more than ten workers whose social security numbers do not match names on file with the Social Security Administration. Employers would have been forced to fire employees who could not resolve the discrepancy within 90 days, or face significant fines. A tactical alliance of labor unions and the US Chamber of Commerce challenged the original plan because it would have affected hundreds of thousands of union members whose names don’t match Social Security numbers because of clerical errors or because workers changed their names through marriage. Federal District Judge Charles Breyer imposed a restraining order on the Bush administration on October 10, forcing officials to reconsider their hastily crafted plans, designed to assuage racist and nationalist voters in anticipation of next year’s presidential election. Officials plan to issue a new no-match policy in March after conducting a survey on the impact on small businesses.
2. IMMIGRANTS INCREASINGLY ARRESTED IN THEIR HOMES
Undocumented immigrants are increasingly arrested in their homes by federal agents without search warrants. By law, immigration agents without judicial warrants may enter homes only with the consent of residents, and they may not use racial or ethnic profiling to single people out. But increasingly immigration agents are using strong arm tactics against immigrants with little knowledge of their rights and without the capacity to communicate in English. Home invasions have been increasingly popular with immigration officials since 2005. While agents enjoy broad authority to detain anyone suspected of entering the country without documents, the legality of recent home raids is being challenged in federal courts. Case law on the constitutional limits of immigration powers is still unsettled, but for decades such raids were rare, in large part because the idea of a home as an inviolable space has been enshrined in the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
3. PLAN MEXICO
Details of Plan Mexico are slowly beginning to emerge in the context of heated Congressional debates. Plan Mexico, renamed the Merida Initiative by politicians anxious to distance the proposal from Plan Colombia, would provide US$1.4 billion in high tech equipment and training to Mexican security forces working on drug interdiction and “anti-terrorism” security. The plan, negotiated behind closed doors over several months by the Calderon and Bush administrations, does not require approval by the Mexican Congress, but will require passage by the US Congress. From the US perspective, Plan Mexico provides US security and intelligence forces with new influence in the Mexican army and intelligence services. The first US$500 million, tentatively scheduled to arrive in 2008, would be distributed as follows: 41% to the Army, 20% to the Navy, 14% to the federal Attorney General, and 7.8% to the Secretary of Public Security. The rest is destined for Cisen (the army’s intelligence service), immigration services and the customs department. An additional US$133 million will come directly from the Bush administration and is not subject to US Congressional approval. Most of the funds will go directly to US corporations that provide high tech surveillance equipment, training and maintenance. The Plan includes significant changes in Mexico’s judicial, penal and policing systems. The US will enjoy unprecedented influence in the daily performance of immigration authorities and will have real time access to Mexico’s intelligence services, and the plan contemplates a reorganization of Mexico’s intelligence services under the direction of US authorities.
4. CALDERON LABOR REFORM
The Calderon administration began promoting a labor reform package this week similar in many respects to the initiative that failed during the Fox administration. The new package would void unions that don’t update their membership lists every six months, reduce annual mandatory profit sharing programs, permit temporary employment contracts of up to 90 days without obligation for severance pay or fringe benefits, and apply “hour banks” to replace the current eight hour day. The hour banks would force employees to work extra hours, at the discretion of the employer, up to a maximum each month before paying overtime, rather than paying overtime after eight hours.
5. ZAPATISTAS DELIVER AID TO FLOOD VICTIMS
Zapatista communities in northern Chiapas delivered food by foot to flood victims in the neighboring state of Tabasco. Roads in the area have been closed for weeks due to landslides, so Zapatistas carried heavy bags of corn and containers of pozol, donated by 300 indigenous families, more than three hours across rough terrain. They delivered the food to Doctor Wilbert Narvaez, a member of the Other Campaign in Tabasco.
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM:
February 3 – May 9, 2008 (new combined program): Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Mexico City, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez. The program focuses on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, with important lessons for activism in the US context. This hands-on course includes workshops with the Universidad de la Tierra, the Zapatista movement, the National Assembly of Ex-Braceros, the National Uban-Campesino Council, families of femicide victims, maquiladora workers, El Barzon, and other urban barrio organizations. The Spanish language component focuses on verbal communication skills.
May 24 – July 5, 2008: Study in Chiapas and Mexico City, focusing on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, including the Zapatistas, labor organizing and urban movements. The program features guest professor Dr. Adam Morton from the University of Nottingham. Adam is a renowned expert in Gramsican thought.
June 15 – July 26, 2008: Study the theory and practice of Zapatismo in Chiapas.
CHICAGO AUTONOMOUS CENTER (3460 W. LAWRENCE AVE.) English classes - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, 6:30-8:30pm: English classes utilize popular education strategies to increase conversational English capacity.
Literacy classes in Spanish – Literacy classes utilize popular education strategies to teach basic reading and writing skills.
Cultural events and political workshops – For a full schedule of cultural events and political workshops, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network at 773-583-7728 or visit http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/site/communityforum
SPEAKING TOURS:
Announcing the Mexico-US Solidarity Network’s SPRING 2008 SPEAKING TOURS
Please contact us at msn@mexicosolidarity.org if you would like to host one of the tours traveling in your area.
Learn about the inter-related aspects of US and Mexican economic and political relationships and important community-based movements on both sides of the border. The MSN presents four speaking opportunities to discuss how community resistance links local challenges to global policies.
Feb 25 - Mar 10 - Oregon, Washington, Montana – Plan Mexico with Carlos Euceda, MSN staff in Chicago from Honduras. After attending law school in Honduras, Carlos dove into the struggle for Indigenous Rights with CONPAH (Confederación de Pueblos Autoctonos de Honduras). Carlos will discuss Plan Mexico, officially dubbed the “Mérida Initiative” but more commonly referred to as “Plan Mexico” because of it’s similarities to Plan Columbia. Instead of providing aid that would address the current economic crisis caused by past US policy this plan calls for direct donations of military and intelligence equipment, and training programs.
Feb 25 - Mar 10 – Upper Midwest - Border Politics with Veronica Leyva, MSN staff person in Ciudad Juárez. Veronica will discuss the struggle at the border to confront militarization, increased internal migration, insecure living conditions for women, and now a new threat by land developers to displace communities such as Lomas de Poleo where community members are facing violent displacement in already difficult living conditions.
March 25 - Apr 7 - New England - Free Trade and Community Resistance: Zapatista Solidarity, and Alternative Economy with Cecilia Santiago Vera, a social psychologist from Chiapas, Mexico. Cecilia’s work is focused on gender and intercultural studies and is community-based. She has worked with displaced indigenous populations, particularly with survivors of the Acteal Massacre and with other indigenous people who are survivors of state-sponsored military and paramilitary violence. She is currently organizing with a group of adherents to the Other Campaign who are political prisoners in Chiapas.
April 15 - 28 - Florida and Georgia - Immigrants' Rights / The “Other Campaign” with Mario Canek Huerta, a community activist from Mexico City currently living in Chicago and a 3rd generation migrant to the U.S. Canek holds an MA from the Universidad Naciónal Autónoma de Mexíco where he was involved in student activism as an adherent to the Zapatista-initiated Other Campaign. Canek will speak first-hand on Mexico’s current social movements as well as activism in the US around immigrant rights issues, recognizing important links for bi-national organizing.
AUGUST 13-19, 2007
1. UNDOCUMENTED MOTHER DEPORTED WITHOUT SON
2. NEW “NO-MATCH” POLICY MAY COST JOBS
3. BRACEROS WIN JUDICIAL RULING
4. CALLS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATION IN OAXACA
5. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
1. UNDOCUMENTED MOTHER DEPORTED WITHOUT SON
Immigration officials in Los Angeles deported Elvira Arellano Sunday as she began a three-week tour calling for comprehensive immigration reform. Elvira took refuge in a Chicago church last August after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) threatened to deport her, and she has been the public face of the family reunification movement ever since. She lived in the church for a year with her son, Saul, before traveling to Los Angeles last weekend.
Elvira came to the US in 1997 as an undocumented worker, and was quickly apprehended and deported. She returned within a few days and settled in Oregon, where she gave birth to her son, Saul, in 1999. Saul is a US citizen as a result of his constitutional birthright. Elvira moved to Chicago in 2000 where she worked as a housekeeper and later at O’hare Airport. In 2002, following a post-9-11 security sweep, she was arrested and convicted of using a false social security number. On August 15, 2006, she was scheduled to appear before immigration authorities to begin deportation proceedings, but instead she took sanctuary in Adalberto Methodist Church in Chicago, where she remained until last week’s trip to Los Angeles. Elvira is the president of La Familia Latina Unida (United Latino Family), an organization that includes at least 33 families that are divided because undocumented parents were deported while their children are US citizens. Elvira and her supporters are calling for immigrants and supporters to join a national strike, refusing to work or purchase goods on September 12.
2. NEW “NO-MATCH” POLICY MAY COST JOBS
A new “no-match” policy announced by the Department of Homeland Security threatens the jobs of immigrant workers. Beginning in mid September, Homeland Security plans to send letters to at least 140,000 businesses concerning 8 million workers whose social security numbers don’t match their names. The businesses will have ninety days to correct the information, or fire the workers. Hefty fines will be levied against businesses for non-compliance. The program is timed to impact national elections in 2008. Given the bureaucracy necessary to process no-match letters and the time needed to begin deportation proceedings, the first no-match deportations will likely happen next Spring, just in time for Republicans to claim an iron fist attitude toward undocumented immigration in the midst of campaigning for Fall elections. No-match letters have been issued by immigration officials for years, but this is the first time Homeland Security will use the letters as evidence to prosecute employers. The result is likely to be devastating for Latino workers, whether they are documented or not. Employers looking for an excuse to fire employees who are members of unions or are participating in organizing drives will be able to use the no-match letters as legal cover. Currently only 60% of no-match letters identify employees whose names actually don’t match social security numbers. The other 40% are clerical errors committed by employers or the government. Workers who use false social security numbers pay into the federal social security fund each pay period through automatic deductions, but they will never be able to recoup the benefits. There are billions of dollars – estimates range as high as US$470 billion – deposited in the federal social security program that don’t match workers’ names.
3. BRACEROS WIN JUDICIAL RULING
Former Braceros, who worked as migrant laborers in the US from 1942 to 1964, won an important decision this week in federal court. A Mexico City judge ordered President Felipe Calderon to release information on 10% deductions from Bracero paychecks that were supposed to go into a retirement fund. Over the years, the funds disappeared, leaving at least 600,000 Braceros and their families without benefits. No one is certain where the funds ended up, and over the years many Braceros lost their documents proving payroll deductions. Last year the Mexican government offered 38,000 pesos (US$3,500) to Braceros who could document their work in the program, but even this band aid effort is rife with corruption. Of the 600,000 Braceros who deserve retirement funds, the current program will provide only a fraction of the money owed to less than 8,000 retirees. As of this writing it is unclear if Calderon will comply with the judicial order. Previously, government officials claimed Bracero documents were “lost.”
4. CALLS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATION IN OAXACA
The President of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, Florentin Melendez, called on the federal government and the state of Oaxaca for an impartial investigation of human rights violations committed in Oaxaca between June and December of 2006 and in July of 2007. The investigation should include, “violent deaths, extra-judicial executions, torture, police brutality, disproportionate use of force, mass detentions, detainees held in isolation, use of tear gas and sharpshooters, aggressions against journalists, and public calls to attack human rights defenders and social leaders.” Melendez issued his report after a visit to Oaxaca from August 8 to 11. He called for impartial investigations, payment of reparations for victims, and sanctions for officials who participated in illegal acts.
In related news, the Assistant Attorney General for Human Rights, Attention for Victims and Community Service, Juan de Dios Castro, publicly recognized massive human rights violations in Oaxaca. Previously the federal Attorney General had generally ignored human rights violations in Oaxaca. But Castro defended Governor Ulises Ruiz with the argument that federal officials cannot remove sitting governors.
And Amnesty International called on members around the world this week to demand that Mexican authorities investigate arbitrary detentions and violations of human rights in Oaxaca, San Salvador Atenco and the state of Mexico.
La Jornada
Elvira Arellano at the mexican congress, august 22nd 07
MAY 28 – JUNE 3, 2007 1. GRENADES IN SUBWAY STATION 1. GRENADES IN SUBWAY STATION Subcomandante Marcos criticized Calderon’s repression: “The dispositions and actions of the Calderon administration confirm our analysis since the middle of 2005. Our country is on the road to a social explosion and in light of this we face four options: Calderon’s option, which involves the indiscriminate use of force and massive repression; a gradual and demobilizing control, which includes the forces who are planning for a controlled and ordered change of power in 2012; chaos and civil war; and finally, an organized, anti-capitalist movement that includes organizations, collectives, families and individuals from the Other Campaign.” 3. MEDIA MONOPOLIES LOSE KEY COURT RULING 4. CHRYSLER WILL BUILD NEW PLANT IN MEXICO 5. IMMIGRATION FEES WILL INCREASE DRAMATICALLY APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2007
2. THIRD NATIONAL WORK STOPPAGE AGAINST ISSSTE REFORMS
3. MEDIA MONOPOLIES LOSE KEY COURT RULING
4. CHRYSLER WILL BUILD NEW PLANT IN MEXICO
5. IMMIGRATION FEES WILL INCREASE DRAMATICALLY
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
Grenades wrapped as presents turned up in two subway stations along Line 3 of Mexico City’s metro system on Friday. Messages accompanying the packages alluded to the Zetas, a band of former army special forces who now act at the principle enforcers for one of Mexico’s top drug cartels. Local police and the Attorney General rejected links to the Zetas, with police implicating the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a guerrilla group active in southern and central Mexico. This publicly disseminated conclusion, apparently drawn without any evidence, reflects the merging of President Felipe Calderon’s highly publicized war on drugs and the rapidly expanding political war on popular organizations opposed to Calderon’s neoliberal plans. Typically about ten people are killed every day in confrontations between the army and drug cartels, thousands of troops are doing police work without proper training, and human rights violations are mounting rapidly.
2. THIRD NATIONAL WORK STOPPAGE AGAINST ISSSTE REFORMS
Friday marked the third national work stoppage against recently approved reforms to the Social Security Institute for State Workers (ISSSTE) that privatized retirement funds and reduced health care coverage for state employees. Teachers affiliated with the dissident CNTE (National Coordinator for Education Workers), other union members and civil organizations tied up traffic throughout Mexico City and blocked major highways, disrupting the city for most of the day. Five separate marches converged in the Zocalo and tied up traffic throughout the downtown area. Several bridges along the US-Mexico border were blocked, and schools, government offices and banks were closed throughout the country. Students threw eggs and rocks at the national PRI headquarters, and police broke up demonstrations at toll booths on the Mexico City-Cuernavaca highway with teargas. Protestors took over toll booths on all major highways leading into Mexico City, and allowed drivers to proceed without paying the hefty tolls that are the highest in the world. Organizers promised increasingly militant actions against the unpopular ISSSTE reforms.
In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that radio and television concessions cannot be permanent, marking a defeat for Televisa and TV Azteca, Mexico’s major media monopolies. The Court ruled that media with access to airwaves must submit to periodic reviews to maintain their concessions. The ruling is part of a series of decisions expected from the Supreme Court in coming weeks on challenges to the so-called “Televisa Law,” which passed with support from the PRI and PAN before last year’s presidential elections.
Riddled with financial problems and trying to escape pension payments and livable wages in the US, Chrysler Corporation will open a new plant to build transmissions and motors in Saltillo in the northern state of Coahuila. The US$570 million plant will employ up to 458 workers, and is part of a US$3 billion worldwide investment plan. Production at the new plant will begin in June of 2008. Automotive production accounts for 5% of Mexico’s GNP and more than 17% of manufacturing, with most of it exported to the US. Since 1994, Chrysler has invested more than US$2 billion dollars in manufacturing operations in Mexico.
Next week the Bush administration will announce increases in immigration application fees that will double the cost of citizenship and triple the cost of residency. The cost of bringing a foreign fiancé or fiancée will increase from US$170 to US$455, while the cost of a residency card will soar from US$325 to US$930 and citizenship papers will jump from $US330 to US$675. The White House denied the increases are related to the current debate around immigration reform. The increases are expected to take effect in July.
1. ATENCO LEADERS SENTENCED TO 67 YEARS
2. TEACHERS ANNOUNCE INDEFINITE STRIKE
3. TORTILLA PRICES ON THE RISE DESPITE NATIONAL PACT
4. BENEFITS CUT TO MINEWORKER FAMILIES
5. CLOTHING INDUSTRY TO LOSE JOBS
6. POLICE INVESTIGATION DISCARDS RAPE IN ASCENCIO CASE
7. CHICAGO, MAY DAY 2007
8. WASHINGTON DC, MAY DAY 2007
1. ATENCO LEADERS SENTENCED TO 67 YEARS
The principal leaders of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) were sentenced to 67 years in prison this week, nearly one year to the day after police invaded San Salvador Atenco, raping women, beating villagers and killing two students. Ignacio del Valle, Felipe Alvarez and Hector Galindo were convicted of kidnapping a government official in a case unrelated to the May 3 and 4 police actions. However, none of the government officials involved in the supposed kidnapping recognized the three prisoners as responsible for the act. Several government officials were held for a few hours during negotiations between the federal government and the FPDT, and this eventually became kidnapping charges which were held in reserve by officials until the May 3 and 4 police actions. On the same day as the sentencing, del Valle received the highly acclaimed National Human Rights Award Don Sergio Mendez Arceo in Cuernavaca.
Most members of the FPDT are from Atenco. They first organized early in the Fox administration to prevent the construction of an international airport on communally owned lands. Police abuses began on May 3 when officials tried to remove flower vendors from a traditional site intended for construction of a WalMart store. Residents responded by blocking a nearby highway, and the following day 3,000 police moved into the heart of Atenco, arresting more than 200 residents and participating in a wide range of human rights abuses. The FPDT is part of the Other Campaign, and most observers interpreted the massive police action as an attack on the growing Zapatista-inspired initiative.
The Other Campaign organized a march on the first anniversary of the police actions, and called for the immediate release of 26 members of the FPDT who remain in prison. Subcomandante Marcos predicted that del Valle would not serve his term, and that fundamental changes in Mexico’s politics would reserve jail cells in the future for true criminals, including former President Vicente Fox and Mexico state Governor Enrique Pena, who was largely responsible for ordering the police violence in Atenco. Zapatista Comandante Amos compared the 67 year prison sentence, handed down essentially for defending local territorial rights, with the impunity of officials who murdered two protestors, raped at least 26 women, beat hundreds of Atenco residents and entered dozens of homes without search warrants. Marcos called on international activists to increase pressure on the Calderon administration to release the 26 political prisoners.
Meanwhile, the Mexico state Attorney General, Abel Villicana, released an initial report claiming there is no evidence of rapes or sexual abuse by police during the May 3 and 4 police raids in Atenco. Villicana claimed that none of the women have come forward to present formal accusations before police officials, an action that would be comparable to reporting a rape to the rapist. Amnesty International called on the Calderon administration to resolve the multiple human rights abuses committed by police in Atenco. The Amnesty office in Mexico City expressed its “profound” concern for the lack of advances in formal investigations of “grave” human rights abuses. A report issued by Amnesty on the first anniversary of the Atenco police actions condemned “excessive use of force, homicides, torture, arbitrary detentions, sexual aggressions, rights violations and rampant impunity.”
2. TEACHERS ANNOUNCE INDEFINITE STRIKE
After massive May Day marches around the country denounced the recent ISSSTE reform, the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) announced an indefinite strike to begin May 7. CNTE members, as well as many dissident members of the official SNTE, were present in large numbers around Mexico on May Day protesting ISSSTE reforms that privatized the pension and health care benefits of tens of thousands of government employees. Elba Esther Gordillo, head of the SNTE, is largely responsible for the passage of ISSSTE reforms. She hopes to benefit from the reform through formation of private firms under her control that will manage retirement accounts. On May 2, hundreds of teachers blocked international bridges in Ciudad Juarez and other border cities, and blocked major highways around urban centers throughout the country.
University workers from STUNAM are expected to join the strike. Support from the National Workers Union (UNT), a dissident union central similar to a smaller version of the AFL-CIO, is reportedly set to support the strike, though the UNT did not support the May 2 actions. May Day demonstrators were particularly vocal in their rejection of ISSSTE reforms, which may lead some hesitant unions to assume a more militant position. The ISSSTE reforms are considered the first step in President Calderon’s plans to privatize all health services and pension benefits.
Meanwhile, the federal judiciary appointed a special judge to deal with more than 100,000 amparos (the rough equivalent of a request for temporary restraining order) presented by employees who would be affected by the ISSSTE reforms. Normally a judge issues between 800 and 900 decisions per year, and it is unclear how the newly appointed official will deal with 100,000 cases.
3. TORTILLA PRICES ON THE RISE DESPITE NATIONAL PACT
Tortilla prices continue to rise despite a pact negotiated by President Calderon calling for producers to maintain stable prices through August. The National Union of Tortilla Industries (UNIMTAC), a business association that represents the country’s major tortilla producers, announced that its 80,000 affiliates would begin to increase prices next week despite the presidential accord. Tortillas provide more than 40% of the caloric intake of a typical campesino diet and are the major source of nutrition for urban diets as well. Tortilla prices doubled during the first month of the Caleron administration, reaching 15 pesos per kilo in some communities. The national accord calls for prices stabilized at 8.5 pesos, still a substantial increase over the 6 pesos per kilo prevalent in November of last year.
4. BENEFITS CUT TO MINEWORKER FAMILIES
On Friday, the owners of Pasta de la Concha, site of a disaster last year that claimed the lives of 65 mineworkers, quit paying triple salary benefits to the survivors. Oscar Kauffman, spokesperson for Industrial Minera Mexico (IMMSA), characterized the benefits as temporary “humanitarian aid,” but many observers accused the owners of payoffs in exchange for silence during legal actions that are winding up. Families also received US$16,000 for “reparations” ordered by a judge after five executives from IMMSA were found guilty of homicide in the mine disaster. The Pasta de la Concha mine collapsed more than 14 months ago, and most of the bodies have still not been recovered.
5. CLOTHING INDUSTRY TO LOSE JOBS
With the approval of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), Mexico’s clothing industry is expected to lose 100,000 jobs to lower wage Central American countries. Mexico’s textile industry has been in serious decline since 2001, and the passage of CAFTA is expected to be the final nail in the coffin.
6. POLICE INVESTIGATION DISCARDS RAPE IN ASCENCIO CASE
A report issued by Veracruz investigative police found no evidence of rape in the death of Ernestina Ascencio, a poor indigenous woman who died twelve hours after she was found beaten and bloodied near a military outpost. Ascencio accused local troops of raping her before she passed away, but police rejected the accusation. Martha Mendoza, head of the Veracruz Women’s Institute, called the finding “surprising” given the available medical evidence and earlier confirmations by the state Attorney General that “the death was caused by violence and rape suffered by the woman.” State officials have been under increasing pressure from military authorities, President Calderon and the National Human Rights Commission to exonerate the army.
7. CHICAGO, MAY DAY 2007
The MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK participated in the march that took place in Chicago, May 1st 2007. Official authorities estimate the participation of about 150, 000, but organizers of the march sustain that there were about 400,000 to half a million people participating. Regardless of the number, this historic march was a success. This success had a lot to do with the political maturity that many organizations demonstrated. Although the organizations have a lot of different positions, a unified march was acomplished and once again, Chicago set the tone a the national level.
MSN participated in the march and was present trhough a contingent that was organized in the north Chicago. The bus MSN organized met at the Union Park and met there with other folks to start marching at 1pm. There were many people coming from all over the city and the contingent had to start marching right away due to the constant flow of people arriving to the meeting point. MSN’s contingent marched with the chants and demands of: “ Si se puede! Legalization for all!” MSN’s contingent also marched with a banner that read: “We are here because you are there” and the achronims for all of the free trade agreements in the Latin American countries. The message was clear: Immigration from many countries is due to the economic, political and military intervention of the US in many Latin American countries. And so immigrants in this country are now reclaiming a recognition of their basic rights and legalization for all.
This is how, once again, Chicago gave a sign of unity, solidarity and struggle with the immigrant cause, and the MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK said: PRESENTE!!!
8. WASHINGTON DC, MAY DAY 2007
The Washington DC Committee for Immigrant Rights decided to break the silence in the capital of empire and called for a stop on the raids and deportations and for DC to be declared SANCTUARY for all immigrants.
14 community folks, progressive religious people and different allies, started a four day fast on April 28th @ Mount Pleasant, a Latino Barrio in the Washington, District of Columbia, with three objectives: 1) To demand a stop on the raids and deportations; 2) To inform the immigrant community in the barrio – and its allies- about the petition to mayor Adrian Fenti to declare Sanctuary for DC 3) To demand full legalization for all undocumented immigrants living, working and studying in the US.
During the four days, the people involved in the fast did outreach to invite the community members to the rally and the march on May 1st. Every evening they held a vigil and a forum to share testimonies about the raids and deportations that are affecting the immigrant communities, especially the Latino community. And most importantly, they sent the message to directly affected community: Undocumented immigrant families are not alone! They have the support and solidarity of many in this city!
On May first, the people who initiated the fast marched from Mount Pleasant and were joined by many to participate in the May Day Rally @ Malcolm X Park. Around 800 immigrant families, our allies, women, students, youth, undocumented workers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, and many Afro descending peoples also participated in the march that went from Malcolm X to Mount Pleasant (16th street) to end again in Malcolm X Park.
The people marched throughout the barrio with the demand FULL LEGALIZATION FOR ALL IMMIGRANTS, Papers for Everybody, Rights for Everybody! All marched with the spirit of celebration, victory and reclaim. Remembering how they march on May Day in their Patria Grande, Latin America
APRIL 16-22, 2007
1. MEXICO FIRST IN EXPULSION OF MIGRANT WORKERS
2. HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN UNDER ATTACK
3. ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR FALL STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM IN MEXICO
4. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
1. MEXICO FIRST IN EXPULSION OF MIGRANT WORKERS
More migrant workers left Mexico between 2000 and 2005 than any other country in the world, according to a report released by the World Bank. The World Bank estimates that 2 million Mexicans migrated to the US between 2000 and 2005, surpassing the 1.95 million Chinese who migrated to other countries, despite the fact that China’s population is 13 times as large as Mexico’s. “Since 1990, at least 35 million people have changed their country of residence, and this is a growing phenomena,” according to the report. Migrant remittances reached US$180 billion in 2005, of which Mexicans accounted for US$23 billion, however, immigration “should not be considered a recipe for development because it has high costs,” according to the report. The World Bank credited increasing migration to lack of economic growth, but didn’t mention the impact of neoliberal policies, including NAFTA, while paying lip service to increasing debt in the global South. The Mexico Solidarity Network calls for the renegotiation of NAFTA and the foreign debt of Southern countries as central elements in any immigration reform contemplated by the United States.
2. HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN UNDER ATTACK
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), a government agency, and its leader, Ombudsman Jose Luis Soberanes, have come under attack in recent weeks from a variety of sources for the mishandling of the death of Ernestina Ascencion Rosario, an indigenous grandmother from Veracruz. Family members found Ascencion beaten and raped on a hillside near a military outpost. She died twelve hours later in a local hospital, but before passing away she told her daughter and others that she was raped by federal army troops. Soberanes, who comes from a military family and has a long history of protecting the military in human rights cases, quickly declared the evidence of rape insufficient, despite an exhaustive investigation conducted by state authorities in Veracruz that included two autopsies. On Friday, the Veracruz state Attorney General detailed the laboratory evidence of rape resulting from the autopsies. The week before, Soberanes declared the state investigation a “porqueria” (disastrous mess), while offering no evidence of his own to discredit the rape scenario. Soberanes tried to discredit the rape accusations in a press conference several weeks ago despite the fact that the investigation was still open. Shortly after, President Felipe Calderon publicly exonerated the army, which has been an important ally since the electoral fraud that put Calderon in power. After mishandling or downplaying other cases, including the police invasion of Atenco on May 4, 2006, and at least 26 deaths caused by police or paramilitaries over the past nine months in Oaxaca, the CNDH is rapidly losing credibility in the eyes of the general public, and many human rights organizations are calling for Soberanes to resign. Meanwhile, with the President, the army and the CNDH lined up in sync, the family of Ascencion is left with little recourse in terms of justice.
3. Now accepting applications for: Study Abroad Program in Mexico, Fall 2007
visit www.mexicosolidarity.org/studyabroad/apply -for application process and details or write to msn@mexicosolidarity.org
The Mexico Solidarity Network and the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM)-Xochimilco, one of Mexico's most prestigious public universities, offer 14 week, 16-credit study abroad programs in Mexico. The programs utilize the modular system developed at the UAM. The modular system is a student-centered pedagogy that emphasizes discussion, student presentations, group reflection and integration of theory with hands-on experience. Professors are activist/academics with years of firsthand experience in popular struggles in Mexico and the United States. Courses work includes required readings, discussion-based classes, workshops, field trips, and site visits.
Juarez-Chihuahua City-Chiapas program: Sep 9 - Dec 14: Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, and Ciudad Juarez. The program focuses on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, with important lessons for activism in the US context. This hands-on course includes workshops with the Universidad de la Tierra, the Zapatista movement, families of femicide victims, maquiladora workers, El Barzon, and urban barrio organizations. The Spanish language component focuses on verbal communication skills.
Chiapas-Tlaxcala-Mexico City program: Sep 2 - Dec 15: Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, and Ciudad Juarez. The program focuses on the theory and practice of Mexican social movements, with important lessons for activism in the US context. This hands-on course includes workshops with the Universidad de la Tierra, the Zapatista movement, the National Assembly of ex-Braceros, the National Urban-Campesino Council, and urban barrio organizations. The Spanish language component focuses on verbal communication skills.4. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
Study Abroad:
June 3 – July 14, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Indigenous Social Movements and the Other Campaign in Chiapas, Mexico. 8 credits.
June 17 – July 28, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Migration: Dynamics and Debates. Students spend 16 days in Tlaxcala, a sending state for undocumented migrants; 16 days in Ciudad Juarez, a center of migration, maquiladora workers and undocumented border crossings; and 10 days in Washington, DC, home of the community-based group Mexicanos Sin Fronteras and center of the current debate on immigration reform. 8 credits
September 2 – December 7, 2007: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala and Mexico City, with a focus on indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements, 16 credits.
September 9 – December 14, 2007: Study in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua City, Mexico City and Chiapas, with a focus on border dynamics, urban movements and indigenous movements, 16 credits.
January 27 – May 2, 2008: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala and Mexico City, with a focus on indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements. 16 credits.
February 3 – May 9, 2008: Study in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua City, Mexico City and Chiapas, with a focus on border dynamics, urban movements and indigenous movements. 16 credits.
Speaking tours:
April 16 - May 1, 2007: Speaking tour - Immigrant Rights, with lessons from the first post World War II US-Mexico guest worker program, featuring an Ex-Bracero and member of the Asamblea Nacional de Braceros.
DC, New England, Chicago
April 23-30, 2007: Speaking tour – Immigrant rights, featuring a speaker from Mexicanos Sin Fronteras who will discuss community-based struggles for immigrant rights and the recent rash of anti-immigrant legislation in localities along the East Coast.
DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania
MARCH 5-11, 2007
1. PARAMILITARIES INCREASE PRESENCE IN ZAPATISTA TERRITORY
2. OAXACANS TESTIFIES IN DC, PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS RESUME
3. DEMONSTRATIONS INCREASE IN MEXICO CITY, BUSH NOT WELCOME
4. CARLOS SLIM, THIRD-RICHEST IN WORLD, DEMANDS RECOUNT
5. THEME PARK FOR “IMMIGRANT” TOURISTS
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org)
1. PARAMILITARIES INCREASE PRESENCE IN ZAPATISTA TERRITORY
Paramilitary groups affiliated with the Organization for Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (Opddic) are increasingly threatening peace and stability in Zapatista territories, particularly in the Selva regions around Ocosingo. On March 7, a group of 200 paramilitaries, including Pedro Chulin and Carlos Moreno, leaders of Opddic, gathered in the central square of Ocosingo. Carlos Vazquez, a journalist with Promedios, and Luna Giron, a human rights defender, were beaten by the paramilitaries as they tried to videotape the demonstration. The following day, the Junta de Buen Gobierno in Morelia denounced the attack, the latest in a series of increasingly violent actions by Opddic: “The strategy of Opddic is to invade lands that we recovered since the 1994 Zapatista uprising. Mr. Pedro Chulin, leader of this organization, is promoting this problem so that indigenous will confront indigenous. Chulin has contacts with the state government and is supported by the army. Opddic is a paramilitary group supported by the government – they are the same.”
“Recently they have been attacking the autonomous municipality Olga Isabel, where they claim the Zapatista organization is not functioning, it doesn’t have any power, that it’s like a fly they can step on. We are trying to resolve these agrarian problems, but it’s clear that we’re not going to give up our lands, because these lands were recovered, and to recover them we shed our blood. We are not going to give them up, even in the face of threats. If they try to take the lands, we are prepared to defend them in any part of our municipalities.”
“Before 1994, these lands were did not belong to them. They were the lands of ranchers who abandoned them during the Zapatista uprising of 1994, and we, the Zapatistas, recovered them. Now they are assisted by the Office of Agrarian Reform and they want the titles for the lands formalized, so they will remain in their hands. They want to convert the lands into ejidos. Without conducting any sort of investigation, the Office of Agrarian Reform prepared the paperwork, payment and even the necessary plans.”
“We know and are certain of what we are saying. We can assure they are armed. We know they have cut down corn fields and stolen corn. We have a videotape of them stealing bags of corn and fleeing into the mountains. They have armed guards in high places. They are itching for a confrontation.”
“Some of them live within the autonomous municipalities, and others come from outside communities. Some are former Zapatistas who joined them. We know that they are organizing. They meet every third day. They are deciding how to carry out future actions. There have been beatings, prisoners, detainees, threats of kidnapping against our local authorities, and the government does nothing.”
“We demand punishment for Pedro Chulin and that he stop bothering us. And we ask that our brothers and sisters in Mexico and throughout the world distribute this information…”
The Mexico Solidarity Network calls on the federal and state governments to:
- Immediately end support for Opddic.
- Prosecute Opddic leaders, including Pedro Chulin and Carlos Moreno, for armed aggressions against Zapatista communities.
- Disband Opddic, which is threatening the peace and stability in Zapatista regions of Chiapas.
2. OAXACANS TESTIFIES IN DC, PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS RESUME
Human rights defenders and victims of police violence in Oaxaca gave testimony on Tuesday before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. Four attorneys and three victims provided several hours of testimony that included a powerful denouncement of Governor Ulises Ruiz for arbitrary arrests, torture, fabrication of evidence, and arrest of accredited human rights observers. The three victims of arbitrary detentions in Oaxaca from the delegation met with the Mexico Solidarity Network and Virginia’s Woodbridge Worker’s Committee at the March 3rd DC Social Forum and at a community event in Columbia Heights D.C. At least 65 members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) remain jailed.
Meanwhile, the office of the Interior Secretary, the second most powerful position in Mexico, downplayed a report presented last Friday by the International Civil Commission for the Observation of Human Rights. The detailed report outlined a series of criminal activities by state and federal authorities, including 23 assassinations, arbitrary arrests and torture. The Interior Secretary requested the names of the 23 people assassinated, since federal officials recognize only 11 assassinations, while the National Human Rights Commission, a government agency, registered 20 murders. To date, no one has been arrested or prosecuted for any of the murders. The Interior Secretary also questioned the documented human rights abuses, claiming that federal authorities have not received a single formal complaint to date.
Public demonstrations led by APPO are on the increase as the Oaxacan public appears to be regaining its confidence after months of unrelenting State repression. On Thursday, about 60 APPO members confronted Federal Preventative Police (PFP) in front of the Senate building in Mexico City. Protestors managed to advance past a series of metal barriers before being repelled by PFP forces using teargas. Also on Thursday, thousands of APPO supporters took to the streets in Oaxaca City demanding the release of political prisoners and the removal of Ruiz. March organizers estimated 100,000 participants while local police claimed 8,000. Radio Planton resumed transmission for the first time since November 8 when the PFP occupied Oaxaca City.
3. DEMONSTRATIONS INCREASE IN MEXICO CITY, BUSH NOT WELCOME
Felipe Calderon concluded the first hundred days of his presidency with demonstrations around the country, including a massive labor march that nearly filled Mexico City’s zocalo on Thursday. The Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) convened the demonstration, which included dozens of labor organizations and social groups. Protestors called for emergency increases in the minimum wage and condemned the Calderon administration for planning to privatize parts of Mexico’s energy sector. Demonstrators also made it clear that George Bush would not be welcome in Mexico next week. Bush is on a six-day tour through parts of Latin America. The widely unpopular US leader was greeted earlier in the week with large, vocal protests in Brazil, Columbia and Argentina, where Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held a mass stadium rally across the border from Bush’s visit to Uruguay. Merida, the site of Calderon’s meeting with Bush and one of the most conservative tourist centers in Mexico, was under a virtual state of siege on Sunday in anticipation of Bush’s arrival.
4. CARLOS SLIM, THIRD-RICHEST IN WORLD, DEMANDS RECOUNT
Carlos Slim, owner of Mexico’s main telephone and cell phone companies, rose to third on the list of the world’s richest men published annually by Forbes. Slim’s fortune, which reached US$49 billion in 2006, is equivalent to 7% of Mexico’s Gross Domestic Product and grew by 63% in 2006. Not satisfied with third place, Slim called a press conference and demanded a recount. He accused Forbes of favoring “los gringos” Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Given the unprecedented growth of Slim’s empire and the high price of Mexico’s telephone service, he will most likely displace both Gates and Buffet in 2007. Mexico boasts among the highest telephone bills in the world as Slim uses his political clout to maintain a near monopoly on the nation’s communication industry.
5. THEME PARK FOR “IMMIGRANT” TOURISTS
Ever wonder what it’s like to be an undocumented immigrant trying to enter the United States? Well, now you can find out for yourself at the Parque Eco Alberto, a new theme park located in Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, about 100 miles from Mexico City. For just US$10, you will be led by a gruff coyote through “perilous” desert terrain, shot at (with blanks) by migrant hunters, and arrested by screaming, ill-mannered immigration agents. You can cross a fast-flowing river complete with a near-drowning experience (park employees rescue you at the last minute). At the end of a long night, you’re greeted with hot coffee and sandwiches, then whisked back to the parking lot where you’ll find your car safely waiting. Disneyland is rumored to be monitoring the success of the theme park. Perhaps in a couple of years you won’t even have to cross the border to “cross the border.” And for those who don’t want to cross the border, you can play Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. The new US$60 video game simulates a 2014 war between savage Mexican invaders and brave US soldiers defending the border at El Paso.
In related news, the Arizona Senate passed a resolution on Friday that would create a civilian militia to hunt undocumented immigrants along the border. Senate Bill 1132 establishes a volunteer civilian security force under the direction of the Governor. Members would receive military and police training once a month.
WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS
NOVEMBER 27 – DECEMBER 10, 2006
1. FEDERAL REPRESSION INCREASES IN OAXACA
2. ZAPATISTAS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH OAXACA
3. CALDERON ASSUMES PRESIDENCY AMONG DISCORD AND CONFUSION
4. CALDERON COMPLETES CABINET
5. EDUCATION AND CULTURE NOT AMONG CALDERON PRIORITIES
6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
1. FEDERAL REPRESSION INCREASES IN OAXACA
The Calderon administration sent clear signals this week concerning the popular uprising in Oaxaca when federal police arrested Flavio Sosa, one of the most visible leaders of APPO, his brother Horacio, Ignacio Garcia and Marcelino Coache only hours after they agreed to meet with the Secretary of Interior for a new round of negotiations. Currently there are no active negotiations between the APPO and federal officials. Police detained the four on Mexico City’s principle thoroughfare, pulling them from a taxi and sending them immediately to Almoloya, Mexico’s high security federal prison. The four are charged with kidnapping, aggravated robbery and sedition. Flavio Sosa is a national advisor to the PRD, and the party committed to defend its member. The arrests came only four days after Felipe Calderon assumed the presidency, sending a message that the use of police force will replace negotiations in the case of Oaxaca. Similar hard line policies in the 60s and 70s convinced many social activists that change via formal institutional mechanisms was impossible, and dozens of armed guerrilla groups were formed during this era.
On Friday, December 8, the Federal Preventative Police (PFP), assisted by the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI, similar to the FBI) and the army, arrested five Ministerial Police working in the office of the state Attorney General for possession of stolen vehicles and illegal arms, including nine millimeter and super 38 caliber weapons similar to those used in several assassinations of APPO supporters. The APPO immediately denounced the action as too little and too late. APPO leaders were particularly upset that none of the arrestees were charged with murder. The APPO has long accused state security officials of organizing and participating in paramilitary units that are responsible for at least a dozen murders and dozens of disappearances. The same day, the federal Attorney General assumed control of all criminal investigations associated with the popular uprising in Oaxaca over the past seven months, including assassinations and property damages.
Early on the morning of November 29, the PFP dismantled the symbolically important street barricade known as Cinco Senores. Earlier in November, the PFP fought a six hour losing battle with APPO supporters for control of Cinco Senores, but on the 29th the barricade fell under police control without resistance. In the face of mounting police repression, many APPO supporters appear to have gone underground. With the removal of the barricade, APPO supporters broadcasting from the University radio station turned control of the station over to university officials. Flavio Sosa described the climate in pessimistic terms, “It is evident that there is an offensive against the APPO utilizing police forces and paramilitary groups to deactivate us. Dozens of houses have been searched, dozens of companeros have been detained. They want to use terror to impose a solution by force while canceling the political option.” The new levels of repression followed a declaration by federal officials of zero tolerance, apparently part of Calderon’s “mano dura” policy.
The eighth mega-march calling for the removal of Governor Ulises Ruiz is scheduled for Sunday, December 8. As of this writing, details of the march were not available.
2. ZAPATISTAS CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH OAXACA
3. CALDERON ASSUMES PRESIDENCY AMONG DISCORD AND CONFUSION
Felipe Calderon formally assumed the mantle of the presidency from outgoing leader Vicente Fox in a midnight ceremony on December 1 at the heavily guarded presidential quarters Los Pinos. The following morning, Calderon made a brief appearance (less than two minutes) at Congress. In a constitutionally mandated ceremony, Calderon took the oath of office amidst catcalls and chants from opposition Deputies. Calderon was able to enter the lower House after leaders of the PAN occupied the speaker’s platform for three days. PAN leaders assumed control of the platform on November 29, provoking a series of fistfights between PAN and PRD Deputies over the following three days. The entire spectacle enjoyed national television coverage, provoking both laughter and disgust among the general population as overweight, middle aged politicians squared off in a series of fistfights that included kicks and head butts. In one particularly notorious incident, a normally prim and proper female PAN Deputy threw Coke cans and bottles of water at a PRD opponent who attempted to gain access to the platform. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
Felipe Calderon formally assumed the mantle of the presidency from outgoing leader Vicente Fox in a midnight ceremony on December 1 at the heavily guarded presidential quarters Los Pinos. The following morning, Calderon made a brief appearance (less than two minutes) at Congress. In a constitutionally mandated ceremony, Calderon took the oath of office amidst catcalls and chants from opposition Deputies. Calderon was able to enter the lower House after leaders of the PAN occupied the speaker’s platform for three days. PAN leaders assumed control of the platform on November 29, provoking a series of fistfights between PAN and PRD Deputies over the following three days. The entire spectacle enjoyed national television coverage, provoking both laughter and disgust among the general population as overweight, middle aged politicians squared off in a series of fistfights that included kicks and head butts. In one particularly notorious incident, a normally prim and proper female PAN Deputy threw Coke cans and bottles of water at a PRD opponent who attempted to gain access to the platform.
4. CALDERON COMPLETES CABINET
Felipe Calderon completed his cabinet this week. Topping the security sector of the cabinet is Eduardo Medina Mora as new Attorney General. As Secretary of Public Security under the Fox administration, Medina ordered the violent intervention of the PFP in Oaxaca, resulting in at least three deaths and the arrest of hundreds of APPO supporters. Medina was also responsible for federal police repression in Atenco on May 4 that left two people dead. Medina recently rejected recommendations by the Federal Human Rights Commission, a government agency, calling for a full investigation of abuses in Atenco. Genaro Garcia Luna will replace Medina as Secretary of Public Security, while General Guillermo Galvan Galvan will head the Defense Department and Mariano Francisco Saynez Mendoza will lead the Navy.
On the political side, Calderon named Francisco Ramirez Acuna as Interior Secretary, the second most powerful position in the Mexican government. Ramirez promised to work closely with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), a hollow promise given his complete rejection of CNDH recommendations when he was governor of Jalisco. Ramirez ordered the infamous repression of demonstrations at a Guadalajara summit meeting that left dozens injured as police beat and tortured arrestees, then ignored efforts by the CNDH to investigate the police repression. The combination of Ramirez with Attorney General Medina promises increased federal intervention in local disputes and more police repression to settle social problems.
Patricia Espinosa Cantellano will be the new Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Espinosa has little experience that would recommend her for the position, an indication that foreign affairs in general, and immigration reform in particular, will take a back seat in the Calderon administration.
5. EDUCATION AND CULTURE NOT AMONG CALDERON PRIORITIES
President Felipe Calderon presented a budget this week that cuts federal spending on education by 4.5 million pesos, a reduction of about 1.2%. Budget cuts will have the strongest impact in the university sector, apparently a reflection of Calderon’s economic plans that do not envision the need for advanced education among Mexico’s workers. The UNAM, one of the world’s most important centers of higher learning, will suffer severe budget cuts, including reductions in federal scholarship programs.
Calderon’s budget calls for cuts of 2 billion pesos for cultural spending, including serious budget reductions for the National Council for Arts and Culture (CNCA), the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Bellas Artes, and the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (Imcine).
Meanwhile, spending on security would increase by 12.4% while income tax rates would decrease from 30% to 28%. Overall, the 2007 budget proposal represents a reduction of 25.5 billion pesos over 2006, though some sectors are due to receive dramatic increases. Pemex, the national petroleum monopoly, would enjoy a 32.5% increase while the Federal Electric Commission budget would increase 15.6%. Calderon, who supports privatization of the energy sector, appears to be offering dramatic budget increases in these sectors to create employment, though it is unclear that a federal bureaucracy like Pemex can effectively incorporate such dramatic budget increases from one year to the next. Social services are programmed for more modest increases, including 9.8% for Social Security (IMSS) and 5.5% for the federal health care program (ISSSTE). Both programs were nearly bankrupted under the Fox administration, and it is unlikely that these modest increases will return either to a state of financial stability. The poverty reduction program Seguro Popular will enjoy a budget increase of 56.4%, increasing the number of recipients from 5.1 million to almost 7 million families, or more than one quarter of the population. Most of the additional funds will be spent on energy subsidies, presumably delivered via Oportunidades, a federal assistance program that proved important to Calderon’s election victory.6. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS, Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM:
September 10 - December 16: Fall Study Abroad Program. Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, and Ciudad Juarez.
February 4 – May 12, 2007: Spring Study Abroad Program. Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, and Ciudad Juarez.
June 3 – July 14, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Indigenous Social Movements and the Other Campaign in Chiapas, Mexico.
June 17 – July 28, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Migration: Dynamics and Debates. Students spend 16 days in Tlaxcala, a sending state for undocumented migrants; 16 days in Ciudad Juarez, a center of migration, maquiladora workers and undocumented border crossings; and 10 days in Washington, DC, home of the community-based group Mexicanos Sin Fronteras and center of the current debate on immigration reform.
Speaking tours:
Oct 15-28: Speaking tour - The Femicides of Juarez and Chihuahua, and border issues, featuring Veronica Leyva, former maquiladora worker and activist from Ciudad Juarez.
California
Oct 22 - Nov 4: Speaking tour - Immigrant Rights, featuring Nicasio Martinez, an Ex-Bracero and member of the Asamblea Nacional de Braceros.
Ohio, Michigan
Nov 5-18: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Gabriela Martinez, a youth activist in the Other Campaign from Chiapas.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan
Nov 27 – Dec 10: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Rosario Aguilar, a student activist in the Other Campaign from Chiapas.
California
Nov 27 - Dec 10: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Francisco Cruz, an indigenous member of the Red de Defensores Comunitarias (Community Human Rights Network).
New England
Nov 27 - Dec 10: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Cecilia Santiago, human rights activist from Chiapas.
Washington, Oregon, Vancouver, Idaho, and other parts of Northwest
Feb 18 – Mar 2, 2007: Speaking tour – Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Other Campaign and its implications for organizing in the US context. Fair trade artisanry produced by three Zapatista women’s cooperatives will be available.
Florida, Georgia
Feb 18 – Mar 2, 2007: Speaking tour - Immigrant Rights, with lessons from the first post World War II US-Mexico guest worker program, featuring an Ex-Bracero and member of the Asamblea Nacional de Braceros.
DC, New England, Chicago
Feb 25 – Mar 9, 2007: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Other Campaign and its implications for organizing in the US context. Fair trade artisanry produced by three Zapatista women’s cooperatives will be available.
Idaho, Montana, Dakotas
Mar 11-23, 2007: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Other Campaign and its implications for organizing in the US context. Fair trade artisanry produced by three Zapatista women’s cooperatives will be available.
New England, Eastern Canada
Mar 18-30, 2007:Speaking tour – Lessons from Atenco police repression of popular movements. Speakers will update the situation in San Salvador Atenco and the struggle to win freedom for 20 political prisoners arrested on May 4.
California, Nevada
April 15-27, 2007: Speaking tour – Immigrant rights, featuring a speaker from Mexicanos Sin Fronteras who will discuss community-based struggles for immigrant rights and the recent rash of anti-immigrant legislation in localities along the East Coast.
DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania
Delegations:
Dec 29, 2006 – Jan 7, 2007: Year end delegation to Chiapas. Delegates will participate in the Intergalactic planning meeting called by the EZLN in Oventic and will participate in a special program organized by the Centro de Español y Lenguas Mayas Rebelde Autónomo Zapatista (CELMRAZ).
Jan 2-9, 2007: Delegation to Ciudad Juarez to investigate over 400 unsolved femicides, maquiladoras and other border issues.
Mar 10-17, 2007: Delegation to Ciudad Juarez to investigate over 400 unsolved femicides, maquiladoras and other border issues.
Mar 18-24, 2007: Delegation to Ciudad Juarez to investigate over 400 unsolved femicides, maquiladoras and other border issues.
April 14-15: Latin America Solidarity Coalition sponsors the fourth national conference in Chicago, hosted at the Mexico Solidarity Network community center at 3460 W. Lawrence Ave. The conference will feature workshops on important issues confronting the Left in general and Latin America solidarity in particular, including:
- Anti-capitalist organizing, what does it mean strategically.
- Diversity, what does it mean, why is it important, how is it achievable.
- Community-based organizing versus the NGO model.
- Cultural struggle, with particular focus on education and mass media.
Alternative Economy Internships:
Develop markets for artisanry produced by women's cooperatives in Chiapas and make public presentations on the struggle for justice and dignity in Zapatista communities. Interns are currently active in Fort Collins, OR; Spokane, WA; Alexandria, VA; Grand Haven, MI; Chico, CA; Sacramento, CA; Stonington, ME; Lancaster, PA; St Paul, MN; Louisville, KY; San Francisco, CA; Turner, OR; Athens, GA; Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Guelph, Canada; Davis, CA; Tempe, AZ; and Madison, WI.
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MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK
WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS
NOVEMBER 13-26, 2006
1. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CRITICIZES FOX FOR ATENCO POLICE RIOTS
2. WHO WILL BUILD THE BORDER WALL
3. CALDERON NAMES CABINET
4. LOPEZ OBRADOR ASSUMES SHADOW PRESIDENCY
5. FEDERAL POLICE REPRESS MEGA-MARCH IN OAXACA
6. EMPLOYMENT BLEAK DURING FOX ADMINISTRATION
7. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS
8. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS, Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org
1. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CRITICIZES FOX FOR ATENCO POLICE RIOTS
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), a government agency, accused the Fox administration of “not caring about” the investigation and sanction of police responsible for violations committed in Atenco on May 3 and 4. Police are accused of at least 16 cases of rape and sexual molestation, plus dozens of cases of torture, beatings and entering homes with warrants. At least 24 Atenco residents remain in prison some six months after the police-initiated riots left hundreds injured. Eduardo Medina, head of Public Security in the Fox administration, rejected a series of recommendations presented by the CNDH that call for investigation of the Federal Preventative Police (PFP), Mexico State police, and local officers. The CNDH report cites cases of “torture” and “sexual violations” committed by the PFP and the State Security Agency, and accuses federal authorities of serious human rights violations in the April 20 PFP actions in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, when federal authorities attacked striking mine workers, killing at least two. According to the CNDH, Medina’s rejection of the recommendations is “tantamount to impunity” for the offending officials: “The attitude of Secretary Medina is unacceptable in a democratic society that claims justice and transparency.”
Meanwhile, Alicia Elena Perez, Special Investigator for Violence against Women, which is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Attorney General, is in the final stages of an investigation of torture by the PFP and state police in Atenco. Perez reported recently at a meeting of the United Nations in Geneva that her investigation is nearly complete and is focused on sexual violence and torture. The accusation of torture is important because, unlike cases of sexual violence which implicate only the perpetrators, torture cases can also implicate officials in command positions and officers who witnessed the crimes but did not participate.
Police invaded San Salvador Atenco in the early morning hours of May 4 after members of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) defended street vendors who tried to sell flowers on May 3 at a site marked for future construction of a Wal-Mart mega-mall. The FPDT is a member of the Other Campaign, and the police action was generally interpreted as an attack on the Other Campaign.
2. WHO WILL BUILD THE BORDER WALL
If history repeats itself, undocumented workers may be building Bush’s infamous border wall, designed to keep those same workers from entering the US. In 1977, Golden State Fencing contracted dozens of undocumented workers to build a 14-mile fence along the San Diego-Tijuana border, according to a recent study by the US Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The workers were hired under a US$590,000 contract with the Defense Department.
Meanwhile, the state of Texas installed a system of border video cameras connected to the internet so that interested citizens can “protect” the homeland. Nine cameras transmitting live images of the border are available via www.texasborderwatch.com, complete with a button to “report suspicious activity.” Be sure to report any suspicious activities by the Border Patrol, Texas government officials or members of the Bush administration.
3. CALDERON NAMES CABINET
President-elect Felipe Calderon named his cabinet this week. The economic side relies heavily on technocrats from the former PRI administrations of Carlos Salinas and Ernesto Zedillo, while the social side draws mainly on PAN stalwarts.
Agustin Carstens, a graduate of the University of Chicago and most recently an employee of the International Monetary Fund, will be the new Treasury Secretary. Eduardo Sojo, the new Secretary of Economy, served as state coordinator of economics when Vicente Fox was governor of Guanajuato, and most recently was the political coordinator in the Fox administration. Georgina Kessel, the new Secretary of Energy, has little experience in the energy sector, having served as director of Mexico’s money exchange. She is best known as co-author of “The South Also Exists: En Essay on the Regional Development of Mexico,” which was written during the Zedillo administration and is widely seen as the theoretical foundation for Plan Puebla Panama. Luis Tellez, the new Secretary of Communication and Transportation, served as Secretary of Energy under Zedillo and orchestrated the reform of Article 27 of the Constitution during the Salinas administration when he served as Under-Secretary of Planning in the Department of Agriculture. The reform of Article 27 ended Mexico’s historic land reform program. Javier Lozano, the new Secretary of Labor, was spokesman for assassinated PRI presidential candidate Francisco Labastida and served in various posts in the Department of Transportation and Communication under Zedillo. He has almost no experience in labor issues. Rodolfo Elizondo will continue from the Fox administration as the Secretary of Tourism and is the only member of the PAN on the economic side of the cabinet.
On the social side of the cabinet, socially conservative PAN stalwarts prevailed. Juan Elvira is the new Secretary of Environment, while Abelardo Escobar is the new Secretary of Agrarian Reform, an area in which he has little previous experience. The new Secretary of Health is Jose Angel Cordova, a former Congressman with a reputation for ultra-conservative positions and no previous experience in the health sector. Alberto Cardenas, who ran against Calderon in PAN presidential primaries, is the new Secretary of Agriculture, which could prove to be a politically difficult position as tariff protections for beans and corn are scheduled to end under NAFTA in 2007. Josefina Vazquez, political director for Calderon’s transition team and a close collaborator of teachers union president Elba Esther Gordillo, will assume the Secretary of Education. Beatriz Zavala, a former Senator, will be the new Secretary of Social Development.
4. LOPEZ OBRADOR ASSUMES SHADOW PRESIDENCY
On Monday, November 20, Mexico’s Constitution Day, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador assumed the unofficial position of shadow president before tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Mexico City’s historic Zocalo. Lopez Obrador assumed the shadow presidency in light of Felipe Calderon’s fraudulent victory in July 2 elections. Lopez Obrador promised a “traveling presidency” in which he will fight against energy privatization, taxes on food and medicine, and government corruption. His 20-point plan includes a new constitution and a struggle against foreign monopolies. PRD government functionaries will reportedly finance the shadow government from their salaries.
5. FEDERAL POLICE REPRESS MEGA-MARCH IN OAXACA
On Saturday, November 25, Federal Preventative Police injured at least 140 civilians, and possibly many more, and arrested at least 160 following the seventh mega-march organized by the APPO in Oaxaca City calling for the removal of Governor Ulises Ruiz. At least 20 people were injured by gunshots and the APPO reported three deaths, though they could not be confirmed as of this writing. Two APPO leaders were reported disappeared – spokesperson Cesar Mateos and Jorge Sosa. Tens of thousands of APPO supporters participated in a peaceful march, then symbolically surrounded Federal Preventative Police occupying the historic center of the city. The PFP responded by throwing rocks at protestors, then launching teargas that engulfed huge parts of the city as they attacked thousands of protestors. During street battles that extended throughout large sectors of the city, paramilitary groups aligned with Ruiz took advantage of the chaos to shoot a number of APPO supporters. During the melee, several buildings suffered fire damage, including the State Supreme Court, the Juarez Theater, the local Congress building, the Secretary of Tourism and various businesses.
Early Sunday morning, with the center of the city under the control of the PFP, Ruiz entered the Santo Domingo convent, previously the center of APPO activity. Ruiz posed for photos in a symbolic event that solidified the alliance between the Governor and federal authorities – if there was ever any doubt.
For the past two weeks, Oaxaca continued under a virtual state of siege, with Federal Preventative Police occupying the historic city center and paramilitaries roaming the streets at night in search of APPO members. Federal investigators report at least 200 state police from the office of the Oaxaca Attorney General are “out of control” and are responsible for most of the “temporary” detentions of APPO members. The agents form at least ten gangs dominated by local members of the PRI who are using paramilitary tactics to pressure for Ruiz to remain as governor.
Apparently under increasing pressure from federal and US authorities, on Friday, November 24, the state Attorney General retracted statements made earlier in the week that implicated the APPO in the death of US journalist Bradley Will. Attorney General Lizbeth Caña, one of Governor Ruiz’s most adamant supporters, claimed that a shot fired by members of APPO at short range was responsible for the death of Will: “the death resulted from a planned and premeditated action with the intention of internationalizing the conflict.” Her office later characterized the comments as “preliminary.” APPO leaders denied any responsibility for Will’s death and called on the federal Attorney General to assume control of the investigation with international human rights organizations accompanying the process.
On November 20, APPO supporters and the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) battled for nearly four hours near the Zocalo of Oaxaca City after PFP officers threw stones at APPO members participating in a peaceful march. At least 58 people were injured during the confrontations which spread to other parts of the city.
During the week, thousands of APPO delegates completed their first statewide assembly, solidifying organizational principles and electing a committee empowered to direct the movement, though always with the consultation of base organizations.
6. EMPLOYMENT BLEAK DURING FOX ADMINISTRATION
At least 1.8 million workers were unemployed as of September and more than 3.5 million were under-employed (working less than 40 hours a week), according to a report by the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information (INEGI), a government agency. The number of unemployed tripled during the Fox administration. Another 11 million Mexicans are employed in the informal sector and do not enjoy access to state health services, housing or retirement benefits. The workforce totaled 44.4 million in September. According to INEGI, a person is considered employed if they work at least one hour per week.
7. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS
On Monday, November 20, a federal judge ruled that Mamaroneck, a suburb of New York City, discriminated against Latino day laborers when it closed a worker center and increased police patrols at street corners where they look for work. Another ruling in May prohibits police in Redondo Beach, California, from arresting day laborers for soliciting work in public. The two rulings set important precedents for day laborers and worker centers across the US. In the Mamaroneck case, Judge Colleen McMahon found “The fact that the day laborers were Latinos, and not Whites, was, at least in part, a motivating factor in the defendant’ actions.”
Meanwhile, the Woodbridge Workers Committee, located in the DC suburb of Prince William County, opposed a Memorandum of Understanding that local police intend to sign with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The proposed memorandum would empower local police to enforce federal immigration laws and would virtually end productive communication between the police and the Workers Committee. The Prince William memorandum is part of a push by ICE officials to encourage local police around the US to enforce immigration laws, further isolating Latino communities and threatening the family integrity of undocumented workers.
8. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS, Contact MSN@MexicoSolidarity.org
STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM:
September 10 - December 16: Fall Study Abroad Program. Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, and Ciudad Juarez.
February 4 – May 12, 2007: Spring Study Abroad Program. Earn 16 credits studying Mexican social movements in Chiapas, Tlaxcala, and Ciudad Juarez.
June 3 – July 14, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Indigenous Social Movements and the Other Campaign in Chiapas, Mexico.
June 17 – July 28, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Migration: Dynamics and Debates. Students spend 16 days in Tlaxcala, a sending state for undocumented migrants; 16 days in Ciudad Juarez, a center of migration, maquiladora workers and undocumented border crossings; and 10 days in Washington, DC, home of the community-based group Mexicanos Sin Fronteras and center of the current debate on immigration reform.
Speaking tours:
Oct 15-28: Speaking tour - The Femicides of Juarez and Chihuahua, and border issues, featuring Veronica Leyva, former maquiladora worker and activist from Ciudad Juarez.
California
Oct 22 - Nov 4: Speaking tour - Immigrant Rights, featuring Nicasio Martinez, an Ex-Bracero and member of the Asamblea Nacional de Braceros.
Ohio, Michigan
Nov 5-18: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Gabriela Martinez, a youth activist in the Other Campaign from Chiapas.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan
Nov 27 – Dec 10: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Rosario Aguilar, a student activist in the Other Campaign from Chiapas.
California
Nov 27 - Dec 10: Speaking tour - Building autonomy in Zapatista communities, with a discussion of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona in the context of organizing in the US, featuring Francisco Cruz, an indigenous member of the Red de Defensores Comunitarias (Community Human Rights Network).
New England
Nov 27 - Dec 10: Speaking t