Feb
6
2010
Jan
31
2010
Press Release Oaxaca January 30, 2010
On Thursday January 28, at around 9 p.m. Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, James Wells and Jennifer Lawhorne were eating ice cream in the zocalo of Oaxaca. At that time, one of us recognized the face of the governor of Oaxaca who was about nine feet away from us. As a friend of Brad Will, a U.S. journalist who was killed in Oaxaca in 2006, one of us took advantage of the governor’s presence to ask him about the case of Mr. Will, which to this day remains unresolved. We didn’t receive a response from the governor who continued walking and we continued strolling in the zocalo with our ice creams. Five minutes later, between six and eight police agents, some in official uniform and others dressed in plainclothes, surrounded us, demanding to see our identifications and made us walk with them to a municipal police truck. While the police forced us to get into the back of the truck, we asked them why they were taking us away and to where they were going to take us. The police refused to give us any information. We were actually very afraid and worried for our safety.
After traveling for half an hour, we arrived at the police headquarters of Santa Maria Coyotepec, located outside of the Oaxaca city limits.. Once we entered, the police took photographs of us and asked us questions. We demanded the presence of an attorney, which was denied by the police officials. We spent an hour there surrounded by police, faces covered with ski masks, who humiliated and threatened us. Later, the police put us once again in the police truck and without telling us to where we were going, we left the headquarters. The truck stopped about half a block away from the state General Procuradaria of Justice (PGJO in its letters in Spanish), the police ordered us to leave our belongings in the darkness of the street and when we refused to do that, they insisted by threatening us for half an hour while recording us with video. After entering the offices of the PGJO, the police ordered us to leave our belongings with them and that we make a declaration one by one without the presence of an attorney. We remained firm that we weren’t going to do anything until our attorney arrived.
After waiting for more than an hour, we were taken to a room where we supposedly were going to make a call to our lawyer. While in the room, a police officer read to us a document explaining our charges and to our surprise we were accused of scuffling and causing harm to two police agents. In that document, our arrest was ordered and without making the call to our lawyer, we were pushed and dragged out of the room, while twisting the wrist of one of us. That’s how we were taken to the jail cells at 12:30 in the morning. At 1:30, we were allowed to see a lawyer, Jesus Alfredo Lopez Garcia, who we agreed to be our legal representative. From then on we knew that were going to spend the night in jail. Throughout the night, the police continued to intimidate us, asking us why we were there. We continued to state that we didn’t do anything to cause our incarceration because we never committed any crime. Confused, we did our best to sleep on the cold jail floor.
The next day, Friday January 29, we learned that the gravity of charges that had been filed against us had increased. One of us was taken to make a statement when she learned that we were being accused of assaulting two police officers and damaging a police radio valued at about $3000 (USD). We continued to demand our right to not make a statement. At around 4 p.m., our attorney informed us that for a lack of evidence, we were going to be set free without charges and without having to pay bail, under the provision of passing through a review with officials from National Immigration Institute. Upon arrival at the federal immigration offices located in the center of the city, we presented our passports and visas and shortly we were allowed to walk free.
After learning about the situation, the U.S. consul, Mark Leyes, invited us to visit him at his office the same evening and told us that he was sorry for what had happened to us. We would like to thank the attorney Jesus Alfredo Lopez Garcia from the Mexican Protectorate for Human Rights, our friends and family members for all of their support and care.
Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez Jennifer Lawhorne and Jimmy Wells
http://unamalanocheenoaxaca.blogspot.com
Jan
21
2010
The last update on here about Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, pictured above, was back in August 2009, when Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) released a report it claimed was by the RCMP supporting their case against him.
For those who don’t remember, Juan Manuel is a member of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca who is being scapegoated for the October 27, 2006, murder of Indymedia journalist Brad Will, actually carried out by paramilitaries linked to the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. He has been in jail since September 2008.
In exciting news, on December 30, 2009, a state court ordered Juan Manuel released within ten business days for lack of evidence, citing that the testimonies against him had “lost all probative value.” Juan Manuel was to be released on January 16, barring an appeal by the PGR.
Everyone was skeptical, as the PGR has been pathologically pursuing its sham of a case against Juan Manuel for more than a year. Yet, things looked even brighter when the PGR communicated to Juan Manuel’s family that they would not be appealing the ruling.
And then, of course, on January 15, just before time ran out to appeal, the sick bastards at the PGR filed an appeal against his release. The case now must go to the Supreme Court, which will take several months at least, and all the while Juan Manuel remains in prison.
Tags: APPO, brad will, impunity, injustice, Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, mexico, oaxaca, PGR, social movements | 
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Comments (0) Jan
15
2010
from Free Speech Radio News
There’s a new development in the case of Brad Will, the Indymedia reporter fatally shot more than 3 years ago during an anti-government uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico. The man held without bail on charges of murdering Will may be released as early as tonight. Shannon Young reports from Oaxaca City.
Nov
22
2009
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
November 21, 2009
The article describes how President Obama’s administration is in discussions with his right-wing PAN counterpart, Mexican President Calderon, to extend lethal aid package to Mexico with a new emphasis on corruption. Of course, this worked so clearly not the outcome of 11 years of support for rule of law under Plan Colombia that many are rightly skeptical. It certainly does not instill confidence that the Democratic Congress-drafted legislation for Plan Mexico did not include any benchmarks to determine if the 100s of millions of taxpayer dollars were achieving their goals. Again, perhaps, this is because Plan Colombia included such benchmarks which allowed the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to determine it had failed.
Nov
17
2009
By Monica Wooters / Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
November 17, 2009
Article excerpts:
Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
“After two days of deliberations, on Oct. 14 the Mexican Supreme Court made public its decision that Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (governor of the state of Oaxaca) is culpable for the human rights violations that occurred in Oaxaca as a result of teacher protests and political and social unrest in May 2006-January 2007 and July of 2008.”
On the Merida Intitiative
“This past summer, the U.S. State Department ignored ample evidence provided by Mexican and U.S. human rights organizations that the Mexican government has committed numerous human rights violations in Oaxaca and in the drug war, and authorized the release of remaining funds to the same security forces accused of perpetrating the violations. In addition, the impact that the drug war is having on social movements has also been largely ignored as more and more members of social movements are targeted with false claims of organized criminal activity that has the insidious result of criminalizing social protest throughout Mexico. The decision of the Mexican Supreme Court is yet another confirmation of the U.S. government’s deliberate refusal to recognize the reality of the human rights situation in Mexico.”
Oct
23
2009
Amnesty International calls on the Mexican authorities to review the investigation into Brad Will’s killing.
Ocober 23, 2009
“The tragedy and injustice of Brad Will’s death and Juan Manuel Martínez’s unfounded prosecution are part of the failure to investigate and hold to account those responsible for widespread human rights violations committed in Oaxaca in 2006 and 2007.”
“It is time for the killing of Brad Will to be impartially investigated and prosecuted on the basis of reliable evidence and according to international fair trial standards.”
Sep
1
2009
From: Reporters Without Borders
OAXACA NEWSPAPER EDITOR GOES INTO HIDING AFTER SHOOTING ATTACK ON HOME
Mexico, September 1, 2009
The police and judicial authorities investigating a shooting attack on the home of Guillermo Soto Bejarano, the regional weekly Nuevo Milenio’s editor and columnist, on 30 August in Salina Cruz (in the southern state of Oaxaca) should work on the assumption that it was linked to his journalist activities, Reporters Without Borders said today.
The press freedom organisation also urged the authorities to provide protection for Soto and his family, who left their home after the attack.
“Fortunately there were no victims, but this was the second attack in a short space of time on Soto and his newspaper, which also came under fire,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The lack of any reaction from the Salina Cruz authorities is incomprehensible. We hope the federal justice ministry office in the city of Oaxaca will carry out an appropriate investigation. The safety of Soto and his family must be guaranteed so that he can continue working.”
Aug
13
2009
Jul
25
2009
A pretty solid piece by the LA Times on the situation. -
Is Mexico under attack by its military?
“And yet, the cartels cannot serve as an excuse for the country’s security forces to commit abuses with impunity. A modern and moral state demands the rule of law.”
The end is especially strong, although FoBW would press for a stronger approach of withholding not just the 15% but all the money of Plan Mexico:
“Mexico’s legislature has become more powerful in recent years, and Calderon has begun to reform a judicial system that has been weak and often corrupt. We’d like to see that continue, matched by a more holistic approach to the drug war that includes real training, professionalization and pay for the country’s police forces. Ideally, we’d like to see Mexican institutions act on their own to address the abuse cases and hold the Mexican military accountable, without U.S. pressure. No country should have an army that is above the law, a condition that’s poisonous to democracy. But until Mexico acts, the United States should make the case for justice by trimming a symbolic 15% from its aid package.”
Jul
23
2009
This is absolutely ridiculous. Over 2000 abuse claims have been made, yet denial and US dollars continue:
Mexican military defends record on human rights
By NACHA CATTAN
Associated Press
2009-07-24 07:22 AM
“The Mexican military defended its human rights record Thursday, saying most abuse complaints against soldiers prove unfounded and are filed in an effort to discredit the government’s battle against drug cartels. Continue Reading »
Jul
21
2009
Last month, Congressman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410), a wide-ranging legislation aimed at improving U.S. foreign policy efforts. Among many things, this bill seeks to modernize the Foreign Service and to provide the State Department with resources for operations abroad. Within these reforms are a number of requirements aimed at “enhancing” the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico) and ensuring that the $1.6 billion allocated to Mexico and Central America are appropriately spent. These measures include the creation of a “Merida Coordinator” in charge of designing and tracking all Merida related efforts, the addition of the Caribbean to the overall Initiative, and the authorization of 5% of Mérida money to fund evaluation of the program’s performance. This evaluation would include the reporting of “accusations of serious human rights abuses committed by the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of recipient countries” and a description of Mérida-recipient governments’ efforts to investigate and prosecute these allegations.
While Friends of Brad Will are encouraged by such reforms of the Merida Initiative that aim to enhance it, we continue to demand the immediate end of the Merida Initiative as a whole and the implementation of a policy based on the improvement of the Mexican police and justice systems, anti-corruption programs, and drug rehabilitation and prevention on both sides of the border. Friends of Brad Will, many other organizations and the US government are well aware of the fact that stipulations such as these requiring the Mexican government to track and prosecute human rights violations are merely superficial and do not lead to actual change. When the final version of the Merida Initiative was enacted in June 2008 it contained a series of conditions based on Mexico’s human rights issues that stipulated that 15 percent of Merida funds would not be granted to Mexico until the Mexican government showed significant improvement in the accountability and transparency of federal police forces, and investigations of human rights charges.
“The stipulations that the US places on Mexico have proved to be worthless because there has been no follow through. A year after the Merida Initiative, the Mexican government has done nothing in the name of human rights, yet continues to receive funds from the US that will merely add to its ability to violate them,” said Angelina Garneva, Human Rights Associate Intern of Friends of Brad Will. “While the conditions set up by this Act are just more empty rhetoric for human rights, the money that it provides and the violence it supports are real and legitimate.”
Jul
13
2009
MEDIA ADVISORY * MEDIA ADVISORY * MEDIA ADVISORY
PROTEST AT MEXICAN CONSULATE!
FRIENDS OF SLAIN U.S. JOURNALIST BRAD WILL RESPOND TO RAILROADING OF OAXACA ACTIVIST JUAN MANUEL MARTINEZ MORENO!
juan-manuel-protest-flier
WHAT: Protest against Mexican judicial corruption and the practice of impunity
WHERE: Mexican Consulate in New York City, 27 East 39th Street.
WHO: Friends of Brad Will
WHEN: Monday July 13 at 4 pm
Contact:
Mark Read: 917-776-8847
Harry Bubbins: 646- 648-4362
Spanish Speaking Contact:
Salvador Pantoja: 646-257-6178
July 13th, NYC–On Wednesday, July 8th, Judge Rosa Perez reversed course from her January ruling. She now accepts hearsay testimony previously determined to be “deficient” as factual evidence in the case against local activist Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno for the 2006 murder of U.S. journalist Brad Will. It was also ruled that Moreno will remain indefinitely imprisoned pending a verdict in his case.
The case is being closely monitored by international human rights organization such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and was even singled out by the U.S. Congress when they passed the funding bill for the Merida Initiative in July 2008, calling in that bill for “progress in conducting a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation to identify the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice.”
Despite an independent report from Physicians for Human Rights debunking the government’s case against Moreno, and a condemnation of the case by Mexico’s own National Commission for Human Rights, the government has refused to investigate the most likely suspects—Mexican government officials who were videotaped and photographed openly firing on protesters, including Will. Instead, the judge has accepted the testimony of two “witnesses” that, according to their own words, were not present at the murder of Brad Will. These two “witnesses” are the heart of the case against Moreno.
“The Mexican government has to come up with a conviction in Brad’s case because the U.S. Congress told them they had to,” says Mark Read, a friend of Will’s. “If they want those U.S. taxpayer dollars, they have to put somebody away, but the real killers walk around with impunity while the government proceeds with this bogus case against one of the people that Brad was there trying to report on, an activist who rose up against corrupt government rule. This recent reversal makes it pretty clear that the Mexican government intends to railroad Moreno despite all the best evidence. It’s corruption, pure and simple.”
Jul
8
2009
A reporter flees the biggest cartel of all—the Mexican Army.
A vivid report on a journalist’s flight from the Mexican military to the United States. This is the same Mexican military which the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress are funding even more than Bush did!
Jul
8
2009
Below is a quote (and then a link to the original document) from the Lawyers Collective (or Colectivo de Abogados), a Colombian non-governmental organization. It raises the obvious question about the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico): namely, why are some Mexicans ‘nationalists’ objecting to end-use monitoring of lethal aid funding for militarization (including surveillance) to Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean under Plan Mexico instead of opposing it outright?
Quote: “Colombian history demonstrates the State’s security agencies have considered as enemies those from society who are committed to the defence and promotion of human rights. Additionally, since February 2004, the DAS has substantially increased its persecution of human rights organisations. In this respect, it created special strategic-intelligence groups with the purpose of structurally persecuting human rights organisations as they were considered to be “a threat or risk to national security.”
Within this context, the DAS decided to undertake intelligence activities against CAJAR through a very laborious, extensive and sophisticated operation called OPERATION TRANSMILENIO, the funds for which came out of a heading designated for RESEVERED EXPENSES. This OPERATION TRANSMILENIO has consisted in gathering information on the Lawyers’ Collective and its members, and specifically information on activities relating to human rights defence work, international cooperation, and the organisation’s financial records. During this time, the DAS has carried out diverse intelligence activities against members of CAJAR, including the identification of their nuclear families and the gathering of biographical economic, financial and work-related information. Political and psychological profiles were also developed and fingerprint records were kept. The DAS kept track of the members’ routines and travel routes and surveillance was carried out throughout the country (along with ongoing surveillance at set points by way of apartment rentals). Photographs and video have also been taken of the lawyers and their families at home and in their places of work. Telephone conversations and email communication have also been intercepted on a massive scale. Lastly, records have been kept on their migratory movements and their national and international contacts have been cross-referenced. The DAS has obtained this information from the government protection program for human rights defenders, public and private institutions, and what were called “human and technical sources.” The Colombian State Employs the Administrative Department of Security Against Human Rights Organizations”
The rest of this frightening document by the Lawyers Collective here.
Jul
2
2009
From this excellent piece by Todd Miller published by NACLA:
“Washington is funding both sides of the drug war. U.S. military aid to this corrupt system has flowed rapidly under the Obama administration.”
Here’s the synopsis:
The July 5 mid-term election in Mexico will continue narcotraffickers’ creeping reach into all sectors of the country’s political life. The army and police are already drenched in narco-scandals, while reports show that political campaigns and government offices have also been infiltrated or co-opted by traffickers. But Mexico is not a failed state, such extensive corruption and illicit wealth creation actually depends on the state.
The rest here.
Jul
1
2009
The Obama administration’s condemnation of the coup in Honduras has been lukewarm compared to the rest of the world.
[Read this great piece on recent coup in Honduras to get insight into whose side President Obama is on in the 'war on drugs'. Ed.]
Also, here are calls coming from inside the country for international support:
“The recently formed Popular Resistance Front called for delegations to travel to Honduras to stand by the popular organizations of Honduras in support of the return of the democratically elected president and inform the situation.
The Front has called for mass demonstrations in the country. It also called on foreign media, members of grassroots organizations and human rights groups to increase pressure on the coup and support the call for reinstatement of the president.”
Monitor this site for updates.
Jun
15
2009
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
(Op-Ed Columnist, published in the New York Times)
June 13, 2009
This year marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s start of the war on drugs, and it now appears that drugs have won.
“We’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the war on drugs,” Norm Stamper, a former police chief of Seattle, told me. “What do we have to show for it? Drugs are more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency. It’s a dismal failure.”
(Read on here)
Jun
13
2009
Tonight, Rad Rich and I got free tickets to the Pelosi event and even the reception. We walked past the jeering crowd of tea-party people and my friends from the peace movement to attend the green-room reception for Nancy Pelosi and I got to talk to her for two minutes.
I introduced myself as Nick from Friends of Brad Will and told her who Brad was and she said she was sorry about his death. I told her that we were concerned about human rights abuses taking place in places where we have free trade agreements like Peru and the deaths there last week. She replied that she was waiting for Obama’s cue on that. I replied that indeed Obama had mentioned union leaders in Colombia in the debates, but that people were dying now and this tends to happen wherever we have these free trade agreements — corporations get better access to resources and indigenous get displaced. She thanked me for telling her. Then Rad talked to her about student loans.
Jun
10
2009
This morning, three human rights activists representing Friends of Brad Will, Houston Indymedia, and Houston Food Not Bombs met with The Consul General at the Peruvian Consulate in Houston.Ellie Sequeira, Rachel Clarke, and Nick Cooper expressed concerns and delivered a letter (below) about the role of the Peruvian government, oil corporations and free trade in the deaths of dozens of indigenous Peruvians. Continue Reading »
Jun
3
2009
June 1 2009
Kristina Aiello
for NACLA
These efforts to suppress political dissent are part of a growing trend of increased governmental aggression towards activists and social movements occurring across Latin America. Accompanying this repression are huge increases in military spending authorized by the Bush administration to combat drug trafficking and “terrorism” in Latin America via programs like Plan Colombia and now the Merida Initiative.
The Obama administration has a chance to walk U.S. anti-drug policy back from this long favored militarization stance. But recent actions taken by the new administration are disappointing for those seeking a dramatic change in U.S. policy in the region.
Read the rest of this clarion call, here.
May
13
2009
The Obama administration plans a new round of ‘public safety’ programs in Latin America.
by Jeremy Bigwood
Published in In These Times, May 13, 2009.
From the article: “Obama may not understand the dangerous waters his administration is drifting into by expanding “public safety” policing programs. If the history of the OPS and similar projects are any indication of what will come, U.S. policing initiatives in Latin America and elsewhere could result in violence and political repression.”
Read all of it, here.
May
11
2009
May 3, 2009
Part I: Free trade and Mexico’s drug war
Collapse of traditional economy created the space for the cartels to grow.
In April, US President Barack Obama visited Mexico where he announced that the US needed to take some responsibility for Mexico’s ongoing Drug War. He also declared his support for a continuation and strengthening of free trade policies between the two countries. According to Miguel Tinker-Salas, it is the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the massive economic transition it precipitated, that has created such fertile ground for the drug economy. The result is that the Mexican government finds itself facing a decreasing level of control over entire regions of the country as the cartels provide the services that the central government no longer does.
May 10, 2009
Part II: US-funded militarization didn’t stop Colombian drug trade and won’t in Mexico either.
Pointing to the abject failure of a similar nine-year-old policy in Colombia – a country where the drug trade has actually expanded over the last decade of the heavily-funded drug war and US military aid has been turned against the social movement – this segment reveals a similar phenomenon that is already being observed in Mexico.
May
11
2009
New Laws Strike a Symbolic Blow to Prohibition, But Net Result is Increased Law Enforcement Powers
Written by Kristin Bricker for Narconews. Published May 9, 2009
Is the Mexican government planning to incarcerate 100s of thousands of casual drug users? Or does it only want to use the threat of draconian sentences to frighten many individuals so as to control and deploy them?
Read the whole piece here.
May
11
2009
Translated by Kristin Bricker from a piece in Milenio by Victor Hugo Michel
Two key passages of the article:
First, Dyncorp. . . :
‘The increase in the concentration of new personnel includes support from private companies that have been contracted by the State Department to bring their own specialists, known as private service contractors.
As of now, the Dyncorp company has contracted three employees to administrate its participation in the Merida Initiative, one of whom will be in Mexico City and will help the Narcotics Affairs Office in the Embassy to “maintain good contact with Mexican security agencies.”‘
Second, who are the ‘human rights organizations’ which might be bought with the Merida blood money (you’ll likely have to follow a paper trail to find out):
“The contracts PSC-09-010-INL and PSC-09-019-INL were offered to two specialists in training Mexican police and military personnel, particularly police, inspectors, judges, and prosecutors.”
May
11
2009
This piece, by Laura Carlsen, Director of the Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP) [americas.irc-online.org] remains a benchmark for analysis on how the media with their ‘defense’ industry-tied pundits are promoting an expansion of the lucrative destabilizing wars (including the ‘war on drugs’ in Latin America). It was written on March 9, 2009.
When read together with Bill Conroy’s pieces exposing how the United States Government’s Direct Military Sales of lethal hardware and training are a key component of the supply-chain for the narco-cartels, this article offers a critical understanding of Plan Mexico.
Drug War Doublespeak
“Through late February and early March, a blitzkrieg of declarations from U.S. government and military officials and pundits hit the media, claiming that Mexico was alternately at risk of being a failed state, on the verge of civil war, losing control of its territory, and posing a threat to U.S. national security.”
<more>
Available in translation: Doble discurso en guerra contra la droga
May
11
2009
Human Rights Organizations Break from Amnesty International’s 2008 Pro-Merida Initiative Letter
Check out this excellent piece by Kristin Bricker, written especially for The Narco News Bulletin on May 7, 2009.
May
11
2009
Federal Police Pressure Imprisoned APPO Defendant Juan Manuel Martinez to Confess; Will Family Lawyer Faces Legal Harassment
Read the entire story April 21, 2009 by Kristin Bricker via the Narcosphere here.
May
11
2009
An excellent provocative piece by Bill Conroy for Narconews. Written a on April 5th it will continue to have relevance as an empirical expose of the lack of credibility on the ‘drug war’ of the network ‘news’ and their ‘defense’ industry pundits.
His well-documented thesis is that the cartels are obtaining their heavy fire power not from gun shows and straw buyers but from private sector arms exports authorized/licensed by the USG to the MOD. He writes: “Given Mexico’s strict gun laws with respect to private individuals, it is likely most of the DCS (Direct Commercial Sales) program defense hardware approved for export to that nation was directed toward the military or law enforcement agencies. But it is precisely that fact which should be raising some alarm in Washington.”
The corporate media narrative describes the scale of drug violence being due in large part because US gunshow sales and smugglers carrying guns easy-to-buy in the U.S. to Mexico. This is false. Read this to learn why.
May
11
2009
Incisive and (historically, economically) contextualized analysis of Obama’s trip to Mexico and the positions he took vis-a-vis human rights, neoliberalism and the ‘war on drugs’.
Check out Mr. President: Calderón Is Not Mexico by Laura Carlsen, Director of the Americas Program at the Center For International Policy
Posted April 17, 2009
