(IPS) – The Jenpoj (”winds of fire) community radio station in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, which plays an important role in keeping the Mixe indigenous community informed, has had its equipment confiscated and has fought and won a court case to get a broadcast license.

“Things are still lagging, and freedom of expression continues to be violated,” Sócrates Vásquez, the director of the tiny 1000-watt radio station, which broadcasts from the Mixe indigenous community of Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, told IPS. “They treat us as if we were the same thing as a university or commercial station.”

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) in Mexico delivered a report Monday to special rapporteurs on freedom of expression Frank La Rue, of the United Nations, and Catalina Botero, of the Organisation of American States (OAS), outlining the difficulties faced by community stations.

The two carried out an Aug. 9-24 visit to Mexico to investigate violence against journalists. Eight reporters have been killed in Mexico so far this year, and seven media outlets have been attacked.

See more here.

Mexican Torture Training Raises Questions About U.S. Military/Police Aid
by Laura Carlsen published at the Huffington Post.

Excellent piece! Carlsen raises troubling questions on the role of human rights organizations in supporting funds for institutions which have and continue to abuse Mexican and Latin American people with impunity!

She writes: “Some Washington human rights groups have claimed that Plan Mexico will help Mexico reform and eliminate illegal practices such as torture. But the aid package funds the same forces that commit those atrocities with virtual impunity.”

Add your comments at Huffington Post to get that important discussion continued! Help provide attention to the campaign we’ve been working on:

Demanding accountability for Brad Will’s murder and the murder of many other innocent people by the Mexican security forces;

Exposing u.s.g. support for right-wing human rights abusing governments and institutions in Mexico and El Salvador;

Amplifying how popular movements for human rights and against corruption are at risk from the Bush/Leahy Merida Initiative;

Exposing the role of some d.c.-based ‘human rights’ organizations in legitimizing the ‘drug war’ as a pretext for increasing militarization under Merida!

From article: “Two videos of a torture-training session with the police force of León, Guanajuato shocked the Mexican public last week and raised serious questions about human rights under the Calderon offensive against organized crime. For readers with strong stomachs, the videos can be found here.” (link at Huffington Post).