WWW.EDONEO.ORG 

 

---

Interview to Flavio Sosa member of the Collective Direction of the APPO   “The dialogue is urgent, but without one gun to the temple”   (13 novembre 2006)   Claudio Albertani and Gianni Proiettis   How is been born the Appo? Since the preHispanic age, one great tradition of assemblies exists in Oaxaca. In the communities, the popular assembly is the maximum authority. The Appo is born with the pretension of being the assembly of the assemblies, like between the zapotechi, the mixtechi, mixe and the other original people of the state. The Appo is born, after the brutal repression against the movement of teaching of the 14 slid june, like an exercise of partecipativa democracy between various people, interested communities, organizations to participate in the movement. It is true that the Appo is formed from more than 350 organizations? Yes. At first, they have joined communitarian organizations and of quarter, then trade-union mayoralties and confederations, beyond to organizations of the civil society, ong and even associations of aboriginal authorities and unions of professionals. Members are many. Between the 10 and 12 November we have realized our first conference, that one of foundation of the Appo, for give to us one organic structure and one greater solidity, with one platform of principles. To the origin, the Appo has been a popular answer to the aggression triggered against teaching in strike and the search of a common objective, that it is the fall of governor Ulises Ruiz. Later on, the idea is matured to strike to us in order to pull down the governor, but in order not only to try to transform the legal structure of our state, in order to reform the enforced laws, constructing to the bases of one new relation society-government. In this perspective we have organized two interesting encounter a lot with the participation of intellectuals, academics, religious, managing of several organizations in order to discuss the reforms about which Oaxaca has need, towards where must head a plan of new state, than type of government we want. Us already they have been two great arguments with of the conclusions, of the proposals. This is one of the railroads on which the Appo runs. The other railroad is that one of the mobilitations, than they have transformed it in a pacifist movement, but that it has had the ability to answer to aggressions like which we have subìto from part of the Policia Preventive Federal. How has been formed its direction and in that relation is with the base? The direction is emerged from a shareholders' meeting, that one of the 20 june. Ê a direction that we call “temporary collective”. In the conference that we have held we have given them a stabler character. They are represented is the various regions that the more active organizations in the movement, because of fact there are different levels of participation. There is who is present at moments, it is withdrawn for little and it returns to participate when there are manifestations and garrisons, to second of the engagement and the possibilities of every organization. Some are located in far regions and in those cases it is not easy to remain permanently in city. The population of the state is much dispersing geographically, in order to arrive from the coast wants 10 or 12 hours to us of travel, the same one in order to catch up some regions of the Sierra. Those organizations cannot maintain permanent representatives in city here. Many efforts have been made, but the regionalization of the consolidated Appo is not still a lot. We are working just to this, to make to arrive the Appo to all the communities. What can say on the dialogue begun in these days in the library of the former-convent of Santo Domingo? At the beginnig it had been believed next to a space of dialogue between the Appo and the civil society. The idea was been born in order to try to stop the aggressions when the Policia Preventive Federal has arrived and has begun to irrompere in the houses in order to arrest the popular leaders of some quarters. We have thought that it had to stop the aggression, for this is risen the idea of the dialogue, than at first it was believed in the cathedral. We have proposed to the ecclesiastical authorities of Oaxaca and they have placed to us of the conditions. In spite of we considered them excessive, we have accepted, because the peace to Oaxaca is one urgent necessity. In according to moment, but, after the battle of the university, he is changed the force ratio, the mind of people and, on a national level, the perspective on Oaxaca. With the victory on the Policia Preventive Federal, there is a political situation that puts in argument the same existence of the PFP. To that it serves a anti-riot police who does not succeed to control one putsch? This places us in one new situation in national the political fight and always thinks that the search of the peace is urgent but we are not more on the defensive. Hour we can pass to the offensive and we have demonstrated it with the great manifestation of past Sunday. That waited for from the dialogue that as soon as is begun? We think that it is an important space, that it will help to find a way towards the peace and the reconciliation. But we do not abandon the land of the popular mobilitation, on which we continue to press with force. We have also advanced one proposed of dialogue directed with the president Fox but we demand that our prisoners are placed in freedom and that the PFP is gone some. The solution of the conflict is bound to the destitution of Ulises Ruiz and the agreements that go taken in order to transform Oaxaca. It has sense to converse with a president to the last days of its mandate? For we the dialogue is urgent, but in conditions of freedom and without one gun to the temple. Until the last day of the mandate there is the possibility to resolve the problem. Our irrenounceable requirement is that the governor goes itself some. In that moment, the tension in Oaxaca would be lowered and the conditions would be given in order to converse in a less conflittivo atmosphere. You do not believe that if the Pri removes Ulises Ruiz it can put an other personage of the same type? It is not possible, the oaxaqueños they would not allow it and the government knows it. The day in which  will fall Ulises Ruiz to Oaxaca it will make one great festivity. Much people who have up to now not manifested themselves to our favor will come down in road saying: ” We have won! I was with you.” It is a phenomenon that we have already observed in occasion of the manifestations. People do not participate at the beginnig but when she looks at herself in that great mirror that is “mega-marchas” she ends in order to join. Has been one precise choice that one not to use crews? Sure. We have given indication to people not to use them. But not rinunciamo neanche to the right to self-defense. If they assault to us, we answer with what we have to hand capacity. Which are currently the relationships between the Appo and section 22 of the mayoralty of teaching, after that this last one has signed an agreement with the government? We respect that agreement. That us like it or not, we have the obligation to respect it and we will make it. We know that teaching is a lot engages to you in the movement and not tradiranno it. Among other things, the lessons are resumed in some regions but not in all. How you would want that the table was integrated of negotiates to you? As a space to which organizations, intellectuals, entrepreneurs participate and all those interested to find solutions to the problems of Oaxaca. We do not want a dialogue bilateral, but multilateral. We expect to say what we think and that between all it is arrived to a conclusion on which is the way for which to Oaxaca there is peace, of it goes the police and Ulises Ruiz. For less, this is our objective. What we expect from the dialogue are good sense, proposals and one deep reflection. Nobody with a minimum of discernment can say that to Oaxaca not there is need of reforms, of a various regimen that stops to manufacture poor. We will see if we will succeed to understand to us. It has been a moment in which the Appo species of political control of the city has had one. It can tell something of that experience? Some are succeed in to you to call it “la comune de Oaxaca”. To the fine August, beginnings september was succeeded in to think next to the exercise of one risen of popular government. It was spoken quite about the emission of government bands, because the movement was wherever and its force was felt. But we considered that it was a process that, once triggered, would have been difficult to stop. In other words, if we had begun to assume the government in several spheres of the public life, people would then not have been able of porsi limit. We have thought that the process had to be more solid. A lot excluded of the society was a field that it was carrying ahead a too much radical speech, that it would have ended in order to exclude other fields in its turn and we do not share this interest. We are for one resumption of the institutional life from a legal point of view, transforming the laws. We want to make a movement reformer that it turns out revolutionary thanks to the depth of the reforms. And to throw the bases of one new relation society-government and new bases of development of the society, dandogli a legal foundation, but we think that this in immediate for the exercise of a popular government and the democratic. The way is that one to reform the legal life and, for this way, to conquer the power through the mobilitation and the direct and partecipativa democracy. We spoke, as an example, of public safety and the Department of Sanitation, that they were emergent issues. It was succeeded in to propose to reopen the government palace but, after a deep argument, concluded that it was not the better moment. We are for the fall of the governor and the reforms and, in the mid term, the conquest of the popular power and democratic. Thoughts to transform to you in one risen of political party? We do not know in that direction will go the argument, draft to listen to itself what it says the base. This movement is born like an answer to a brutal aggression but, endured after, it begins to questionare all. Questiona the mass media and of ago its some. Questiona the traditional shapes to make politics and expects of proporne of the new. Questiona you leave yourself political and it does not allow to nobody of they to direct it. Questiona the managing groups and even generates one collective direction. Questiona badly a government and proposes to pull down it. To that point it begins to conform as a antisistemico movement and alarms the political class. How it is possible that a public square fight puts in issue practically all the status quo, the same way to make politics? It is true that there are sends you of capture for the entire direction of the Appo? It is true, seems that they are more than 300 sends you of capture. Lately, we have known that a new ready search warrant for Universidad Radio exists, to the search of crews and in order to arrest some managing. We limit ourselves not to go to the radio, in order not to supply pretests. The repression has been permanent, has talked nonsense against the main houses of the managing ones of the Appo, has made irruptions in several addresses. He is terrible, seems one black novel. Ulises Ruiz has made of the terror practical politics. It acts is through the police who using sicari. USA also of the judges in order to make to imprison activists with false imputations. Radio is one, Ciudadana Radio, than we call Mapache Radio, that he exhorts to perseguitare the leaders of the Appo, we signal, we say our addresses to us. There are quite two pages in Internet that publish calunnie against of we. The more serious thing is that they try of vincolarci with the guerrilla or the drug traffics. They want relazionarci with criminal activities, crews of heavy caliber. They even use specialist in dirty propaganda. But this is a People's Movement, is like the fights of road in any part of the world. How thoughts of articulating your fight with the others two great movements that exist in Mexico, that zapatista and what it supports Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador? Here to Oaxaca Amlo it has stravinto. It is sad to admit it, but this does not re-enter between our priorities. Our hard fight already from six months and people want that Oaxaca lathes to normality. Sure, the engagement is also for the transformation democratic of the country and will see like rendering it effective, but our priority is to resolve the situation of Oaxaca. Ulises Ruiz has torn the social woven one strongly. People have lost workplaces, teaching are not return to you to school, the communities have serious problems, the field of the health are firm. They are damages also thirds party to you, we must recognize it. Many entrances have come less for via of the tourism absence. We live in a emergency situation, we must resolve the local situation. This but does not want to say that we lose interest ourselves in problematic the national one. One of the critics who make you is that you would please yourselves of the fall of the governor, when also Felipe Calderón is a usurpatore, product of one swindle. It is true, but it is not our main responsibility, is a fight that regards the national movement. It is not task ours. People are not come down in road because the Appo is the vanguard of the national movement, l `have made in order to resolve the local conflict. We could impulsarlo but it would be a irresponsabilità for our part to want to arrive to one popular war of long duration. She is not in the tradition of our people. Also the other movements are pacific. We do not deny a tie, we respect them. Indeed, we consider necessary relazionarci with the zapatista Otra campaña and the Convención Nacional Democrática di Lopez Obrador. Several organizations of the Appo participate to you, but what more it wants people are that to Oaxaca lathes normality. The majority of people has interrupted `its daily existence. The festivity of the dead men is not one here what whichever to Oaxaca, is an ancient festivity and we have abandoned it in order to follow what it was happening. People, instead celebrating 2 November, have gone to fight in the roads, have left all in order to participate to the battle of the university. We have neglected our dead men and this hung to us. They are six months that hard this history and is a lot wearing away. People are not come down in road in order to make the war. She has believed of having the possibility to hunt a government and one has moved in order to demand it. But she did not want the war. They are those of the Pri, the group to the power, that war is transforming this fight in one. Practically we are under an occupation army, that we have one pacifist vocation. That one of Oaxaca is people of festivities. The communities peasants live for the festivities. People buy the new dressed ones for the day of the festivity, the new shoes. The best plates are prepared for the day of the festivity. All the year for having better conditions is lived the day of the festivity. It is believed with this logic, we have one circular conception of the time. The fields are worked in order to collect the product at the end of the year, to save some money in order to pay one beautiful festivity and then to recommence the cycle. People are not convinced of the necessity of one fight to mean or long term for the democratization of the country. It is sure that we will contribute, that we will make our part, but this will decide it people. What to more it imports us is to obtain the democracy to Oaxaca and for this the fall of Ulises is not sufficient Ruiz. It will want an other process to us, but already within normality, without manifestations neither garrisons, without violence, without to expose other screw. It is said that yours it is a movement of base, not of leader. It is true. Traditional vision is one that one to always try of the leaders. There are here to Oaxaca of the written ones walls them that they say: “who creates a leader, creates a tyrant. Neither I neither the other companions of the collective direction decide from make themselves. In my case, I have simply the responsibility to speak with the press. In the assemblies, my opinions more are not listened to than those than others. If, as an example, I proposed the companions to dismantle the barricades, they would send the devil. It is important to understand that this is a movement of all the society, not of leader and not even of groups. Why you have chosen a shape of ancient and symbolic fight therefore like the barricades? They are fate in spontaneous way like a protection against the “convoys of the dead women”, the cars of the sicari of the governor that talked nonsense to us and already have made 15 victims. www.selvas.org [Integral - translation from the italian language by Lora (edoneo.org)]

---

 

Oaxaca - Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) carry out other arrests - December 8, 2006

 

Members of the special federal police group 'GOPES' stand guard outside a police station in Oaxaca City December 8, 2006. Mexican federal police stormed the state attorney general's offices in the conflict-torn city of Oaxaca on Friday, seizing agents' guns to check if they were used in the killings of more than a dozen people. REUTERS/Stringer (MEXICO)

 

---

1. Oaxaca state police offices searched
   AP via Yahoo! News
    - Dec 08 
2. Mexican agents seize Oaxaca state police weapons
   Houston Chronicle
    - Dec 08
3. Many say conflict far from over in Oaxaca
   Sun-Sentinel
    - Dec 09

---

 

Members of Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) escort two policemen under investigation outside a police station in Oaxaca City December 8, 2006. Mexican federal police stormed the state attorney general's offices in the conflict-torn city of Oaxaca on Friday, seizing agents' guns to check if they were used in the killings of more than a dozen people. REUTERS/Stringer (MEXICO)

 

A members of Mexico's Federal Investigation agency, AFI, detains an employee of the Oaxaca state justice department in Oaxaca City, Mexico Friday, Dec. 8, 2006. More than 250 federal police agents surrounded the offices of the Oaxaca state police force and seized the force's weapons to determine whether any were used in shootings during six months of demonstrations in the state capital, Oaxaca City. (AP Photo/Luis Alberto Cruz)

 

---

 

Flavio Sosa one of the founders of the Oaxaca People's Assembly, APPO, arrives at news conference in Mexico City, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. Police arrested Flavio Sosa, the emblematic leader of a six-month-long leftist protest movement that took over the southern city of Oaxaca and battled authorities, authorities reported on Monday. Sosa, whose heavyset, bearded presence become almost a symbol of the leftist People's Assembly of Oaxaca, was detained late Monday in Mexico City, federal police said, though they gave no immediate information on the circumstances of the arrest. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

 

Flavio Sosa, one of the leaders of the Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan People (APPO), is presented to the media at a police station in Mexico City December 4 ,2006. Mexican police on Monday arrested Sosa, one of the leaders behind six months of protests in Oaxaca that led to violent clashes with riot police. REUTERS/Stringer (MEXICO)

 

People walk down a street with some tents of protesters still set up in downtown Oaxaca, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. The troubled southern Mexican city of Oaxaca is visibly returning to normal after six months of protests and violent clashes that killed at least nine people yet as teachers, whose strike began the unrest, return to classrooms and clashes between police and leftist protesters have died down, many residents say the conflict is far from resolved. (AP Photo/Luis Alberto Hernandez Cruz)

 

Federal police said they arrested Flavio Sosa, the most well known leader of the Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan People, or APPO, after he held a news conference in Mexico City.

---

 

 

 

Thousands of supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stand at Mexico City's Zocalo square during a rally against Felipe Calderon, December 1, 2006. Calderon took over as Mexico's president on Friday and pleaded for an end to months of unrest over his narrow election win, but a huge brawl erupted in Congress where leftist opponents vowed to block him from taking the formal oath of office. (Daniel Aguilar - MEXICO/Reuters)

 

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's leftist opposition leader, stand in front of riot police during a march against President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar

 

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's leftist opposition leader, march in a protest against President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar

 

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's leftist opposition leader, march in a protest against President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar

 

A protester throws red paint at police during a march against President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

A protester throws a bag of red paint towards police during a march against President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

A protester throws a bag of red paint towards police during a march against President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

Losing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waves to supporters during a march to protest against the inauguration of Mexican president Felipe Calderon on Friday, Dec. 1, 2006. Lopez Obrador led tens of thousands of supporters down Mexico City's elegant Reforma Avenue, the same boulevard they occupied for weeks this summer to protest Calderon's victory. (AP Photo/Walter Astrada)

 

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's leftist opposition leader, burn posters of Felipe Calderon that read, 'fraudulent president', in Mexico City December 1, 2006. Calderon took power as Mexico's president on Friday despite fist fights in Congress and angry protests from leftists who say he stole July's election and had vowed to prevent him from taking office . REUTERS/Jennifer Szymaszek (MEXICO)

 

A supporter of former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador walks past anti riot police during a march to protest the inauguration Mexico's new president Felipe Calderon in Mexico City, Friday Dec. 1, 2006.(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

 

Former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador receives a bust of himself from supporters during a march to protest the inauguration Mexico's new president Felipe Calderon in Mexico City, Friday Dec. 1, 2006.(AP Photo/Claudio Cruz)

 

A supporter of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, former presidential candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), attends a rally to protest against the swearing in of Felipe Calderon as Mexico's new President, in Mexico City's Zocalo square December 1, 2006. The poster reads 'Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador legitimate president of Mexico'. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, former presidential candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), attend a rally to protest against the swearing in of Felipe Calderon as Mexico's new President in Mexico City's Zocalo square December 1, 2006. The poster on the right reads 'Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador legitimate president of Mexico' and the one on the left reads 'President of the fraud'. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

 

Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, former presidential candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), attend a rally to protest against the swearing in of Felipe Calderon as Mexico's new President in Mexico City's Zocalo square December 1, 2006. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

Supporters of former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador march to protest the inauguration of new president Felipe Calderon in Mexico City, Friday Dec. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Walter Astrada)

 

A supporter of former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a poster of new president Felipe Calderon during a march in Mexico City, Friday Dec. 1, 2006. Felipe Calderon took the oath of office as Mexico's president Friday. The top of the poster reads ' Crazy Puppet' and the bottom 'Fraud' (AP Photo/Walter Astrada)

 

Zocalo plaza in Mexico City, Mexico, Friday, Dec.1, 2006. Obrador, who claims he was robbed of the presidency, said he will march peacefully with his supporters to the National Auditorium, where Calderon is scheduled to address the nation and take the oath of office . (AP Photo/Claudio Cruz)

 

---

---

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

OAXACA - SEMPRE PIU' VIOLENTI GLI SCONTRI TRA I RESISTENTI DELL'APPO E LA POLIZIA PREVENTIVA CHE OCCUPA DA GIORNI LA CITTA' - 25 novembre 2006

 

Demonstrators and federal police clash in Oaxaca, Mexico November 25, 2006. Protesters shot fireworks at riot police and burned down government buildings in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Saturday, days before President-elect Felipe Calderon was to take office. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

---

 

---

 

Demonstrators and federal police clash in Oaxaca, Mexico November 25, 2006. Protesters shot fireworks at riot police and burned down government buildings in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Saturday, days before President-elect Felipe Calderon was to take office. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

Demonstrators and federal police clash in Oaxaca, Mexico November 25, 2006. Protesters shot fireworks at riot police and burned down government buildings in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Saturday, days before President-elect Felipe Calderon was to take office. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

Demonstrators and federal police clash in Oaxaca, Mexico November 25, 2006. Protesters shot fireworks at riot police and burned down government buildings in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on Saturday, days before President-elect Felipe Calderon was to take office. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

 

---

---

1. Charrito's recreates flavors of Oaxaca
   The Star-Ledger
    - Nov 23
2. OAXACA: Press Conference with LIMEDH regarding torture case
   Indymedia Chiapas
    - Nov 24
3. OAXACA: Denouncement of Kidnapping and Torture at the 5 senores Barricade
   Indymedia Chiapas
    - Nov 24

1. Protesters, Police Clash in Oaxaca
   phillyburbs.com
    - Nov 20
2. On the 96th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, Oaxaca
   The Narco News Bulletin
    - Nov 20
3. OAXACA: Letter from a Oaxacan Mother to the PFP
   Indymedia Chiapas
    - Nov 20

   ---

I blocchi in difesa di Oaxaca serrano il Chiapas

Migliaia di civili indigeni di comunità zapatiste bloccano con successo il traffico su tutte le strade de Los Altos e della selva

di Al Giordano
L'Altro Giornalismo con l'Altra Campagna in Chiapas

20 novembre 2006

Migliaia di indigeni abitanti del Chiapas – basi d’appoggio civili dell’Esercito Zapatista di Liberazione Nazionale (EZLN) – hanno bloccato con successo tutte le vie principali dello stato, in difesa della gente che si trova nel vicino stato di Oaxaca.

Basi civili zapatiste bloccano l’accesso a San Cristóbal de Las Casas lungo la strada che la collega con Comitán, Ocosingo e Palenque. Foto: D.R. 2006 Óscar Beard

Narco News ha già confermato che i blocchi, iniziati lunedì 20 novembre a partire dalle 5 a.m. hanno fermato la circolazione dei veicoli lungo le seguenti strade:

• Tuxtla Gutiérrez-San Cristóbal (autostrada a pagamento)
• Tuxtla Gutiérrez-San Cristóbal (strada vecchia)
• San Cristóbal-Comitán
• San Cristóbal-Chamula
• San Cristóbal-Tenejapa
• San Cristóbal-Simojovel
• Ocosingo-San Cristóbal
• Palenque-Ocosingo

Ieri sera, era stato previsto di bloccare pure le strade della costa, includendo la Panamericana, in vari punti, da Tapachula fino alla frontiera oaxaqueña. Però, per ora non è stato confermato nessun blocco in quella zona.

In ognuno dei blocchi, da centinaia a migliaia di civili zapatisti mascherati si fermano silenziosamente in formazione, da un lato all’altro della strada o autostrada…

I blocchi sono a tappe di 45 minuti, con un intervallo di 15 minuti in cui si lascia passare il traffico.

Il 20 novembre è il giorno in cui si celebra la Festa nazionale che commemora la Rivoluzione Messicana del 1910. Normalmente è una data straordinaria per viaggiare, soprattutto verso i luoghi turistici come la città di San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Ma lì, questa domani, molti negozi che normalmente sarebbero rimasti aperti sono chiusi, sia perché gli impiegati hanno deciso di rispettare lo “sciopero nazionale” in difesa di Oaxaca, convocato per oggi, o perché semplicemente non possono arrivare al lavoro per i blocchi. Le strade della ex-capitale di Chiapas sono atipicamente tranquille, con molto poco traffico.

Come un conflitto «locale» è diventato nazionale. E internazionale
Il governo di Vicente Fox si è sparato sui piedi
Magdalena Gomez

http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/14-Novembre-2006/art30.html

 

Le vittime assassinate, secondo un documento scritto a mano ricevuto da Narco News dalle comunità civili zapatiste nella regione, sono:

* Marta Pérez Pérez
* María Pérez Hernández
* María Nuñez González
* Petrona Nuñez González
* Pedro Nuñez Pérez
* Eliver Benítez Pérez
* Antonio Pérez López
* Dominga Pérez López
* Felicitas Pérez Parcero
* Noilé Benítez (8 anni)
* Un bambino appena nato non ancora battezzato

I dettagli del massacro, in una zona molto isolata, lontana dai centri urbani e di informazione, sono ancora incompleti, ma i funzionari statali e federali erano stati informati da tempo dei segnali di allarme della violenza che si stava sviluppando nella regione. Le autorità erano già state allertate, in luglio ed agosto, da organizzazioni dei diritti umani ma, invece di prendere in mano la questione, da allora la polizia e le altre agenzie hanno solo aggravato i problemi.

Le persone uccise vivevano e lavoravano nell'ejido Dr. Manuel Velasco Suárez II, noto come Viejo Velasco Suárez, una comunità contadina stabilitasi nel 1984 per mezzo di un accordo col governo messicano. Loro e le generazioni passate, avevano vissuto in altre parti della Selva Lacandona che era stato dichiarata "riserva naturale" nel 1972. Ieri come oggi, l'imprimatur ecologico è risultato avere a che vedere più col saccheggio di madre natura che proteggerla: la creazione della biosfera dei Montes Azules è servita per concedere al governo messicano il monopolio sullo sfruttamento del legname e di altre risorse naturali. Come parte dello spettacolo e della simulazione ambientale, 66 famiglie del gruppo indigeno Lacandone - una popolazione che si calcola oggi intorno alle centinaia, discendente dai popoli maya della penisola dello Yucatan che emigrarono in Chiapas secoli fa - erano state dichiarate le uniche amministratrici di oltre 600.000 ettari di selva tropicale, a condizione di cedere i diritti economici sulla terra al governo.

I conflitti nella zona portarono all'accordo del 1984 realizzato da Viejo Velasco Suarez e dalle altre comunità, protette apparentemente, dalla legge: Flor de Cacao, Nuevo Tila, Ojo de Agua e San Jacinto Lacanja, tutte nella stessa regione dove si trovano le rovine degli antichi templi Maya di Yaxchilán, conosciuti in tutto il mondo, sul grande fiume Usamacinta che segna il confine del Messico col Guatemala.

Gli undici morti del massacro di oggi avvengono - come spesso succede con i massacri - in un momento in cui il governo federale messicano è tornato ai brutti e vecchi giorni della repressione su vasta scala (in Atenco lo scorso maggio ed attualmente a Oaxaca). In momenti come questo, i paramilitari ed i corpi di polizia prendono coraggio dai segnali che arrivano dall'alto ed aumentano le loro storiche aggressioni contro queste comunità - in particolare indigene - percepite come ostacoli di fronte agli interessi economici.

Il governo federale di Vicente Fox ed il suo segretario di governo Carlos Abascal ("il macellaio di Oaxaca") era stato avvertito quest'anno della bomba ad orolegeria di violenza che minacciava Viejo Velasco Suárez ed altre comunità nella regione dei Montes Azules.

Primi Avvertimenti

Il19 luglio di quest'anno, il Centro dei Diritti Umani Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, aveva diffuso un'allerta intitolata "Minacce di sgombero e persecuzione di comunità indigene nella Selva Lacandona". Conosciuto come il "Centro Frayba", questa organizzazione è stata fondata dal vescovo emerito Samuel Ruiz ed è rispettata in tutto il mondo grazie al suo lavoro onesto e dettagliato.

L'organizzazione dei dirtti umani avvertiva che aveva ricevuti rapporti secondo i quali:

"... Sabato 14 luglio un distaccamento di Pubblica Sicurezza si è stabilito nei pressi della comunità di Ojo de Agua, El Progreso, con la minaccia di sgomberare le famiglie di quella comunità in maniera violenta, famiglie che stanno difendendo il loro diritto alla terra come popoli indigeni...Anche noi che viviamo a San Jacinto Lacanja, Flor de Cacao e Viejo Velasco siamo minacciati di sgombeo".

Il centro Frayba segnalava nella sua allerta del 19 luglio:

"E' opinione del Frayba che questo è un problema storico con una serie di irregolarità e raggiri da parte delle istituzioni e dei funzionari che eludono gli accordi precedenti, manipolano gli attori del conflitto generando maggiori problemi, minacciano di sgombero violento per obbligare le comunità e le organizzazioni a 'sedersi a negoziare' o non assumono gli impegni presi durante le negoziazioni con le comunità di conflitto".

Il centro Frayba chiese che le autorità del governo prendessero misure per "garantire la sicurezza e l'integrità personale delle famiglie" delle quattro comunità indigene minacciate, di rispettare gli accordi del 1984 e gli altri che concedevano loro le terre, e di rispettare i trattati internazionali che garantiscono dette protezioni ai popoli indigeni.

Alcune settimane dopo, i rappresentanti di quell'organizzazione, insieme ad una delegazione di nordamericani di Globale Exchange, come l'ONG Maderas del Pueblo e Xi'Nich, partirono in una missione per le comunità coinvolte per andare ad indagare sui fatti. Global Exchange pubblicò un rapporto detagliato di sette pagine, che spiega molto del contesto storico del conflitto e, in maniera interessante, le difficoltà e gli ostacoli che si sono presentati durante I loro tentativi di visitare le comunità.

Il rapporto così si concludeva:

"Sebbene le ragioni esatte dell'esclusione di queste quattro comunità dal processo di legalizzazione della terra non sono chiare, i fattori geografici e politici ci forniscono una pista importante. Tre delle comunità - Flor de Cacao, San Jacinto Lacanja, Ojo de Agua, El Progreso - si trovano su un terreno in cui c'è ancora legname pregiato che la comunità Lacandona vuole sfruttare, secondo Miguel Ángel García, di Maderas del Pueblo. Si trovano inoltre sulle rive del fiume Usumacinta, una delle fonti più importanti di acqua potabile nella regione. Anche il Piano Puebla-Panama, la proposta del governo per la "modernizzazione" economica del paese, contemplano la costruzione di centrali idroelettriche sull'Usumacinta. Inoltre, molti dei testimoni, credono che la ragione per la quale la comunità Lacandona ed i comuneros vogliono la terra per sé stessi, è per svilupparla a fini turistici, poiché il sito archeologico di Yaxchilan è vicino, e la comunità Lacandona partecipa fortemente al commercio turistico. La quarta comunità, Viejo Velasco, a causa della sua adesione all'EZLN, può essere percepita dal governo messicano come un impedimento alla massimazione dei profitti. In effetti, poco dopo la nostra visita a El Desempeño, funzionari del governo hanno sgomberato con la forza la comunità base d'appoggio civile dell'EZLN Chol de Tumbala, che stava definendp la procedure di diritto alla terra. I funzionari del governo federale, statale e locale dovrebbero prendere provvedimenti immediati per garantire l'integrità e la sicurezza di Ojo de Agua El Progresso, Flor de Cacao, San Jacinto Lacanja e Viejo Velasco. Queste comunità hanno diritto - tanto secondo l'accordo del 1984 che con gli accordi raggiunti alla tavola rotonda di Limonar - alla sicurezza della terra. Il governo locale, statale e federale dovrebbe agire immediatamente per fermare le minacce di sgombero illegale e far ritornare le famiglie che sono fuggite dalle loro terre, se così lo desiderano. Equità e giustizia non chiedono niente di meno."

L'organizzazione internazionale di diritti umani inviò i suoi risultati al presidente messicano Vicente Fox, al suo segretario di governo Carlos Abascal, al governatore del Chiapas Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía ed a vari burocrati dipendenti da ognugno di loro.

Invece di realizzare azioni per correggere i mali, i governi statale e federale hanno messo in moto gli eventi - dando segnali di impunità (...) - che hanno provocato, oggi, il massacro di undici civili indigeni.

Aggressioni in aumento

Seconco una cronologia scritta a mano degli eventi avvenuti da allora, ricevuta oggi da Narco News, di cui sono autori le comunità coinvolte, le aggressioni contro di loro sono aumentate dopo aver informato i governi di Fox e di Salazar:

* Settembre 19: "Alle 4:30 p.m. comuneros di Nueva Palestina sono arrivati armati di machete, fucili, bastoni, asce e pietre". Hanno distrutto la casa di una famiglia. Alle 8 p.m. hanno sparato colpi contro un edificio dove dormivano donne e bambini.
* Ottobre 4: Comuneros di Nueva Palestina hanno attaccato con pistole due contadini nel loro campo di fagioli, distruggendo le coltivazioni.
* Ottobre 8: Membri della comunità Nueva Palestina alleata con il governo si sono riuniti ed accordati per attaccare gli abitanti di Viejo Velasco Suárez.
* Ottobre 9: L'attacco è avvenuto distruggendo la casa di una famiglia; quel pomeriggio hanno sequestrato un membro della comunità che è stato "gravemeente ferito" nella colluttazione.

In un altro documento scritto mano inviato a Narco News, datato sabato 11 novembre, i membri della comunità spiegano che i comuneros di Nueva Palestina avevano tagliato la fornitura d'acqua, obbligando la comunità di Viejo Velasco Suárez a rirendersi l'acqua ed espellere undici dei comuneros invasori dalla loro comunità. Il documento riporta i nomi e le firme degli uomini espulsi.

Dice:

"Chiediamo a quelli di Nueva Palestina, ai governi statale e federale, di rispettare questo accordo e finire con la violenza da entrambe le parti nella nostra comunità. Riteniamo responsabile il governo di qualunque cosa possa succedere ..."

"Mercoledì 1 novembre 2006, quelli di Nueva Palestina hanno chiuso l'erogazione dell'acqua fino ad oggi sabato 11 novembre dell'anno in corso. È per questo che i gruppi originari di questa comunità realizzano la seguente azione...ci dissociamo dai gruppi di Palestina e non vogliamo che continuino a molestarci in questa comunità di Viejo Velasco, ed ognuno di loro firma il suo accordo per andare via e non ritornare mai più per non causare più problemi con i residenti originali".

Secondo una email appena ricevuta dalle famiglie degli uccisi:

"Gli aggressori sono stati abitanti della comunità di Nueva Palestina, avendo in comune i tristi eventi successi nel massacro di Acteal (del 22 dicembre 1997 in Chiapas), poiché i parenti delle vittime ci confermano che esistevano diversi posti di blocco della forza pubblica nei loro dintorni senza fare atto di presenza".

Secondo un comunicato di oggi, Maderas del Pueblo, gli aggressori erano di Nueva Palestina e sono arrivati all'alba "4 subcomuneros del gruppo aggressore, arrivati nella comunità fortemente armati e con l'intenzione di sgomberare violentemente le famiglie collocate".

Due giorni dopo, oggi, sei donne, tre uomini e due bambini di questa comunità sono morti. Al momento di andare in stampa, diverse organizzazioni dei diritti umani e la Giunta di Buon Governo di Roberto Barrios delle basi civili dell'EZLN, così come Otro Periodismo con l'Altra Campagna, stanno investigando sui dettagli di un altro massacro annunciato.

http://ww2.carta.org/notizieinmovimento/articles/art_9177.html

 

Massacre in Chiapas: Six Women, Three Men, Two Children, Assassinated in Montes Azules

Indigenous Communities and Human Rights Organizations Warned State and Federal Governments of Threats, but Authorities Failed to Act

By Al Giordano
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign in Chiapas

November 13, 2006

Today, Monday, November 13, presumed paramilitaries committed a massacre in the Montes Azules jungle region of Chiapas, killing nine indigenous women and men and two children.

The assassinated, according to a hand-written document received by Narco News from inside Zapatista civilian communities in the region, are:

• Marta Pérez Pérez
  
• María Pérez Hernández
  
• María Nuñez González
  
• Petrona Nuñez González
  
• Pedro Nuñez Pérez
  
• Eliver Benítez Pérez
  
• Antonio Pérez López
  
• Dominga Pérez López
  
• Felicitas Pérez Parcero
  
• Noilé Benítez (8 años)
  
• A recently born infant yet to be baptized

The details of the massacre, in a very isolated area, far from urban and media centers, are still sketchy, but the warning signs that violence on this scale was brewing in the region have been known by state and federal officials all along. They were specifically warned by human rights organizations last July and August, but in lieu of taking positive action, their police and other agencies merely aggravated the problems since then.

The dead lived and worked in the Ejido Dr. Manuel Velasco Suarez II, known as Viejo Velasco Suárez, a farming community established in 1984 through an agreement with the Mexican government. They and their previous generations had lived in other parts of the Lacandon Jungle that, in 1972, had been declared a “nature preserve.” Then, as now, the ecological imprimatur turned out to have more to do with looting Mother Nature than protecting her: the creation of the Montes Azules biosphere served to grant the Mexican government monopoly control over exploitation of hardwoods and other natural resources. As part of the environmental show and simulation, 66 families of the Lacandon indigenous group – a population that today numbers in the hundreds, descendants of Maya peoples of the Yucatan Peninsula that had emigrated to Chiapas centuries ago – were declared sole stewards of more than 600,000 hectares of rainforest, but on the condition that they cede economic rights to the government over the land.

Since then, members of other Maya indigenous peoples – primarily Tzeltal and Chol – have lived under siege by the government, its police agencies, its Armed Forces, the Lacandones, and other communities of Tzeltales (from the town of Nueva Palestina) and Choles (from the town of Frontera Corrazal) that had allied with and benefited from the deal. The remaining indigenous communities in the region found themselves under permanent attack since then. Conflicts in the zone led to the 1984 agreement that created Viejo Velasco Suarez and other communally farmed communities, protected, supposedly, by law: Flor de Cacao, Nuevo Tila, Ojo de Agua and San Jacinto Lacanja, all in the same region as the world-renowned ancient Maya temples and ruins at Yaxchilán, near the gigantic Usamacinta River that is Mexico’s border with much of Guatemala.

The eleven deaths in today’s massacre come – as massacres often do – at a time when the Mexican federal government has returned to the bad old days of large scale repression (in Atenco last May, and in Oaxaca at present). At times like this, paramilitaries and police agencies are emboldened by the signals sent from the top, and increase their historic aggressions against those – especially indigenous – communities perceived as being in the way of economic interests.

The federal government of Vicente Fox and his Interior Minister Carlos Abascal (“the Butcher of Oaxaca”) was warned as recently as this year about the time bomb of violence threatening Viejo Velasco Suarez and the other communities in the Montes Azules regions.

Early Warnings

On July 19 of this year, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center issued an alert titled “Threats of Eviction and Harrassment Against Indigenous Peoples in the Lacandon Jungle.” Known as “the Frayba Center,” this organization was founded by former Catholic Bishop Samuel Ruíz and is respected throughout the world as thorough and honest in its work.

The human rights organization alerted that it had received reports that:

“…on Saturday, July 14, the (state of Chiapas) Public Security police installed itself near the community of Ojo de Agua in El Progreso, threatening to violently evict the families of that community, families that are defending their right to the land as indigenous peoples… We who live in San Jacinto Lacanja, Flor de Cacao and Viejo Velasco are also threatened with eviction.”

The Frayba Center stated in its July 19 alert:

“In the opinion of Frayba this is an historic problem with a series of irregularities and clumsiness by institutions and functionaries that disregard previous agreements, manipulate parties to the conflict generating more problems, threaten violent eviction to force the communities and organizations to ‘sit down and negotiate” or don’t understand the commitments assumed during negotiations with the communities in dispute.”

The Frayba Center demanded that government authorities take measures to “guarantee the personal security and integrity of the families” of the four threatened indigenous communities, that they respect the 1984 agreement and others that granted them their lands, and that international treaties guaranteeing such protections for indigenous peoples be respected.

A few weeks later, representatives of that organization, together with a delegation of North Americans from Global Exchange, as well as the NGOs Maderas del Pueblo (“Hardwoods of the People”) and Xi’ Nich, went on a fact-finding mission to the afflicted communities. Global Exchange issued a detailed seven page report, which explains much of the background history of the conflict and, also, interestingly, the difficulties and obstacles presented to their attempts to visit the communities.

The report concluded:

“While the exact reasons for the exclusion of these four communities from the land legalization process are unclear, geographical and political factors offer an important clue. Three of the communities—Flor de Cacao, San Jacinto Lacanja, Ojo de Agua el Progreso—are located in a terrain where there are still precious woods that the Lacandon community wants to exploit, according to Miguel Angel García from Maderas del Pueblo. They are also on the banks of the Usumacinta River, one of the most important sources of pristine drinking water in the region. “Plan Puebla-Panama,” the government’s proposal for economic “modernization” for the country, also contemplates the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Usumacinta. Additionally, many of the individuals who testified believe the reason that the Lacandon community and comuneros want the land for themselves is so they can develop it for tourism purposes, as the archaeological site of Yaxchilan is located nearby, and the Lacandon community engages heavily in the tourism business. The fourth community, Viejo Velasco, because of its affiliations with the EZLN, also is likely perceived by the Mexican government to be an impediment to the maximization of profit. Indeed, shortly after our visit to El Desempeño, government officials violently evicted the EZLN civilian support base community Chol de Tumbala that was similarly in the process of securing their land claims. Federal, state, and local government officials should take immediate steps to guarantee the integrity and safety of Ojo de Agua El Progreso, Flor de Cacao, San Jacinto Lacanja, and Viejo Velasco. These communities are entitled—under both the covenant of 1984 and the agreements reached at the Limonar roundtable—to land security. The local, state, and federal government should immediately take action to stop the threatened illegal evictions and restore the families who have fled to their lands, if those families wish. Fairness and justice demand nothing less.”

The international human rights organization sent its findings to Mexican president Vicente Fox, his Interior Minister Carlos Abascal, to Chiapas Governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía and various bureaucrats under each of them.

Instead of taking action to correct the wrongs, the state and federal governments set in motion the events – and gave signals that would be received as impunity by the opponents of these communities that have violently threatened them – that brought about, today, the massacre of eleven indigenous civilians.

Escalating Aggressions

According to a hand-written chronology of the events since then, received today by Narco News, authored by members of the afflicted communities, the aggressions against them increased after the Fox and Salazar governments were informed:

• September 19: “At 4:30 p.m. comuneros from Nueva Palestina came armed with machetes, rifles, shovels, pickaxes and stones.” They destroyed the home of one family. At 8 p.m. they shot bullets into a building where women and children slept.
  
• October 4: Comuneros from Nueva Palestina attacked two farmers in their bean field with guns, destroying the crops.
  
• October 8: Members of the government-allied Nueva Palestina community met and agreed to attack the inhabitants Viejo Velasco Suarez.
  
• October 9: The attack was carried out and the home of one family razed; that afternoon they kidnapped a community member who was “seriously wounded” in the altercation.

And in another handwritten document sent to Narco News, dated Saturday, November 11, community members explain that the comuneros from Nueva Palestina shut off their water supply, leading the community of Viejo Velasco Suarez to turn the water back on and expel eleven of the occupying comuneros from their community. The document contains the names and signatures of the 11 men expelled.

It says:

“We ask the Palestinas, the state and federal governments, to respect this agreement to cease the violence in both parts of our community. We hold the government responsible for anything that happens…

“On Wednesday, November 1, 2006, the Palestinas began to close the tap for piped water through today, Saturday, November 11 of this year. That is why the original groups of this community take the following action… we totally disassociate ourselves from the Palestina groups and we don’t want them to keep harassing us in this community of Viejo Velasco, where each one of them signs his agreement to leave and to never return so as not to cause more problems with the original residents.”

According to an email just received from the families of the dead:

“The aggressors have been residents of the community of Nueva Palestina, and in common with the sad occurrences of the Acteal Massacre (of December 22, 1997, also in Chiapas) the families of the victims confirm that there are now various police roadblocks put up around them.”

According to a communiqué tonight from Maderas del Pueblo, the attackers were from Nueva Palestina, and they came at dawn: “four subcomuneros from the aggressor group who came to the community strongly armed with intentions of violently evicting the families that lived there.”

Two days later, today, six women, three men, and two children from this afflicted community are dead. At press time, various human rights organizations and the Good Government Council in Roberto Barrios of the civilian bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in its Spanish initials), as well as the Other Journalism with the Other Campaign, are investigating the details of another massacre forewarned.

http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2339.html

 

1. PRIMER ENCUENTRO ESTATAL PARA LA CONSTRUCCION DE LA ASAMBLEA POPULAR DE CHIAPAS
   Indymedia Chiapas
    - Nov 09 10:59 AM
2. manifestacion en paris para oaxaca le 20 novembre 2006
   Indymedia Chiapas
    - 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
3. The Zapatistas Other Campaign Hits Ciudad Juarez
   La Prensa San Diego
    - Nov 10 1:25 PM

 

OAXACA - FLAVIO SOSA, LEADER DELL'APPO, RIVELA IL TIMORE DI ESSERE UCCISO -  9 novembre 2006

 

Flavio Sosa, the leader of the People's Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO), speaks during an interview with Reuters outside a church in Oaxaca city's main plaza, November 9, 2006. Sosa and other APPO leaders, who are trying to topple Oaxaca state governor Ulises Ruiz, have asked the Catholic church for asylum, saying they fear for their lives. Sosa said he has received death threats and protesters have been snatched from the street. REUTERS/Henry Romero (MEXICO)

1. Sosa: Unrest in Oaxaca Start of Upheaval
   ABC News
    - 32 minutes ago
2. Sosa: Unrest in Oaxaca Start of Upheaval
   Los Angeles Times
    - 45 minutes ago
3. Sosa: Unrest in Oaxaca Start of Upheaval
   phillyburbs.com
    - 30 minutes ago