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Juez Jim Gray: Lo mejor que puedo hacer por mi país es ayudar a repeler la prohibición de las drogas; es la cosa más patriótica que puedo hacer

Estados Unidos está más preocupado en extender su dominio sobre nuestro país que en ganarse los “corazones y las mentes” de los ciudadanos mexicanos. En vez de cuestionar décadas de políticas fallidas contra el narcotráfico, prefiere radicalizarlas sin importar el alto costo que ha significado en vidas y sufrimiento humano.

Back Obama dice que está “indignado” porque sus ciudadanos recibieron una dosis de la violencia que vivimos cotidianamente, pero en vez de llamar a cuentas al principal causante de la catástrofe, Felipe Calderón, dice que seguirá apoyando sus esfuerzos “para acabar con el poder de las organizaciones del narcotráfico que operan en México ”.

Como bien lo consignan las editoriales de El Universal y La Jornada de hoy, la ejecución del sábado de tres funcionarios consulares estadounidenses es una muestra de que “Estados Unidos parece no querer que su vecino aprenda en su ejemplo la dolorosa lección que él mismo ha recibido” y sólo “multiplicará las presiones y acciones intervencionistas de Washington en México”.

Los muertos del sábado, los 18 mil ejecutados desde que Calderón se robó la presidencia y los que se acumulen durante los próximos tres años, también son responsabilidad del señor Obama, quien prefiere prolongar la carnicería y mantener la lucrativa guerra contra el narcotráfico que ensayar estrategias no violentas y más económicas como una reforma integral a las leyes de las drogas.

La soberanía de México está seriamente comprometida. De acuerdo al El Universal, un funcionario del Pentágono dispuso que nuestro Ejército “se mantendrá previsiblemente a futuro activamente involucrado en la lucha contra el narcotráfico… incluso aumentará el presupuesto que destina a la cooperación bilateral con las Fuerzas Armadas mexicanas, a fin de reformar el proyecto de seguridad hemisférico del Comando Norte”.

¿Quién gana y quién pierde?

El juez Jim Gray, excandidato republicano al Congreso, exprocurador de justicia y uno de los principales promotores de la guerra contra las drogas responsable de los mayores decomisos de enervantes en Los Ángeles, comentó en entrevista con Stopthedrugwar.org:

¿Quién está ganando el día de hoy con motivo de esta política fallida? Yo tengo seis grupos… El primer grupo, obviamente, son los capos de la droga, los grandes traficantes de drogas están generando cientos de millones de dólares anualmente, libres de impuestos por cierto, y claramente están ganando.

El segundo grupo que está ganando son las pandillas juveniles, prácticamente todas estas pandillas de jóvenes en nuestro país reciben su principal fuente de recursos económicos por la venta de drogas ilegales y ahora las están empleando como herramienta de reclutamiento para meter a más niños dentro de esta forma de vida porque también ellos pueden participar en la acción y ganarse algo de dinero.

El tercer grupo de personas que están ganando son quienes están en la procuración de justicia y reciben grandes cantidades de dinero del gobierno para luchar contra los primeros dos grupos… las burocracias se han expandido, los montos de dinero y poder también se han expandido; están ganando.

El cuarto grupo son los políticos que mantienen un discurso duro, más no inteligente, sobre la guerra contra las drogas que les ha permitido reelegirse una y otra vez … desde luego es nuestra culpa porque seguimos eligiéndolos.

El quinto grupo son aquellas personas en el sector privado que ganan dinero con el aumento de la delincuencia. ¿Quiénes son? Obviamente la gente que construye prisiones enormemente lucrativas, aquellos que reclutan al personal de las prisiones. En el estado de California, el sindicato de trabajadores penitenciarios es uno de los grupos de cabildeo político más grandes… están ganando y se ríen de nosotros.

Y el sexto grupo que está ganando son las organizaciones terroristas mundiales. Si uno se asoma dentro de cualquier organización terrorista, como la de Osama Bin Laden y todas las demás, su fuente primaria de ingresos es el dinero de la droga. Es la venta de drogas ilegales. A tal grado que la prohibición de las drogas es el cisne dorado del terrorismo. Y si nuestro gobierno quisiera dañar verdaderamente a los grupos terroristas de todo el mundo, tomaría el único paso que serviría para tal efecto: repeler la prohibición de las drogas.

¿Quiénes están perdiendo? Todos los demás.

(…) La gente que apoya el status quo está del lado equivocado de la historia… como aquellos que apoyaron la prohibición del alcohol… es sólo una cuestión de tiempo. Le garantizo a cualquiera que sepa escuchar que dos años después de que cambiemos está política fallida y sin esperanza todo mundo se unirá y verá al pasado sorprendido de que hayamos perpetuado un sistema tan fracasado durante tanto tiempo. Lo mejor que puedo hacer por mi país es ayudar a repeler la prohibición de las drogas; es la cosa más patriótica que puedo hacer y tendremos éxito.

A member of Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group writes:

10th March 2010

I have just returned from the Zapatista village of Bolon Ajaw, Chiapas, where on 6th February 230 civilian Zapatistas took part in an action to retake control of their "reclaimed lands" which had been invaded and taken over since 20 January by the paramilitary group OPDDIC.

Thanks to inspiring solidarity from Zapatistas from many different communities the Zapatistas continue to control the land, and are carrying out collective work there.

The situation is very tense and the Zapatista villagers of Bolon Ajaw stressed the vital importance of international solidarity, urging us to spread the news of their struggle around the world.  Human rights observers from Frayba are now present to act as a deterrent against more violence from the OPDDIC paramilitaries, who have a base in nearby Agua Azul.

The 32 Zapatista families of Bolon Ajaw, part of autonomous municipality Comandanta Ramona, live close to beautiful waterfalls.  These falls are coveted for tourist developments by government and business interests, who are using OPDDIC as tools to try and rob the Zapatistas of their land.

In contrast to the rich natural resources of Chiapas, the villagers of Bolon Ajaw, like the majority of indigenous villagers in the state, live in real poverty.  There is no electricity in the village, and water has to be carried from wells half a mile away.

6TH FEBRUARY - THE TRUE STORY

An extremely detailed report by the respected human rights organisation the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) describes the events of 6th February.  This investigation dismisses claims by the state government, OPDDIC and the mass media that on 6th February the Zapatistas shot at OPDDIC members, killing one, and injuring others.  On the contrary, reports Frayba, it was OPDDIC who at least four times opened fire on the Zapatistas, wounding three Zapatistas, including a sixteen year old. 

Frayba's research confirms that the OPDDIC member killed and those wounded on 6th February were shot by mistake by fellow OPDDIC members, as two different OPDDIC groups opened fire on the inhabitants of Bolon Ajaw, from opposite sides of the village. OPDDIC, linked to the PRI - the Institutional Revolutionary Party which governed Mexico for many decades - have been involved in numerous attacks and harassment of Zapatista communities over recent years.

Frayba give a detailed account of several clashes which occurred during the day.  Actions included the Zapatistas repulsing an attempt by OPDDIC to retake the land, and the Zapatistas breaking out of an armed ambush and encirclement by OPDDIC in order to go to the aid of the inhabitants of Bolon Ajaw, who were being shot at by OPDDIC gunmen.

The Zapatista Good Government Council based at Morelia has also issued a full statement. This details the attacks by the OPDDIC paramilitaries, naming names, and holding all three levels of government - local, Chiapas state, and the national federal government - responsible for the attacks against the indigenous people and their lands.   The statement describes how on 6th February OPDDIC shot at unarmed Zapatistas, seriously wounding one man in the stomach, how they completely destroyed a Zapatista's home, and smashed up sacred objects in the Bolon Ajaw church.

The Zapatistas stress their willingness to hold talks over the problems: "We, the Council of Good Government, have never closed the door to finding a good solution to problems, we always show good will."

HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN

The Frayba investigation emphasises that government plans for major tourist developments at the renowned local waterfalls lie behind the attacks on the Zapatistas. The nearby Agua Azul Falls are already heavily promoted, featuring in international tourist guides such as Lonely Planet, and Bolon Ajaw has five more as yet undeveloped wateralls, which are even more beautiful.

These proposed developments are part of a much bigger "tourist development plan".  Enormous interests are at stake in the Palenque CIP project, which covers six municipalities in the north of Chiapas around the world-famous Mayan temples of Palenque.  The state government of Chiapas is due to invest half of the money involved, the balance presumably coming from private investment.  The Project has been in development since 2007, and a major extension of Palenque airport is due this year.

The CIP Project emphasises specialist and luxury tourism, and long-stay visitors.  A natural theme park is planned for the Agua Azul Waterfalls, with commercial areas and significant accommodation for "eco", adventure and sporting tourism.  But, international consultants point out, "before attracting investment the State must find a solution to the problems of acquiring the land and the problems of access."

In other words, for the state and business interests, the Zapatistas and their determination to defend Mother Earth are "a problem" standing in the way of the realisation of multi-million tourist investments. 

These planned tourist developments are closely linked to a new highway through Chiapas, which threatens a number of communities on its route from the colonial tourist centre of San Cristobal de Las Casas to the magnificent Mayan temples at Palenque.  As well as Bolon Ajaw, the communities of San Sebastian Bachajon , near Bolon Ajaw, and Mitziton near San Cristobal, both adherents to the Zapatista-initiated Other Campaign, are among the communities resisting the new highway in the face of state and paramilitary oppression.

Frayba denounce the Chiapas State authorities for trying to blame the Zapatistas and the Other Campaign supporters of San Sebastian Bachajon for the violence.  They accuse the authorities of "generating the conditions for a military intervention ordered by the Federal Government against the civilian population."

The lands at Bolon Ajaw were reclaimed by the Zapatistas in the aftermath of the 1994 uprising.  Until then they had been in the hands of private owners who brutally exploited the local indigenous people.   Frayba detail the numerous attacks by OPDDIC on the Zapatistas since 2003.

DEFENDING MOTHER EARTH

These latest events at Bolon Ajaw are noteworthy not only for the scale of the threats facing the Zapatistas, but for the exemplary solidarity, courage, self-organisation and self-discipline displayed by the Zapatistas in taking collective direct action to defend "Mother Earth and its natural resources".  

In Bolon Ajaw, in Montes Azules, in Mitziton, in Sebastian Bachajon, in Chicomuselo, and throughout Chiapas and Mexico, a war is being waged by the state, paramilitaries and big business to once more rob the indigenous and poor peasant peoples of their land and destroy Mother Earth for money. 

In Chiapas, and also in other Mexican states like Oaxaca and Guerrero, the peasant and indigenous peoples' resistance and struggle for autonomy continues - international solidarity is needed.

As the Frayba centre state:

"We issue an URGENT call to civil society, in Mexico and internationally, to all those committed to the defence of human rights, to come out and denounce the clear increase in the actions of violence against the civilian, peaceful process of autonomy being developed by the Zapatista "bases of support" (civilian suppporters) and their Councils of Good Government which are civil authorities."

NOTES:

This is an updated version of an article posted earlier.

If interested in solidarity with the Zapatistas and people of Chiapas and Mexico in the UK, contact Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group:  edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk   www.edinchiapas.org.uk

UK Zapatista site: http://ukzapatistas.wordpress.com /

Supporters world-wide are organising solidarity activities with the Zapatista communities under attack on 20th March.

Info in Spanish at http://chiapas.indymedia.org/article_173616

There have already been solidarity actions in various towns and cities in the Spanish State and in Mexico.

Full statement by Zapatista Council of Good Government of Morelia on the events at Bolon Ajaw on 6th February, in English http://www.edinchiapas.org.uk/node/266

Fray Bartolome site, info in English http://www.frayba.org.mx/index.php?hl=en

Regular reports from Chiapas, mainly Spanish, some English, on Indymedia Chiapaswww.chiapas.indymedia.org

Information on the Zapatistas struggle to create autonomous health, education, and grass-roots decision-making structures  http://www.edinchiapas.org.uk/node/30

Full report by Fray Bartolome human rights group on the events at Bolon Ajaw on 6th February, in Spanish http://chiapas.indymedia.org/article_173362

Letter of protest to Mexican government about the eviction of Zapatista community in Montes Azules, Chiapas, in Spanish http://www.europazapatista.org/spip.php?article2409

No entiendo cómo el Estado mexicano quiere ganar la guerra contra el narcotráfico si todas sus acciones sólo alienan y agreden a los sectores a los que debería ganarse.

El miércoles pasado las autoridades de Chihuahua ordenaron un operativo en el CBTIS 128 y el Cobach 9 de Ciudad Juárez para buscar drogas y armas. En esas escuelas estudiaban los 15 jóvenes asesinados el 30 de enero en Villas de Salvácar.

Según la nota de El Universal, dos mil 600 estudiantes salieron a la explanada y todas sus pertenencias fueron revisadas por perros olfateadores. Las autoridades que ordenaron el operativo concluyeron al final que estas los alumnos estaban “libres de drogas”. Es decir, no encontraron nada. Se supone que los funcionarios de Derechos Humanos, representantes estudiantiles y personal docente dieron fe de que no “fueran violentados los derechos de los estudiantes”. La Dirección de Prevención Delictiva anunció que los operativos seguirán en los planteles en beneficio de los jóvenes.

¿Para beneficiarlos o para asustarlos? Se ha vuelto un mal hábito que los gobiernos, en nombre de la seguridad pública, se aprovechen de que los menores de edad están en un limbo jurídico donde no pueden oponerse a las medidas draconianas de las que son objeto. Y no sólo son los jóvenes. Los automovilistas se han resignado a soportar el establecimiento de retenes ilegales en las carreteras y en las calles de las ciudades donde, sin órdenes de registro, la policía y los soldados que deberían ser garantes de la legalidad, se pasan por el arco del triunfo el artículo 16 de la Constitución. Y si alguien tiene la mala suerte de no detenerse, puede ser acribillado por los policías y los militares. Así, los pocos derechos que nos concede la ley, se erosionan gradualmente mientras los delincuentes andan libres y hacen de las suyas.

La crisis de inseguridad provoca que nuestros gobernantes tomen decisiones irracionales y extremas. Y lo más grave es que muchas de esas brillantes ideas son copiadas al pie de la letra de los Estados Unidos.

En febrero del año pasado, el gobierno de Eduardo Bours aprobó la iniciativa panista llamada Ley para la Prevención, Tratamiento, Rehabilitación y Control de las Adicciones. El ordenamiento, en el artículo 11, dispone la ejecución (con la autorización de los padres, por lo menos) de un programa de Pruebas al Azar de Consumo de Drogas como una medida “preventiva, no punitiva, confidencia y destinada a disuadir el uso de drogas entre estudiantes”.

Las pruebas antidoping aleatorias son una práctica extendida en nuestro vecino del norte y aunque no existe evidencia científica que respalde su efectividad, nuestros políticos las adoptan heroicamente para dar la impresión de que son duros contra el crimen, cuando en realidad exhiben su limitada capacidad para crear políticas públicas integrales, adecuadas a nuestra realidad social y cultural.

Las revisiones ilegales de los estudiantes, tanto de sus cuerpos como de sus pertenencias, no sólo son costosas si no contraproducentes. Ahora no sólo deben cuidarse de la violencia de los cárteles sino de la violencia del Estado, de sus agentes corruptos y las vejaciones cometidas al amparo del combate al narco. Estas estrategias envían el mensaje de que los menores son delincuentes en potencia y ciudadanos de segunda; es una señal inequívoca de desconfianza.

Y si no les tenemos confianza, ¿cómo demonios podemos exigirles que digan “no” a las drogas, que se alejen de las tentaciones del crimen organizado y que confíen en las autoridades aunque sientan su dignidad ultrajada y justificada bajo la cantaleta de que estos abusos son un “mal necesario”?

The goal of any viral video is to inject life into the audience. If it plays by the rules, the audience will be limited. If it relies on expected tropes and conceits, then it will appear fake. Honest and amateur will trump fake and professional. Professionalism for the sake of professionalism is always fake. Professionalism is expected; amateurism is novel. One video shot by one protester in Iran will always have more views than an edited collection of different shots.

We live in a vicarious age. We minimize our guilt by spreading it to others.

We live in an age of little hope. We minimize our hopelessness by spreading what little hope we find.

It's more important to get people interested than it is to educate. Trivia is easy to provide because it doesn't require context. Yet it provides a starting step to understanding the context, because trivia provides familiarity. All knowledge of context is grounded in the familiar; it allows us to make comparisons and connections between ourselves without relying on abstractions. That we can all know something trivial requires no abstraction, but provides a basic human context. If I were to make a video -- or any media -- regarding the Arab world, I would start by pointing out that Arabic has no "p"; that "p" is the most common consonant in the world; that of the top 25 languages spoken, Arabic is the only one without a "p". I'll bet you didn't know that. Want to learn more...?

If you have 10 seconds to keep people watching a 5 minute video, start with the familiar and transition to the unfamiliar later. Start superficial and then peel away at the layers. You deconstruct inwards towards the source, not outwards toward the product. Start with as little context as necessary. Root yourself in common assumptions; doing otherwise may appear insisting.

It's easier to intellectualize over the actions of the victimizer than it is to have empathy for the victim. This is related to the above.

People won't watch something that's hard to watch, especially if they have neither interest nor context. Baptism by fire does work, but it's not something most people willingly go through. Make it harder /later/.

Adrenaline rushes are overrated. Use them wisely, and timing is everything. This is /chemical/.

Moments of heartwarming are chemical. Moments of intense sadness are chemical. If it creates an emotional response, it's chemical. Know how these emotions work in you, because the feelings created by emotions are universal.

And of course: ignore all rules. This is a rule, as is everything above it.

Be a Part of the Team that Keeps Narco News and the School of Authentic Journalism Going Strong

By Al Giordano

Publisher, Narco News

For the past five years Benjamin Melançon – graduate of the 2004 School of Authentic Journalism – has done a heroic job managing the The Fund for Authentic Journalism, the 501c3 nonprofit organization registered in Massachusetts that supports the work of journalists at Narco News and its j-school.

Ben and his family and friends have picked up the mail, deposited the checks, kept the books, issued grants and payments, sent out hundreds of DVDs, books and other gifts and thank you notes to its donors, and for five years they’ve done it as volunteers.

Understandably, five years is a long term for such unpaid service and Ben finds himself increasingly busy with his own web development and organizing work, and has indicated a wish to retire from the position in the coming months.

Because The Fund is registered in the state of Massachusetts, that is where it must be administrated. We have many readers, supporters and friends in the Bay State from the Berkshires to Boston, from the Merrimack Valley to Southeastern Mass. And so the Fund has asked us to help seek someone already familiar with this project and its work who can spend a few hours a week as a volunteer taking over the management of the Fund.

The Fund for Authentic Journalism, founded by readers of Narco News, has a mission of getting a maximum amount of the funds that it raises directly to the work of authentic journalists. For that reason it has not rented an office nor paid staff. It can’t offer money to its next administrator, just the satisfaction of being part of an international team that is about to enter its eleventh year breaking the information blockade across the hemisphere and changing the history of journalism… and perhaps some invitations to very interesting events and the chance to meet and collaborate with talents of conscience across América and the world.

Here is the job description:

- Check the PO Box once a week (more during three or four fund appeal seasons each year). The Fund’s address – currently in Natick – can be changed to anywhere in Massachusetts. The administrator should be someone who is around most of the year and who has local help for any times when he or she is traveling.

- Keep good books of donations received (date, amount, name, address and email of donor) and of all expenditures made.

- Deposit the checks in a timely manner to the (Massachusetts) bank account of The Fund. Currently, this account is with a bank in the Natick area. Again, The Fund can change banks for the convenience of its administrator.

- Participate in periodic conference calls with The Fund’s board of directors.

- Send out “thank you” notes to those who send donations by mail.

- Issue wire transfers, PayPal payments and grants and fees by mail to journalists and vendors. (Because of the safety issues involved in the work of many journalists supported by The Fund, at times wire transfers must be made on a single day’s notice.)

- Work with The Fund’s treasurer each year as he prepares and files The Fund’s state and federal tax statements, to make sure he has the accurate information of receipts and expenditures.

- At times The Fund offers gifts to donors (DVDs, books, etcetera). The administrator takes care of shipping them to the recipients.

- Be in regular contact and available daily via email and phone to Narco News’ publisher and some other journalists supported by The Fund.

Although the work really involves just a few hours a week – sometimes not even that, depending on the season – it is work that has to be done regularly and punctually for the entire year to assure that the work of The Fund and the journalists and projects it supports comply with their missions.

It is a very important and much appreciated role in this international network. That’s why the administrator is also invited to participate in The School of Authentic Journalism in Latin America and is invited to periodic fundraising events in the United States.

If, reading this job description, you think you might be the right person at the right time in the right place (Massachusetts), please send an email to search@authenticjournalism.org introducing yourself.

If you know individuals already involved in The Fund or Narco News or The School of Authentic Journalism please let us know who, because The Fund’s strong preference is to find someone already “in the family,” known and trusted to us to play this vitally important role on the team. Please include your telephone number, address, and explain why you would be willing to do this job as a volunteer and whether you think you can meet each of the requirements of the job description above.

Thank you, in advance, for your generous spirit of volunteerism and commitment to the goals of The Fund for Authentic Journalism and the projects it supports (including ours). We believe that an old or new friend is out there who can do this job with all of us, and hopefully, that friend is you.

* El político tabasqueño habló acerca de su plan de rescate para Ciudad Juárez, el conflicto social en Cananea y el informe de la Corte sobre el caso ABC

Descarga audio:
http://www.divshare.com/download/10696900-990

Este domingo, en entrevista con el programa “Y sin embargo, se mueve”, el Presidente Legítimo, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, expuso su plan de desarrollo social para rescatar a la comunidad chihuahuense de la violencia y la inseguridad pública. El excandidato presidencial afirmó que la decadencia es el “fruto podrido de la política económica que han venido imponiendo desde hace 27 años” y que su plan pretende crear una atmósfera de bienestar para ir creando un clima de distensión social. También se refirió a la tensa situación que viven los trabajadores huelguistas de Cananea y propuso la cancelación de la concesión de Grupo México como una posible salida al conflicto laboral. Y con motivo de los nueve meses de la tragedia en la guardería ABC, el exjefe de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México puso como condición indispensable de justicia que se castigue y encarcele al gobernador saliente de Sonora, Eduardo Bours Castelo y al exdirector del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Juan Molinar Horcasitas. De lo contrario, afirma, quedará “un ambiente, una sensación de farsa, de impunidad”.

Muy buenos días, Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, desde Coahuila estamos haciendo este enlace para que nos comente sobre este plan de desarrollo para Ciudad Juárez.

AMLO: Bueno, estuvimos por allá hace dos, tres días y ustedes ya saben la situación tan lamentable que se está viviendo en Ciudad Juárez, y fuimos a proponer un plan de desarrollo social porque consideramos que no basta, como ha quedado demostrado, el que nada más se atienda el problema de la inseguridad y la violencia con medidas coercitivas, con policías, con soldados, con amenazas de mano dura.

Consideramos que el problema de la inseguridad y la violencia se ha originado en todo el país por la falta de oportunidades, de trabajo, por la falta de bienestar y que hay que atender esas causas si no, no vamos a poder a salir a adelante. Todo esto que está pasando en Ciudad Juárez y en el país es el fruto podrido de la política económica que han venido imponiendo desde hace 27 años, que sólo beneficia una minoría y tiene en el abandono a la mayoría de los mexicanos y sobre todo, a los jóvenes que no se les ha atendido, se les rechaza de las universidades públicas, que no tienen posibilidad de trabajo.

Entonces, lo que fuimos a hacer a Ciudad Juárez, fue proponer una estrategia para el desarrollo social, ocho puntos para crear un ambiente nuevo, distinto, de confianza, de bienestar. Un ambiente de progreso que permita enfrentar la atmósfera de inseguridad, de violencia, todo esto que está sucediendo.

El planteamiento que hacemos son ocho puntos básicamente:

Uno, que se entreguen becas a todos los estudiantes de nivel medio superior, de institutos y de universidades de Ciudad Juárez.

El punto dos tiene que ver con la construcción de escuelas preparatorias, ampliación de espacios en las universidades públicas, para que no haya rechazados. Que se acaben (los) pretextos que han venido esgrimiendo desde hace 27 años, de que no se le permite entrar a los jóvenes porque no pasan el examen de admisión en las universidades públicas, cuando todos sabemos que el problema es que no hay presupuestos para las universidades públicas.

Entonces hay que ampliar los espacios y garantizar que nadie se quede sin la oportunidad de estudiar.

El tercer planteamiento que hacemos va en el sentido de crear el seguro del desempleo, que los que pierdan el trabajo pues reciban un apoyo mensual en tanto consiguen otro empleo.

El cuarto punto tiene que ver con el apoyo a los adultos mayores, la pensión alimentaria a adultos mayores.

El punto cinco es el relacionado con becas para personas con discapacidad.

El punto seis es el que se otorguen de manera gratuita los medicamentos y desde luego que haya atención médica gratuita a todos los que no tienen seguridad social.

El punto siete es que se eche a andar un programa de infraestructura urbana en colonias populares: introducción de agua, drenaje, pavimento, alumbrado público. Que se mejoren los espacios en escuelas, centros de salud, guarderías que haya espacios para la cultura, para el deporte.

Y por último estamos planteando que se otorguen créditos para construir, ampliar o mejorar vivienda.

Eso es lo que nosotros estamos planteando. Consideramos que se trataría de una inversión de alrededor de seis mil millones de pesos que podrían obtenerse si se aplica un plan de austeridad republicana en el Gobierno Federal. Incluso, con sólo eliminar una partida del presupuesto destinada a satisfacer los privilegios de los altos funcionarios públicos. Por ejemplo, si se elimina la partida de atención medica privada de los altos funcionarios públicos, estaríamos hablando también de seis mil millones de pesos. Con eso se podría financiar este programa.

Andrés Manuel, este programa no solamente pretende recuperar la seguridad en Ciudad Juárez. Como todos sabemos, Ciudad Juárez sufre un fenómeno tal que el tejido social esta roto. ¿La principal pretensión de este programa es reestablecer el tejido social?

Así es. Crear un ambiente distinto. Mire, en Ciudad Juárez hay miedo, frustración. Todo esto provocado por la inseguridad y la violencia. Entonces no se puede enfrentar la situación de inseguridad y de violencia pues nada más con soldados y con policías. Hay que crear un ambiente distinto, una atmósfera de bienestar, de progreso, para ir creando una distensión, un ambiente nuevo que le de confianza a la gente para poder salir adelante con esta terrible situación que ellos están padeciendo de inseguridad y de violencia.

Sabemos que Ciudad Juárez es prioritaria, pero acá en Sonora también tenemos una prioridad: Cananea. ¿Qué hacemos con Cananea?

He estado pendiente. Estoy recorriendo como siempre el país, pero he estado muy pendiente de Cananea. He estado pidiendo a nuestros legisladores, a los legisladores del movimiento, que actúen para evitar la represión en Cananea. Hace unos días, esta semana, fue a comparecer al Senado, por iniciativa de legisladores nuestros, (Fernando) Gómez Mont y el secretario del Trabajo (Javier Lozano). Ahí se les plantearon los problemas de Cananea y se hizo mucho énfasis en que no se diera en Cananea una salida autoritaria, es decir, que no se utilice la fuerza bruta, el Ejército, la policía. Que se busque una solución que resuelva el problema de los trabajadores mineros, eso se está planteando.

También el punto de acuerdo que se aprobó en el Senado que fue presentado por el senador Arturo Núñez y por el senador Ricardo Monreal, va en el sentido de que se revise la posibilidad de cancelar la concesión a la Minera México para que se busquen opciones, alternativas. No creemos nosotros que lo que se deba hacer en Cananea sea el uso de la fuerza para desalojar a los trabajadores mineros. Vamos a estar pendientes. Yo creo que sí se pueden buscar opciones, alternativas. O se reconocen los derechos de los trabajadores por parte de la Minera México, o que se busque cancelar la concesión para que otra empresa, desde luego previa licitación, se haga cargo de la explotación minera en Cananea y se regrese a la normalidad y sobre todo se garanticen, queden a salvo los derechos de los trabajadores. Eso es lo que estamos proponiéndonos.

¿Esto quiere decir que el Movimiento Nacional en Defensa de la Economía Popular que usted encabeza, permanece apoyando al movimiento de la huelga de Cananea?

Sí. Vamos a seguir apoyando a los trabajadores porque tienen la razón. Creo que la gente de Sonora sabe que el dueño de la mina de Cananea es Germán Larrea, uno de los diez hombres más ricos de este país. Esa mina se las entregó (el expresidente Carlos) Salinas de Gortari como parte de la política de despojo de bienes nacionales que se llevó a cabo desde la época de Salinas, que se inició desde la época de Salinas de Gortari para ser más precisos. Porque todavía, desgraciadamente, no paran de entregar los bienes de la nación y bienes del pueblo. Entonces, este señor Larrea es un potentado, tenia como su abogado a (Fernando) Gómez Mont, el actual secretario de Gobernación. Este señor Larrea es accionista también en Televisa y, utilizando todas sus influencias, porque son de los que mandan en el país, no han querido resolver el problema de los trabajadores mineros de Cananea. Y vamos nosotros a estar muy pendientes para que no se les reprima, para que se haga justicia en Cananea. Estamos hablando de un sitio histórico; no olvidemos que en 1906 ahí se llevó a cabo una huelga, hubo una represión y fue de los primeros destellos de lo que sería posteriormente la Revolución Mexicana. Es un lugar con mucha historia, con mucha tradición de lucha. Es un pueblo extraordinario, yo creo que los sonorenses deberían, como lo han venido haciendo, seguir apoyando a los trabajadores, no dejarlos solos.

¿Algún mensaje final?

Sí. Me gustaría agregar que hemos estado también pendientes de toda la solicitud, (la) demanda de justicia acerca de la pérdida de las vidas de los bebés en la guardería de Hermosillo. Vamos nosotros también a seguir pendientes de esto. Yo creo que no debe de quedar nada más en una simple recomendación, sin carácter vinculante, de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación. Yo creo que se debe castigar a los responsables. Estamos pendientes porque si se hace justicia vamos a iniciar una etapa nueva en nuestro país. Es decir, vamos todos los mexicanos a sentirnos muy satisfechos si se castiga a los responsables. De lo contrario, pues va a ser un golpe muy fuerte, no sólo para los familiares de los bebés que perdieron la vida, sino para todos los mexicanos. Vamos a estar muy pendientes. Desde luego, cuando hablamos de justicia, pues lo que procede, lo que está demostrado, es que se enjuicie, que se castigue, de conformidad con la ley, al gobernador de Sonora, a (Eduardo Bours), a quien ese entonces era gobernador de Sonora y al director del Seguro Social, a (Juan) Molinar. Horcasitas. Si a estos dos personajes se les juzga y se les encarcela, va a haber justicia. De lo contrario va a quedar un ambiente, una sensación de farsa, de impunidad, no sólo en Hermosillo, Sonora sino en todo México. Eso es lo que también quería decir, que estamos pendientes de la resolución definitiva de la Suprema Corte sobre este lamentable caso.

(Entrevista conducida por Rosa María Rodríguez y César Lucero. Escucha “Y sin embargo, se mueve” todos los domingos, de 9 a 11 de la mañana (10 a 12 del medio día tiempo de la Ciudad de México), a través del 95.5 del FM en Hermosillo, por internet en www.radiobemba.org o en nuestra página oficial www.ysinembargosemueve.net. Publicada originalmente en SDP Noticias el lunes 8 de marzo).  

On Sunday 28 February, a major conflict took place in the Chiapan community of Mitziton, when around one hundred members of the evangelical ‘Army of God’, widely seen as a paramilitary group, attacked Other Campaign supporters in the community. Over 200 police attended, in ten police lorries, and the road between San Cristobal and Comitan was closed for many hours. Each side took three members of the other side hostage, and several people received bullet wounds from the guns of the Army of God or were beaten up. Huge fires were lit, and ambulances were prevented from getting in to treat the wounded.

A statement from the community assembly tells how Other Campaign adherents were tied to poles blindfolded and left like this for twelve hours, “they were brutally beaten and tortured while they poured gasoline over them, saying ‘we are going to burn you alive’ ”. Agents of the State Preventive Police “were already in place, but when they heard the shots did nothing. They only approached when the aggression was over”. Government officials who were present “did nothing, only gave statements to the press to confuse people”.

The incidents were grossly misrepresented in much of the press, despite the presence of human rights observers to monitor the situation. What had happened was presented solely as a conflict over timber, as it was precipitated by one of the evangelicals illegally cutting down five trees. He did this without gaining the permission of the community authorities, necessary because trees are protected in Mitziton.

What the press did not say was that this action was clearly one of deliberate provocation, intended to incite violence and division, and to weaken and discredit the community assembly which represents the majority of the population. Nor did they say that the paramilitary groups have the full support and protection of the state government to attack with impunity. Finally, they presented the events as a ‘mere inter-religious conflict’, rather than a symptom of the struggle by many indigenous groups to prevent the loss of their lands to the San Cristobal - Palenque highway, which in Mitziton would destroy 40 hectares of pine and oak forest, 10 hectares of community farmland, and two wells. Finally, they failed to indicate that this attack demonstrates once again the government’s intention to put an end to all the political and social struggles and movements connected in any way to the Zapatista movement and its sympathisers.

Background

 Mitziton is a Tzotzil community situated in a rural part of the municipality of San Cristobal, next to the headquarters of military zone XXXI Rancho Nuevo. The origin of the community lies in the expulsion of over 30,000 residents from San Juan Chamula in 1976, when the ‘traditional’ Catholics broke with the ‘progressive’ Catholic diocese of San Cristobal, which was then following the teachings of Liberation Theology under Bishop Samuel Ruiz. Evangelical protestant groups were also expelled.

 As in many communities in Chiapas, therefore, there are political and religious differences. Approximately 500 residents of Mitziton are Catholics and adherents of the Other Campaign, while 98 are members of an evangelical religious organisation called ‘Eagle Wings’ (Alas de Aguila). They oppose the Other Campaign, and are also members of the Army of God (Ejercito de Dios), a branch of their church. The majority in Mitziton call this group ‘the un-cooperative ones’ (non-cooperantes) because they do not take part in community work. “These ‘soldiers of Christ’ are nothing more than a paramilitary organisation”, they say.

The members of the Eagle Wings church are followers of Pastor Carmen Diaz Lopez, who was expelled from Mitziton in 2001, for the alleged trafficking of undocumented Central American migrants. He is said to have persuaded other evangelicals not to cooperate in community activities, and is alleged to be financing the Eagle Wings church.

The Army of God emerged from an armed group called ‘My Brother’s Keeper’. Its stated aim is to protect its evangelical members from expulsion, displacement or harassment, and to promote their development and advancement. It has a politico-military structure, and its Commander-in-chief is Esdras Alonso Gonzalez. In June 2006, he, along with the Eagle Wings and other local evangelical churches, presented 120 male and female members of the Army of God to a religious ceremony in San Cristobal.  They had had military and religious training, wore military-style uniforms, and marched in military cadence. Since then the organisation has continued to grow.

Resistance to the road

Construction of the San Cristobal to Palenque toll road was due to begin in 2009, as one of the first steps in the plan to develop the Palenque - Agua Azul area into a luxury paradise for ecotourism. In February, the Chiapas state government announced that it was to begin preparations for work on the 8-mile stretch of road between San Cristobal and the Rancho Nuevo military base, and engineers went to Mitziton, without asking permission, and told local people they were measuring for the super-highway, for which Mitziton was to be ‘kilometre zero’.         

The community met together in assembly in March, and decided to reject the highway which would cut their ejido in half, destroying their homes, lands, forests and water sources. They issued a formal statement of resistance in April. “The bad government has violated our rights as indigenous Tzotziles, since at no time have they told us they want to build the highway here, and they never asked permission to enter our territory and take measurements...We will organise and defend ourselves, we are not alone”. They explained that the highway would destroy 10 family homes and 10 hectares of land where they grow potatoes, beans, radishes and corn. The highway would also destroy 40 hectares of forest.... “The bad government clearly knows that our community produces tree seedlings of different species, so we will never allow the destruction of our land. We do not benefit at all from building the highway, only big businesses benefit. The bad government make promises and promises and all that happens is imprisonment, torture, abductions and other violations of human rights”.

The plans for the highway accentuated the differences between the two sections of the community; the evangelical group were in favour of the toll road passing through Mitziton lands, and were in support of, and supported by, the PRD state government. “Ever since we adhered to the EZLN’s Other Campaign, we saw that they began to publicly show off with their uniforms so we can see them,” a Mitzitón spokesperson told Proceso magazine.

 Killing in Mitziton

On 21st July 2009, 30 Other Campaign adherents, following an agreement by the Mitziton assembly, went to measure their communal lands. They were attacked by 60 members of the evangelical group with machetes, slingshots, clubs and stones. A truck carrying five people, two of them armed with shotguns, was driven at high speed towards the group, running them over, killing Aurelio Diaz Hernandez and injuring five other men who were taken to hospital. Witnesses had no doubt the killing was intentional. The victims say that the Army of God members are heavily armed, and that they use the truck involved in the killing for people trafficking, and for transporting illegally felled timber. They say that two pastors of the Eagle Wings church had seriously threatened the Other Campaign members during the two days prior to the incident, including shooting bullets into a truck.

The protests continue

Mitziton residents held a protest march soon after the killing, which was joined by people from many parts of the region. The protest, in the form of a mock funeral procession, demanded the cancellation of the highway from San Cristobal to Palenque, the self determination of communities, and justice for Aurelio Diaz Hernandez. For six hours, they marched on the Pan-American Highway, carrying a symbolic casket. Each hour, they permitted the line of backed-up cars to pass in both direc­tions and then blocked the highway for another hour. Details of the killing, the demonstrations, and the background, were published in La Jornada, Proceso, and by the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba).

Following this, the commander-in chief of the Army of God, Esdras Alonso, sued Frayba, the community leaders in Mitziton, and Hermann Bellinghausen from La Jornada, for defamation of character and blocking the highway. The Army of God had become more visible on the streets of San Cristobal, marching in military formation and military uniform and commanded by military officers, a symbol of force and power.     

Soon after, Mitziton came together with two other affected indigenous communities, Jotolá and San Sebastián Bachajón, to campaign together against the planned new highway. A six-hour roadblock was held by over a thousand Other Campaign adherents, followed by a press conference. Representatives denounced the current situation, “we are faced with bad neoliberal projects that offer no benefit to indigenous people in any way, and the plundering of our land, which threatens our very presence on it”.  Other Campaign members from Mitzitón condemned the fact that after a month there had been no arrest made for the murder of Aurelio Diaz Hernandez. They also reported that “the paramilitaries continue to threaten us with their guns, firing them often into the air during the evening and night” and that public officials from the Ministry of Communication and Transportation had “made new attempts to trick us into signing an assembly certificate to give them permission to pass through our territory to build the highway to Palenque.” They continued “the non-cooperative ones from the Army of God, the ones who killed our comrade, continue to arrive with their truck full of migrant brothers. We want to prevent further smuggling in our territory, to make sure none of the people of our community will ever be run over or attacked again”.

In conclusion, the representatives of the three communities explained that they had met on this occasion to defend their land, their rights and their indigenous culture that “the bad government wants to destroy and continue destroying like they did with our ancestors.” The three communities demonstrated against the road together again later in the year in San Cristobal.

The Chiapas state government continued to deny that the route of the road had been decided, while engineers visited communities seeking approval for the super-highway to pass through their lands. On August 18, after the state government’s denials were published in the media, agents of the Secretary of Communications and Transportation went to Mitzitón asking them to sign a paper stating that the assembly had agreed to let the toll road pass through their territory. Ejido members refused. Threats continued, as when on August 24th, one month after the murder, several members of the Army of God entered a house in Mitzitón, brandishing machetes, and told a woman they were going to kill her husband.

A visitor to the community in September commented: “Earth movers are at Mitziton's door, ready to carve up their land for the new toll road to Palenque. Meanwhile, the heavily armed Army of God members continue to threaten violence. They beat up a 17 year old boy and cut down the hand-painted signs proclaiming resistance to the toll road. The ejido commissioners have denounced them as criminals who traffic in ‘undocumented brothers.’ The commissioners allege that the state government has known about this human trafficking for 10 years and has just covered it up”.

However, in a surprise move in October, the Chiapas government finally announced the route of the new road, which had previously been surrounded in secrecy. Instead of adopting the original plan drawn up by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation, which would have cut Mitziton in half, the state chose an alternative route, which did not pass through the community.

The state government had become notorious for spreading lies and disinformation, so people did not know what to believe, even more so in December 2009, when, in an astonishing press release the Chiapas governor, Juan Sabines Guerrero, said he had “suspended work on the San Cristobal - Palenque highway in response to the high tension in the area”. He went on to say, with stunning duplicity, “in Chiapas, the people command and the government obeys. The people have the right to self-determination”. 

Despite this statement, work on building the road is continuing. 

Events of February 2010 prior to the attack

The first statement issued in February by the Mitziton authorities denounced the theft of the ejido’s official seal, which had been given by the thief to the Army of God, enabling them to issue false statements as if from the ejido. The second denounced the fact that the killer of Aurelio Dias Hernandez had been released from prison after four months ‘as the killing was unintentional’, and was now organising paramilitary activity.

The third statement, issued on 20th February 2010, denounced the fact that four heavily armed masked men wearing civilian clothes, assumed to be federal agents, had illegally attempted to kidnap one of the community leaders on the outskirts of their community. Fortunately, people were engaged in community work nearby and came to his assistance, leading to the armed men retreating at high speed.  They statement continues by saying that they are well aware that state and federal ministers are working in conjunction with the paramilitary group the Army of God ‘Eagle Wings’.

“We want to say to the bad government that they should respect our community and our agreements, because here the people command, and if anything happens, it will be the government’s responsibility. We know very well that all the repression we are suffering is because we have defended our territory, but we will not allow our land to be destroyed by the passage of the San Cristobal Palenque highway, because it is the only land we have”.

The letter is signed “from the organised people of Mitziton, adherents of the Other Campaign. The people united will never be defeated”.

IMPORTANT ISSUES ARISING

-       The spreading of disinformation and lies by the media, at the behest of all three tiers of government. “They represent us as savage Indians”.

-       The determination by the state authorities to push ahead with their planned tourism and infrastructure developments whatever the cost, and hence the use of any means necessary to destroy opposition to their plans.

-       The increasing use of paramilitary groups, often disguised as evangelical organisations, as instruments of counterinsurgency, to repress, intimidate, torture, threaten, injure and attack social movements, especially those connected in any way with the Zapatistas.

-       This is the second time this year when members of paramilitary groups appear to have deliberately shot members of their own side in an attempt to give the impression that Zapatistas or Other Campaign adherents are using guns. This would give the Mexican army a pretext to attack and destroy Zapatista communities – the undoubted aim.

-       Despite the horrific number of killings currently taking place on a daily basis in Mexico related to the ‘drug wars’, despite the carnage that is Ciudad Juarez and the explosion in organised crime, there are more federal troops in Chiapas now than in any other state in Mexico.

-       This is not the end of the story. We are asked to write letters of support, and remain vigilant.

NOTES 

For more information on the Army of God, see ‘the boots of God’ by Isain Mandujano, Proceso, August 2009. http://www.proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/71561

This article tells how in August 2009, Esdras Alonso, his Eagle Wings church, and its Army of God, formerly PRD supporters, joined the PRI-affiliated National Campesino Confederation (CNC).  The PRI are, and have been, notorious for financing and supporting anti-Zapatista paramilitary groups. The CNC is closely connected with OPDDIC, one of the currently most active groups.

Laid-Off Workers Vow to Relocate Their Table to Continue Assisting Striking Customers

On Monday, March 1, at about 9am, approximately ten heavily armed Federal Police arrived at the former Luz y Fuerza del Centro's Santa Cruz Meyehualco office in Iztatapalapa, Mexico, and forced union electricians to remove a table they had set up outside their former workplace.  The electricians, all members of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), have continuously staffed the table since December 17, 2009.

The table in Iztapalapa is one of about 250 "information modules" that the SME set up all over the area that Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC) served before President Felipe Calderon's October 11 executive order that summarily shut down the power company and threw its 44,000 workers out on the street.

While the SME refers to the tables as "information modules," in reality they act as guerrilla customer service centers--and all of the services they offer are free to the public. Electric customers can go to the tables to file legal complaints with the government regarding service problems they have experienced since Calderon shut down LyFC and put its grid under the control of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).  Customers who file complaints can also join the consumer strike and refuse to pay their bills.  Electric customers who experience service interruptions either due to CFE incompetence or strike-related shut-offs can request that a team of SME electricians come out to restore their power.

"Theft Disguised As Inventory"

The Iztapalapa information module began to experience problems on February 22 when agents from the Ministry of Administration and Asset Transfer (SAE) arrived at LyFC's Santa Cruz Meyehualco office with a public notary and several local police under the auspices of carrying out an inventory.  They were met by 16 SME members who were staffing the information module.

The SME members told the police and SAE officials, "You can't go in.  If you want to go in, then we go in, too, because we have personal belongings inside."  When the police insisted that the SME let the SAE officials enter, an SME member responded, "There's negotiations going on with the federal government, directly with [Secretary of the Interior Fernando Francisco] Gómez Mont.  The union is negotiating so that we can go in and get our personal belongings out, accompanied by a public notary.  But we [in the meantime] we can't let strangers inside."

Joaquin Gomez, one of the SME members that has staffed the information module outside the Santa Cruz Meyehualco office, told Narco News, "Ever since [Calderon sent Federal Police to take over LyFC without warning on] October 11, we haven't been able to enter.  We think these people are trying to steal our belongings.  We have a lot of personal belongings inside, including money.  We left a lot of personal belongings in our desks and lockers."

In addition to personal belongings, Gomez and his former co-workers also fear that the SAE will steal LyFC's customer databases.  "They came with laptops, so we think that what they want is the database with all of our customer information.  We served about 100,000 customers [at the Santa Cruz Meyehualco location].  So we think they want the files to be able to locate the customers.

As soon as the SAE and the local police tried to enter the LyFC office, the workers called their fellow union members for backup.  They also called the Francisco Villa Popular Front - Independent (FPFV-I), who are members of the Zapatista's Other Campaign in Mexico City.  The FPFV-I immediately sent dozens of members to the office in Santa Cruz Meyehualco office to guard the doors and rally in support of the SME.

Faced with such a show of solidarity, the SAE officials and the police retreated, warning that they would be back another day.

The SAE officials and local cops didn't come back.  However, heavily armed Federal Police came to Santa Cruz Meyehualco on March 1 and forced the SME to take down its information module in front of the office.

According to Gomez and the other SME members gathered near the office, the police rotate their positions: approximately four police are inside the offices at any given time while another six stand guard outside.  Gomez told Narco News, "We don't know what they [the Federal Police] are doing inside.  We suspect that they want to remove vehicles and equipment and files, as they've done in other [LyFC] buildings."

The workers report that thus far they have no visual confirmation that the police have removed items from the Santa Cruz Meyehualco office.  However, their suspicions aren't unfounded: the SME has video documenting police stealing computers, tools, and even huge suitcases full of copper wiring from LyFC buildings.

Consumer Strike

Gomez reports that the Federal Police's presence intimidates people.  "People are scared to come here because they see the federales outside the agency," he says.    "In this zone we were turning in 40-50 complaints daily" before the Federal Police showed up.  Now with armed police standing guard, hardly anyone stops by the table, the workers report.

Much to the police's chagrin ("Who gave you permission to take photos?" snarled one officer at our photographer), this friendly news team interviewed former LyFC worker Carlos Romero outside the Santa Cruz Meyehualco office.  He explained the free services the SME offers at the information modules, and how customers can join the strike.

Narco News: What services do the information modules provide?

Romero:  We explain the reasons for why people shouldn't pay their bills.  First, it's because they never signed a contract with the CFE, and therefore they never hired that company to provide any services.

Narco News: So, for example, if I were a Luz y Fuerza customer and I didn't want to pay the CFE, what would I have to do?

Romero: You just need your voter identification, an old bill from Luz y Fuerza, and your bill that you received from CFE.  If the CFE bill hasn't arrived--because in many neighborhoods people haven't received CFE bills yet--then you just need your voter identification and and old Luz y Fuerza bill.  This is to demonstrate that you had contracted electric service with Luz y Fuerza and to demonstrate to Profeco (the Federal Prosecutor's Office for Consumer Affairs) that you are being affected.  You need to bring three copies of every document to the information module.

Narco News: If I stop paying my electric bill and the CFE comes to turn off my power,  what happens?

Romero:  The CFE doesn't have the legal right to shut off your electricity.  In fact, they don't even know who has paid and who hasn't paid because they don't have an accurate database.  And they don't have a database or a list where they keep track of who has paid and who hasn't paid.  In fact, some people are getting CFE bills that tell them that after they paid their bills they should call a number to inform the CFE that they've paid.  That's rediculous.  They should know who paid and who hasn't.

If it happens that they do shut off your power for nonpayment--which would be a very unlikely case--compañeros here from the union would go and reconnect your power for free.  This is a service that we're providing to the public so that they have the security of knowing that absolutely nothing will happen to them.  It's a benefit we're offering our customers.

Since Mexico City is very big, there are modules in neighborhoods and boroughs all over the city.  You can find a list of all of the modules online at www.sme1914.org and radiosme.org.mx. If you go to the module in your neighborhood or borough, they'll give you phone numbers for the teams that are closest to you so that they can come out to your house and help you out.

"We Can't Back Down"

Gomez says that the police presence outside of the Santa Cruz Meyehualco office won't deter the SME.  "We'll put the table next to the office instead of in front of it so that we can continue to serve the public.  We can't back down."  To former Luz y Fuerza customers, he says, "Don't stop filing complaints.  Don't pay your electric bills.  File legal complaints with the government.  Don't be afraid of the police.  We're not afraid of them.  We respect them because they have guns.  But keep supporting us, and come out with us on March 16 during the national strike."

Photos and additional reporting by Santiago Navarro.

For U.S. Citizens, Baha’s Largest City is Murder Capital of Mexico

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert a little more than a week ago warning U.S. citizens to exercise extreme caution when visiting Mexico because “violence in the country has increased.”

The travel alert states that “Mexican drug cartels are engaged in violent conflict” for control of drug-smuggling routes and plazas.

Singled out in the travel alert for special attention, among others, is Ciudad Juarez, located across the border from El Paso, Texas, and now considered the murder capital of the world.

“Mexican authorities report that more than 2,600 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez in 2009,” the State Department travel alert notes.  “Additionally, this city of 1.3 million people experienced more than 16,000 car thefts and 1,900 carjackings in 2009.”

However, also among the credits in the State Department travel alert is another border city that, as of late, has fallen off the radar of the national mainstream media — which seemingly has only recently rediscovered the drug war, due to the escalating violence in border cities like Juarez.

In fact, National Public Radio recently aired a segment on the infamous House of Death mass murder in Juarez [which Narco News has been investigating and reporting on since 2004]. However, the mainstream public broadcasting giant failed to acknowledge it is years behind the curve in getting to the story — and also failed to acknowledge, on air or in print, the reporting done by Narco News to advance the story.

However, it is clear that NPR was aware of Narco News’ work on the story, as evidenced by an e-mail sent to Narco News on July 21, 2009, well in advance of the airing of its “House of Death” story.

The e-mail, from an NPR editor named Brian Duffy:

I am an editor at NPR working with one of our reporters on a story that your Bill Conroy did some great work on a few years back. You guys called it “The House of Death” and our reporter has been doing some digging into the situation involving the CI [confidential informant] in that case, a man name Guillermo Ramirez Peyro, aka “Lalo.”

If you or Bill could offer any guidance as to contact information for some of the principals in that case or would be willing to have a background conversation with me about its status, I would be very grateful. …

Sincerely,

Brian Duffy

The technique of lifting, without credit, stories from the authentic media is worth mentioning not as a “gottcha moment,” but rather because it points out how far behind the actual story the national mainstream media typically is with respect to the fast-moving currents of the drug war.

That brings us back to that other city spotlighted in the State Department travel alert: Tijuana, a community of about 1.6 million people located across the border from San Diego.

More from the Feb. 22 State Department travel alert:

Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities across Mexico, but occur mostly in northern Mexico, including Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Chihuahua City, Nogales, Matamoros, Reynosa and Monterrey. … Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales are among the cities which have experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues. Criminals have followed and harassed U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles in border areas including Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, and Tijuana. [Emphasis added.]

The prominent mention of Tijuana in the travel alert raised the cackles of the mayor of that Mexican city, Jorge Ramos, who announced in late February to the San Diego Union-Tribune that he planned to lobby the State Department for a change in the wording of the alert to reflect the high level of security his city affords U.S. travelers.

From the Union-Tribune story:

“It’s time for tourism to return to the city; the authorities are in control and coordinating to combat crime,” Ramos told reporters….

The Secretary of Tourism for Baja California, the Mexican state in which Tijuana is located, also expressed frustration with the U.S. State Department’s travel alert, indicating that Baja “spent $500,000 last year on a U.S. public relations firm and a San Diego marketing group to help boost tourism,” according to a story published by San Diego’s public broadcasting station KPBS.

And, in fact, Tijuana can point to some figures that appear to show it is making some progress on the drug-war front. The Mexican city’s homicide rate dropped from a record 844 murders in 2008 to 657 in 2009 — a mere fraction of the 2,600-plus murder rate registered by Juarez last year.

But those figures only tell a portion of the story. Other numbers, and facts on the ground, point to what might be seen as some very dark clouds gathering on the horizon of the Tijuana/San Diego border region — clouds that could well bring the same hard rain that is now falling on Juarez.

Hard Numbers

The U.S. State Department also monitors another set of data in Mexico via a report it calls: “Death of U.S. Citizens Abroad by Non-Natural Causes.”

Among those “non-natural causes” is murder. The State Department report points out that the tracking of murders of U.S. citizens overseas is not a precise science, and likely undercounts the actual number of homicides, since “only those deaths reported to the Department of State and deaths that can be established as non-natural are included” in the report.

With that caveat noted, the homicide figures for Tijuana, and the state where it is located, Baja California, are quite telling with respect to the State Department’s concern over the safety of U.S. citizens traveling in that region of Mexico.

Between 2004 and the end of June 2009, a total of 260 U.S. citizen s were murdered in Mexico. A total of 94 of those homicides occurred in 2008 and the first six months of 2009 [the most recent figures available].

Here’s the rub. Of the 260 homicides in Mexico involving U.S. citizens since 2004, according to the State Department data, a total of 95, or some 36 percent, occurred in Mexico’s Baja region — and 58 of those homicides took place in Tijuana. By comparison, in Juarez, the most violent city on the planet, over the same period, only 34 U.S. citizens were murdered.

And to put an even sharper edge on the relative danger facing gringos in Mexico, in Juarez, over the 18-month period ended June 2009 (a timeframe marked by horrendous violence in that city), a total of 23 U.S. citizens were slain, according to the State Department report. Meanwhile, Tijuana notched 24 murders of U.S. citizens over the same period.

For the Baja as a whole over that period, the State Department figures show, 35 U.S. citizens were murdered, while in Chihuahua (which is the state where Juarez is located) the murder tally came in at 24.

So clearly, if Juarez is the most dangerous city on the planet, it is primarily so for Mexicans. It is Tijuana, though, that is the most deadly city in Mexico for gringos.

And though Tijuana finished 2009 with a reduced overall murder rate, that number is a bit misleading.

From December 2009 through the end of February 2010, some 300 people were murdered in Tijuana.

Although Juarez remains far more violent as measured by the bloodshed meter, it’s worth noting that over the first two months of this year, the murder tally in that city stood at 361 — not far off the mark set in Tijuana between December 2009 and the end of February of this year.

So what’s happening in Tijuana that accounts for the gringo death factor?

Hotel California

Narco News queried several law enforcers who have experience with the drug war along the border. Their read, a consensus, as to why Tijuana, and the Baja in general, ranks as the most deadly region in Mexico for U.S. citizens comes down to a matter of numbers and geography. They point out that Tijuana serves as the gateway plaza for the expansive, and lucrative, San Diego/Los Angeles drug market — which far exceeds the scope of the Juarez/El Paso plaza.

Explains one law enforcer:

It seems to me that it's like shark attacks. Put the biggest [number] of sharks at the most populace beach [Tijuana/San Diego/L.A.] you get the biggest number of attacks [murders].

The Baja/California border region is the golden triangle of the drug war in the Americas and certain to be a major battlefront so long as prohibition remains the law of both lands — with the potential to exceed even Juarez in terms the bloodshed required to gain, and maintain, control of that plaza.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics tracks border crossing data at the major ports of entry into the United States. The BTS U.S. entry data for El Paso in 2008, the most recent full year of data available, shows that some 30.5 million people crossed into the U.S. from Juarez via bus, car and foot. For San Diego, the volume of individuals passing through U.S. Customs from the Baja stood at 69.2 million in 2008.

Clearly, the beach is much bigger in Tijuana.

Narco News also reached out to several individuals in the city of San Diego who are familiar with the nuances of the drug war in that area and who have made frequent trips to Tijuana over the years. The murder figures involving U.S. citizens in Tijuana did not surprise them in the least.

“People living near Tijuana used to have no fear of going there,” one of the individuals said, asking that his name not be used. “I used to enjoy going off the beaten path in Tijuana and down into [the Baja], taking the back roads and avoiding all the tourist traps. I just would not do that now.”

The individual attributes the increased danger in Tijuana and the Baja to the rising tensions in the drug war, adding that it’s important to realize that the drug business extends across both sides of the border, and that those who get drawn into it face similar deadly risks, whether they live on the Tijuana or San Diego side of the border.

“Anyone who gets deep into the drug business knows they’re taking a chance that they will end up going to prison or getting killed, and the more likely outcome is the latter,” the source told Narco News.

Another individual who spoke with Narco News pointed out that the narco-trafficking organizations are now recruiting high school kids “out of Chula Vista and San Diego” to run drugs and carry out executions.” So, when some U.S. kid winds up slain in Tijuana, it’s not big leap of logic to assume they were sucked into the business by the allure of the money and found a bullet as a final payment for their services.

“There’s been a lot of gruesome crime in Tijuana over the last year and half, dismemberments and the like,” the individual said. “The mafia is making a point. It’s what happens when drugs, guns and gangs come together in poor communities on either side of the border.”

And the preferred location for executions in this West Coast drug war, according to these individuals, is Mexico, because the crimes are not likely to be investigated, a fact pointed out by the State Department’s travel alert:

U.S. citizens should be aware that many cases of violent crime are never resolved by Mexican law enforcement, and the U.S. government has no authority to investigate crimes committed in Mexico.

History Doesn’t Go Away

Earlier this year, in the wake of the arrest of a major Tijuana narco-trafficker (Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as “El Teo”), Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced that he would be sending nearly 900 more Mexican soldiers into the city to help keep the peace.

In 2007, Calderon sent some 2,500 troops into Tijuana for the same purpose (and the Mexican army has had a presence in the city ever since). In the wake of the Mexican army’s arrival, homicides in Tijuana hit a record level in 2008. The same pattern played out in Juarez, where Mexican troops arrived in March 2008 and the murder rate escalated rapidly.

The arrival of fresh troops in Tijuana, then, cannot be seen as a good sign, even if a tenuous Pax Romana is the goal for that city.

In 2008, a law-enforcement training document leaked to Narco News predicted the following about the dominant drug organization in Tijuana:

Tijuana DTO [historically led by the Arrelanos Felix family]: Fractionalized with a probable lifespan of less than four years remaining.

It seems clear from press reports on both sides of the border that the Tijuana DTO is divided, as evidenced by the bloody street war of attrition waged by former Tijuana DTO member El Teo against the remaining Arrelanos Felix organization (AFO) family leadership.

With El Teo’s capture earlier this year, and the now further weakened condition of the AFO, the sharks will be out in force, smelling the blood in the water.

Unless a deal is cut among competitors, the violence in Tijuana is only likely to escalate as the AFO fights to keep control of its fleeting empire — as has been the pattern with other major drug organizations confronting a threat to their control of a major plaza in the American drug war.

Recently, Mexican President Calderon has been forced to publicly defend his hyper-militant drug-war policies that have involved unleashing thousands of heavily armed troops on Mexican cities. In particular, he has been put into a position of having to refute allegations that he is favoring the infamous narco-trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as “El Chapo,” and his Sinaloa drug organization.

As part of that defense, in a recent news conference, Calderon pointed to the arrest of El Teo in Tijuana, who allegedly aligned with Guzman’s Sinaloa organization after splitting off from the AFO. Calderon claimed his arrest is evidence that he is taking the drug war to Guzman’s door.

That is a clever political twist of the facts, though, since it is just as likely Guzman supported El Teo as a means of weakening the AFO so that the Sinaloa organization and its military confederates would have an easier time of moving in to take over the Tijuana plaza — arguably the most lucrative port of entry into the U.S. drug market, one that both Guzman, as well his colleagues in the Mexican government and business community, surely have an interest in controlling.

And it’s vital to keep in mind that throughout the history of the American drug war, one of the key forces in assuring that the drug plazas remain open for business has been the Mexican military, in particular the generals who make up the military cartel.

Although there are plenty of examples of this corruption over the years, one such pertinent illustration is contained in a book penned by Charles Bowden, one of the great American writers on the modern drug war that has now marked two U.S. centuries.

From Bowden’s book, Down by the River:

A report surfaces of a meeting that took place January 26-28 [2001] in northern Mexico at Apodaca, on the edge of Monterrey.

Apodacais a center for Mexican smugglers, a place businessmen favor for meetings, and where residents can be trusted to keep their mouths shut. Men in suits and cowboy boots arrived in private jets, at least sixty in all. One of the men [Chapo Guzman] was supposedly on a kind of peculiar furlough from Mexico's highest-security prison, the same facility where Raul Salinas Jr. was incarcerated.

For three days they dined and talked and decided several matters. There must be a joint strategy for moving drugs through Mexico and peddling them in the United States. They must pool their money to bribe Mexican officials. Two Mexican generals in attendance endorsed this new pool for payment. They must also stop killing each other, though they did agree to increase violence if they must to destabilize the Mexican government. …

Welcome to the drug war. Look for this update, or one like it, in the far, far future on an NPR or other mainstream media outlet near you.

Stay tuned….

 The government's plans for tourism in Chiapas, and their implications for indigenous peoples and the environment

On the 22nd of every month, the group Las Abejas commemorate the Acteal massacre. In their press release for 22nd February, they commented:

“‘What was the reason for the Acteal massacre?’ they ask. What happened in Acteal was designed to send a clear message: that of terror and death for those people who defend their land from neoliberal projects, and who demand respect for their human rights, especially indigenous rights. The conflicts in Agua Azul and Mitziton are the product of economic interests. Agua Azul is a rich area; but if there are people living there, it’s difficult for the government to build a tourist centre without having noise and obstacles in their way. That’s why it’s convenient for the Sabines government to make problems in these zones, so that people become divided and don’t have the strength to organize themselves against the construction of the tourist centre and the San Cristobal – Palenque highway.”

In order to understand events such as the attacks by alleged paramilitary groups in Bolom Ajaw, near Agua Azul, and Mitziton, situated near the start of the proposed new super-highway,  and the recent evictions of communities in the Montes Azules biosphere reserve, it is necessary to consider the planned tourist developments for Chiapas. The development strategy for this plan was drawn up, for the federal government of the state of Chiapas, by Norton Consulting Inc. and EDSA, both based in Florida, USA. Norton Consulting describe themselves  as ‘real estate and resort specialists’, and photos of the pristine turquoise waters of Agua Azul feature on the front page of their website. EDSA are landscape architects and urban designers who specialise in planning ‘the client’s vision’.

These consultants say the strategy is designed to ‘identify specific projects for development, which can elevate the tourism on offer and create a more vibrant tourist economy’. Eight ‘tourist circuits’ are to be promoted, within the ‘Jungle (selva) region of Chiapas’, focusing on Plan CIP Palenque (the integrally planned centre of Palenque).  This will provide ‘a gateway to the Maya world’, Mexico’s ‘new window of tourism’. The jewel in the crown of this gateway and window will be the CIP tourist corridor from Palenque to Agua Azul, which will offer something different, as ‘it will not be a beach destination’.

The development strategy, which allocates 400 million pesos for the purchase of land in this area, and 100 million for the communication links between Palenque and the Agua Azul waterfalls, identifies the first actions needed. The improvements in access by land and air are already underway, but

 “The state and local government must ensure that the tourists who visit Chiapas and Palenque feel safe and protected. The Zapatista movement is still strongly associated with Chiapas, but not with Palenque. The state should consider focusing the name of the project on Palenque....as Chiapas is still considered unsafe by many who are not familiar with the region”.

Four ‘ideal locations’ have been identified in the priority area, the only difficulty being  the ‘ownership and control’ of the land which means that ‘the state may need to acquire additional land’. The ‘concept’ involves:

Concept 1: ‘a world class boutique hotel’, cost 15 to 20 million US dollars, 60 – 75 rooms.                                                                                    

Concept 2: lodge ‘retreat’ near the waterfalls of Agua Azul, cost 2 to 4 million US dollars, 10 – 20 rooms                                                                                                                                    

Concept 3:  5 star European style hotel, cost 20 to 25 million US dollars, 200 – 250 rooms                                                                                           

Concept 4: hotel development , including a conference centre and 18 hole golf course, cost 25 to 35 million US dollars,  250 rooms

The government’s priority is Concept 2.  “The waterfalls of Agua Azul represent a world class attraction which could become one of the visitor’s most memorable experiences. We believe that offering the operator of the Boutique Hotel the opportunity for their guests to live the waterfall experience could enrich their investment opportunity. We therefore assume that an appropriate site with a view of the falls could be acquired by the state”.

“As access to the site is so difficult at the moment, we would recommend that tourists arrive by helicopter or seaplane. The combined experience of arriving and viewing the waterfalls would make the Waterfall Lodge ‘Retreat’ resort ‘one of the most special experiences in the western hemisphere’.

There will also be a restaurant and bar with a view of the falls, an illuminated helicopter landing strip ‘which will be transformed at night into a ‘platform for astrology’, and ‘zip-lines’ for travelling between the hotel and the quay. The quay will be for boat trips on the river, and will also have a bar. Phase 1 will involve 20 accommodation units, and phase 2 an additional 20. These will be ‘rustic bungalows’ designed to ‘highlight the connection with nature by having outside showers and air conditioning only in the bedrooms’. During the rainy season, the lodge would be closed ‘as the colour of the waters is brown’.

However, “before attracting investment, the state must solve the problems of acquiring land and of access. The acquisition of land next to the cascades is vital for the preservation of the views and natural corridors, so that these views can remain unspoiled and picturesque”.

In other words, the only obstacle to this dream investment opportunity, which is to be offered to multinational corporations such as the Orient Express, the Luxury Collection, and the Aman group, the only problem delaying the development of the ‘gateway to the Maya world’, is the Maya themselves, who insist on their right to their traditional lands, and on protecting the natural environment.  Long-term followers of the Zapatistas may be reminded of the memo from Chase Manhattan Bank in January 1995, which was followed by a military crackdown on the Zapatista movement:  “While Chiapas, in our opinion, does not pose a fundamental threat to Mexican political stability, it is perceived to be so by many in the investment community. The government will need to eliminate the Zapatistas in order to demonstrate their effective control of the national territory and of security policy."

On the 21st February 2010, the government of Chiapas responded to a letter from lawyers and academics denouncing the recent aggressions against the Zapatistas at Bolom Ajaw near Agua Azul. In their response, they asserted that their intention was to “return the jungle to its original inhabitants, the flora and fauna”.

Jose Pascual Rubio Cano, secretary for International Relations for the Spanish CGT, responded with outrage and astonishment on behalf of the union:   “Such an assertion shows once again the contempt felt by the government of Chiapas towards its original peoples, who are the natural and ancestral guardians of the land, territory, flora and fauna and who today, as always, challenge and oppose the devastation inflicted by multinational corporations in the name of ecotourism and capitalist economic development.

“The flora and fauna cannot survive the capitalist depredation on their own... It is the indigenous people who practice a fair and just use of natural resources, based on respect and balance, since they view the earth as the source of life, while the Chiapas government and the multinationals view it as a source of income. It is not only necessary to respect the flora and fauna, it is also necessary to respect the people who live in these lands and the use these people wish to make of their habitat......

“Sr. Sabines Guerrero, the policies of your government  are to wipe out the roots of the indigenous communities and their material, community and spiritual ways of life, using illegal and illegitimate deceptions, such as your recent ‘law for indigenous rights in Chiapas’, or ‘Sabines law’, through which you are trying to legalise the avaricious destruction of indigenous communities. The main aim of your government is none other than to destroy the Zapatista autonomous organisation and its army, the EZLN, which is the main focus of resistance to your mercantile plans......We demand that you respect the rights of native peoples laid out in national and international agreements such as ILO 169, and the San Andres Accords”.

NOTES

1. The sources of the report quoted are FONATUR, March 2008 and the Secretary of Tourism and International Relations of the Chiapas government. They have been made available in Spanish by Frayba. http://www.slideshare.net/pliegoelbuenas/100217-informe-bolom-ajaw-anexo-1-1-1-3218096                                                                                                                                             Some areas of text have been highlighted for emphasis.

2. Bolom Ajaw is a Zapatista community located very close to the Agua Azul waterfalls, and with another spectacular but so far undeveloped waterfall on its lands. It has a long history of violence and provocation by PRI members from the Agua Azul community, who belong to OPDDIC, an alleged paramilitary group. The conflict is about the control of the land and of the entry fee for tourists, and the most recent outbreak was on February 6th this year, when one person was killed, and a number injured. There is now an intense military presence in the zone with constant patrols and helicopter overflights. The JBG of Morelia has made a proposal for dialogue, but the government is insisting that this take place in the Government palace in Tuxtla in the presence of governor Sabines. If a Zapatista representative could not attend, this could provide a pretext for an invasion by the Mexican army.

3. Juan Sabines Guerrero can be contacted at:                                                                                    Lic. Juan José Sabines Guerrero
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Chiapas
Gobernatura del Estado de Chiapas
Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas
Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México
email: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx
Fax: +52 (961) 61 88088 +52 (961) 6188056                                                                                    

International Conference in Mexico City Provides Hope, Inspiration to a Budding Domestic Movement

This past February 22 and 23, drug policy experts and organizers from around the world gathered in Mexico City for “Winds of Change: Drug Policy Around the World,” a conference organized by the Collective for a Comprehensive Drug Policy (CUPIHD).

The conference was the first event CUPIHD has organized as a collective. Jorge Hernández Tinajero, CUPIHD’s president, told Narco News, “All of [CUPIHD’s members] have been working on this issue for at least ten years from our respective areas of expertise.” However, it was only recently that they joined forces under the banner of CUPIHD, which they founded last year “in order to transform the drug policy in Mexico to one with a harm reduction and human rights perspective.” According to fellow CUPIHD member and former federal Congresswoman Elsa Conde, the Winds of Change conference “is just the beginning.”

At the conference, drug policy experts from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Holland, the United States, and the United Kingdom shared their experiences in their own countries. While recognizing that the situations in their respective countries were very distinct from that of Mexico, they hoped that Mexicans could learn from their experiences, strategies, tactics, and experiments in drug policy reform.

Pien Metaal from Holland, for example, spoke about the backslide towards criminalization that her country is currently experiencing after years of increasing decriminalization. Her organization,Transnational Institute, analyzes and compares drug policy around the world. Metaal provided a broad overview of how various European and Latin American countries have experimented in decriminalization. She focused on the various ways governments have reclassified drug distribution, possession, and use as they move towards decriminalization, giving conference participants a variety of options to consider and advocate for as they fight for reform in their own countries. She noted that in order to move towards more just sentencing policies, many countries have begun to draw legal distinctions between different drugs, between users and dealers, between dealers and major distributors, between mules* and large-scale traffickers, and between small and large producers.

The Transnational Institute has also compiled information from studies in countries that have decriminalized drug use to some extent in order to draw conclusions about the impact of drug decriminalization on drug use and drug-related crime. Metaal argues, based on an analysis of available data from various countries, that “law enforcement measures are not effective in reducing the expansion of drug markets. Rather, it is the poorest and most marginalized people and families who pay the price of these policies. There is sufficient evidence that alternative policies do not increase [drug] consumption, but they do increase access to [prevention and rehabilitation] services and medical attention.”

Ethan Nadelmann from the US-based Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) spoke during two plenary sessions. Nadelmann explained how and why his organization has focused most of its efforts on legalizing medical marijuana in the United States. While the DPA seeks to “end the war on drugs” in general, it has chosen medical marijuana as a wedge issue, one that seeks to remove or reduce stigmatization associated with drugs and open the door to a broader debate on the war on drugs. “We hoped and we believed that by working on the use of medical marijuana, it would begin to transform the public dialogue around marijuana,” Nadelmann said. “It would change the conversation, and we hoped it would reduce the resistance to speaking about marijuana legalization more broadly. I think we’ve been successful in that regard.”

Nadelmann told the mostly Mexican audience that he was by no means arguing that Mexican drug reformers should also take up the cause of medical marijuana. Rather, he said, “If you look at the way drug policy reform evolves and educationally leaps forward in different parts of the world, it can be for very different reasons… Each place is different. I think in Mexico you are still looking and struggling for what will be the angle, the specific thing that enables Mexico to leap forward on this debate. In the United States it was medical marijuana.”

Nadelmann argues in choosing a key issue to focus on in order to advance the movement, drug reformers must ask, “Where can we get traction? Where can we dig in? Where can we make a stand in order to begin to fight back?” As Nadelmann points out, a good issue to begin with in policy reform is the issue most people can agree upon—an issue where most people believe the drug war has gone too far.

Nadelmann, while reminding conference attendees that he is not an expert on Mexico and is not in a position to tell Mexicans how to go about building a drug reform movement, “guessed” at what might be key issues in Mexico that the movement could seize upon. “My advice, take it for what its worth, is to focus on moving opinion in Mexico on the marijuana issue. It is almost impossible to speak realistically in political terms about the legalization of cocaine or heroine or methamphetamine, but with marijuana yes, it is possible, and it can happen,” Nadelmann argued. “In Mexico right now only 30% of Mexicans support the legalization of marijuana. Mexico needs a rapid jump in support for the legalization of marijuana. And it needs to be linked in the public mind that legalizing marijuana is the best way to deprive the drug gangsters of billions of dollars.” Nadelmann noted that the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the US drug tsar claim that at least half of Mexican drug gangs’ earnings come from marijuana.

Nadelmann also shared several examples of how his organization seized on specific opportunities to launch campaigns that changed people’s opinions on drug policy. In Tulia, Texas, for example, forty black people were arrested in a drug raid, with the only evidence against them being the testimony of a single white police officer. All of the prisoners were later released. Drug policy reform organizations seized on the case to foment a criticism of drug policy, which disproportionately affects black and brown communities in the US, within the traditionally socially conservative black community.

Nadelmann believes that Mexico is also living an educational moment, one that can be seized upon to open up a debate on drug policy. “Currently, there are places in Mexico that look like Chicago during the era of Prohibition and Al Capone. If there has ever been a moment to question the costs and benefits of prohibitionist policies, the moment is now.”

Several conference attendees wondered out loud if the key to moving the Mexican public on drug policy reform lies in Ciudad Juarez, the new “murder capital of the world.” A journalist pointed out that President Felipe Calderon’s recent visit to Juarez was a complete disaster. On February 11,police violently attacked a protest outside the convention center where Calderon was to speak on security. Many of the protesters were students from the Juarez high school that suffered a massacrein which gunmen murdered at least 15 people—mostly students—at a party. Inside the convention center, the mother of a murdered student railed against a speechless Calderon for three minutes. Given the recent unrest against government policy in Juarez, the journalist told conference attendees, “I think there is something going on in Juarez and El Paso. Even if it’s just ‘We don’t want aggressive law enforcement, we don’t want the military in our community,’ even if that’s the only result, it softens people up” and opens up the possibility of a debate on broader drug policy reform.

In addition to choosing a key issue to push in order to advance drug reform, Nadelmann offers a second piece of advice to Mexican drug policy reformers: “Insist on the legitimacy of open dialogue. The worst prohibition is a prohibition on thinking. When the government engages not just in censorship, but in self-censorship, and when it discourages and denies the possibility of open and honest dialogue, it undermines the ability to come to a better policy, and it reveals their own fears and securities about the value and legitimacy of the policies they are enforcing.”

While Mexicans may still be grappling with how to take their first steps towards building an effective movement to end the drug war, CUPIHD’s conference made a giant leap forward in promoting an open and honest debate on the issue. While the drug war is omnipresent and discussed nearly constantly in the media, in Congress, in schools, and on the streets, false information abounds. This prevents an honest and informed debate on how to go about fixing what everyone acknowledges is a serious problem.

Two Mexican experts in particular debunked common misconceptions about the drug war in order to promote a more honest debate based on accurate information. Professor Alejandro Madrazo, a member of CUPIHD, discussed Mexico’s recent legal reform that the media billed as “drug legalization.” He pointed out that while the government did legalize the possession of very small quantities of drugs, the majority of users generally carry more than the legally permitted amount. Thanks to the new law, this consumer “is being pursued with more force and more tools,” and the law makes the prosecution of consumers much easier. Furthermore, Madrazo argued, the law seeks to forcefully incorporate states into the federal government’s war on drugs, and it redistributes power and responsibilities in that war. The end result, he argues, is far from legalization.

Luis Astorga from the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Institute for Social Investigations debunked many of the government’s so-called statistics that relate to the war on drugs. “Nearly every day the media gives credibility to declarations from public officials, but they never demand that they show a study and a methodology for how they arrived at those numbers.”

Astorga taught conference attendees how to evaluate the numbers they hear in the media, particularly those that come from the government, to determine if they are credible or questionable. In doing so, Astorga systematically debunked or called into question statements Mexican and US government officials have made in the media regarding the amount of Mexican land that is used for cultivating drugs, the number of people who work in drug trafficking, the amount of money drug trafficking brings into the Mexican economy, and the number of drug consumers and addicts.

Moving Forward

Ex-Congresswoman Conde closed the conference with the following words:

“There is no doubt that we recognize the failure of the so-called war on drugs. We require new winds of change to advance alternative policies for the world’s drug problem. We have seen that prohibitionist policies have not been effective in most countries. This paradigm has resulted in grave human rights violations and violations of individual rights. It has also entailed discrimination and social exclusion. The escalating violence increases with every passing day, increasing the territory within which organized crime operates with impunity. We insist that prohibitionist policy means that states have given up their control over the drug market. We insist that prohibition, in market terms, is much more costly and useless than regulation.”

“Now,” Conde asked, “after two days of work and reflection, where do we go from here?

“Gabriel Tokatlian, an Argentinian investigator, invites us to use common sense in drug policy. He tells us that the best policy is one that privileges justice, equality, health, human rights, education, and employment. This is precisely the vision that is absent in current drug policy, at least in our country.”

Notes:

* A mule or mula is an individual, generally poor, who transports relatively small amounts (less than a few kilos) of drugs, generally in or on their body, at the behest of a large-scale drug trafficker.

Han calado hondo en las autoridades de gobierno de México y Estados Unidos las declaraciones de especialistas y personalidades como el expresidente de Colombia, César Gaviria. El político del Partido Liberal declaró durante su conferencia magistral en la conferencia "Vientos de Cambio" que los problemas de la delincuencia organizada sólo se superarán "con un tratamiento del consumo interno de drogas, descriminalizando sobre todo la mariguana, montando un sistema de salud y educación que funcione". Gaviria confesó que "el prohibicionismo, en el cual yo creía, con el paso de los años nos ha demostrado que fracasó".

El secretario de Salud, José Ángel Córdoba Villalobos y el "zar" antidrogas estadounidense, Gil Kerlikowske, respondieron manifestando su rechazo a la legalización de las drogas para reducir el problema de las adicciones.

La categórica reacción de los dos países, el primero con el mayor consumo de drogas del planeta y el segundo con una incontrolable ola de violencia provocada por los cárteles del narcotráfico, no fue bien pensada y estuvo llena de contradicciones.

Primer mentira de Córdoba Villalobos: En México "existe un claro consenso para mantener la penalización... de la posesión, comercio o del consumo de sustancias... peligrosas".

¿Cuál consenso? Si en estos últimos tres años el disenso ha prevalecido sobre la hegemonía de la prohibición. Hoy más que nunca muchos ciudadanos y autoridades plantean seriamente cambiar de paradigma y poner en práctica soluciones menos radicales y más efectivas que poner a los adictos tras las rejas y lanzar al Ejército a las calles. Parece que el secretario no recuerda que el Gobierno Federal aprobó en 2008 el no castigo a la posesión de pequeñas cantidades de drogas ilegales. Y el "zar" antidrogas no menciona que muchos estados como Ohio, Nevada, California, Oregon, Nueva Jersey, contemplan seriamente la legalización de la mariguana.

Segunda mentira: "la legalización del consumo de drogas es un evento no sólo peligroso y lejano sino inviable en términos prácticos".

¿Más peligroso que una política que representa el derroche de millones del erario público, que ha fomentado la corrupción, que ha provocado la muerte de más 16 mil ciudadanos, que ha degradado inexorable de las garantías constitucionales y la violación sistemática de los derechos humanos? Nos confundamos; nadie está proponiendo la legalización súbita de todas las drogas, sino de un proceso gradual y bien monitoreado de descriminalización que ha mostrado sus frutos en Jamaica, Bélgica, Alemania, Croacia, Suiza, Australia, Francia, Portugal, República Checa, España, Holanda, Canadá y Reino Unido. La descriminalización debe entenderse como el retiro del usuario de drogas de la esfera del derecho penal manteniendo los castigos a los grandes traficantes. La idea es controlar y regular, en vez de dejar que el mercado negro determine el precio y llene los bolsillos de los traficantes.

Cuarta mentira: "las drogas no son peligrosas por ser ilegales, son ilegales porque son peligrosas"

Si ese fuera el caso, el alcohol y el tabaco deberían ser ilegales, porque son muchísimo más peligrosas que la mariguana. Las dos causan miles de muertos más que todas las drogas ilegales juntas, por enfermedades o accidentes, pero quienes tienen dificultades con sus hábitos son tratados como enfermos, no como delincuentes.

Es verdad que las drogas ilegales son peligrosas, pero no precisamente por sus efectos tóxicos sino por el contexto en el que son adquiridas y consumidas. Los adictos y usuarios no sólo ponen su salud en riesgo por consumir sustancias en dosis inseguras y sin controles sanitarios, sino que sufren la manipulación de los cárteles que se las venden, de los policías que los extorsionan para no enviarlos a la cárcel y de la sociedad que los discriminan. La prohibición, irónicamente, causa más daños que los que pretende evitar.

Otra falsedad: Gil Kerlikowske considera que "no hay evidencia de que la legalización reduzca la violencia o beneficie la economía".

Nuestro país es un ejemplo evidente de que la prohibición genera más violencia en comparación con los países donde hay esquemas de descriminalización. México y Estados Unidos, prohibicionistas por excelencia, no han logrado reducir el número de adictos en las calles. Los consumidores desconfían de las autoridades. En Estados Unidos, según los datos de la Oficina Nacional de Política Antidrogas de la Casa Blanca, sólo reciben tratamiento el 10% de los más de 20 millones de individuos con problemas adictivos. ¿Será porque esta nación cuenta con la mayor población carcelaria del mundo sentenciada por delitos relacionados con las drogas?

La economía sí puede beneficiarse. Según la National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), un mercado regulado de cannabis en California le generaría en impuestos al menos 1.2 miles de millones de dólares y una reducción en los costos presupuestales de la seguridad pública.

Mentiras y más mentiras. Pero en México, soplan vientos de cambio.

Publicado originalmente en SDP Noticias:

http://sdpnoticias.com/sdp/columna/erich-moncada/2010/02/24/789493

The Event, Organized by the Mexico City Government, Was Evo's First Official Visit to Mexico

Evo Morales visited Mexico City on Sunday evening on his way to a Rio Group summit in Cancun.  The Mexico City government, controlled by the center-left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), organized a public event and press conference to receive the Bolivian president.

Hundreds of Mexicans crowded into the central plaza in Coyoacan, an upscale neighborhood in southern Mexico City, to hear Morales speak.  Many wove wiphala flags, the rainbow-colored flag that represents Andean indigenous peoples in Bolivia.  Bolivia's new constitution, written during President Morales' administration, officially recognizes the wiphala as a government flag.

Union leaders and some rank-and-file union members were in attendance.  Uniformed members of the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) could be seen dispersed throughout the crowd. SME Secretary General Martin Esparza was also reportedly in attendance.  Other unions, such as the PRD-aligned Public Transport Workers Union, hung their banners around the plaza in Coyoacan.

Grassroots and indigenous organizations for the most part did not have a visible presence in the crowd.  However, Felisa Segundo Mondragon, a mazahua originally from Mexico State, spoke at the event.  She originally arrived in Mexico City with her 9-year-old daughter in search of work.  In the 1990s she helped found the Flor de Mazahua artisan cooperative, where she and other mazahua women produced traditional mazahua toys, dresses, and blouses for sale in Mexico City and abroad.  She is now an indigenous representative in the United Nations.  Segundo enthusiastically received Morales: "His struggle is our struggle... because he is the only man who is recognized throughout Latin America who listens to us, and because he has suffered with us."

Trinidad Ramirez, wife of the imprisoned leader of the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), also appeared in stage to present Morales with a red bandana.

During the event some indigenous people held an Ancestral Ritual in which they ceremoniously presented a scepter to President Morales.  During the ceremony, participants burned copal, an incense made of tree resin.  In Mexican indigenous cultures, copal is used in ceremonies as a bridge or mediator between people, heaven and earth, and the living and the dead.

Bolivia's indigenous president recognized the contradiction that Sunday's visit presented: his first public visit to Mexico was organized by a political party, not indigenous organizations.  His first order of business during the event in Coyoacan was to apologize to Mexican indigenous organizations who had sent him many invitations to meet with them.  "I'm sorry that I couldn't come because I had the difficult work of defending myself as President," he said.

Morales said that his speech was directed at "the social movements...that dream of another world." He recounted his experiences in social movements and later in the electoral arena.  "First, we identified internal enemies and purged them from the popular movement."

Morales identified a 1991 meeting of indigenous peoples in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, as the moment leaders of the popular movement in Bolivia decided to organize themselves to take state power. "It took us four or five years [after that] to transform ourselves from a popular struggle to an electoral struggle, from resistance to taking political power."  He went on to explain that in 1995, after forming concrete proposals regarding the defense of Bolivia's natural resources and public services, the movement worked to unite peasant and indigenous movements.  "Then we united ourselves with leftist political parties, communist parties, socialist parties--with everyone."  Morales says that when the electoral campaigns began, "We made a call to the middle class, to the intellectuals, to join us as well."  Uniting so many different factions, Morales argued, was key to winning 64% of the popular vote in December's elections.

Morales argued that workers and indigenous peoples throughout America can unite around the common issues of dignity, sovereignty, the recuperation of natural resources, and against the privatization of public services.

Later in the evening Morales offered a press conference in the Sevilla Palace hotel on Paseo de la Reforma.  There, he stressed the importance of creating a new Organization of American States that does not include the United States.  He said that he will present this proposal at the upcoming Rio Group summit in Cancun.  Morales asked those gathered at the press conference, "How far can we get with empire or without empire?  In my experience, it's better without empire."

Fernando Leon contributed to this report.

President Martinelli may be violating Canal Treaties

The time bomb I wrote about for Narco News nine years ago is about to go off.

Attentive observers could already see it coming when Panama announced it would build 11 "counter narcotics bases" and supposedly staff them all by itself: The government of supermarket baron Ricardo Martinelli is on a steady course of dragging the country into the armed conflict between the Colombian government and its allies on one side and the FARC guerrilla group on the other.The pretext is not just the usual counter narcotics spin, but the Panamanians are openly saying they want to fight Colombian insurgents in the border area.

As the official version has it, a small group of FARC members was discovered on January 27th on the border of the Tuira river near Boca de Cupe, which is about a day's walk from the camp the FARC maintains or maintained in the border area. The fronterizas, a special border patrol unit of the National Police, ordered them to stop, which the guerrillas didn't. Then the police opened fire, killing three and capturing two. The three haven't been identified so far. The area has been closed off for journalists, so we may never know what really happened.

The FARC responded with a statement, in which they reaffirm their policy of not attacking neighboring countries and basically asking the Panamanian government to respect the "leave us alone and we'll leave you alone" agreement that has been unofficially in place for decades.

They also allege that Panamanian police forces are working together closely with the Colombian army, up to the point where Colombians are actually in command over the Panamanians.

The Panamanian government, responding to criticism and worries that the small country will become party in Colombia's civil war, said that it will defend the borders "up to the last meter".

To add to the mix, The Panama News then wrote that they had learned that US mercenaries are active in the area as well. Various sources reported that the Panamanian fronterizas had been distributing leaflets in the Darien province naming FARC commanders and offering a reward for their capture.

On February 20st another border incident occurred. A police boat at sea tried to intercept three fast launches near the border with Colombia and, according to the police version, the men on the launches opened fire. One policeman was hurt and their patrol boat damaged.The three launches escaped.

Pro-Martinelli newspaper La Estrella de Panama then revealed several interesting facts.

First, it claimed that a search was started to find the men on their launches. The search was executed by a helicopter and a plane of the new AeroNaval Service, assisted by a US P3 Orion that "helps out in the border area", as the paper put it.

Then, in the same story, La Estrella reported that 93 policemen had just returned from Colombia where they had been trained by the Colombian Army. Actually, in the caption below the photo that was published, they called them soldiers. It was not explained what the training encompassed exactly, given the fact that army work and police work are two entirely different things.

CONSTITUTION AND CANAL TREATIES

Panama's efforts, however, may very well be illegal under its own constitution and a violation of the Canal Treaties with the United States.

First of all, after the military dictatorship of Manuel Noriega was toppled by the US invasion of Panama in 1989, the constitution was changed to say that Panama shall not have an army ever again. Several consecutive governments have tried to push the limits of that provision, mainly by coming up with all kind of creative euphemisms ("fronterizas") and by participating in the bizarre Panamax annual naval exercises, but what passes for Panama's civil society has been very vigilant on this issue and anything reeking of military is usually rejected by the population. Thus, having policemen trained by the Colombian Army - itself tainted by scandals such as the massive slaughters in the "false positives" affair - and then calling them "soldiers" upon their return may very well be pushing it too far.

Second, the Panama Canal Treaties which led to the return of the Panama Canal and the Canal Zone to Panama in 1999, explicitly state that Panama shall be neutral to safeguard the neutrality of the Canal. In that respect, Martinelli's current course is reckless at the very least. Teaming up with the Colombian army, notorious for its human rights abuses, and jointly going after the FARC is nothing but an invitation to expand the conflict into Panama. The FARC royally outnumbers the Panamanian police force and, if forced to abandon its policy of not attacking neighbors, the guerrillas may very well hit vulnerable targets deeper inside Panama (the capital) instead of allowing the theater to be limited by the Panamanians to the Darien jungle.

AUTHORITARIAN LEADER

President Ricardo Martinelli's honeymoon with the electorate is, meanwhile, over. The president, whose cousin and former campaign fundraiser is currently in jail in Mexico because of charges he laundered money for the Beltran Leyva brothers drug cartel, is facing increasing opposition to his authoritarian ruling style and blatant disregard for Panama's constitution and separation of powers. In what he himself calls a drive to end systemic corruption, he is going after opposition figures almost exclusively and the credibility of his efforts further eroded when he schemed to have Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez removed from her post by using faux charges against her by a prosecutor who had been caught red-handed running an extortion ring. The case already appears to have cost him ratification of the Free Trade Agreement with the US. His refusal to act against legislators of his own alliance who are involved in funneling millions of dollars from the Social Investment Fund into their own coffers hasn't helped him either, and even his supporters question the effectiveness of his mano dura approach to fight rising crime rates. If he drags Panama into a fourth generation warfare conflict on top of that, it will certainly cost him what remains of his approval rate.

At the 2010 Narco News School of Authentic Journalism, my advisor Joshua Bregman gave me very important advice when holding a camera: the world is your playground. I had been shy about getting into peoples' faces while shooting b-roll for the School's inauguration event. I imagine this is typical of many people first using a camcorder. But I'm particularly shy, so it surprised me how easy it was to overcome this fear...

(Publisher-added photo of Seb shooting video. Photo: DR 2010 Jill Freidberg.)

I've thought long and hard about this over the years, this particular shyness of mine. I've looked at my upbringing, my schooling experience, even the role the planet Saturn plays in my natal chart (conjunct Sun in Sagitarrius in the 3rd house, for the so-inclined.) I've managed to deduce the mechanics of my shyness: I don't function well without a protocol. In other words, I'm terrible in situations where spontaneity plays a huge factor in interaction.

But quite suddenly, I was given a protocol where I could get right up to people and look weird and everything was OK so long as I had a camera. I became a member of a special club that has its own protocol. Everyone has seen reaction shots from stand-up specials and speeches, but how many people really know what it's like to have a camera a meter from their face for 20 straight seconds? Sweet schadenfreude, I know how it feels to not know what to do!

Over time (two weeks), camera in hand, I became more comfortable getting close-ups of faces. It was my job to do so, and to do that job effectively I did have to treat the world as my playground. What's more, after these experiences I've begun to pretend that my eyes are cameras so that no matter the situation I can still feel somewhat at ease, so long as I adopt this protocol.

It's a shame, how many shots I've missed just walking to the gas-station.

The point of all this is to not let your introversion and insecurities get the better of you. I'm finding this all to be a strange craft; at first, it seemed to be within the exclusive mandate of extroverts. Then I found that someone like me – and maybe you – has an equal place within journalism. And of the authentic variety, it attracts all types.

Guatemala filmmaker tells story of stories of the ICE raid in Postville, Iowa

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- Americans want to go to the supermarket and find their meat neatly packaged. They don't want to hear about the 14-year-old girl from Guatemala who worked 12 hours a day, or the woman who was raped by her supervisor at the meat packing plant. They don't want to hear about the mothers who have "kill" water thrown on them or hear a young girl crying from the pain in her hands from operating power meat cutting shears.

Americans don't want to hear about Postville, Iowa, or how the US spent $5.2 million on a raid that revealed the underbelly of not just the meat packing industry, but of the abuse of migrant workers by US companies and the sinister justice delivered by the US Justice Department.

Guatemalan filmmaker Luis Argueta is telling this story. On Monday night at the University of Arizona, Argueta previewed thirty minutes of his work in progress of the feature documentary film, "abUSed: The Postville Raid." It is just a portion of the 350 hours of testimonies and interviews he has conducted in Postville and Guatemala over the past 20 months.

Argueta's film is a story of stories, revealing aspects ranging from the violation of US child labor laws, to malnutrition in Guatemala and the fear that followed 9/11. That fear offers US authorities an excuse to carry out widespread violations of human rights.

"I grew up being fed fear," said Argueta, who grew up in Guatemala. But, he adds, the fear that is being fed Americans did not stop the townspeople of Postville from coming to the aid of the 389 migrants seized in the ICE raid by the 900 heavily-armed US agents at the Agriprocessors, Inc., meat packing plant on May 12, 2008. The migrant workers were shackled and detained at the National Cattle Congress, which was transformed into a jail and courthouse. Even one of the sentencing judges said it was a travesty of justice. Most workers served five months in jail and were then deported with 10 years probation in their home country.

The film speaks of malnutrition and the poverty, hunger and desperation that pushes people to leave their homes and families in search of survival.

After Postville, Argueta went to Guatemala to tell the stories of the deported families from Postville. One young girl, now a toddler who was born in the US, has only coffee to drink because there is no milk. Guatemala has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world.

Argueta said US corporations view the poor and desperate as "disposables." With excellent storytelling and cinematography, Argueta tells of the struggles for survival and dignity of migrant workers, many of whom are Mayans and other Indigenous Peoples.

Argueta said US authorities care whether a cow is killed with a sharp knife, but nothing about the migrant worker.

More about the film:

http://www.abusedthepostvilleraid.com

More about the film series:

Voices of Opposition to War, Racism and Oppression

http://www.voicesofopposition.com

I will be in the United States for the next two weeks speaking in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, and Minnesota, about Venezuela and Latin America.  Following are some of the public presentations:

Chicago area and Milwaukee

Tuesday, February 16, River Forest, Illinois, Dominican University, 2:20-3:30 p.m., 7900 West Division, Parmer 108

Wednesday, February 17, Palatine, Illinois, Harper College, 2:30-4:30 p.m., 1200 West Algonquin Road

Thursday, February 18, Chicago, Illinois, 8th Day Center for Justice, 12:00 noon, 205 West Monroe, #500

Thursday, February 18, Chicago, Illinois, Access Living, Second Floor Conference Room, 7:00 p.m., 115 West Chicago Avenue

Friday, February 19, Chicago, Illinois, Venezuelan Consulate, 4:00 p.m., Lyric Opera Building, 25 North Wacker, Suite 1925

Sunday, February 21, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Latin America Solidarity Committee, 3:00-4:30 p.m., Brewing Grounds for Change Coffeeshop, 2008 North Farwell Avenue

Monday, February 22, Chicago, Illinois, Northeastern Illinois University, 5:40-6:55 p.m., 5500 N. St. Louis

Kansas City Area

Thursday, February 25, Kansas City, Missouri, Plaza Library Auditorium, 6:00 p.m., 4801 Main.  For more information, contact: Judy Ancel, Cross Border Network, 816-835-4745 or Joel Jones, Plaza Library, 816-701-3581.

Friday, February 26, Manhattan, Kansas, Manhattan Public Library, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Minneapolis-St.Paul

Saturday, February 27, Resource Center for the Americas Coffeehouse, 10:00 a.m., 3019 Minnehaha Avenue, Suite 20.  Tel. 612-276-0788, www.americas.org

Sunday, February 28, Spirit of Saint Stephen’s Community, following the 9 a.m. liturgy. Contact Cheryl Meyers at cameyers@q.com for further information.

By Brenda Norrell

Photo: Bolivian President Evo Morales at Copenhagen Summit by Earl Tulley, Navajo

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- Bolivian President Evo Morales, announcing the objectives of the upcoming Peoples Climate Summit, made it clear that the so-called developed countries of the world have usurped the bounties of Mother Earth at the expense of the poorest people in the world.

Cautioning mankind of the suffering and displacement which leads to forced migration, Morales called for The Peoples World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth's Rights, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19-22, 2010.

Stressing the need to reestablish harmony with nature and establish the rights of Mother Earth, Morales welcomed those willing to work for the good of all mankind, and those governments willing to work for the best interests of their people.

Morales said climate change represents a real threat to the existence of humanity, of living being and Mother Earth. The danger is serious for the islands, coastal areas, glaciers in the Himalayas, the Andes, mountains of the world, poles of the Earth, warm regions like Africa, water sources, populations affected by increasing natural disasters, plants, animals and ecosystems, he said.

"Those most affected by climate change will be the poorest in the world who will see their homes and their sources of survival destroyed, and who will be forced to migrate and seek refuge."

He pointed out that 75 percent of historical emissions of greenhouse gases originated in "the countries of the North that followed a path of irrational industrialization."

"Climate change is a product of the capitalist system," Morales said. While citing regret at the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Conference, he said the so-called developed countries failed to recognize their climate debt to developing countries, future generations and Mother Earth.

The purpose of the conference in Cochabamba is to discuss and agree on the Universal Declaration of Mother Earth Rights. It seeks an agreement on proposals for new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and a COP Decision under the United Nations Framework for Climate Change.

Morales welcomed a broad range of people to the summit. "The Government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia calls on the peoples of the world, social movements and Mother Earth's defenders, and invites scientists, academics, lawyers and governments that want to work with their citizens."

Earthcycles, www.earthcycles.net, and Censored News, www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com, will be streaming live from the summit, with on-air Indigenous cohosts.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentarians of the European United Left, and the Nordic United Left proposed a Resolution, in relation to the outcome of the Copenhagen summit on Climate Change, that "welcomes the initiative" taken by President Evo Morales "to convoke the Peoples' World Conference on Climate change and Mother Earth's Rights from the 19th to the 22nd of April 2010 in the city of Cochabamba; urges the Commission, the Member states, the European Parliament and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly to send representatives to this important event."

Registration is free and available in Spanish and English: info@cmpcc.org

Updates will be available at Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

The objectives are:

1) To analyze the structural and systemic causes that drive climate change and to propose radical measures to ensure the well-being of all humanity in harmony with nature
2) To discuss and agree on the project of a Universal Declaration of Mother Earth Rights
3) To agree on proposals for new commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and projects for a COP Decision under the United Nations Framework for Climate Change that will guide future actions in those countries that are engaged with life during climate change negotiations and in all United Nations scenarios, related to:
- Climate debt
- Climate change migrants-refugees
- Emission reductions
- Adaptation
- Technology transfer
- Finance
- Forest and Climate Change
- Shared Vision
- Indigenous Peoples, and
- Others
4) To work on the organization of the Peoples' World Referendum on Climate Change
5) To analyze and develop an action plan to advance the establishment of a Climate Justice Tribunal
6) To define strategies for action and mobilization to defend life from Climate Change and to defend Mother Earth's Rights.
The statement was made by Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, on Jan. 5. info@cmpcc.org
Working Groups
1. Structural causes
2. Harmony with Nature
3. Mother Earth Rights
4. Referendum
5. Climate Justice Tribunal
6. Climate Migrants
7. Indigenous Peoples
8. Climate Debt
9. Shared Vision
10. Kyoto Protocol
11. Adaptation
12. Financing
13. Technology Transfer
14. Forest
15. Dangers of Carbon Market
16. Action Strategies
Objetivos
La Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra tiene por objetivos:
1. Analizar las causas estructurales y sistémicas que provocan el cambio climático y proponer medidas de fondo que posibiliten el bienestar de toda la humanidad en armonía con la naturaleza. 2. Discutir y acordar el proyecto de Declaración Universal de Derechos de la Madre Tierra.
3. Acordar las propuestas de nuevos compromisos para el Protocolo de Kioto, y para proyectos de Decisiones de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático que guiarán el accionar de los gobiernos comprometidos con la vida en las negociaciones de cambio climático y en todos los escenarios de Naciones Unidas.
4. Trabajar en la organización del Referéndum Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el cambio climático.
5. Analizar y trazar un plan de acción para avanzar en la constitución de un Tribunal de Justicia Climática;
6. Definir las estrategias de acción y movilización en defensa de la vida frente al Cambio Climático y por los Derechos de la Madre Tierra.

Many of us come to The Field several times a day,  waiting for that new entry from Al.  Thus my entry title.  He's busy.  Full Tilt Boogie #1 busy.  Janis Joplin's last band busy, producing a Pearl.  Our patience will be rewarded.

Meanwhile:  Don't forget to check the other entries from our other journalists and co-publishers while you're here.

“Esto es una masacre, esto es terrorismo de Estado” asegura Julián Contreras

Descargar audio en Mp3:
http://archivos.radiobembafm.org/010210_gero_fong.mp3

Carlos Aparicio entrevista en Cénit, noticiario de medio día transmitido en Radio Bemba 95.5 FM, a los activistas del Frente Nacional Contra la Represión en Chihuahua, Carlos Fong Ronquillo y Julián Contreras, el pasado 1 de febrero.

Carlos Aparicio: Este tema lo hemos seguido de cerca, por supuesto agravándose cada día más, entrando el año con el asesinato de Josefina Reyes. Y la semana pasada seguimos también el allanamiento de tu casa por parte de miembros del Ejército, la amenaza que de alguna manera hicieron. Y obviamente a finales de año esta salida a las calles de parte de grupos sociales, de activistas quienes están pidiendo la salida del Ejército como una manera de remediar todo esta masacre desde la entrada del operativo de Ciudad Juárez. Y ahora sucede esto del fin de semana con estos muchachos, con estos adolescentes. Ya lo hemos repetido, lo hemos hablado; cómo es el clima, cuál es la situación. Nos comentaba el año pasado una compañera tuya también sobre, que los mismos mandos policiales están pidiendo pagos por todo tipo de cosas. ¿Qué sigue Gero?

Carlos Fong Ronquillo: Mira, la situación que estamos viviendo es muy grave, hay que dar la voz de alarma porque en están actuando en Ciudad Juárez escuadrones de la muerte. La masacre del día 30 no tiene nada que ver con el narco, se trataba de unos muchachos de preparatoria que estaban celebrando un cumpleaños (en) una colonia popular, una colonia que no tiene dinero y fueron masacrados por un comando armado, organizado o un comando militar, o un comando paramilitar. Todo esto sucede mientras la ciudad se encuentra totalmente militarizada. Los que vivimos aquí en Juárez te podemos decir que no podemos estar más de tres minutos en ningún punto de la ciudad sin ver a una patrulla del Ejército. Pero curiosamente, cuando suceden estas masacres, cuando suceden los asesinatos, no hay patrullas alrededor, las patrullas llegan hasta después. Desde que llegaron las fuerzas militares a Ciudad Juárez, el aumento de las ejecuciones fue del 400 por ciento. Se nos dice de parte del gobierno y de parte de los medios oficiales que en Ciudad Juárez hay una guerra, que hay una guerra entre cárteles de la droga y que hay una guerra de parte del Gobierno Federal contra el crimen organizado. Pero en casi la totalidad de los 2635 asesinatos que hubo en 2009, casi en la totalidad ninguno fue por enfrentamientos; son ejecuciones a gentes desarmadas de prácticamente todos los estratos sociales. Entonces, más bien estamos viviendo una masacre, estamos viviendo más bien como una operación de limpia. Y todo esto se desató desde la llegada de las fuerzas federales. Nosotros vamos a manifestarnos el próximo sábado repudiando esta masacre, insistiendo en que mientras Felipe Calderón siga en la Presidencia de la República, la vida de cada uno de los juarenses está en riesgo.

Carlos Aparicio: ¿Ustedes consideran que esos grupos, como en muchos países, como ha sucedido en Colombia, en Brasil, en (El) Salvador, el mismo Perú, podrían estar protagonizando escuadrones de la muerte las mismas corporaciones policiales?

Carlos Fong: Pues mira, ¿qué otra cosa podemos pensar? En el 2008 hubo testigos, incluso salió en un periódico local, que mientras un escuadrón masacraba a dos policías ministeriales, había una patrulla del Ejército vigilando. En la masacre del CIAD que fue de las primeras masacres que se hicieron en Ciudad Juárez, los testigos dijeron claramente que afuera había una patrulla del Ejército mientras ocurría la masacre. Después de esas declaraciones que salieron en el periódico fue asesinado el periodista Armando Rodríguez y ya no se volvió a saber nada del asunto. Parece muy claro que las fuerzas federales o están coludidas con estos escuadrones de la muerte o provienen desde allá esos mismos escuadrones de la muerte. Al menos nos queda claro que el Ejército no está aquí para combatir a esos sicarios.

Carlos Aparicio: Nos cuenta Carlos Fong (…) que tú estabas cerca de los hechos del día 30.

Julián Contreras: Sí, mira, yo vivo en la calle Villa de Leñadores esquina con Villa del Cedro. Las cuadras son muy pequeñas en los fraccionamientos; las casas son extremadamente pequeñas porque son las casas que se han construido para los obreros en Ciudad Juárez durante mucho tiempo. Desde que inició esta crisis económica, ha afectado mucho a la industria en Juárez. Mucha gente se ha tenido que ir y muchos chavos, muchachos, están en el desempleo, los llamados “ni-nis”. Atrás, en la última cuadra de la colonia, se le dice “la calle olvidada” del fraccionamiento. Pero se le decía “la calle olvidada” como una ironía porque era la calle más activa, más dinámica. Ahí los chavos, los niños, toda la gente, era una con más movimiento.

Uno de los vecinos me comenta que había planeado festejar una fiesta por el triunfo de uno de los equipos donde participaban los muchachos y un cumpleaños de un mismo vecino de la colonia. Y me dice el padre “pues precisamente porque sabemos cómo están las cosas, no permitimos que se fueran a un antro, era preferibles tenerlos aquí enfrente de la colonia”. Todos eran estudiantes, estudiaban en el CBTIS 128, en el Bachilleres, incluso alumnos de la UACH, de la Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua extensión Juárez. Los medios están manejando que fue en una casa y quieren hacer creer que fue un rave, que ahí fueron por provisiones y empiezan a haber especulaciones en torno a que estaban ligados al narcotráfico. Yo conozco a esos niños, los he visto porque son niños, los he visto en el parque jugando, limpiando el parque. Si tú te das una vuelta por mi colonia tú ves las pinturas que han hecho en las paredes. Nosotros estamos a punto de subir ahorita un reportaje porque vamos a tratar de denunciar por los medios que nosotros tenemos lo que hacían estos muchachos en las bardas, protestando por la inseguridad, por esto que estaban viviendo los chavos de la colonia y no fue una casa, entraron a tres casas. Entraron a una, después a otra y después a otra. Un padre salió a ver qué estaba pasando con su hijo porque estaba la balacera, lo mataron, a una familia ahí adentro le dispararon. Y llegaron diciendo que se separara a los niños y dispararon a todos los que estaban ahí en el baile, los acorralaron, los masacraron. A las niñas, a las muchachitas que estaban ahí les dispararon nada más a los miembros, están heridas. Pero a los chicos les destrozaron el rostro. A un muchacho que todavía está internado en el hospital nada más le dispararon a las piernas, casi se las cercenan de balas.

¡Entonces, esto es terrorismo! ¡Este es terrorismo de Estado! Yo así lo llamo porque yo tengo la convicción de que esta no es una guerra contra el narcotráfico. La gran mentira que le están vendiendo a México y al mundo es que aquí hay una guerra contra narcos, es una guerra contra entre carteles. Pero eso es falso, aquí no hay ninguna guerra contra el narco, aquí hay una limpieza social, con el pretexto del narco están exterminando a los estratos bajos de la población. Aquí es más barato matar pobres que acabar con la pobreza. Ciudad Juárez ahorita está viviendo un índice de pobreza que ronda entre el 60 y el 70 por ciento. Si nosotros nos ponemos a pensar qué es lo que está detrás de esto, cómo nuestra colonia está constantemente vigilada por militares, donde te detienen y te intimidan y resulta que hay un convoy de siete vehículos grandes que andan armados por esta ciudad y que nadie se da cuenta cuando no te topas una esquina donde no haya militares y PFPs, pues te das cuenta de que hay una colusión; no es la primera vez que pasa. Cuando mataron a mi primo, lo primero que dicen los medios de comunicación masiva es que “son narcos” y con ese pretexto se justifica que estén matando a las personas. Aquí no importa si derechos humanos o cualquier cosa de esas. Aquí si es narco debe morir y como todos son delincuentes pues a todos matan. ¡Esto es extremadamente grave! La población debe saber que aquí hay escuadrones paramilitares, que esto sólo tiene parangón con lo que hacían en El Salvador, en Guatemala, con estos grupos de la muerte, escuadrones, con los Kaibiles que fueron entrenados en la Escuela de las Américas. Y que le tratan de vender la idea a la gente de que son narcos los que están haciendo esto, que son delincuentes, y que son cholos —para acabarla- para criminalizar la pobreza en nuestra frontera. Y eso ya nos tiene hartos. La gente debe enterarse que no hay guerra contra el narco.

Carlos Aparicio: Estamos hablando entonces, que dentro de los muchachos asesinados por este escuadrón de la muerte eran muchachos que tenían conciencia de esta realidad que estaba ocurriendo en los estratos, en los barrios, en los lugares donde se estaba tocando esta represión de manera selectiva. Porque son muchachos que también estaban haciendo un llamado para que esto acabara. Es decir, estos mismos muchachos, digamos que de alguna forma, hicieron activismo contra la represión, fueron los asesinados.

Julián Contreras: Sí. Son estudiantes… chavos que no tenían nada que ver con el crimen. Era una fiesta sana. Aquí en Juárez nosotros ya no podemos salir a un antro, nosotros ya no podemos salir a un parque, ya no podemos salir un centro de diversiones porque eso está vedado, porque le han vendido a la gente la idea que aquí afuera hay una guerra entre narcos, cuando en realidad hay una guerra contra el pueblo. Y esta guerra contra el pueblo, yo me atrevo a decirlo, está articulada desde de las grandes esferas del poder. Ya no es tiempo de estar aquí callándose las cosas porque nos faltan ahí algunos engranes para poder señalar. Esto es una masacre, esto es terrorismo de Estado, así se debe de decir con esas palabras. Yo no me detengo, hemos arriesgado la vida, yo he perdido familia en esta guerra, he visto masacres de mis alumnos. Cuando di clases me corrieron de una escuela por atreverme a denunciar la militarización y los abusos de los militares. He visto como mis compañeros de lucha de las organizaciones están siendo asesinados. Defensores de derechos humanos, periodistas. La anomia de la sociedad debe terminar. Debe de salir a las calles la sociedad, porque al pueblo sólo va a defender al pueblo y debemos de tener esto e insistir en lo que nosotros estamos diciendo: (que) la vida de todos los juarenses, la vida de nuestros hijos, de nuestros hermanos, de nuestras hermanas corre peligro mientras este FASCISTA de Calderón continúe en las calles, mientras siga sacando a las fuerzas militares, las bayonetas, los vehículos artillados a la calle so pretexto de combatir al narco, pero cuando en realidad no sucede. Aquí mueren pobres, aquí mueren los delincuentes de tramo y lima, pero los grandes narcoempresarios, a ellos no los tocan. Los grandes políticos corruptos se pasean por la calle. Es evidente que esto es una guerra contra los pobres.

Carlos Aparicio: Dentro de este grupo armado que, como dices tú, no sólo entró a una casa habitación sino a más de dos casas, tres. ¿Podrían identificarse gente que estuviese frente a las corporaciones policiales?

Julián Contreras: Mira, la gente ahorita está muy asustada. La mayoría de las veces cuando sucede un tipo de masacres de estas y que la gente se ha atrevido a denunciar, y como ya se ha publicado en muchos tiempos, posteriormente asesinan a los que denuncian. La gente tiene miedo a denunciar, porque reciben intimidaciones, llamadas diciéndoles “ya párenle”. Y resulta que cuando sucede un crimen, los que llegan a esculcar, los que llegan a basculear es a la gente de la misma comunidad. Ahorita la colonia estaba sitiada por PFPs y militares. Rondan por ahí, detienen a los vehículos de los mismos colonos, los revisan, que porque están buscando drogas y armas. Osea, ¿la misma colonia va a matar a sus propios hijos? ¿En qué cabeza cabe lo que están haciendo? Ahorita la gente no se atreve a denunciar realmente a ciencia cierta qué es lo que está diciendo.

Tuve el privilegio de estar, de una u otra manera, donde la gente ahí fluye un poco la información, pero desconfía de la prensa, desconfía de las autoridades. Los mismos militares, ha habido muchos casos en que no dejan llevar a los heridos a los hospitales, que no dejan que las familias intervengan. Los mismos vecinos se enfrentaron a las fuerzas diciéndoles “¿pues cómo no nos vamos a llevar a nuestros hijos al hospital si están heridos?” Cerca, recogen los casquillos, toman algunas fotos y al día siguiente ya está limpio todo. Osea, no hay una investigación, pervive la impunidad, no se investiga nunca a los criminales. Esto es la barbarie total de lo que están haciendo a nuestra ciudad. Y alertamos al resto del país, este fenómeno se va a trasladar al resto del país, es necesario que la gente no permita que sus comunidades se militaricen y que no permitan la presencia de grupos armados. No se debe combatir la violencia con más violencia. ¿Quieren acabar con la delincuencia? Que inviertan en escuelas, que inviertan en educación, que inviertan en salud, que inviertan en la gente. Matar pobres no puede ser la solución para acabar con los problemas sociales. Así lo leemos nosotros y seguiremos firmes, denunciándolo, incluso a pesar de nuestras vidas. No tenemos miedo a morir denunciando esta barbarie. Y estaremos en la lucha y saldremos a la calle, aunque seamos cincuenta, treinta, los que seamos… hasta el último vamos a salir a la calle a denunciar que aquí hay una guerra contra los pobres.