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We demand justice! We demand the arrest and dismissal from office of Domingo Santiago President of the Council of Chilchota, Michoacán, México!
By Amparo Gutiérrez, Nación Purépecha and Global Women’s Strike
8 March 2007, International Women’s Day
Just a few days ago another stage of the conflict that we are living through in the Indigenous community of Tacuro ended.
On 12 September (when the Global Women’s Strike was in Venezuela for the fifth anniversary of the Women’s Development Bank), Dominic Santiago – president of the Council of Chilcota, which includes the Indigenous community of Tacuro – in an inebriated state and appearing to be under the effect of some other drug, went and fired shots repeatedly at the population.
The authorities called the municipal police who, on hearing that it was the president and the chief of security who were involved, refused to arrest them. For this reason, the people risked their own lives and confronted the president and his drunken companions and detained them. Whilst being detained, the president received some blows – people were extremely indignant and very angry, frightened and confused.
They didn’t release them until the arrival the following day of a government committee, a member of congress and people from the Attorney General's office.
Previously the president had carried out beatings and, while drunk, had tried to force two girls into his vehicle. In addition, he has systematically refused to attend to the needs of the community.
In light of these events, we spoke to the governor who promised that justice would be done and that this type of official would not be tolerated in his government.
However, the struggle has been a long one, because the president belongs to the PRD (the party led by López Obrador). As is the case with parties’ leaderships, what happens to the people is of little interest to them when compared to the interests of the party. Therefore, people were threatened that we should drop the charges because it was damaging the party and that instead we should tolerate these injustices – with the argument that, after all, people had already given the president a beating.
So we had to renew our negotiations with the governor to carry out legal proceedings against the president. The governor declared that he would act and that he was going to bring charges against the president. In front of us, he gave orders for this.
However, nothing happened. On the contrary, the president ordered the beatings of other compañeros. One had marks all over his face because they attacked him with sticks and told him that they only let him live so that he could tell the people of Tacuro to stop bothering the president or they would come and kill them. We were also told that the president had links with paramilitary groups.
In the absence of a convincing answer, we decided to occupy the presidency on 23 November. Since the taking of the presidency there have been many problems: several attempts to remove us and numerous negotiations with the government. Because the community refused to withdraw the charges against the president, 14 members of the community were charged – some of the most prominent members of the movement headed the list. In order to continue our campaign for justice, we had to carry out several protests in the state capital and make several visits to Congress.
Then they issued an ultimatum: if the president was to be arrested, then so would our 14 compañeros. Even then people refused saying that the dignity of a people would not be crushed with the threat of prison. (They had already told us that I too was on the list for intellectual responsibility, and they almost fainted when I told them that I was in Venezuela on those dates. All they could do now was to accuse me for being a supporter of Chávez.)
In spite of all this, we managed to once again meet with the governor and tell him that his orders were not being complied with. He was sufficiently bothered by this, apologised, and ordered his officials to carry out his instructions. So charges were brought against the president. Charges were also brought against two of our members, for the crime of inciting violence. Only one of them was arrested but, fortunately, we managed to free him. At the moment we don’t have anybody in prison.
Although the president still hasn’t been suspended, the fact that charges have been brought against him has been a big advance. After an exhausting three months of occupying the presidency, we felt it was necessary to go back to the community and demand that Congress dismisses the president from office.
What the community has achieved is historic. Everybody says that it has set a precedent, and that any president of the council will think twice about committing injustices against the people. The community has stated that it will not recognize his as president of the Council, and has agreed with the State Government that all of the community's affairs will be conducted directly with the relevant agencies without the intervention of the president. As a result of these events, we have become an autonomous community; which means that we have many demands because we have to solve many problems, from garbage collection to community security, all services and procedures. But above all, we are going to continue to press Congress for the removal of the president.
There is obviously a lot at stake for us and we need international interest and support. Only then will the officials understand the justness of our campaign. Please help to spread this information and send letters supporting our demands. We demand justice, a warrant for the arrest of Domingo Santiago, President of the Council of Chilchota, and his removal from office.
The following phrase is in the Supreme Tribunal and we believe it would be good phrase to invoke because it was decreed by the Generalísimo José María Morelos y Pavón – hero of our Independence – and it is very fitting to our situation. "That every person who seeks justice for a grievance may have a court that listens, protects and defends them against force and unjust acts."
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Our demands are being dealt with in the next month or so. Please sent letters urgently to the president of the Court, to the Penal Judge who is bringing the matter to Congress, and copies to the members of congress who are already aware that charges have been brought against the president and who must agree to his suspension. Please send copies of your letters/emails to us at: Juchari5@hotmail.com womenstrike8m@server101.net
Letters should be addressed to: M. en Derecho Fernando Arreola Vega Presidente del Tribunal de Michoacán Calzada de la Huerta # 40 Tel/fax: 44332233304 Colonia Nueva Valladolid C:P 58190 Morelia, Michoacán, México He doesn’t have e-mail but you can write to his private secretary. sigfrido_gomez@tribunalmmm.gob.mx
Penal Judge Lic. Jorge Martínez Ruíz Cereso Distrital Entronque kilómetro 10 Camino al pochote s/n C. P. 59600 Zamora, Michoacán, México Tel: 3515173674
And e-mails to the representatives of the State of Michoacán
NAMES POSITION EMAIL
AYALA MARTÍNEZ FRANCISCO JAVIER, ING. DIPUTADO dipfranciscoayala@congresomich.gob.mx CANO OCHOA FERNANDO, TT. DIPUTADO huetamocano@congresomich.gob.mx CHÁVEZ CHÁVEZ RAMÓN DIPUTADO monjany@congresomich.gob.mx IXTLAHUAC ORIHUELA JUAN ANTONIO DIPUTADO LÓPEZ HERNÁNDEZ RAFAEL DIPUTADO LUQUÍN VALDÉS MARIA DEL ROCÍO, LIC. DIPUTADA roluquin_64@congresomich.gob.mx MARES CAMARENA JOSÉ JAIME, LIC. DIPUTADO jmares@congresomich.gob.mx MARÍN GONZÁLEZ JOSÉ JUAN, LIC. DIPUTADO jjmarin@congresomich.gob.mx MONTOYA MANZO MAURICIO, LIC. DIPUTADO mmontoyam@congresomich.gob.mx OROZCO ZEPEDA GUSTAVO, C.P. DIPUTADO gorozco@congresomich.gob.mx ORTIZ GARCÍA SALVADOR DIPUTADO RODRÍGUEZ SESMAS JULIÁN, PROFR. DIPUTADO rdzsesmas@congresomich.gob.mx SAMAGUEY CÁRDENAS MARTÍN DIPUTADO distritozamora@congresomich.gob.mx TORRES MORENO EUGENIO, LIC. DIPUTADO VALENCIA REYES GUILLERMO DIPUTADO memovalencia@congresomich.gob.mx CAMPOS DÍAZ MARY CRUZ, ING. DIPUTADA maricruzcd@congresomich.gob.mx ÁNGEL OLVERA JOSÉ HUGO DIPUTADO hugoangel@congresomich.gob.mx ARIAS GARDUÑO GUSTAVO DIPUTADO gustavoarias@congresomich.gob.mx ARTEAGA GARIBAY LUCILA, LIC. DIPUTADA lucilarteaga@congresomich.gob.mx BAUTISTA GÓMEZ MINERVA, LIC. DIPUTADA minerva@congresomich.gob.mx CORONA SUAZO GUADALUPE JUAN CARLOS DIPUTADO gpejcorona@congresomich.gob.mx DUARTE RAMÍREZ MANUEL, LIC. DIPUTADO manuelduarte@congresomich.gob.mx ESQUIVEL ZALPA JOSÉ LUIS DIPUTADO FERNÁNDEZ GONZÁLEZ CITLALLI, LIC. DIPUTADA cfernandez@congresomich.gob.mx GAONA SÁNCHEZ BALTAZAR DIPUTADO baltazargaona@congresomich.gob.mx GARCÍA REYES VERÓNICA, LIC. DIPUTADA dipverogarcia@congresomich.gob.mx GARIBAY TENA DAVID, LIC. DIPUTADO dgaribay@congresomich.gob.mx GODOY SÁNCHEZ MARTÍN, L.E. DIPUTADO GUÍZAR VALENCIA GENARO DIPUTADO gguizar@congresomich.gob.mx LÓPEZ PAREDEZ URIEL, LIC. DIPUTADO MARTÍNEZ SALDAÑA JESÚS DIPUTADO jesusmarsal@congresomich.gob.mx VELAZQUEZ ESQUIVEL EMILIANO, BIOL. DIPUTADO emiliano@congresomich.gob.mx GARCÍA ROMERO VÍCTOR DIPUTADO victorgarcia@congresomich.gob.mx PLAZA URBINA ANTONIO, LIC. DIPUTADO japlaza@congresomich.gob.mx QUEZADA NARANJO BENIGNO DIPUTADO bqn@congresomich.gob.mx CÁZARES HIGUERA JOSÉ MIGUEL DIPUTADO jmcazares@congresomich.gob.mx MARTÍNEZ ALCAZAR ALFONSO JESÚS, ING. DIPUTADO alfma751@congresomich.gob.mx MEDINA GALINDO ANA LUCIA, LIC. DIPUTADA anadiputada@congresomich.gob.mx MÉNDEZ LÓPEZ ALEJANDRO, LIC. DIPUTADO amendez@congresomich.gob.mx SANDOVAL FLORES REGINALDO DIPUTADO reginaldopt@congresomich.gob.mx
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