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END HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST TEACHERS, WOMEN, COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS AND OTHERS IN OAXACA, MEXICO
Given extensive and systematic human rights abuses by police, army and paramilitaries – assassinations, disappearances, arbitrary detention, rapes and other torture – against the community-teacher movement in Oaxaca, Mexico, and its organisations: the teachers union Section 22, CODEP, APPO and others (see background below);
Given that such violations have been reported by the International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International;
Given that the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the American Federation of Teachers, France’s CNT and the Fifth World Congress of Education International have also condemned these violations; and that MP John McDonnell’s Early Day Motion (1828 Human Rights Situation in Oaxaca, Mexico, 3/7/07) has been signed by 32 MPs;
WE THE UNDERSIGNED DEMAND:
1. An immediate end to human rights violations against teachers, women, Indigenous communities, community activists and others in Oaxaca, Mexico. 2. A thorough investigation into abuses reported by human rights organisations and individuals. 3. The release of all those being held as a result of the protests. 4. Justice and compensation for the victims and their families. 5. Guaranteed protection and safety for members of CODEP-APPO and others who have brought human rights violations to public attention nationally and internationally, in particular Alejandro Cruz López, Samuel Hernández Morales, María del Carmen López Almazán, Jaqueline Lopez Almazán, Castulo Lopez Pacheco, the family of Emeterio Merino Cruz, Ulises Reynosa Guerrero and Leila Zenteno.
NAME ORGANISATION EMAIL & TEL
Return to: womenstrike8m@server101.con www.globalwomenstrike.net Background
Oaxaca is one of the areas of the world where agriculture first began. Among the poorest states in Mexico, its 3.7m population is mostly Indigenous. As a result of corruption by local and federal politicians, most rural villages lack running water, electricity, roads, school buildings. The people of Oaxaca accuse the governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, of coming to power through fraudulent elections in 2004. Ruiz aims to impose Plan Puebla Panama, the US free trade agreement which expands Nafta to Central America via Oaxaca. This would throw people off the land, and bring environmental devastation, sweatshops and destitution. Naturally he has bypassed Indigenous communities and representatives.
In January 2005, teachers and the Indigenous communities where they work protested against this, and members of CODEP (Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the People) and the union of education workers Section 22 SNTE-Oaxaca were arrested. Noticias, the only independent newspaper was closed down. The arrests triggered the first ever megamarch in the history of Oaxaca – 85,000 people marched on 28 February 2005 and won their release soon after. In May 2006, 70,000 teachers – backed by Section 22, parents, CODEP and other community organisations – went on strike to demand school buildings and higher wages as well as food, shoes and school supplies for their pupils. Their camp was violently evicted at night by over 3,000 police who left at least 24 people dead and many wounded; four pregnant women miscarried or gave birth to sick infants. The repression has galvanised an already indignant population into supporting the teachers’ actions. One and a half million people from all walks of life – trade unionists, housewives, nurses, students, nuns and priests, professionals, shopkeepers – have marched repeatedly to demand the removal and prosecution of Ulises Ruiz, and over 300 organisations, including CODEP and Section 22, got together to form APPO, an assembly open to all, where community issues are discussed and decided on. Women, both waged and unwaged, have been particularly active – on 1st August 2006 and 2007, thousands of women marched to show their determination.
Ruiz’s government has attempted to destroy the strong ongoing solidarity between the teachers and their communities, and federal forces have been brought to Oaxaca. Extensive and systematic human rights abuses by police, army and paramilitaries – assassinations, disappearances, arbitrary detention, rapes and other torture, including the shooting of US Indymedia journalist Brad Will – have been reported by the International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation in December 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2006 and Amnesty International in 2005 and again in August 2007. In January 2007, victims of rape and other torture by police, army and prison guards, and their relatives gave evidence to a Forum in the National Parliament. In June 2007, Mexico's Supreme Court ordered an investigation into human rights abuses committed by Ruiz's government. On 16 July, the traditional harvest festival Guelagetza was brutally attacked by police, leaving four people seriously wounded, one in a coma. In response, on 3-4 August, a Public Trial attended by 5,000 people was held in Mexico City’s central square, where victims again gave evidence. Organisations such as CODEP which speak out against the repression, are increasingly targeted: there have been assassination attempts against a number of their members and their offices were raided in June and again on 9 September 2007. Up to 63 people have been killed, over 50 have disappeared, over 500 have been arrested and no one knows exactly how many women and men have been raped by police, army and prison wardens. More than 40 people are still in jail. The latest attacks took place on 2 November, Day of the Dead – a number of people were arrested during a peaceful offering to the victims of the repression.
There is growing international concern about human rights abuses in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO), the American Federation of Teachers and other education workers unions from the Trinational (Canada, US and Mexico), France’s CNT and the Fifth World Congress of Education International (Berlin, 22-26 July 2007), have condemned the human rights violations in Oaxaca. MP John McDonnell’s Early Day Motion (1828 Human Rights Situation in Oaxaca, Mexico, 3/7/07) has been signed by 32 MPs, and a number of Euro MPs have also expressed their concern.
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