Mexico appears to be on its way to once again ranking as the hemisphere’s most dangerous country for media workers. This week’s events in Oaxaca have pretty much eliminated any doubts about whether Mexico would again beat out Colombia and Haiti in this year’s Reporters Without Border’s index.
On the worldwide stage, Mexico ranks second only to Iraq in media worker deaths. Granted, Iraq has been in the lead by a long shot…but still, that’s pretty bad…especially for a country not officially at war, civil or otherwise.
Continue reading “Bad Week for Media Distributors in Oaxaca”
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is the latest human rights body to point out the grave situation in Oaxaca. IACHR President Florentín Meléndez came to Oaxaca last week to personally investigate reports of various types of abuses and acts of violence under the administration of Governor Ulises Ruiz, specifically from mid-2006 to the present.
Incidentally, the Secretary General of Amnesty International had just wrapped up a similar trip. After presenting a detailed report called Oaxaca: Clamor for Justice, Ruiz totally blew off the substantiated and researched conclusions by saying that the report had been authored by APPO advisors. This left many here wondering how Ruiz would receive the head of the IACHR.
By all accounts, Ruiz seems to have minded his manners quite a bit more with the IACHR president. At least there were no public accusations of underhanded collaborations with the APPO. Then again, the IACHR is a body of the Organization of American States…a governmental organization with the teeth of a shared treaty. Amnesty International may have prestige, but the OAS has power.
Continue reading “IACHR Issues Preliminary Recommendations on Oaxaca”
After more than a week in detention, four Spanish citizens from the autonomous province of Catalonia were released Monday night after federal immigration authorities confirmed their legal entry into Mexico.
Laia Serra, Ariadna Nieto, Nuria Morelló and Ramón Sesén were arrested with a Mexican citizen, Damián Reséndiz, in Oaxaca City on August 5th. The state police agency, SEPROCI, alleges the arrests came in response to an incident of disturbing the peace (in legalese: causing “a scandal in a public roadway”). The 5 arrestees deny this, saying their detention was without warning or cause.
According to their testimonies, the five were walking down Independencia street at about 9:30pm on August 5th when they were stopped by police in dark blue uniforms (state police) riding in pick-up trucks. The five have alleged mistreatment by Oaxacan police in a written communique released a few days ago.
Continue reading “Four Catalans Released by Mexican Immigration Authorities”
José Jiménez Colmenares was one of thousands who joined a march on August 10, 2006 to protest a rising tide of repression against the popular movement in Oaxaca. Earlier that week, members in the movement to oust the governor had been arrested under highly irregular circumstances and the women occupying the state-owned Channel 9 television and radio facilities were reporting increased hostile activity around the station.
The APPO called for a march to Channel 9 in solidarity and to reject the use of violence and arbitrary detentions against members of the APPO movement.
Continue reading “Incense, Prayers, and Chants in the Oaxaca Cathedral Mark the Anniversary of the Assassination of José Jiménez Colmenares”
Contrary to the expectations and preoccupations of many, election day here in Oaxaca City was pretty much uneventful. So much so, that most voters opted to miss out on “the big event” itself…the act of voting.
Although the preliminary results are still being tallied, it’s already apparent that the big winner in today’s legislative elections is “none of the above”. At just after midnight local time, the State Electoral Institute showed that 75% of the electorate chose not to vote today. [Note: That number may change as more ballots are tallied.]
A couple of commercial radio stations were running special election coverage today. Time and again, the call-in reports from the field consisted of lamentations about the dismal voter turn-out, coupled with pleas from the reporters to the apathetic electorate of come on out to their polling stations and cast a ballot. The polling stations that I went by were pretty empty, aside from the workers.
Continue reading “Abstentionism Wins by a Landslide Across Oaxaca”
Mexico’s Ejercito Revolucionario Popular (EPR) guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for the two explosive devices found in Oaxaca City yesterday. One of the devices damaged the shuttered front entrance of the Sears department store in the Plaza del Valle shopping center district, while the other (placed in a Banamex branch in a different neighborhood) did not detonate.
The EPR communique published online today by the Center for the Documentation of Armed Movements says the explosions are part of a national campaign to demand the physical presentation of two of the group’s militants, Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez, who both disappeared from the streets of Oaxaca City on May 25th of this year.
Continue reading “The Ballot and the Bomblet”
Last night (July 31), it seemed like the big news in the morning would be the frank and firmly worded Amnesty International report on human rights violations during the ongoing social conflict in Oaxaca. Amnesty’s Secretary General Irene Khan made a personal visit in the context of a larger trip to Mexico. During their one-day visit to Oaxaca on July 31st, the Amnesty International delegation spent 3 hours listening to testimonies from survivors and relatives of victims of political violence committed during the 2006 popular uprising against Governor Ulises Ruiz. Khan later met with Gov. Ruiz and members of his cabinet in a meeting the human rights defender described as “disappointing”. Ruiz, in turn, belittled the report, saying the document was essentially put together by leaders of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca. Within hours of the meeting’s conclusion, the Amnesty report and the governor’s rebuff was international news.
Continue reading “The Media Dance and August 1st in Oaxaca”
