Assassinations OAX => Mexico Most Dangerous Western Country
MM - 19.04.2008 17:33
Message from the Oaxaca Solidarity list, together with some recent messages from the OaxacaStudyAcionGroup. Mainly about the spiral of murders and the recent murders on two radio reporters. Plus about the teachers protests
AUDIO: Assassinations in Oaxaca Highlight Mexico as Most Dangerous Country in Western Hemisphere
 http://elenemigocomun.net/1489
Community Radio Producers Murdered in Oaxaca
http://elenemigocomun.net/1481
AUDIO: Jill Friedberg update on Oaxaca
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/04/18/18493731.php
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Assassinations in Oaxaca Highlight Mexico as Most Dangerous Country in Western Hemisphere
April 18th, 2008 - FSRN writes: The recent assassination of two community radio reporters in Oaxaca’s Triqui region has triggered widespread international condemnation. Mexico has ranked as the deadliest country for journalists in this hemisphere for years. The two young reporters were from a self-declared “autonomous municipality” in an area characterized by decades of bitter violence. Community activists and the Mexican government’s National Human Rights Commission visited the area earlier this week on a fact-finding mission. Vladimir Flores has the Latest from Oaxaca.
AUDIO:
http://elenemigocomun.net/1489
Length: 4:49 minutes
source: http://fsrn.org
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El Enemigo Común
http://elenemigocomun.net
Oaxaca Solidarity Alert List:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/oaxaca
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OSAG message from Nancy Davies:
San Juan Copala murders
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/message/4187
This says the human rights commission will investigate. The state's attorney general has not responded to calls from San Juan Copala and no progress has been made on the investigation. No security has been offered the survivors, but the article doesn't say if those "survivors" are family members or community radio members -the youngsters now broadcasting are teenage boys.
Next week AMARC will come, along with Reporters without Frontiers, UNESCO and the Interamerican Press Society, to check conditions in states like Oaxaca, Sonora, Michoacan, Guerrero and DF.
Indaga CNDH asesinato de dos locutoras
De la Redacción
El asesinato de Teresa Bautista Merino y Felícitas Martínez Sánchez, locutoras de la radio indígena La Voz que Rompe el Silencio –la semana pasada en la comunidad triqui de San Juan Copala, Oaxaca– no ha merecido respuesta de la Procuraduría General de Justicia estatal, por lo que prácticamente ha habido nulo avance en el esclarecimiento del ataque, denunció el director de la emisora, Jorge Albino.
En conferencia de prensa, se anunció que este miércoles acudirán a la comunidad triqui funcionarios de la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos para investigar cómo ocurrieron las ejecuciones. Se denunció que el gobierno del estado no ha respondido a la solicitud de organizaciones de derechos humanos para que se le ofrezca protección a los sobrevivientes del ataque.
La Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias (AMARC) anunció que la próxima semana vendrán representantes de organizaciones como Reporteros Sin Fronteras, la UNESCO y la Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa, para verificar las condiciones de trabajo de los reporteros en entidades como Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sonora y el Distrito Federal.
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killers identified -but not arrested
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/message/4181
press relase by CIPO-RFM
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396277.html
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radio reporters murdered, another account (Nancy Davies)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/message/4164
The news about the ambush assassination of the two young Triqui women got out very quickly via the itnernet. As for print, I saw it in English in the international Herald Tribune. Did anyone see it in English print elsewhere? The local Oaxaca papers and editorials, opinion pieces, etcetera have posted several aticles. Las Noticias, which prints Pedrio Matias and Eernesto Reyes, has done a good job. But I suppose international demands are the only true motivator for URO and Calderon - altho nothing has happened since 2006....
Today's Noticias has an article saying that foreign investment in Oaxaca has dropped: Standard & Poor's no longer endorses Oaxaca as a good investment city. But nobody says why.
Below is another indymedia version of the murders of the young Triqui women, which please note has one small error : San Juan Copala was not "granted" autonomy, it declared autonomy. Hence the murders...
For those of you who in the past have donated to community radio, or would like to do so for the first time, there are accepting accounts in Europe, the USA and Mexico. For further info contact Tonee Mello.
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*Two Radio Reporters Murdered in Oaxaca*
by Sofia Jarrin ( sofiajt [at] yahoo.com )
/Thursday Apr 10th, 2008 8:52 AM /
On April 7, two radio reporters from a recently installed community
radio were ambushed in Putla de Guerrero, Oaxaca, and shot to death.
Teresa Bautista Flores, 24, and Felicitas Martínez, 20, two women
journalists working for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio ("The Voice
that Breaks the Silence"), were murdered allegedly by paramilitary
forces. Three other people were wounded in the shooting: Jaciel
Vázquez, aged 3, and his parents.
nancyaug14triqui38.jpg
*nancyaug14triqui38.jpg*
On April 7, two radio reporters from a recently installed community
radio were ambushed in Putla de Guerrero, Oaxaca, and shot to death.
Teresa Bautista Flores, 24, and Felicitas Martínez, 20, two women
journalists working for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio ("The Voice that
Breaks the Silence"), were murdered allegedly by paramilitary forces.
Three other people were wounded in the shooting: Jaciel Vázquez, aged 3,
and his parents.
In an interview with Radio Bemba in Sonora, Mexico, Jorge Albino,
coordinator of La Voz que Rompe el Silencio said that the radio station
had been receiving death threats since its inception. The station was
inaugurated on January 20 to serve the Triqui indigenous community in San
Juan Copala, a year after the locality was granted administrative autonomy.
The Mexican branch of the World Association of Community Radio
Broadcasters (AMARC) said there have been acts of violence against other
small radio stations belonging to indigenous groups in Oaxaca, such as
Radio Nandia in 2006 and Radio Calenda in 2007. Reporters Without
Borders, an international organization created to defend press freedom
and journalists under threat, reported that risks run by the press in
Oaxaca state are common, where the political climate continues to be tense.
Two journalists were murdered in Oaxaca during a major wave of protests
against state governor Ulíses Ruiz Ortíz in 2006. They were Indymedia
reporter and U.S. citizen Bradley Will, and Raúl Marcial Pérez, an
indigenous community leader and columnist for the regional daily El
Gráfico. No one has been brought to justice for their murders.
La Voz que Rompe el Silencio is considered a vital instrument to
establish the peace in the region, said Jorge Albino in his interview
with Radio Bemba. "The blood of our colleagues were not shed in vain. In
fact, it is with their blood that we will continue our work, boost the
radio for the betterment of the Triquis community," he said.
Oaxacan women rose to international prominence in 2006 when they led the
takeover of a TV station during the people's uprising in Oaxaca city.
What started as a women-only march on August 1, culminated in the
peaceful seizing of the state-owned television station, Channel 9. For
three months, they collectively ran the station and opened a forum of
discussion on the airwaves previously inaccessible to the community.
Their media revolution was only haltered when the Mexican government
decided to attack their own station, destroying the antenna and
effectively taking them off the air. Taking over the communications
broadcasting system, including several radio stations, has been heralded
as a symbol of the popular movement in Oaxaca.
The Triqui indigenous people of San Juan Copala in southern Oaxaca, saw
their first radio station, La Voz que Rompe el Silencio, as a major
victory of their struggle. When the community declared itself an
autonomous region on January 21, 2007, it vowed to stay independent from
any party affiliation or influence, creating even a Police of the
Community (Policia Comunitaria) to replace government armed forces in
the region. The radio was to serve the Triquis people to promote unity,
overcome conflicts, and encourage communication among communities,
including those that are not formally members of the autonomous region.
The radio stressed from the beginning the importance of promoting
diversity within the station with the participation of women and
particularly, the youth.
Jorge Albino reported to Radio Bemba that the two murdered journalists
were in fact focusing on the process of indigenous autonomy, including
health and bilingual education. Fearing the state of impunity in the
region, radio administrators have circumvented local authorities and
requested for a federal investigation into the murders.
(Photo: D.R. 2006 Nancy Davies. Triqui women in the Oaxaca zocalo.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The Triquis Inaugurate Their New Autonomous Municipality, by Nancy Davies
http://www.narconews.com/Issue44/article2521.html
A second article by Nancy Davies is now posted on Narconews, April 10, 2008
Radio Bemba
http://portal.radiobemba.org/
Ventana a Mi Comunidad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpCp1tDaZ6I
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teachers' marches in 7 regions of Oaxaca
(partial translation from Nancy Davies)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaxacastudyactiongroup/message/4155
Sixty five thousand teachers and the APPO marched, no problems. That was statewide.
Oaxaca is in a state of seige, the PFP is here to repress the social movement.
The biggest issue for 22 is to get an statewide assembly which Gordillo refuses to authorize. It would establish the union's opposition to her, so I guess that's a an explanation of why she won't authorize it -but if someone understands the ins and outs of this better, I would appreciate getting some info.
The speeches (harangues) were against the privatization of energy, for the abrogation of the law of ISSSTE, and for the liberation of the political prisoners.
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