May 22nd, 2003
We have received the following urgent appeal from the United States social organization ACERCA. It concerns a situation of social crisis in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (which is home to our parner organization UCIZONI). The information from the newspaper La Jornada has been added by the SJC. The situation in Union Hidalgo has also been the subject of urgent appeals sent out recently by the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre in Mexico City as well as by Amnesty International.
On May 15, 2003, 300 people peacefully blocked the Pan American highway north of the town of Unión Hidalgo, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. They were there to demand the immediate release of political prisoner Carlos Manzo. At approximately 4 pm police forces fired tear gas on the protestors and began to brutally beat women and children in an attempt to break up the protest. The protestors, from the indigenous Zapotec town of Unión Hidalgo, had closed down traffic on the highway from 10 am to 3 pm to denounce the actions of the Juchitán police forces.
On the previous day, May 14th, the police had illegally detained indigneous leader Carlos Manzo, member of the Consejo Ciuadadano de Unihidalguense (CCU). According to eye witness testimony, Carlos Manzo was leaving a bank in the center of Juchitán (a city near his hometown of Unión Hidalgo) when 8 police officers presented a document, saying they had a warrant for his arrest charging him with robbery and deprivation of liberty.
Since the police attack on May 15, two other indigenous activists have been arrested, Luis Alberto Marin and Francisco de la Rosa also of the CCU, joining Carlos Manzo as political prisoners. (Manzo, Marin and De la Rosa are 3 of 37 local indigenous leaders and environmental activists who have outstanding warrants for their arrests issued by the Attorney General's office of the state of Oaxaca.) There are also outstanding warrants for the arrest of fourteen other members of the CCU.
The CCU was formed in February 2003, after a conflict between Unión Hidalgo community members and the municipal government, over the suspected misuse of funds by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) mayor, Armando Sánchez Ruiz. On February 13, 2003, the mayor had ordered municipal police to fire into a crowd that was demonstrating in front of the municipal palace, killing one protestor and injuring nine. The CCU immediately demanded the mayor leave his post. The ongoing political struggle has led to the Oaxaca state government stepping in to support the mayor – issuing arrest warrants on trumped up charges for Unión Hidalgo residents who are active in the CCU.
Many of the indigenous leaders of the CCU have been active participants in a two–year battle to stop an environmentally devastating shrimp farm from being built in Unión Hidalgo. The community is an indigenous Zapotec fishing village. The proposed shrimp farm – heavily promoted by mayor Armando Sánchez Ruiz – would be built on communal lands. The industrial shrimp farm would destroy the local economy. It meshes perfectly with the industrial development program, the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), being pushed in the region by the Interamerican Development Bank. The PPP is a multi–year billion dollar package of industrial development megaprojects connecting Puebla, Mexico to Panama.
The CCU demands an audit of the municipal government, and an investigation of the role of the Unión Hidalgo mayor, Armando Sánchez Ruiz, in the murder and violence that took place on Feburary 13th 2003. The CCU also demands the release from prison of Carlos Manzo, Luis Alberto Marín, and Francisco de la Rosa.
**UPDATE: On May 21, 2003, Carlos Manzo was formally charged with the trumped up charges he has been accused of.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REPORTED IN THE NEWSPAPER LA JORNADA:
As of May 21st, members of the CCU are maintaining a vigil in front of the the Criminal Court Building in Juchitán, Oaxaca, to demand the release from prison of Carlos Manzo, Luis Alberto Marín and Francisco de la Rosa, as well as the destitution of the Union Hidalgo municipal government. (They are also demanding the release of Jesús Vicente of the Worker, Peasant and Student Coalition of the Isthmus –COCEI).
Also on May 21st, a caravan left Oaxaca for Mexico City where a vigil will take place in front of the offices of the Ministry of the Interior. The specific demands of the vigil will be for the release of the three CCU members named above and for the suspension of the warrants that have been issued for the arrest of 14 other CCU members. The more general, and also very urgent, demands are for a change in the repressive policy of the Oaxaca State government and for a resolution of the political conflict within the municipality. A number of social organizations from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, including (the SJC's partner organization) UCIZONI, will be taking part in the Mexico City vigil.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government and to the state government of Oaxaca to ask for a prompt and thorough investigation of the municipal crisis in Union Hidalgo, so that those who are found to be guilty of criminal acts are duly punished.
Please ask for immediate steps to be taken to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all of the members of the CCU. Please request a complete review of the legal proceedings that led to the imprisonment of Carlos Manzo, Luis Alberto Marín, and Francisco de la Rosa and to the issuing of arrest warrants for fourteen other CCU members.
Please ask that a representative of the Oaxaca State Human Rights Commission be sent to evaluate the human rights situation in Union Hidalgo.
Please ask for the immediate destitution of the Union Hidalgo municipal government and (as has been suggested by the CCU) for the naming of an interim municipal administration.
Please send a copy of your letter to the Canadian government – with a very brief covering letter deploring this regrettable example of the use of the judicial system for political ends.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Director General de Derechos Humanos
Secretaria de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
Reforma 99, Colonia Tabacalera
CP 006030, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 51 28 02 34
rsepulveda@segob.gob.mx
Lic. José Murat Casab
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Oaxaca
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México
Fax: 011–52–951–516ndash;3737 (If possible, please send your messge by fax)
gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Please send copies of your letters to:
Her Excellency María Teresa García
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor Street, suite 1500
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 235 9123
info@embamexcan.com
FOR CANADA:
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive, B4
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 943 0606
susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
If possible, please also send copies of your letters to the CCU at sonseluna@hotmail.com and ACERCA at acerca@sover.net as well as the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre at prodh@sjsocial.org
Crisis situation in union Hidalgo, Oaxaca. Three indigenous leaders arrested after protesting municipal government corruption.
We have received the following urgent appeal from the United States social organization ACERCA. It concerns a situation of social crisis in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (which is home to our parner organization UCIZONI). The information from the newspaper La Jornada has been added by the SJC. The situation in Union Hidalgo has also been the subject of urgent appeals sent out recently by the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre in Mexico City as well as by Amnesty International.
On May 15, 2003, 300 people peacefully blocked the Pan American highway north of the town of Unión Hidalgo, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. They were there to demand the immediate release of political prisoner Carlos Manzo. At approximately 4 pm police forces fired tear gas on the protestors and began to brutally beat women and children in an attempt to break up the protest. The protestors, from the indigenous Zapotec town of Unión Hidalgo, had closed down traffic on the highway from 10 am to 3 pm to denounce the actions of the Juchitán police forces.
On the previous day, May 14th, the police had illegally detained indigneous leader Carlos Manzo, member of the Consejo Ciuadadano de Unihidalguense (CCU). According to eye witness testimony, Carlos Manzo was leaving a bank in the center of Juchitán (a city near his hometown of Unión Hidalgo) when 8 police officers presented a document, saying they had a warrant for his arrest charging him with robbery and deprivation of liberty.
Since the police attack on May 15, two other indigenous activists have been arrested, Luis Alberto Marin and Francisco de la Rosa also of the CCU, joining Carlos Manzo as political prisoners. (Manzo, Marin and De la Rosa are 3 of 37 local indigenous leaders and environmental activists who have outstanding warrants for their arrests issued by the Attorney General's office of the state of Oaxaca.) There are also outstanding warrants for the arrest of fourteen other members of the CCU.
The CCU was formed in February 2003, after a conflict between Unión Hidalgo community members and the municipal government, over the suspected misuse of funds by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) mayor, Armando Sánchez Ruiz. On February 13, 2003, the mayor had ordered municipal police to fire into a crowd that was demonstrating in front of the municipal palace, killing one protestor and injuring nine. The CCU immediately demanded the mayor leave his post. The ongoing political struggle has led to the Oaxaca state government stepping in to support the mayor – issuing arrest warrants on trumped up charges for Unión Hidalgo residents who are active in the CCU.
Many of the indigenous leaders of the CCU have been active participants in a two–year battle to stop an environmentally devastating shrimp farm from being built in Unión Hidalgo. The community is an indigenous Zapotec fishing village. The proposed shrimp farm – heavily promoted by mayor Armando Sánchez Ruiz – would be built on communal lands. The industrial shrimp farm would destroy the local economy. It meshes perfectly with the industrial development program, the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), being pushed in the region by the Interamerican Development Bank. The PPP is a multi–year billion dollar package of industrial development megaprojects connecting Puebla, Mexico to Panama.
The CCU demands an audit of the municipal government, and an investigation of the role of the Unión Hidalgo mayor, Armando Sánchez Ruiz, in the murder and violence that took place on Feburary 13th 2003. The CCU also demands the release from prison of Carlos Manzo, Luis Alberto Marín, and Francisco de la Rosa.
**UPDATE: On May 21, 2003, Carlos Manzo was formally charged with the trumped up charges he has been accused of.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REPORTED IN THE NEWSPAPER LA JORNADA:
As of May 21st, members of the CCU are maintaining a vigil in front of the the Criminal Court Building in Juchitán, Oaxaca, to demand the release from prison of Carlos Manzo, Luis Alberto Marín and Francisco de la Rosa, as well as the destitution of the Union Hidalgo municipal government. (They are also demanding the release of Jesús Vicente of the Worker, Peasant and Student Coalition of the Isthmus –COCEI).
Also on May 21st, a caravan left Oaxaca for Mexico City where a vigil will take place in front of the offices of the Ministry of the Interior. The specific demands of the vigil will be for the release of the three CCU members named above and for the suspension of the warrants that have been issued for the arrest of 14 other CCU members. The more general, and also very urgent, demands are for a change in the repressive policy of the Oaxaca State government and for a resolution of the political conflict within the municipality. A number of social organizations from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, including (the SJC's partner organization) UCIZONI, will be taking part in the Mexico City vigil.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government and to the state government of Oaxaca to ask for a prompt and thorough investigation of the municipal crisis in Union Hidalgo, so that those who are found to be guilty of criminal acts are duly punished.
Please ask for immediate steps to be taken to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of all of the members of the CCU. Please request a complete review of the legal proceedings that led to the imprisonment of Carlos Manzo, Luis Alberto Marín, and Francisco de la Rosa and to the issuing of arrest warrants for fourteen other CCU members.
Please ask that a representative of the Oaxaca State Human Rights Commission be sent to evaluate the human rights situation in Union Hidalgo.
Please ask for the immediate destitution of the Union Hidalgo municipal government and (as has been suggested by the CCU) for the naming of an interim municipal administration.
Please send a copy of your letter to the Canadian government – with a very brief covering letter deploring this regrettable example of the use of the judicial system for political ends.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Director General de Derechos Humanos
Secretaria de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
Reforma 99, Colonia Tabacalera
CP 006030, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 51 28 02 34
rsepulveda@segob.gob.mx
Lic. José Murat Casab
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Oaxaca
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México
Fax: 011–52–951–516ndash;3737 (If possible, please send your messge by fax)
gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Please send copies of your letters to:
Her Excellency María Teresa García
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor Street, suite 1500
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 235 9123
info@embamexcan.com
FOR CANADA:
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive, B4
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 943 0606
susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
If possible, please also send copies of your letters to the CCU at sonseluna@hotmail.com and ACERCA at acerca@sover.net as well as the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre at prodh@sjsocial.org