Forum in support of Political Prisoners took place in Oaxaca
tsisay | 19.03.2008 19:37 | Oaxaca Uprising | Repression | Social Struggles | Zapatista | World
From the 14 to the 16 of March a Forum to give a voice to political prisoners and spread awareness throughout the country took place in the city of Oaxaca.
During this forum we listened to the denunciations and testimonies of cases such as Atenco, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco where the injustice and the violence of the State manifest, whilst unjustly holding dozens of compañer@s prisoner.
During this forum we listened to the denunciations and testimonies of cases such as Atenco, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco where the injustice and the violence of the State manifest, whilst unjustly holding dozens of compañer@s prisoner.
From the 14 to the 16 of March a Forum to give a voice to political prisoners and spread awareness throughout the country took place in the city of Oaxaca.
During this forum we listened to the denunciations and testimonies of cases such as Atenco, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco where the injustice and the violence of the State manifest, whilst unjustly holding dozens of compañer@s prisoner.
This forum took place in the street, where any passerby could pause to watch, to listen, or understand the situation of the political prisoners, despite constant police surveillance.
The faces of different political prisoners from Oaxaca were printed on pages exhibited in this forum. “It is necessary to show the faces of our prisoners so that they are not only a number within the prison system, behind them there is a complete history” said a compañera from VOCAL.
Of those attending the forum, the majority were family, friends and ex political prisoners, organisations and groups that have prisoners and/or work with them. Attendance was national and international, and amongst the states represented were compañer@s from Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas, State of Mexico, DF and Guadalajara.
There were cultural activities, informative murals and projection of videos, a raffle and sale of crafts and paintings made in jail by our prisoners at this forum.
On the 15th of March at 4pm a press conference was given to the media to present the outcome of the day. The forum ended on the 16th of March by means of a march to demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of the political prisoners of the country and the world.
The following declaration resulted from the discussions:
Peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico and the World
Media
Those who, gathered in this forum, collectives, organisations, friends, family of the political prisoner’s jailed in different prisons around the country and worldwide met and talked about the situation of our fellows in jail.
We learned from and listened to our compañer@s that were in prison, the voices of exiled compañer@s in other parts of the world, such as the case of compañera Berta Muñoz. We also learned about the situation of the compañer@s arrested in the repression of the 18th of May 2004 in Guadalajara, about the case of the arrested compañer@s in Atenco, 16 jailed compañer@s, 3 jailed compañer@s in Altiplano jail before La Palma: Ignacio del Valle Medina, Felipe Álvarez y Héctor Galindo and 13 prisoners in Molino de Flores jail. Patricia Romero Hernández, Patricia Romero Hernández, Juan Carlos Estrada Cruces, Román Ordóñez, Jorge Ordóñez, Alejandro Pilón Zacate, Narciso rellano, Raúl Romero, Arturo Sánchez Romero, Inés Rodolfo Cuellar, Edgar Eduardo Morales Reyes, Julio Cesar Espinosa Ramos, Oscar Hernández Pacheco from Tacotalpa Tabasco, Francisco Pérez Vásquez, Ángel Pérez Gutiérrez from Chiapas, the political prisoners on hunger strike, the Zapatistas compañer@s, the prisoners from La Voz del Amate, the prisoners from La Voz de los Llanos, the prisoners from Catazaja, the prisoners in the Tres Cruces case, the prisoners from CIOAC, the prisoners MOCRI- CNPA-MN, from Distrito Federal, the compañero Carlos Alberto Estrada Arrollo, from Oaxaca the compañeros Nicasio Zaragoza Quintana, Amado Castro López, Edmundo Espinoza Guzman, the prisoners of Guevea de Humboldt, the compañero Pedro Castillo Aragón. Also the prisoners of the Loxicha regions, Ambrosio Martínez, Abraham García Ramírez, Agustín Luna Valencia, Fortino Enríquez Hernández, Álvaro Sebastián Ramírez, Justino Hernández José, Cirilo Ambrosio Antonio, Estanislao Martínez Santiago, Eleuterio Hernández García, Ricardo Martinez Enríquez, Urbano Ruiz Cruz, Zacarias Pascual, Gonzalo López Cortez. From Xanica the compañeros Noel García Cruz, Abraham Hernández Vasquez, Juventino Garcia Cruz, the APPO prisioners Adan Mejia López, Miguel Ángel García, Víctor Hugo Martínez Toledo. From the state of Mexico, the imprisoned compañer@s Jacobo Silva Nogales y Gloria Arenas Agis, and the case of the compañeros Antonio Cereso Contreras and Hector Cereso Contreras.
We also heard about the compañer@s of the Benito Juárez Chimalapas community, who have been resisting and defending their territory for more than 30 years and who have had prisoners whom they have released though mobilisations. There is a need to link our struggles together more to make them one, the struggle for justice, freedom, autonomy and mostly for dignity.
It was concluded and emphasised that the cases of the compañeros in prison are not isolated cases in the struggle; on the contrary everything is a consequence of State terrorism, of the federal and state governments and their institutions and the political parties which implement repression, militarisation, torture and assassination against the social fighters, criminalising the struggles and resistances arising in our country against the capitalist system and its neo-liberal politics, such as in Oaxaca. Chiapas, Atenco, Estado de México and the rest of the country. They want to disappear and make invisible what clearly exists.
Our work is to make visible what the government is trying to hide and to reach this goal we are building a program of struggle and an action plan which will stop militarisation and the repression of social struggles in order to free all political prisoners of the country.
Those attending this forum demand: the absolute, immediate and unconditional freedom of the political prisoners in Oaxaca, Mexico and the world.
Freedom for our compañer@s: Ignacio del Valle Medina, Felipe Álvarez y Héctor Galindo and 13 prisoners in Molino de Flores jail. Patricia Romero Hernández, Patricia Romero Hernández, Juan Carlos Estrada Cruces, Román Ordóñez, Jorge Ordóñez, Alejandro Pilón Zacate, Narciso rellano, Raúl Romero, Arturo Sánchez Romero, Inés Rodolfo Cuellar, Edgar Eduardo Morales Reyes, Julio Cesar Espinosa Ramos, Oscar Hernández Pacheco from Tacotalpa Tabasco, Francisco Pérez Vásquez, Ángel Pérez Gutiérrez from Chiapas, the political prisoners on hunger strike, the Zapatistas compañer@s, the prisoners from La Voz del Amate, the prisoners from La Voz de los Llanos, the prisoners from Catazaja, the prisoners in the Tres Cruces case, the prisoners from CIOAC, the prisoners MOCRI- CNPA-MN, and freedom for the prisoner compañeros not mentioned in this list.
For the victory achieved by the movement in the shelter of Jacobo and Gloria who despite being recognised innocent of the crimes they were accused of, remain in jail for the crime of rebellion, considering them therefore as openly political prisoners, demonstrated by the government breaking its own laws.
Respect and solidarity with our compañeros in hunger strike at the Amate prison, CERESO 5.17 in Chiapas.
We will give daily updates to provide continuity to the news from Oaxaca after the FORO due to the supposedly impartial local press presenting biased information and it is indispensable for us to be properly informed of what is happening. The journalist Carlos Alberto Hernandez has made statements against the forum, because of which we need to keep ourselves informed as to what is happening with our compañeros in Oaxaca.
We announce and denounce the conditions of the jail system which are been imposed to our compañer@ all over the country and the abuse during the checking of their families and friends when they visit.
Because impunity does not exist and there will be punishment of the guilty and the murders of Atenco, Oaxaca and Mexico.
Kindly,
FORO DE ARTICULACIÓN POR LA LIBERTAD DE LOS PRES@S POLITIC@S DEL PAIS.
During this forum we listened to the denunciations and testimonies of cases such as Atenco, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco where the injustice and the violence of the State manifest, whilst unjustly holding dozens of compañer@s prisoner.
This forum took place in the street, where any passerby could pause to watch, to listen, or understand the situation of the political prisoners, despite constant police surveillance.
The faces of different political prisoners from Oaxaca were printed on pages exhibited in this forum. “It is necessary to show the faces of our prisoners so that they are not only a number within the prison system, behind them there is a complete history” said a compañera from VOCAL.
Of those attending the forum, the majority were family, friends and ex political prisoners, organisations and groups that have prisoners and/or work with them. Attendance was national and international, and amongst the states represented were compañer@s from Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas, State of Mexico, DF and Guadalajara.
There were cultural activities, informative murals and projection of videos, a raffle and sale of crafts and paintings made in jail by our prisoners at this forum.
On the 15th of March at 4pm a press conference was given to the media to present the outcome of the day. The forum ended on the 16th of March by means of a march to demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of the political prisoners of the country and the world.
The following declaration resulted from the discussions:
Peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico and the World
Media
Those who, gathered in this forum, collectives, organisations, friends, family of the political prisoner’s jailed in different prisons around the country and worldwide met and talked about the situation of our fellows in jail.
We learned from and listened to our compañer@s that were in prison, the voices of exiled compañer@s in other parts of the world, such as the case of compañera Berta Muñoz. We also learned about the situation of the compañer@s arrested in the repression of the 18th of May 2004 in Guadalajara, about the case of the arrested compañer@s in Atenco, 16 jailed compañer@s, 3 jailed compañer@s in Altiplano jail before La Palma: Ignacio del Valle Medina, Felipe Álvarez y Héctor Galindo and 13 prisoners in Molino de Flores jail. Patricia Romero Hernández, Patricia Romero Hernández, Juan Carlos Estrada Cruces, Román Ordóñez, Jorge Ordóñez, Alejandro Pilón Zacate, Narciso rellano, Raúl Romero, Arturo Sánchez Romero, Inés Rodolfo Cuellar, Edgar Eduardo Morales Reyes, Julio Cesar Espinosa Ramos, Oscar Hernández Pacheco from Tacotalpa Tabasco, Francisco Pérez Vásquez, Ángel Pérez Gutiérrez from Chiapas, the political prisoners on hunger strike, the Zapatistas compañer@s, the prisoners from La Voz del Amate, the prisoners from La Voz de los Llanos, the prisoners from Catazaja, the prisoners in the Tres Cruces case, the prisoners from CIOAC, the prisoners MOCRI- CNPA-MN, from Distrito Federal, the compañero Carlos Alberto Estrada Arrollo, from Oaxaca the compañeros Nicasio Zaragoza Quintana, Amado Castro López, Edmundo Espinoza Guzman, the prisoners of Guevea de Humboldt, the compañero Pedro Castillo Aragón. Also the prisoners of the Loxicha regions, Ambrosio Martínez, Abraham García Ramírez, Agustín Luna Valencia, Fortino Enríquez Hernández, Álvaro Sebastián Ramírez, Justino Hernández José, Cirilo Ambrosio Antonio, Estanislao Martínez Santiago, Eleuterio Hernández García, Ricardo Martinez Enríquez, Urbano Ruiz Cruz, Zacarias Pascual, Gonzalo López Cortez. From Xanica the compañeros Noel García Cruz, Abraham Hernández Vasquez, Juventino Garcia Cruz, the APPO prisioners Adan Mejia López, Miguel Ángel García, Víctor Hugo Martínez Toledo. From the state of Mexico, the imprisoned compañer@s Jacobo Silva Nogales y Gloria Arenas Agis, and the case of the compañeros Antonio Cereso Contreras and Hector Cereso Contreras.
We also heard about the compañer@s of the Benito Juárez Chimalapas community, who have been resisting and defending their territory for more than 30 years and who have had prisoners whom they have released though mobilisations. There is a need to link our struggles together more to make them one, the struggle for justice, freedom, autonomy and mostly for dignity.
It was concluded and emphasised that the cases of the compañeros in prison are not isolated cases in the struggle; on the contrary everything is a consequence of State terrorism, of the federal and state governments and their institutions and the political parties which implement repression, militarisation, torture and assassination against the social fighters, criminalising the struggles and resistances arising in our country against the capitalist system and its neo-liberal politics, such as in Oaxaca. Chiapas, Atenco, Estado de México and the rest of the country. They want to disappear and make invisible what clearly exists.
Our work is to make visible what the government is trying to hide and to reach this goal we are building a program of struggle and an action plan which will stop militarisation and the repression of social struggles in order to free all political prisoners of the country.
Those attending this forum demand: the absolute, immediate and unconditional freedom of the political prisoners in Oaxaca, Mexico and the world.
Freedom for our compañer@s: Ignacio del Valle Medina, Felipe Álvarez y Héctor Galindo and 13 prisoners in Molino de Flores jail. Patricia Romero Hernández, Patricia Romero Hernández, Juan Carlos Estrada Cruces, Román Ordóñez, Jorge Ordóñez, Alejandro Pilón Zacate, Narciso rellano, Raúl Romero, Arturo Sánchez Romero, Inés Rodolfo Cuellar, Edgar Eduardo Morales Reyes, Julio Cesar Espinosa Ramos, Oscar Hernández Pacheco from Tacotalpa Tabasco, Francisco Pérez Vásquez, Ángel Pérez Gutiérrez from Chiapas, the political prisoners on hunger strike, the Zapatistas compañer@s, the prisoners from La Voz del Amate, the prisoners from La Voz de los Llanos, the prisoners from Catazaja, the prisoners in the Tres Cruces case, the prisoners from CIOAC, the prisoners MOCRI- CNPA-MN, and freedom for the prisoner compañeros not mentioned in this list.
For the victory achieved by the movement in the shelter of Jacobo and Gloria who despite being recognised innocent of the crimes they were accused of, remain in jail for the crime of rebellion, considering them therefore as openly political prisoners, demonstrated by the government breaking its own laws.
Respect and solidarity with our compañeros in hunger strike at the Amate prison, CERESO 5.17 in Chiapas.
We will give daily updates to provide continuity to the news from Oaxaca after the FORO due to the supposedly impartial local press presenting biased information and it is indispensable for us to be properly informed of what is happening. The journalist Carlos Alberto Hernandez has made statements against the forum, because of which we need to keep ourselves informed as to what is happening with our compañeros in Oaxaca.
We announce and denounce the conditions of the jail system which are been imposed to our compañer@ all over the country and the abuse during the checking of their families and friends when they visit.
Because impunity does not exist and there will be punishment of the guilty and the murders of Atenco, Oaxaca and Mexico.
Kindly,
FORO DE ARTICULACIÓN POR LA LIBERTAD DE LOS PRES@S POLITIC@S DEL PAIS.
tsisay