Repost.

Letter to the bourgeoisie from a Mexican campesino

While working in the furrow, earthing-up the corn and beans, I was
thinking about the length of the sentences my brother prisoners have
merited, what a terrible crime they committed by defending this land
that now gives us food to eat. Yes, because that was their
crime––defending it and wanting to live on it. These questions pierce me
like darts: why you imposed 67 year sentences on Felipe Álvarez “La
Finini”, Héctor Galindo and Ignacio del Valle, and still not satisfied
with this absurd punishment, added another 45 years to Ignacio’s
sentence, with a sum of 112 years! And on top of this, handed down 32
year sentences for 10 other compañeros!
You dictated these sentences to good, noble people who love life,
liberty, justice and peace. You, the bourgeoisie and your front men, you
Mr. Felipe Calderón at the head, along with Vicente Fox, Peña Nieto,
Higinio Martínez, Nazario Gutiérrez, Wilfredo Robledo, Eduardo Medina
Mora and Genaro García Luna continue to enjoy the sweet taste of power
without even blushing or feeling the least bit guilty while you lock up
all these people from the social struggle who’ve given the better part
of their lives for the people’s purest and noblest causes. Yes, they
love the land we work with our own hands, they love and protect our
culture, our identity, our history, our nature, they have a life project
for our peoples that is penalized with inhuman sentences. This is what
you “punish,” the crime of organizing, the crime of becoming conscious,
the crime of acting in solidarity with the most desperate people in the
country.
You’re the ones who, instead of combating the drug traffickers and real
kidnappers, socialize with them, drink the same wine, party together,
enjoy the same luxuries. And to justify your war on crime, you apply the
full force of the law-- not against the killers, not against the armed
robbers, not against the kidnappers who demand ransoms of millions of
dollars, not against the drug cartels (because they answer with an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth). NO!! You go after the campesinos
who protest, the communal landowners at La Parota, the glassworkers of
San Luis Potosí, the miners at Pasta de Conchos, the Sicartsa workers,
the APPO assembly members, the Zapatista Indians, my brothers and
sisters of Atenco, and so many more in the country.
It’s a mockery against humanity that on the very day that Calderón met
in a conclave with all the bigwigs of the country, with governors like
Mario Marín, Peña Nieto and Ulises Ruiz who’ve committed the worst
atrocities against the population, for the purpose of unveiling of the
grand national security plan and the application of harsher sentences
against organized crime––Ignacio del Valle’s 112 year sentence was
announced! This is a mockery against the entire country!
You’ve kidnapped our freedom, our life, security, peace and tranquility.
You’ve killed our youth, raped our women, tortured our people. And you
who carry out State terrorism with total impunity and a double standard,
you who’ve covered up the police rapists and murderers, who get
promotions to higher-paid jobs as police chiefs—what kind of punishment
do you deserve? Even with your own blood you could never repay all the
pain and suffering of our people who’ve had to withstand a war that you
declared on us to take away our dearest possessions. You’re the ones who
should be condemned and punished for each and every crime you’ve
committed. And it’ll be the weight of each and every one of your
injustices that ends up bringing down your world of impunity, death,
robbery, and looting of our peoples. Then we’ll see the end of the
empire of terror that you’ve sown all over the planet, following in the
footsteps of the colonialists commanded by Bush and the worldwide
rightwing. And right along with you, those who call themselves the
“opposition,” and help you perpetuate your system through supposed
“National Dialogues” or “National Democratic Conventions” will fall just
like the airport project.
My compañeros are sure to walk out free because the truth and the law
are on our side, but my people will never forgive or forget what you’ve
done, and you can be sure that from our struggle a new world will
emerge, a world where many worlds fit in, like the one our Zapatista
brothers and sisters have been building. BECAUSE WE, THE PEOPLE’S FRONT
IN DEFENSE OF THE LAND, THE OTHER CAMPAIGN, AND THE POPULAR STRUGGLE,
THIS SEPTEMBER 15, WILL BE SHOUTING LIKE HIDALGO, MORELOS AND ALLENDE
DID: LONG LIVE MEXICO! LONG LIVE INDEPENDENCE! LONG LIVE OUR HEROES WHO
GAVE US THIS COUNTRY! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! ZAPATA LIVES! THE
STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
Yours,
Heriberto Salas (FPDT member)