Facts:
On April 4th, 2006, at 12 pm, relatives of our brother Miguel Cruz Moreno
received the following phone call at the cell phone #0449511655520: "I
know where your children are and I also know where your relatives are, we
are going to fuck you all up" and then hung up.
At 12:10 pm they called again to the same cell phone: "We are going
to fuck you up and all your family and el negro is going to be the last
one, because we are going to take revenge from all the time we were in prison"
and without giving any opportunity to answer they hung up. At 12:15 pm they
called again: " we are going to burn your shop and all of you"
and then hung up. The calls came from the phone #0449511287297 and a public
payphone, #9515077163.
We did not pay attention to these.
On April 6th, at approximately 12:30 pm they call the phone number of the
Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón"
(CIPO-RFM) (517-8183), and our compañera Rosario Gómez heard
a woman asking for Miguel, so she asked –Who's calling?, to which
the woman answered: "tell MIGUEL that we are going to fuck him up and
all his family" and then hung up.
Just this past Sunday, April 9, at 3:00 pm, Miguel Cruz' family received
another call, where they claimed: "it doesn't matter what you do, we
are going to make good on our threats" and the call was lost. Again,
at 4:40 pm they received another call: "we are not playing, we are
going to make good on our threats, just so you know" and they hung
up. The phone calls came from the numbers: 5510976 and 0449511291077.
Due to these events, we presented a complaint to the State Attorney General's
Office, No. Av. Previa 3211/SC/06 and before the Oaxaca Commission on Human
Rights, but the latter has said that they cannot intervene.
Who is Miguel Cruz Moreno?
He is an indigenous Zapoteco, defender of human rights and our communities,
responsible of the area of communications of the organizing committee of
CIPO-RFM. Furthermore, he is a well-known promoter of the cooperative radio
stations in Oaxaca, and founder of "Nopalera Radio" "Radio
Guetza " 94.1 FM and "Radio Plantón" 92.1 FM, as well
as the Centre for Community Accompaniment, AC, and participant of alternative
community projects such as the magazine "Luna Zeta," or the Indian
Network for Internet Communication. His work has been rewarded with international
prizes for photography and video. On September 14, 2004, along with 13 other
members of CIPO, he was detained by the Federal Investigations Agency for
the simple "crime" of "defacing the environment" of
the Historical Centre of Oaxaca, as they were having a peaceful protest
that demanded the dismantling of paramilitary groups.
Currently under conditional freedom, he must go sign a form every 15 days
to the police department so he is not imprisoned again. Recently, the death
threats have been escalated against him and his family, so we ask all organizations
and people of good hearts to write letters and telegrams to the federal
and state governments, as well as to human rights organizations, so that
these threats are stopped, and also precautionary measures be taken to protect
him and his family.
Antecedents:
1) These threats are part of a campaign of terror, violence, harassment,
and persecution that, since December 1st, 2004, the Governor of Oaxaca,
Mexico, Ulises Ruíz Ortíz, has conducted against indigenous
communities and organizations, as well as against their representatives
and their families, who fight for our rights as communities and bothers
and sisters. This campaign is being used as a way to impose himself in power,
as his election was illegitimate, and the majority of the people of Oaxaca
did not support him.
2) Currently, thanks to this government policy, according to the VI Report
from the Oaxacan Network of Human Rights, in 2005 alone the National Commission
on Human Rights, CNDH, has issued 3 national recommendations against the
Governor of Oaxaca; while the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
CIDH, has 15 cases in process, has issued 4 precautionary-action calls (aside
from the 30 requests presented recently); the CIDH also reports the following
number of people victimized by the government of Oaxaca: 600 detained, 40
injured, 33 processed (jailed), 13 threatened, 10 murdered, 2 attempted
murders, 1 exiled to Canada, and countless other threatened without reports
being made.
3) Since the last 2 governments of the state, headed by Diodoro Carrasco
and José Murat, systematic aggression has been enforced with the
intent of exterminating the communities and representatives of the Popular
Indigenous Council of Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón," which
since its inception in 1997 has had 500 members detained and 11 murdered.
With the current government we already have 2 jailed members, 30 representatives
in conditional liberty, close to 200 members with criminal records, and
1 exiled.
4) Given that our brother Raúl Gatica had to leave Mexico in order
to seek political refuge in Canada as the only way to preserve his life,
as the Mexican government refused to uphold the precautionary measures recommended
by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, harassment and aggressive
measures have been taken against his children: Inti Xinemi has been accused
of being a drug dealer by the media; Amilkar Danly's Internet accounts have
been hacked into, and he has received threats over the Internet as well.
5) Two months after the Refugee Protection Division of Canada determined
that Raúl Gatica is a convention refugee (as defined by the UN) on
January 31st, 2006, his daughter, a minor of only 15 years of age, Yyadzehe
Yosaatzi-ni (winner of an honorable mention at the 2006 National Photography
Contest, organized by the Federal Electoral Institute) had to endure harassment,
questioning, and humiliation from the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs as
well as from agents of the State Government, where she had to process her
passport, as the police and bureaucrats alleged that her father, Raúl
Gatica, had trouble with the government, and attempted to condition her
to receive her passport in return of information on his father, so that
nothing would happen to her father or herself.
6) A year after the 14 detained on September 2004 were released under bail
and face a judicial process delayed and tampered with by the Fourth Penal
Tribunal, a case about which the National Commission on Human Rights has
refused to issue a recommendation, we have only received further apprehension
orders, as the one issued by the Attorney General's Office, from Vicente
Fox's government, on October 28, 2005 against Cesar Chavez Garcia, one of
the most important state representatives of CIPO-RFM.
Given the above, we ask of you to demand that the Federal and State Government,
particularly Governor Ulises Ruíz, cease the persecution and harassment
of members from CIPO-RFM, and that they, firstly, take measures that guarantee
the safety of Miguel Cruz Moreno and his family, and secondly, guarantee
that he will be able to continue working as a defender of human rights and
a promoter of alternative media.
We call on all Human Rights organizations to be vigilant to these events
taking place in Oaxaca, as our constitutional guarantees are not being upheld,
and we live in an authoritarian state only comparable to the dictatorships
of the last century in Central America, where, due to these denouncements,
government-hired assassins may kill us.
For the reconstitution and free association of our communities
Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón"
CIPO-RFM
The Organizing Committee
Dolores Villalobos Cuamatzi, Rosario Gómez, Simón Illescas,
Leonor López, Crisologo Calleja, Crisóstomo Cruz Pérez,
Pedro Bautista, Raúl López, Luis Rey Matadamas, Carmen Chávez,
Cesar Chávez, Leonardo López Sarabia.
We thank all letters and phone calls, to be made to the following addresses,
demanding a solution to our problems
Governor of the State of Oaxaca , Ulises Ruiz Ortiz Tel. (951) 5470116 y
(951) 5690241; gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Oaxaca State Government Secretary: Jorge Franco Vargas Tel. (951) 5153175,
5157490: sriagral@oaxaca.gob.mx, sriagral2@oaxaca.gob.mx
Jaime Mario Pérez Jiménez, Oaxaca State Commission on Human
Rights Tel. 044 951 104 43 06 o envíe un mensaje al: 512 90 20 clave
956, Fax: (951) 5135185, (951)5135191, (951) 5135197, correo@cedhoax.org
President: Vicente Fox Quesada email: vicente.fox.quesada@presidencia.gob.mx
radio@presidencia.gob.mx , webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx Teléfonos
(55) 50911100 y (55)151794
Secretary of State: Carlos Abascal Carranza Teléfono (00 52) 5 55
546 Email segob@rtn.net.mx
Attourney General: Rafael Macedo de la Concha Teléfono (00 53) 4 60 904 Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Please
send a copy to ciporfm@yahoo.com.mx
LIBERTY TO THE POLITICAL PRISONERS OF CIPO-RFM; "VIVA LA AUTONOMÍA"
Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón",
CIPO-RFM.
Calle: Emilio Carranza 210, Sta. Lucía del Camino Oaxaca, México.
Tel: +(951) 51-78183 y +(951) 51-78190 mail: ciporfm@yahoo.com.mx, cipo@nodo50.org
, mujercipo@hotmail.com, los_magoneros@hotmail.com
Visit our website www.nodo50.org/cipo
FOR DONATIONS, ADDRESS THEM TO CIPO-RFM:
Banco Nacional de México, S.A. Domicilio Hidalgo # 821. Col.Centro,
Oaxaca. C.P.68000 Branch: Oaxaca, No. 120, Bank: Banamex - BNMXMXMM, Account
#: 002610012077451770