The
Murat government dialogues with violence and repression
Sta. Lucía del Camino, Oaxaca, 16th September 2004
Brothers
and sisters,
At 9 in the evening, approximately 30 members of the Treasury Police, the PABIC, headed by Aristeo López Martínez attacked us again. They destroyed the marquee, our horns were taken and they kicked our brothers and sisters.
At 9.37pm, 10 army vehicles entered the square together with 20 people in plain clothes but with a military appearance and about 200 members of the special State police UPOE forces, dressed in black and in plain clothes. First they surrounded the camp and then violently evicted us once more from the public soil again where governor José Murat (the Priista responsible for the repression) would later be speaking at the Mexican independence rally several hours later. The violence that was unleashed all seems to indicate that that this will be the preferred approach of Ulises Ruiz as governor.
The 100-odd people who were protesting were dispersed but we lost count of the number of those who were injured and arrested and those who were able to regroup.
At 10.16pm we regrouped, and amid beatings and bruises we occupied our protest site again, holding hands and resisting the special police force attacks directed by José M. Vera Salinas and Manuel Moreno Rivas, the latter once involved in the organization of an attack on José Murat’s car.
During the eviction, Elizabeth Pérez Cruz, a member of the organizing committee who is not under arrest, was openly threatened by an official of José Murat who can be clearly identified.
All
this was reported to the CEDHO, in the person of the complaints official
on duty, Atty. Luz Ma. Hernández, requesting that she verify the
facts. She did not want to do so, alleging that we were simply making trouble.
We insisted that she perform her task, but she replied that she followed
the orders of those who paid her, not of any organization.
In the meantimw, while we were being attacked on the square, our brothers
and sisters who had already been arrested were being moved from the San
Antonio de la Cal justice department to Ixcotel Prison.
We requested that the State Commission for Human Rights observe the transfer, but the complaints official was unwilling to do so.
Among the serious irregularities are the division of our comrades among various penal institutes in the state although they are registered as being at Ixcotel. All these tricks must be investigated as we would remind people that the PRI government is expert in fabricating crimes, or erasing all traces of something.
At 9.50pm, the following comrades entered Ixcotel Prison: Miguel Cruz Moreno, Leonor López Alavez (aged 15), Reynaldo Feria Hernández, Carmen López Pérez, Gumaro López Alavez, Kalid Pérez Gómez, Gildardo Pérez Gómez, José Cruz Cruz, Abel Ramírez Ramírez, Guadalupe García García, Mauro García García.
Margarita García García was taken to Miahuatlan prison in the Ministerial police car number 09.
Dolores Villalobos Cuamatzin and Abacuc Cruz Cruz were taken to Etla Prison in a white Pic Huck.
Now, at 12.30 at night, the remaining members of the CIPO-RFM at the demonstration camp are surrounded by hundreds of police who have threatened to beat us to a pulp after the independence rally. In other words, the critical moment of our protest will arrive after 2am, when most people will leave the square and we will be alone.
There is every possibility that they will come back to beat us, injure us, imprison us, kill us or simply make us “disappear”. But we will resist because we know that the struggle does not need those who say that they fight for justice and freedom, but those that simply fight.
The people responsible for this repression, amongst others, are: José Murat and Celestino Alonso who has unleashed this violence in order to create the necesary conditions for Ulises Ruíz Ortiz to become governor.
It is now 5.00am on the morning of the 16th September and we have not slept. We are in groups in front of the government buildings. We have been beaten, but we continue to resist and remain here. In spite of everything, we have delivered 3,000 white flowers, also damaged by the police, bearing the legends: "Freedom to the indigenous prisoners of the CIPO-RFM, long live autonomy, death to bad government", “A cry for justice, freedom to the prisoners of the CIPO-RFM, long live autonomy, death to bad government".
We are already preparing for the march at 10.00am today, 16th September. We will participate even in the face of further attacks. Let them be warned!
Freedom for the 14 CIPO-RFM prisoners! Bring back the desaparecidos alive!
For
the re-organization and free association of our people
FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF THE CIPO-RFM (those who remain free)
ROSARIO
GOMEZ
ELIZABETH PEREZ CRUZ
LEONARDO LÓPEZ SARABIA
Translation
by nmcn/fdca