News from the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca
Deaths, Arrests, Mark of the Cartel of Ulises-Murat
St. Lucia del Camino, Oaxaca February 1, 2005
Brothers and Sisters
Under
the government of Ulises Ruíz Ortíz, Oaxaca has turned into
a place linked with political unrest, with one dead in San Blas, one in
Xanica, one in Estancia Grande, one in Huautla, four in San Martín
Itunyoso, dozens injured, 14 members of CIPO-RFM arrested, one in Huautla,
three in San Blas.
Invasion in the spheres of newspapers, news, defamations and slanders against
the social fighter Raúl Gatica, cancellation of fundamental liberties,
perverted judicial power, and the State Commission for Human Rights discredited
due to the complicity of the president with the state authorities.
In
12 years, the State Commission for Human Rights in Oaxaca, has openly taken
part in threatening social organisations, defending civil servants, suing
social leaders, and accompanying federal and state police in evacuating
protests. That is to say, the Commission for Human Rights works in justifying
the injustices committed by the government , so that it can work with total
impunity. The government does not hide its complicity, made clear with Jorge
Franco Vargas cynical comment that he does not allow
impunity, if that were the case, he too should be in jail together with
José Manuel Vera Salinas, Manuel Moreno Rivas, Aristeo Martínez
etc.
But not only them, also judges and magistrates: Rudolfo Alberto Bandala
Ávila and Roberto Gómez Argüello for example, the first
one loves money as a judicial argument to bend the law in favour of the
one who best bets. Argüello does the same but he also adds political
ingredients when dictating sentences as orders, in favour of the PRI and
of the paramilitaries, without a doubt ordered from the state power, since
its known that he is related to the attorney of state justice, Patricia
Villanueva Abrajam.
Even with the modern suites and the expensive perfumes, these people cannot hide their shameless practice of law and the stench of their behaviour guided by money. Money is what guided them in their resolution regarding the agrarian matter between San Isidro Alopam and San Miguel Aloapan, this last one being head municipality with proven links to the paramilitary group Antorcha Campesina.
The
comuneros of San Isidro Alopam have been reclaiming recognition of their
rights as comuneros in the united trial 21 exp. 218/2000. They have achieved
to prove their possession of the land since ancestral times, also they appear
in the original census of November 18, 1954 and adjacent people like the
Yolox and others, have recognized them as neighbours and have made border
agreements with them. Not only that, but also the comuneros of San Isidro
Alopam have been members of the first Commission for communal goods, president
of the Vigilance Council and if that were not enough, they have
signed agreements in which the representatives of San Miguel Alopam recognize
San Isidro Aloapam as comuneros and even give them 25% of the money for
the use of the forest.
As a consequence to all this, on April 10 2003, 108 people were recognized
as comuneros. This sentence, although it was not what was demanded, because
we demanded the recognition of 406, it was still accepted because it opened
the possibility of reconciliation between the communities, as we thought,
that little by little that other comuneros would be convinced that we are
brothers and sisters.
On the other hand, the paramilitary group of San Miguel Aloapam, members Antorcha Campesina rotate between themselves the positions of Commission of Communal Goods, Municipal Presidency, and Administrative Council for the Use of Communal Forests, decided to challenge the sentence and they appealled but they lost, when the decision of the Agrarian Supreme Court was ratified in favour of San Isidro Aloapam.
After
this, San Miguel Aloapan through the Vigilance Council gave notice of appeal
of protection exp. 141/2004 that the court had discarded because of lack
of legal competence. But through the General Assembly of Comuneros, they
insisted on seeking protection for considering their individual guarantees
violated. On May 3, 2004 the 3rd district judge admitted the lawsuit exp.
466/2004 and on July 14 of the same year, decided to stay with
the trial.
Not satisfied, San Miguel Aloapam gave notice of appeal and was admitted
on August 23, 2004. During this time, the appointed Magistrate Guadalupe
Olga Mejia, who knew the whole case is changed, the file is passed on to
Rodolfo Alberto Bandala Ávila, and from then on things changed, even
though it was ready to have a resolution, the date is changed three times.
Finally, on January 20, 2005 with the votes of Bandala and Argüello,
it was decided to revoke the resolution of the Agrarian United Court 21,
for the simple reason that the court did not use the term to summon, when
indeed it fulfiled all the requirements of a summons. With that resolution,
as a result of obvious corruption, that protected San Miguel Aloapam but
left judicially San Isidro Alopapm without territory.
The
magistrate Jorge Valencia Méndez expressed: “...it is not required
to be considered as such when the word summons is used because it could
fall into exaggerated formalisms..”“...In this court order it
has been decided to summon the demanded assembly in extension even though
the adequate terminology has not been used.” “...and now it
turns out that in no way there was prejudice infringed on the guarantees
of the individual...that is
why the protection of federal justice should be refused.”
These were the arguments used to vote against the resolution, we see how the law with exaggerated formalisms is used to benefit those who pay for it, even acting against the law, since it is clear that it was not the academy of language that was on trial but a serious problem of land that involves thousands of lives.
The resolution shows the biassed management of law in favour of political interests and of money. Since there is no reasoning of the 2nd Collegiate Court of the 13th Circuit, there is not one judicial reason to grant protection to San Miguel, this resolution was passed against reason, right and justice.
With the decision of Bandela and Argüello, the work of the magistrates Agrarian Court 21, the federal magistrates that settled the appeal, and the magistrates that settled the two cases in favour of San Isidro has been discredited.
Without a doubt this resolution will have as a consequence more violence and bloodshed, that we wanted to avoid with the hope of these laws being resolved. Those responsible for what will happen in Sierra Norte are bad servers of justice in conjunction with the PRI government of Ulises Ruíz and José Murarte, who try at all cost to destroy the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca where their strength lies, in the communities.
We
will not remain silent, that is why we call upon all those with good hearts
to write letters protesting this injustice in the name of law, demanding
that the magistrates named above be removed from office, and an meticulous
analysis be made of their behaviour in the cases in which they have intervened,
because without a doubt, one will find countless
irregularities, and the general assembly of our community denounce in all
courts this historic injustice. Sincerely,
For
the Reconstitution and Free Association of Our Peoples
For the Organising Committee of CIPO-RFM
Gabriela Pérez Gómez