[CIMC-work] Mexican Activists Still in Jail - Guadalajara update & Urgent Action

[jespup at riseup.net]

UPDATE AND URGENT ACTION:  VIOLENCE AGAINST MEXICAN ACTIVISTS CONTINUES IN
GUADALAJARA.

ACTIVISTS INITATE HUNGER STRIKE IN JAIL
33 STILL IMPRISONED FACING PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE
information compiled by Jessica Pupovac, jespup at riseup.net

May 26-29, the Latin American -European Union Summit convened in
Guadalajara, Mexico to expand international cooperation advancing the goals
of free-market capitalism.   As they set about to do so with no space for
democratic participation or transparency, the faithful opposition arrived
from all corners of the Americas and Europe to share information, network,
and let their leaders know that they do not intend to give them the last
word.   A week of forums, panels and music culminated in the march of four
thousand activists through central Guadalajara and was met with violent
repression.  One week later, 33 activists remain imprisoned, and reports of
violent psychological and physical torture are slowly making their way out
of the jail cells and to their international community of supporters.  Those
involved are calling for immediate action on the part of the global
anti-capitalist movement, as well as "democracy-lovers" everywhere, to
ensure that such human rights abuses - and attempts to violently silence
opponents of failing economic ideals - will not go unnoticed or unpunished.

Unprovoked police harassment was rampant from the onset of the events in
Guadalajara.  On May 28, as out-of-towners began setting up camp at the
Parque Juarez, a camping site they were guaranteed by Municipal President
Emilio Gonzalez Marquez, they were surrounded by anti-riot police and
detained from 6pm Thursday night until 3 am the following morning.  The
activists were not allowed to leave the park to find food, water or
restrooms.  

The following day, a large march drew over 4,000 labor union leaders,
farmers, students, teachers and other concerned parties and was met with
tear gas, beatings and mass arrests.  Later on that evening up until 1 pm,
police continued to arbitrarily arrest activist "types" from local
restaurants, streets and parks.  Some were even arrested from the Red Cross,
where they had fled to receive medical treatment for injuries incurred at
the hands of police earlier that day.  In the end, 95 people were arrested
or disappeared.

The activists were taken to five different jails and 2 different hospitals. 
The authorities refused to release their names or allow them access to
lawyers until Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.  Foreigners (from
Australia, Italy, Spain, Canada and the US) were deported.   However,
Mexicans, particularly those from the capital, were not so lucky.  For some,
it was not until early Sunday morning that they were given food or water. 
Dehydration is becoming so severe that prisoners are reportedly removing
buttons from their clothing and sucking on them to produce saliva.  Many
report severe beatings, humiliation (both men and women were forced to strip
publicly and threatened with rape) and torture, including electric shocks to
the genitals.   Many were forced to sign false confessions incriminating
themselves of offenses such as robbery, assault, property damage and
inciting a riot.  Many were shown police photos of movement leaders and
threatened with more torture if they did not tell everything they know said
individuals. Two prisoners who have refused to give any information or sign
false confessions are covered with bruises and open wounds.  Fourteen of the
political prisoners have been denied bail.  Others are expected to pay from
25,000 to 200,000 pesos to gain their freedom.

One woman, Liliana Galaviz Lopez, a photographer with the local Independent
Media Center (or IMC, created to provide coverage of the Summit and
counter-mobilizations), was taken to the hospital on Monday, May 29, due to
injuries suffered during and after her arrest.  She is currently being
treated for “trauna craneocefalico,” or cranial trauma and brain damage. 
The Guadalajara IMC has been the target of continuing police harassment and
was surrounded by ‘Preventitive Police’ forces for days following the
march.

Despite multiple demonstrations in Guadalajara and Mexico City, as well as
solidarity actions carried out Friday, June 4 in Barcelona, San Fransisco
and Chicago, 33 of the detainees are still in jail and 10 of them have been
on hunger strike since Friday, June 4.  Local actions and letters of support
are urgently needed.  The Mexican government, as well as all governments
that find it acceptable to silence dissent through brute force, must be made
to know that the global network opposed to their policies of greed and
exploitation is growing in size, momentum and coordination and such violent
supression not only fails to deter us, it makes our convictions all the
stronger.

**To donate to the legal defense fund, please go to
http://www.kloakas.com/aire. 
**To find more information, go to www.guadalajara.mediosindependientes.org
or
www.indymedia.org.
**To tell the Mexican Consulate/Embassy nearest you that you are furious, 
please see below.
There will be a march today (Monday, June 7) in SAN FRANCISCO at 4pm
beginning at the Convergence Center at 960 Howard St. (bet. 5th & 6th) and
marching to the Mexican consulate at 535 Folsom St. (at 2nd St.).
Please use the sample letter below, or write one of your own, and email, fax
or call in your complaints to the Mexican embassy in DC as well as your
local consulate (Chicago sample letter below – For all others, call the
Embassy in DC at 202.728.1600 or go to http://mexonline.com/consulate.htm). 


Mexican Consulate Information: 
204 South Ashland Avenue 
Chicago, IL 
Phone: 312.738.2383        Fax: 312.491.8981 
Email: info at consulmexchicago.com, camsa at consulmexchicago.com 
Consul: Ing. Carlos Manuel Sada Solana 

Dear Ing. Carlos Manuel Solana, 

We the undersigned are presenting this letter to the Mexican Consulate of 
 Chicago to be forwarded to President Vincente Fox as well as the 
Governor  of Jalisco out of great concern for the persons who were 
arrested in  connection with the protests that took place in Guadalajara, 
Mexico at the  EU/Latin American Summit this past week. We are outraged 
by reports of  sexual and psychological torture inflicted on the 
detainees. This is unacceptable behavior for a  civilized democratic
country. Thousands of organizations and individuals throughout the world
aware of these atrocities. We  know that Mexico has a deep concern for the
human rights of all people and  expect immediate action to correct the
situation. 

WE DEMAND: 

FIRST- The immediate release of every prisoner and the halt of any legal 
procedure against them. 

SECOND- That an investigation into the abuse of state power in Jalisco be
initiated immediately so that the perpetrators of these grave violations of
human rights do not go unpunished. 

THIRD- The immediate end of all actions of intimidation that have been 
carried out against the prisoners, their families, and those who have 
already been released. 

FOURTH- We demand that the physical integrity of all the prisoners is 
guaranteed and the immediate end of any type of torture that has been 
carried out against them. 

FIFTH-The organizations hereby present, as well as the families of the 
prisoners, put direct responsibility on the President of the United 
States  of Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada and the Governor of Jalisco, 
Francisco  Ramírez Acuña, in terms of the physical integrity of the 
prisoners and  their families as part of a general repressive strategy 
used by the  government apparatus. 

SIXTH- That the participation of the defense lawyers is permitted. 

Sincerely,