How to live in Mexico without moving an inch of your body... or your ideas

On that sad sad day in San Salvador Atenco, he, as a member of the -federal, sate, local- police forces, participated in denigrating acts against the men and women who were being arrested and transferred to various prisons. He remembers it well: he forced a young woman to go down on him shortly after they had been dragged inside a truck with no plates. She may or may not remember everything that was happening around her, but she does remember the awful event, the beatings on her breasts and buttocks, the pulling of her hair, the angry male voice: "trágatelo todo, hija de tu chingada madre" ("swallow it all, bitch!").

A few months after the events, he was one of the few policemen who were sentenced to prison. They were not sentenced for life, no. After all, they did not kidnap anyone: they merely forced innocent people to jump on a dark bus on the road to nowhere (these buses drove around quite a few hours before they arrived to the prisons. On the bus, policemen tried to force people to spit out the names of the movement leaders, by torturing them), depriving these people of their freedom (oops! my dictionary says that kidnapping = depriving people of their freedom for want of a reward).

Anyway, this man was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, or a bail of nearly 9 thousand mexican pesos, which is more or less equivalent to USD $900.00 Today, the newspaper reads that the Supreme Court of Justice in Mexico has decided to lessen the degree of his criminal charges. So, he is going to walk out of prison very soon. However, Ignacio del Valle, a man who defended the territory against neoliberalism, on that same day in San Salvador Atenco, is facing a 112-year sentence.

On other matters, I have managed to collect quite a few reports from the newspaper, 6 to be exact, that witness the impunity that is gradually becoming established in my country. For example: 35 cops in northern Mexico were arrested due to them providing protection (security?) to drug dealers; do you remember the case of the kidnapped boy who was son to one of the richest men in the sport industry? Well, turns out that a few police officers from the federal agency of investigation (AFI, the Mexican FBI, say) were involved in planning the kidnapping; 14 police officers, again in northern Mexico, were arrested due to their links to drug-dealing groups; another AFI officer was arrested due to links with drug trafficking, and in the last two months, 114 justice processes have been initiated against police officers that are thought to have been participant in criminal acts.

To top it off, the young sons of our past first lady were involved in huge frauds (they stole money aided by their privileged position, and in addition, they owe a huge amount of federal taxes).

In my country, police officers chase tortilla-making women out of their market stands, allegedly with sanitary purposes: traditional tortilla-making has been deemed "not healthy", while buying pre-packed tortillas from MASECA, one of the big corporations, is applauded.
In my country, farmers and indigenous people are blamed for endangering the conservation of natural areas, while it is farmers and indigenous people who are sick of having governmental agencies wasting the administration of natural or achaeological parks. Recently, a group of farmers took over the administration of an archaeological area in Chiapas. Their purpose was to take good care of the park, not to charge too expensive entrance fees, and to use the profits for maintaining the park. What did they get in response?: repression from federal, state, and local police forces, who murdered 6 farmers.
In my country, state education is right now in the process of being privatised. Teachers have been protesting for the last few weeks. Just yesterday, they encountered a myriad police officers while they were demonstrating on the freeway from Mexico to Cuernavaca (look it up in Google Earth, please). What did they get in response?: repression, beatings, and an ominous silence in the media, just as the Chiapas farmers have gotten.

How to live in Mexico without moving an inch? Think big, think profit. Be neoliberal.

How to live in Mexico. Part 1 (of several).

A few weeks ago, a 14-yr-old boy was found dead in the trunk of an abandoned car, in a neighborhood 5-min drive from where I live now. The smell emanating from the car alerted the neighbors that something was wrong; later on, the autopsy revealed that in fact, the boy had been murdered at least one month before it was found. His face was so bloated, he had to be identified by his teeth. He turned out to be the son of one of the most important men in the sports industry in Mexico: Alejandro Martí, of the Martí sport shops that nowadays dominate the sale of sports-related products. Being the son of a very wealthy man in a city like Mexico City, Fernando Martí had to be accompanied by an escort at all times. Not only that, his father had hired a personal driver for him too. Fernando Martí, escort and all, was kidnapped a while ago. A large sum of money (approx. 3 million dollars) was being demanded to set the boy free. So, in order to put pressure on the family to deliver the ransom, the kidnappers abandoned a first car with the dead body of Fernando´s driver and the unconscious escort, who was alive thanks to his losing consciousness while one of the kidnappers had tried to asfixiate him. Fernando´s parents were able to collect the ransom money almost right away, and delivered it in accordance with the kidnapper´s instructions. However, the kidnappers murdered the boy.

In the weeks following the finding of Fernando Martí´s body, the mass media in Mexico began a huge coverage of the case (while before finding the body, the media had kept an incredible silence about the kidnapping).

The mexican president, as well as other important political figures in our country mourned the death of young Fernando Martí (they conveniently ommitted Fernando´s driver in their lament, and forgot that his family, as the Martí family, deserved a few condolences too). Voices of politicians, religous men, intellectuals, sports people, etc. have gradually joined the clamour, so now almost all of us feel deeply moved by the events, and have become very angry at the mere mention of the word “kidnapping” or “kidnapper”. The media works wonders on the collective mind. A firm reaction had to be presented in opposition to the rise in criminal actions throughout the country. Fernando´s kidnapping and murder was the tip of the iceberg, or so they claimed. However, our politicians had failed to raise their indignation when 5 different indigenous women in ages ranging 40-75 yr-old, had appeared semi-naked and with traces of sexual abuse and physical violence in different rural areas of southern Mexico in the past year and a half, or when several indigenous men and women had been “kidnapped” throughout the same region (no ransom was demanded for them, because they had been practically erased from the face of the earth, and today are considered as missing people) due to their participation in several protest movements.

Our president reacted inmensely to the death of a boy who belonged to one of the richest families in Mexico. In that respect, he behaved as the governor of Veracruz state when he publicly mourned the murder of a young girl who happened to be niece to one of the most important bishops in the state, and forgot to mourn the “natural” death of Susana Xocohua Tezoco, a 42-year old indigenous woman who one day appeared semi-naked, legs spread wide, and with visible traces of physical violence, in a field in the Zongolica mountains of Veracruz. The local authorities said they performed an autopsy which revealed that Susana had died due to an infection of the pancreas.

Anyway, our president´s reaction to the death of Fernando Martí was to raise the penalty for kidnapping to the maximum sentence possible: life imprisonment. That was all he had to say... up to that moment. It was his way of ending a long chain of criminal events that had drained the mexican people. In the days after his public reaction, again politicians, religious men, intellectuals, etc. demanded that a more thoughtful answer should be given to really deal with the increase in criminal violence throughout Mexico. The scene was being set for all of those interested in maintaining their political position. Finally, only a few days ago, the president convened a meeting of the National Security Council in Mexico City to be held on Thursday 21^st of august, that is, yesterday. Conveniently enough, only a few hours before the meeting was set to start (at around 7am Mexico time), a judge sentenced Ignacio del Valle Medina to 45 years of prison on top of his previous sentence of 67 years. Del Valle is leader of a political movement that back in may 2006 had fought to defend a huge piece of land in the neighbor state of Mexico from the federal and the state government, both interested in building a new airport. Back in those days, the main problem for the government was to appropriate the land that was going to be destined for the construction of the airport, that is, to take it away from the true owners. Because the owners, plus hundreds of other people living in the area, had organised themselves to resist the attempt, the state and federal forces of repression (that is, the police) were sent out to San Salvador Atenco –the village that was in the middle of the turmoil-... to force the people of Atenco to surrender and hand out their land, through bloodshed and terror. On the 3rd and 4^th of May, 2006, hundreds of innocent people were beaten and raped by the police forces (women and men alike); one young boy who was walking back home from school was shot “accidentally”, dying instantly, and a young man died when a teargas shell hit him on the head. Lots of people, no matter their age or physical state, were packed inside police trucks, literally like pigs, and taken to several jails throughout the state. The ride on the “trucks of hell” was horrible: women were psychologically and sexually abused in front of their friends, men were beaten, raped, and insulted. All of them, including Ignacio del Valle, ended up in prison. Two years from the events, many of them have fortunately been set free. However, a few of them remain inside. And some of them, like del Valle, could never be free again. They were mis-charged with tons of crimes, including kidnapping. In Mexico, kidnapping involves the explicit demand for a ransom. However, neither Ignacio del Valle, nor the others, truly kidnapped anyone!

Today, and only because people like Fernando Martí are dead, our president, along with many other politicians, want to see people like Ignacio del Valle in prison for life. For what? For being committed to defending the land from economical ambitions? For putting at risk the credibility of our extreme right wing government? The true criminals, those who steal our tax money, those who kidnap our freedom to think and to act, those who condemn us for not thinking like the majority, are themselves, the politicians of Mexico. The others, the ones who kidnap important and rich people, the drug lords, the murderers (accidental or true murderers), they walk out of prison easily by paying money or because the politicians themselves work their ways to set them free.

For them, the joys of freedom.

For political movement leaders, forced “kidnappings”, torture, life prison.

Such is the way of in-justice in a country like Mexico.

¿Y las otras muertas?

18 de Junio; Orizaba, Veracruz. - En el sepelio, el gobernador Fidel Herrera dijo: “Hemos asumido este caso como si fuera de mi propia familia, y para los culpables no habrá perdón”.

Sí, esta fue la declaración del gobernador de Veracruz, pero no, no se refería a Susana Xocohua Tezoco, la anciana de 64 años que fue asesinada y abandonada en una milpa hace varias semanas. El gobernador de Veracruz se refería a la muerte de Karina Reyes Luna, una joven mujer, de clase alta, de 23 años asesinada después de haber sido secuestrada la semana pasada allá por Orizaba.

¿Por qué el gobernador no hizo ningún pronunciamiento por la muerte de la señora? Ah, pues seguramente porque esa señora era mujer, anciana, e indígena. Es decir, una muerte más (de causas naturales, es decir de ese cáncer extraño que deja marcas de violencia en las piernas y brazos, de ese cáncer que deja a las víctimas desnudas y de piernas abiertas), una muerte que no merece su preocupación.

¿Por qué el gobernador hizo un pronunciamiento por la muerte de Karina Reyes Luna? Ah, pues porque ella era hija de Luis Reyes Larios, el rector de la Universidad del Golfo de México, y no sólo eso: era sobrina del arzobispo de Jalapa, Hipólito Reyes Larios. (ver: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/06/19/
index.php?section=estados&article=036n2est)

El mal gobierno de Veracruz, como los otros malos gobiernos del país, siempre respondiendo a los intereses del círculo del poder: los políticos, los empresarios, y los religiosos.

Fidel Herrera y su mal gobierno, cómplices por encubrimiento del homicidio de dos mujeres indígenas de la tercera edad en la sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz.

¿Quién le teme a la voluntad popular?

¿Qué más pruebas se necesitan para confirmar que este mal gobierno le teme a la expresión de la voluntad popular?

Una ojeada a las noticias de hoy, 16 de junio, basta:

1. La negativa de varios sectores del arriba mexicano (el círculo del poder: los políticos y los empresarios) a impulsar una consulta popular sobre la reforma energética.

2. (y todavía más importante que la no. 1):
El mal gobierno de Chiapas, encabezado por Juan Sabines, mantiene a decenas de presos políticos en las cárceles, o bien los traslada clandestinamente para que sus familiares y amigos dejen de protestar afuera de los ceresos
(ver http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/06/16/
index.php?section=politica&article=012n1pol)
Nota: el PRD de Chiapas acaba de cerrar filas en torno a Juan Sabines para negarse a que se lleve a cabo la consulta popular sobre la reforma energética en el estado de Chiapas.

3. El mal gobierno que mantiene preso a Ignacio del Valle, dirigente del Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra, también continúa reprimiéndolo incluso al interior de la cárcel. Primero, le impidió ver a su padre, agonizante después de una caída grave. Después, le impidió asistir a su funeral (ver: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/06/16/
index.php?section=politica&article=012n2pol)

4. No obstante lo que sucede tanto en Chiapas como en el Estado de México, el mal gobierno de Sinaloa libera, con la mano en la cintura, a dos de los tres hermanos del diputado priísta Oscar Félix Ochoa, quienes habían sido detenidos la semana pasada en posesión de varias armas de alto calibre y, nada mas ni nada menos, 18 kilos de cocaína. La razón para su liberación? Se consideró que no había pruebas suficientes para mantenerlos presos.

Tenemos entonces a un mal gobierno federal, ayudado por decenas de malos gobiernos estatales, que mantienen encerrados a muchos presos políticos aún cuando no se han podido comprobarles cabalmente los cargos penales que se les han imputado. Y por otro lado tenemos a los hermanos de un diputado del mal gobierno, quienes son detenidos por posesión de armas y drogas, en cabal flagrancia, quienes son liberados varios días después de su aprehensión como si nada, porque el mal gobierno considera que no hay pruebas suficientes para mantenerlos dentro.

No cabe duda que la razón y voluntad populares meten mucho miedo allá arriba.

de pilón: ¿Recuerdan las mega-marchas del Peje posteriores al 2 de julio de 2006? ¿Vieron -o sintieron- el acoso de la policía federal? ¿había granaderos, acaso? Las marchas convocadas en fechas recientes para conmemorar los hechos sangrientos del 3 y 4 de mayo de 2006, y el Halconazo del 10 de junio de 1971 se caracterizaron por un despliegue impresionante de granaderos o miembros de la policía quienes hicieron lujo de sus intenciones de intimidar a la masa que se manifestaba...

¿Cuántas más?

Virgen de la Candelaria, Tlacotalpan, Veracruz.

Otro feminicidio con trazas de violación y otros tipos de agresión física ocurre en la Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz.

Mujer, indígena, y de bajos recursos. Por eso, el personal del Ministerio Público se negó a realizar las investigaciones pertinentes para esclarecer lo que sucedió. Sólo se atrevieron a decir que la señora Susana Xocohua Tezoco, de 64 años de edad, había muerto de cáncer, sin haber realizado ningún tipo de estudio médico. ¿Cuándo habríase visto que el cáncer y la gastritis crónica no atendida tienen efectos tan similares en las mujeres? (es decir, ambas enfermedades les provocan moretones en cuello, brazos y piernas, además de tumbarlas en el suelo, DESNUDAS).

Con estos hechos, se agrega un culpable más al crimen: el agente del Ministerio Público Alejandrino Arroyo, quien cerró el caso.

Para saber más:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/06/09/
index.php?section=politica&article=016n1pol

¿Cuántas mujeres más?

A todos los treintañeros: ¡Felices 30! (y más de treinta)

Hoy me enteré de que entre 1975 y 2005, es decir, en mis primeros 30 años de vida sobre la Tierra, ya desapareció casi el 30% de la biodiversidad a nivel mundial (sírvanse leer el reporte http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/05/31/
index.php?section=ciencias&article=a40n2cie).

Treintañeros del mundo: basta de crisis de los 30´s y demás, basta de que si no me he casado o ya me casé y me divorcié, que si voy a tener un hijo o dos o tres, o no he tenido hijos, que si tengo o no tengo trabajo (que en muchos casos es "tengo o no tengo dinero para mantener mi status e ir de reventón"), que si tengo o no tengo coche, que si tengo o no tengo "depa", chico o chica, iPod, laptop, amigos y amigas, amor, implantes de silicón, botox, Convers, boletos para el concierto de moda, etc.
Basta de auto-definirse con base en la propiedad;
de mercantilizar las relaciones personales;
de voltear hacia arriba, olvidándose que hay un abajo, un enfrente, y un detrás, también;
de huir de la realidad -de mil maneras, no sólo emborrachándose, pachequeándose, yendo al cine y/o de compras;
de ver únicamente por uno mismo sin importar cuándo y cómo pisamos a los demás;
de no enterarse de lo Otro que está sucediendo en el mundo, pero sobre todo en México;
de privilegiar las telenovelas (no las del canal 2, sino las del círculo del poder y la política mexicanos) por sobre las otras demandas;
de mercantilizar el conocimiento para abultar el status sin realmente conocer nada;
de no mirar al Otr@;
de darle la vuelta a la liberación;
de huir de la libertad;
de temer;

Antes que tener, somos.
Y somos libres, aunque nos hagan creer lo contrario, o nos impidan serlo.

¿por qué en treinta años de nuestra vida se ha perdido casi el 30% de la vida en este planeta?

Analice usted las diferencias

Mural callejero, Granada, España

No había caído yo en cuenta, hasta que escuché el comentario de Miguel Angel Granados Chapa en Radio UNAM esta mañana. Por lo tanto, lo que a continuación desarrollo es lo que él comentó... sin embargo, vale la pena reflexionarlo.

Flavio Sosa, consejero de la APPO en Oaxaca, fue liberado de prisión este fin de semana. Al regocijo que dicha noticia representa para el movimiento oaxaqueño se contrapone con un hecho un tanto abrumador: salió libre porque no se pudieron sustentar todos los cargos delictivos que se le habían imputado. Uno de esos cargos fue por secuestro de dos agentes de la Policia Ministerial oaxaqueña que habían entrado a la fuerza al hogar de Flavio Sosa, y que fueron retenidos ahí por la policía municipal de su comunidad, ni siquiera por el mismo agravado. Yo pensaba que el cargo de secuestro se le habría imputado por la toma de dependencias oficiales, lo cual implicaría privar de la libertad a los funcionarios que laboraban en esas dependencias. Sin embargo, lo que se pretendió argumentar es que habría secuestrado a esos policías ministeriales en su propio domicilio.

Bueno, bueno, pero pretendamos que sí se le imputó un cargo de secuestro por la toma de esas oficinas (práctica común de algunos movimientos sociales). ¿Constituye un verdadero secuestro? Pues bien, consulté el Código Penal Federal, ya que Granados Chapa mencionó que tal como está tipificado, el delito de secuestro no aplicaba para el actuar de Flavio Sosa. Y bien, los artículos 364 al 366 (con sus bises y adendos) estipulan los tipos de privación de la libertad y cuándo se debe perseguir a aquellos que la realicen. Como lo había mencionado Granados Chapa, aunque de manera un tanto incompleta, el secuestro es la privación de la libertad de una persona con finalidades de lucro para el secuestrador o con la finalidad de que la autoridad o un particular realice o deje de realizar un acto cualquiera. Sin embargo, en este último caso, el secuestrador debe haber amenazado al rehen con la privación de la vida o con causarle daño (Libro 2, art. 366 Código Penal Federal), para obtener respuesta a las demandas que se le hicieron a la autoridad.

Tenemos entonces que a Flavio Sosa se le acusó de un delito que no cometió. Pero la realidad es que se le acusó de varios delitos que no cometió. Es decir: se le dictó auto de formal prisión INCONSTITUCIONALMENTE (pues no se le había comprobado ninguno de los delitos), y no contentos con eso, se le mantuvo preso durante un año y medio... por nada.

Tal impunidad es la misma impunidad que permite que los grandes empresarios, no paguen impuestos (también INCONSTITUCIONALMENTE), y varias otras barbaridades cometidas por el gobierno federal, que todos ya conocemos.