MSN news July 8-14, 2002

MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK
WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS
JULY 8-14, 2002

1. ATENCO EXPLODES
2. FORMER PRESIDENT CONTINUES TESTIMONY
3. ASSASSINATION OF DIGNA OCHOA
4. MINIMUM WAGE LOSING VALUE
5. VOTING IN JUAREZ ANNULLED FOR SECOND TIME
6. ZAPATISTAS BLOCK ROAD CONSTRUCTION



1. ATENCO EXPLODES
As the news summary goes to press, there is a tense
standoff in the farming community of San Salvador Atenco,
with at least 1,000 army troops and police surrounding an
equal number of residents who blocked entrance. The
standoff began on Thursday when riot police attacked a
caravan of Atenco residents involved in a peaceful protest
against confiscation of thousands of acres of communally
owned farmland for construction of a new airport. Police
blocked the caravan, then attacked with tear gas, guns and
heavy plastic shields, leaving at least 30 campesinos
injured and 15 arrested, including protest leaders.
Protestors responded by detaining 15 state authorities,
barricaded the streets with trucks, and patrolled with
machetes to protect their town from another police
rampage. The detainees were allowed to talk to reporters
and none reported injuries or bad treatment. Only
residents and journalists were allowed to enter Atenco.
Protestors agreed to release the detainees when the
government releases the Atenco prisoners, though as the
situation escalated there were indications that the
detainees might not be released until the government
agreed to stop construction of the airport. Protestors
accused police of provoking the incident as an excuse for
further violence and arrests.

Residents of Atenco are involved in a court case that
could hault airport construction, and a decision is
expected in coming weeks. Despite the fact that the
airport is a federal project, the Fox administration
refused to negotiate with the protestors and left the
entire affair in the hands of state officials who have no
power to resolve the standoff.

The proposed US$2.3 billion airport would cover 11,000
acres of farmland. Owners have been offered as little as
US$3,000 per acre, though most residents are opposed to
the land confiscation regardless of the price.


2. FORMER PRESIDENT CONTINUES TESTIMONY
Former president Luis Echeverria continued to provide
evasive and contradictory testimony in the special
investigation of the 60s and 70s "dirty war" in which
hundreds of people were assassinated or disappeared.
Echeverria characterized his own behavior during the
period - "I acted well" – and denied responsibility
for any crimes. His attorney discredited the charges and
claimed the accusers "were prisoners for crimes they
committed in 1968 and now, after having been prisoners,
they want to present themselves as victims." Among the
victims is current Mexico Solidarity Network staff person
Macrina Alarcon, who suffered torture and kidnapping, then
spent nearly six years in prison without a trial.
Echeverria is widely believed responsible for student
massacres in 1968 and 1971. Given the lack of judicial
authority of the special investigator and Mexico's
statutes of limitation, it is unlikely that the
80-year-old president would serve jail time even if he did
commit crimes.


3. ASSASSINATION OF DIGNA OCHOA
Mexico City's Attorney General named Margarita Guerra
Tejada, member of the Federal District’s Supreme
Court, as the new special investigator in charge of the
assassination of human rights attorney Digna Ochoa. The
Ochoa family and their attorney Barbara Zamora, who
assumed many of Digna's cases after her death, immediately
denounced the move as a continuation of "the mafia of the
attorney general" that "will continue to support the
suicide theory." The previous investigator resigned after
coming under attack for mounting an extensive public
relations campaign in support of his suicide theory. A
committee that included human rights activist Rosario
Ibarra de Piedra nominated Guerra for the controversial
post.


4. MINIMUM WAGE LOSING VALUE
The minimum wage has lost 75% of its purchasing power
since 1976, according to the president of the National
Commission on Minimum Wages (CNSM). This year the minimum
wage will increase 2% "if everything goes well." More
than 15% of workers registered with federal Social
Security receive the minimum, but this does not include
millions of rural workers who often work for the minimum
or less. In addition, many salaries are fixed as a
multiple of the minimum wage.


5. VOTING IN JUAREZ ANNULLED FOR SECOND TIME
Results from the mayoral election in Ciudad Juarez were
thrown out for the second consecutive time, after election
officials ruled that the National Action Party (PAN) had
illegally annulled 10,000 votes cast for the opposition
PRI candidate. The previous election, held last July, was
also annulled after the PAN ran illegal TV and radio spots
in the final week of the campaign. The state electoral
council is controlled by the PRI while the current mayor
of Juarez is a member of the PAN. Ciudad Juarez is
Mexico’s sixth largest city, home to 300
maquiladoras, and infamous for the murder and rape of
hundreds of women over the past few years.

Meanwhile the PAN suffered another setback this week,
losing state elections in Nayarit. The Nayarit elections
are widely seen as a precursor for the national
Congressional elections next year. Campaigning for the
July 2003 election for Mexico’s 500-seat Chamber of
Deputies is already underway, with the PAN and PRI trading
escalating accusations of corruption and ineffective
government.


6. ZAPATISTAS BLOCK ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Several hundred indigenous activists from Zapatista
support communities blocked construction of a road linking
the communities of Olga Isabel and Nichtel. "The building
of the road only benefits the rich, the government and the
soldiers for making war," said one protestor.


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