Mexico: Armed Riot Police Storm Tlalnepantla, Morelos

For Immediate Release:

As the autnomous Zapatista communities of Chiapas,
Mexico celebrate the 10 year anniversary their
uprising, the town of Tlalnepantla, Morelos, Mexico,
declares itself autonomous as well. Armed riot police
storm the town and leave at leat two dead and many
dozens of people missing and wounded. U.S. President
George W. Bush says nothing of the massacre while in
Mexico.

Synopsis:
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The town of Tlalnepantla, [ Tlahl-ne-PONT-lah] Morelos
is located to the south of Mexico City. It is one of
the most important producers of edible nopal cactus
(an important staple of the Mexican diet.)
Tlalnepantla provides a large percentage of the nopal
consumed by Mexicans in the United States.

Like thousands of indigenous communities in Mexico,
and according to ancient custom, it has always elected
its leaders in an open town council consisting of the
entire adult population. In last july's elections
this way of selecting authorities was rejected by the
Mexican electoral commission. The candidate who
officially won at the polls was not selected by the
full town assembly. The winning candidate, with less
than 10% of the electorate's vote, is an unpopular
political boss who has been accused of corruption in
other political offices he has held. A majority of
the population of Tlalnepantla subsequently called for
an annulment of the electoral results and legal
recognition of it's ancient form of selecting leaders,
but the Morelos state government ignored their plea.

After months of discussion within the town, and in
full accordance with the legal guarantees of the
Mexican constitution, the people of Tlalnepantla
declared themselves "autonomous" in the same way that
EZLN affiliated indigenous communities in Chiapas have
done. Tlalnepantla's declaration of autonomy came
just as communities across Mexico and the world were
celebrating the ten year anniversary of the uprising
in Chiapas. After repeated threats from the
government to dismantle the autonomous government in
Tlalnepantla, Governor Sergio Estrada Cajigal ordered
nearly 1500 riot police last night (Jan. 14) at 1 A.M.,
armed with assault rifles to evict the autnomous
government from Tlalnepantla. Snipers and police
gunmen filled the air with bullets, beat women and men
over 80 years of age, and left two dead, many wounded
and scores of people disappeared and as of yet
unaccounted for. Illegal searches were conducted in
dozens of houses in the town.

This, as U.S. President George W. Bush was
participating in the summit of the Americas in
Mexico, vowing to punish "corrupt" states Venezuela
and Cuba, but failing to condemn the continuous armed
oppression of indigenous communities throughout Mexico.