Oaxaca Action Legal Update

That reduction from felony to misdemeanor is good for keeping our political
breathing space open in San Francisco: a felony for protest was a repressive
break from most past protest charges. Part of the reason for reduction of
charges was that our investigation of the $1400 cleanup bill presented by
the Mexican Consulate actually included a range of unrelated work.
The case now starts over again as a misdemenor.

October 31, 2006, local human rights activist David Solnit was arrested
for allegedly throwing red paint on the front entrance of the Mexican
Consulate in San Francisco. The incident occurred during a demonstration
in protest of human rights abuses in Oaxaca and the killing of three
individuals, including US independent journalist Brad Will, by
paramilitaries on October 27. In the coming weeks, 20 people were killed,
and another 370 injured.

Adrian Ramirez, president of the non-governmental Mexican League for the
Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDHH), says, "If it hadn't been for the
international and national pressure added to the accusations by human
rights organizations, the repression would have been even more violent,
and there would still be dozens of people under arrest; of that we are
certain,"

Resistance and state repression continue in Oaxaca; Another APPO
organizer, David Venegas Reyes', was grabbed and arrested on Saturday,
April 14. He was with three friends, one of whom was also captured. The
two others escaped by jumping into a car.
http://www.narconews.com/Issue45/article2627.html