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Two Radio Reporters Murdered in Oaxaca
On April 7, two radio reporters from a recently installed community radio were ambushed in Putla de Guerrero, Oaxaca, and shot to death. Teresa Bautista Flores, 24, and Felicitas Martínez, 20, two women journalists working for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (“The Voice that Breaks the Silence”), were murdered allegedly by paramilitary forces. Three other people were wounded in the shooting: Jaciel Vázquez, aged 3, and his parents.
On April 7, two radio reporters from a recently installed community radio were ambushed in Putla de Guerrero, Oaxaca, and shot to death. Teresa Bautista Flores, 24, and Felicitas Martínez, 20, two women journalists working for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (“The Voice that Breaks the Silence”), were murdered allegedly by paramilitary forces. Three other people were wounded in the shooting: Jaciel Vázquez, aged 3, and his parents.
In an interview with Radio Bemba in Sonora, Mexico, Jorge Albino, coordinator of La Voz que Rompe el Silencio said that the radio station had been receiving death threats since its inception. The station was inagurated on January 20 to serve the Trique indigenous community in San Juan Copala, a year after the locality was granted administrative autonomy.
The Mexican branch of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) said there have been acts of violence against other small radio stations belonging to indigenous groups in Oaxaca, such as Radio Nandia in 2006 and Radio Calenda in 2007. Repoters Without Borders, an international organization created to defend press freedom and journalists under threat, reported that risks run by the press in Oaxaca state are common, where the political climate continues to be tense.
Two journalists were murdered in Oaxaca during a major wave of protests against state governor Ulíses Ruiz Ortíz in 2006. They were Indymedia reporter and U.S. citizen Bradley Will, and Raúl Marcial Pérez, an indigenous community leader and columnist for the regional daily El Gráfico. No one has been brought to justice for their murders.
La Voz que Rompe el Silencio is considered a vital instrument to establish the peace in the region, said Jorge Albino in his interview with Radio Bemba. “The blood of our colleagues were not shed in vain. In fact, it is with their blood that we will continue our work, boost the radio for the betterment of the Triquis community,” he said.
Oaxacan women rose to international prominence in 2006 when they led the takeover of a TV station during the people’s uprising in Oaxaca city. What started as a women-only march on August 1, culminated in the peaceful seizing of the state-owned television station, Channel 9. For three months, they collectively ran the station and opened a forum of discussion on the airwaves previously innaccesible to the community. Their media revolution was only haltered when the Mexican government decided to attack their own station, destroying the antenna and effectively taking them off the air. Taking over the communications broadcasting system, including several radio stations, has been heralded as a symbol of the popular movement in Oaxaca.
The Triqui indigenous people of San Juan Copala in southern Oaxaca, saw their first radio station, La Voz que Rompe el Silencio, as a major victory of their struggle. When the community declared itself an autonomous region on January 21, 2007, it vowed to stay independent from any party affiliation or influence, creating even a Police of the Community (Policia Comunitaria) to replace government armed forces in the region. The radio was to serve the Triquis people to promote unity, overcome conflicts, and encourage communication among communities, including those that are not formally members of the autonomous region. The radio stressed from the beginning the importance of promoting diversity within the station with the participation of women and particularly, the youth.
Jorge Albino reported to Radio Bemba that the two murdered journalists were in fact focusing on the process of indigenous autonomy, including health and bilingual education. Fearing the state of impunity in the region, radio administrators have circumvented local authorities and requested for a federal investigation into the murders.
(Photo: D.R. 2006 Nancy Davies. Triqui women in the Oaxaca zocalo.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The Triquis Inaugurate Their New Autonomous Municipality, by Nancy Davies
http://www.narconews.com/Issue44/article2521.html
Radio Bemba
http://portal.radiobemba.org/
Ventana a Mi Comunidad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpCp1tDaZ6I
In an interview with Radio Bemba in Sonora, Mexico, Jorge Albino, coordinator of La Voz que Rompe el Silencio said that the radio station had been receiving death threats since its inception. The station was inagurated on January 20 to serve the Trique indigenous community in San Juan Copala, a year after the locality was granted administrative autonomy.
The Mexican branch of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) said there have been acts of violence against other small radio stations belonging to indigenous groups in Oaxaca, such as Radio Nandia in 2006 and Radio Calenda in 2007. Repoters Without Borders, an international organization created to defend press freedom and journalists under threat, reported that risks run by the press in Oaxaca state are common, where the political climate continues to be tense.
Two journalists were murdered in Oaxaca during a major wave of protests against state governor Ulíses Ruiz Ortíz in 2006. They were Indymedia reporter and U.S. citizen Bradley Will, and Raúl Marcial Pérez, an indigenous community leader and columnist for the regional daily El Gráfico. No one has been brought to justice for their murders.
La Voz que Rompe el Silencio is considered a vital instrument to establish the peace in the region, said Jorge Albino in his interview with Radio Bemba. “The blood of our colleagues were not shed in vain. In fact, it is with their blood that we will continue our work, boost the radio for the betterment of the Triquis community,” he said.
Oaxacan women rose to international prominence in 2006 when they led the takeover of a TV station during the people’s uprising in Oaxaca city. What started as a women-only march on August 1, culminated in the peaceful seizing of the state-owned television station, Channel 9. For three months, they collectively ran the station and opened a forum of discussion on the airwaves previously innaccesible to the community. Their media revolution was only haltered when the Mexican government decided to attack their own station, destroying the antenna and effectively taking them off the air. Taking over the communications broadcasting system, including several radio stations, has been heralded as a symbol of the popular movement in Oaxaca.
The Triqui indigenous people of San Juan Copala in southern Oaxaca, saw their first radio station, La Voz que Rompe el Silencio, as a major victory of their struggle. When the community declared itself an autonomous region on January 21, 2007, it vowed to stay independent from any party affiliation or influence, creating even a Police of the Community (Policia Comunitaria) to replace government armed forces in the region. The radio was to serve the Triquis people to promote unity, overcome conflicts, and encourage communication among communities, including those that are not formally members of the autonomous region. The radio stressed from the beginning the importance of promoting diversity within the station with the participation of women and particularly, the youth.
Jorge Albino reported to Radio Bemba that the two murdered journalists were in fact focusing on the process of indigenous autonomy, including health and bilingual education. Fearing the state of impunity in the region, radio administrators have circumvented local authorities and requested for a federal investigation into the murders.
(Photo: D.R. 2006 Nancy Davies. Triqui women in the Oaxaca zocalo.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The Triquis Inaugurate Their New Autonomous Municipality, by Nancy Davies
http://www.narconews.com/Issue44/article2521.html
Radio Bemba
http://portal.radiobemba.org/
Ventana a Mi Comunidad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpCp1tDaZ6I
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stop plan mexico
In Feb. of 2008, I visited these folk, worked with CACTUS and helped fix up the radio in San Juan Copala. Its horrifying and saddening to hear of the murders. Please contact the consulate, protest, and generally raise hell to stop the mexican government's impunity in the murder of journalists. Mexico and Iraq are the two most dangerous countries for journalist(check out reporters without borders report on the topic). And while your at it call your congress people to Stop Plan Mexico, the US plan to give billions more in arms and paramilitary training to the Mexican government. check out http://www.elenemigocomun.net for more info and for more on San Juan Copala check out my blog at http://oaxacajournals.wordpress.com/
For more information:
http://oaxacajournals.wordpress.com/
2 MORE REPORTERS MURDERED BY THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT
Felicitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista, ages 22 and 20, were Indigenous Journalists assassinated on April 7th, 2008 in a shooting by government supported paramilitaries near San Juan Copala in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. According to survivors six men began firing at their car with AK-47 assault rifles. The police found twenty spent bullet cases on the The police found twenty spent bullet cases on the road.
Their murders are only the latest in the massive Government violence against journalist and everyday people in Mexico. According to Reporters Without Borders annual report Mexico is the most deadly country in the Hemisphere for Journalists. In 2007 two were killed and three vanished and in 2006 nine journalists were murdered and three were missing, making the country second only to Iraq for the number of journalists killed.
Amnesty International's secretary general Irene Khan reported after their 2007 investigation in the state of Oaxaca, “Impunity is so endemic and so entrenched that the authorities seem to tolerate that no one has been held held responsible for over 18 deaths and the hundreds of cases of unfair detentions, torture and harassment.”
The U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2007 found that in Mexico, Government “impunity and corruption remained problems. . .. The following human rights problems were reported: unlawful killings by security forces; kidnappings, including by police; physical abuse; poor and overcrowded prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; corruption, inefficiency, and lack of transparency in the judicial system; confessions coerced through physical abuse permitted as evidence in trials; . . . corruption at all levels of government; . . . violence, including killings, against women; trafficking in persons, sometimes allegedly with official involvement.”
Plan Mexico, also called the Merida Initiative, which grew out of NAFTA, is legislation that is currently in the US Congress, it would provide $1.5 billion in US Taxpayer money for equipment to the Mexican military, police and intelligence services. This would reward the Government for its violence and impunity expanding this violence against more young Mexican journalists like Felicitas and Teresa, leading to more migration and poverty for the working people of Mexico and the United States.
STOP PLAN MEXICO!TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP PLAN MEXICO! TAKE ACTION NOW!
To prevent passage of this senseless military package, we need to pressure Congressional representatives NOW!
Taking action against the Merida Initiative is simple:
1. Call the office of your representative and ask that the representative oppose Plan Mexico/Merida Initiative.
To reach the office, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your House or Senate member (give your state and zip code if you’re not sure who it is).
2. Encourage key Congress members to take a stand against the Merida Initiative:
Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee: 202-225-5021
Representative Eliot Engel, Chair Committee on Hemisphere, Phone : (202) 225-2464 ,
Representative Nita Lowey, Foreign Operations Chair, Email: Megan.Oates [at] mail.house.gov Phone: 202-225-6506
Tell them to oppose the Merida Initiative “Plan Mexico”
and end the impunity of Mexican security forces, not to reward it.
For More info: http://www.narconews.com , http://www.elenemigocomun.net/1477 , http://www.globalexchange.org
Or contact: ARCO [at] riseup.net or defeatplanmexico [at] gmail.com
Organizations Opposed to Plan Mexico: Organizations Opposed to Plan Mexico: WESPAC, the United Steel Workers, Global Exchange, Friends of Brad Will, the Drug Policy Alliance, CISPES, Alliance for Democracy, ARCO and Witness for Peace.
Felicitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista, ages 22 and 20, were Indigenous Journalists assassinated on April 7th, 2008 in a shooting by government supported paramilitaries near San Juan Copala in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. According to survivors six men began firing at their car with AK-47 assault rifles. The police found twenty spent bullet cases on the The police found twenty spent bullet cases on the road.
Their murders are only the latest in the massive Government violence against journalist and everyday people in Mexico. According to Reporters Without Borders annual report Mexico is the most deadly country in the Hemisphere for Journalists. In 2007 two were killed and three vanished and in 2006 nine journalists were murdered and three were missing, making the country second only to Iraq for the number of journalists killed.
Amnesty International's secretary general Irene Khan reported after their 2007 investigation in the state of Oaxaca, “Impunity is so endemic and so entrenched that the authorities seem to tolerate that no one has been held held responsible for over 18 deaths and the hundreds of cases of unfair detentions, torture and harassment.”
The U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2007 found that in Mexico, Government “impunity and corruption remained problems. . .. The following human rights problems were reported: unlawful killings by security forces; kidnappings, including by police; physical abuse; poor and overcrowded prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; corruption, inefficiency, and lack of transparency in the judicial system; confessions coerced through physical abuse permitted as evidence in trials; . . . corruption at all levels of government; . . . violence, including killings, against women; trafficking in persons, sometimes allegedly with official involvement.”
Plan Mexico, also called the Merida Initiative, which grew out of NAFTA, is legislation that is currently in the US Congress, it would provide $1.5 billion in US Taxpayer money for equipment to the Mexican military, police and intelligence services. This would reward the Government for its violence and impunity expanding this violence against more young Mexican journalists like Felicitas and Teresa, leading to more migration and poverty for the working people of Mexico and the United States.
STOP PLAN MEXICO!TAKE ACTION NOW! STOP PLAN MEXICO! TAKE ACTION NOW!
To prevent passage of this senseless military package, we need to pressure Congressional representatives NOW!
Taking action against the Merida Initiative is simple:
1. Call the office of your representative and ask that the representative oppose Plan Mexico/Merida Initiative.
To reach the office, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your House or Senate member (give your state and zip code if you’re not sure who it is).
2. Encourage key Congress members to take a stand against the Merida Initiative:
Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee: 202-225-5021
Representative Eliot Engel, Chair Committee on Hemisphere, Phone : (202) 225-2464 ,
Representative Nita Lowey, Foreign Operations Chair, Email: Megan.Oates [at] mail.house.gov Phone: 202-225-6506
Tell them to oppose the Merida Initiative “Plan Mexico”
and end the impunity of Mexican security forces, not to reward it.
For More info: http://www.narconews.com , http://www.elenemigocomun.net/1477 , http://www.globalexchange.org
Or contact: ARCO [at] riseup.net or defeatplanmexico [at] gmail.com
Organizations Opposed to Plan Mexico: Organizations Opposed to Plan Mexico: WESPAC, the United Steel Workers, Global Exchange, Friends of Brad Will, the Drug Policy Alliance, CISPES, Alliance for Democracy, ARCO and Witness for Peace.
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