[RAICES] Fwd: massacre in tlalnepantla (fwd)

[hdb02 at HAMPSHIRE.EDU]

----- Forwarded message from Margaret  Cerullo <mcSS at HAMPSHIRE.EDU> -----
    Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 21:46:06 -0500 (EST)
    From: Margaret  Cerullo <mcSS at HAMPSHIRE.EDU>
Reply-To: Margaret  Cerullo <mcSS at HAMPSHIRE.EDU>
 Subject: massacre in tlalnepantla (fwd)
      To: Abigail Adams <aby01060 at yahoo.com>, antigovgrrl at hotmail.com, 
hdb02 at HAMPSHIRE.EDU, Keely_Malone at hotmail.com, kgrimes at mtholyoke.edu, 
kjmalone at mtholyoke.edu, Krr02 at HAMPSHIRE.EDU, mfd01 at HAMPSHIRE.EDU, 
mhurter at HAMPSHIRE.EDU, mlar02 at HAMPSHIRE.EDU, pno03 at HAMPSHIRE.EDU


guau. Do what you can to spread the word. Margaret
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 00:18:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Gregory Berger <gringoyo_2000 at yahoo.com>
To: mcSS at hampshire.edu
Subject: massacre in tlalnepantla

Margaret-

After a beautiful inauguration of the autonomous town
council on sunday, tuesday night saw the beginning of
a massacre in Tlalnepantla.  As you will read in the
paper, and in the bulletin below, riot police stormed
the town killing at least two and sending hundreds of
campesinos running for cover.  I saw helicopters
hunting campesinos in the hillsides.  It is a
disaster.  I am filming as much as I can, and it has
been my job to get this into the U.S. media.  We got a
story on KPFK in Los Angeles, and Amy Goodman
interviewed me today, I am hoping that today (friday)
the story gets run on democracy now!

Obviously, my trip is postponed.  I need to be here.
I will come down when the work is done.  Hopefully
that will be before you leave.  Tell Efrain I am
sorry, but that this is important.

Love,
Greg

For Immediate Release

As the autnomous Zapatista communities of Chiapas,
Mexico celebrate  the 10 year anniversary of 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:
--------------
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 (feb.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.
------

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