Mexico Week In Review: 04.07-04.13

Mexico Week In Review: 04.07-04.13
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Published since 1994, 'Mexico Week In Review' is a service of the
Committee of Indigenous Solidarity (CIS). CIS is a Washington, D.C.
based activist group committed to the ongoing struggles of Indigenous
peoples in the Americas. CIS is actively supporting the struggles
of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico while simultaneously combating
related structures of oppression within our own communities.

To view newsletter archives, visit:
http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mexico-week/

"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
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OAXACA: TWO COMMUNITY RADIO HOSTS SHOT AND KILLED

Two community radio hosts who were also indigenous activists were
shot and killed on Monday (04/07) when gunmen opened fire at their
vehicle on a rural highway in southern Oaxaca. The Committee to
Protect Journalists is investigating possible links between the
slayings and the journalists' work. Teresa Bautista Merino, 24, and
Felicitas Martínez Sánchez, 20, were ambushed late Monday when
unidentified individuals shot assault rifles at their vehicle near
the village of Putla de Guerrero, according to local press reports
and CPJ interviews. Three others in the vehicle, including a
3-year-old child, were injured, said local news reports. "We urge
state and federal authorities to conduct an exhaustive investigation
that will bring all those responsible to justice," said CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon. "We will be monitoring the investigation
closely."

The two women worked as hosts and reporters for a community radio
station called "La Voz que Rompe el Silencio" (The Voice that Breaks
the Silence) in the Triqui indigenous town of San Juan Copala, 220
miles (354 kilometers) west of the state capital of Oaxaca. The radio
station began broadcasting in both Spanish and Triqui on January 19.

Bautista and Martínez were coming from a neighboring town where they
were telling people about the station, the general coordinator of the
station Jorge Albino told CPJ. Albino said that the two women
reported on the autonomous indigenous government of San Juan Copala
and news on health, education, and indigenous culture. State
authorities have begun an investigation but no arrests have been
made. The municipality of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca-where the women
worked-has been autonomous since January 2007, but is known for
heated and often deadly conflicts between indigenous and political
groups. The two women were said to be vocal about indigenous rights
and autonomy.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that
works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information,
visit www.cpj.org <http://www.cpj.org/> .

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists Press Release: 04/10
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LAWMAKERS VOW TO KEEP UP PEMEX PROTEST

Leftist lawmakers who seized both chambers of Mexico's Congress said
they will not move until a national debate is held on an oil reform
bill backed by President Felipe Calderon. Legislators from the
Democratic Revolution Party and two minor parties stormed the podiums
of both the Senate and the lower house of Congress to protest the
bill, which they say would open the door to selling off parts of the
state-run industry.

A small group of lawmakers spent the night there in blankets and
sleeping bags and took turns guarding the podiums, which were covered
in signs accusing Calderon of trying to privatize the industry.
Mexico's oil reserves were nationalized in 1938. "We're going to stay
here as long as we need to," Democratic Revolution congressman
Alejandro Sanchez said in a telephone interview. He added that party
members were bringing sandwiches and drinks to prepare for what could
be a long encampment. Sanchez said his party wants the public to
debate the issue before Congress takes it up. It was unclear whether
that would mean a referendum, a national survey or something else.
Calderon's National Action Party is pushing for Congress to vote on
the bill within two weeks.

The president is stressing that state oil company Petroleos
Mexicanos, or Pemex, would remain in Mexican hands while relaxing
some restrictions to seek outside help to boost sagging oil
production. The measure would let Pemex offer companies bonuses for
oil finds and good performance. It would also let the company - which
now depends on U.S. refineries to convert much of its crude into
gasoline - hire outsiders to build and operate new refineries for
Mexico. Deputy Treasury Secretary Alejandro Werner said the
government would send a second bill to lawmakers in the coming days
that would offset climbing production costs by lowering taxes on oil
extracted from new fields where drilling and development are more
difficult.

Opponents say the reform would leave Pemex - a source of national
pride and much of the national budget - in the hands of private and
even foreign investors. "They've sharpened their teeth and are ready
to rob a natural resource and make a big business out of it," Sanchez
said. "We're not going to let them." While many lawmakers disapproved
of the takeover, congressional leaders rejected the idea of using
force to remove the protesters and said they might look for a new
place to conduct legislative business.

Source: Associated Press: 04/11
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AMLO WANTS OIL DEBATE

Mexico's foremost leftist leader predicted Sunday that protesters
would prevent Congress from moving forward on the president's oil
reform proposal during the current legislative session. At a rally in
Mexico City's central square, former presidential candidate Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador reiterated calls for a national debate on the
reform bill, which President Felipe Calderon introduced last week to
allow state oil company Pemex to partner with private companies for
oil exploration and refining.

Oil production in Mexico, one of the top suppliers to the United
States, is declining, and reform advocates say Pemex needs outside
resources to explore for more reserves. Legislators from Lopez
Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party and two minor parties have
camped out around the clock in both chambers of Mexico's Congress to
block discussions on the bill. Congressional leaders have said they
might look for a new place to conduct legislative business. "It's
almost certain that they won't be able to approve the sellout
initiatives before the end of this congressional session on April
30," Lopez Obrador told more than 100,000 supporters who packed the
Zocalo.

Mexico's Constitution bans most private and foreign involvement in
the industry, although Pemex subcontracts some work to private firms.
The bill would allow Pemex to pay bonuses to private companies but
not a share of the oil profits. Lopez Obrador said the bill aims to
privatize Pemex, allowing Mexico's oil revenues - which now account
for nearly 40 percent of the national budget - to go to private and
foreign companies. He urged his followers to go house-by-house and
neighborhood-by-neighborhood to educate Mexicans about "the grave
consequences" of the bill. Lopez Obrador narrowly lost the presidency
to Calderon in 2006 and blames fraud for his defeat. He has refused
to recognize Calderon's government.

Source: Associated Press: 04/13
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UPDATE: MORE ON THE ARREST OF BORDER ACTIVISTS

On the evening of Apr. 3 Mexican federal police agents arrested two
activists in the northern state of Chihuahua for their roles in
militant protests blocking federal highways: Cipriana Jurado Herrera,
a leader in the movement demanding justice for the more than 450
young women in the Ciudad Juarez area since the 1990s; and Carlos
Chavez Quevedo, a leader in the National Agrodynamic Organization
(OAN), which has protested high electricity rates for pumping from
the wells that area farmers use for irrigation. Both activists were
released on bail the night of Apr. 4 after some 50 people staged a
sit-in in front of the federal judicial office in Ciudad Juarez.

Chavez founded the OAN in collaboration with another farmer activist,
Armando Villarreal Martha, who was murdered on Mar. 14 in broad
daylight by a group of heavily armed men. Jurado--who was charged
with participation in a blockade of the Santa Fe international bridge
in July 2007 to demand the return of missing women--is the director
of the Center for Investigation and Worker Solidarity (CISO) and has
been active in cross-border solidarity work with US groups. She had
spoken out strongly the week before her arrest against President
Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's use of federal troops against organized
crime. "[W]e have had experiences that at the checkpoints violations
of the community's human rights have been committed," she said. Upon
her release, Jurado charged that the government was using repression
against social leaders to intimidate them, especially to prevent
protests against the possible privatization of parts of the state oil
monopoly, Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX).

As of Mar. 30, the military was investigating 16 soldiers in the
shooting deaths of four young men in Santiago de los Caballeros,
Badiraguato, in the western state of Sinaloa, on Mar. 26. The
soldiers opened fire on the men as they were driving a van to a
party; two other passengers were wounded. All the victims were
unarmed.

Source: Weekly News Update- Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of Greater
New York: 04/06

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The above articles were originally published and copyrighted by the
listed sources. These articles are offered for educational purposes
which CIS maintains is 'fair use' of copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

end: Mexico Week In Review: 04.07-04.13

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