Dámaso Villanueva: "I will not pay bail because I am not guilty"

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, CHIAPAS, MEXICO: Dámaso Villanueva, the coordinator of the Zapatista information booth on the city square who was arrested on Friday on apocryphal two-year-old charges filed by the cell phone company Pegaso (now Movistar) that claim he allegedly destroyed a tower worth $220,000 dollars, sent word from his prison cell to the Other Journalism on Sunday that he is “strong, content… and innocent.”

According to members of his support team who visited him in jail, Villanueva says that if bail is offered for his release pending trial he will not pay it. “I will not pay the bail because I am not guilty,” Dámaso told supporters. “Nor will I beg pardon.”
Three Mexican journalists of the Other Journalism with the Other Campaign appeared at the gates of the prison on the road from San Cristóbal to Ocosingo on Sunday, video cameras in hand, and asked to be able to enter to interview the political prisoner. The prison authorities asked to see, and were shown, the identification cards of journalists Roberto Chankin Ortega Perez, Sarahy Flores Sosa and Bertha Rodríguez and after various minutes of awaiting response from upstairs the guards informed the journalists that no media would be allowed in the prison.

At that moment, members of Villanueva’s support team arrived at the prison gates to visit their friend and fellow adherent of the Zapatista Other Campaign. The Other Journalism met with one of them, Marisa Kramsky, later in the day. She brought the word of the political prisoner: “I am innocent.”

Kramsky explained that there are many irregularities with the case against Villanueva, including that at the time when the damage was allegedly done to the Pegaso cell phone tower in 2004, Villanueva was demonstrably in a different place, with witnesses to that fact, including public officials. (That Villanueva, as a community leader, spoke out against the installation of the towers is not, in itself, a crime under law, but it appears that the company seeks to silence such speech with this harassment prosecution.) There are also questions about Pegaso’s legal standing since the company technically no longer exists independently: it was later purchased by the Movistar company. And there are inconsistencies and irregularities regarding the two “witnesses” that the wealthy company conjured up to accuse Dámaso Villanueva, serious problems with their testimony and their standing that will come out in court.

The defense, says Kramsky, has filed for a six-day extension on the first court appearance to be able to prepare the evidence in support of Dámaso. The defendant, she says, is confident, of good humor, continues to promote the Other Campaign from inside the prison, and in the meantime has signed up to teach classes in a prison program and work carpentry with other inmates. To be continued…