Israel site of border training for US and Canada

By Brenda Norrell

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- In Tucson, a community known for human rights organizations that are setting global standards, the University of Arizona has been co-opted by dollars to become spy central.
The university is very proud of its new millions to spy on people, by way of the Internet, and develop "technologies," including lasers on migrants' arteries.
Under the guise of the war on terror, human rights activists, especially peace activists, have been targeted throughout the United States and the world by unbridled US spy technology and US government lawlessness.

Article and photo by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- Walkers gathered this morning in Tucson to walk to San Xavier on the Tohono O'odham Nation, remembering those who died on the US/Mexico border. The walk, coordinated by Derechos Humanos, is the eighth annual Day of the Dead pilgrimage. The eight mile walk from St. John's Church is underway to the San Xavier del Bac Mission. Kat Rodriguez, of Derechos Humanos, told walkers that the 183 white wooden crosses being carried represent each person who died in the desert from Oct. 1, 2007 to Sept. 30. While some crosses carry the names of the dead, there are 108 crosses marked "unknown." Of those, there were 19 people who could not be identified as to whether they were male or female, because so little of their bodies could be found. Derechos Humanos said that 1,600 people have died trying to cross the Sonoran desert in the past eight years. Walkers will culminate their journey with a gathering at the mission at 1 p.m.
Listen to audios from this morning, Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos and columnist Roberto Rodriquez
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/

Photos at: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

By Brenda Norrell

WASHINGTON -- The construction of the United States border wall is now listed with the treatment of Guantanamo detainees as an international human rights concern by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States.

In a statement released today, the Commission said it "received troubling information about the impact that the construction of a wall in Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border, has on the human rights of area residents, in particular its discriminatory effects."

UPDATE: Tuesday, November 4, 2008. A mistrial was declared today after a jury deadlocked in the case of a Border Patrol agent accused of murdering Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera without provocation. U.S Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett faced charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide. Three eyewitnesses testified the 22-year-old was shot as he was kneeling to surrender for Corbett to arrest him and the three others. It was the second mistrial in the case.

Article and photo by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- US Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett is on trial for the murder of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, from Morelia, Mexico. Eyewitnesses said the border agent shot the youth in cold blood, without provocation.

At a shrine in front of the courthouse, family members and supporters are gathered to remember the youth and speak of the impunity that US Border Agents are operating under, as they murder people of Mexico. On Wednesday, Roy Warden, who previously burned Mexican flags with the Minutemen at human rights marches here, gathered with others in front of the courthouse to harass and yell at the family and their supporters.

By Brenda Norrell

On the Border -- With more US government dollars flowing into Mexico, supposedly to fight the war on drugs, more Indigenous Peoples and human rights activists are being arrested and targeted with US-issued bullets, as reported in Narco News.
The narco trafficking, cartel battles and bloodbaths prevalent in Tijuana and along the South Texas border are now in Nogales, Sonora, across the border from Nogales, Arizona, and south of Tucson. Michel Marizco reports on the violence at Border Reporter.
While the violence increases, people who live along the border question the United States role in the violence and crimes, including the massive seizures of land by corporations after the passage of NAFTA that has displaced Indigenous Peoples. This has forced Indians to flee on foot to the north for survival. Many have died on the border in the desert.

US State Department and BIA attempt to cover up their crimes, interrupt Lipan Apache testimony on human rights abuses at the border, during hearing of Organization of American States

By Brenda Norrell

WASHINGTON -- As Lipan Apache Margo Tamez delivered powerful testimony on the US government's human rights violations at the Texas/Mexico border before the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, members of the US State Department and BIA interrupted to cover up their crimes.

After introducing herself in the Apache language, Tamez described how her family's land is being seized without consent or consultation for the US/Mexico border wall. Tamez said the lands of her people would be divided and result in relocation, especially for the elderly. Tamez said the place where they pray is on the other side of the border. She described what is happening to Indian people all along the border, in this new wave of genocide of Indian cultures and ceremonies along the border.

For the media and organizations, compliance is bought and sold

By Brenda Norrell

In case you noticed the alarming, large advertisements by the CIA Clandestine Services on the front web page of a national American Indian newspaper this week, or the ad by the FBI as one of the main sponsors of the upcoming National Congress of American Indians annual convention in Phoenix, it is good to remember how advertisers and funders control the media and organizations.
First, for newspapers, there is the outpouring of dollars for large ad spaces in prime sites. For Indian organizations, there is financial backing for events or programs.
When the newspaper, or Indian organization, does something the funder doesn't like, they often threaten to halt the advertising dollars. "We can't go along with that," they say, or "We can't support you if you do this ..."

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON --The death squads of the Zetas, trained at the US School of the Americas, are now carrying out murders for Mexican drug cartels and hired as killers in Iraq. The Kaibiles, Guatemalan death squads trained by US Special Forces, are now responsible for murders and rapes in the Congo and around the world. In Mexico, US trained death squads attack and murder Indigenous Peoples, including the Zapatistas, struggling for dignity, autonomy and survival. The United States training of death squads and torturers is one of the most censored issues in the media.

Urging news reporters to report the facts, reader Swaneagle writes, "The following is critical under-reported urgent news. Zetas are mutinous Mexican army troops who graduated from School of the Americas. Hired by the cartels, they are directly responsible for an astounding rise in brutal, grisly killings, including many of the murders of women in Juarez, which are up to 75 this year.

"Zetas have also been hired as mercenaries in Iraq. The spread of the SOA template must be halted." Swaneagle adds, "I wonder how many follow the pattern of child soldiers in Africa."

By Brenda Norrell

SELLS, Arizona - The Tohono O'odham mother of a teenager who was ran over and killed by the US Border Patrol made a plea for help so she can continue to pursue court action and charge the Border Patrol agent with murder.
Bennett Patricio, Jr., 18, was ran over and killed during the predawn hours in a remote area of the Tohono O'odham Nation in 2002. Although the family's civil case reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the family was abandoned by their attorney.
Angelita Reino Ramon, Bennett's mother, made an appeal for help on Sunday.
"We sold all our furniture, our truck and our car, so we could get to San Francisco and the Ninth Circuit Court," Angelita said.
"We are in a very desperate situation," she said. Angelita said now the family has no car to take the children to school, go shopping for food or look for jobs.
"No one wants to help us. We are in a really difficult situation."
"We're looking for someone who can help us with Bennett Patricio, Jr.'s case. We want to take it back to court in Tucson and file a murder charge. We need a lawyer who isn't afraid of the government and will stick with it all the way through.
"Our attorney stole the money from us, our fear is now, ‘Who can we trust?'"