As previously announced, on April 21 two Zapatista political prisoners, Ángel Concepción Pérez Gutiérrez and his father Francisco Pérez Vázquez, went on hunger strike in the Tacotalpa, Tabasco, prison where they're incarcerated. Originally announced as a fast that would last "for three days or as long as necessary," the prisoners sent a letter to Other Campaign adherents on April 22 confirming that they are on hunger strike for an "indefinite period of time."
The two prisoners are on hunger strike despite their poor health condition--74-year-old Francisco is diabetic, and Ángel suffers from an untreated infection. Some reports say Ángel is also diabetic.
Ángel and Francisco were imprisoned in July 9, 1996, for a murder they say they did not commit. They demand immediate, unconditional release, not a pardon, because a pardon implies that they committed the murder.
Family members and supporters have erected a plantón, or protest encampment, outside of the municipal prison in Tacotalpa, Tabasco. Plantonistas are sending YouTube video messages to the Other Campaign declaring their resolve to continue the struggle until Don Ángel and Don Francisco are free.
Julio Garduño, an adherent to the Other Campaign in Tabasco, reports that porros are hanging out near the plantón, giving the plantonistas "murderous looks." Porros are government-sponsored thugs.
On April 21, the prison arbitrarily refused to allow supporters to visit the prisoners despite serious concerns about their health. However, in an April 22 letter the prisoners say they're in good health and good spirits, and that prison medical staff examined them.
The Other Campaign requests that adherents contact the following authorities to demand the immediate unconditional release of Zapatista prisoners in Tacotalpa, Tabasco, and political prisoners who are part of La Voz de Los Llanos and La Voz del Amate in Chiapas:
* Mexican Mission to the United Nations in Geneva
16 Avenue du Budé
1202 Geneva
Switzerland
Fax :1 41 22 748 07 08
Tel: 1 41 22 748 07 07
E-mail: mission.mexico@ties.itu.int
* Señora Embajadora Sandra Fuentes-Berain, Mexican Diplomatic Mission in Brussels
94 avenue F.D. Rossevelt
1050 Ixelles
Belgium
Tel: 1 32 2 629 07 11
Fax: 1 32 2 644 08 19
* Señor Presidente Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of Mexico
Residencia Oficial de "Los Pinos"
Co. San Miguel Chapultepec
México D.F.
C.P. 11850
Mexico
Fax :1 52 5 55 522 94 13, +52 5 55 277 23 76
E-mail : radio@appresidencia.gob.mx; webadmon@appresidencia.gob.mx
* Sr. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, Procuraduría General de la República
Reforma Norte esquina Violeta 75
Colonia Guerrero
CP. 06300
México D.F.
Mexico
E-mail : ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Fax: +52 5 55 346 0906
TEL: +52 5 55 346 20 03
Please also write the following Chiapas authorities:
* Lic. Juan José Sabines Guerrero, Governor of Chiapas
Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas
Av. Central y Primera Oriente
Colonia Centro
C.P. 29009
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas
Mexico
E-mail : secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx
Fax: 1 52 961 618 8088; 1 52 961 618 8056
* Lic. Sonia Siman Morales, President of the Chiapas Supreme Court
Palacio de Justicia
Libramiento Norte Oriente no. 2100
Fracc. El Bosque
C.P. 29047
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas
Mexico
Switchboard: 1 52 961 617 8700
Or the following numbers: 1 52 961 616 5350 or 1 52 961 616 5354
* Lic. Amador Rodríguez Lozano, Chiapas Minister of Justice
Libramiento norte oriente y Rosa de Oriente #2010
Col. El Bosque
C.P. 29049
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas
México
Fax : 1 52 961 617 2300
E-mail : arodriguez@mje.chiapas.gob.mx
Please send a copy of your letters to: laotrajovel@gmail.com
Open Letter from Tabasco Prisoners to Prison Authorities
Submitted April 25, 2008 - 1:27 pm by Kristin BrickerPublic Municipal Prison Tacotalpa, Tabasco
April 23, 2008
Warden of the Tacotalpa, Tabasco, Public Municipal Prison: PRESENT
In the most thoughtful manner we direct this letter to the General Management of Prevention and Social Readjustment of the State of Tabasco.
First let me inform you of the subjects that concern you.
Our innocence and our unjust sentence without having committed a single crime, nor having participated in one. For this reason we declare ourselves on hunger strike for an indefinite period of time. Yes, it's possible that you'll take us out of here dead, because we've had enough of this injustice. Eleven years of asking for justice, but we're never listened to. The response of the government is that we're guilty, that we don't belong to an ethnic or indigenous group. This imprisonment-- the illegal deprivation of our freedom, for a crime you accuse us of committing--is a premeditated kidnapping with malice aforethought.
You don't recognize our rights as indigenous people of Ch'ol ethnicity from Tila, Chiapas. We are 48 hours into our hunger strike and we continue onward.
We would like to recognize national and international civil society, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, and the public opinion for publicizing and spreading the word about the illegal deprivation of our freedom and the lack of justice for us. Eleven years, ten months of imprisonment without crime; the hunger strike and our children's and family's plantón outside the prison won't end until we receive freedom with justice.
There not being any other subject to address, this letter is ended at 9:10am.
FREEDOM WITH JUSTICE FOR ALL OF MEXICO'S POLITICAL PRISONERS.
Sincerely,
Ángel Concepción Perez Gutierrez
Francisco Perez Vazquez
For more information about Ángel Concepción Perez Gutierrez and Francisco Perez Vazquez's case, please see Zapatista Prisoners Threaten Hunger Strike in Tabasco