• When they gave their statements they said they were tortured by plainclothes police
• They oppose neo-liberal projects that try to turn their lands into a new Cancun

by Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada
Translated by Kristin Bricker

El Amate, Chiapas.  May 6 - "I have been detained because I belong to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation" (EZLN), Miguel Vazquez Moreno declared today when he gave his testimony in the second criminal court in the State Center for Social Rehabilitation of Convicts (CERSS in its Spanish initials) number 14, El Amate, where none of the officials and employees, of course, are wearing face masks.  Nor do they seem aware that there is a national and state health emergency.

Majority of Proposed Funds are for Military Aircraft; House Appropriations Axes Human Rights Conditions to Speed Delivery

The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on the 2009 Supplemental for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Pandemic Flu, which would more than double the US government's fiscal year 2009 funding for Mexico's drug war.  The majority of the $470 million in this proposed round of Plan Mexico funds would pay for military aircraft, all of which can be armed.  The House Appropriations Committee has completely removed the paltry human rights conditions that have thus far been attached to Merida Initiative funding for Mexico's drug war.  Instead of human rights conditions, the Appropriations Committee has ordered expedited delivery of military aircraft.

New Laws Strike a Symbolic Blow to Prohibition, But Net Result is Increased Law Enforcement Powers

On April 23, Mexican Congress' last day in normal session and the same day President Felipe Calderon announced the swine flu pandemic, federal legislators voted to decriminalize simple drug possession in Mexico.  They passed the new drug law, along with about sixty other bills, with very little debate despite their controversial nature.

President Felipe Calderon has not yet signed the bill, but he is expected to.  Former President Vicente Fox proposed similar legislation in 2006, and the Mexican Congress approved it.  However, when it came time to sign the bill into law, Fox vetoed it, allegedly due to pressure from Washington.  The Obama administration as thus far not commented on the Mexican decriminalization initiative.

The new drug law contains a table of drugs and corresponding maximum quantities.  Simple possession under those quantities will not result in prosecution.  However, if someone is caught with an amount of drugs that falls within the boundaries of simple possession, the authorities will record the person's name and personal information and pass it on to health authorities, who will contact the person and inform them of drug rehabilitation options in their area.  The person may be required to present himself or herself before relevant Health Department officials in order to receive information on treatment options. 

Updated on May 11 to include new information about the inclusion of Blackhawk helicopters in the proposed supplemental.

Confusion and Lack of Transparency Prevail in 2009 Supplemental's Mexico Funds

Yesterday Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI), Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, released a statement and a summary of the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Pandemic Flu.  The supplemental includes $470 million "to address growing violence along the United States-Mexico border by supporting the Government of Mexico’s war against organized crime and drug-trafficking." This supplemental is in addition to the February 2009 Omnibus bill, a domestic  supplemental funding bill that included $410 million for the Merida Initiative, also known as Plan Mexico.

 
May 4th, 2009
 
San Cristóbal de las Casas,
 
Chiapas, México
 
To members of the other campaign both national and international
 
To the alternative national and international media
 
Sisters and brothers in national and international resistance movements
 

Military Intelligence Leads to Eight Men Detained, Tortured, Charged with Organized Crime in Disputed Agua Azul Region

In an operation that bears all the marks of drug war-style repression, state and federal police detained six adherents to the Other Campaign, one Zapatista, and one unaffiliated man in Agua Azul, Chiapas.  The military was also involved; it shot six warning shots into the air with live ammunition at a protest blockade, and it provided military intelligence that Chiapas state officials say was used to detain the men.

The Agua Azul region is an area that in recent years has been the site of violent attacks against Zapatistas perpetrated by members of the paramilitary Organization For Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC). OPDDIC members allegedly participated in the operation.

Innocent Verdict Means Judge Acknowledges that Police Planted Cocaine and Heroine on a Movement Leader

April 21, 2009 - Today Oaxacan judge Amado Chiñas Fuentes absolved APPO adviser David Venegas of charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and heroine.  Venegas' defense team argued that police had planted cocaine and heroine on Venegas after his arrest in order to imprison him and later charge him with sedition, conspiracy, arson, attacks on transit routes, rebellion, crimes against civil servants, dangerous attacks, and resisting arrest.

Federal Police Pressure Imprisoned APPO Defendant Juan Manuel Martinez to Confess; Will Family Lawyer Faces Legal Harassment

The Mexican Federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) has ratcheted up the pressure in the Brad Will murder case. 

The PGR supports the Oaxaca Attorney General's Office's theory that members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) murdered the US Indymedia journalist in Oaxaca on October 27, 2006.  On October 16, 2008, the PGR arrested Juan Manuel Martinez, Octavio Perez Perez, and Hugo Colmenares Leyva--all supporters of the APPO during the 2006 uprising in Oaxaca state--and charged them with Will's murder.  The PGR made the arrests despite photographic and ballistic evidence and witness testimony that the fatal gunshots came from a distance, from a death squad comprised of the town mayor, police, and other government agents.

by Ricardo Ravelo, Proceso
translated from the original Spanish by Kristin Bricker

Beyond simply revealing an approximation of El Chapo Guzman's fortune, his inclusion in Forbes' list of billionaires is a blow in the media that brings attention to the immense fortune that the Sinaloa cartel moves through its financial network in Mexico and in the United States.  In order to dismantle this organization, the businesses that were listed in DEA and Treasury Department press releases would have to be thoroughly investigated, which is something the National Action Party (PAN) administrations of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon have not done.  It is estimated that drug trafficking money is linked to about 78% of legal Mexican activities.

The most severe blows against the military in the war on drugs have come from former soldiers

by Jorge Carrasco Araizaga, Proceso
translated from the original Spanish by Kristin Bricker

The most offensive casualties the Mexican Army has suffered in the war on drug trafficking aren't the result of confrontations with hitmen.  Rather, they're executions carried out by ex-brothers-in-arms, trained by the Mexican National Defense Ministry, who have joined the ranks of organized crime, or by cells protected by high-ranking officials.  In less than four months, 21 soldiers have been murdered by those who at one time were "incorruptible."