Una persona desconocida apuñaló al activista Rubén Valencia Nuñez en un café después de gritar insultos sobre la APPO

por Kristin Bricker
traducido por Sevastopol

El 10 de enero, una persona desconocida atacó el activista Oaxaqueño y que ha sido consejero de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO), Rubén Valencia Núñez en un café público en la ciudad de Oaxaca. La tentativa contra la vida de Valencia sigue otros ataques recientes en contra de los activistas Oaxaqueños, particularmente al espacio Voces Oaxaqueñas Construyendo Autonomía y Libertad (VOCAL), de lo cual Valencia es integrante.

Unknown assailant stabbed long-time activist Ruben Valencia Nuñez in a café after shouting disparaging remarks about the APPO

On January 10, an unknown assailant attacked prominent Oaxacan activist and former Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) advisor Ruben Valencia Nuñez in a public café in Oaxaca City.  The attempt on Valencia’s life follows other recent attacks against Oaxacan activists, in particular the Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty (VOCAL) collective, of which Valencia is a member.

State and federal authorities have detected at least a dozen "expressions" of this sort

by Diego Enrique Osorno, Milenio
translated by Kristin Bricker

The rise of the Citizens' Command for Juarez that, with financing from businessmen, promises to "end a criminal's life every 24 hours" is the latest in a series of recent appearances of other alleged armed groups, mainly in Guerrero, Morelos, the State of Mexico, and Sonora.

The APPO activist accused of murdering the US Indymedia journalist remains in jail despite his "unconstitutional" imprisonment

by Pedro Matias, Noticias de Oaxaca
translated by Kristin Bricker

The Federal Judiciary granted an injunction to Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, accused of murdering US journalist Bradley Roland Will because the 5th District Judge, Rosa Ileana Noriega Perez, weighed the multiple irregularities in the case and rejected his imprisonment pending trial as unconstitutional.

The equipment required an investment of $99 million dollars

by Notimex
Translation and notes by Kristin Bricker

Mexico - The Mexican Armed Forces will receive and manage the aircraft that the United States will hand over during the second half of 2009 under the Merida Iniciative.

President Chavez said that independent of the US internal situation, "this worries us.  Right here, right now, I'm putting it out there...he [Obama] threw a stone at me...multiple stones."

by TeleSUR

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez criticized his US counterpart, Barack Obama, because he believes Obama "repeats the same discourse" that the outgoing leader, George W. Bush, has maintained "against Venezuela."  At the same time, he stated that his Government will be respected on all fronts, including the diplomatic front.

The Venezuelan president's statements were made in response to comments Obama made in an interview this past Monday, January 12.

"Chavez has been a force that has interrupted the region's progress."  Venezuela "is exporting terrorist activities," were the statements of Barack Obama, the president-elect of the United States.

Mexican lawmakers and legal experts decry El Paso Mayor John Cook's veto of a City Council resolution that proposed a debate over drug decriminalization

by Sandra Rodriguez Nieto, El Diario

Yesterday, the El Paso mayor's rejection of a debate over decriminalizing drug use was considered on the Mexican side of the border to go against the necessity to analyze all of the possibilities to end the violence that results from said illicit business.

Likewise, state officials, lawmakers, and academics said that the El Paso City Council's proposal to initiate a debate in the United States as well as Mexico over the decriminalization of some drugs as a response to the problem of violence in Ciudad Juarez demonstrates a citizen concern that cannot be avoided.

Operation Clean-Up's arrests of Mexican officials are based on hearsay and contradictory testimonies; many of the accused could be set free

by Ricardo Ravelo, Proceso

translated from the original Spanish by Kristin Bricker

The attempt to clean up the Attorney General's Office (PGR) appears to be threatened by deficiencies in the investigation which have already resulted in judicial losses in favor of some of the accused.  And what's worse, it might have to face an international denunciation for employing "dirty means" in its zeal to find culprits.

All lawyers involved in the defense of two Juarez bus drivers falsely accused of femicide have been executed; state police shot one in the head

Two unidentified gunmen executed Mario Escobedo Salazar and his son Edgar Escobedo Anaya, also a lawyer, in their Juarez office on Tuesday, January 6. 

The double homicide comes nearly seven years after Chihuahua State Judicial Police killed Escobedo Salazar's other son, Mario Escobedo Anaya, during a chase.  The police originally stated that Mario Escobedo Anaya died when his vehicle crashed during the chase.  It was later revealed that he died of a gunshot wound to the head fired by state police.

The Federal Attorney General's Office didn't take on the case even though it involves the death of a civilian, which is a violation of Plan Mexico's "human rights conditions"

published in La Jornada, January 8, 2009
translated by Kristin Bricker

Translator's note: The case of the pregnant woman murdered by soldiers is being investigated by the military's attorney general, not a civilian one.  15% of US military and police aid to Mexico under the Merida Iniciative is conditioned on Mexico sending cases regarding military abuse of civilians to civilian courts.  The 15% has yet to be released due to Mexico's continued failure to comply with even these minimal conditions.

The Military Attorney General's Office is investigating soldiers in the 11th Military Region, the 5th Military Zone, and the 23rd infantry batalion regarding the death of civilian Sayra Guadalupe Arzate Contreras, who this past December 12 was shot in a military checkpoint located in Aldama, Chihuahua, while she was four months pregnant.