Freedom & Justice for Atenco!

Today, the 17th of February, we begin the national and international campaign "Liberty and Justice for Atenco," with the participation of our brothers and sisters -- artists and intellectuals, as well as several civic organizations that make up the Committee that will strive to achieve freedom for our colleagues: Pedro Reyes Flores, Alejandro Pilón Zacate, Jorge Alberto Romero Ordóñez, Adán Ordóñez Romero Román, Juan Carlos Estrada Cruces, Julio Cesar Espinosa Ramos, Inés Rodolfo Cuellar Rivera, Edgar Eduardo Morales Reyes, Oscar Hernández Pacheco, Narciso Arellano Hernandez incarcerated in the Molino de Flores prison, in Texcoco, sentenced to 31 years, 10 months and 15 days of imprisonment; Felipe Álvarez, Héctor Galindo, and Ignacio Del Valle Medina incarcerated in the El Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juarez, sentenced to 67 and a half years and 112 and a half years in prison; our three persecuted compañeros, America Del Valle, Bernardino Cruz and Adán Espinosa; and for justice in Atenco.

In the repression ordered by Enrique Peña Nieto and Vicente Fox on May 3 and 4, 2006 in Atenco and Texcoco, our human rights were violated by the incursion of the federal police and the police of the State of Mexico, who had orders to subdue our communities through a comprehensive action called "population control", whose purpose was to exterminate the social movement of Atenco, to make an example out of Atenco, and to teach a lesson against any social protest. The action consisted of raids without search warrants, arbitrary arrests, physical and psychological torture, rape of our female comrades, and the murders of Javier Cortés and Alexis Benhumea, in addition to a tortuous legal process fraught with violations of legal protections, due process, personal freedom and access to justice.

Since then we have appealed to all levels of administration and enforcement of justice in our country, and we have always received a negative answer to our demands for freedom for our comrades, unjustly accused by the same people who gave orders for the violence of the Mexican State. The decision last February 12, in which SCJN dealt a blow to the people of Mexico, exonerating Enrique Peña Nieto, Eduardo Medina Mora, and Miguel Angel Yunes, among others, also represented an act of cowardice of the Federal Judiciary, as its ministers did not dare to implicate the interests of the ruling class, but acted as accessories to authoritarianism and repression in our country. With this, it is engraved in the collective memory of the public and in history that not only were we victims of repression by governments but now we are victims of the SCJN, who has denied us the right to justice.

Having navigated the institutional labyrinths and almost exhausted all legal remedies, as the People's Front in Defense of the Land we appeal to national and international solidarity, taking intellectuals and artists up on their promise to collaborate with the Committee for Freedom and Justice Atenco. We deeply appreciate their support. We believe that, through their art, writing and singing, their voice will be heard by other large sectors of the society that suffer the political, economic and social consequences of bad governments, raising consciousness about our demand, and opening a new door of hope for our 13 imprisoned comrades, 3 politically persecuted comrades, and all our people who dream of liberty and justice for Mexico.

From this day on, our people, our persecuted and imprisoned brothers, our families and our hearts are no longer alone. Justice has another face for us, universal and very human, with creative hands that work together to construct a fraternal and unprejudiced support, that which we call the solidarity of brothers and sisters. Starting today, the intention is born to walk together, the People's Front and the Committee, until we achieve the desired freedom for the last prisoner and the last persecuted person of Atenco.

Translated from the original Spanish by Frances Miriam Kreimer of the Boston Interpreters Collective