Greetings from the CASA Collectives,

This January we were excited to welcome four new members to the CASA Board of Directors. Melissa Mundt, who coordinated CASA de la Paz in Chiapas for two and a half years, is the new Alumni Representative. She currently works as a aralegal at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, and is looking forward to exploring CASA partnerships and involvement in immigration issues. Andrew Willis, Board Secretary, is a community organizer in Washington D.C. and is interested in working with CASA to build more relationships with solidarity projects in the U.S. Diego Merino, our new board co-chair, is the Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean with the American Jewish World Service in New York. He was also a CASA de la Paz volunteer in the spring of 2005, as a researcher and translator with the Center for Economic and Political Research for Community Action.

New outreach coordinator, and also a former CASA de la Paz volunteer, Yakira Teitel, participated in the recent human rights delegation in Oaxaca and has since been active in organizing exhibitions for the Oaxacan ASAR-O art collective, and designed their webpage which you can check out at: ASAR-O website. She is in the process of translating Voces de la Valentía, a compilation of testimonies of women in the movement. In this month's newsletter, Yakira writes about the indispensable role that women have played in the social movement in Oaxaca in " True Compañeras: Women's Participation in the Popular Movement of Oaxaca" also published in this month's edition of Against the Current.

Co-founder Colin Bossen stepped down from the board, after serving as chair for the last five years, as did Secretary and webmaster Vann Miller. Both continue to support and collaborate with the collectives. We are extremely grateful for all the work they've put in towards the growth and development of the CASAs.

This month's newsletter starts off with a hearty campesino breakfast of coffee with tortillas. Riccardo writes about his experiences picking coffee in the Sierra Norte in "A Day in the Cafetal" and Diana analyzes the crisis in the rise in tortilla prices in "Aunque Sea Tortilla Con Sal: Mexicans Rise Up In Defense of the Humble Tortilla".

Should you experience any indigestion resulting from the appalling rise in tortilla prices, you'll be in good hands and good company in Amaya Alvarez's article "On the Toilet in the Zapatista Hospital ."

Lastly, Gray Dunia reflects on the supportive community that received the collective when we had to leave Oaxaca after the violent police repression of November 25th, in "Casa de Los Amigos in Solidarity ".

Enjoy this month's reading.

In solidarity,

Colectivos de Apoyo, Solidaridad y Acción
Chiapas and Oaxaca, México.