Translation by Scott Campbell

Recommendation 050/2008

By Leila Saraiva

Saturday, March 22nd, some of us from CASA went to interview Jorge Salinas Jardón, ex-political prisoner of the Atenco conflict whose legal proceedings ended a month ago.

Jorge had come to Chiapas to participate in one of the Caravans Against Repression making rounds in Zapatista communities. The Caravans are part of the “Worldwide Campaign in Defense of Autonomous Indigenous Lands and Territories in Chiapas, Mexico, and the World”, whose goal is to create a presence of Mexican social fighters in order to observe and denounce repression against autonomous communities.

By Casa Chapulín

October 29, 2006. 10am.

PFP helicopters circle the city. The radio urges people to go outside with mirrors to blind the helicopters. We watch from our roof as, all around our house, old women and small children hold up their mirrors as the helicopters fly overhead. The valley below us is filled with the constant glitter of bright light from citizens doing the same.

by Leila Whitley

We have all heard the stories of the May 3rd and 4th massacre in San Salvador Atenco. We have seen the blood that poured from the beaten bodies of the flower vendors and their allies. We have heard and repeated the name of Javier Cortés Santiago, the 14-year-old boy executed by a .38 caliber police bullet. (While the police continue to claim that they were unarmed in Atenco, we have pictures and stories and this death that speak another truth.) We have mourned the death of Alexis Benhumea, the 20-year-old student who was doubly violated by the extreme police violence; first when he was hit in the temple with a tear gas canister, opening his skull, and second while he slowly died, trapped in hiding for hours, unable to go to the hospital because of the violence that continued to dominate the streets. Listening to the stories of the women of Atenco, we have shuddered in terror and empathy, imagining the sexual violence they endured. As these women continue to be held in the prison of Santiaguito, under the vigilance of their violators, we go on worrying for their safety and the daily fear and humiliation they face. We are also moved by their courage, and the courage of all of the people of Atenco who have endured atrocity and resisted.

Atenco, the upcoming elections, our June 8th event in San Francisco, and a delegation with Global Exchange.

The volunteers, board and staff of Chiapas Peace House were shocked and appalled by the violent repression in Atenco, Mexico last week.  We will continue to follow events and post analysis, urgent actions and perspectives.  In the meantime, you can read stories by independent journalists, first hand accounts, communiques and other background on these websites:

San Salvador Atenco, Mexico—At 7 AM this past Wednesday, May 3rd, state police blocked 60 flower vendors from setting up their stands at the Texcoco local market in the State of Mexico, about 20 miles east of Mexico City. The police beat and arrested those who resisted. The flower vendors called to the residents of neighboring San Salvador Atenco for help and the Atenco residents blocked the highway that borders their town and leads to Texcoco.

by Maureen Welch

Roughly a month after the violent days in early May, San Salvador de Atenco has already become a case study in conflicting reportage and political spin. The tenor of the coverage immediately following the events focused on “machete-wielding” peasantry, but gradually shifted in the following days to the police brutality at the scene.

By Chris Thomas  

A reflection on media spin and the Otra Campaña in the wake of the violence in Atenco earlier this month.