News from Oaxaca

As members of the Alianza Magonista Zapatista (AMZ) we want to denounce, on the strongest terms, that:

Today, 17th of June, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, a heavily armed group of policemen, belonging to the state police of Oaxaca, together with some others from the police force which are laying siege to the Santiago Xanica village, assaulted the house of our indigenous comrade Cesar Luis Dias in order to arrest him, even if there was no warrant and regardless of his three little kids being present in the house at that time.

Cesar is a member of the Comitte for the Defense of Indigenous Rights of Santiago Xanica (CODEDI), a delegate of APPO, and a founder member of AMZ (which is part of La Otra campaign), as well as a member of the Coordination of Oaxacan Magonist People against Liberalism (COMPA). We want to highlight that this is the same police force which on 15th January 2005, just a month after the beginning of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz's (URO) period in government, arrested three other members of the same organisations: Abraham Garcia Vazquez, Juventino and Noel Garcia Cruz. The three of them have been in prison for more than two years now, despite not having been judged at all and the deeds they have been acussed of not having been proven in any way. We held Sergio Garcia Cruz, the mayor imposed by URO, to be responsible for this repression, as he is the person in charge of informing URO of the activities of our comrades and of their participation in the different campaigns. We demand the Calderon government to withdraw from Oaxaca and the resignation of URO.

Freedom for all the political prisoners in Mexico. There can be no democracy without freedom.

Yours in solidarity

Alianza Magonista Zapatista (AMZ), Comité por la Defensa de los Derechos Indígenas de Santiago Xanica (CODEDI), Organizaciones Indias por los Derechos humanos de Oaxaca (OIDHO), Colectivo Autónomo Magonista (CAMA), Asamblea Popular de los pueblos de México