Report-back on AMC2009 cross-border press conference

See below a communique from the Movement for Justice in El Barrio, including a report-back from the AMC2009 session "The Zapatista's Other Campaign Breaking Down Borders: Live Cross-Border Press Conference with Mexico."

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To our sisters and brothers zapatistas:

To our sisters and brothers of The People’s Front in Defense of the Land:

To our compañeros and compañeras adherents to The Other Campaign:

To our compañeros and compañeras adherents to the Zezta Internazional:

To our compañeros and compañeras adherents to the International Campaign in Defense of El Barrio:

And especially to the members of the Las Abejas Collective in Chiapas:

Accept this greeting of solidarity from the women, men, children and elderly of The Other Campaign New York, Movement for Justice in El Barrio, in zapatista East Harlem.

With indignation and justified rage we have received the news that the paramilitaries who committed the massacre in Acteal, due to their privilege, were granted an investigation of the irregularities of their trial so that they may be granted their freedom, while those fighting for social justice in Atenco, who killed no one, who did not receive training nor weapons from the Mexican Army in order to kill, much less committed a massacre as unimaginable as the one in Acteal, are still in prison, condemned to life sentences for crimes that they did not commit, and for a protest that in no way deserves the torture and violations to which they were subjected. And, meanwhile, those who did indeed commit tortures, rapes, murders, and raids in homes without search warrants, have been granted freedom with the right to bail, and that these irregularities are not being investigated, and that the justice system in Mexico will not allow those who want to investigate them to do so. For all of this, we simply want to let you know, from zapatista East Harlem, our fight will continue to move forward until justice is served for the victims of Acteal, of Chiapas, of Oaxaca and Atenco, and for all political prisoners in Mexico. Because, as our friends of the National Network Against Repression expressed so well: “When they murder, violate, imprison, and disappear indigenous people, students, farmers, and all those who protest against the injustice of power, in these cases the Supreme Court of National Justice defends ‘the legitimate use of public force,’ but when justice is attempted to be brought upon those who kill, massacre, and tear apart innocent people, the exhausted ministers feel overwhelmed by ‘defending due process and human rights.’”

We want to share with all of you that, recently, we held an international press conference with our friends of The People’s Front in Defense of the Land in Atenco, live and direct, for the eleventh gathering of the Allied Media Conference, that was celebrated in mid-July in the city of Detroit, with the participation of representatives of alternative media from all over the United States. Our delegates from Movement for Justice in El Barrio presented an informative video about the state-provoked violence in Texcoco and in Atenco, and the take-over of this community by more than 3,000 troops from municipal, state, and federal police who raided houses, subjected 47 illegally detained women and 160 men to physical and psychological torture, including sexual torture against the women, in addition to illegally throwing out five international activists, along with provoking the murder of Javier Cortes Santiago and Alexis Benhumea, as well as the inconsistent sentences for our 12 compañeros who are still in prison.

Afterward, we connected with Atenco live using audio and visual technology, where our friends from The People’s Front in Defense of the Land were waiting to communicate with us. For our delegates of The Other New York it was a great opportunity to speak with them directly, ask them questions, and to communicate our solidarity with them once more. This is how we were updated on the most recent situation of the political prisoners’ criminal proceedings that have many irregularities and are not being investigated.

Right there, our friends from The People’s Front in Defense of the Land informed all of the participating alternative media from the United States of the irregularities that have been committed in the criminal proceedings and, most recently, that Ignacio del Valle, condemned to 112 years of prison, was given an order from the government to seize all of his properties, which, to top it all off, also constitutes as an irregularity because he was not present when this procedure started, they already had him in prison.

There were many tears and much applause at the end of this emotional exchange, which, for a congress of alternative media, was without a doubt the best proof of the great import and social responsibility that independent journalists have in these times. One of the participants announced that while this gathering about Atenco was happening, he had written an article and already mailed it to hundreds of independent media, and invited others to do the same. The reports were transmitted all over the country.

We want to take this opportunity to send a greeting in solidarity to all those brave journalists and reporters of alternative media who, since the massacre in Acteal, the repression of Oaxaca, the repression of the autonomous zapatista communities, and the repression in Atenco, have allowed us to know about what is really happening in our beloved country to this day. Long live the true and honest journalists of Mexico and of the world!

Above all we want to tell you, from The Other New York, that you are not alone. We will continue supporting you until all the irregularities that freed the oppressors of Atenco and the murderers of Acteal have truly been investigated

And, in closing, we want to send you our deepest condolences for the death of Panchito, whom our delegates had the opportunity to meet in Atenco and who stays in our hearts as a compañero and example of our struggle from below and to the left. Long live the memory of Panchito.

Freedom for the political prisoners of Mexico, justice for El Barrio in Harlem.

Movement for Justice in El Barrio, New York, United States, September 5, 2009.