#IAM132 Statement on Today's Symbolic Occupation of Televisa

Note: I attended the National Convention in Atenco and the proposed protest of Televisa was the most controversial action adopted. The day after, many press outlets reported that the #IAm132 movement was splitting with the Convention due to disagreement with the Action Plan, especially the Televisa action. This was never true. The agreement always allowed for member organizations to carry out assemblies to decide if they would participate- and how they would participate- in all the activities. The #IAm132 Movement and most of the other organizations at the Convention operate on the basis of assemblies. This video (in Spanish)  is an excellent explanation of that form of organization. Because of those rumors, and because the protest against Televisa that begins tonight at 8:00 PM and continues all day tomorrow is the second important action after the July 22 march, we publish below the statement on the decision of the Mexico City assemblies to participate in a "peaceful, symbolic occupation" of Televisa, in keeping with the movement's commitment to non-violent action. Laura


YoSoy132. Original Americas Program Translation. The Convention against the Imposition held in San Salvador Atenco July 14-15 and called by the Front of Peoples in Defense of the Land and the #|Am132 Movement agreed on an action plan for mobilizations against the imposition of Enrique Peña Ñieto. Regarding this, the assemblies of the [Mexico City] metropolitican area declare:
1) Our assemblies met and assumed the agreements reached at the Convention as our own and announced the participation of our assemblies in the action to be carried out at Televisa.
2) by consensus, our assemblies decided that the action for Friday, July 27 in front of Televisa Chapultepec will be of a civil and peaceful nature as a human chain around the installations, maintaining the pacific principle of our movement.
3) This protest will be held to denounce the media chain's daily manipulation and especially in the past electoral process and of the role the company has played in the imposition of Enrique Peña Nieto.
4) This chain wil be held in coordination with the grassroots movements united at the Convention, headed by the Front of Peoples in Defense of the Land, the Electricians Union (SME), the Naitonal Coordinating Body of Education Workers (CNTE, among others.
5) We invite all citizens to support this initiative by gathering at 8:00 PM Thursday, July 26 at the Monument of the Revolution to march to Televisa Chapultepec and create the peaceful human chain that will last 24 hours. During the action of the chain there will be cultural and symbolic activities to demonstrate our rejection of the television monopoly, since the #IAm132 Movement recognizes the importance and legitimacy of culture as a form of resistance, protest, denouncement and struggle. We invite all communications media to cover the statement to the press we will release at 10 PM.
6) We demand guarantees to our constitutional rights of free assembly, considering that we are exercising an act of peaceful civil disobedience that does not attempt to enter the company's offices and will not use violence or aggression of any kind against any member of the company's personnel, since our struggle is against the media monopolies, de facto powers, the political power of the television network and not against its staff or public guards. For this reason, we will not block the exit of the building and it will be a peaceful chain, with our own bodies creating the links surrounding the television headquarters. We reject any attempt to criminalize our movement or any participant in the human chain.
7) We call on our organizations, collectives, movements, networks and citizens in general to respect and participate in this peaceful chain, avoiding any confrontation with the police or company security. In case of suffering any attack or provocation by consensus we have decided to NOT respond with violence but with peaceful civil resistance by sitting on the ground.  We announce that no one will march with a hooded head or covered face, nor will it be allowed to carry objects or any type of arms that could present risks to the action. Of course, no one will be able to participate under the influence of drugs or alcohol. With this decision by consensus of all the assemblies of #IAm132 of the metropolitan area we maintain our unity.
8) We send greetings to the mobilizations that will be held throughout the country and respectful of their decisions of each state, city or school, however, we call on them to avoid any provocation in carrying out their demonstrations within the framework of the action plan against the imposition. We invite all citizens and organizations to join this effort that is of everyone.

ASSEMBLIES OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF #yosoy132
AND SOCIAL, CIVIL AND POPULAR ORGANIZATIONS, UNIONS,PARTICIPANTS IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AGAINST THE IMPOSITION
Cd. De México, UIC Universidad InterContinental, Académicos UNAM, Universidad Iberoamericana, Facultad de Química, Colegio de México, Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, Universidad del Anáhuac, Facultad d Ciencias, UAM – Xochimilco, Posgrados UNAM, Universidad La Salle- Neza, ITAM Río honda, ENAH,TEC Monterrey Cd. México, UACM Cuautepec, ENP – 9, Fac Odontología –UNAM, IPN – ESCATepepan, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, Facultad de Arquitectura, UACM CentroHistórico, Acampada Revolución, Instituto Mora, Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Yosoy132Nicolás Romero – Estado de México, CCH Oriente, Facultad dFilosofía y Letras, Prepa TEC CCM,Yosoy132 Internacional, FES Iztacala, UACM – Iztapalapa, Facultad de Psicología, CentroUniversitario de Educación Superior, UAM-Cuajimalpa, Facultad de Economía –UNAM, Movimientode Aspirantes a la Educación Superior, Escuela Nacional de Trabajo Social, UAM- I Posgrado, UNP,UPN, Prepa 2, UCSJ, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria yZootecnia, FES CUAUTITLAN, DERECHO UNAM, Lasalle Prepa, Lasalle Cd México, Escuela Libre deDerecho, Facultad de Contaduría y Administración, UVM San Rafael , Académicos metropolitanos,CCH VALLEJO, Prepa 3, Prepa 5, UACM –Del Valle, LaSalle San Fernando, LaSalle DF, LaSalle Neza,Bachillerato 4, ITAM Sta. Teresa, FES ACATLÁN, UAM Azcapotzalco, Facultad de Filosofía y letras, Asamblea Zona Norte EdoMex., UVM indios verdes, CCH Azcapotzalco, FES Zaragoza.

Plan to “take on and surround” Televisa and boycott Soriana and Wal-Mart

La Jornada: Americas Program Original Translation
See Spanish Original.
- National demonstration against fraud, meeting in Atenco

Laura Poy Solano and Javier Salinas Cesáreo. San Salvador Atenco, Méx., July 15th. On participating on the first National Convention Against the Imposition, representatives of at least 300 organizations achieved a national central focus of action that will bring together students, farmers, workers, unions and teachers, who will drive national demonstrations, boycott companies that participated in fraud, occupy public plazas and “take on and surround” the Televisa facilities throughout the country, with the objective of preventing Enrique Peña Nieto from assuming presidency.

Members of the #Iam132 movement, Villages in Defense of Land Front (FPDT), Mexican Electricians Union (SME) and the National Committee of Education Workers (CNTE), among others, approved of having a national march this July 22nd in the capital of the country, while on Friday the 27th, they will call for action against the television company, among other measures, even though they will postpone for the second convention, to be carried out the 22nd and 23rd of September in Oaxaca, the plan for action that will take place between November 20th to December 1st.

For more than five hours, the 2,600 delegates and representatives of 29 organizations, according to figures from the organizers, discussed more than 200 mobilization proposals. August 4th was the date agreed on to convene in Jalisco for the meeting for the provisional national committee to organize its second convention. Likewise, on Friday the 8th, they will call their first national community protest and test out a general strike.

Amnesty reports: Mexico failing to stem femicide

Trust Law: BOGOTA – Killings of women are spreading across Mexico, and the government must do more to protect women from growing violence and discrimination, rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday.

At least 34,000 women were murdered in Mexico between 1985 and 2009. In 2010 alone, 2,418 women were killed, Amnesty said, citing figures from the United Nations and local rights groups in a briefing for a U.N. committe on eliminating discrimination against women.

“The state of women’s rights in Mexico is alarming,” Rupert Knox, Amnesty’s Mexico researcher told TrustLaw. “In recent years there’s been not only an escalation in killings of women but a continuing routine lack of effective investigations and justice.”

Since 2007 Mexico has approved a number of laws and set up institutions to safeguard women from discrimination and violence, but they are not being used effectively, Knox added. Read more.

Denied the Right to Vote in Mexico’s Presidential Election

My husband and I moved away from our voting district in Mexico State in large part due to increasing violence. In May 2011, I suffered a botched kidnapping attempt in broad daylight. In October 2011, we were enjoying a drink in a quiet, well-lit bar when municipal police allegedly working for the La Familia criminal organization burst in, locked down the bar, and held us all at gunpoint while they pressured the owner to pay his quota to La Familia. He was the last bar owner in town who refused to pay criminals for the right to operate his business. After about a half-hour of lockdown, we left the bar unscathed. Bar patrons in the next town over, however, were less fortunate. Three days after our ordeal, gunmen allegedly working for La Familia opened fire in a bar that refused to pay its quota, shooting five patrons, including two women.

By March 2012, bodies hanging from bridges or executed and dumped in mass graves or in front of public events were becoming relatively commonplace in the farming community where we lived. So we moved.

After settling in to our new home in a new state, my husband and I debated whether or not to vote in the presidential elections. We’d never voted, nor had any member of our family for that matter. Our family was disillusioned with the electoral process, and the “leftist” candidate, Andres Manuel López Obrador, had promised United States Vice-President Joe Biden that he would continue the drug war if he were elected president. Our family had always preferred grassroots organizing to participation in the electoral process.

But this election was different. My husband and I spent two years in Mexico State under the rule of Enrique Peña Nieto, and we watched as his security policies sent our quiet, close-knit town into a tailspin. Our friends and family were tortured in Atenco in 2006 during a violent police operation ordered by Peña Nieto. No government officials have been punished for the unthinkable things they did to our family, even though we still have to live with the emotional and physical consequences of the torture. On the contrary, Peña Nieto was rewarded for his deeds when his party named him their presidential candidate.

The #YoSoy132 student movement against Peña Nieto’s candidacy convinced us that voting against the man who had done us so much harm was both noble and necessary. We saw ourselves reflected in that movement. The students didn’t belong to a political party. They weren’t faithful followers of a candidate that they felt would single-handedly change Mexico for the better. They simply knew that Enrique Peña Nieto could not become the president of Mexico, and we knew that, too. So we decided to vote for Andres Manuel López Obrador.

Mexican law prohibits any changes to voter registration in the six months prior to an election, which meant that my husband was unable to change his voting district to our new home in the state of Oaxaca. On Election Day, he left early to vote at one of the Special Voting Booths set up for citizens who are voting outside of their districts.

When he arrived at the polling station, the line for those waiting to vote stretched down four city blocks. Because he had other obligations that day, he decided to return in the afternoon. He had until 6pm to vote. When he returned hours later, the line was much shorter, but then he found out why: earlier in the day, election officials handed out numbers to those waiting in line: 750 numbers, one for each ballot the Special Voting Booth received for citizens voting outside of their districts. The rest of those waiting in line were told to go home or find another Special Voting Booth--this voting booth had no more ballots.

My husband visited another three polling stations that were equipped with Special Voting Booths, and none had enough ballots for the citizens who wanted to vote. Nancy Davies, a Mexican citizen and founding member of the Oaxaca Study Action Group, reports that by 3:30 pm, signs were up in Oaxaca’s town square stating that none of the area’s six Special Voting Booths had ballots, news that she says nearly provoked a riot downtown.

As the 6 pm deadline closed in, those who did receive numbers were becoming anxious. One woman at the back of the line said that she had been waiting in line since 11am. An elderly gentleman who was just casting his vote at 6:30 said that he took his place in line at 8. He was number 326. As they waited all day in the burning sun then pouring rain, they watched people with numbers give up and go home.

Voters began to complain about the long waits to the election officials in charge of their polling stations. “There’s so few of us here. We should have voted already! How is it that you’re taking so long to let us vote?” complained one man to an election official, who told him to file a formal complaint with the Federal Elections Institute (IFE). A man who was unable to cast his vote commented that he believed election officials were intentionally delaying the voting process so that potential voters would give up and go home.

My husband and I were shocked and dismayed that he was unable to vote because the government had provided the Special Voting Booths with so few ballots. Those who are forced to vote in the Special Voting Booths instead of their designated polling stations are those who have been harmed the most by the federal government’s policies. They are Mexico’s internal refugees, displaced by the violence and insecurity that the current president unleashed when he deployed the military in the war on drugs. They are the unemployed who were forced to travel to look for work because there was none at home, thanks to the president’s disastrous economic policies. They know better than anyone else what is wrong with the federal government’s policies because they have lived it in flesh and blood, yet on July 1 they were denied their constitutional right to vote for the next president. 

Kristin Bricker, in Oaxaca.

Huge March against the PRI and the System in Mexico City

(Americas Program Original Translation)

Gloria Muñoz Ramírez  www.desinformemonos.org.  Tens of thousands of men and women of different generations, mostly youth, took to the streets on May 19 to make it clear, in their words, that “here we are and we are going to make you listen.” 

The march, organized through social networks, was to protest against the presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), but the broader objective for many was “against the entire system, not only against one party,” indicated Trinidad Ramírez of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), one of the veteran organizations. 

The large mobilization literally marched against the current. It began in the Zócalo, instead of the traditional ending there, continued to Avenue Reforma and poured out around the Angel of Independence. There were no flags and few party slogans; it was more of a protest against “the lies that everyone has told us, and against Peña Nieto who has Televisa at his service,” said Ernesto Figueroa, a student of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). 

In an interview with Desinformémonos, Trinidad Ramírez insisted that Peña Nieto must be held accountable for the repression of their organization in Atenco, where a youth was killed and scores of people were totured and raped in pólice custody. During the march, the large Peoples Front group were joined by students from the IberoAmerican University, who carried a banner showing Peña Nieto on that fateful day when he visited their university and faced boos and questioning. “The young people told us that ‘we are not alone,’ and brought us the white banner with black letters and red markings that said ‘We are all Atenco!’. The youth are not understood. It is a sector that is easily mistaken as passive and unconcerned.  But there is discontent and the youth are the ones expressing it,” said Ms. Ramírez. 

“We need politicians with a social conscience, not a business one,” “Without memory there is no future,” “We are not blind, we still have eyes,” were some of the banners that the group carried. The sentiment against the PRI candidate was apparent: “Don’t give your vote to Peña Nieto, better give him a book” (for his campaign faux pas of being unable to cite a single recent book he had read) or “Money makes him dance” and, in a more serious tone, “The TV is yours, but not the streets.” 

The representative of the People’s Front, the organization that was harshly repressed by Peña Nieto, when governor of the state of Mexico, insisted that the march “is not a movement for any political party. It is actually against the entire system, requiring that everyone listen and pay attention to the demands of the people and not dismiss them.” Above all, it was a march “that filled us with hope and now it is necessary to keep going with organizing.”  

“We do not have a single government that represents us,” added Trinidad, “nor any party, even though it is clear that Peña Nieto is the one that has unfinished matters from Atenco. What is clear is that we will not permit that he, or Josefina Vázquez Mota, or Andrés Manuel López Obrador do whatever they want. Of everyone we demand justice and respect for our land.” 

The demonstration was festive and peaceful, under the spring heat of a city monitored by police. The Ibero students and other prívate schools are the novelty now, but many students turned out from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Technical Institute. Gabriela Oliveros, from the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the UNAM, said: “People believe that there is no social consciousness and that we are asleep, but we are at a time when the internet allows information to be spread globally and, thanks to that, it is creating unity and organization in society with events like this.” 

A couple rested on the steps of the Angel of Independence. Mariela and Adrián, both more than 60 years of age and tired out from the long walk, said they came to demonstrate their repudiation of the candidate Enrique Peña Nieto. They had heard about the event on the internet and decided to come, above all, they said because “this is a march where there are no colors or parties. It is about an organized group that decided to protest against a candidate that wants to impose harm on us.” For this reason, they dressed in white and walked all the way from the Zócalo to the Angel because “we do not want to see the PRI in the presidency again.” 

Sara went to the march with her daughter Angela who brought her three sons, ages 6, 10 and 11. They went because Angela had seen the event on the internet and decided to go with her mom and children. Angela is a graduate in International Business, but sells tacos “because there is no work.” Sara, her mother, has a small business renting chairs and tables, but “that almost doesn’t turn a profit.” They had brought the children, they said, “because it is important for the young ones to develop a historical and political conscience.” 

From her political experience of a decade of activism and organization, Trinidad Ramírez warns that “there is a risk, and it would be naive not to see it, that a party or organization could manipulate and take advantage of the movement.” But, she insists, “it all depends on us, on the people, to keep doing things, having forums in schools, in the neighborhoods, informing and organizing.” 

“I am not corrupt,” declared a sign carried by a student. “I am here because I believe in the truth, the goodness, and the beauty of Mexico--whole and united. We’ve had enough lies”, he said. Jonathan Irineo, a student of Political and Social Sciences added, “the most important thing is that the students question the candidates, right or left, and we demonstrate this up until the last days. Our companions at the  Ibero demonstrated their indignation at the presence of Peña Nieto in their university, and now we are demonstrating ours by organizing of this march.”

Impunity in San Salvador Atenco

Monica Wooters

The intense heat of San Salvador Atenco did not stop a large crowd from gathering in the main plaza to show their solidarity with the Peoples Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT, Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra). The event commemorated the third anniversary of the brutal repression of the movement by state and federal police that left two dead and scores of numerous human right violations

The events of May 2006 came after the FPDT—founded in 2001—placed itself on a collision course with the system after opposing a federal project to construct an international airport on community lands. The organization succeeded and the federal government was forced to suspend the project in 2002.

However, four years later, on May 3 2006, officials attempted to evict local roadside flower vendors on the authority of the municipal government, backed by the Mexico state government. The FPDT supported the flower vendors in their attempt to resist the eviction, resulting in a violent confrontation between the security forces and the social movement.

The confrontation lasted two days and resulted in many major human right violations including the death of two young people, Javier Cortés Santiago and Alexis Benhumea, sexual abuse, unwarranted raids on homes, assaults, violations of due process rights and the illegal expulsion of foreigners. Dozens of people were injured and some 211 individuals were arrested by the end of the two-day standoff. Many of those detained reported having been physically mistreated in custody, including sexual aggression and in five cases, rape.

As of the third anniversary twelve members of the movement and supporters remain in prison; three are serving sentences in the maximum security facility “Altiplano,” located in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, while the remaining nine are serving in the Molino de las Flores prison in Texcoco, State of Mexico. The National and International Campaign: Liberty and Justice for Atenco has highlighted the three former cases due to their severity. Hector Galindo, former legal advisor to the FPDT and Felipe Alvarez, member of the FPDT, have each been sentenced to 67 years, while Ignacio Del Valle, president of the FPDT has been sentenced to a total of 112 years. In contrast, of the 21 police agents detained, only six were processed and none of them are currently serving sentences.

After three years, the Mexican and international courts have made little to no progress on the cases against the police for assault and abuse. The Mexican Supreme Court issued a resolution on Dec. 12, 2008 recognizing the existence of major human rights abuses but failing to implicate state or federal officials that have been publicly identified as responsible by many individuals close to the case. The two main officials accused of political responsibility for the violence perpetrated by security forces are the State of Mexico’s governor, Enrique Peña Nieto and the Federal Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora.

Peña Nieto, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the party in power in Mexico for some 70 years prior to 2000) has been regularly mentioned as the leading candidate for the Mexican presidency in the 2012 elections, implying the return of the PRI to national power. The court ruled that investigation into Peña Nieto’s role in the repression was unnecessary and limited the scope of the investigation. It has yet to produce its final resolution on the Atenco case.

In July 2008, Cristina Valls, a Catalan woman who was the victim of abuse and rape by security officials, submitted her case to the Audiencia Nacional of Spain. Her petition calls for the invocation of the Convention Against Torture of 1987, signed by both Spain and Mexico as well as the “application of decision 237/2005 of the Spanish Constitutional Tribunal, which establishes that the only requisite to begin proceedings and investigate a serious crime is that the accused has not been acquitted, pardoned or sentenced in another jurisdiction for the same facts and with regards to the same persons,” as argued by her legal defense spearheaded by Women’s Link.

Although Valls claim that she and others were raped and beaten in police custody has been corroborated by a report from the Psychosocial Health Section of Doctors Without Borders in Spain, the case was dismissed twice by judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The judge stated that Valls’ case was already being investigated by Mexican authorities. Valls and Women’s Link have appealed the decision twice and it remains unresolved. Valls also linked the lack of interest on the part of the Spanish court to the political climate between Mexico and the European Union. “There are trade agreements between Europe and Mexico with democratic clauses that would be invoked if human rights violations are recognized.”

Eleven women who were also victims of abuse in the Atenco case have petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)to make a declaration stating that the Mexican government has violated their human rights. They are still in the beginning stages of the process after presenting the petition in April of 2008 along with the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (Centro Prodh) and the Center for International Justice and Law (CEJIL).

While the national and international legal systems act slowly if at all, the people of Atenco remain strong in their commitment to keep up the fight until justice is done. At the third anniversary, Mexican academics, actors, human rights activists and others spoke out against the injustice and pledged their solidarity with the FPDT. The organization also has garnered international solidarity through Zapatista networks and among human rights organizations.


As the guests prepared to speak to the crowd, it was the grassroots members of the FPDT frying up the sopes, setting up the stage and tying up banners that read “Tierra, Justicia y Libertad” (Land, Justice and Liberty) who made the event radiate with hope. The event ended when the whole crowd cried out together: HASTA LA VICTORIA, VENCEREMOS!


For More Information:

Libertad y Justicia para Atenco: Campaña Nacional e Internacional
http://www.atencolibertadyjusticia.com/new/