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Mexico: News & Updates
Mexico shares a 2,000-mile border with its neighbor to the north. The US has played a significant role in militarizing the nation in misguided and ineffective policies to stop the flow of drugs and immigrants. Human rights abuses are prevalent throughout Mexico but especially in the southern, mostly indigenous states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas. Human rights defenders and indigenous community leaders—working to protect their ancestral lands and heritage—are targeted with threats, assaults, abductions and assassinations. Their struggles for peace and liberation are linked with those of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples throughout the hemisphere.
Learn more here.
Event
November 21, 2020 to November 22, 2020
Join us on Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22 for the third event of our SOA Watch 30th Anniversary Rooted in Resistance series! On Saturday, November 21 we will facilitate three virtual panels about the historic and current impacts of US Empire throughout the Americas and the powerful movements organizing to defend autonomy and dignity of our communities. On Sunday, November 22 we will be hosting our annual vigil, including ¡presentes! and litany and featuring the SOA Watch Musicians Collective. The weekend's virtual events and spaces are free, bilingual (Spanish and English, interpretation will be provided) and all are welcome! You will receive an email confirmation with all the links for Saturday's panels and Sunday's litany and ¡presentes! immediately after registering .
RRN Letter
November 22, 2020
We wrote to officials in the state government of Chiapas and the federal government of Mexico about the state-sponsored repression against indigenous Maya Tseltal campesinos who were beaten (some arrested) when they peacefully demonstrated against the construction of a National Guard station on their ejido (communal land) last month. Our letter focuses on two of the men who were beaten and unjustly detained on fabricated charges of inciting a riot. After 17 days in preventive detention, José Luis Gutiérrez and César Hernández are now released from jail but have strict conditions placed on them by the court system. We are urging authorities to immediately absolve José Luis Gutiérrez and César Hernández of the fabricated charge of rioting.
Event
November 15, 2020
See the program book from our special online gathering on November 15; recording and other links coming soon....On December 2, 1980, four women from the US working with the poor and displaced in El Salvador were kidnapped, raped and murdered by the US-backed military of El Salvador. Two of those women—Jean Donovan and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel—were from Cleveland. In the end, they, along with Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, met the same fate as thousands of unnamed poor of El Salvador who were killed or disappeared. Join us on Sunday, November 15 as we commemorate their sacrifice, honor their legacy, and recommit ourselves to act in solidarity with poor and marginalized communities in Central America and Colombia.
News Article
September 4, 2020
Governments all over the world can and must take action right now to reduce the amount of people forcibly displaced because of climate change. According to a United Nation’s Report, we, as a global community, still have a window of opportunity to establish policies and strategies to ameliorate both the issues leading to climate migration and the issues directly caused by climate migration.
News Article
September 2, 2020
We have already emitted enough greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as CO2, to change the very composition of our atmosphere. Scientists, researchers, policymakers, and governmental officials alike know this; they know that the effects of climate change are occurring now and will continue into the not-so-distant future. We now face the question: will we act now to limit the consequences of climate change by reducing emissions or continue with the status quo and suffer the consequences?
Content Page
September 1, 2020
In this series of infographics we explore the ways in which the climate crisis is impacting Central Americans and Colombians, how they are adapting, and how this crisis has created a surge of climate migration.
News Article
August 12, 2020
Although the effects of climate change reverberate around the globe, its effects vary from region to region, continent to continent, and Central America is no exception. // Aunque los efectos del cambio climático repercuten en todo el mundo, sus efectos varían de una región a otra y de un continente a otro, y Centroamérica no es una excepción.
RRN Letter
July 31, 2020
The arrest and criminalization of indigenous and environmental rights defenders is part of a strategy of intimidation and violence against them. Fredy García is one victim of this violent strategy in Oaxaca, Mexico. Fredy García is the spokesperson for the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Peoples (CODEDI). He has been in Tanivet prison in Oaxaca since November of 2019 on fabricated charges of “assault,” “injuries” and “aggravated robbery.” On July 10, prison guards severely beat Fredy García, saying that they were acting on “orders from above.” On July 12 he was transferred to a cell in a different block where his use of the telephone is severely restricted, and he is forced to work outdoors in areas with very little shade. When his wife came to visit, she was told by prison authorities that Fredy García was placed in a punishment zone of the prison. During a restricted 20-minute visit, she saw his injuries, including several bruises and a blood spill in his left eye. We are urging authorities in Oaxaca to: 1) conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the harsh treatment of Fredy García, publish the results, and bring the perpetrators to justice , and 2) take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Fredy Garcia, in accordance with international standards (United Nations’ Set of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Prison, 1988)
RRN Case Update
July 1, 2020
April, May and June RRN case summaries at a glance
On behalf of our 190 Rapid Response Network members, IRTF volunteers write and send six letters each month to government officials in southern Mexico, Colombia, and Central America (with copies to officials in the US).
Who is being targeted? indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders, labor organizers, LGBTI rights defenders, women’s rights defenders, journalists, environmental defenders, campesinos, and others.
Event
April 15, 2020
Equal Exchange has continued to create spaces for us to connect as a community and to take action as an alternative network. We will continue to provide spaces for connection and brainstorm ways to build an independent food system. One meaningful way that we want to engage with you is to continue to invite you into our world by sharing the stories of our producer partners as much as we can.