Blog

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN
2 - TENS OF THOUSANDS PROTEST PRI CANDIDATE
3 - WALMART INVESTIGATION WIDENS
4 - FOUR ARMY OFFICERS IN CUSTODY
5 - MSN PROGRAMS: Contact msn at mexicosolidarity dot org or (773) 583 7728

• Thursday afternoon, fifteen armed agents from the Tlaxcala Attorney General arrested Hector Perales Malacara, a leader of the Consejo Nacional Urbano y Campesino (CNUC), and five street merchants from Huamantla. Malacara was charged with blocking a roadway, a federal offense that can result in long jail terms and is often used by authorities to prosecute leaders of popular organizations. CNUC quickly mobilized supporters in both Mexico and the US, and Malacara was released on US$1,000 bail that same evening. The charges stem from an incident in Huamantla, one of the main market centers in Tlaxcala, in which the mayor tried to dislocate dozens of street merchants from a traditional market. In reality, Malacara's only "offense" was taking photos of the police action.

MSN denounces the detention of compañero Hector Malacara of CNUC.
• Translation of CNUC's reports and denouncements
• See below for solidarity actions you can do to help!
• [Update] Malacara has been released on bail. Great news, but we're not in the clear quite yet.

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Brothers and Sisters,

We are writing to request your solidarity and support because today, Wednesday May 16 at 2pm, around 15 individuals (some of them armed) presenting themselves as agents of the Mexican Attorney General (without showing any identification) arrived at CNUC offices and at gun point (and issuing blows to the head) took our brother HECTOR MANUEL PERALES MALACARA, an adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and the Other Campaign as well as a staff organizer with CNUC. In this detention said subjects also threatened sister LUZ RIVERA MARTINEZ, who witnessed the above mentioned acts and who by questioning them was accused of interfering with an act of justice, by telling her they could “really fuck her over (cargar la verga)” and that they could do whatever they wanted.

We're trying to increase and upgrade our community computer lab!

We are currently running popular education-based computer classes twice a week. We would like to offer seats to more students in addition to offering more advanced classes, but with our current machines we can only admit 10 students per class. Our lab consists of 8 Linux/Ubuntu and 2 Windows machines.

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN
2 - WALMART SCANDAL REVERBERATES
3 - U.S. WEAPONS FLOOD MEXICO
4 - UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION DECLINES

On April 24, the Junta of Good Government in the Zapatista caracol La Garrucha published an open letter criticizing attacks on the Zapatista community Nueva Paraiso by neighboring communities affiliated with local politicians. The attacks began last October and include land invasions, armed attacks, destruction of forests and cropland, and stealing crops. Damages are estimated at nearly US$40,000, a small fortune for a campesino community struggling for existence. The Junta accuses local, state and federal authorities of organizing the attacks. These kinds of attacks against autonomous communities have been increasing in recent years.

2 - WALMART SCANDAL REVERBERATES
WalMart and its allies in the business press and ruling class did their best this week to rescue the transnational corporation from an embarrassing, illegal, and potentially costly scandal. Mexico’s ruling party first tried to ignore the US$24 million bribery scandal that made WalMart the country’s largest private employer. On Monday, President Felipe Calderon claimed that if the accusations are true, it would be a local matter since bribes for construction permits would have been paid to municipal and state officials.