Human Rights

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN
2 - PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SEASON
3 - OBAMA’S CONFLICTING IMMIGRATION POLICIES
4 - CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM EXPANDS ROLE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH
5 - HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDEMNS STUDENT MURDERS

On March 22, Francisco Santiz Lopez reached the front gate of the Chiapas prison where he had spent the past three months, charged with a murder he couldn’t have possibly committed. Just as he was about to walk out the door a free man, prison officials pulled him back, fabricating a new set of charges. According to the Junta of Good Government in Oventic, “The fabrication of charges against our companero comes directly from Los Pinos [Mexico’s equivalent of the White House], in an effort to destroy the resistance of the Zapatista communities. They are trying to impede at all costs the construction of autonomy among the indigenous population. It is part of a plan of low intensity warfare against our communities in resistance.”

1 - ZEDILLO CLAIMS IMMUNITY
2 - MEXICO CITY ELITE BEATS PARKING ATTENDANT
3 - HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DOCUMENTS OFFICIAL VIOLATIONS
4 - MEXICO CITY BOONDOGGLE WASTES MILLIONS
5 - CALDERON VETOES EMERGENCY AGRICULTURE FUNDS
6 - PRIVATE DONATIONS FOR A LOST CAUSE, BUT BLACK BEARS HAPPY

Ernesto Zedillo claimed immunity from prosecution for the 1997 murder of 45 people in Acteal, Chiapas, in court documents filed Friday. A lawsuit filed last year in Connecticut accuses the former Mexican president of crimes against humanity for allowing paramilitary groups to carry out the massacre, then cover up the killings. Zedillo currently lives in New Haven, CT, where he teaches at Yale University, his alma mater. Ten mysterious, unnamed plaintiffs claiming to be from Acteal are demanding US$50 million in damages. The Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center in Chiapas, which represents the Acteal families, has no knowledge of the suit or of the corporate Miami law firm that is bringing the case.

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
2 - PRESIDENT THREATENS ICC ACCUSERS
3 - HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS UNDER ATTACK
4 - DEA LAUNDERING MEXICAN DRUG MONEY
5 - PRI LEADER RESIGNS AMID GROWING SCANDAL
6 - CELAC FOUNDED, WITH LITTLE HELP FROM MEXICAN POLITICAL CLASS
7 - ECONOMY GROWS WHILE POVERTY INCREASES
8 - MARCELO EBRARD AND BRITNEY SPEARS?

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
Communal land owners in Bachajon denounced government displacement from their lands in northern Chiapas and declared their intention to recover the lands.

2 - PRESIDENT THREATENS ICC ACCUSERS

President Felipe Calderon threatened legal action against activists who accused him in the International Criminal Court (ICC) of allowing torture and murder as part of his "war on drugs."

1 - PRI WINS MICHOACAN GOVERNORSHIP
2 - IMMIGRATION NEAR ZERO
3 - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DYNAMICS
4 - CALDERON NAMES FIFTH INTERIOR SECRETARY
5 - GOVERNMENT ADMITS DIRTY WAR DISAPPEARANCE
6 - WTO RULES AGAINST U.S.
7 - INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CASE NAMES PRESIDENT CALDERON
8 - HISTORIC DROUGHT AND EARLY FREEZES DEVASTATE AGRICULTURE

The PRI candidate won the gubernatorial election last Sunday in Michoacan, Felipe Calderon's home state, defeating the President's sister, Luisa "Cocoa" Calderon, in a close race. The PRI took 35% of the vote, apparently winning many former PRD votes, against 33% for the PAN and 29% for the PRD. The election was marred by illegal use of federal resources by the PAN and probable PRI and PRD links to organized crime. The vote may be a harbinger of 2012 presidential elections in which PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto leads all candidates by substantial margins. Michoacan is a major producer of marijuana, opium and methamphetamines, and home to the Knights Templar, a cartel with strong roots in popular barrios.