Letter Delivered to Tucson Consulate
by Tucson Coalition for Justice in Oaxaca
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006 at 11:01 AM
Below is the text of a letter delivered to the Tucson Mexican Consul on October 30th, 2006 regarding the government's violent attack in Oaxaca. A copy of this letter was also delivered to U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva and U.S. Senator John McCain. More than a hundred people signed this letter during the protest outside of the Consulate, before being faxed to Mexico City.
Monday, October 30th 2006
Consulado Juan Manuel Calderón Jaimes ,
This message is being delivered on behalf of the Tucson Coalition for Justice in Oaxaca. We deliver this letter with great concern and urgency.
Since Friday, October 27th at least nine individuals – including an American journalist – have been murdered by paramilitary forces in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mexican president Vicente Fox has used this violence to justify the attack of federal police and the Mexican military against non-violent, pro-democracy protesters.
We are writing to ask your help in securing diplomatic intervention to end this violence. Thousands of voices around the world are rallying to demand that the Mexican government find a political, rather than military resolution to this crisis. The use of force to quell the social unrest in Oaxaca will not solve the underlying problems, and until these problems are addressed conflict will continue. We ask you to support the following demands:
• End the government sponsored violence in Oaxaca.
• The immediate resignation of Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.
• The release of all political prisoners in Oaxaca.
• Support Reporters Without Borders' demand for a full and complete investigation by Mexican authorities into Oaxaca State Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz's use of plain-clothed municipal police as a political paramilitary force. The arrest of the assailants is not enough.
• Justice for all of the murdered of Oaxaca – beginning with a comprehensive list of those killed and disappeared by the Mexican government.
Please act now. Hundreds of lives and the fate of human rights and democracy in Mexico are at stake.
Sincerely,
The Tucson Coalition for Justice in Oaxaca
Tucson Mexico Support Network
Arizona Independent Media Center
Dry River Collective
Borderlands Action Committee
SDS University of Arizona
