Presos
The Tropic of Torture, from Guantanamo to Washington
By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan | Democracy Now!
All eyes are on the U.S. Senate this week for the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump, only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. But another important trial is happening at the same time, far from the eyes of the public, at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Behind the razor-wire fencing of “Camp Justice,” five of the remaining 41 Guantanamo prisoners sit through more pretrial hearings, almost 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks they are charged with perpetrating.
One witness this week is Dr. James E. Mitchell, a retired Air Force psychologist who, with his partner, psychologist John “Bruce” Jessen, developed and then implemented the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program. Mitchell and Jessen actively participated in torture sessions at CIA black sites. Both have long maintained that they were only contractors, taking orders from the CIA. Despite having no prior experience with interrogation, they were paid handsomely, receiving at least $81 million in taxpayer dollars from the U.S. government for their work on the torture program. Torture is a war crime, and those who torture should be prosecuted. But Mitchell is not the one on trial this week. Indeed, he defiantly said in court this week, “I’d get up today and do it again.” Mitchell was sitting in the courtroom, not far from his torture victims.
Communique Denouncing the Illegal Arrest of CNI Compañero Miguel López Vega
To the people of Mexico:
To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion:
To the Sixth in Mexico and abroad:
To the press:
The National Indigenous Congress, Indigenous Governing Council, and Zapatista Army for National Liberation denounce the cowardly arrest of our compañero Miguel López Vega, CNI delegate, member of the Zacatepec community radio and of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land and Water of Puebla, Morelos, and Tlaxcala. This arrest was carried out by armed members of the bad government who, without identifying themselves, detained Miguel on a supposed arrest warrant.
The kidnapping of our compañero outside Government Secretariat Offices today, January 24, at 2:30 pm, is the response of those who say they govern this country to the originary people’s determination to prevent the destruction and industrial contamination of the Metlapanapa River. This repression is their answer to being confronted with life where they only saw money soaked in the pain of our people.
As peoples of the CNI-CIG, we voice our opposition to the destruction and privatization of the Metlapanapa River which, along with the other megaprojects of death, aims to subjugate our country with mourning and war.
We demand immediate freedom for our compañero Miguel López Vega.
Sincerely,
January 2020
Never Again a Mexico Without Us
National Indigenous Congress
Indigenous Governing Council
Zapatista Army for National Liberation
