Call to action for the new “5 MORE Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5” campaign

April 10, 2011

To our sisters and brothers of the Ejido of San Sebastian Bachajón:
To our Zapatista sisters and brothers:
To our compañer@s of The Other Campaign:
To our compañer@s of the Zezta Internazional:
To the adherents of the International Campaign in Defense of El Barrio and our allies across the world:
To the civil society in Mexico and the world:

The following is a new and urgent convocation on behalf of Movement for Justice in El Barrio to the:

“5 MORE Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5”

From April 24th to the 28th.

Receive affectionate embraces and greetings from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York. We want to share with all of you an urgent proposal on behalf of the humble and simple migrant community of El Barrio, New York.

Upon learning the latest news, today we find ourselves more than ever with our hearts beating with rage and our lungs breathing the will to fight back.

During the morning of Friday, April 8, 2011, our compas from the ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón once again recovered control of the tollbooth – which they themselves had installed – that marks the entrance to the Agua Azul waterfalls in the territory of the Bachajón ejido. This dignified and rebellious action, which constituted another step forward in the process of building justice and autonomy for indigenous peoples, truly inspired us.

On the following day, April 9, over 800 police and military agents, sent by the repressive PAN president Felipe Calderón and the repressive PRD governor Juan Sabines Guerrero, arrived at the location of the tollbooth and violently displaced the ejidatari@s. Shortly after this act of repression by the bad government, three compas disappeared.

This reaffirmed, once again, what we have already known for quite some time now: That the bad government with its many faces – be they PAN, PRI, PRD, or PVEM – has only one modus operandi, which is rooted in brutality, violence, and repression. It is another example that shows us very clearly the fact that the bad government, in all its faces, always responds with aggression and injustice to humble and simple peoples who organize themselves autonomously for dignity and against displacement.

Recently, moreover, the bad government of Juan Sabines Guerrero has acted out vengeance towards our 5 compañeros – Jerónimo Guzmán Méndez, Domingo Pérez Álvaro, Domingo García Gómez, Juan Aguilar Guzmán y Mariano Demeza Silvano – who remain political prisoners, hostages of the State, and in horrible conditions.

In a profound and heartfelt letter that they sent us a few days ago, they tell us a bit about their daily life. Their powerful and dignified words have touched our heart, giving us more energy to continue fighting for their liberation. Our compañeros inform us that they are

“tired of the mistreatment. They only give us food and scarce amounts of water once a day, and we have gotten sick due to the horrible food that they give us. They do not provide any medication. And when our relatives visit us, they deny us the food that they have brought for us, and they force them to remove their clothing in order to be searched. For this reason, from this prison, we make public our denouncement and hope that you all continue to support us. Don’t give up the fight! We too are in the struggle to defend our lands so that our futures will no longer belong to the government. Until victory, always!”

In addition to this horrible mistreatment, day after day, they are forced to do “denigrating” work. And if they do not obey the orders of the repressive governor Juan Sabines Guerrero, they receive threats of additional confinement.

It is clear that all of these acts of aggression were provoked by the organized resistance of the people of Bachajón and by the national and international pressure that we generated via our solidarity actions during the “Worldwide Day of Action for the Liberation of the Political Prisoners of San Sebastian Bachajón and “5 Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5.” As the ejidatari@s of Bachajón explain: “This bad government has taken other reprisals to continue pressuring us into handing over our lands and their resources.” Responding to all of the movement that is spreading across the world for the Bachajón 5, the bad government has reacted in typical fashion: with violence.

In agreement with this account, a letter recently released by the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, confirms that

“it is feared that the threats and acts of harassment they are suffering are the result of the solidarity actions which are taking place in support of the prisoners, in particular those of the campaign ‘5 Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5’ which were held between the 1st and 5th of April 2011.”

This is a fatal symptom, a sign of desperation, which indicates to us that those from above have been forced to seek other ways of defending themselves at any cost against their worst enemy: An organized people.

In spite of the numerous threats and harassment, in spite of all the hordes of anti-riot helicopters and vans, our sisters and brothers of San Sebastián Bachajón have not given up. Rather, they are advancing in their struggle.

For this reason, we cannot give up either. We must not rest until our 5 brothers are in complete freedom and until the Bachajón community’s just demands are respected.

As such, we propose the following:

1) That we anticipate and remain vigilant for anything that happens. Likewise, that we be prepared to organize immediate, emergency actions if the bad government inflicts any form of violence upon the ejidatatri@s of San Sebastian Bachajón during the following weeks.

2) That we unite our forces once again to realize “5 MORE Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5” in order to continue fighting together to free the 5 political prisoners of San Sebastián Bachajón, who are adherents of The Other Campaign, and in support of the struggle for dignity and autonomy that the ejidatari@s of Bachajón are carrying out.

Through our solidarity actions, together, we were able to make echo the true history of the Bachajón people and their struggle to defend their lands and natural resources from the avarice of the multinational corporations and their political lackeys. Both of whom seek to dispossess the ejidatari@s from their tollbooth in order to seize the natural wealth that exists in the ejido’s territory. (The second video-message on this can be seen at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YRULc-2cBY)

Each time we come together to denounce and contest the bad government and neoliberalism that do all of this simply to accumulate more wealth, we create inalterable cracks in the walls of the prison that confines our five brothers. Now more than ever, we must continue to apply pressure so that these cracks turn into dust.

Once more, we invite each one of you, from every part of the world, in your own way, to realize actions to demand that the PRD governor and repressor Juan Sabiness Guerrero immediately release each one of the five political prisoners.

We propose that together we join forces by organizing actions–from our respective locations and different forms of struggle—such as demonstrations, marches, informative street actions, flyering, public forums, theater, teach-ins, and any other activity to bring about:

“5 MORE Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5” from April 24th to the 28th.

We ask that you please let us know as soon as possible, if you accept our proposal and will participate. You may contact us via e-mail at: movimientoporjusticiadelbarrio@yahoo.com

During the following weeks we will be paying close attention to any new developments in San Sebastián Bachajón. That way, if anything serious happens to our sisters and brothers, we will be ready to organize emergency actions.

Justice, Land, and Freedom for the Ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón! Free the Political Prisoners of San Sebastián Bachajón! Long live the women of San Sebastián Bachajón! Stop the Aggressions against Adherents of The Other Campaign! Long live the women of San Sebastián Bachajón! Long live the Zapatistas!

We send you embraces of love and solidarity.

From El Barrio, NYC
Movement for Justice in El Barrio
The Other Campaign New York