CALL TO ACTION
“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”
http://sanmarcosaviles.wordpress.com/

Second Phase:
From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression
October 12th until November 17th

To our sisters and brothers, the family members and allies of San Marcos Avilés:
To our sisters and brothers, the family members and allies of Francisco Sántiz López:
To our Zapatista sisters and brothers:
To our compañer@s of The Other Campaign:
To our compañer@s of the Zezta Internazional:
To our compañer@s, adherents to the International Campaign in Defense of El Barrio and all our allies from around the world:
To Civil Society in Mexico and in the world:
The following is an urgent call to action from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, to carry out the:

Second Phase:
From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression
“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López”

Sisters and brothers:

Receive an affectionate embrace from the Mexican migrants of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York. We hope that you are well, and ready to continue the struggle.

In order to expand the reach of the ongoing activities taking place as part of the current First Phase of our Campaign: “Walking the True Word”, which will continue until October 11, we are writing to you to propose that we join forces once more to carry out the Second Phase: “From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression.”

This new phase will be different from the current first one – which aims to raise awareness in our communities about the dire situation that our Zapatista compas of San Marcos Avilés and the Zapatista political prisoner, Sántiz López, are facing – this second phase will be a period of direct action and protest from October 12 to November 17. As you will understand, these dates were chosen for their great significance in the history of indigenous struggles throughout the world: the Day of Indigenous Resistance and the anniversary of the Birth of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

If you would like to join our efforts and accept our proposal, please let us know as soon as possible, by sending an e-mail to:

laotranuevayork@yahoo.com.

For further background and to keep up-to-date with the phases and developments in this campaign, we invite everyone to read the first call to action, released on July 25, which is available here:

http://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/1st-call-to-action/

SECOND CALL TO ACTION:
“FROM TRUTH TO ACTION, STOPPING THE REPRESSION”

First and foremost, we would like to thank all the people who are continuing to give light and breath to this worldwide campaign, which for over a month now we have been creating and shaping together. Thank you for sharing this path with us and for continuing to walk alongside us.

Since its beginning at the end of July, when the first call to action was released, the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López” International Campaign has been a meeting point for thousands of people of good heart who have responded to call of the Zapatistas for support and solidarity.

In addition, in many countries, solidarity cells called “Committees of the True Word” have been organized around this meeting point, and are continuing to build support networks and raise public awareness about the repression currently being faced by the Zapatista community of San Marcos Avilés and the Zapatista political prisoner Sántiz López.

More of these “Committees” continue to be set up every day, as more groups and people of good conscience join the campaign.

Together, we have all started the work of, to borrow a phrase from the wise Old Antonio, “walking the true word” by organizing in our respective communities, ejidos, towns, neighborhoods, and countries to sow the words of San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López like seeds which will grow, in their turn, into the struggle in their support.

More and more people are finding each other every day, seeking and meeting in the darkness and obscurity of lies and indifference which those from above have constructed in order to keep us divided. Fumbling in the dark, we continue to meet each other, and searching, day after day, for a way to break through into the light. As our ancestors say, our collective words contain the essence of life on this planet: memory – and, once spoken and shared, our words become fire.

We remember that this darkness was both born in and gave rise to, that time the EZLN describe as “the long night of those 500 years.” While the political, economic, cultural, and social systems of those from above continue to move our lives and Mother Earth closer towards total extinction, the resistances of those from below continue to build other exits to escape this obscurity.

To prevent us from joining hands and rising from this darkness, those from above have committed to douse all the lights radiating from dignified people. This is why they are deploying their strategies of violence and destruction, and are attacking, imprisoning, repressing, assaulting, violating, robbing, silencing, and lying to us.

This is also why those from above, those who have created this long night, have chosen as their main target the indigenous peoples of the world, who have made such significant contributions to the struggle against the darkness.

Faced with this threat of planetary extinction, we must mobilize urgently to defend each and every light that illuminates our path towards the construction of another possible world. And as the True Word was and is the first form of light, it is vital that we defend those words which Old Antonio tells us were the first three in every language: “democracy, freedom, justice.”

It is no coincidence that these three words cannot be found in the governments, jails, schools, mass media, or the other institutions serving the privileges of those from above. Nor is it a coincidence that these same three words are alive, in many different ways, among the dignified people from below, especially the indigenous people of Mexico and the world. While those from above continue to attack and destroy these lights, we will continue to defend and create more lights, more exits, more worlds.

Even though those from above are using the lies which give the night its darkness to keep us divided, in our hearts we carry that which makes the light shine…This is called truth.

In order to actively support the defense of the light that shines from the Zapatistas, an exemplary indigenous movement, whose struggle has always been for and with both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples alike, we call on and invite everyone once again to join this campaign, and to carry out its second phase, which will consist of a month of strategic and direct actions.

Beginning on October 12, the Day of Indigenous Resistance, and lasting until November 17, the anniversary of the birth of the EZLN, we invite everyone to organize actions – according to our own ways and abilities – in our respective communities and countries during this period, so as to echo the call of the indigenous Zapatista community of San Marcos Avilés and the indigenous Zapatista political prisoner Francisco Sántiz López.

As our compas from San Marcos Avilés explain in their video-message, available below, they have endured a constant nightmare at the hands of a local attack group, backed by political party members, for having opened their own autonomous school “Emiliano Zapata” in 2010. From forced displacement to sexual assault, these compas have suffered numerous forms of violence and repression solely for wanting to live with dignity and freedom as indigenous peoples.it

Their video-message, which has already had over 30,000 views! It can be watched here:

At the same time, our compañero Francisco Sántiz López, a Zapatisa support base member and indigenous Tzeltal, has been imprisoned since December 2011 for crimes that he did not commit. His only offense, as has been stated over and over again, is that of being a Zapatista Support Base member. For this reason, he is being held as a hostage of the Mexican State.

For background on this, please consult the video-message from the Zapatistas about Francisco Sántiz López here:

For those who wish to learn more about the background and progress of this campaign, please visit the San Marcos Avilés website here:

http://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

We hope that the videos and website continue to be useful tools in this struggle, which is already spoken in 10 languages and is seen in dozens of countries in our world. Hopefully it will continue to grow, reaching new places and peoples.

Lastly, if you accept this proposal and will participate in the Second Phase, we ask that you please let us know as soon as possible by sending an email to:

laotranuevayork@yahoo.com

From our brown and dignified heart, from this Barrio of migrants, we send you our warmest greetings and embraces.

FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR SAN MARCOS AVILÉS & FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ!
LONG LIVE THE ZAPATISTAS!
LONG LIVE THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES!

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Crónica de la actividad del
Comité de la Palabra Verdadera de Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Haz clic aqui para ver fotos y la crónica:
http://sanmarcosaviles.wordpress.com/campana-mundial/

“Eco Mundial en Apoyo a l@s Zapatistas:
Justicia y Libertad para San Marcos Avilés y Francisco Sántiz López”

Nosotros vivimos en un país donde desde el año 1500 se realizan muchas injusticias contra las comunidades indígenas. Las violaciones, por más brutales y vergonzosas que son, todavía son repetidamente practicadas en la actualidad.

Por tanto apoyamos la lucha de los hermanos Zapatistas, pues es simbólica, para que las violaciones dejen de ocurrir a través del mundo, incluyendo en Brasil. Las comunidades quilombos (comunidades de afro-descendentes marginadas) sufren de los mismo males. Y el mal, así como en México, también proviene de un “Mal Gobierno”, que se constituye de gobernadores de estado que ordenan sus policías a actuar en nuestras comunidades de modo injusto y cobarde.

Nuestra acción quiso sensibilizar a los jóvenes estudiantes sobre la situación actual de las comunidades indígenas, en especial las comunidades Zapatistas. Proyectamos vídeos sobre los actos de violencia que la llamada cultura superior blanca comete en contra de la Naturaleza de un modo general, así como demonstrar las contradicciones hipócritas de adoración a una naturaleza idealizada, dócil, que existe para ser sumisa al ser humano. Conversamos sobre los actos brutales de violencia que padecen esas comunidades, su aislamiento en las zonas marginadas y desvalorización del territorio y el consecuente golpe que se da contra sus costumbres culturales por lo tanto.

Hablamos en especial sobre la posibilidad que representa una comunidad indígena con respecto a la convivencia humana. Sobre la base de una lógica diversa del capitalismo, ustedes demuestran que sí es posible hacer otro mundo, basado en otro sistema de valores donde se hacen protagonistas todos los miembros de la comunidad, a través del aprendizaje de valores tales cuales la solidaridad, la autonomía, el respeto, la coparticipación y la amistad. Creemos en estos valores y por lo tanto los admiramos. ¡Tenemos mucho que aprender con ustedes!

Como dice un miembro de la comunidad Zapatista sobre el miedo del Mal Gobierno en la película “Zapatistas – crónica de una rebelión”:

“El Poder nos teme.
Por eso nos persigue y nos cerca.
Por eso nos encarcela y nos mata.
En realidad somos la posibilidad que lo puede derrotar.”

Ustedes lo son. Ustedes inspiran otro mundo posible, y esto es una amenaza a un sistema basado en las injusticias y desigualdades; en la explotación a oprimidos por opresores.

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”
http://sanmarcosaviles.wordpress.com/

PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY Sisters and brothers:

Please receive warm greetings and hugs from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York. We would like to share with you this important news report on the progress of our campaign “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz Lopez”.

To summarize, the first phase, “Walking the True Word”, is being extended until 11 October due to the overwhelming interest generated by it. Immediately after, in recognition of the Day of Indigenous Resistance, October 12, the second stage, that of worldwide action, will begin. Lasting over a month, this second phase will end on November 17, in honour of the historic birth of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), which was formed on that day in 1983.

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, THE FIRST PHASE IS BEING EXTENDED

First of all, we would like to thank everyone who has called for the First Phase, “Walking the True Word”, of the campaign to be extended. Because of this, this phase is being extended and will continue for the entire month of September and until 11 October, to give us all even more time to disseminate information on the situation of San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz Lopez, and to invite others to join this campaign in time for the start of the second phase.
It has been a month now since we started this struggle, and already many “Committees of the True Word” have been born in many parts of our planet, with their main responsibility to carry and sow the names and faces of “San Marcos Avilés” and “Francisco Sántiz Lopez” as seeds of dignity and rebellion.

Day after day, solidarity actions and activities are being carried out in communities, neighborhoods, towns, and villages in many corners of the world. In order to disseminate the histories and realities which our Zapatista compas are suffering, dignified people from many countries have been working on getting the word out and building networks of support and solidarity to contribute positively to the defense of the EZLN Support Base community of San Marcos Avilés and the struggle to free Francisco Sántiz Lopez. We can see that, in this way, we are consolidating our forces and exposing the lies coming out of the mouth of the bad government of Mexico, in order to take concrete action in defense of that other possible world which the Zapatista communities have been building through their project of autonomy.

As mentioned above, the second phase of our international campaign, “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz Lopez”, will take place from October 12 to November 17. These dates were chosen for their historical significance. They are symbols of our various struggles and a compass pointing towards a dignified future. The peoples of the world, in spite of the more than 500 years of oppression they have experienced, not only still live, but are key players in the struggles for a better, dignified and rebel world. In their resistance and struggle for autonomy, the EZLN are planting seeds and building alternatives to this unjust system which is imposed on us from above. For this reason, they are beacons and examples for us all. With this in mind, let us hope we can all carry on organizing more activities and reaching out to more people to continue to increase the pressure and demand for justice and freedom for our Zapatista brothers and sisters.

To finish, here once more is the link to the video message from San Marcos Avilés, which is at the same time a call and a tool for worldwide solidarity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-8CBt3Vkg

Please carry on circulating it.

Well, compas, our hearts are full of emotion, courage, and hope. All the collective efforts we are making together, united, truly touch our hearts and are having an important impact.

We will continue to fight, continue to grow…

With love and solidarity,

Movement for Justice in El Barrio The Other Campaign New York

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos  Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”

http://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

The UK-based National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts
Declares it’s Support for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López

From the United Kingdom, the National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts (NCAFC) has issued the following declaration endorsing the international  “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López” Campaign.

In opposition to the destructive trend towards privatization that is destroying higher education the world over, the nearly 8,000 student and education worker activists who form the NCAFC have fought since February 2010 for a just system of higher education that is free and funded by “the taxation of the rich and business.” The following statement approved by the NCAFC joins the thousands of individuals, collectives, and organizations from dozens of countries worlwide who stand in firm solidarity with San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López. In doing so, the NCAFC makes the necessary connection between the struggle for autonomous education in San Marcos and the struggle for socially just education at the global level. 

Statement of the National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts (NCAFC)

200 Zapatista supporters in the indigenous community of San Marcos Avilés in Chiapas, Mexico, are at very serious risk of violent assault and displacement. The threats made against them have increased sharply since the Mexican elections in July 2012.

The aggressors are government supporters organised in paramilitary style groups who are heavily armed with shotguns, rifles and pistols, and are specifically threatening the women and children. They have already stolen the land, crops and livestock of the community, leaving them without a food supply and destroyed their free autonomous school. Observers report that the situation is one of siege, and that the families are heavily traumatised.

In 2010, 170 men women and children were forced to take refuge in the open on the mountainside during the rainy season for 33 days. The current situation is one where it is feared another such tragedy may occur at any time. The aggressors are threatening to kidnap the community authorities and forcibly displace the rest of the population. Anyone denouncing this harassment, they say, will be locked away like Francisco Santiz Lopez, political prisioner since December 2011.

In the face of this alarming situation, an international solidarity campaign was launched recently, and a Worldwide Declaration in support of the community of San Marcos Avilés has been issued calling for an immediate end to the repression.  

WE DEMAND

–An immediate end to all death threats, verbal and physical harassment, and threats against the property and well-being of the Zapatista Support Base members by elements of the political parties in the San Marcos Avilés ejido

–Protection for the lives and safety of the Zapatista support base members of San Marcos Avilés

–Respect for the Zapatista Support Base community’s inalienable right to autonomy as indigenous peoples, as enshrined in the internationally recognized ILO Convention No. 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both of which the government of Mexico has signed

–Immediate release of Francisco Santiz Lopez

For further information, please see:    http://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

If you’d like to actively participate in the campaign please contact:   laotranuevayork@yahoo.com

Catholics demand the freedom of Alberto Patishtán
Peregrination in San Cristobal

Elio Henríquez, correspondent
Posted: 09.04.2012 15:06
La Jornada

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. Around three thousand members of the local Catholic diocese organization “Pueblo Creyente” took part in a peregrination through the streets of this city to demand the “immediate and unconditional” release of indigenous Tzotzil Alberto Patishtán Gomez, imprisoned since 2000 and sentenced to 60 years.

“Once more, we are present here as a church in solidarity with our brother Alberto Patishtán, to tell him that he is not alone, we won’t give up until he is able to enjoy his freedom, and we insist to the federal and the state governments that in the name of God, we have had enough of all the injustices against indigenous peoples “, Catholics said.

The group demanded a stop to “the sentences full of injustice and suffering that are being committed against” Patishtán Gomez, whom they defined as a “political prisoner”.

“We demand his immediate and unconditional release, because he is innocent and has unjustly been imprisoned,” they claimed. They added: “You, federal, state and magistrates that apply justice, must not assume you are more powerful than God or be above the law of God, and whatever you do on this planet will stand before the Heavenly Court.”

With the slogan of “the faithful, defending innocents”, and at the front of the the contingent a placard saying, “The parish of El Bosque demands the release of Patishtán Alberto Gomez”, the approximately three thousand Catholics from 10 different parishes located in Tzotzil municipalities in the highlands of Chiapas, began their peregrination at the west entrance of San Cristobal at 10 am.

The Catholics, almost all indigenous, carrying crosses, images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, traditional music and photographs of Alberto, walked for more than an hour to the center of the city and then went to the Cathedral to conclude with a mass. The auxiliary bishop of San Cristobal Enrique Diaz Diaz met them at the entrance of the of the Cathedral and celebrated a Mass, accompanied by other priests, including Tzotzil, Marcelo Perez, pastor of Simojovel.

“Today, as in Jesus’ time people are unfairly jailed, convicted, and their rights, freedom and dignity are breached,” he said in his homily that was translated into Tzotzil. “Also today, the poorest, the weakest, the most humble is convicted even if innocent,” he added. “God is against the manipulation of laws oppressing the innocent, the smallest and the poorest,” said Diaz Diaz, who called for “true justice” in the case of Patishtán Gomez.

“Pueblo Creyente” declared that the indigenous Tzotzil, who is imprisoned in a penitentiary located about 20 kilometres from the city, “never committed the crime of which he is accused, all he has done is work for his people and work alongside those fighting for truth and justice “, that’s why “he has been deprived of his liberty merely for political reasons. ”

Alberto Patishtán was arrested in June 2000 on charges of participating in an ambush that killed seven policemen and injured two others, in the municipality of El Bosque, in the north of the state, his place of origin; he was sentenced to 60 years in prison, due to his activism, has been held in different prisons, including Guasave, Sinaloa, from where he was finally returned to Chiapas last month, after ten months of protests.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Español. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Este martes 14 de agosto de 2012 se realizó una reunión en el auditorio del pueblo de El Bosque para informar a la población sobre el retorno del preso político Alberto Patishtán Gómez a tierras chiapanecas.

Alberto llevaba más de 9 mese recluido en el CEFERESO No. 8 de Guasave, Sinaloa. El pasado 27 de junio se dio a conocer de manera oficial su retorno al CERESO No. 5 de San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.

Aunque el comisariado comunal quiso opacar esta reunión convocando a otra reunión de carácter urgente a la misma hora en la casa de bienes comunales para hablar sobre proyectos de apoyo social; la información sobre el retorno de Alberto a tierras chiapanecas y sobre las próximas acciones a tomar se pudieron compartir a aproximadamente 420 personas.

La reunión dio inicio con las palabras de las tías de Alberto Patishtán agradeciendo a la población del pueblo por participar en las acciones pasadas tales como las asambleas y marchas realizadas en el mismo pueblo. También se agradeció por el apoyo económico aportado por todas las personas para que los familiares y comisionados puedan asistir a donde se requiere.

Después se hizo lectura de dos cartas enviadas por Alberto a la gente de su pueblo, en una de ellas da las gracias por la lucha que hace su pueblo por exigir su libertad, expresa que gracias a ellos, él se siente libre a pesar de estar entre barrotes. En otra carta anima a los representantes de las diferentes iglesias a seguir trabajando por el camino del bien y cita: “Ustedes hermanos-as han entendido la verdadera palabra de Dios en donde dice Jesús en Juan 13:34- Ámense los unos a los otros como yo los he amado”.

Martín Ramírez, vocero del Movimiento del pueblo de El Bosque por la liberación de Alberto Patishtán, dijo que “el mal gobierno tiene que escuchar la voz del pueblo” para liberar de inmediato al profesor Alberto Patishtán.

Con el regreso de Alberto Patishtán a Chiapas, el gobierno está reconociendo que él es un preso político, que el pueblo de El Bosque tuvo razón desde el principio, desde aquel 19 de junio del 2000, cuando el pueblo toma la presidencia municipal e instala un plantón que se levantó tres días después, el 22 de junio, luego de que en la sala de juntas de la secretaría de gobierno del Estado se firmara un acuerdo entre representantes del gobierno y “el grupo inconforme” para resolver el encarcelamiento injusto de Alberto Patishtán y se hiciera la auditoría general a la presidencia municipal de el Bosque que el grupo de Alberto pedía en el oficio enviado al gobernador Roberto Albores Guillén el 30 de mayo de ese mismo año.

El movimiento anunció al pueblo las próximas acciones a realizarse para seguir exigiendo que Alberto Patishtán sea liberado muy pronto, entre las acciones están:

18 de agosto: Reunión estatal de diversas organizaciones para tratar varios asuntos. Como primer punto: Exigir la liberación de Alberto Patishtán Gómez.

18 de agosto: Reunión o encuentro de líderes religiosos católicos en San Andrés Larrainzar en donde se estará planeando la movilización a realizarse en San Cristóbal de Las Casas el próximo 4 de septiembre.

27 de agosto al 04 de septiembre: Cuarta semana de lucha mundial por la liberatad de Alberto Patishtán Gómez y Francisco Sántiz López.

30 de Agosto: Oración y Ayuno convocado por el Pueblo Creyente.

04 de Septiembre: Peregrinación en San Cristóbal de Las Casas en donde también se estará exigiendo la libertad de Alberto Patishtán.

** He is considered the emblematic political prisoner and the country’s principal prisoner of conscience

** Festive recognition upon his return to the prison in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

[In an archived image, friends, relatives and a representative of the Frayba Human Rights Center, demand the liberation of Alberto Patishtán, 12 years from his unjust incarceration Photo: María Luisa Severiano]

By: Hermann Bellinghausen, Envoy

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, July 27, 2012

Since his exit from the federal prison in Guasave, Sinaloa, on Thursday morning, to return to the state prison he was taken out of in October, Alberto Patishtán Gómez has received wide recognition. First, the rest of the prisoners in federal prison number 8 said goodbye to him with shouts of “Viva Chiapas.” Upon his arrival at the San Cristóbal prison he was received festively by his compañeros of the Voice of El Amate and those in Solidarity with the Voice of El Amate.

Considered the emblematic political prisoner and the country’s principal prisoner of conscience, by getting the authorities to comply with the court order conceded by a federal judge against his move, Patishtán won a battle on the path to his freedom.

As he tells in his first testimony since his return, “they took me out of my cell, gave me my things and told me that I was going to return. They took me to the medical area, later to the guards. I waited; the workers had not arrived. Later we waited for breakfast. They delivered my documents and letters from my friends.” Towards 9 “they took me to the airport in an ambulance. Ever since I left the federal prison they shackled my hands and feet. The manner of return was different, because they took me to the airplane. They didn’t take off the shackles.” He remembers: “When I left the cell in Guasave, everyone congratulated me. What joy! When they took me (in October) they took me with pure violence.”

“A person told me that a lawyer and a doctor would come with me,” he relates. “They offered me food and told me not to speak badly of them. One person asked me how the matter is going, they told me they wished me well, that my dispute is political. They searched me like three times and took photos of me when they were searching me, and also when they were giving me food. Later we arrived in Villa Aldama, Veracruz, they dropped a prisoner off and put in two others. Later we went to leave those prisoners in San Luis Potosí and afterwards they brought me to Chiapas”.

At the airport “some doctors got in and examined me. They took off my shackles and I got off of the plane. There would be documents and questions. We arrived at 6:30 PM. They took a lot of photos of me. Later the Lobo Group received me and brought me here. The treatment was different. The director received me when I arrived. The commander and the warden received me, and took me straight ahead.”

His compañeros in solidarity with the Voice of El Amate said that the director “had said to us that you were going to arrive on August 3. When Alberto arrived last night, everyone made a line to greet him.”

The traumatic experience of “punishment” that the move to the north signified and the treatment as a dangerous criminal not only consolidated a vast network of solidarity in the world, but also left new lessons. He pronounces in favor of “improving the prison system with respect to prisoners and their families, health, medications and nutrition.” And he adds: “I met a compañero at the prison. He told me that one must take into account thesis and laws. He had documents from Acteal and Atenco that he was studying to defend himself.”

He also referred to his state of health: “In Guasave they said that they did not have the medical record; that when they got it they were going to buy the (eye) drops for me. They told me that I do not have glaucoma, but later a doctor from the federal prison council told me that I have optical ischemic neuropathy.” And he clarifies: “On February 14 it was mentioned that they gave me a medical examination. It is a lie, they never did it.”

For her part, Gabriela Patishtán, who has followed her father’s case closely to the degree of enrolling in Law School at the state university, today was thankful for the solidarity the professor and his family received: “One part of that ‘justice’ has been attained, that my father returns, and I am very thankful for all those that didn’t leave us and were always with us, although it may be in their different ways. We are witnessing the fruit of the efforts and struggles that have been made. What follows, and what I have longed for during these 12 years and will continue asking for, is my father’s freedom. What has motivated me is his innocence, I know that the truth will win and that at any moment he will be free.”

______________________________________
Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada
Saturday, July 28, 2012
En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/07/28/politica/018n1pol

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