{"id":337,"date":"2008-09-30T17:07:32","date_gmt":"2008-09-30T22:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/wp\/?p=337"},"modified":"2010-09-21T17:10:12","modified_gmt":"2010-09-21T22:10:12","slug":"los-presos-politicos-de-atenco-la-persistencia-de-la-resistencia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"Los presos pol\u00edticos de Atenco: la persistencia de la resistenciaAtenco\u2019s Political Prisoners: The Persistence of Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>por Alejandro Reyes<\/em><\/p>\n

Cuando a los padres de Oscar Hern\u00e1ndez Pacheco les dijeron que su hijo estar\u00eda libre a finales de agosto o inicio de septiembre, no cab\u00edan de felicidad. En el penal de Molino de Flores, don Paco y otros parientes de presos pol\u00edticos que, desde la violenta represi\u00f3n policial en San Salvador Atenco el 3 y 4 de mayo de 2006, enfrentaban la incertidumbre, el miedo y la indignaci\u00f3n, ese d\u00eda celebraban la noticia. \u201cYa ve, don Paco,\u201d dec\u00eda el padre de otro joven preso, procedente del poblado de Texcoco, \u201clos muchachos ya pronto van a estar libres, nom\u00e1s hay que echarle un poquito m\u00e1s de ganas\u201d. \u201cPues se las festejamos all\u00e1 en el pueblo\u201d, contest\u00f3 don Paco.<\/p>\n

Pero d\u00edas despu\u00e9s, el 21 de agosto de este a\u00f1o, les dieron la nefanda noticia: su hijo, como los dem\u00e1s presos pol\u00edticos recluidos en el penal de Molino de Flores, fueron sentenciados a 31 a\u00f1os y 10 meses de prisi\u00f3n bajo la acusaci\u00f3n de secuestro equiparado, mientras a Ignacio del Valle le a\u00f1ad\u00edan 45 a\u00f1os a los 67 a los que ya hab\u00eda sido previamente condenado.<\/p>\n

Cuando do\u00f1a Francisca supo de la sentencia, estuvo a punto de ser hospitalizada. A los 63 a\u00f1os, tanto ella como su marido sufren de diabetes, condici\u00f3n que se ha agravado durante estos dos a\u00f1os de sufrimiento. \u201cMis hijos no quer\u00edan que fuera al penal porque ten\u00edan miedo de que me pusiera mal, pero yo fui de todos modos. Estaba m\u00e1s tranquila, pero cuando llegu\u00e9, sent\u00ed que yo ya no era yo. Me sent\u00ed muy mal. Al otro d\u00eda fui al seguro y la doctora me dijo que me ten\u00eda que tranquilizar, porque si no me iban a tener que internar. \u00bfPero c\u00f3mo? \u00c9l tiene 30 a\u00f1os. Con otros 30, va a tener 60. \u00bfC\u00f3mo es posible que le hagan eso? Y sus hijos tan chiquitos\u2026 la ni\u00f1a tiene ocho a\u00f1os, el ni\u00f1o unos tres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Como la mayor\u00eda de los presos sentenciados, su hijo no particip\u00f3 en los enfrentamientos del 3 de mayo y no formaba siquiera parte del Frente de los Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (FPDT), organizaci\u00f3n que, en 2006, defend\u00eda a los floricultores de Texcoco de ser desalojados de su local de trabajo.<\/p>\n

En el auditorio municipal de San Salvador Atenco, a un lado de la plaza central, un peque\u00f1o grupo de familiares de los presos pol\u00edticos relatan lo que han vivido estos dos \u00faltimos a\u00f1os y su indignaci\u00f3n con las sentencias del 21 de agosto, mientras contin\u00faan los preparativos para la celebraci\u00f3n del d\u00eda de la Independencia, el 15 de septiembre de 2008, organizada por el FPDT. Contin\u00faa do\u00f1a Francisca:<\/p>\n

\u201cEl d\u00eda que lo agarraron \u00e9l iba a ver a un familiar que estaba muy enfermo. Lo detuvieron en la carretera. Le pegaron, le abrieron la cabeza, la cara. Tenemos una foto donde lo est\u00e1n golpeando, y un polic\u00eda tiene una mitad de tabic\u00f3n para pegarle en la cabeza. Yo no sab\u00eda, porque ese d\u00eda \u00e9l pas\u00f3 a la casa. Est\u00e1bamos desayunando pozole, su platillo favorito, y me dijo que iba a recoger a la ni\u00f1a y que m\u00e1s tarde regresaba para echarse un taco. Cuando empezaron a entrar los granaderos, nos encerramos. Como a las tres de la tarde mis hijos ya sab\u00edan que lo hab\u00edan agarrado, pero no me dijeron para que no me pusiera mal. Pero entonces lo vi en las noticias, y fue as\u00ed que me enter\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

Algo similar sucedi\u00f3 con Julio C\u00e9sar Espinoza Ramos, hijo de Maribel Ramos Rojas. En la \u00e9poca Julio C\u00e9sar ten\u00eda 18 a\u00f1os y no hab\u00eda siquiera o\u00eddo hablar del FDPT. Jugaba futbol, se dedicaba al comercio en el poblado de San Pablito Chiconcuac y le ayudaba a su abuela a cuidar el ganado. El 3 de mayo de 2006, Julio C\u00e9sar conduc\u00eda su motoneta por la carretera que pasa al lado de San Salvador Atenco. A la altura de la gasolinera de Tocuila, fue detenido en un ret\u00e9n de la polic\u00eda federal. Ah\u00ed lo golpearon salvajemente, antes de trasladarlo a la procuradur\u00eda y, acto seguido, al penal de Santiaguito en Almoloya, Toluca.<\/p>\n

Julio C\u00e9sar no logra entender por qu\u00e9 le ha sucedido todo esto. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 lo condenan a tantos a\u00f1os de c\u00e1rcel, si \u00e9l no hizo nada? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 esa sentencia, mientras los verdaderos secuestradores, los que mutilan, matan, violan, est\u00e1n en la calle? \u201c\u00c9l ten\u00eda tantas ilusiones\u201d, dice su madre, \u201cy ahora sus ilusiones se ven truncadas y todos esos sue\u00f1os se quedan detr\u00e1s de esos muros de la prisi\u00f3n.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juan de Dios Hern\u00e1ndez, el abogado del FDPT que defiende la causa de los presos pol\u00edticos, afirma que la sentencia se hizo sin que existieran pruebas plenas de responsabilidad de los acusados, en un proceso lleno de irregularidades y contradicciones. Inclusive, uno de los familiares atestigua que, al cuestionar al juez sobre la dureza de las sentencias, \u00e9ste le respondi\u00f3 que \u00e9l no ten\u00eda pleno mando y que la decisi\u00f3n ven\u00eda de m\u00e1s arriba.<\/p>\n

La motivaci\u00f3n pol\u00edtica de estas sentencias queda evidente en el hecho de que \u00e9stas fueron emitidas el mismo d\u00eda en que se celebraba la muy divulgada reuni\u00f3n del Consejo Nacional de Seguridad P\u00fablica en el Palacio Nacional, en la que se discuti\u00f3 uno de los temas que m\u00e1s preocupan actualmente a la sociedad: la inseguridad que se vive en el pa\u00eds. Ah\u00ed se lleg\u00f3 al Acuerdo Nacional de Seguridad, mediante el cual se fortalecer\u00e1n las instituciones policiales y de procuraci\u00f3n de justicia, enfoc\u00e1ndose en el secuestro, lavado de dinero y crimen organizado. Entre otras reformas legales, est\u00e1 la propuesta de una ley general del secuestro. Las sentencias contra los presos pol\u00edticos de Atenco, justamente por el supuesto delito de secuestro, deben ser le\u00eddas como una se\u00f1al de alarma para la sociedad mexicana pues criminalizan la disidencia y la defensa de los derechos, equiparando el activismo pol\u00edtico al crimen organizado. \u201cEstamos indignados\u201d, dice Trinidad Ram\u00edrez Vel\u00e1zquez, esposa de Ignacio del Valle. \u201cC\u00f3mo es posible que se atrevan a comparar a alguien que defiende la tierra y sus derechos con alguien que secuestra, asesina, mutila, viola y dem\u00e1s.\u201d Una de las propuestas de Felipe Calder\u00f3n ha sido aplicar la pena de cadena perpetua a los secuestradores. La pena de 112 a\u00f1os para Ignacio del Valle equivale, efectivamente, a cadena perpetua.<\/p>\n

Cabe resaltar que, con relaci\u00f3n a la inseguridad, a la ola de secuestros que cada vez m\u00e1s son tema de primera plana y a la narcoviolencia que asola el pa\u00eds, la corrupci\u00f3n y la impunidad son dos de los principales responsables. En pr\u00e1cticamente todas las bandas de secuestradores conocidas est\u00e1n involucrados agentes o ex agentes justamente de las fuerzas de seguridad p\u00fablica que en teor\u00eda ser\u00edan responsables por combatirlas.<\/p>\n

Al mismo tiempo, mientras los presos pol\u00edticos son sentenciados con penas absurdas, los responsables por las gritantes violaciones de derechos humanos cometidas en San Salvador Atenco han gozado de completa impunidad. Los acontecimientos del 3 y 4 de mayo de 2006 representan uno de los momentos m\u00e1s oscuros de represi\u00f3n y violencia estatal en la historia del M\u00e9xico moderno: homicidios, agresiones sexuales multitudinarias a mujeres y hombres, allanamiento de moradas, destrucci\u00f3n de propiedad, golpizas, torturas, humillaciones. La barbarie cometida en Atenco no se trat\u00f3 de la actuaci\u00f3n descontrolada de fuerzas policiales mal preparadas, sino de una violencia de estado premeditada para infundir el terror en la poblaci\u00f3n y sentar un precedente que sirviera de ejemplo para otros movimientos sociales. Las condenas del 21 de agosto son un ingrediente m\u00e1s de esta pol\u00edtica de terror.<\/p>\n

Es dif\u00edcil describir el sufrimiento de las familias. \u201cSoy madre soltera\u201d, dice Maribel Rojas. \u201c\u00c9l es todo lo que tengo y yo soy todo lo que \u00e9l tiene. Me ha afectado mucho en el trabajo porque he tenido muchas ausencias y me puede costar el empleo, pero no puedo dejarlo solo. Tambi\u00e9n me ha afectado en mi salud porque soy diab\u00e9tica y he estado hospitalizada muchas veces. Y desde luego econ\u00f3micamente, me ha sido muy dif\u00edcil. Hay que llevarle alimentos, hay muchos gastos, y si no trabajamos, no hay de d\u00f3nde, sobre todo siendo una persona sola. A m\u00ed me duele much\u00edsimo verlo all\u00e1. El d\u00eda que me habl\u00f3 por tel\u00e9fono despu\u00e9s de la sentencia, parec\u00eda ser muy fuerte para que yo no me cayera. Pero el d\u00eda que lo visit\u00e9 era otra persona, totalmente quebrantada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Francisca no puede controlar las l\u00e1grimas cuando habla de su hijo. \u201cMe siento muy mal cuando no puedo ir a verlo, pero a m\u00ed me hace mucho da\u00f1o ir al penal. Desde que estaba en Toluca, lo iba a ver. Y me siento mal cuando veo a mi hijo as\u00ed. Por eso \u00e9l me dice: No vengas, mam\u00e1, porque me pongo muy triste cuando te veo llorar. Y lloramos los dos. Pero Dios quiera lo voy a ir a ver y me voy a tranquilizar y no voy a llorar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Para don Paco la prisi\u00f3n de su hijo tambi\u00e9n ha sido devastadora. \u00c9l es campesino, planta ma\u00edz all\u00e1 mismo, en Atenco. \u201cEstos dos a\u00f1os han sido muy pesados. En este tiempo hay veces que no puedo verlo, porque tengo que trabajar. No hay dinero. Se le tiene que dejar dinero, comida, y hacemos el esfuerzo para ir y llevarle su encargo. Y ah\u00ed son 500, 600 pesos que se gastan nom\u00e1s en un d\u00eda. Imag\u00ednese, y luego sin dinero. Y nosotros nos estamos tronando los dedos porque yo no puedo trabajo as\u00ed, en forma.\u201d Do\u00f1a Francisca explica: don Paco tambi\u00e9n est\u00e1 enfermo, frecuentemente cae en cama y pasa una o dos semanas sin poder trabajar.<\/p>\n

Para Trinidad Ram\u00edrez, estos dos a\u00f1os han sido un verdadero calvario. Su hijo C\u00e9sar estuvo preso casi dos a\u00f1os. Su hija Am\u00e9rica se encuentra pr\u00f3fuga. Y su marido Ignacio enfrenta una pena de 112 a\u00f1os en el penal de m\u00e1xima seguridad de Almoloya. Sin embargo, se le ve fuerte, firme, decidida. \u201cPienso en ellos\u201d, explica. \u201cEn Nacho en la c\u00e1rcel, siempre tan positivo. Tengo miedo de deprimirme, de caerme y no poderme levantar para seguir luchando. El amor puede tantas cosas.\u201d Cuenta que, a pesar de la sentencia, Ignacio est\u00e1 en pie. \u201cTiene mucha seguridad en lo que cree, en sus ideales, en su lucha. Por eso cuando digo que Nacho est\u00e1 bien no es que est\u00e9 bien all\u00e1, porque las condiciones en el penal son muy duras, sino porque cree en sus ideales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pero la represi\u00f3n y sobre todo las sentencias, cuya intenci\u00f3n es amedrentar y silenciar, tuvieron tambi\u00e9n otro efecto. Maribel Ramos no sab\u00eda del Frente de los Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra, nunca hab\u00eda participado en ninguna lucha, nunca hab\u00eda expresado su indignaci\u00f3n ante las injusticias que percibe.<\/p>\n

\u201cMi visi\u00f3n ha cambiado mucho\u201d, dice Maribel, \u201cporque antes \u00e9ramos personas t\u00edmidas al expresar lo que est\u00e1 pasando en el pa\u00eds, la represi\u00f3n que sufrimos. Porque es realmente una represi\u00f3n lo que est\u00e1 haciendo el gobierno. Quieren ponernos como un ejemplo y decirle a la gente: si ustedes se rebelan, vean lo que les puede pasar, pueden correr la misma suerte que estas personas. Pero esto, en lugar de intimidarme, me ha hecho m\u00e1s fuerte y creo que es importante expresar mi indignaci\u00f3n como madre, defender a mi hijo, porque es una persona totalmente inocente, y denunciar toda la injusticia que estamos viviendo. Es hora de levantar la voz. Si dijeron, \u2018Se van a estar quietos\u2019, pues creo que no. No. Tenemos que hacer frente y denunciar y decir lo que est\u00e1 pasando.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Francisca y don Paco, como otros parientes de presos pol\u00edticos que nunca hab\u00edan participado en alguna lucha, tambi\u00e9n se han acercado al FPDT, uniendo fuerzas para, juntos, exigir su liberaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Para Trinidad Ram\u00edrez, \u201cno hay mal que por bien no venga\u201d. Las sentencias despertaron la indignaci\u00f3n y dieron un nuevo impulso a la lucha por la liberaci\u00f3n de los presos pol\u00edticos de Atenco, en M\u00e9xico y en el mundo. Este 15 de septiembre, el FPDT organiz\u00f3 en la explanada de San Salvador Atenco un \u201cGrito por la libertad\u201d, y para el 23 de septiembre est\u00e1 planeada una marcha del \u00c1ngel a Los Pinos en la ciudad de M\u00e9xico. Al mismo tiempo, el Ej\u00e9rcito Zapatista de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional anunci\u00f3 que se reforzar\u00eda el plant\u00f3n frente al penal de Molino de Flores, convirti\u00e9ndolo en un espacio de encuentro de la Otra Campa\u00f1a, y convoc\u00f3 a la renovaci\u00f3n de la campa\u00f1a nacional e internacional por la liberaci\u00f3n de los presos pol\u00edticos.<\/p>\n

Hay, para muchos, una conciencia de que exigir la liberaci\u00f3n de los presos de Atenco es una necesidad urgente porque lo que est\u00e1 en juego, adem\u00e1s de las vidas de hombres inocentes, es el derecho a la resistencia y a la defensa de los derechos fundamentales. Es, en suma, una lucha por un M\u00e9xico con justicia, democracia y libertad.by Alejandro Reyes<\/em><\/p>\n

When the parents of Oscar Hern\u00e1ndez Pacheco were told that their son would be free in late August or Early September, they were overwhelmed with happiness. At the prison of Molino de Flores, don Paco and other relatives of political prisoners \u2014 who since the violent repression in San Salvador Atenco on May 3 and 4, 2006, had faced uncertainty, fear, and indignation \u2014 celebrated the news. \u201cYou see, don Paco,\u201d said the father of another young prisoner from the town of Texcoco, \u201cthe kids will soon be free, we just need to stick it out a little longer.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll celebrate back in our town,\u201d answered don Paco.<\/p>\n

But some days later, on August 21 this year, they heard the terrible news: their son, like all other political prisoners held at Molino de Flores, were sentenced to 31 years and 10 months in prison, accused of kidnapping, while Ignacio del Valle was given an additional 45 years, on top of the 67 which he had already been sentenced to.<\/p>\n

When do\u00f1a Francisca learned of the decision, she fell ill. At 63 years of age, both she and her husband suffer from diabetes, an illness which has worsened in these two hears of anguish. \u201cMy children didn\u2019t want me to go to the prison because they were afraid for my health, but I went anyway. I was a bit calmer, but when I got there I felt like I was no longer myself. I felt very ill. The next day I went to the hospital and the doctor told me I had to calm down, or I would have to be hospitalized. But how? He\u2019s 30 years old. In another 30, he will be 60. How can they do that to him? And with such young children\u2026 the girl is eight years old, the boy is about three.\u201d
\nAs most of the prisoners sentenced, their son did not participate in the confrontations on May 3 and was not even a member of the Peoples\u2019 Front in the Defense of the Land (FPDT), the organization that in 2006 was defending the flower vendors of Texcoco from being evicted from their place of work.<\/p>\n

In the municipal auditorium of San Salvador Atenco, on one side of the central plaza, a small group of relatives of political prisoners recount what they have lived through these past two years and their indignation with the sentences of August 21, while the preparations continue for the Independence day celebration, on September 15, 2008, organized by the FPDF. Do\u00f1a Francisca continues:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day they captured him he was going to see a relative that was very sick. They stopped him on the highway. They beat him, they injured his head, his face. We have a picture where the police are beating him, and one officer has a piece of concrete block with which he\u2019s hitting him on the head. I didn\u2019t know anything because that day he\u2019d been at home. We were having breakfast, eating pozole, which is his favorite dish, and he told me that he would pick up the girl and he would come back to eat some. When the troops started coming into the town, we locked ourselves up. At around 3 pm my sons knew they had arrested him, but they didn\u2019t tell me because they were afraid for my health. But then I saw him in the news, and that\u2019s how I found out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something similar happened with Julio C\u00e9sar Espinoza Ramos, son of Maribel Ramos Rojas. At the time Julio was 18 and he hadn\u2019t even heard about the FDPT. He liked to play soccer, worked in sales at the town of San Pablito Chiconcuac, and helped his grandmother take care of the cattle. On May 3, 2006, Julio C\u00e9sar was riding his scooter on the highway that goes by San Salvador Atenco. Near the gas station of Tocuila he was detained at a police blockade. There he was brutally beaten, and then taken to the police station, before being transferred to the high-security prison of Santiaguito, in Almoloya, in the state of Toluca.<\/p>\n

Julio C\u00e9sar doesn\u2019t understand why all of this is happening to him. Why was he sentenced to so many years in prison, if he didn\u2019t do anything? And why such a heavy sentence, while the true kidnappers, those who maim people, those who murder and rape, are free? \u201cHe had so many dreams,\u201d says his mother, \u201cand now those dreams are truncated, locked up behind those prison walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juan de Dios Hern\u00e1ndez, the FDPT lawyer who defends Atenco\u2019s political prisoners, argues that the sentence was made without convincing proof, through legal proceedings full of irregularities and contradictions. One of the relatives even claims that, when he questioned the judge about the harshness of the sentences, he answered that he didn\u2019t have full control over it and that the decision had come from above.<\/p>\n

The political motives behind the sentences are evident in the fact that they were announced the same day that a highly publicized meeting of the National Council on Public Security was being held at the National Palace. In this meeting one of the topics that most concerns Mexican society was discussed: the insecurity that is currently lived in the country. There, a National Security Agreement was drafted, through which police and judicial institutions will be strengthened, with a focus on fighting kidnapping, money laundering, and organized crime. Among other legal reforms is a proposal for a general law on kidnapping. The sentences against Atenco\u2019s political prisoners, precisely for kidnapping, should be read by Mexican society as a sign of alarm, since they criminalize dissidence and the defense of basic rights, equating political activism to organized crime. \u201cWe\u2019re indignant,\u201d says Trinidad Ram\u00edrez Vel\u00e1zquez, wife of Ignacio del Valle. \u201cHow dare they compare someone who defends the land and his rights to someone who kidnaps, murders, mutilates, rapes, and so on.\u201d One of President Felipe Calderon\u2019s proposals is to apply life in prison to convicted kidnappers. The sentence of 112 years to Ignacio del Valle is nothing less than life in prison.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that, regarding insecurity, the wave of kidnappings that are increasingly the topic of front-page headlines, and the drug-related violence that plagues the country, state corruption and impunity are two of the main contributors. Practically all known kidnapper gangs have members who are agents or former agents of precisely the same police forces which are in theory in charge of combating them.<\/p>\n

At the same time, while political prisoners are given these absurd sentences, those responsible for the blatant human rights violations committed in San Salvador Atenco enjoy complete impunity. The events of May 3 and 4, 2006, represent one of the darkest moments of state repression and violence in the history of modern Mexico: murders, mass sexual aggressions against women and men, breaking and entering without a warrant, destruction of property, beatings, torture, humiliations. The savagery committed in Atenco were not just the uncontrolled actions of unprepared police forces, but rather a premeditated act of state violence designed to provoke terror in the population and to set a precedent that serves as an example to other social movements. The sentences of August 21 are just one more ingredient of these politics of terror.<\/p>\n

It is hard to describe the pain of the families. \u201cI\u2019m a single mother,\u201d says Maribel Rojas. \u201cMy son is all I have, and I\u2019m all he has. This has affected me a lot at work because I\u2019ve had to miss many times and I\u2019m afraid to lose my job, but I can\u2019t leave him alone. It\u2019s also affected my health because I have diabetes and I\u2019ve been hospitalized many times. And of course, it\u2019s been very hard economically. I have to take him food, there are many expenses, and if I don\u2019t work, how am I going to get the money, especially being alone? It hurts me a lot seeing him there. The day he called after the sentence, he seemed strong because he didn\u2019t want to hurt me. But when I went to see him, he seemed an entirely different person, he was entirely broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Francisca can\u2019t hold back her tears when she speaks of her son. \u201cI feel very bad when I can\u2019t go see him, but it hurts me a lot when I go to the prison. Since he was in Toluca, I used to go see him. But I feel terrible when I see my son like that. That\u2019s why he tells me, \u2018Don\u2019t come, mother, because I get very sad when I see you cry.\u2019 And we both cry together. But God willing I\u2019ll be able to go see him and I\u2019ll be calm and I won\u2019t cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

For don Paco, his son\u2019s imprisonment has also been devastating. He is a farmer, he plants corn in Atenco. \u201cThese two years have been very difficult. There are times I can\u2019t go see him, because I have to work. There\u2019s no money. We have to take money and food to him, and we make every effort to do it. And we spend 500 or 600 pesos in just one day. Imagine that, and we have no money. So we go crazy trying to find a solution, because I can\u2019t work like I should.\u201d Do\u00f1a Francisca explains: don Paco is also diabetic and he often falls ill for one or two weeks at a time.<\/p>\n

For Trinidad Ram\u00edrez, these two years have been a veritable ordeal. Her son C\u00e9sar was in jail for almost two years. Her daughter Am\u00e9rica is in hiding. And her husband Ignacio faces a sentence of 112 years in prison. Nonetheless, she seems strong, firm, decided. \u201cI think about them,\u201d she explains. \u201cI think of Ignacio in jail, always so optimistic. I\u2019m afraid of falling into a depression and not being able to get up to continue fighting. But love can do so many things.\u201d She says that, despite the sentence, Ignacio holds his head up. \u201cHe is very secure in his beliefs, in his ideals, in his cause. That\u2019s why when I say that Ignacio is doing well, it\u2019s not because he is well being there, because the conditions in prison are very tough, but because he believes in his ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the repression and especially the sentences, which were intended to provoke fear and to silence people, had another effect. Maribel Ramos knew nothing about the FPDT, she had never participated in any struggle, she had never expressed indignation against the injustices she sees.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision has changed a lot,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause we used to be very shy about expressing what\u2019s happening in our country, the repression we suffer. Because what the government is doing is repression. They want to use us as an example and tell people: if you rebel, this is what can happen to you, you can have the same fate as these people. But instead of intimidating me, that has made me stronger, and I think it\u2019s really important for me to express my indignation as a mother, to defend my son, because he\u2019s completely innocent, and to denounce all this injustice we\u2019re living. It\u2019s time to raise our voices. If they said, \u2018You better be quiet,\u2019 well, I don\u2019t think so. We have to face them and denounce everything that\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Francisca and don Paco, like other relatives of political prisoners who had never participated in any struggle, have also approached the FPDT, joining forces to struggle together for their son\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

For Trinidad Ram\u00edrez, \u201call bad things have a good side.\u201d The sentences reawakened indignation and gave a new impulse to the struggle, in Mexico and around the world. This September 15, the FPDT organized an Independence Day event in the main plaza of San Salvador Atenco, and on September 23 a march is planned from the Angel to Los Pinos in Mexico City. At the same time, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) announced that the encampment in front of the Molino de Flores prison would be reinforced and that it would be transformed into a space of encounter for the Other Campaign. The EZLN also called for a renewal of the national and international campaign for the freedom of political prisoners.<\/p>\n

For many people, demanding the release of Atenco\u2019s political prisoners is an urgent necessity, because what is at stake, besides the lives of innocent people, is the right to resistance and the defense of basic rights. It is, in sum, a struggle for justice, democracy, and freedom in Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

por Alejandro Reyes Cuando a los padres de Oscar Hern\u00e1ndez Pacheco les dijeron que su hijo estar\u00eda libre a finales de agosto o inicio de septiembre, no cab\u00edan de felicidad. En el penal de Molino de Flores, don Paco y otros parientes de presos pol\u00edticos que, desde la violenta represi\u00f3n policial en San Salvador Atenco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[916,37],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radiozapatista","tag-atenco","tag-presos-politicos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}