PROTEST AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Thursday June 03, 2010 16:29 by LASC - Latin America Solidarity Centre events at lasc dot ie 5 Merrion Row, Dublin 2 01 6760435

WHEN 13:00 - 23:30

WHERE Mexican Embassy, 19 Raglan Road Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland

- In memory of Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola, killed in San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, 27th April 2010
- Recent murders of the San Juan Copala community leader Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez and his wife Cleriberta Castro, 20th May 2010
- Humanitarian Peace Caravan “Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola'' to San Juan Copala, 8th June 2010

Solidarity with Mexican human rights defenders in Oaxaca: down with the paramilitary blockade of San Juan Copala

On June 8th an international human rights caravan will head towards the indigenous locality of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca (Mexico), currently besieged by paramilitary forces loyal to the governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. This governor, a member of the PRI, a party who stayed 70 years at the head of the federal government through fraud and thuggery, has ruled with an iron fist the State of Oaxaca since the end of 2004. His administration has been marked by systematic human rights’ abuses and widespread repression and corruption.

The paramilitary siege is responsible for 26 deaths on the community since November 2009, including the deaths on April 27th of Finnish human rights observer Jyri Jaakkola and the brave community organiser Bety Cariño Trujillo, a good friend of the Latin American Solidarity Centre, while they were part of a first humanitarian caravan. On May 20th the murder of the main authority of San Juan Copala and his wife, Mr. Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez and Cleriberta Castro, sent a fresh reminder of the reign of terror and impunity in Oaxaca.

We cannot stand aside while the humanitarian caravan will attempt once again to bring medicine and food to a community which has been isolated and punished for their will to pursue the path of indigenous autonomy opened by the Zapatista uprising in 1994 in Chiapas. Over 500 people from different countries will try to pass the paramilitary blockades and show the citizens of San Juan Copala that they are not alone. We have to make sure that the eyes of the world are with them. In Ireland , the Latin American Solidarity Centre together with Bety Cariño's friends in Ireland will be showing their solidarity by having a vigil on June 8th in front of the Mexican embassy at 13:00 o’clock.

For more information contact: Julián Becerra 85 818-6050