To: tb-petitions@ohchr.org;

cidhoea@oas.org; felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx; gestion@segob.gob.mx; oacnudh@hchr.org.mx
Cc: correo@cedhoax.org; quejas@cedhoax.org

I am contacting you to request your intervention to guarantee the safety of Geoff Horner and all members of the Santa Maria Yaviche community, in the Northern mountain range of Oaxaca. Today, it disappointed me to learn that the repressive practices of the government against the peoples and communities of Oaxaca have not ceased. I am very concerned for their collective safety and well being.

The government, along with paramilitaries from the Regional Council of Farmers and Urban Workers of Tuxtepec, and the National Action and the Democratic Revolution political parties, pretend to impose illegitimate authority through violence. This pretension is against the will of the people and the traditional customs of the community, under which Yaviche elects its authorities and representatives.

The people of Santa Maria Yaviche are expecting to be invaded by the police today, June 18th 2008. Fear weighs heavily in all inhabitants of Santa Maria Yaviche, who remember clearly how on October 16th 2003, the same paramilitaries of CROCUT murdered one person and injured nine other members and sympathizers of the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca “Ricardo Flores Magon”.

I am concerned for members of the community, and for the physical well being and safety of Geoff Horner, who is a fellow Canadian citizen. Mr. Horner is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia. He is currently in Santa Maria Yaviche conducting research on the community’s traditional customs as part of an international seminar to be held in the last week of June in Oaxaca City, where he is the coordinator and scheduled to speak about traditional customs in rural Oaxaca.

Please take whatever actions you can to protect these people.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Lic. Octavio Alberto Orellana Wiarco

Fiscal Especial para la Atención de Delitos Cometidos contra Periodistas
Procuradoría General de la República
Av. Paseo de la Reforma #211-213
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Del. Cuauhtémoc
C.P. 06500, México D.F.
MEXICO

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Dear Sir,

I have been made aware that Alberto Fernández Portilla, (the director of Semanario del Istmo and producer of BBM Noticia on Radiorama-XEKZ) was shot at his home in Oaxaca State on August 5th. I am concerned for the well being of his colleagues Daniel Pérez Espinoza and Edwin Meneses Santiago. Both have received death threats. These grave threats may be related to their recent radio and press reports on drug trafficking, allegations of stealing of oil from the Mexican oil company pipelines, and reports of corruption in the union representing workers at the oil company.

Please ensure that these journalists receive protection. Please guarantee their safety, in accordance with their wishes.

There ought to be a full, prompt, and impartial investigation by the federal authorities, in order to create a climate in which journalists can exercise their right to freedom of expression without fear of reprisal.
Sincerely and Respectfully,

Oaxaca@canada.org.mx

Cc: Vicente.fox.quesada@presidencia.gob.mx, cabascal@segob.gob.mx

Hello,

I am contacting you to express my concern that the Government of Mexico is violating the human rights of Oaxacan people. Although the government denies it, there are many instances recorded on video such as are accessible via the internet. I hope that the brutality of the Mexican government will be stopped immediately. A democratic dialogue with the people is required.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur, Dr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, was extremely concerned with the use of force to counter protests arising from deeply entrenched social issues. I would like to add my voice to Dr. Stavenhagen’s recommendation, that the federal and state authorities fully comply at all times with Mexico’s international human rights commitments.

I am particularly concerned by the fact that, in the past few weeks: hundreds of Oaxacans have been detained or disappeared; seventeen supporters of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca have been killed; torture is rampant; and the official instructions to hospitals and the International Red Cross are to deny medical care to the injured.

The movement in Oaxaca has millions of supporters, who come from all sectors of society. Please stop the brutal behaviour of the Mexican government. Maintain the human rights and dignity of the people.

Sincerely,

To: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca, gcarrera@ns.sympatico.ca

Dear Peter McKay and Galo Carrera,

My name is Timothy Schwinghamer. I am a graduate student at the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba. I am contacting you because I am deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Oaxaca.

A group of 23 people from Huahuapan, Oaxaca, decided to leave a large Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) protest in the city of Oaxaca to avoid confrontation with the police. When they got to the bus station, the Mexican authorities arrested them. Four children were later release, but the government labeled the remaining nineteen "highly dangerous" and sent them to a prison in Nayarit, twenty hours north of Huahuapan. These nineteen people are among over 400 arrested since June 2006 in connection with ongoing APPO protests.

My colleague, Matthew Wiens, a Christian Peacemaker Team Reservist, has heard reports that many prisoners have been abused and beaten. Some have received bail as high as $400,000, an impossible amount to raise for people who earn $1 per day.

I ask you to look into the arrests of these nineteen people from Huahuapan. The prisoners from Huahuapan include: Ciro Pedroza Guadarrama, Jaime Auieliano Martinez Gordillo, Maria Perez Gutierrez, Marta Mandez Perez, Jaime Legaria Ramirez, and Ignacio Legaria Hernandez. These six were all active with CACTUS, FENIC, and other organizations. CACTUS and other organizations involved in APPO believe that their protests comply with Article 39 of the Mexican Constitution that stipulates when a government (in this case Governor Ulises of Oaxaca) is not doing his job, the Mexican people have a right to remove it.

Please urge the Mexican government to free these political prisoners so they can be home for Christmas.

Sincerely and respectfully,

General Consulate of Mexico

Commerce Court West
199 Bay Street, suite 4440
Toronto ON M5L 1E9

Trade Commission of Mexico
1 Dundas St. West
Suite 2110, P.O. Box 11
Toronto ON M5G 1Z3

I eagerly await reparations for the injustices done to the citizens of Oaxaca. I ask you to take the measures necessary to put an end to the violent situation. Since Brad Will was shot, I have been observing the situation, and I am in solidarity with the people in their fight. I believe that the Mexican government is responsible for what happened on October 27, in the city of Oaxaca. I think that they have a responsibility to protect their citizens. I am appalled by the brutality that transpired:

• At least three people were shot dead, include to Brad Will, a journalist with American Indymedia.
• Thirty people were wounded, including: 25-year-old Francisco Angeles (son of a teacher of Cuicatlan), Martín Olivera Ortíz (wounded in the leg), Guillermo Garci'a de Zaachila (wounded in the back), and 25-year-old Enedino Cross Sanchez (hand was shot).
• An undetermined number of people are missing.
• Armed men surrounded the house of the Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca and threatened members.
• Groups paid by the authorities are shooting the civil populace in the street.

This situation ought not intensify in any violent way. I do not support the intervention of police forces in the city, which only oppress the activities of people and organizations who denounce their undemocratic policies. For these reasons I demand:

• The immediate resignation of Ulises Ruiz.
• The freedom of political prisoners.
• The immediate return of the disappeared.
• That the Mexican authorities return to engage in a dialogue with the APPO to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
• The immediate end of any attacks on the Oaxaqueña population.

Any information of your undertakings to fulfill these requests would be appreciated.

Sincerely,