Paramilitary attack kills two in Oaxaca, Mexico; As many as 22 still missing

[Derechos]

Paramilitary attack kills two in Oaxaca, Mexico; As many as 22 still missing after ambush near San Juan Copala
By Dawn Paley

April 30, 2010
From The Media Co-Op


Érika Ramírez, a journalist with Contralinea, is one of the people missing after yesterday's ambush attack.UPDATE, April 30 - All of the hostages have been released and transfered to hospital.

April 28, 2010 - Two people were killed and at least another five are missing after a paramilitary group ambushed a human rights caravan yesterday in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Beatriz Cariño Trujillo, a coordinator of the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA) and a member of the Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS), and Tyri Antero Jaakkola, a Finnish human rights observer, were killed yesterday when paramilitary group Union of Social Wellbeing of the Triqui Region (UBISORT) ambushed the caravan, which was traveling towards the municipality of San Juan Copala.

The whereabouts of as many as 22 other caravan participants, including local organizers and journalists are unknown. Five people, Érika Ramírez, David Cilia, David Venegas, Noé Bautista Jiménez and Daniel Arellano Chávez are confirmed missing. As many as 15 people may have been wounded in the attack.

The area where the ambush happened is known to be controlled by UBISORT, “a parmilitary organization that has strong links with the state government,” said Daniel Arellano, who was wounded in the attack.

REMA issued a press release indicating that responsibility for the attack falls on all levels of government, including notorious Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.

The caravan was organized by Oaxacan Voices Building Autonomy and Liberty (VOCAL) and the Popular Assembly of Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). According to a press release by the TDT-Network, “The human rights organizations were trying to enter San Juan Copala to support the local community, which has been without electricity, water, access to medication and basic services as a result of a blockade by an armed group.”

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/04/30/paramilitary-attack-kills-two-in-oaxaca-mexico-as-many-as-22-still-missing-after-ambush-near-san-juan-copala/

[Judi Lynn]

1. So Mexico has its own state-connected narcotrafficking killers, too, just like Colombia.

Well, actually it figures, doesn't it?

So glad to see this source made it plain for those of us who want to know. It will be important to read future reports more closely.

It probably doesn't look good for the missing journalists, one would imagine.

Thank you, Derechos.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Recommending.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[Peace Patriot]

3. This is the responsibility of President Calderon who has backed the corrupt Gov Ruiz

whose henchmen murdered U.S. journalist Brad Will during the Oaxaca teachers' union uprising and have murdered, 'disappeared,' kidnapped, beaten, raped and tortured many Oaxacan union leaders and other protestors. Ruiz should have been ousted--and prosecuted! Instead, Calderon sent federal police, with guns and tanks, to prop up his fascist, terrorist rule. So now Ruiz's rightwing death squads are running rampant. It is the expectable--and one can only presume, desired--result of Calderon's prior actions. And it is apparently the way our U.S. corporate rulers want things run, because it is endemic in the U.S. client states of Colombia and Honduras--rule by death squad. Colombia is getting $7 BILLION U.S. tax dollars to do it--kill off the leftists. For every leftist killed in Honduras, millions more of our tax dollars go into the pockets of that rightwing junta. Both stink with U.S. "war on drugs" death and mayhem. And now, so does Mexico. The "war on drugs" is how our rulers give the guns to the wrong people, to eliminate opposition to slave labor and "free trade for the rich."

[naaman fletcher]

4. It's the fault of the U.S.

It's our war on drugs that is destroying Latin America.