RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF COMMUNITIES
IN OAXACA FROM PACIFICA NATIONAL BOARD
July 28, 2007

Whereas, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is accused of being responsible for human rights abuses against a mainly Indigenous population, against teachers on strike and against anyone who speaks out against this repression;

Whereas, Amnesty International in 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2006 and the International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation in December 2006, have reported extensive and systematic human rights violations, including assassinations, torture, rapes (of women and men) and arbitrary detention in Oaxaca state;

Whereas, Mexico's Supreme Court, June 2007, ordered an investigation into Ulises Ruiz's human rights abuses;

Whereas, one and a half million people, of a population of under four million, have marched to ask for the removal and prosecution of Ulises Ruiz, and in support of the teachers' demands for food, shoes and school supplies for pupils and higher wages;

Whereas, in August 2006, women occupied the public TV and radio stations to broadcast news of their involvement in the struggle of the Oaxaca people, as well as the repression they were being subjected to;

Whereas, radio occupations by the community have been central to the protection of the population from police and paramilitary assassinations;

Whereas, more than 60 people have been murdered by police and paramilitaries, including US Indymedia cameraman Brad Will in October 2006, and more recently on July 16, 2007 during the traditional harvest festival; 50 people have been disappeared, many more are still in jail and over 500 activists are being hounded with arrest warrants;

Whereas, 32 Members of the UK Parliament have signed Early Day Motion 1828 Human Rights Situation in Oaxaca, Mexico, to press for investigations into human rights abuses to be carried out, and for the protection of those who have brought human rights violations to public attention, in particular Jaqueline Lopez Almazán, Leyla Centeno, Alejandro Cruz López, Samuel Hernández Morales and Ulises Reynosa Guerrero;

Whereas, APPO (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca - Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca, a broad based coalition of human rights and grassroots networks and organizations) is holding a Public Trial to protest repression in Oaxaca on August 3 & 4, 2007, in the Zocalo of Mexico City;

Whereas, APPO has called for international support for their trial;

Therefore be it Resolved that the National Board of Pacifica Radio will send this resolution to the Public Trial on human rights abuses in Oaxaca on August 3 & 4 in a show of support; encourage all Pacifica stations and affiliates to educate its listeners about the Trial and its outcome and APPO’s ongoing campaign for justice.

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