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| Courtesy Enlace Zapatista |
We have been waiting for nearly four weeks for the meeting between the Jornaleros and the authorities addressing a review of the agreement signed between the two groups on 06/04/15. As you recall, the government was to send a date for this meeting the first week of July along with an itinerary to the leaders of the Alliance - and at this moment the leaders of the Alliance have received nothing, neither a date nor an agenda. However there are plenty of reports and many of these are not appearing on the local news agencies, some are.
Yesterday morning El Mexicano reported that in colonia Lomas de San Ramon (Triquis) on Friday around 7pm, Judicial Agents from Tijuana descended into the area saying they were looking for narcomenudistas. The article does not state how many of these Agents or units were in San Ramon. (Colonia Lomas de San Ramon is between Vicente Guerrero and Lazaro Cardenas.)
On the street were three Jornaleros - actually these men are also soccer coaches who were resting - we assume this was after a soccer game or practice. According to Justino Herrera, the Agents started beating the men and threatening them with their weapons. At some point members of the community intervened to stop the abuse and to prevent the probable arrests of the three men. Two days later, the three Jornaleros filed complaints at the office of the Ministerio Publico de Fuero Comun with medical documentation of their injuries.
Justino Herrera, leader of the Alliance has contacted the Subsecretario de Gobierno del Estado Pablo Alejo Lopez Nunez and demanded an investigation where the result would be the suspension of the Agents who were involved in this incident. Herrera also commented that the Jornaleros don't want problems, they are looking for respect. He continued to state that if the Government continues to harass the Jornaleros "...we will defend ourselves; if this or something similar happens again we will descend on their patrols and destroy them." A clever comment at the end of this article by "Judicial Trump" equating Donald Trump with racism which there by defines the opponents and oppressors of the Jornaleros as Donald Trump clones or racists. "Judicial Trump" says: "Esos pinches indios son una basura." I'm waiting for someone out there to respond, "Veran, los indios son muy maravillosos, intelligente y valientes. Tambien, son mis amigos."
Denuncian a judiciales que ingresaron a Lomas de San Ramon
This incident along with the two attacks within twenty days of each other on the offices of the Comision Estatal de Derechos Humanos in San Quintin, the firing of 3K Jornaleros (60% of whom support the Alliance) by the Agri-companies,the government snub of the meeting for the first week of this month,the manipulation of the accord reached on 06/04 and the 300 Federal Police deployed to the area that as far as we know are still here (who the Ejidians of Cantu believe are here to evict them. To date the Alliance has not commented on the Federal Police presence, but many feel they are here to keep the Jornaleros in check); are leading many people to believe (at least in my neighborhood) that these are strong arm tactics to silence the Jornaleros and to remind them firmly to stay in their place.
There has reported to be a slight desperation of the Jornaleros over the fact that the government never set a date or agenda for the agreed upon meeting the first week of this month which was supposed to review the agreement signed on 06/04, particularly to review each of the operating agricultural companies to determine their status of paying 180, 165 or 150 pesos for work performed by the Jornaleros. These reviews or inspections as agreed on in writing were supposed to be performed by the government representatives along with the committee members of the Alliance. Grievances of workers against the companies were supposed to have been collected during these inspections, and the credentialing of the workers was supposed to be reviewed; additionally the the stipulations of releasing the 14 detainees from the demonstrations have not been met and this needed review. Importantly the wording of the accord with the word "integrated" imposed within the text which negatively affected the Jornaleros benefits and pay was supposed to be reviewed. So, despite the slight desperation felt over this huge let down expressed by Alliance leader Fermin Salazar, the Jornaleros have made accomplishments and this "snub" by the government in reality seems to be fostering even more unification of the Alliance and the Jornaleros.
Another example of accomplishments aside from the Alliance and the Jornaleros being even more unified at this point, is the Alliance signing an agreement of solidarity with the National Workers Union. (The Zapatistas and the EZLN already several months ago expressed solidarity with the Jornaleros of San Quintin as did the #43 Students of Ayotzinapa) Here is the La Jornada report translated perfectly by Mexico Voices in English - and note the USA AFL-CIO and CIOAC backing and support of the Jornaleros which is of tremendous importance - and might come in real handy if boycotts of agricultural products from Ensenada are called in the US:
Baja California, Mexico: San Quintin Farmworkers Union Sign Agreement of Solidarity
There have also been two reports on the Jornaleros exposure to pesticides (good luck on that one), the arbitration of one hundred Jornaleros fired for participating in last March's demonstrations and threats made by the Alliance that they will revive the protests - all of those and more here on #sanquintin with a very supportive following who seem to be on top of the recent reports with the exception of yesterday's report from El Mexicano on the beatings of Jornaleros in colonia Lomas de San Ramon by the authorities:
#sanquintin
There have been no reports that the Disney tours from their cruise ships will be taking the gringos to see the slave fields of Ensenada.
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As far as the drug violence, we are registering a 19% increase in the executions which according to Zeta some of these involve CNJG members; more killings with robberies and some politicos are calling for the Army to be back on the streets. I keep saying I'll come back to those - and I shall, it has just been too hot to be down here. BTW, we're supposed to get another horrible heat wave the middle of this week with possible rain over the upcoming weekend. The only good thing about these oppressive heat waves (which everyone hates) is that the meteorologists are saying they are an indication of a strong El Nino this winter which means rain. Take care, I'll be back I don't know when.
More canciones zapatistas at this link under "Online Store - Media" :
schoolsforchiapas.org