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---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 14:53:13 -0400 From: Mexico Solidarity Network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MSN News and Analysis May 7-13, 2007 MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS MAY 7-13, 2007 1. ATENCO PRISON SENTENCES UNDER FIRE 2. TELEVISA LAW DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL 3. TEXAS TOWN OUTLAWS RENTALS TO UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS 4. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS AND NEW TOUR SCHEDULE (Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]) 1. ATENCO PRISON SENTENCES UNDER FIRE More than a thousand members of the Other Campaign marched on Saturday in Mexico City to protest prison sentences handed down last week by a federal judge to three political prisoners from the Peoplea^s Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT). Ignacio del Valle, moral leader of the FPDT, Felipe Alvarez and Hector Galindo received 67-year sentences, supposedly for briefly detaining several government officials during negotiations last year over distribution of local resources and land use in Atenco. According to the government officials who were allegedly detained, del Valle, Alvarez and Galindo were not even present during the brief detentions. The Mexico State Attorney General originally threatened to appeal the decision because he viewed the sentences as too short, but ultimately decided to let the rulings stand. Mexico State Governor Enrique Pena has been under attack for disproportionately harsh prison terms for political opponents, especially after organized crime lea! der Ismael Higuera, one of Mexicoa^s leading narcotics traffickers, received a sentence last week of 18 years. Twenty nine members and supporters of the FPDT remain in prison after police actions on May 3 and 4 of last year in Atenco. More than 3,000 police officers stormed Atenco early on May 4, entering houses without warrants, arresting several hundred residents, beating or raping many of the arrestees, and killing two students. Not a single official involved in the rapes, beatings or murders is currently in prison. Eighteen Atenco political prisoners were transferred earlier in the week from Santiaguito Prison to Molino de Flores in Texcoco, where they are suffering inhumane conditions, according to family members. Up to 25 prisoners are held in cells designed for six, and several Atenco prisoners have received death threats from cellmates affiliated with the prison director. The prison, which was designed to hold 350 prisoners, currently has a population of 1,5! 00. Prison guards charge up to 5,000 pesos per month for priv! ate cell s and 20 pesos for the use of tables in the visitation area. The National Human Rights Commission, a government agency, refuses to meet with family members to hear their complaints. 2. TELEVISA LAW DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL The so-called a^oeTelevisa Lawa^ was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last week. The PAN and PRI factions of Congress combined to pass the law at the height of last yeara^s presidential campaign, hoping to gain endorsements, preferential reporting and free or cheap advertising from the powerful media corporation. Santiago Creel, who pushed the law through Congress only days before leaving his post as Interior Secretary in the Fox administration to mount his own presidential campaign, is a newly reformed critic of the law, perhaps because he couldna^t even win the nomination of his own party. The law awarded perpetual monopoly control of the public airwaves to Televisa and TV Azteca, Mexicoa^s two major media giants. Congress must now find a way to repair last yeara^s law, though most legislators are still looking for ways to keep the media giants happy. 3. TEXAS TOWN OUTLAWS RENTALS TO UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS Voters in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch approved an ordinance on Saturday that would prevent landlords from renting to undocumented migrants. The measure passed on a vote of 4,058 a^" 1,941, from a total population of 28,500. The ordinance requires landlords to verify the residency of potential renters in the first publicly approved ordinance of its kind. City councils in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia passed similar bills, but so far none has withstood court challenges. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund promised to challenge the new ordinance. 4. MSN PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS (Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]) STUDY ABROAD: June 3 a^" July 14, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Indigenous Social Movements and the Other Campaign in Chiapas, Mexico. 8 credits. June 17 a^" July 28, 2007: Summer Study Abroad Program. Earn 8 credits studying Migration: Dynamics and Debates. Students spend 16 days in Tlaxcala, a sending state for undocumented migrants; 16 days in Ciudad Juarez, a center of migration, maquiladora workers and undocumented border crossings; and 10 days in Washington, DC, home of the community-based group Mexicanos Sin Fronteras and center of the current debate on immigration reform. 8 credits September 2 a^" December 7, 2007: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala and Mexico City, with a focus on indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements, 16 credits. September 9 a^" December 14, 2007: Study in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua City, Mexico City and Chiapas, with a focus on border dynamics, urban movements and indigenous movements, 16 credits. January 27 a^" May 2, 2008: Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala and Mexico City, with a focus on indigenous movements, campesino organizations, and urban movements. 16 credits. February 3 a^" May 9, 2008: Study in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua City, Mexico City and Chiapas, with a focus on border dynamics, urban movements and indigenous movements. 16 credits. SPEAKING TOURS: October 14-27: Speaking tour - Immigrant rights, featuring a speaker from the National Assembly of Ex-Braceros who will the current debate on immigration reform, international immigration dynamics and previous experiences with guest worker programs. California October 21 a^" November 3: Speaking tour - Immigrant rights, featuring a speaker from Centro Sin Fronteras who will discuss community-based struggles for immigrant rights and the recent rash of anti-immigrant roundups throughout the US. Chicago and Midwest October 21-November 4: Speaking tour - Zapatista solidarity and the Otra CampaA~+-a, featuring Zapatista artisanry. An activist from Chiapas will discuss the politics of the Other Campaign. The tour will feature Zapatista artisanry produced by womena^s cooperatives in Chiapas. Southwest October 28 a^" November 3: Mexico in Focus, featuring speakers three speakers from Mexico who will discuss the Other Campaign, police repression in Atenco, and community-based organizing in Tlaxcala. The Mexico in Focus series is particularly suited to university settings and conference-style presentations. New England November 4-17: Speaking tour a^" Immigrant rights and the Otra CampaA~+-a, featuring a speaker from the Consejo Nacional Urbano Campesino (National Urban-Rural Council) who will discuss immigration dynamics and community-based organizing in the Other Campaign. Mid Atlantic Coast November 4-17: Speaking tour a^" Zapatista solidarity, the Otra CampaA~+-a, Zapatista artisanry. A speaker from the Community Human Rights Defenders Network (Red de Defensores Comunitarias) from Chiapas will speak about international solidarity and the Other Campaign. The tour will feature Zapatista artisanry produced by womena^s cooperatives in Chiapas. Pacific Northwest DELEGATIONS: October 27 a^" November 3: Ciudad Juarez a^" Investigate the dynamics of the US-Mexico border region, focusing on the impact of neoliberalism, including the femicides, maquiladoras, narco-trafficking and immigration dynamics. ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY INTERNSHIPS: Develop markets for artisanry produced by women's cooperatives in Chiapas and make public presentations on the struggle for justice and dignity in Zapatista communities. Interns are currently active in Washington, D.C.; Lancaster, PA; Rutland, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Poughkeepsie, NY; Stonington, ME; Grand Rapids, MI; St Paul, MN; Chicago, IL; Guelph, Canada; Ontario, Canada; Spokane, WA; Turner, OR; Chico, CA; Davis, CA; Sacramento, CA; Redlands, CA; Provo, UT; Albuquerque, NM; El Paso, TX; Austin, TX; and Lilburn, GA. Mexico Solidarity Network http://www.mexicosolidarity.org This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscription : http://www.mexicosolidarity.org/newsletter/subscription.php?list_id1&opleave&email_addrhcleave%40eco.utexas.edu -- To unsubscribe from this list send a message containing the words unsubscribe chiapas95 (or chiapas95-lite, or chiapas95-english, or chiapas95-espanol) to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Previous messages are available from http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html or gopher to Texas, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Economics, Mailing Lists.
