Reply #26: Here's my first letter... [View All]

[Peace Patriot]

To Ruben Beltran, Consul General for Mexico in Los Angeles, at [e-mail] (from the web site: http://www.sre.gob.mx/losangeles/ ) **(DU, PLEASE SEE BELOW):

Dear Consul General Beltran:

First of all, forgive me for not writing to you in Spanish. My Spanish is sadly not good enough for a letter.

I am extremely concerned about the actions of the governor of Oaxaca and his paramilitary forces against the people of Oaxaca, and the apparent support for those actions by the Mexican federal government, led by President Fox and Mr. Calderon. Oaxaca is under military occupation merely because its people peacefully objected to the governor’s brutal assault on striking teachers, his fraudulent election in the first place, and continued tyrannical policies against the vast poor population of the state.

Gov. Ruiz needs to resign immediately. The 17 deaths already at the hands of his paramilitaries are intolerable, and the continued kidnappings, rapes, torture, killings, breakings into peoples’ homes and hunting down of peaceful protest leaders must be stopped. This governor has lost all legitimacy. And the people of Oaxaca have a right to reject his brutal governance.

Secondly, the federal troops appear to be providing cover for the paramilitaries, rather than protecting the people of Oaxaca from brutal misrule, as they should be doing. The people of this state have legitimate grievances, which they have been peacefully asserting, through community organization and the establishment of an alternative government, which operates according to “customs and use” laws. What they have been doing is an expression of democracy. It is not lawless. It is in fact the re-establishment of order. Gov. Ruiz is the one who is lawless.

The Fox/Calderon government—if they want to peacefully resolve the matters of injustice to the poor in Oaxaca, and elsewhere in Mexico—should take the following actions:

--pressure Gov. Ruiz to resign immediately, and appoint a temporary governor who swears to the rule of law, and begin preparations for an honest and aboveboard special election to replace Ruiz;

--investigate all the murders and other brutal acts that have been committed, and announce this firm goal in no uncertain terms—so that the paramilitaries are on notice, and so that the people of Oaxaca are assured that the killings and other brutal acts will stop, and justice will be served;

--cease all assaults on the people of Oaxaca—use of CS gas, rubber bullets, water hoses and other forms of violence and bullying;

--use federal forces to protect public gatherings, with the consent of the people; there is no reason that public meetings and marches cannot take place—these are protected rights, and that’s what the federal government should be doing—protecting those rights;

--respect the institutions that the people have created, in lieu of legitimate state governance, and immediately re-open negotiations with the community elders and leaders of those institutions.

The legitimacy of the Fox/Calderon government is itself in considerable doubt. Their actions so far in Oaxaca do not inspire confidence that they are a representative government, acting in the interests of the people of Mexico. If they wish to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the world, they must change their tactics and their attitude in Oaxaca, and support the efforts of the people there to establish lawful government. The Fox/Calderon government may be doing what George Bush would do, and may have the okay of a U.S. President with a 30% approval rating here, to further oppress the people of Oaxaca. But please know that the American people have rejected those anti-democratic tactics and attitudes, and that we have had it with George Bush and his regime. Actions taken by the Fox/Calderon government to please the Bush regime and the corporations that it represents will not sit well with the American people, nor with other peoples of the world.

The movement for peace and justice for the poor, in Mexico and throughout the world, is the future. “Darth Vader” police forces brutalizing peaceful protesters is the past. Does the Fox/Calderon government want to be part of the hopeful and progressive future, or the retrograde, brutal, oppressive past? That is the question that you and your government must ask. Despite the questions about Mr. Calderon’s own election, he has the chance to redeem himself now, and govern wisely. I hope that you will advise him to do so, and I sincerely hope that he will.

XXXXX

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**NOTE: The web site for the Los Angeles consulate is in Spanish, and I don't read Spanish so well. But this seems to be the email address for public in-put, and the right person to send it to. I would appreciate someone who reads Spanish checking out this and the other web sites, to make sure we are sending letters to the right email box and person.

NOTE: My email subject line is: "Justice and democracy for the people of Oaxaca!"