UPDATE 3: Today, Friday, October 17, Octavio Perez was released on bail, while Juan
Martinez remains in prison. Hugo Colmenares was also arrested today for Will's murder and the federal prosecutor has stated
they plan to arrest eight more (for a total of 11) for the murder.
Hugo was one of the four original APPO members the PGR previously tried to get indictments
against - along with Edgar Santiago Navarro, Miguel Cruz Moreno, and Arturo
Villanueva - in a process that was strongly condemned by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission.
UPDATE 2: The numbers I've been hearing have ranged between 250 and more than 300 warrants. As I've been told, it is not required that arrest warrants be made public, so the only way to verify if there is a warrant out for you is to go to the courthouse and ask. Obviously not a strategy people are interested in trying. Some are taking this seriously, others feel it is just to spread fear and intimidation. But the people I've spoken with feel very confident that the actual warrants do exist. If I were an authoritarian government, I would think sweeping up APPO members before the Congress and commemorations in November would be a good tactic - forcing the movement to focus on freeing prisoners instead of organizing and unifying with other movements, such as in Morelos, around the country. Of course I hope I'm wrong.
UPDATE: At least 270 arrest warrants have been issued for activists in Oaxaca. Stay tuned. Things may be getting even more serious very quickly.
Thursday afternoon at least five participants in the social movement here in Oaxaca were arrested. At least two (Juan and Octavio) were arrested for the murder of Brad Will (a crime clearly committed by government-sponsored paramilitaries). Currently it's unclear if all the arrests are related to Will's murder or if they represent a broader crackdown on the social movement. The names are currently incomplete but are:
UPDATE 2: The numbers I've been hearing have ranged between 250 and more than 300 warrants. As I've been told, it is not required that arrest warrants be made public, so the only way to verify if there is a warrant out for you is to go to the courthouse and ask. Obviously not a strategy people are interested in trying. Some are taking this seriously, others feel it is just to spread fear and intimidation. But the people I've spoken with feel very confident that the actual warrants do exist. If I were an authoritarian government, I would think sweeping up APPO members before the Congress and commemorations in November would be a good tactic - forcing the movement to focus on freeing prisoners instead of organizing and unifying with other movements, such as in Morelos, around the country. Of course I hope I'm wrong.
There will be a march from the Juzgado at Llano
Park to the Penal Ixcotel at 4pm today.
The three individuals arrested yesterday - other
than Juan and Octavio - are being held for allegedly beating up a municipal
president at a barricade in 2006. Which president and which barricade, I'm not
sure.
UPDATE: At least 270 arrest warrants have been issued for activists in Oaxaca. Stay tuned. Things may be getting even more serious very quickly.
Thursday afternoon at least five participants in the social movement here in Oaxaca were arrested. At least two (Juan and Octavio) were arrested for the murder of Brad Will (a crime clearly committed by government-sponsored paramilitaries). Currently it's unclear if all the arrests are related to Will's murder or if they represent a broader crackdown on the social movement. The names are currently incomplete but are:
- Octavio Pérez Pérez
- Lirio Lopez
- Miguel Lopez
- Guadalupe
- Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno
Activists here first learned of the detention of Juan and joined his family this evening at the Penitenciaria Central de Santa Maria Ixcotel, Oaxaca. Juan's mother and wife have not been allowed in to see him. Later it was learned four others had been detained. A planton is planned at the Ixcotel penal beginning at 9am on Friday.
Call your congressmember in US about this, and also tell them to Stop the Merida Initiative!
Posted by: Jen | October 17, 2008 at 09:32 AM
See this performance of the murder of Brad Will.
Posted by: Juan | October 17, 2008 at 09:35 AM