Mexico: Release Adán Mejía López now! Stop repression in Oaxaca!

After the recent resurgence of the mass movement in Oaxaca the authorities have responded by launching a wave of brutal repression. Many activists have been arrested. Among these is a comrade of the Militante Marxist Tendency and APPO activist. Workers and youth in all countries should protest strongly!

For the attention of:

Felipe Calderón Hinojosa,
Illegitimate President of México,
felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Fax: (55) 52772376
Tel: (55) 27891100

Francisco Ramírez Acuña
Secretario de gobernación
secretario@segob.gob.mx
Fax: (55) 5093 3414
Tel: (55) 5093 3400

Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
Gobernador de Oaxaca
gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Fax: (951) 5020530,
Tel.: (951) 502 05 30; 502 05 31;
502 05 32; 502 05 33; 502 05 34

Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos.
correo@cndh.org.mx
correo@fmdh.cndh.org.mx
Tel: (55) 56310040
Fax: (55) 56818490

(send copies of all messages to editor@marxist.com and redaccion@militante.org )

To the working people of Oaxaca and the whole of Mexico:

The undersigned declare the following:

1) It is clear that both the federal authorities of Mexico and the local authorities in Oaxaca know no other method of dealing with the legitimate demands of the working people than brutal repression of any expression of social unrest and imprisonment, torture and even assassination of fighters for social justice.

2) This baleful policy of Calderón and Ulises Ruiz became once again evident in the brutal intervention of the police to put down in blood the peaceful demonstration organised on July 16 by the APPO and the Oaxacan teachers, an action which led to arrests, torture and the imprisonment of dozens of demonstrators.

3) Not satisfied with this result, immediately after repressing the mobilisation, Calderón and Ulises Ruiz launched a witch-hunt, raiding people's homes and arresting more militants, having them tortured and imprisoned on trumped up charges that are clearly false and outlandish.

4) This witch-hunt led, among others, to the arrest of comrade Adán Mejía López, a member of the Militante Marxist Tendency. The comrade was arrested at 8.20pm on July 17 as he was travelling through the centre of Oaxaca.

5) Comrade Adán Mejía López, who is being held in the Unidades Mixtas de Atención al Narcomenudeo, UMAN (Mixed Units for Drug Dealing), is a distinguished and principled militant who has struggled for the best causes of the working class and the other oppressed layers of society in Oaxaca and Mexico. This is the real reason - there being no other - for his arrest.

6) Both Calderón and Ulises Ruiz are very mistaken if they think that with all these repressive measures they are going to break the fighting spirit of the Oaxacan and Mexican working people. With these actions all that these two degenerate rulers will achieve is to spread the flame of revolution in Oaxaca and throughout Mexico.

7) Let it be clear to Messrs Calderón and Ulises Ruiz: the hatred of the masses towards you is growing all the time and this social discontent will lead to your downfall and you will be thrown into the dustbin of history, the place where you rightly belong.

8) We consider an attack against one Mexican worker as an attack on the whole Mexican and world working class and we will act accordingly, developing all kinds of solidarity actions until comrade Adán Mejía López, together with all the other political prisoners, are released.

9) We call on all the trade unions, the PRD, the APPO, the National Strike Committee CNH, the National Democratic Convention and the EZLN, together with all the other workers', peasants' and indigenous organisations of the country, to form a United Front against repression and for freedom for all the political prisoners.

10) At the same time, we call on all the organisations in struggle to organise and prepare a general strike, as this is the best way of stopping the wave of repression being carried out by the Calderón government and by Ulises Ruiz.

11) The workers, peasants and indigenous people of Oaxaca and Mexico must strengthen their organisations and unity, promoting actions to bring down Calderón and all his accomplices in the PAN and the PRI, including Ulises Ruiz, so as to put an end once and for all to their anti-working class and anti-peasant policies.

On the basis of all the above, we demand:

a) Immediate and unconditional release of comrade Adán Mejía López together with all the other political prisoners in Oaxaca and Mexico.

b) Immediate end to house arrests and to the persecution, arrest, torture and imprisonment of militants in Oaxaca and Mexico.

c) No restrictions of freedoms and political rights of the working people of Oaxaca and the whole of Mexico

We put all responsibility for the physical, psychological and moral integrity of comrade Adán Mejía López on the shoulders of Felipe Calderón and Ulises Ruiz. If the comrade suffers any kind of harm, both the illegitimate President and the pernicious governor of Oaxaca will be held responsible.

Freedom for all political prisoners!
General strike against repression!
Long live APPO!
Long live the struggle of the Mexican working class!
For the unity of the workers', peasants' and indigenous movement to overthrow Calderón and Ulises Ruiz!

Name:

Organisation:

Country:

• Oaxaca erupts once more: the battle of Cerro del Fortin (July 18, 2007)
• Oaxaca One Year Since the Insurrection (July 18, 2007)