[News] Declaration by Women's Sector of the Other Campaign

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Please fax letters of outrage about the brutal 
aggression perpetrated by the police in San Salvador Atenco to:



The Mexican Consulate

532 Folsom St.

San Francisco, CA  94105



FAX:  415-495-3971



PRONOUNCEMENT OF THE WOMEN OF THE SIXTH 
DECLARATION OF THE LACANDON JUNGLE AND THE OTHER CAMPAIGN



To the adherents and sympathizers of the Other 
Campaign, feminist groups, collectives, social 
organizations, the international community, 
workers of the world, those from below to the 
left in all corners of the planet.



We the compañeras of the women's sector of the 
Other Campaign energetically denounce and condemn 
the brutal acts and crimes of lesser humanity 
perpetrated against those detained the 3rd and 
4th of May, 2006 in the municipalities of Texcoco 
and San Salvador Atenco by elements of the federal, state and municipal police.



For this we manifest that on the 3rd of May, 101 
people were detained, 22 of them women who 
suffered serious sexual aggressions, violations 
of their human rights, amongst which included 
torture, beatings, ill-treatment of their bodies, 
as well as constant psychological violence.



The day following these events, the 4th of may, 
2006, the occupation of the town of San Salvador 
Atenco took place through the implementation of 
the military operative "tapete" (known operative 
used by all of the fascist governments as a form 
of State-sponsored terrorism) by 4,500 police 
agents. The majority of the inhabitants of the 
town were in their homes and only a few of them 
maintained guard in a peaceful manner when the 
brutal attack was unleashed by the "forces of 
public order", at which point the withdrawal of 
the community guards that were in the plaza of 
the town of Atenco began. It is here that the 
first arbitrary and indiscriminate detentions of 
any person that transited the site took place. 
Also, with the pretext of locating the supposed 
kidnapped agents, the forces illegally entered 
the different homes (that were pointed out by 
helicopters and neighboring homes) where they 
looted, beat, terrorized, threatened and detained 
the people they found. The result was the 
detention of 106 more people, amongst them women 
and children; of these 106 people, 29 of them 
were women of different identities, sectors of 
the population and nationalities; also 
highlighted are the reports of rape and multiple 
aggressions against women inhabitants who were not detained.



The result of these police attacks was the 
incarceration of 52 women whom were treated in a 
brutal manner and subjected to sexual crimes. 
Many of them were housewives, mothers, indigenous 
women, students, workers all those from the Other 
Campaign and flower vendors farming inhabitants 
of the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco.



Considering these events, we denounce:



1) The tumultuary (performed by more than one 
person, sometimes at the same time, on one 
person) rapes of different women during the 
takeover of San Salvador Atenco and during the 
transfer of the detainees to the prison of Santiaguito de Almoloya.



2) The brutal beating, torture, and psychological abuse that they received.



3) The lack of medical and psychological 
attention, which constitutes in yet another 
violation of their human rights as well as 
violates their sexual, reproductive and emotional health.



4) The lack of communication that they have been 
subjected to since their illegal detention up until this moment.



5) The sexual crimes committed against the women 
are not products of isolated acts, but are part 
of the systematic training of the police in order 
to repress, plant terror, and deactivate the 
autonomous political and social movements, 
especially the women's struggle of the Other Campaign.



6) The acts, specifically those here mentioned, 
in which we as women are taken as loot of war, in 
this case a fascist war used to plant the terror of the State.



7) The repression in San Salvador Atenco, 
particularly against the women of the Other 
Campaign, put to manifest the fascist character 
of the Mexican government and refers to the 
methods used by the Pinochet in Chile, Videla in 
Argentina, and the rest of the authoritarian 
governments that have devastated our planet.



8) The violation and neglect by the Mexican State 
of the international agreements and conventions 
against the discrimination, abuse and practice of violence against women.



9) The null participation, indifference, and lack 
of credibility of the governmental institutions 
dedicated to the defense of human rights, to 
women, and to the attention of their 
denunciations, such as the commission of Gender 
Equality of the federal and state Houses of Representatives.



10) The crimes of lesser humanity committed 
against the compañeras who were incarcerated (as 
well as those who were not) who lived the most 
atrocious experiences and damages of their lives. 
Although these atrocities are impossible to 
repair, we CANNOT leave them unpunished.



For that which has been expressed, we emphatically demand:



1) Impeachment and political trial of the 
President of the Government of Mexico, Vicente 
Fox Quezada; Secretary of Federal Public 
Security, Manuel Medina Mora; Governor of the 
State of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto; Secretary of 
State Government, Humberto Benitez Treviño; Head 
of the Greater State of the PFP (federal 
preventative police), Ardelio Vargas Fosado; 
Commissioner of the Agency of State Security, 
Wilfrido Robledo; and Municipal President of 
Texcoco, Dr. Higinio Martinez Miranda.



2) The destitution, assigning of responsibilities 
and punishment of the police involved in the rape 
and aggression against the women.



3) The veto of the Commission of Human Rights of 
the Organization of United Nations of the recent 
naming of Mexico as one of it's founding members, 
as well as sanctions derived from the violation 
and neglect of the agreements and conventions 
against the discrimination, abuse and practice of 
violence against women, signed by the Mexican government.



4) The appropriate medical and psychological 
attention on behalf of professional independent 
teams that respond to the necessities of the 
incarcerated compañeras and that guarantee their 
health and emotional and physical integrity.



5) The immediate end of the low-intensity war and 
terrorist tactics by the Mexican State against 
social fighters of the Other Campaign and other social movements.



6) The immediate stop of the violence that the 
State has practiced against women in Mexico and 
systematically covered up, that which is 
translated as tumultuary rapes, femicide 
throughout the height and length of the country, 
feminization of poverty, incarceration, 
disappearances, and murders of social fighters and human rights activists.



7) That given the severity of the rapes, they be 
considered a crime of lesser humanity by the corresponding petitions.



La Otra Campaña: VA!



Sincerely,



The women of the Other Campaign,

from below to the left, with all heart



The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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