by StarmanSkye » Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:07 pm
Apparently, the massive police and paramilitary attack on the city of Atenco last May 3 and 4 has touched a red-hot nerve in Mexican society, with great expressions of anger and outrage compelling Police officers to freely testify that they were given express orders to brutalize the city's residents, to make an example of them and thereby crush the people's willingness to show any support for grassroots activism and social justice movement -- But the raids were so botched, the police so poorly trained and equipped, that all order broke down, it became an opportunity to loot and arrest anyone they saw, even dragging people sleeping from their beds, and senseless beatings. Truly an horrific example of how endemic fraud and corruption has become in Mexico, where the biggest criminals are part of the ruling class and the police are so badly paid they just do what they're told and shake-down the public any way they can. A PERFECT example of how the globalist bankers and corporations have impoverished Mexico through trade agreements and IMF/World Bank shakedowns -- the same model exported to Iraq and Afghanistan and dozens of 3rd world nations.<br><br>Like most corrupt, illegitimate regimes, President Fox and other top officials were so isolated and disconnected from broad segments of the public who have been hard-hit by Mexico's neoliberal-policy-devastated economy, and so self-assured of their absolute authority to command human-rights abuses with impunity 'in Mexico's best interests' that they seriously misjudged the implications and consequences, and overestimated their ability to spin the news to hide the truth of their responsibility and contempt for law from the public.<br><br>Has anyone seen how the White House is reacting to the reports of officially-authorized Mexican brutality, or are they in denial mode (with MSM complicit in keeping this information from the Amnerican public)? Has the Spanish-language media channels like CNN been covering this at all, does anyone know?<br>Starman<br>******<br><br>June 5, 2006 <br>Please Distribute Widely <br><br><br>Dear Colleague, <br><br>Al Giordano reports from the Other Mexico on new police testimony that further reveals how the Atenco atrocities were planned and authorized from the top levels of the chain of command: <br><br>"Two reports this morning in the Mexican media demonstrate that the furor from below in response to brutality by government and media continues to turn on the perpetrators of the Atenco atrocity that shakes the conscience of the world. Early last month, more than 200 citizens were arrested, most of them beaten and tortured, and most of the 47 women among them were sexually abused or raped. The titanic <br>efforts by officials of the federal government of President Vicente Fox and that of State of Mexico Governor Enrique Peqa Nieto to stonewall, deny responsibility for the crime, and commit new violations of human rights to cover up those committed on the third and fourth of May, continue to unravel as the true facts surge from below. <br><br>"The front page of Mexico's largest daily newspaper, El Universal, today reports: 'At least fifty' of the state troopers that participated in the police raid on San Salvador Atenco on May 4 have testified that their brutality on that day was carried out on orders from their superiors. <br><br>"Rogelio Cortez Cruz, state police chief, who directed the raid, gave specific orders to brutalize the population and enter homes without a search warrant to carry out the arrests. He literally ordered the troopers to 'break the mothers' of the citizenry, to 'fuck them all' and to do so indiscriminately. The troopers testified that they received the same orders via police radio. At least fifty state troopers have testified to it in written statements, according to the newspaper." <br><br>Giordano reports that there are more signs that police are turning on their bosses in Mexico; a news crew from the Televisa network was run out of Atenco by angry townspeople while police looked on and did nothing. Read the full report here, in The Narco News Bulletin: <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1870.html">www.narconews.com/Issue41...e1870.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Police Testify that the Beatings and Arbitrary Arrests in Atenco Were Committed on Explict Orders from Above<br>Cops Turn Against their Bosses: the Atenco Citizenry Runs Televisa Out of Town in Front of Four State Troopers<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1869.html">www.narconews.com/Issue41...e1869.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>In Mexico, a Month Later, the Police Brutality in Atenco is Covered Up with Newer Violations of Human Rights<br>Political Prisoners, Many Still Gravely Wounded, Are Held Incommunicado and Without Access to Doctors, Family Members or Human Rights Investigators<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1843.html">www.narconews.com/Issue41...e1843.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Police Aggression in Atenco Meant to Send an “Intimidating Message” to the Mexican People<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1846.html">www.narconews.com/Issue41...e1846.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>The Zapatista Other Campaign and the Netwar over Defining Atenco<br>How a Horizontal Communications Network Unmasked Repression and Simulation by the Mexican State and Media<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1837.html">www.narconews.com/Issue41...e1837.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Several People Wounded By Bullets in the Invasion of Atenco, NGO Doctor Reveals<br>At Least Three of the Beaten Have Been Visited in Prison; The Most Gravely Injured Requires Hospitalization<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2006/05/18/mexico-violence-and-backlash-in-san-salvador-atenco/">www.globalvoicesonline.or...or-atenco/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Mexico: Violence and Backlash in San Salvador Atenco<br>A Blogger Scrutinizes Many of 3,000 Weblog Entries and Press Reports to Deconstruct What Really Happened<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1826.html">www.narconews.com/Issue41...e1826.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Police Recognize Atenco Repression as Illegal<br>“The government always uses us; we are always the bad guys in society’s eyes, but the reality is that these are orders we receive from the government and from our commanders, to repress.”<br>--interview excerpt--<br>A: The order was for all the shock troops to go in ahead, by sector. We were all to go in behind them; as control groups we didn’t have the appropriate equipment, so they were going to in. And no, there was no training, we were just told to beat people when there were no media around, that is, to be discreet. You couldn’t just hit the people openly because there were cameras around that could spot you.<br><br>The order is always clear when we are working for these people. There is no discussion: hit the people, and do it when the media aren’t around. And in this case, it was to hit anything that moved… that’s why…<br>...<br>A: The truth is when we are called into service we never have time to disarm; it’s always just “hurry up, there’s a job to do,” and we always come armed and hide the guns in our pants or shirts so that the people don’t notice. We carry R-15s, shotguns and 38s. That is the armament that the police chiefs have, but there are also 9mm guns out there… few, but they exist. There are times that people from the Department of the Interior or public attorneys come by and inspect a few cops, but they don’t look inside our shirts and jackets, where we hide them. But yes, we always carry guns; not everyone, but if some of us carry guns no one is going to take them away.<br>...<br>But there was never any control over what was done to the houses. Sometimes, when we were removing people, all the cops showed up to loot the place, to take whatever they could find: money, jewelry, anything that could be stuffed into their pockets without being seen.<br><br>In this case the Federal Police entered as well, and started to loot, just like the state police…<br>...<br>A: No, no. It was to arrest anything that moved, everyone there, because a lot of people were detained who had nothing to do with all this. Some of them were on their way to work, some were riding their bikes just to see what was happening, but they got swept up as well. Anyone in the streets and also people who were taken out of their homes.<br>...<br>A: What the “Shock Group” does is always to disperse the people. In this case the idea was also to enter the houses and get out all the people that they could.<br><br>We even had to drag people out who were still asleep, young people sleeping; you grabbed them and dragged them out — people, old women, that was the order. Bring out everyone and arrest them. And by this point no one cared if they were leaders or people who had participated in the marches. They weren’t looking for who did it, but rather who they could get money from. In fact, we didn’t even know who the leaders were… I think that was why there were so many people taken and many leaders who weren’t… Because the police didn’t know who the leaders were. The police themselves, well, they’re from all over; the only ones who might have known the leaders were the Texcoco police. They could know the leaders after so many marches, but all those others they brought in from different cities don’t even know the townspeople, and so all they did was take in anyone who they found.<br>...<br>What would you like to say to the people listening to this?<br><br>A: The truth is I am indignant, I am ashamed of everything that happened… now, seeing it all on television, the truth is that it is outrageous what I saw, what happened to that town, and in the end we are human beings too.<br><br>Yes, but there are many excesses that should not have happened.<br><br>The people should be conscious of the fact that these orders come from above. No, the police don’t make the law; they oblige us to do this kind of job.<br><br>Q: What would you like to say to the government?<br><br>A: To the government, first of all, this is no way to govern, repressing the people. After that, well, give us training, but professional training.<br><br>Q: What would you like to say to the people of Atenco?<br><br>A: Well, that we’re sorry for everything the police did to you, in the name of all the police. The truth is that as my fellow officer here said, there were excesses and we hope you’ll forgive us. Orders are orders; if we don’t follow them there are repercussions for us.<br><br>Unfortunately, those of us here have families to support and it is not easy to find another job.<br><br>We can’t speak openly about this because we would lose our jobs.<br>*****<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com/otroperiodismo/">www.narconews.com/otroperiodismo/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br>INDEX<br><br>-- From somewhere in a country called Amirica, <br>Dan Feder <br>Managing Editor <br>The Narco News Bulletin <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.narconews.com">www.narconews.com</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br>d...@narconews.com <br><br>Narco News is supported by: <br>The Fund for Authentic Journalism <br>P.O. Box 241 <br>Natick, MA 01760 <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.authenticjournalism.org">www.authenticjournalism.org</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=starmanskye>StarmanSkye</A> at: 6/5/06 10:29 pm<br></i>
