For almost two months, the teachers union in the Mexican state of Morelos rose up against the "Alliance for Quality Education", a neo-liberal plan akin to "No Child Left Behind" that would pave the way to the privatization of education, among other things.

They were supported by the people of Morelos in their marches, encampments in public plazas, and blockades of interstate highways. On October 7, 8, and 9, the army and state and federal police were sent in to brutally smash the movement. This model is a mirror of the crackdown that occurred in Oaxaca in 2006 and has enraged teachers and the public across Mexico.

There is little to no information in English about the situation in Morelos, but there are photos that don't require translation. Photos

Several hundred protesters, mostly students, took to the streets of Tijuana, Mexico October 4 in remembrance of the 1968 massacre of leftist students in Tlatelolco Plaza. At that time hundreds, perhaps thousands of students were killed when troops opened fire on a demonstration protesting the Mexico City Olympics.

The Mexican government meant to put an end to the student movement, whose leadership was wiped out. Luis Echeverría, who was Minister of the Interior in 1968, gave the order for the massacre. He was later made President of Mexico under the rule of the PRI Party. Echeverría was charged with genocide in 2006, but the charge was dropped because of the statute of limitations. Documents have become declassified showing that the CIA was involved in the preparations for the massacre. In Tijuana, the demonstrators chanted “ni perdon, ni olvido” (no forgiveness, no forgetting).

Rally organizers and other student speakers told the crowd that gathered in front of a Calimax market that they must unite to oppose the selling off of the state-owned Pemex oil conglomerate to greedy world corporate interests, as well as create a student movement that would increase the quality and availability of 21st Century educational opportunities for all, including the poor. Read More and See Photos

The indynewswire show airs weekly on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM, Friday mornings 10-12 noon, broadcasting news and opinion from independent media worldwide, focused on indymedia sites but also drawing from other websites. The October 3rd episode features discussion of sexual violence, patriarchy, and militarism across Mexico. This show is dedicated to Sali (Marcella Grace Eiler), found dead September 24th in San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca, Mexico. Read More and Listen to Audio

related links: Mujeres y la Sexta || Mexico Solidarity Network || Lydia Cacho || MexicoReporter.com || El Enemigo Común || Tlatelolco - the 40th anniversary || “The Road To Hell” || Community Radio Producers Murdered in Mexico || Standing With Those Who Fight for Themselves || The right to choose is not enough - Mexico DF

Marcella "Sali" Grace Eiler, a solidarity activist with the struggle in Oaxaca and Chiapas, was found dead on September 24th in a deserted cabin twenty minutes from the village of San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca, Mexico. She was brutally raped and murdered.

Sali, born in Eugene, Oregon, USA, was always inclined to help. She used her artistic talents to paint, Arabic dancing to raise funds for the struggle, put on punk shows, published photos on indymedia, gave self-defense courses to women, and much more. Sali was also an international accompanier for people in Oaxaca who felt harassed by the Oaxacan government of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

On different occasions and to different people, Sali mentioned that recently she had suffered political persecution and surveillance in Oaxaca. Many people believe that her murder is part of the widespread repression against the social movement and directed particularly at international observers. Because of this, it is believed that the intellectual authors of Sali's killing are the same who ordered the repression against the people of Oaxaca in their struggle for justice and freedom.

On September 30th, the day Sali would have turned 21, a march was held in Oaxaca demanding justice for Sali and an end to violence against women. (Photos)

Read More with Photos, Video and Poetry | Ya Basta De Asesinatos Contra Los Que Luchan Por La Justicia Y Libertad!

In response to international pressure, US officials returned to members of Pastors for Peace 32 computers bound for Cuba. Federal agents seized the computers from the humanitarian group as they attempted to cross the Pharr International Bridge early on July 3 at the US-Mexico border. The confiscated computers were officially released by US authorities early this week and are now en route to Cuba.

With this successful challenge to the US blockade of shipments to Cuba, the 19th such challenge by IFCO/Pastors for Peace, it appears that every item of the nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid collected by the caravan from all across the US will in fact make it to its ultimate destination. The donation to the people of Cuba includes wheelchairs, medicine, medical equipment, musical instruments, sports equipment, six brightly-painted school buses and a bookmobile.

The confiscated computers were donated by a Japanese-American group from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Challenge to US Blockade Against Cuba a Success | 19th US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan Blog | Pastors for Peace

Previous Indybay coverage

Under the guise of the "War on Drugs" the Mexican Army has increased its presence around the Zapatistas autonomous municipalities in La Garrucha — the last place Subcomandante Marcos was seen. On June 4, a convoy of 200 army, state and local police tried to enter La Garrucha under the pretext of “looking for marijuana plants,” but were turned away by Zapatista men, women and children armed only with machetes and stones.

While the violence surrounding drug cartels in Mexico causes great alarm in Mexico and abroad, the targeting of the Zapatista communities in the "War on Drugs" is equally alarming.

Mary Anne Tenuto of the Chiapas Support Committee recently wrote, "President Bush has proposed a billion dollars in military assistance to Mexico for its war on drugs. A bill known as the Merida Initiative, more commonly labeled 'Plan Mexico,' after the failed Plan Colombia, is currently winding a twisted path through the two houses of Congress as H.R. 6028. Each house has approved a different version of the bill and lots of political influences are at play: defense contractors; Mexican politicians; and human rights groups to name a few. Much of the money would go to U.S. defense contractors to buy those helicopters that swoop down on protesting communities, like in Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Atenco and many others."

The Chiapas Support Committee will host a discussion on the recent militarization in Mexico. They will also present a film about military repression of indigenous communities in the Mexican state of Guerrero at 7:30 p.m. on June 26 at the Unitarian Universalists Church in Berkeley (1924 Cedar St.). Their story is the story of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Atenco and organized indigenous communities throughout Mexico.

Mexican Army Incursions Threaten Zapatista Jungle Region | Plan Mexico threatens peaceful Mexican communities | Event Announcement: Chiapas Support Committee | Previous Coverage

Hector Antonio Ventura, one of 14 people arrested during an anti-water privatization protest last year in the town of Suchitoto, El Salvador, was assassinated in his home on May 3. The assailants apparently stabbed him to death, while another man was attacked but survived. Organizations such as the legal group FESPAD have called for a full investigation into the death of the 19-year old Ventura, while expressing concern that Salvadoran authorities will not address the likely political motivation for the murder.

Read more

More news from El Salvador: From U.S. to El Salvador, ‘gangs’ and the ‘global war on terror’ | Another SOA?: A Police Academy in El Salvador Worries Critics | El Salvador: FMLN Mayor Assassinated in Usulután | Funes Still Ahead in Salvadoran Race

On April 7, two indigenous Triqui women who worked at the community radio station La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (The Voice that Breaks the Silence), in the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala (Mixteca region), were shot and murdered while on their way to Oaxaca City to participate in the State Forum for the Defense of the Rights of the Peoples of Oaxaca. Three other people were injured.

According to the state attorney general, the victims are Teresa Bautista Merino (24 years old) and Felícitas Martínez Sánchez (20 years old). Francisco Vásquez Martínez (30 years old), his wife Cristina Martínez Flores (22 years old), and their son Jaciel Vásquez Martínez (three years old) were also injured in the attack.

According to prelimary reports, the women had left the station, which is part of the Network of Indigenous Community Radio Stations of the Southeast (Red de Radios Comunitarias Indígenas del Sureste), around 1 p.m. They were traveling in a truck on their way to Oaxaca City, but were ambushed on the outskirts of the community of Llano Juarez.

The two community radio activists were supposed to coordinate the working group for Community and Alternative Communication: Community Radio, Video, Press, and Internet, at the State Forum for the Defense of the Rights of the People of Oaxaca, which was to begin on April 9 in the auditorium of the teachers union in Oaxaca. The Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS) released a statement denouncing the murders and demanding that the state authorities investigate and punish those responsible for the crime.

The state attorney general said that twenty 7.62 caliber bullet shells were found at the site of the murders, along with other arms including an AK-47. International supporters have been asked to contact their local embassies and consulates and organize demonstrations condemning the paramilitary repression of indigenous women and community media projects.

Read more | Two Community Radio Announcers Killed in Copala, Oaxaca | Deep Dish TV blog

The international network demanding accountability for the murder of US journalist Brad Will released secret documents detailing proposed military support for Mexican security forces implicated in murder, torture and continuing arbitrary detentions.

“Finally we were able to obtain these documents, which even Members of Congress have yet to see. We hope that by releasing them to the public we will be able to better make our case for withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military subsidies to the Mexican military. The murderers of Brad and many others in Oaxaca and Atenco and Chiapas must be brought to justice if U.S. support for human rights is to mean anything.” said Harry Bubbins, of Friends of Brad Will. Over 70% of the proposed $1.5 billion would entail lethal aid analysts revealed.

President Bush announced a $1.5 billion dollar “security cooperation initiative” proposal for Mexico that the President is trying to bury into the Iraq supplemental spending package submitted to Congress. The initiative allows sharing of U.S. military intelligence information with Mexican military counterparts and provides weaponry and training with the notoriously corrupt and brutal Mexican military and police. Read More

PDF of leaked documents: high resolution (33 MB) or low resolution (3 MB) | Indynewswire: Harry Bubbins on Plan Mexico and Brad Will | Stop "Plan Mexico" (Merida Initiative) | Friends of Brad Will | El Enemigo Común

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez sent ten battalions of 600 soldiers each to the border with Colombia and put his air force on alert after the Colombian military crossed the Ecuadorian border on March 1 and killed 18 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Among those killed was Raúl Reyes, who was second-in-command and top negotiator for the FARC. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa also fortified his border with Colombia after the incident. Both Ecuador and Venezuela withdrew their ambassadors from Colombia on March 2.

Chávez is in the midst of negotiations with the FARC to release hostages, several of whom have already been freed. He warned that a Colombian operation against the FARC inside Venezuela would be a “causus belli,” or cause for war, and charged the Colombian government is acting at the behest of the U.S. He called Colombian President Álvaro Uribe a "criminal" and Colombia a "terrorist state."

Democracy Now: With U.S. Assistance, Colombian Troops Attack and Kill 20 FARC Rebels Inside Ecuador | Build-up of troops on Colombia's borders sparks fears of war | Colombia raid angers Chavez | Colombia Kills FARC Negotiator | Ecuador & Venezuela order troops to Colombia border | Colombia accuses Ecuador's Correa of FARC ties | en español: Indymedia Ecuador | Indymedia Colombia