W-HACKED IN JAIL

Back in 2006 what started as a teachers strike in Oaxaca, Mexico, escalated into a full blown rebellion against the local power structure that lasted for five months. After enduring regular beatings, arrests and a number of disappearances and murders, the uprising was finally brought to an end by a massive military and police operation involving thousands of personnel backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters (see SchNEWS 567). But that wasn’t the end of the matter for those who have continued to face persecution for their involvement.

One of the leaders of the movement, David Venegas, was arrested in 2007 and charged with possession of illegal drugs with intent to supply, sedition, conspiracy, arson, attacks on transit routes, rebellion, crimes against civil servants, dangerous attacks, and resisting arrest. Venegas beat all but the drug charge and was released on bail eleven months later. He maintains that the drugs were planted on him hours after he had been taken into custody. The case against him is so dubious that at least half of the police who participated in his arrest refuse to testify against him.

The verdict in this case was due at the start of April but, in what has been described as “harassment by delay”, it has been twice postponed. The first postponement came when Venegas failed to arrive 15 minutes early for the hearing of the process of ‘identification’ – a process nobody had bothered to inform him about beforehand. The latest delay came on April 13th when the judge stated that he needed more time to read the dossier information. A date for the verdict has not yet been set. The process has sparked a number of demonstrations by supporters who claim the delays are part of a campaign to prevent Venegas participating in the social movement.

Venegas is not the only participant of the 2006 uprising to face persecution. Last October police arrested Juan Martinez Moreno for the murder of Indymedia journalist Brad Will (see SchNEWS 653). Moreno remains in prison despite a recent injunction from the Federal Judiciary declaring his imprisonment pending trial to be unconstitutional due to irregularities in the case, (irregularities that we presume include the existence of photographic and video evidence that clearly depict the real killers, a motley crew including the ex-mayor of Oaxaca and two policeman).

* http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/04/oaxaca-david-venegas-verdict-delayed-again