[progchat_action] Community Radio Producers Murdered in Mexico
 
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:20:39 -0500 (CDT)


Community Radio Producers Murdered in Mexico

Women Gunned Down by Paramilitary in Oaxaca

www.indybay.org
Thu Apr 10 2008

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 Felmcitas Martmnez Sanchez (20 years old).
Francisco Vasquez Martmnez (30 years old), his wife Cristina Martmnez Flores
(22 years old), and their son Jaciel Vasquez Martmnez (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 Indmgenas 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.

http://www.indybay.org/international/americas/

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