Follow-up on return to Copala and arrest of David Venegas Reyes

Oaxaca de Juárez, January 29, 2012   10:42 pm

Rally in support of Autonomy for San Juan Copala Monday, January 30, 5 pm, Cathedral, City of Oaxaca

The state government’s false discourse of peace and progress was exposed for what it really is today January 29, 2012, when officials made a clumsy attempt to distract attention from the violence against the inhabitants of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala by arresting our comrade David Venegas Reyes and ordering a police blockade to prevent the return of the displaced people of Copala. These actions mark a clear government offensive against the Autonomy of San Juan Copala.

David Venegas Reyes was presented around 20:30 in the General Headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security in Santa María Coyotepec, where we learned that he is being accused of “assault, threats and bodily harm to public officials,” according to the testimony of Eusebio Nicolás Hernández and Cielito Sánchez García. He was then transferred to the State Attorney General’s office in what they call Judicial City, where he is now being held.

In view of these events and the critical situation in which the comrades from the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala have been placed by the state government actions of today, we call for a rally to be held on Monday, January 30 at 5 pm across from the Cathedral in the city of Oaxaca.

Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom (VOCAL)