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WITNESS FOR PEACE MEXICO

WFP NEWS, NOTICIAS AND SALUDOS

October 2006

WFP NEWS, NOTICIAS AND SALUDOS INFORMATION

This bi-monthly update is a way for us to share with you a news summary and analysis of happenings in Mexico related to trade and U.S. policy (a voice that is difficult to hear al otro lado, on the other side). It is also a space to share news from the communities and organizations we work with in Mexico, places that many of you have visited on delegations. Finally, but most importantly, we hope our Returned Delegate Action Update will serve all of you in sharing your accomplishments in building the movement back home.

1. MONTHLY NEWS SUMMARIES

Oaxaca Update: The Threat of Military Intervention Still Looms
Broadening the Debate on Migration

Government, Business Magnates from NAFTA Countries Secretly at Work to Privatize Post-Fox Mexico
López Obrador Supporters Protest Electoral Fraud and U.S.-backed Privatization

2. ACTION UPDATE/ CAMPAIGN REPORTS

Roots of Migration Speakers Tour in Minnesota!
Delegation Report Backs and Delegate Actions
Organize or Participate in a WFP Delegation to Mexico!

3. SALUDOS FROM THE MEXICO TEAM

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1. MONTHLY NEWS SUMMARIES

Oaxaca update: The Threat of Military Intervention Still Looms

As promised in the Action Alert we sent out October 6(http://witnessforpeace.org/Oaxaca/action%20alert.html), this is the first of a series of updates regarding the ever-tense situation here in Oaxaca. First a very warm thank you to all those who replied and put pressure on the US embassy and State Department! We would like to think that this pressure helped considerably, as there were signs of preliminary agreements between the Federal Government, the Popular Assemby of the People of Oaxaca (APPO – by their initials in Spanish), and the National Teacher’s Union Section 22 on Monday October 9. The Federal Government was willing to concede a number of the movement’s demands: the cancellation of over 300 arrest warrants issued against the APPO since last June, the Army and Navy would go back to doing only their “normal activities” (implying there would be no military intervention), the release of all prisoners involved in the conflict, and the boost of teacher’s salaries, amongst other things. In return the APPO and Teacher’s Union Section 22 said they would give up their encampments throughout the city, give back the radio and TV station, stop the barricades and other road blockades, and the teachers would go back to class on Monday October 16. These were preliminary agreements, however they were not official nor signed, and were pending a consultation process within the base of the APPO and the Teacher’s Union, planned to start Wednesday October 11. Precariously absent from the preliminary accords was the movements’ “nonnegotiable demand” of the forced resignation of the governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, whose fate lies in the Mexico’s Federal Senate. On Monday the 9^th 5,000 Oaxacans arrived to Mexico City, after marching for 18 days from Oaxaca City, to install an indefinite encampment in front of the senate to pressure for the governor’s removal.

On Wednesday October 11, whatever brief tension that was lifted from the optimism of the possible preliminary accords, came crashing back down onto the city. On this day a special federal commission from the senate was supposed to arrive (they didn’t end up coming until Thursday) to investigate if the public powers were indeed functioning in the state of Oaxaca. If they were to determine that the state was not being governed, the Senate could appoint a provisional governor – who would call for new elections. In response, the current governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz ordered that all public agencies and offices, which had been closed for months, be re-opened and operating. The APPO quickly responded by first sequestering 10 city busses which they used to blockade key intersections in the city, then sending out several “moving brigades” to symbolically close down all public offices. There was a confrontation when a moving brigade tried to close down the Ministry of Public Protection. Several men, allegedly police in civilian clothing, emerged from the office and began to shoot at the brigade. Four people were injured, two shot in the leg. The immediate response of the Teacher’s Union Section 22 and the APPO was to stop the consultation process (to approve the preliminary accords), and wait for the Senate’s decision about the fate of the governor. On Friday, the special Senate commission went back to Mexico City to work on their report, which could be finished early this week, for a vote on Tuesday or Thursday. Meanwhile the Secretary of the Interior, Carlos Abascal, who heads the Federal government’s delicate negotiation process with the APPO and the teachers, said on Friday that if the Section 22’s teachers do not go back to class on Monday, other alternatives to resolve the crisis will have to be considered, including the entrance of “federal forces” into the city of Oaxaca to “restore order.”

At 2:30 am Saturday morning APPO sympathizer Alejandro Garcia Hernandez was killed after being shot in the head by a soldier in civilian clothes at a barricade in the city. The shooter’s wallet dropped when pulling out his pistol and his identification, left at the scene, revealed that he was a lieutenant in the Mexican army, 22 year old Johnathan Rios Vasquez, and helped lead to his apprehension by local police later that morning. Barricades made of sand bags, barbed wire, wood slats, used furniture, and often large bonfires go up every night throughout Oaxaca City blocking key intersections and streets as the movement’s way to protect encampments blocking the city’s central plaza, key public offices, and taken-over radio and TV stations. The soldier opened fire after the people at the barricade would not let him pass in his truck, allegedly yelling “Long Live Ulises!”- in reference to support of the governor. Hernandez is the sixth APPO sympathizer to be killed since August. The APPO immediately asked the Federal Government for an explanation, and this latest incident has many thinking that the negotiation process is at its lowest point in two months.

As the situation in Oaxaca continues on its rollercoaster ride of ups and downs one thing that remains constant is the 76 percent of the state’s population that suffers from poverty or extreme poverty. As Miguel Angel Vasquez from the Oaxacan non-governmental organization EDUCA puts it “the teacher’s strike began the current conflict as we see it, but the genesis of this conflict comes from an economic structural crisis,” a crisis that produces “150,000 migrants per year.” Vasquez says that “if migration is the individual response to this economic crisis, the conflict in Oaxaca is an example of a collective response.” We ask readers to continue to pressure the US Embassy and State Department – asking them if the NAFTA economic model was supposed to create prosperity, democracy, and stability, then what is happening in Oaxaca? We also urge people to remain extremely alert to a still on-going threat of what undoubtedly would be a bloody military intervention.

Sources: La Jornada, Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca, Interview with Miguel Angel Vasquez September 2006

Broadening the Debate on Migration

With this year’s debates in Congress and massive grassroots mobilization around immigrant rights, the migration issue has taken center stage. While the national debate has focused primarily on the pull factors and effects of migration on communities in the U.S., there has been little if any focus on root causes of the current migratory phenomenon. Recognizing this gap in the national debate Witness for Peace has prioritized the roots of migration as an important area of our work in the upcoming year. Our desire is to begin to help shape the national debate around an analysis of the clear link between neoliberal policy and the reasons many leave their homes to head north. In addition to a broader analysis, we want to gather testimonies of uprooted individuals and communities to help introduce the human element that is often absent in this debate.

In an effort to show our solidarity with the stateside grassroots movement and to honor the journeys of migrants from start to finish, we have created this section in Notícias y Saludos to include brief updates and links to more information on important immigration news stories that have emerged.

President Bush signs Border Fence into Law: On their last day in session, the Senate passed (80-19) H.R. 6061, known as the “Secure Fence Act of 2006,” which was signed into law by President Bush on October 4^th. The total cost of the proposed 700-mile border fence and accompanying enforcement measures remains unknown, though estimates reach $12 billion. Just $1.2 billion have been appropriated to date and many questions linger about how and whether the rest will be provided in the future. The fence leaves vast sections of the most treacherous desert open, causing many to criticize it as a continuation of the deadly “deterrent” strategy already proven to be a failure on the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican officials have criticized the bill and said it will hurt relations between the countries. Several other immigration enforcement bills remain pending, including a House bill to authorize state and local police to enforce immigration laws.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/148996 , http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060914-112242-9193r.htm ,

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061011-122935-8993r.htm

Fiscal Year 2006 border death count – 426 migrants died crossing into the US: Though official reports had not yet been released as of this writing for the fiscal year ending October 1^st, preliminary findings showed a slight drop (FY’05: 473à FY’06: 426 [until 9/15]) in the number of undocumented migrant deaths on the U.S.’ southern border for the first time in six years. Explanations vary for the decrease but include increased rainfall, public service announcements about the dangers of the desert aired on Mexican television and increased presence of enforcement agents on the border.

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/148839.php

Trial of humanitarian aid workers thrown out: A judge in Tucson recently dismissed charges in the trial of two humanitarian aid workers arrested in July of ’05 by the Border Patrol while attempting to medically evacuate three ailing Mexican migrants from the Arizona desert. Activists are hailing the decision as an important victory for all humanitarians and concerned border residents. http://nomoredeaths.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=31

Sanctuary for Mexican immigrant continues: Elvira Arellano, immigrant rights spokesperson and undocumented migrant from Michoacan, Mexico, is being called “the Rosa Parks of our time” after instead of presenting herself for a deportation order on August 15^th, she arrived at her community church and asked for sanctuary. She remains with her son at Adalberto United Methodist Church on the west side of Chicago to this day, continuing to act as the primary figure in a campaign to resist the separation of families based on unjust immigration law. After a federal district judge recently dismissed a case that claimed deportation would violate her son’s rights, 7-year old Saúl traveled to Washingon D.C. to deliver a handwritten letter to the White House gates asking President Bush for a meeting with his mother and close supporters.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/nearnorthwest/chi-0610030123oct03,1,3613683.story?coll=chi-newslocalnearnorthwest-hed, http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060819185919809,

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-arellano-storygallery,1,7799279.storygallery?coll=chi-photo-front

Walls, Death, and the Roots of Migration: Thoughts from the WfP Mexico Team

Maria Mendoza of the Oaxacan community Teotitlan del Valle says “it doesn’t matter if they build another wall, the same amount if not more people will continue to migrate.” Her words should not be taken lightly, she has many relatives that are in the US, comes from a state that expels 150,000 people per year, and a community that has a 50 percent rate of migration. We can only imagine what Maria felt about President Bush signing into law that another wall will be built on the border, four days after it was revealed that 426 more people died this past year crossing into the US. If we can assume the same amount or more people from Mexico and Central America will continue to migrate to the US, this new wall will simply re-channel people to even more dangerous and isolated regions along the border, with even more death being the result. With legislation that only deals with enforcement, and does not look at the migration phenomenon holistically, especially economic models promoted by the US in Latin America, the same flow of people will continue to come no matter how many people and how many walls we put up.

The U.S.-Mexico border is said to be the most frequently crossed international border in world. Because of the prevalence and growth of migration to the U.S. over the past few decades, the issue has truly touched us all, whether it be through a local news story or the passage of new national legislation. Though the issue has recently risen to the top of the news headlines, it is far from new; rather, migration carries deep roots to which all of us are connected. People have been migrating from place to place for thousands of years in an effort to survive and search for better opportunities for their families. In Spanish the word tierra has three levels of meaning: 1. the earth, 2. the soil, and probably the most poetic 3. the place where one belongs (physically, emotionally, and spiritually). Migration is most often a familial sacrifice, and most do not want to leave this place where they belong, their tierra. Almost all say if there were opportunities here in Mexico, they would not consider leaving at all.

Government, Business Magnates from NAFTA Countries Secretly at Work to Privatize Post-Fox Mexico

The official results of the Mexico presidential elections are a boost for furtive players in North American energy privatization and security contracting, as evidenced by the attendance of three members of president-elect Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s transitional team at an exclusive meeting of elites between September 12 and 14 in Banff Springs, Alberta, Canada. Representatives from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada attended the second general meeting of the North American Forum (NAF), sponsored by the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America (ITFNA), which is an arm of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a right-leaning U.S.-based policy think-tank. Attending from Mexico’s incoming government were Juan Camilo Mouriño, coordinator of the Calderón transitional team and beneficiary of family ownership of part of Pemex, the moderately privatized but largely state-owned oil company, Arturo Sarukhán, international affairs director for Mr. Calderón, and Ernesto Cordero, Mr. Calderón’s economic advisor. The list also included other high ranking business leaders and government affiliates from Mexico, including Pemex officials and, most notably, Pedro Aspe Armella, Mexican Secretary of Finance under Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who promoted and supervised the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Aspe Armella, along with Meter Lougheed of Canada and George P. Schultz, U.S. Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, convened the meeting as part of ITFNA’s ongoing exploration of methods to “deeply-integrate” the three North American trading partners.

The full range of U.S. participants at the Banff Springs meeting included high ranking military officers, such as commanders of NORAD and NORTHCOM; heads of security and international security partnerships, such as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; large defense contractors, such as Lockheed Martin; petroleum companies, such as Chevron; representatives and CEOs of other large firms; and a handful of policy analysts and university professors. Canadian and Mexican participants with corresponding roles were present as well.

Among the measures proposed by ITFNA and a topic of discussion at the Banff Springs meeting, is the full development of “Mexican energy resources to make greater use of international technology and capital” (see http://www.cfr.org/publication/8104/). Under the Mexican Constitution, Article 27, the energy resources of the nation belong to the Mexican people, even though some modifications have been made allowing for foreign development of Pemex.

The association of Mexican officials with the Banff Springs meeting led many Mexican protesters to denounce the “sale of Pemex.” Mr. Calderón, in response to the public outcry accompanying the meeting’s publicity, declared that he has no intention of privatizing the energy sector—this despite the sweeping allowances for investment that are included in the legislative agenda he recently promulgated on behalf of his neoliberal National Action Party (PAN). The PAN agenda advocates competitive electricity prices and development of already existing state-owned companies, provisions which may pave the way for the establishment of private producers and investors apart from government regulation. Moreover, with respect to Pemex, the agenda calls for mechanisms that increase investment, especially in the secondary production areas of refining, petrochemical production, transportation, and distribution.

Although the intentions of ITFNA are accessible, most notably via the CFR website (see link above) and the ITFNA publication Building a North American Community, the NAF meetings have been criticized for their secrecy and exclusiveness: the public has no input and big-business has the key role in forging and recommending policy that serves its interests. ITFNA’s influential emphasis on maximum trade and security integration of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada make the group a significant player in what many critics dub NAFTA-Plus, the body of initiatives and laws aimed at amplifying the measures and outputs of the 1994 free trade agreement and drastically upgrading security strategies to encompass all of North America.

An unofficially related and very significant tri-national partnership with NAFTA-Plus aims is the taxpayer-sponsored Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) (see http://www.spp.gov/), launched in March 2005 by the three leaders of the NAFTA countries and organized in the U.S. under the Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce. One of the main priority areas of the SPP is energy security, which includes improving “regulatory compatibility”—which for Mexico would mean deregulation and more openness to private investment. The SPP agenda, like that of ITFNA, is closed to democratic input: it has no official congressional oversight and its invited priority directors are big-business representatives. The ITFNA has applauded the initiatives of the SPP, whose member-advisors potentially overlap with their organization.

Sources: La Jornada, World Net Daily, Security and Prosperity Partnership website, adnmundo.com, Council on Foreign Relations website, The Agonist, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

López Obrador Supporters Protest Electoral Fraud and U.S.-backed Privatization

On September 23^rd federal riot police shielded Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Mexico’s president-elect of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), from eggs hurled at him by supporters of his rival in the July 2^nd presidential contest, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of the left-center Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). Demonstrations like these have become commonplace since early September, when the Superior Court of the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) declared Mr. Calderón the winner of the closest presidential election in Mexico’s history. Despite the final ruling of the TEPJF—which came after a partial recount of about 9% of the ballot boxes—leaders from the PRD and other AMLO supporters who believe the election was a fraud convened the National Democratic Convention (CND) and, on September 16, declared their candidate the “legitimate president” of Mexico. The CND charged AMLO to “take office” on November 20, preempting the official December 1 inauguration of Mr. Calderón. A notable PRD opponent of this controversial measure has been Cuauhtémoc Cardenas, founder of the party and presidential hopeful in the fraudulent 1988 elections.

Up to the point of the CND’s declaration, hundreds of thousands of AMLO’s followers mounted a 47-day nonviolent protest in Mexico City’s main square demanding a full recount of the presidential ballots. Officially, there were only about 240,000 votes difference between the two candidates in an election where 41 million were cast. For more on electoral process concerns, see the interviews at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/05/1329233&mode=thread&tid=25 and the articles by Mark Weisbrot et al. at http://www.cepr.net/pages/americas.htm.

In addition to establishing their candidate as a rival president, the PRD has vowed extensive acts of civil disobedience, including coordinated boycotts of some U.S.-based companies that openly supported Felipe Calderón and his neoliberal National Action Party, which promise to serve their business interests. Mr. Calderon’s campaign received contributions and endorsements from Mexican subsidiaries of large U.S. firms such as Wal-Mart, Wonder, PepsiCo (including Frito-Lay brands), and Coca-Cola.

Supporters of AMLO have also protested the energy privatization agenda of Mr. Calderón, who was Mexico’s Energy Secretary under Vicente Fox. The threat of energy concessions became prominent after news broke of a recent, exclusive meeting in Banff Springs, Canada, where political and business elites of the U.S. and Mexico discussed foreign investment in Mexican petroleum. Pemex, the state-owned oil company currently open to limited private development, is protected and regulated under the Mexican constitution, as are two other electricity companies.

Sources: La Jornada, Democracy Now!, Center for Economic and Policy Research, El Universal

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2. ACTION UPDATE/ CAMPAIGN REPORTS

Roots of Migration Speakers Tour in the WFP Upper Midwest Region!

Jesús León, one of the founders of the organization CEDICAM (Center for Integral Campesino Development of the Mixteca), will be speaking to audiences all over Minnesota this October. Jesús, from the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, was invited by the Witness for Peace Upper Midwest Region to speak about his experiences as a small farmer in the Mixteca, which experiences the highest rate of migration in the state of Oaxaca, and how he has witnessed migration affect communities in the Mexican countryside. In the tour he talks about the root causes of migration, including the effects of NAFTA on small farming communities, and talk about the important work of CEDICAM and the efforts of the organization to build healthy, sustainable communities. Mexico International Team member Lauren Dasse will be accompanying Jesús on the tour. For more information about the speakers tour in Minnesota, from October 9^th to the 21^st, please contact WFP Upper Midwest Regional Organizer

Patrick Leet, wfpumw@witnessforpeace.org

Hope to see you at the events!

MEXICO DELEGATION REPORTBACKS and RETURNED DELEGATE ACTIONS

Free Trade and the Roots of Migration, WFP Northwest Region, Delegation to Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca: July 23-31, 2006

Former Mexico International Team Members Leo Gorman and Nikki Thanos, currently residing in the Portland, Oregon area, organized an amazing delegation focusing on the roots of migration. The delegation spent time in Mexico City, meeting with Mexican non-profit organizations learning about free trade agreements, the affects of such agreements on the Mexican countryside, and how migration is a result of these policies. The delegation also traveled to the U.S. Embassy to hear their side of the story and to report back what they had learned from the Mexican NGOs. The group then traveled to the city of Puebla to learn about labor issues in the maquiladoras, foreign-owned assembly factories. The delegation also made it to the state of Oaxaca, one of the main migration sender states, and met with a Oaxacan NGO about the current social movement here in Oaxaca and migration. The group also spent two nights in a community in the Mixteca region in Oaxaca State, the region with the highest rate of migration in Oaxaca, and spent time with families, hearing first hand how they have been affected by NAFTA and how migration has affected their communities. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful delegation experience, and we look forward to hearing from you all in the future!

Returned Delegate Actions/Report Backs

Sean Brandlin from the Roots of Migration delegation in July 2006 has been extremely active over the past few months! He writes, “Just recently, I kicked off an anti-sweatshop campaign at my school (California State University, Long Beach). I found out that the University signed onto the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), but has never submitted any report to the WRC about where and who they are buying apparel from. While the University will not deny or admit if the apparel sold on campus is made in sweatshops, the products sold remain questionable. While we hope that the products are not made in sweatshops, we will definitely apply pressure on the University if we find out that they are in fact selling products made in sweatshops.” In late September Sean also participated in a demonstration in support of Los Angeles Int’l Airport hotel workers who are trying to unionize. He was one of the 400 out of of thousands of demonstrators who were arrested in what is believed to be the largest act of civil disobedience in Los Angeles history, when demonstrators blocked access to the LAX airport. He is hopeful that the demonstration will encourage support for a living wage bill, which should be up for a vote in the Los Angeles City Council in the next few weeks. Sean also plans to attend this year’s School of the Americas Protest at Fort Benning, Georgia, and hopes to see many former delegates there.

We’ve also heard back from delegates from The Human Costs of Globalization: Roots of Exploitation and Migration delegation in late June/early July 2006, organized by the WFP New England Region. Delegate Jayne Newirth from Massachusetts has written a full report on her delegation experience! The report will be included in her church newsletter this fall. She says that there is also talk of creating actual booklets of her report about the delegation and having those available for anyone who is interested. Jayne has also been busy speaking with family and friends about the delegation, and she finds that by talking about all of the issues she learned about (Mexican elections, social movements, agricultural issues, etc.), she keeps the delegation experience alive. Emily Brown from Louisville, Kentucky, has been busy writing about the delegation to Chiapas. She is in the midst of working on an article for the Fellowship of Reconciliation Group in Louisville, and has already made one presentation and written 2 letters to the editor of her local newspaper. She hopes to make a presentation soon to the Kentucky Interfaith Task Force on Latin America. Delegate Barbara Baraw also wrote an article for her church newsletter in September and has had several offers to do presentations about the delegation. WFP New England Regional Organizer, Joanne Ranney, has created a booklet about the delegation experience, titled “Chiapas Is…” which includes a reflection on the delegation composed by all delegates (see www.lulu.com/ranney for more information). Joanne’s DVD, “Crossroads,” is also available—it is a collection of reflections inspired by WFP delegations to Chiapas, Nicaragua, and Cuba (www.aboriginalinnocence.net/Store_music.html for more info).

We’ve also heard from former delegates from the Warren Wilson College delegation to Oaxaca and Mexico City (April 2006). Professor and long time supporter of WFP Andy Summers reports that he has been working on creating an English version of the Neoliberal Monster. For those of you who have been fortunate to meet Onécimo Hidalgo from CIEPAC in San Cristobal, Chiapas, you know that one of the highlights of a talk with him are the fabulous, innovative drawings he comes up with to illustrate the effects of neoliberal policy in Mexico. Andy Summers and his artistic daughter, Andrea, have created a draft of what this Neoliberal Monster looks like, with subtitles in English, and we’ll keep you posted on its progress. We are waiting to hear what Onécimo thinks about taking the monster public! This could be the next big t-shirt design for the holidays. Delegate Maggie Holobaugh has been plenty busy traveling around Madagascar lately, and she reports that she has been speaking with as many people as possible about her delegation experience. She has also encouraged a journalist to travel to Mexico and write about important issues such as the root causes of migration and the effects of NAFTA on the Mexican countryside.

We love hearing from former delegates! Also, don’t forget to send us copies of your delegation photos, and we will personally deliver them to your host families, partner organizations here in Mexico, etc. Mail photos to:

Rob, Alexis, Lauren and Todd

Accion Permanente por la Paz

Apartado Postal 458 Centro

Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca 68000 MEXICO

Gracias!

Organize a Delegation to Mexico!

Friends, we still have room on our 2007 delegation schedule for more delegations to Mexico City, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. If you are interested in organizing a delegation, or even just a bit curious about what it takes to be a delegation coordinator, please do not hesitate to contact us at mexico@witnessforpeace.org or the WFP National Delegations Coordinator, Ken Crowley, at ken@witnessforpeace.org Here’s just a couple of possible delegation themes with WFP Mexico:

ROOTS OF MIGRATION Examine social and economic impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its direct link to migration of Mexicans to the United States. Learn about grassroots resistance to unjust and devastating global economic trends. Learn about communities and organizations working to actively create alternatives to migration. Hear about community struggles and changes in the face of many people migrating. Stay with families in communities that are experiencing migration. Meet with a variety of organizations invested in analysis of the roots of migration, preserving traditional cultures, protecting human rights, & creating alternatives (e.g. fair trade and other alternative economic models, sustainable agriculture and more). Be part of an effort to gather and bring north first-hand testimonies from migrant-sending communities. Contact us at mexico@witnessforpeace.org the WFP National Delegations Coordinator, Ken Crowley, at ken@witnessforpeace.org for more information.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN OAXACA Join us on these incredibly timely and important delegations to Oaxaca, and learn more about the background of the current uprising. Talk to Mexican non-governmental agencies about how U.S. policy has contributed to creating an unstable environment in Oaxaca. Isn´t free trade supposed to bring stability and democracy? Economic violence has turned into military violence in Oaxaca. Come on a Witness for Peace delegation to Oaxaca and find out how you can work to change injustice in Oaxaca by fighting for just economic policies in the U.S. Please contact mexico@witnessforpeace.org or ken@witnessforpeace.org for more information.

3. SALUDOS FROM THE MEXICO TEAM

Muchos saludos from the WFP Mexico Program! We are very excited to announce the arrival of two new International Team members in Oaxaca! Alexis Ball is originally from Wyoming (but many other states, as well), and has spent the last six years in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Alexis graduated from Colorado College and most recently completed a two year term with Americorps. Alexis is no stranger to the immigrant rights movement in the States, and has also been active in border issues for years, including an active participant in The Migrant Trail Walk and a volunteer desert camp coordinator with the No More Deaths movement. Robert Saper is originally from the Pittsburgh area and attended Gannon University in Erie, PA. Rob most recently finished up a term as a Jesuit Volunteer in Milwaukee, WI, teaching at an all girls school for children of Mexican immigrants. Rob also brings border experience, due to his having led delegations with Frontera de Cristo in Douglas, AZ, and Agua Prieta, Sonora. Welcome Rob and Alexis!

We also send very tense saludos from our home in Oaxaca. We have been closely following recent events and the threat still looms of a violent, repressive attack by military or police. We appreciate you all spreading the word about the situation here in Oaxaca.

En solidaridad,

Todd, Lauren, Alexis, Rob, and Reina the cat

Witness for Peace Mexico Program

mexico@witnessforpeace.org