[asia-apec 345] (ALERT) Police "kidnap" dying ....

[alarm]

Police "kidnap" Dying Hunger Strikers

On Sunday, January 19, at 3.15 am 300 police brutally removed the
Tabasco hunger strikers from
outside the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Mexico city, and
took three of them to the Xoco hospital. Venancio Jimenez Martinez and
Jorge Luis Magan~a Alamilla, on hunger strike for 97 days and Agustin
Vicente Sanchez, on hunger strike for 57 days, were taken against their
will to a hospital were they have not been allowed to receive any visits
from their friends and families. 

In the middle of the confusion another 4 hunger strikers effectively
escaped from the police. At 4.55 am the police went back to the camp the
Tabasco refuse collectors had organised outside the
CNDH to demand minimum working rights. The police destroyed the tents,
benches, chairs, blankets and other things in the camp. Only the
presence of PRD MP Adriana Luna and the
vociferous protest of more than 200 people stopped them after a while. 

Candelario Mendez Diaz, a 22 year old refuse collector, tried to prevent
the police intervention and was forcibly put into a police van where he
was beaten up several times. At the same time he was threatened and
abused by the police who were shouting "we are going to kill you for not
letting us do our job". Then he was thrown out to the street where a
plain clothes agent was shouting: "Run over him with the car! Run over
him with the car! He has got to pay for it!". 

He was able to escape and jumped into an ambulance which had been used
by the workers during the hunger strike. The ambulance driver tried to
take him to a hospital as he was severely wounded, but they were blocked
by a police car and only succeeded to go back to the camp. Latter on the
other workers managed to take him to a private hospital where he is
recovering from severe wounds in face, abdomen and legs. One of his ears
was nearly pulled out by the police. 

This 22 year old worker lost his home in Tabasco more than a year ago
during a hurricane and since then has been living with fellow workers in
the different camps they have organised in Mexico city, with his wife
Alejandra and his two year old son Alexander. He said that as soon as he
was all right he would go back with his comrades to continue the fight. 

This brutal police intervention has caused an uproar in Mexico amongst
trade union, human rights and left wing organisations. Emilio Krieger,
president of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, said that
the action was both illegal and unconstitutional. "The government is
afraid of losing control over the people" he declared to La Jornada. 

PRD leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas denounced Mexican president Ernesto
Zedillo as responsible for the police intervention and denounced that
the hunger strikers are "in effect kidnapped" as they are not allowed
visits. 

In the meantime, president Zedillo declared that the intervention had
been "for humanitarian reasons".  The spokesperson of the Tabasco
federal government said that "now that the psychological pressure is
over" an agreement could be reached more easily. But the most
astonishing statement was made by the National Human Rights Commission
spokesperson who said that she was in agreement with the action "but not
with the form used". 

Tabasco refuse collectors leader, Aquiles Magan~a, and PRD senator,
Felix Salgado, announced
that 50 more workers were going to restart the hunger strike as the
authorities were not prepared to talk to the workers. 

The Tabasco refuse collectors have been on struggle for more than two
years demanding minimum rights at work. One of the facts which triggered
the conflict was the intention of Tabasco's mayor to use them to clean
his own house. 

Please circulate this appeal as widely as possible. Send letters of
protest to: 

Lic. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
Presidente de la Republica
Fax + 52 5 515 1794 

Letters of solidarity can be sent to: 

Broad Front of Democratic Struggle
Calle Insurgentes n. 203
Fracc. Insurgentes
Ciudad Industrial Villahermosa
TABASCO, Mexico. 

or emailed through: 

Commission Nacional Sindical,
Partido de la Revolucion Democratica
a la atencion de los trabajadores de la limpia de Tabasco
joseluisr at laneta.apc.org