OAXACA CITY, Mexico - Today I filmed members of Section 22 and APPO as they came to demand Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno’s release from prison at the offices of the 5th District Judge. In this clip, his sister Lybia reads the families statement. Background info: On October 16th 2008, Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno was imprisoned for the 2006 murder of American Journalist Brad Will, unjustly, as eye-witness and forensic evidence has proved his innocence. He was scapegoated by the Mexican government in order to appease U.S. demands that the case be prosecuted, as a prerequisite for funding to Mexico under the Merida Initiative. He remains incarcerated at Santa Maria Ixcotel prison, in the City of Oaxaca, to this day.
OAXACA CITY, Mexico – Last night we celebrated Oaxaca with Raices. The full moon came to play too.
Son de la Barricada!
Salieron de todos lados con palos, gritos y piedras
y a toda la policía la mandaron a la mierda
después vino el contrataque con fuerza de tierra y aire
con gases que los maestros se quitaron con vinagre
¿Qué de dónde son, qué de dónde son?
Que son de la barricada
¿Y de dónde, de dónde son?
Que son de la barricada
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASA, Mexico – Today, us big city boys got a good old fashioned butt wooping from the Zapatista basketball squadron. Luckily the match was cut-short (too late!) by el Sub-Comandante Marcos and the EZLN Comandantes, which had to clear the court for their departure from the CIDECI/Uni-Tierra campus. The Zapatista lineup sported beautifully woven blue wool garments, which did not handicap their dominance over our big city squadron.
CARACOL DE OVENTIK, Mexico – After announcing our arrival at the Office of Good Government, our video crew was allowed to enter the Caracol de Oventik (in Chiapas, Mexico) to participate in the 15th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising and 25th anniversary of the creation of the EZLN (National Zapatista Liberation Army).
We joined thousands of masked campesinos of the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya indigenous communities and also hundreds of international Zapatista sympathizers that were present to celebrate the autonomous movement’s accomplishments.
Once the sun set the comandantes spoke, and at midnight the norteño bands began to play in what was a cornucopia of congo lines, coffee drinking, masked faces, and arroz con leche. Those that survived the 6 hours of dancing were greeted by the sun and another day of autonomy where the mountains kiss the sky.
