La Doctora Bertha Regresa a Oaxaca

Después de dos años de exilio regresa a Oaxaca la Dra. Bertha bautizada en el movimiento oaxaqueño de 2006 como la doctora escopeta.

Doctor Bertha Muñoz, nicknamed La Doctora Escopeta during the 2006 popular uprising in Oaxaca, has returned to Oaxaca after two years in exile.

Remembering Estela Rios Gonzales

On May 27, 2008, Estela Rios Gonzales, one of the bravest women I ever met, passed away after a long battle with cancer. Estela gave everything she had - her courage, love, laughter, rage, and solidarity - to the people's struggle in Oaxaca. Despite her illness, Estela was always at the front of every march with a huge smile on her face. In 2006, she was one of the many women who brought the voice of the people of Oaxaca to the airwaves with the take-over of Channel 9, the state television station, in Oaxaca.

A few weeks prior to her death, several organizations and collectives in Oaxaca issued a declaration in solidarity with Estela. Here it is...

(photo John Gibler)

Madre patria, madre esperanza, madre revolución, madre, entregaste tu esfuerzo en los momentos complicados de la lucha y que nunca claudicaste, tu alma de acero se impuso para resistir doblemente la embestida del carnicero de Antequera y el terrible tumor que te desgarra la vida, pero perduraras en la historia como una valiente guerrera. Otras más, retomarán tu ejemplo para continuar la lucha que apenas empezó a germinar en Oaxaca.

La utopía fue abandonada por los traidores, los que no pensaron, ni tampoco sintieron los gritos profundos del pueblo, que clamaba justicia y patria diferente. Ahora alimentemos la memoria de la gesta heroica para que no se quede en el olvido, los poderosos no podrán pisar nuestro tallo, ni mucho menos nuestras raíces de un pueblo aguerrido e indio.

Con estas humildes palabras, reconocemos la labor de la compañera Estela Ríos, que entregó su participación en cuerpo y corazón en la lucha del pueblo oaxaqueño que se intensifico en el 2006; que sin ser maestra tomó participación activa por su firme convicción en el cambio del sistema político y económico actual.

Estela Ríos Gonzáles, nació el 11 de Mayo de 1934 en la comunidad de San Jacinto Tlacotepec, distrito de Sola de Vega. Sus padres se ocupaban a las actividades del campo, por la difícil situación económica emigraron a Río Grande. Estela Ríos en su infancia tuvo una vida de trabajo en el servicio domestico, para obtener recursos y solventar sus estudios básicos; ya adolescente se involucró a las labores de los catequistas en la que obtuvo una formación jesuita, participó en talleres de derechos humanos labor que se reconoce por el finado cura “Bartolomé” Carrasco Briseño.

Fue colaboradora y participante activa de Organizaciones Indias por los Derechos Humanos de Oaxaca (OIDHO), recuerda con gran cariño a sus compañer@s a Chave, Alejandro, José Luis. Su formación humanista la llevo a indignarse ante la represión ejercida por el mal gobierno de Oaxaca en contra de los maestros el 14 de Junio de 2006. A partir de ese momento tomó la decisión en participar de manera comprometida; tal como lo hizo en el Canal Nueve, desempeñando la comisión de seguridad, posteriormente el 1º de Agosto participó en la fundación de la Coordinadora de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas (COMO) meses después, Estela Ríos junto con sus compañeras decidieron abandonar el espacio, ya que era imposible avanzar en las actividades.

Ante la ímpetu de las mujeres que se retiraron de la COMO crearon otro organismo para seguir impulsando diversas iniciativas que reivindiquen la agenda sobre el tema de mujeres y la lucha de la APPO. El 30 de Agosto de 2007 realizaron un foro en el paraninfo de la Facultad de Derecho evento en el cual dieron a conocer la conformación de Colectivo Mujer Nueva. Estela Ríos participó en la tercera Asamblea de la APPO celebrado durante los días 17 y 18 de Noviembre 2007, fue una de las invitadas de honor para la mesa del evento.

Estela Ríos es muestra de las valientes mujeres que participaron y participan incondicionalmente en el movimiento social. A pesar de la enfermedad irreversible que le embarga no pierde la sonrisa, animada narra su infancia una de las dos únicas hijas de la familia.

Ante tales circunstancias convocamos a l@s compañeras a solidarizarse ampliamente con la familia, costumbre que ha caracterizado los oaxaqueños con la gueza y el tequio.

Aprovechamos para enviar un abrazo fraterno y solidario a todas las madres aguerridas compañeras del movimiento social y particularmente a los familiares de los caídos.

(photo John Gibler)

Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad packs Hollywood Theatre in Portlad

Over 400 people turned out for a screening of Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad, in Portland, Oregon, at the beautiful Hollywood Theatre! The screening was co-sponsored by community radio KBOO 90.7 FM. Thanks to KBOO, PCUN, Rethinking Schools, Bolivarian Media Exchange, Portland Central America Solidarity Committee, MEChA PSU, and everyone else who helped get the word out!

Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad Wins At Contra El Silencio

Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad takes first place at the Todas Las Voces Contra El Silencio festival, in Mexico City, in the Social Movements and Citizen Participation section. 50% of the award money from the prize (as with the prize money from the Miradas en el Movimiento competition in Oaxaca, where Poquito took Grand Prize) will go towards community media projects in Oaxaca.

Community Radio Activists Murdered in Oaxaca

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 Felícitas Martínez Sánchez (20 years old).

Francisco Vásquez Martínez (30 years old), his wife Cristina Martínez Flores (22 years old), and their son Jaciel Vásquez Martínez (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 Indígenas del Sureste), around 1:00 PM. They were travelling in a truck on their way to Oaxaca city, but were ambushed on the outskirts of the community 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 the today (Wednesday) in the auditorium of Seccion 22 of the teachers union in Oaxaca.

The Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS as the spanish acronym) released a communique denouncing the murders and demanding that the state authorities investigate and punish those responsible for the crime.

The state attorney general said that 20 bullet shells, caliber 7.62, were found at the site of the murders, along with other arms including an AK-47.

People are encouraged to contact their local embassies and consulates (or to organize demonstrations at their local embassies and consulates) to express their condemnation of this paramilitary repression of indigenous women and community media projects.

Distribution Good News!

Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad won grand prize at two festivals in the month of March: Miradas en el Movimiento, in Oaxaca, and the International Documentary Festival "Santiago Alvarez en Memoriam," in Santiago Cuba.

Just returned from a small screening tour in Argentina and Uruguay. There were three screenings in Buenos Aires, one in Rosario, and one in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The highlight was defenitely the screening in Montevideo which was organized by TV2 and LA Voz FM: a community television and radio station that forms part of a housing cooperative on the outskirts of the city.

The discussion afterwards went on for over an hour and focused almost entirely on the importance of community participation in community media.

While in Buenos Aires, I stayed at the famous Hotel Bauen, a hotel that was reclaimed by the workers, in 2001, and converted into a worker cooperative hotel. Thanks to the good folks at Grupo Alavio, a video collective housed at the Hotel Bauen, for that hook up.

A visit to Argentina wouldn't have been complete without being held up in a roadblock. There was an argricultural workers strike going on. They carried out extensive road blocks across the country. Our trip from Rosario to Buenos Aires was held up for over 6 hours by one of these roadblocks, complete with tractors, burning tires, and choripan.

2008 distribution so far!

I've been traveling a lot to screenings and have been horrible about updating the blog with regards to recent screenings. So here's an overview...

The film is getting out there more and more. Just since the new year, it has shown across Canada, (from Ottawa t0 Vancouver and all kinds of places in between). Thanks to the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation for organizing a great little screening tour in Southern Ontario. There have also been screenings in Portland, Philly, Albuquerque, Utrecht (Netherlands), Los Angeles, Seattle, Bellingham, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Olympia, and Besancon, France.

And lots more screenings coming up in the next couple of months...Austria, Germany, New Orleans, Chicago, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Santa Monica, Tempe, Portland, and beyond.

Some recent highlights...

At the University of Washington screening (which was packed), students from the UW study abroad program in Oaxaca talked about their experience being in Oaxaca during the uprising (why UW kept them there a full five weeks after the Dept. of State told everyone to get out of Oaxaca is beyond me). Fortunately, they all came home in one piece and with amazing stories to tell. Thanks to the Latin American Studies dept and Latino Policy Assoc. for organizing that one.

Keep checking the upcoming screenings page at www.corrugate.org and let your friends know when the film is coming to their town!