Judge Declares APPO Adviser David Venegas Innocent of Drug Charges

by Kristin Bricker – April 21, 2009

Reprinted from http://www.narconews.com

Innocent Verdict Means Judge Acknowledges that Police Planted Cocaine and Heroine on a Movement Leader

April 21, 2009 – Today Oaxacan judge Amado Chiñas Fuentes absolved APPO adviser David Venegas of charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and heroine. Venegas’ defense team argued that police had planted cocaine and heroine on Venegas after his arrest in order to imprison him and later charge him with sedition, conspiracy, arson, attacks on transit routes, rebellion, crimes against civil servants, dangerous attacks, and resisting arrest.

The government tried Venegas on all charges except for the drug-related ones. The court declared him innocent of all charges and released him on March 5, 2008, after he’d served nearly eleven months in jail. With the drug charges still pending, he was released on bail and forced to report to the court every week for over a year, severely limiting his ability to travel.

Today’s innocent verdict means that the judge has accepted Venegas’ defense that Oaxacan police planted the drugs on him. The drug charges are the last of a series of false charges that Venegas has had to fight for just over two years.

In a statement released by his collective VOCAL, Venegas stresses that it was grassroots support that led to his freedom. “This innocent verdict, far from demonstrating the health or rectitude of the Mexican legal system, was pulled off thanks to the strength of the popular movement and with the solidarity of compañeros and compañeras from Mexico and various parts of the world. The legal system in Mexico is corrupt to the core and is a despicable tool used by the authorities to subjugate and repress those who struggle for justice and freedom.”

The statement goes on to say that VOCAL is committed to fighting for the freedom of Oaxaca’s political prisoners. Furthermore, “We aren’t satisfied with having won our compañero’s unconditional freedom. Having demonstrated the bad government’s lie, we will now focus on imprisoning the Oaxacan peoples’ repressors, who are responsible for this arbitrary and illegal detention: from the police who carried out the detention and repression up to these thugs’ highest bosses.”

URGENT ACTION For David Venegas Reyes, member of the APPO (Oaxaca, Mexico)

URGENT ACTION: (espanol sigue abajo)
SENTENCING scheduled for DAVID VENEGAS REYES “ALEBRIJE”, ex political prisoner and prisoner of conscience of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and of Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy And Freedom (VOCAL).

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY URGENTLY REQUESTED IN DEMANDING JUSTICE FROM OAXACA AUTHORITIES.

This coming April 6, 2009, after spending eleven months in prison and more than a year on parole with the obligation to report every two weeks, our comrade David Venegas Reyes will finally be sentenced in the last of two cases brought against him by the malevolent government of the killer Ulises Ruiz Ortiz in order to jail him and thereby keep him away from the APPO. On this date, he will be sentenced on the obviously trumped-up charge of possession with intent to sell cocaine and heroin, for which he was jailed on April 13, 2007.

Review of the facts:

On April 13, 1007, at approximately 12:30 in the afternoon, David was walking through El Llano Park in the city of Oaxaca with two other people when he was violently apprehended with no arrest warrant by a commando of hooded armed men riding in a red van without plates or any kind of Police Department logo. He was thrown into the van at gunpoint by agents brandishing long arms. David was then ridden around the city with his own bag placed over his head to cover his face, beaten, and threatened with forced disappeared if he didn’t talk. This went on for several hours before he was taken to the Preventive Police Headquarters, known as “los Pinos” (The Pines), in Santa María Coyotepec, Oaxaca, a place where serious human rights violations, murders and disappearances of social activists have been committed by the Army as well as federal and state police forces. At “los Pinos”, the beatings and threats continued, and he was forcibly photographed and videoed with the drugs planted on him by the police. All of this was ordered by the ex Director of the Auxiliary, Banking, Industrial and Commercial Police (PABIC), Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, well-known for his repression of the social movement. David was finally taken to the Street Sales Drug Unit (UMAN) of the Federal Attorney General’s Office, along with the drugs planted on him at “los Pinos!”.

After holding him there for two days, he was taken to the Santa María Ixcotel Prison in the City of Oaxaca, and as soon as he got there, was charged with Sedition, Conspiracy, and Arson for allegedly burning eight buildings in downtown Oaxaca on November 25, 2006. These included the State Supreme Court Building, which, as everyone knows, was burned by the killer Ulises Ruiz Ortiz’s own government to do away with evidence of the injustices committed by the judicial system and to incriminate a number of different APPO comrades. These acts of brutal repression against members of the popular movement committed by the federal police force under orders of Vicente Fox and the state police forces under orders of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, on November 25, 2006, amounted to the worst case of mass human rights violations ever seen in Oaxaca, with almost 200 prisoners being transferred to a prison in the state of Nayarit, more than a thousand kilometers away from the land of Oaxaca.

After winning two protective orders and two appeals, and having his charges “reclassified”, David was finally released on March 5, 2008, in absence of any proof whatsoever of his guilt, and totally exonerated of the offenses of arson for the buildings burned on November 25. Nevertheless, his case for possession with intent to sell cocaine and heroin has dragged on despite government misconduct including intentional delays, serious omissions, lies, and a series of contradictions in the testimony of the arresting officers, all of which should be sufficient for winning his absolute freedom.

And so, today, we are mobilizing on his behalf and sending out this CALL for the solidarity of all the men and women, organizations, collectives, peoples, and labor unions of Oaxaca, Mexico, and the world to show your support for the absolute exoneration and freedom of David through protest actions and letters, phone calls, and faxes to Juez Amado Chiñas Fuentes, Juzgado Tercero de Distrito del Décimo Tercer Circuito, Avenida Juárez 709, Colonia Centro, Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, CP 68000.before the sentence is pronounced on April 6, 2009, at 10:45 a.m. in the Third Federal District Court in the city of Oaxaca:

We further call on you to sign the following statement as backing for the petition for justice in this case.

We continue to demand the exit of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz from the Oaxaca state government and will do so until the last day of his deadly regime. We will not rest in the struggle to achieve a deep, radical change in our society. At the same time, we extend our solidarity to the peoples throughout the world who are also struggling for a better world.

ULISES RUIZ, MURDERER, OUT NOW!
FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN OAXACA, MEXICO, AND THE WORLD!
PUNISHMENT FOR ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REPRESSION AGAINST THE PEOPLES OF OAXACA!
THE APPO LIVES, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
Fraternally yours,
OAXACAN VOICES CONSTRUCTING AUTONOMY AND FREEDOM (VOCES OAXAQUEÑAS CONSTRUYENDO AUTONOMIA Y LIBERTAD)

Send your endorsement to: vocal@riseup.net

Send letters to:

Juez Amado Chiñas Fuentes
Juez Tercero de Distrito del Décimo Tercer Circuito
Avenida Juárez 709
Colonia Centro
Ciudad de Oaxaca de Juárez
Oaxaca, México C.p. 68000

Call: 01 (951) 51566000
Fax: 01 (951) 51566000. Ask for tone (¿Me da tono de fax, por favor?).

———————————————————————–
ACCION URGENTE: DICTARAN SENTENCIA JUDICIAL A DAVID VENEGAS REYES
“ALEBRIJE” EXPRESO POLITICO Y DE CONCIENCIA DE LA ASAMBLEA POPULAR DE LOS
PUEBLOS DE OAXACA (APPO) Y DE VOCAL.

SE SOLICITA SOLIDARIDAD NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EXIGIR JUSTICIA ANTE
LAS AUTORIDADES JUDICIALES DE OAXACA QUE LLEVAN EL CASO.

El 6 de abril de este año 2009, después de permanecer o­nce meses en
prisión y mas de un año de libertad condicionada a firmar cada quince
días, por fin será dictada sentencia final al compañero David Venegas
Reyes por el ultimo de los dos procesos penales con que el mal gobierno
del asesino Ulises Ruiz Ortiz lo acuso para meterlo preso y separarlo del
movimiento de la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca. Este 6 de
abril será dictada sentencia al compañero David por el delito de Posesión
con hipótesis de venta de cocaína y heroína, una de los dos delitos
fabricados que el mal gobierno de Ulises Ruiz hizo contra el compañero
para meterlo preso el 13 de abril del año 2007.

Rememoración de los hechos:

El día 13 de abril a las doce treinta del día aproximadamente, David
caminaba por el parque el llano de la ciudad de Oaxaca con dos
acompañantes cuando fue detenido con violencia y sin orden de aprehensión
alguna por un comando de hombres armados encapuchados a bordo de una
camioneta roja sin placas y sin logotipo de ninguna corporación
policiciaca, el compañero fue encañonado con armas largas y subido
violentamente a la camioneta. Cubierto de la cara con su propia bolsa, fue
paseado por diferentes lugares de la ciudad, golpeado y amenazado de
desaparecerlo si no hablaba. Después de varias horas de vueltas, golpes y
amenazas es llevado al cuartel de la policía preventiva estatal conocido
como “los pinos” en santa María Coyotepec, Oaxaca, lugar donde se han
cometido graves violaciones a los derechos humanos, asesinatos y
desapariciones contra participantes del movimiento social oaxaqueño por
las policías y ejercitos del estado de Oaxaca y México. En “los pinos” es
golpeado, amenazado y forzado a dejarse fotografiar y grabar en video con
la droga que la misma policía le sembró en ese lugar. Todo bajo las
ordenes del hoy asesinado exdirector de la Policía Auxiliar Bancaria
Industrial y Comercial de Oaxaca (PABIC) Alejandro Barrita Ortiz conocido
represor durante el movimiento social. Al final fue remitido a la Unidad
Mixta de Atención al Narcomenudeo (UMAN) de la PGR Federal con la droga
que le habían sembrado en “los pinos”. Después de permanecer dos días en
la UMAN es trasladado a la penitenciaria Central de Santa María Ixcotel,
en la ciudad de Oaxaca y nada mas llegar, el mal gobierno le acusa también
en otro proceso penal del delito de Sedición, asociación delictuosa y
daños por incendio contra ocho edificios del centro histórico de Oaxaca el
25 de noviembre de 2006 entre ellos el tribunal superior de justicia del
estado que es de todos conocido que fue incendiado por el mismo gobierno
del asesino Ulises Ruiz Ortiz para desaparecer pruebas de injusticias en
el sistema judicial y para incriminar a diversos compañeros de la APPO.
Hechos cometidos el día de la brutal represión contra los integrantes del
movimiento popular el 25 de noviembre de 2006 por las policías federal de
Vicente Fox y estatal de Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, día que se saldo con la
violación masiva de derechos humanos mas grave que ha ocurrido en Oaxaca
con un saldo de casi doscientos presos trasladados a un penal en el estado
de Nayarit a mas de mil kilómetros de la tierra de Oaxaca.

Después de ganar dos amparos y dos revisiones de amparo y de haber sido
reclasificados los delitos de David para mantenerlo en prisión, ante la
falta de pruebas para demostrar su culpabilidad por fin sale libre el 5 de
marzo de 2008, totalmente exonerado de los delitos de la quema de
edificios el 25 de noviembre pero aun bajo proceso por el delito de
Posesión con hipótesis de venta de cocaína y heroína, el cual hoy por fin,
después de retrasos a propósito por parte del gobierno, de graves
omisiones, mentiras y faltas y de una serie de contradicciones entre los
policías aprehensores de David que deberían ser suficientes para obtener
su libertad absoluta, es que HOY NOS MOVILIZAMOS Y CONVOCAMOS:

A LA SOLIDARIDAD DE TODOS LOS HOMBRES Y MUJERES, ORGANIZACIONES,
COLECTIVOS, PUEBLOS Y SINDICATOS, DE OAXACA, MÉXICO Y EL MUNDO PARA QUE SE
MANIFIESTEN POR MEDIO DE CARTAS, LLAMADAS TELEFONICAS, FAXES U OTRAS
ACCIONES DE PROTESTA, DIRIGIDAS AL JUEZ AMADO CHIÑAS FUENTES, JUEZ TERCERO
DE DISTRITO DEL DÉCIMO TERCER CIRCUITO CON DOMICILIO EN AVENIDA JUÁREZ
709, COLONIA CENTRO, CÓDIGO POSTAL 68000, TELEFONO DE ESTA CIUDAD DE
OAXACA DE JUÁREZ, OAXACA, PARA EXIGIR QUE DAVID SEA SENTENCIADO LIBRE
TOTALMENTE. ESTAS ACCIONES PROPONEMOS QUE SE HAGAN ANTES DE LA SENTENCIA
FINAL QUE SERA EL DIA 6 DE ABRIL DE 2009 A LAS 10:45 DE LA MAÑANA EN EL
JUZGADO TERCERO DE DISTRITO FEDERAL DE ESTA CIUDAD.

TAMBIEN A FIRMAR ESTE COMUNICADO PARA FORTALECER LA PETICION DE JUSTICIA
EN ESTE CASO.

ASI MISMO SEGUIMOS EXIGIENDO LA SALIDA DEL ASESINO ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ DEL
GOBIERNO DE OAXACA, COMO LO SEGUIREMOS HACIENDO HASTA EL ULTIMO DIA DE SU
NEFASTO GOBIERNO Y NO DESCANSAREMOS EN LUCHAR PARA LOGRAR UN CAMBIO
PROFUNDO Y RADICAL DE NUESTRA SOCIEDAD, ASI MISMO NOS SOLIDARIZAMOS CON
LOS PUEBLOS QUE EN TODO EL MUNDO TAMBIEN LUCHAN POR UN MUNDO MEJOR.

¡FUERA ULISES RUIZ POR ASESINO!

¡LIBERTAD A TODOS LOS PRESOS POLITICOS DE OAXACA, MEXICO Y EL MUNDO!

¡CASTIGO A TODOS LOS RESPONSABLES DE LA REPRESION CONTRA LOS PUEBLOS DE
OAXACA!

¡LA APPO VIVE, LA LUCHA SIGUE!

FRATERNALMENTE

VOCES OAXAQUEÑAS CONSTRUYENDO AUTONOMIA Y LIBERTAD

Para firmar este comunicado enviarlo firmado al correo de vocal
(vocal@riseup.net)

Para enviar cartas, al Juez Amado Chiñas Fuentes enviarlas al Juzgado
Tercero de Distrito del Décimo Tercer Circuito, con domicilio en Avenida
Juárez 709, Colonia Centro, Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, CP 68000.

Para hacer llamadas o enviar faxes, favor de llamar al 01 (951) 5156600 y
pedir el numero de fax.
http://vocal.lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=230&more=1&c=1

Urgent Action : ATTEMPT TO KILL COMPAÑERO RUBEN VALENCIA NUÑEZ

Oaxaca de Magón, City of resistAnce
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Urgent Action : ATTEMPT TO KILL COMPAÑERO RUBEN VALENCIA NUÑEZ

We want to denounce the intimidating actions that are endangering the life of our comrade who is part of the Oaxacan popular movement.

THE FACTS:
Tonight, Saturday, January 10 at approximately 10:57, as our comrade RUBEN VALENCIA NUÑEZ and the person with him walked along Porfirio Díaz Street towards the politico-cultural space “CASOTA” located at Crespo 408, in downtown Oaxaca. Several individuals (approximately 3) driving
by in an electric blue car, possibly a Peugeot, began to insult them. One of them said to RUBEN, “Pinche APPO,” among other things. One of them tried to get out of the car but was persuaded not to by the others, and the car moved on about a block away from the spot.

In view of the situation, the comrades kept walking and took shelter in a café on the same street. Not more than 5 minutes after they got there, while RUBEN VALENCIA NUÑEZ was washing his hands in the restroom, the man who had yelled at him in the street walked into the business full of people. He went into the area just outside the restroom right next to our comrade, and without a word, took out a knife. Amidst pushing and shoving, he struck our comrade in the neck, nape of the neck, and head, causing more than 3 wounds. At that time, our comrade only felt the blows and pushed his way out of the space by the restroom along with the aggressor. In the midst of the confusion, a passing waiter was wounded in the throat by the same arm.

The aggressor, around 28 years old, with a robust build and short hair (resembling a ministerial or judicial policemen), brazenly stayed at the café a few seconds longer and then left, leaving the arm behind. Meanwhile, our comrade realized he had been cut, due to the blood that was staining his clothes.

He was taken to the hospital for treatment and is now out of danger. The wounds are as follows: one is 3.5 cm long and approximately 1 cm deep in the nape of the neck, another is 3 cm long and approximately 1 cm deep in the nape of the neck, and there is also a blow to the head, a cut extending from the left eye to the ear, and other smaller cuts made by the same arm. All the wounds were sutured with 6 stitches. It’s important to mention that one of the wounds was only one centimeter away from the jugular vein, which would have been fatal. The waiter has a wound in the throat made by the same arm, but we do not know how serious it is.

We firmly DENOUNCE these acts as part of a strategy of repression and violence orchestrated by the Oaxaca state government, either through para-police groups or civilians at the service of the State. We are denouncing, for all the world to hear, the possibility of the beginning
of selective repression like that which occurred in the dirty war that the social movements of this country endured more than thirty years ago.

This attack against RUBEN should be seen as the latest in a series of attacks, intimidation, and arrests that different comrades in the social movement have suffered in recent months. Since they haven’t been successful and the illegal authoritarian actions of the state have been exposed, this could be the beginning of a new, even more dangerous kind of government repression and violence at the hands of para-police and para-military groups, as well as hired assassins at the service of the bad government of ULISES RUIZ ORTIZ in the style of the dirty war.

WE DECLARE:
-our decision to keep going in the construction of a different Oaxaca, where there’s no repression against anyone who seeks justice for the people and punishment for their killers. A Oaxaca where it’s possible to live without fear of repression.
-that these events show us the urgent need for change and the need to keep on moving forward so that killers will not govern in the future.

WE DEMAND:
-An end to the criminal strategies of repression and intimidation against the different struggles of the peoples of Oaxaca by the Mexican State and the state government.
-Respect for the lives and tranquility of each and every comrade in Oaxaca who continues to construct alternatives for a dignified life with justice and freedom.
-Punishment of those responsible for the attack against our comrade RUBEN VALENCIA NUÑEZ.
We respectfully ask that the peoples of Mexico and the world stay alert for this situation that could announce the beginning of a strategy of dirty war or low-intensity warfare against the legitimate movement of the peoples of Oaxaca.
FRATERNALLY YOURS,
VOCAL (Voces Oaxaqueñas Construyendo Autonomía y Libertad)
CASOTA (Casa Autónoma Solidaria Oaxaqueña de Trabajo Autogestivo)
Universidad de la Tierra-Oaxaca
Diplomado de Investigadores Descalzos

THE EQUILIBRIUM OF POWER

by David Venegas Reyes “alebrije”
Participant in the APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca)
member of VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom)
11 July 2008

translated by: bojobita

POWER, this monster of one thousand faces of politicians, businesspeople, bishops, and military men, that in 2006 was at the point of being squashed beneath millions of feet in the people’s victorious march for freedom; that was burned by the magnificent heat of the millions of good hearts set alight with the fire of rebellion and hope; that hid itself, terrified when cornered by the thousands of barricades; that was deafened by millions of throats that shouted like never before the slogans of justice, freedom, dignity and peace, words that are naturally opposed to power. That same power that was humiliated and mortally wounded by the insurrectionary action of the peoples of Oaxaca, today is rapidly regrouping its forces and rises furiously from the ground, with a thirst for vengeance.

Where in 2006 power had as its ultimate refuge the space bought on TV screens and the covers of a few daily papers, the only spaces where it could feel safe, and from there it performed a false show of strength. Today power goes out in the streets to demonstrate its renewed cynicism. The faces of businesspeople and politicians of all the parties that in 2006 looked with skepticism or open disdain at the more violent and authoritarian face of power, of the repressive and murderous governor (Ulises Ruiz Ortiz). In their hypocrisy these faces of power that in 2006 publicly criticised the fascist face of power, negating their common origin, today have reconciled and renewed their agreement to keep their power alive at whatever cost.

Power licks the deep scars left in its skin by thousands of anonymous hands of the people that hastened its deafening collapse, painting slogans of freedom and justice on its reptile body to the bewilderment of those who thought that power would never succumb, and the happiness of those who thought it was already dead. For this affront power feels a renewed appetite for the blood of the working people, an appetite stimulated by its desire for revenge.

Revenge disguised as reconciliation, power knows that it should show its friendliest faces in order to get its claws within reach of the distrustful and rebellious public, and once captive, it will return to feeding on their obedience, fear, admiration and their blood. For this, power counts on its most hypocritical faces, faces of leftist politicians, of legitimate deputies, senators and presidents, of leaders of falsely revolutionary social organisations, of bishops, of painters, “philanthropists”, of union leaders, of parrot-journalists and even the faces of some that are called “Leaders of the APPO” that with their long serpent tongues speak magnificent discourses of surrender and spit the venom of the demagogy at those that are within reach of their treacherous tongues, fulfilling the vile task of attracting the people that rose up in 2006 to the jaws of power so that they may be devoured by this monster of a thousand faces.

The leftist faces of power in 2006 sought eagerly to put themselves at the front of the valiant actions of the people in the struggle, and when they spoke at rallies or on occupied radio stations they gave speeches so inflammatory in their revolutionary vehemence that they squeezed with emotion the hearts of thousands of brave and honest men and women.

Leftist faces of power including those who encouraged people to engage in direct confrontation with the police and military face of power. Today they don’t lose the opportunity to label as “radical, violent and police” the people from the struggle in the streets who dare to denounce their treason and opportunism for becoming once again efficient servants of power. There is a powerful rationale behind these accusations of the leftist faces of power: To discredit, defame and eliminate those members of the social movement that refuse to serve power, those that continue fighting for freedom.

The power which in 2006 showed its most fascist and repressive face, which provoked the forceful action of the people to deeply and mortally wound its ghastly body, has learned the lesson and is ready to include however many faces may be necessary, even many faces of the left, so that this monster – devourer of peoples, nature, culture and future – may continue living. There are many faces of the left, many of those self-described leaders of the APPO who don’t hesitate to become part of the body of power and sate their appetites, to this day they rehearse the gestures, the solemnity and the demagoguery necessary to form part of this monster.

They forget and ignore that the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca is naturally opposed to power. Since horizontalism, respect for consensus and respectful dialogue are the fundamental principles of the assembly, inheritances from the assemblies our indigenous peoples have practised for millenia, the assemblies are precisely the reason for the indigenous peoples’ survival through the successive invasions, plunder, attacks, colonialism, capitalism and neoliberalism with which the owners of power have attacked them for centuries. Today the assembly remains in force as the communities own form of self-government, but above all as a political proposal of national and international reach. The APPO is that historic paradigm where the experience of struggle of the peoples of Oaxaca and the different peoples of the world that have struggled for freedom, justice, dignity and peace is combined, in a moment in history where savage capitalism is found in terminal crisis, and power, its bastard son, has shown its most criminal faces.

Power has suffered more than the superficial wounds left on its body by the people’s insurrectional action of 2006, and even though it may be adorning its hideous body with words of social peace, reconciliation and development, it will not be capable of curing itself of the most profound wound caused by the people in 2006, the wound created at the source of its strength by the consciousness gained by our peoples of their unsustainable situation and the need to fight tirelessly for true justice, freedom, dignity and peace. It is this mortal wound that remains in the heart of power and from this it will never heal.

See also: http://vocal.lahaine.org