Thursday, April 29, 2010

UPDATE: All Disappeared in San Juan Copala are Free

UPDATE: The two missing journalists were rescued late last night.  Scott Campbell has details.

by Kristin Bricker

Contralinea reports that David Venegas and Noe Bautista from VOCAL have made it to safety in Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca.  They say they were with missing Contralinea reporters Erika Ramirez and David Cilia.

Venegas and Bautista have a video of Ramirez and Cilia that proves the journalists are alive.  Ramirez is unhurt but dehydrated.  Cilia was shot in his left foot and another bullet grazed his waist, but Venegas and Bautista say that neither are in danger of dying as long as they are rescued soon.

Venegas, Bautista, Ramirez, and Cilia had been missing since the April 27 paramilitary attack on an aid caravan that was headed for the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca.

Cilia's father David is en route to the conflict zone.  He has stated that he will search for his missing son, regardless of the risk it entails.

Likewise, today at approximately 1pm two Triqui women from San Juan Copala whom paramilitaries had kidnapped just prior to the attack on the caravan were released.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Kristin, I've also read in several places that one other international observer is unaccounted for. Is that just rumors/bad math?

Rachel

Unknown said...

I think you're referring to Martin, the German. I understand that they found him. A lot of the internationals were missing for so long because they made their way back and didn't check in. It's easiest to check with names. If you get a name, I can check. I think some of the confusion is because print papers are running their print stories online, which were filed yesterday. Late last night reps from orgs that participated in the caravan got together and did inventory, and that's the list I was given: four from the caravan, 2 Triquis

Unknown said...

That makes sense. Do you have the names of the Triqui women? I'd like to have them for the Chicago action at the consulate on Saturday.

Unknown said...

I'm working on the names.

Don Thieme said...

I am glad to hear the good news in this story. Progressive voices outside Oaxaca need to become aware of the oppression which the PRI government of Oaxaca is inflicting on these native communities. The PRI can no longer carry the banner of revolution and social progress unquestioned.

Anonymous said...

What we need now is a list of all members of the caravan. We need to identify all the vehicles used in the caravan and who was in each one. We need to know which vehicle received the most bullet impacts. We need to know if any of the vehicles were spared. Was there targeting of specific individuals?

George Salzman said...

The comment by "Anonymous"
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"What we need now is a list of all members of the caravan. We need to identify all the vehicles used in the caravan and who was in each one. We need to know which vehicle received the most bullet impacts. We need to know if any of the vehicles were spared. Was there targeting of specific individuals?"

April 30, 2010 3:48 PM
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should, in my opinion, be ignored. It may be an effort to obtain information so that caravan participants can be further attacked, intimidated and even possibly killed.

Anonymous said...

The complete list of participants has been online since yesterday.
The name, affiliation and condition of each individual has been published by the organizations themselves. What is important to know is if there was any targeting of particular individuals. The condition of the vehicles and who was riding in each might reveal some valuable data. And what about the crime scene? Has it been secured? Shell casings etc.plecunfo

Unknown said...

My understanding is that the police have not secured the crime scene. meaning that the paramilitaries have had plenty of time to clean it up. The cars werent recovered until the day after the attack, meaning that those could have been tampered with, too.

As far as I know, who was in each car is not public.

Anonymous said...

According to this proceso article published in Noticias online a contingent of SNTE Section 22 teachers who were traveling with the caravan left the group before the ambush. Their vehicle left the caravan and had not returned when the ambush occurred.
http://www.noticiasnet.mx/portal/principal/copala-una-lluvia-balas-nos-envolvio

"Aunque al partir la caravana contaba con un contingente de profesores de la sección 22 del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (SNTE), las versiones de los sobreviventes entrevistados por Proceso confirman que antes de llegar al camino que conduce a San Juan Copala, el vehículo en el que viajaban se despegó y no lo volvieron a ver."

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