[NYTr] Acclaimed Muralist Among Oaxaca's Disappeared
ny...@olm.blythe-systems.com
Counterpunch - Nov 30, 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/cp11302006.html
The Arrest of Gerardo Bonilla
Acclaimed Muralist Among Oaxaca's Disappeared
By CounterPunch News Service
The impact of Oaxaca, Mexico's struggle is hitting home. Gerardo Bonilla,
painter and friend of many in the Austin artistic, activist, and student
communities, was one of 149 arrested this past Saturday in a federal police
sweep of Oaxaca city that is increasingly targeting the impoverished
southern state's artists and writers. At the invitation of UT student
Emiliana Cruz, Bonilla exhibited his paintings at La Pena, in downtown
Austin, in October of 2003. He is an accomplished muralist and regularly
facilitates and promotes children art workshops in different communities
throughout the state of Oaxaca. Prints of some of Bonilla's paintings will
be on display at the protest. (Click here for for a photo of Bonilla with
his work).
"The Mexican army and police forces have arrested and tortured hundreds of
innocent protesters. Gerardo's detention symbolizes the Mexican
government's all-out attack on local democracy," said Cynthia Perez,
>founder of La Pena.
The current situation has long roots. On May 22, seventy thousand teachers
started a camp out in the main square of the city to ask for an increase in
their tiny salaries. This camp out follows a nearly yearly ritual, and each
year it bore some meagre fruit. But on June 14, governor Ulises Ruiz of the
Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI), who was elected two years
earlier under disputed circumstances, sent the police in helicopters to put
a stop to the teacher's protest. Many Oaxacans condemned this action and
organized to form a broader civil group known as APPO (Asamblea Popular de
los Pueblos de Oaxaca) Popular Assembly of Oaxacan Communities.
Since then the situation has not been resolved and has turned into an
all-out conflict. Last Monday the tension in Oaxaca increased when the
Federal police (PFP) announced a "zero tolerance" policy against APPO
members and their sympathizers.
Now police are searching and ransacking houses and buildings searching for
activists. On Saturday November 25th Bonilla was standing in la Plaza de la
Bastida where he often sells his paintings. Like many others on this day he
was randomly swept up as the police came through the area arresting
>everyone in sight. He has been flown to a maximum security prison outside
the state of Oaxaca in Tamaulipas where he is being held with out due
process or outside access. This event typifies the strategy that is
currently taking place in Oaxaca. Since last Saturday there have been at
least three confirmed deaths, more than 100 injured people, and 221 arrests
- including 41 women.
This Thursday, November 30, many Austinites, including Bonilla's many
friends here, will demand freedom for Bonilla as well as the hundreds of
detained and disappeared. This is the fourth in a series of consulate
protests against Mexican state violence; the first protest followed the May
attacks on flower vendors in Atenco, near Mexico city. On Friday December 1
the new Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, will be sworn in, despite
widespread political instability.
*
================================================================
.NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
. Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us .
.339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org
.List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
.Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
================================================================