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Gunmen kill a woman traveling with them. Members are asking for protection for Nestora Salgado’s daughter and sister

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Originally appeared in La Jornada, June 3, 2014. Translated for posting on this website.

Members from the PRD and PT reported that they will request precautionary measures on behalf of the sister and daughter of Nestora Salgado. Yesterday, while traveling to Mexico City to give a press conference, the bus they were traveling on was stopped by armed men who took a passenger who resembled both women, and shot her four times.

Rep. Roberto Lopez (PRD) confirmed that this is not an isolated incident because Nestora Salgado’s family has to make the trip from Olinalá, Guerrero to Mexico City and then take another bus to Tepic, Nayarit, in order to visit her in the maximum security prison in which she is located.

Legislators explained that the Interior Ministry should ensure the safety of Salgado’s family, and they indicated that they will demand her transfer to a prison in Mexico City, in order to ensure that it has appropriate measures for her imprisonment.

On her part, Rep. Loretta Ortiz Ahlf (PT) considered it “incredible”  that nine months after her arrest, without a warrant , Nestora Salgado still does not have legal counsel, because authorities from the Northeast Women’s Center in Tepic, have not allowed contact with Emiliano Gomez Mont, who was hired by an NGO and a U.S. university.

”No one was present when the statement was made, a key moment in which the consul (U.S.) and the lawyers should have been,” she said, referring to the fact that Nestora Salgado has U.S. citizenship and yet the U.S government has not aided.

She said that during the visit, the former coordinator of the Community Police from Olinalá confided that she “does not believe in justice within the Mexican government and requests the U.S. governments exercise of diplomatic protection action, because judicial authorities here are not reliable and fears for her life.”

She also added that ”Salgado’s arrest was made without notice to the consul. Not only is consular assistance a right, but so is notification of when liberty is deprived. It doesn’t matter where it is, it needs to be done immediately.”

Translated by Nathaly Fernandez

Party of Socialism and Freedom (PSOL) in Brazil send letter to Mexican President

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The following letter was sent to President Neito of Mexico, by the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade/Party of Socialism and Freedom (PSOL)

 

Enrique Pena Neito, President of Mexico:

 

As women in the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade/Party of Socialism and Freedom (PSOL) in Brazil, we want to address the state of Mexico by sending this letter to you as president to demand the immediate release of Nestora Salgado who has been imprisoned in inhumane conditions since August 2013.

 

Nestora is a leader of Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias/Regional Coordination of Community Authorities (CRAC) in Olinalá, Guerrero.

 

We stand in uncompromising solidarity with Mexican women who live with the fear caused by a society dominated by drug trafficking. Thousands of women are among the over 20,000 disappeared in Mexico.

 

We condemn the situation your government maintains over the lives of jobless women as a result of the neoliberal policies in your country which deliver it to imperialist powers. Thousands of women are raped, kidnapped and assassinated without your government taking any action to end this tragic situation. We know there are drug trafficking forces within your very government. These traffickers remain at large and unprosecuted, while those who took up arms to defend their lives and families are imprisoned and persecuted by your government.

 

We want to point out that Mexico today is the only country in the world where the people have to take up arms to defend themselves. This has occurred because your government, Mr. President, has abandoned people and left them to fend for themselves against the drug gangs. If your government provided security forces, the self-defense forces would not be necessary, and neither would Mexico’s prisons be full of hundreds of political prisoners.

 

What crime has Nestora Salgado and hundreds of other political prisoners in Mexico committed? It is really a crime to defend your own children from the threats of drug gangs? Is it a crime to defend the lives of our parents and siblings?

 

We cannot accept this and condemn your government before Brazilian public opinion and that of all of Latin America for imprisoning the poor people who defended themselves only with what they had: hand guns, hunting rifles, axes and wooden sticks.

 

PSOL women fight for a free world where freedom reigns. We do not accept the fact that Nestora Salgado and thousands of other political prisoners, who have committed no crime and were simply defending their lives and their families, remain jailed in your government’s prisons.

 

We demand the immediate release of Nestora Salgado and all the political prisoners in Mexico.

 
Women of Partido de Socialismo e Liberdade, Brazil

Freedom for Nestora News Bulletin

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The Freedom For Nestora Committee – Seattle has prepared a newsletter for April, highlighting the progress of Nestora’s case such as a Mexican federal court dismissing federal charges of “organized crime” against Nestora, bringing her closer to freedom.

To read about this and other updates on the case, click here.

Rep Adam Smith writes letter to John Kerry about Nestora’s harsh treatment

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Representative in Congress, Adam Smith, from Washington’s 9th District has written a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry regarding U.S. citizen Nestora Salgado’s harsh treatment in Mexican prison, and urging attention from the U.S. embassy to monitor the case and ensure Nestora is afforded due process.

You can read the letter here.

Fiesta! A Freedom for Nestora Benefit

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Fiesta Nestora Event

Featuring
Live music by La Pasion
Muy sabrosa home-cooked Mexican dinner
Agua fresca, horchata, tres leches cake
Dancing and conversation
$10-25 sliding scale, children $5
Saturday, April 19, 7:00pm
New Freeway Hall
5018 Rainier Ave S, Seattle

Hosted by Libertad para Nestora/Freedom for Nestora Committee and Nestora’s family
For more info: 206-722-2453, FreeNestora.Seattle@gmail.com, http://www.FreeNestora.org

Nestora’s husband, José Luis Avila, to speak in Los Angeles

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José Luis Avila, husband of Nestora Salgado, political prisoner and leader of an indigenous militia in Olinalá, Guerrero, will be at la Casita del Frente (318 S. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA 90057) on Saturday, April 12th at 10:00 AM. Avila will lead a discussion on the situation of political prisoners in Mexico and the actions needed to win freedom for Salgado, and all political prisoners.

The event will take place at 318 S. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA 90057.

For information call 213-479-0960.

U.S. Citizen Nestora Salgado closer to freedom in Mexico

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Seattle, WA–Nestora Salgado-García of Renton, who has been illegally detained by Mexican authorities since August 2013, won an important victory in her struggle for freedom when a Mexican federal judge dismissed significant criminal charges against her.

“This decision represents a breakthrough for Nestora,” said Professor Thomas Antkowiak, Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Seattle University School of Law, which has led international litigation on her behalf. “The judge recognizes that she is not guilty of any crime, because she was acting legally as an authorized leader of her indigenous community.”

State kidnapping charges are still pending against Salgado. However, “this important federal precedent may well lead to the dismissal of the state charges and her release,” states Alejandra Gonza, co-counsel. Accordingly to the federal ruling, law enforcement actions by community police leaders such as Salgado could not be considered illegal.

Salgado was arrested for her courageous community work in the small indigenous village of Olinalá in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. Guerrero law and the Mexican Constitution guarantee the rights of indigenous communities to form their own justice and security institutions. Salgado was a leader of a community-policing group that legally forms part of state law enforcement, and had the express approval of Guerrero’s Governor.

Corrupt authorities abruptly changed position, however, when the group arrested a local official for committing a crime. Salgado was immediately seized by military forces and flown nearly 1,000 kilometers away to the maximum-security prison of El Rincon, in Nayarit.  She was denied visits from her elected attorney and family members.  Among many other deplorable detention conditions, she has been refused clean water and medical treatment. Supporters hope she will be transferred to a safer facility closer to her family in Mexico.

A naturalized U.S. citizen, Salgado moved to the United States in 1991 at the age of 20. More recently, she divided her time between Olinalá and the Seattle area, where she lives with her husband, José Luis Avila, her daughters, and grandchildren.

Her daughter, Grisel Rodriguez of Renton, expressed hope after many months of despair over and advocacy for her mother. “This shows she is innocent and must be released. She cannot survive much longer in that terrible prison.”

A broad coalition of national and international supporters has demanded Salgado’s release. The Freedom for Nestora Committee – led by Fred Hyde, a retired Administrative Law Judge, and Su Docekal – has obtained the endorsement of many thousands of individuals and organizations. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and several U.S and Mexican political leaders are closely monitoring the case.

Contact: Katherine Hedland-Hansen
hedlandk@seattleu.edu
+1(206) 793-3487
Seattle University School of Law