México, D.F., 4 de Junio de 2015. Familiares de Nestora Salgado y organizaciones sociales marcharon este jueves hacia el Centro de Readaptación Social de Tepepan exigiendo la liberación inmediata de “La Comandanta”.
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The Guardian: Mexican woman jailed for combatting cartels: ‘It is a sacrifice that had to be made’
In the first major international news coverage of Nestora Salgado, The Guardian offers a stirring look at Nestora’s steadfast dedication to ending the rule of cartels in Mexico.
Nestora Salgado is not a woman who caves in easily.
A child bride who soon became a single mother of three, Salgado was still a teenager when she left her hometown in the mountains of southern Mexico to rebuild her life in the US.
Two decades later, she returned home to lead an armed rebellion against drug traffickers and corrupt local authorities – only to be accused of kidnapping and imprisoned.
Salgado spent 21 months in a high-security jail until a hunger strike galvanized international support for her case and helped secure her transfer last month to the medical wing of a more relaxed facility.
Now, in her first interview with the international press, Salgado argued that she was guilty of nothing more than helping her community stand up to the narcosand their corrupt political allies, and called on the Mexican government to release her and drop all the charges.
Información al Desnudo: “ONG estadunidenses critican a Washington por no salir en defensa de Nestora Salgado”
Cleotilde Salgado y Grisel Rodríguez, hermana e hija de Nestora, ofrecieron una conferencia de prensa para dar a conocer el estado de salud de la luchadora social y las acciones que se emprenderán para buscar su libertadFoto María Meléndrez Parada
Nestora Salgado es una Mexicana quien residía por unos años en USA
por Daniel Vila
Informacion Al Desnudo – Mexico
Al regresar a su pueblo de Olinalá en Estado de Guerrero, encontró un insoportable nivel de crimen.
La comunidad comenzó a organizer una Policía Comunitaria (legal y protegido bajo la Constitución de México para personas en áreas rurales/indígenas).
Nestora fue electa Comandanta de la Policía Comunitaria en Olinolá.
Fueron éxitosos/as eliminando el crimen…..y por eso el Fiscal del Gobierno de Guerrero le fabricó acusaciones y la encarcelaron hasta hoy.
La cárcel ha sido un infierno para ella y en semanas recientes comenzó una huelga de hambre.
Como consecuencia, justo el día antes de llegar nuestra delegación internacional, fue trasladada a un hospital en una cárcel en Ciudad México, bajo condiciones mucho menos malas que las de la cárcel en Guerrero.
La delegación internacional tuvimos el honor de visitor y compartir individualmente con la Comandanta Nestora Salgado en el hospital de la cárcel en Ciudad México.
Y el último día de Nuestra visita esta semana, el Gobernador de Guerrero visitó a la Comandanta Nestora Salgaldo en la capital de México. http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2015/595971/6/gobernador-y-familiares-visitan-a-nestora-salgado-en-la-carcel.htm
Esto es una victoria y consideramos el resultado de la presión que se le hizo durante la visita de nuestra delegación internacional.
También visitamos la embajada de USA para exigir que intervengan por la ciudadana de USA quien ha sido víctim de torturas en las cárceles.
La embajada USA accedió a una visita por el abogado e hija de la Comandanta para la semana próxima,
asunto que hasta ahora deseaban ignorar y lavarse se las manos.
El jueves 4 de junio cientos marcharon hasta la prisión donde se encuentra Nestora para exigir su libertad.
Desde su ventana saludó a la marcha.
http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/176729-manifestacion-liberacion-nestora-salgado-presa-politica
Nestora le envía un saludo caluroso al pueblo de Puerto Rico.
Saludos Daniel Vila
Familiares de la comandanta anuncian movilizaciones para exigir su liberación
César Arellano García
Periódico La Jornada
Martes 2 de junio de 2015
Martes 2 de junio de 2015
Una delegación estadunidense, integrada por organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos y sindicalistas, así como familiares de Nestora Salgado, viajaron este fin de semana a México para exigir la inmediata liberación de la comandanta de la policía comunitaria de Olinalá, Guerrero. También demandan a los gobiernos de ambos países procesos legales y justos.
La Comandanta Nestora Salgado antes de su arresto
En conferencia de prensa realizada en el Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, Stephen Durham, activista que realiza una campaña en favor de la libertad de Salgado en Estados Unidos, y Patricia Coley, organizadora del Comité Nestora de Seattle, expresaron su solidaridad con el pueblo de México, que continúa movilizándose por la justicia.
La marcha por Nestora este pasado jueves en el Distrito Federal de México.
México padece un gobierno que recibe apoyo financiero y militar de Estados Unidos bajo el Plan Mérida, el cual genera consecuencias sangrientas para el pueblo mexicano
, afirmó
Acompañados por familiares de otros presos políticos, solicitaron al presidente Enrique Peña Nieto la liberación de Nestora Salgado y de todos los encarcelados por motivos ideológicos, entre ellos Gonzalo Molina y Arturo Campos, quienes mantienen una huelga de hambre.
Con megafono el compañero Giovani de la Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias
y a su lado la Hermana de Nestora, Clotilde.
Grisel Rodríguez, hija de Nestora, lamentó que el gobierno de Estados Unidos no apoye a la comandanta en su liberación, ya que tiene la ciudadanía estadunidense, “por el contrario, la abandonó.
“Nosotros en Estados Unidos nos damos cuenta de todas las injusticias que se cometen contra los prisioneros políticos. No sólo el gobierno mexicano, también el estadunidense, ambos han traicionado a mi mamá.
En la foto, la Policía Comunitaria de Tixtla Guerrero, en verde, se vio obligada a intervenir con elementos de la policía municipal luego del secuestro de Nestora Salgado un tiempo atrás.
Nestora Salgado es ciudadana estadunidense y hasta la fecha es poco lo que ha hecho el gobierno del vecino país del norte. Las autoridades mexicanas la encerraron, pero Washington la ha dejado ahí, por eso nos vamos a plantar frente a la embajada para preguntarles qué está pasando, por qué han abandonado a mi mamá.
Cleotilde Salgado advirtió que su hermana se encuentra en muy mal estado de salud y su vida corre peligro por la huelga de hambre que inició hace 28 días.
En tanto, Daniel Vila Rivera, periodista y miembro de la delegación, leyó un documento firmado por el presidente del sindicato afiliado al Consejo del Trabajo del Estado de Washington: En nombre de los cerca de 400 mil integrantes de dicho sindicato, pedimos la liberación inmediata de Nestora Salgado de la prisión en la que se encuentra detenida como presa política sin estar condenada por ningún delito
.
Los familiares de Salgado agregaron que continuarán con las movilizaciones, entre ellas asistirán a la embajada de Estados Unidos en México, aunque no precisaron fecha, pero confirmaron que el próximo jueves marcharán a las 13 horas de la estación Periférico del Tren Ligero hacia el penal femenil de Tepepan.
Protesta en el Distrito Federal de México el pasado miércoles
Foto: Yazmín Ortega Cortés
El miércoles familiares de la comandanta de la policía comunitaria de Olinalá, Guerrero, y una delegación estadunidense de activistas se manifestaron frente a la embajada de Estados Unidos en México
La Jornada: “Nestora Salgado Suspends Hunger Strike On Guerrero Governor’s Promise to Transfer Colleagues to State Prison”
by Matilde Pérez U.
Original story (en español) here.
Nestora Salgado, Community Police commander in Olinalá, Guerrero, who was transfered last week from a federal high security prison in Nayarit to one in Mexico City, agreed to lift the hunger strike she maintained for nearly a month. This was in response to the request of her family and the promise of Guerrero Governor Rogelio Ortega that Arturo Campos and Gonzalo Medina, her colleagues from the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities (CRAC), will be transferred from a federal prison in the State of Mexico to Guerrero.
Thursday morning, Guerrero Governor Rogelio Ortega Martínez visited Nestora Salgado in the Tepepan Prison Medical Tower, where she has been held under observation since May 29. The Governor arrived at about 10:30 AM accompanied by his wife, Rosa Icela Ojeda Rivera, and one of Nestora’s daughters. Sources in the prison report that the visit lasted about two hours. Continue reading
Nestora end hunger strike (June 5)
On Friday, June 5, Nestora suspended her hunger strike after six Community Police members were moved from prisons in distant areas of Guerrero state, to a local jail near their homes. Nestora, however, remains ready to resume her hunger strike if she is not freed. She is also demanding the transfer to Guerrero of two Community Police leaders, Gonzalo Molina (who also ended his hunger strike when Nestora did) and Arturo Campos. They are currently in maximum security prisons far from their families.
This weekend there was heavy government repression against activists in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán and Jalisco who were protesting the federal elections. The protesters say the elections are a farce and are demanding the release of political prisoners, an accounting for the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, and an end to school privatization plans.
U.S. military aid and equipment is being used to by the Mexican government to brutally suppress internal political dissent. End Plan Merida!
VICE News: “Hunger Strike Called Off by American Woman Jailed in Mexico After Starting Citizen Police Force”
In one of the highest-profile stories about Nestora Salgado’s imprisonment yet, VICE News offers an informative account of her community policing efforts and subsequent arrest, her recent hunger strike, and the international efforts to end her incarceration (including a reference to this website). We encourage all of Nestora’s supporters to share this news story! We must spread the word if we hope to win her release!
An imprisoned U.S. citizen whose case has come to symbolize the Mexican government’s crackdown on community armed police forces in the state of Guerrero ended a month-long hunger strike on Thursday.
Nestora Salgado, who emigrated from Mexico and became a naturalized citizen in the US state of Washington, agreed to lift the hunger strike she began on May 5 to protest what she and international supporters called false charges of kidnapping and organized crime.
Salgado has been at the center of the struggle over public safety in Guerrero between state officials and grassroots community militias, which have sprung up in differing forms in states such as Michoacan.
La Jornada: “Nestora’s family asks the U.S. embassy for assistance”
by César Arellano García
This article in Spanish / Este artículo en español
MEXICO DF. — Activists and relatives of Nestora Salgado Garcia requested a meeting this afternoon with officials from the U.S. embassy in Mexico to ask them to intervene in the release of the ex-comandante of community policing from Olinalá, Guerrero, who remains on a hunger strike after 30 days.
Grisel Rodriguez, Rivero Sandino, Stephen Durham, Patricia Coley, and Daniel Vila Rivera, who are delegates representing the international campaign to free Nestora, were at the U.S. Embassy, located in the capital, to request a meeting with diplomats.
“My mother is American and is entitled to consular help and we want to know what the American government is doing to help,” said Grisel Rodriguez to these agencies, after delivering the request for a meeting.
“We came hoping they would listen to us, that they would give us an appointment and, if we are successful, an opportunity to ask questions,” said Rodriguez. The goal is to know what actions have been taken by the embassy and what more can be done.
“They have the power to take her (out of prison), that’s more than obvious, they just need to adopt a more aggressive attitude with the Mexican government. They can do it, they simply need to want to, or need to press the Mexican government until they act,” added the daughter of ex-comandante.
For his part, the lawyer Sandino Rivero said he hoped that at the next meeting, which may be held in two weeks, that there will be representatives of American diplomatic staff, in addition to relatives of Nestora and other international human rights organizations.
“Nestora Salgado is a U.S. citizen and has the right to consular assistance, and that her government defend her, regardless of whether she has a defense team,” he said.
According to Rivero, the embassy knew that Nestora Salgado is an American citizen, but to Nestora’s family it is important to meet with the diplomats to question them about what they have done or what they can do to win her freedom.
For the lawyer, the Mexican government did not respect the right to consular assistance, even when they were required to do it, since they never informed the embassy about Nestora’s arrest.
Salgado Garcia emigrated to the U.S. when she was 19 years-old to earn a living with her daughter who was just three. Once there she worked as a baker, waitress and cleaner in the state of Washington.
More than 10 years passed before she could come back to Guerrero.
In 2002, she returned to Guerrero and with “papers” that recognized her as a U.S. citizen.
On May 29, Salgado Garcia was relocated to the prison Tepepan, south of Mexico City, after an agreement between the Interior Ministry and the government of Guerrero to move her from the maximum security prison in Tepic, Nayarit, to a prison in the capital, in order to receive medical attention for her serious health problems.
The lawyer explained that the legal defense is at the moment making a presentation of the evidence against the three Olinála activists facing charges of kidnapping.
“The fact that she has been transferred to the prison of Tepepan itself is a breakthrough because legally we can interview her every day,” he said.
In the maximum security prison in Tepic, visits with lawyers were complicated by changes in defense attorneys (besides which the meetings only lasted 40 minutes) and although communication can now be more efficient, “you cannot forget that the charging party is in the mountains of Guerrero, and that,” said the lawyer, “delayed the process.”
Sandino Rivero also reported that visitors from the Human Rights Commissions (National and DF) went to the prison to ascertain Nestora’s health status, while her daughters and husband are insisting that Nestora stop fasting.
On August 21, 2013, the ex-comandante was arrested by forces of the Army, Navy and state police who, aboard tanks, hummer trucks and a helicopter arrived at mountain area and detained her, accusing her of “kidnapping and organized crime.”
The incident occurred after the Community Police arrested the procurator of Olinalá, Armando Jimenez, for a pattern for alleged cattle rustling (cattle stealing) and for allegedly covering up the murder of two ranchers.
A brief but heartening glimpse of Nestora.
Leaders of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), a Mexican trade union whose leaders have been camped out at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City while in negotiations with the Secretary of the Interior, joined a demonstration in support of Nestora Salgado today. One of the banners which led the march was brought to Mexico by the delegates of the US Campaign to Free Nestora Salgado, an ex-comandante of the community police in Olinála, Guerrero. The families of other political prisoners and teachers marched to the Tepepan prison where Salgado is being held, after she was moved at the beginning of the week from a federal maximum security prison in Tepic, Nayarit. Spirits were high as she waved out the window of her hospital room.
June 4, 2015. Photo by Pablo Ramos.
TeleSUR: “Teachers’ Protests Fill Mexico City Streets”
Thousands of angry teachers took to the streets of the Mexican capital to protest labor policies that they charge are a step toward privatization of public education and put their workplace rights in jeopardy.
In addition to protesting against these policies, the teachers also called for the release of political prisoners, particularly Nestora Salgado. The protests coincided with the Campaign to Free Nestora Salgado’s visit to Mexico City. Campaign member Stephen Durham and Nestora Salgado’s daughter Grisel Rodriguez are also featured in the video.
Reporting San Diego: “Activists Were Invited Briefly Inside of the Mexican Consulate”
We’ve received a promising update from San Diego:
June 3, 2015 (San Diego) Activists from multiple community groups arrived in front of the Mexican Consulate at 5 in the afternoon. They came expecting a response from the Consulate on the letter they turned in on Monday.
The group is committed to getting a response; their demand is the freedom of Nestora Salgado. While her imprisonment is no longer at the high security prison in Nayarit, but now at a mid-security prison in Mexico City, she remains in a hunger strike, now at the 30 day mark.
When they arrived outside the consulate they waited a short time and then they told the security guard they had an appointment with the Consul. They expected to be received by General Consul of Mexico in San Diego Remedios Gomez Arrau. Instead Alternate Consul Fernando Vargas received them.
Freedom for Political Prisoners Committee 