Dear Friend,
Nestora Salgado, courageous champion of her indigenous community and a political prisoner in Mexico, is on a hunger strike. She began refusing food on May 5th and intends “to take this to the bitter end,” according to her attorney Leonel Rivero Rodriguez.
The Freedom for Nestora Committee is contacting you because we need your financial support to help win Nestora’s freedom at this critical juncture.
In a recent article covering U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Boeing’s plant in Renton, WA – where Nestora Salgado lived for years – Seattle Globalist described the supporters of Nestora who showed up not only to protest the TPP trade deal, but also to raise awareness of the political prisoner’s troubles. The Globalist’s coverage follows:
…Also outside the Boeing plant were supporters of Nestora Salgado, the Renton woman who has been jailed in Mexico after running a community police force. Her husband, Jose Luis Avila, and her daughter, Grisel Rodriguez, were among the picketers vying for Kerry’s attention.
Avila said that he would like the Secretary of State to take a strong stance urging Mexico to free Salgado, who faces an uncertain wait for trial. Human rights groups and politicians in Washington and Mexico have already backed Salgado’s case.
“We have been knocking on his door for months,” Avila said. “Hopefully he can see that we’re here, and we’re not going away.”
Supporters of Nestora Salgado, a Renton woman imprisoned in Mexico, hope to get Secretary of State John Kerry’s attention. (Photo by Venice Buhain.)
For the full story, click here.
The Free Nestora Committee is pleased to announce the following endorsers of our cause:
Inlandboatman’s Union, Puget Sound Region
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 79, Seattle
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 52, Puget Sound, Washington
International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Seattle Pensioners’ Club
National M.E.Ch.A., U.S.
Seattle Women’s Rights Commission
We extend our sincerest gratitude for their support.
The Seattle University School of Law, where supporter of Nestora’s cause Professor Thomas Antkowiak teaches, has issued a news story providing some details into Nestora’s decision to go on hunger strike as well as the international efforts to pressure the Mexican government to release her.
“Integrantes de la Policía Comunitaria y familiares de Nestora Salgado en conferencia de prensa informaron que el martes pasado la comandante de esa corporación popular comenzó una huelga de hambre para protestar por los malos tratos y la discriminación que ha sufrido en el penal de máxima seguridad El Rincón, ubicado en Tepic, Nayarit.
‘Lo único que Nestora Salgado pedía era que las autoridades le mejoraran su alimentación dentro del penal debido a sus problemas gastrointestinales, cosa que no fue bien vista por los custodios que se encargaban de vigilarla. Por ello, ese mismo momento decidió realizar una huelga de hambre’, indicó Cleotilde Salgado, hermana de la comandante. “
“Salgado has been refused medical attention and due legal process for over two years, and ‘cannot endure anymore,’ she says.”
Vea aquí la versión completa.
(From University of Seattle School of Law)
The Seattle University School of Law reported on March 16 that “[s]even United Nations human rights experts have appealed to the Government of Mexico to protect Nestora Salgado-García, the Renton woman who has been imprisoned in Mexico and is represented by the law school’s International Human Rights Clinic.”
To read the full story, click HERE.
This past weekend, the Free Nestora contingent of NYC Radical Women helped spread word of Nestora’s wrongful incarceration at the International Women’s Day march organized by the International Working Women’s Day Coalition. Emily Yamasaki, flanked by members of RW, the Freedom Socialist Party, the Free Nestora Committee, and other international activists, spoke of Nestora’s case at Herald Square on behalf of Radical Women.
Holding the banner on the left for Women Workers for Peace/Mujeres Trabajadoras por la Paz are the immigrant rights activists Nieves Ayress and Victor Toro.
Recent reports claim that the new prosecutor assigned to Nestora’s case not only refuses to drop the charges against her, but is seeking a prison sentence of nearly 1,000 years for the community police force leader. Such trumped-up charges reveal the extent to which the government is willing to go to send a message to political dissidents seeking to end corruption in Mexico.
Read the full story here.
Freedom for Political Prisoners Committee 