En español e inglés: Community Letter to Mexican Government Demanding End to Violence Against Migrants

Houston, Texas

December 22, 2010

To the authorities of the Mexican federal government

To the authorities of the Oaxaca state government

To the Mexican civil society

To the immigrant communities in the United States

To the public opinion

We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to you to denounce the violence that the migrants suffer as they pass through Mexican territory and demand full respect for human rights.

Our action is in response to both the recent report of kidnapping of 50 Central American migrants in the state of Oaxaca as to the unacceptable situation of robberies, rapes, kidnappings and assassinations of both migrants as well as Mexican citizens in all of Mexican territory.

We denounce the shameful impunity enjoyed by many of the criminals and their accomplices.

We express our solidarity with our migrant brothers and sisters in their journey for a dignified life.

We also express our support for people of goodwill who risk their lives to help the migrants on their way through Mexico and to denounce those who commit abuses. We are particularly concerned about the safety of Father Alejandro Solalinde and the people who work with him at the Hermanos en Camino shelter in Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

For all this we demand that the Mexican government and the Oaxaca state government:

1. Investigation and resolution of the case of December 16:

What happened in Chahuites, Oaxaca? Where are the migrants who were kidnapped? What will you do for their rescue and to dismantle networks of kidnappers, including the accomplices that exist at the level of local, state and federal authorities?

2. Guarantees for the safety of the migrants who travel through Mexico, with or without papers - especially in that region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The federal government and the state governments of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz should do whatever is necessary to protect human and constitutional rights of any person found in its territory, even during transit. We demand an end to the roadblocks and the raids on trains, particularly an end to the night operations that put the migrants in conditions of extreme danger. No migration policy that can justify the creation of so many risks for the working poor who come to the United States to seek what the economic policies of their countries denied them.

3. We also urgently demand to ensure the safety of Father Alexander Solalinde and all staff and volunteers who work at the Hermanos en Camino shelter in Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

We know that the father and his colleagues continue to receive death threats and we hold the administration of Lic. Felipe Calderon Hinojosa responsible for their safety.

4. The root of migration is in the economic model and the lack of democracy found in our countries, from Central America through Mexico and also in the United States.

Political and economic elites concentrate power and wealth at the expense of the lives and suffering of the majority and with the indifference of the middle classes. In these days leading up to Christmas we urgently appeal to people in power to have a change of heart and to exchange greed for justice and arrogance for respect. Only if there is social peace and decent jobs in our countries will migration slow down. Militarization and repression have failed to stop migration and instead they have caused thousands of deaths and untold suffering to many families. To the criminal armed groups that have been engaged in the business of migrant kidnappings, we call upon them to recognize the humanity of those who fall into their hands, we ask that they respect their lives.

5. To the civil societies in Central America, Mexico and the United States we call upon you to organize and mobilize to put an end to much suffering and death.

Enough! We are all one people and only together can we change this situation. Together we say, on this Christmas Eve, commemorating the arrival of someone who was born among the poor and as a migrant in Bethlehem:

Not one more migrant killed!

Respect for the right to life and the right to human mobility.

Respectfully,

Alianza Mexicana

Central American Resource Center (CRECEN)

Colectivo Flatlander

Houston Peace and Justice Center

League of United Latin American Citizens National Southwest

La Raza Justice Movement

Editors of El Pueblo Newspaper

*****

Houston, Texas

22 de diciembre de 2010

A las autoridades del gobierno federal mexicano

A las autoridades de gobierno del estado de Oaxaca

A la sociedad civil mexicana

A las comunidades inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos

A la opinión pública

Las organizaciones abajo firmantes nos dirigimos a ustedes para denunciar la violencia que las y los migrantes sufren a su paso por el territorio mexicano y demandar el respeto pleno a sus derechos humanos.

Nuestra acción responde tanto a la reciente denuncia de secuestro de 50 migrantes centroamericanos en el estado de Oaxaca como a la inaceptable situación de robos, violaciones, secuestros y asesinatos tanto de migrantes como de ciudadanos mexicanos en todo el territorio mexicano.

Denunciamos también la vergonzosa impunidad de la que gozan muchos de los criminales y sus cómplices.

Expresamos nuestra solidaridad con los hermanos y hermanas migrantes en su peregrinar por una vida digna.

También manifestamos nuestro apoyo a las personas de buena voluntad que arriesgan su vida al ayudar a las y los migrantes en su paso por México y al denunciar a quienes cometen abusos. Nos preocupa particularmente la seguridad del Padre Alejandro Solalinde y de las personas que colaboran con él en el albergue Hermanos en Camino en Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

Por todo esto exigimos al gobierno mexicano y al gobierno del estado de Oaxaca:

1. Investigación y resolución del caso del 16 de Diciembre:

¿Qué pasó en Chahuites, Oaxaca? ¿En dónde están los migrantes secuestrados? ¿Qué se va a hacer para su rescate y para el desmantelamiento de las redes de secuestradores, incluyendo a los cómplices que existan a nivel de autoridades locales, estatales y federales?

2. Garantías para la seguridad de las y los migrantes que viajan por México, con o sin papeles. Especialmente en esa región del Istmo de Tehuantepec.

El gobierno federal y el gobierno de los estados de Chiapas, Oaxaca y Veracruz deben hacer lo que sea necesario para proteger los derechos humanos y constitucionales de cualquier persona que se encuentre en su territorio, aunque sea en tránsito. Pedimos un alto a los retenes en las carreteras y alto a las redadas en los trenes, especialmente alto a los operativos nocturnos que ponen a los y las migrantes en condiciones de peligro extremo. No hay política migratoria que justifique crear tantos riesgos para trabajadores pobres que vienen a los Estados Unidos a buscar lo que la política económica de sus países les negó.

3. Demandamos con urgencia que se garantice también la seguridad del Padre Alejandro Solalinde y de todo el personal y voluntarios/as que colaboran en el Albergue Hermanos en Camino, en Ixtepec Oaxaca.

Sabemos que el padre y sus colaboradores continúan recibiendo amenazas de muerte y hacemos responsable de su seguridad a la administración del Lic. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.

4. La raíz de la migración está en el modelo económico y en la falta de democracia en nuestros países, desde Centroamérica, pasando por México y también en los Estados Unidos.

Élites políticas y económicas concentran el poder y la riqueza a costa del sufrimiento y la vida de la mayoría y ante la indiferencia de las clases medias. En estos días cercanos a la Navidad hacemos un llamado urgente a que las personas en el poder revisen su corazón y cambien la avaricia por la justicia y la arrogancia por el respeto. Sólo si hay paz social y trabajos dignos en nuestros países disminuirá la migración. La militarización y represión no han servido para detenerla y si para causar miles de muertes y sufrimiento incalculable a tantas familias. A los grupos armados de delincuentes que se han dedicado al negocio del secuestro de migrantes les hacemos un llamado a que reconozcan la humanidad de quienes caen en sus manos, les pedimos que respeten sus vidas.

5. A la sociedad civil en Centro América, México y los Estados Unidos le hacemos un llamado para organizarse y movilizarse para poner un alto a tanto sufrimiento y muerte.

¡Ya basta! Todos y todas somos un mismo pueblo y sólo unidos podemos cambiar esta situación. Juntos decimos, en esta víspera de Navidad, conmemorando la llegada de alguien que nació entre los pobres y como migrante en Belén:

¡Ni un migrante muerto más!

Respeto al derecho a la vida y al derecho a la movilidad humana.

RESPETUOSAMANTE

Alianza Mexicana

CRECEN

Colectivo Flatlander

Houston Peace and Justice Center

League of United Latin American Citizens National Southwest

La Raza Justice Movement

Editors of El Pueblo Newspaper

At the PGA: Migrant Rights Unite Us Across Borders

Salaam from the third day here at the People´s Global Action on Migration here in Mexico City!

By Monami Maulik

I am here at the People's Global Action gathering in Mexico City with with my colleague, Ayesha Mahmooda. Ayesha is a former youth member of DRUM and current Worker Organizer and has lived undocumented in the U.S. for 19 years until winning her deportation case this year.

I am excited to be here together representing South Asian and Muslim communities in the U.S. who are members of DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving. DRUM organizes a membership of over 1,000 South Asian and Muslim low-wage workers and youth who are fighting for their rights as migrants in the U.S.

We Raise Our Voices From New York to Mexico

DRUM played a major role in hosting the first ever People´s Global Assembly in New York City in 2005 as the UN released its report after the Global Commission on Migration and Development process. I had the chance also to testify at the last GCMD in Mexico City in 2005 about the need to de-link migration policy from national security.

In New York City DRUM hosted over 50 migrant leaders from Latin America, Asia, and Europe in our community of Jackson Heights. Bangladeshi women, who spoke no Spanish, shared our traditional food with Latin American women migrant leaders who spoke no English -- but they understood each other´s struggle without words. Later that week, we organized a town-hall and action at the UN as we saw the increasing importance this global process would take over the next decade.

We did not want unaccountable governments, private corporations and exploitative international institutions like the World Bank to decide our futures for us.

We decided that DRUM must raise the voice of migrant people ourselves in this global process towards human rights for migrants, rather than allowing the GFMD to only view migrants as tools to make greater profits for sending and receiving nations and corporations.

Migrant Rights Unite Us Across Borders

We are very honored and excited to be present at this international gathering with hundreds of migrant rights leaders from across the globe. We are humbled to be in Mexico, from where many of the 14 million undocumented brothers and sisters of ours in the U.S. come from. We see the dignity and pride in the faces of workers here, of indigenous people and the poor who are displaced by NAFTA yet continue to struggle for a better world. Mexico has a rich history and legacy of the workers and poor waging revolutionary movements for equity and human rights for all people.

On opening day of the PGA, I spoke on the welcome plenary about the need to unite across nationalities, both within the U.S. and globally, to challenge the 'national security' framework that is destroying the rights of migrants around the world.

The U.S after September 11, 2010 has created and spread this model of permanently placing all issues of migration as a permanent threat to national security, stoking exaggerated fears of terrorism. In the U.S., this has meant the mass raids, deportations and unjust imprisonment of thousands of Muslim immigrants. But it has not ended there and will only increase for all communities of color.

The national security paradigm in the U.S. has fundamentally channeled billions of dollars and unparalleled law enforcement resources towards the immigration enforcement regime of the Department of Homeland Security -- both in the interior and by hyper militarizing the borders.

This is at the same time that the US is waging endless wars and occupations that have murdered over 1.5 million people in the Middle East and South Asia since 2002. As the mothers of victims of this attack on Muslims in our membership say, "The government is manufacturing terrorists out of poor migrant workers in order to justify its endless wars abroad and security regime."

Yesterday, as we participated in a roundtable on National Security & Migrant Rights, this same story was told by half a dozen people from all over the world -- from Thailand to Mali, from Holland to Mexico. I learned that in Mexico, the government is copying the U.S. model and converted its national Migration Institute into the National Security Institute. Moreover, the Mexican government has opened up "Migration Centers" as National Security detention facilities that are top secret, deny access to lawyers and others, and use abusive tactics on migrants.

Under the national security paradigm, the end goal here is the same as everywhere : to permanently by-pass human rights and accountability and to justify non-transparency and the abuse of migrant people. A Haitian migrant leader from the Dominican Republic spoke about how Haitian migrants in the DR are being detained as 'national security' threats by claiming they will create crimes and degrade the environment.

Human Rights and Sustainable Development Make Us Safer

Today, we held a formal workshop on "National Security & Human Rights of Migrants" and drafted proposals that will be presented to the governments at their Global Forum on Migration and Development, where civil society will pressure the governments:
1) De-link migration policy from National Security globally, and
2) Reject the framework of National Security and replace it with "Human Security" -- that when human rights and access to sustainable development are provided for all, communities and nations are safest.

We are raising the issue of national security at the GFMD even though the U.S. government has been silent on the issue. We know that the U.S. is actively promoting this new tool to suppress rights and accountability behind closed doors with other governments. As Muslim migrants in the U.S., we are building bridges with our colleagues globally because we see that our organizing for human rights are interdependent and that none of us can win alone.

Saludos!

Monami Maulik
Executive Director, DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving

www.drumnyc.org/