NACLA Update 04/28/11 - Zapatista Supporters in Mexico / U.S. Mexico Border / Brazilian Agrarian Reform

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Global Action for Release of Indigenous Zapatista Supporters in Mexico
by NACLA
On April 24, the New York based Movement for Justice in El Barrio (MJB) will launch several days of global action calling for the release of five indigenous Zapatista supporters, who are being held by the Mexican police in the state of Chiapas. The "Bachajón 5," as they are called, were arrested on February 3 when approximately 300 state police raided a meeting of indigenous Zapatista supporters in San Sebastian Bachajón, Chiapas, arresting 117 people. All were released except for the five who remain in prison as part of what human rights organizations call a fabricated conflict to strip the community, particularly the Zapatistas, of their territorial rights.
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Coyotes and Resistance on the U.S. Mexico Border
by Todd Miller
Among the villains in the crosshairs of the Department of Homeland Security's $57 billion 2012 Fiscal Year budget are coyotes, the smugglers migrants often hire to help them enter the United States without authorization. The border enforcement part of this budget, which supports an all-time high number of agents and officers, will in part focus on taking down these "criminals." However the book, Clandestine Crossings, by David Spener, directly challenges this "discursive" and costly fable about coyotes, and in doing so reveals that coyotes play an essential role for migrants trying to resist a blatantly unjust system.
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April 17: Brazil's National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform
by Vinicius Mansur
On April 17, 1996, close to 1500 rural landless workers began a march to the Pará state capital of Belém, Brazil with the goal of presenting their demands to resolve their land situation. When they arrived to the city of Eldorado do Carajás, the march stopped so that people could rest, but they were attacked by more than 100 military police officers who fired live ammunition into the crowd of demonstrators, killing 19. In 2002 then Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, declared April 17 to be the "National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform."
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