Adherents to la Sexta call for release of activist

Protest at the consulate in New York 

La Jornada / Hermann Bellinghausen 

Wednesday September 11, 2013, p. 20

Migrants from Movement for Justice in El Barrio in New York, adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, held a protest at the Mexican Consulate of the U.S. city to demand the release of Alberto Patishtán Gomez. “During the protest, representatives from the consulate came out, and we demanded the immediate and unconditional release of this great social activist”, said the organization.

Patishtán, an “indigenous political prisoner from El Bosque, Chiapas, has endured over 13 years of unjust and retaliatory imprisonment”, they said.

“Although we are geographically far away from our beloved Mexico, the border will not stop us continuing to fight for justice and freedom for our brother”. The fight for his freedom “continues in our hearts in a profound and spiritual way”.

“We are outraged. The whole world is watching the progress of this case with concern. Our union without borders will continue until Alberto is free”.

They recalled that this week, the first collegiate tribunal of the twentieth circuit in Chiapas “will make the final decision” on the case. The judges should reflect on the innocence of Alberto in the context of the great historical debt that the state, especially its legal body, has accumulated with indigenous peoples. It is this history that must be remembered, as it has given birth to the current situation of injustice, racism, systemic oppression, violence and total impunity”.

Outside the consulate, the migrants insisted on the “immediate and unconditional” liberation of Patishtán Gomez, since “his arrest and the time that he has spent behind bars have been absolutely unjust, because the teacher never committed any crime. Alberto is only guilty of fighting for justice, dignity and democracy”.

Similar protests have been held in recent days in Barcelona, ​​Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Bogota and several cities in Mexico (Veracruz, San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico City and Cuernavaca). Up until Tuesday, more than 16,000 people had signed Amnesty International’s letter demanding freedom for the Tzotzil teacher.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/09/11/index.php?section=politica&article=020n2pol