Who were these guys? Who was signing their paychecks? Where did they get those bulletproof vests? Why were they shooting at journalists? Someone knows.
Rechaza la SCJN frenar indagatoria en Oaxaca (El Universal): The Mexican Supreme Court has accepted the recommendation to form a special commission to investigate the responsibility of public officials in the wave of terrorism used as an, er, innovative collective bargaining technique in Oaxaca last year.
It rejected an appeal by the state’s governor, Ulíses Ruíz, who argued that he had complied with the recommendations of Mexico’s federal human rights commission (CNDH) and that the matter should be closed.
See also
Worth repeating: David Sasaki of Global Voices Online, a project of the Harvard Law school’s Berkman Center for the Intel-Inside Society, in a post titled Fear and Misinformation Abound, vouched for disinformation on this subject. Like a commenter on my blog who lied about his identity, he and others consistently tried to sell us on the idea that “Truth is Nowhere.”
Harvard Law’s award-winning “innovation journalism” project Global Voices Online, in a post titled The last moments of Bradley Roland Will, minimized the significance of a journalist being killed by political paramilitary thugs in the larger scheme of things.
But as one of the blogs David Sasaki quotes had it, there’s a balance to be struck between outrage at the killing of Brad Will, and at the mounting number of local deaths and injuries.
So did the U.S. Dept. of State (State Masturbates).
U.S. embassies carry GVO RSS newsfeeds on their Web sites.
Report heavily and earnestly on the existence of fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Contribute nothing to dispelling it.
Insist on FUD as a profound metaphysical truth about life in general (Edelman on Rashōmon).
(Hearing) Global Voices Online in a nutshell.
At Harvard, ve*ri*tas has apparently given way to the wisdom of Pontius Pilate: “What is truth?”
I think we should remind Mr. Sasaki at each step in the investigation that it is indeed possible to discover who did what to whom, beyond a reasonable doubt, under the democratic rule of law.
Especially when there is an ample photographic and documentary record. It can be hard work, but it is worth doing.
You would think that lawyers in training would have learned about the rules of evidence by now. A bullet in the solar plexus is not a bullet in the back, Mr. Sasaki. A camera is not an AK-47 or a .38 revolver.
I translate for the record:
En las primeras horas de ayer, el mandatario estatal hizo llegar a los ministros de la Corte un oficio en el cual les notificó que había cumplido las recomendaciones hechas por la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH), en relación con una serie de violaciones a garantías atribuidas a su administración.
Early yesterday morning, the state governor sent the Supreme Court an appeal in which he says he has complied with the recommendations of the CNDH with respect to a serious of rights violations by his administration.
There is some concern, by the way, that the CNDH has produced a slanted report to try to minimize the responsibility of Ruiz.
After its jaw-dropping misconduct in the Ernestina Asencio case — one of the most scabrous FUD campaigns in the history of freaking mankind — those doubts also deserve due consideration. I am going to have a read of the report.
See also Mexico: Rights Authorities Stammer Like Elmer FUD.
La Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) rechazó un último intento del gobernador de Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, para evitar la creación de una comisión investigadora que averigüe las presuntas violaciones graves a las garantías cometidas en los conflictos registrados en esa entidad a partir de mayo de 2006.
The Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz to avoid the creation of an investigative commission to look into serious alleged rights violations committed in the conflicts in that state starting in May 2006.
En las primeras horas de ayer, el mandatario estatal hizo llegar a los ministros de la Corte un oficio en el cual les notificó que había cumplido las recomendaciones hechas por la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH), en relación con una serie de violaciones a garantías atribuidas a su administración.
Early yesterday morning, the state governor sent the Supreme Court an appeal in which he says he has complied with the recommendations of the CNDH with respect to a serious of rights violations by his administration.
Mediante este documento, el gobernador pretendía que la Corte cancelara la posibilidad de crear la comisión, bajo el argumento de que ya no era necesario, porque las recomendaciones que se le formularon las había aceptado, pero el Pleno de la Corte rechazó su petición.
With this filing, the governor was trying to get the Court to bar any possibility of creating the commission, arguing that it was no longer necessary, because the [CNDH] recommendations had been accepted. But the full court rejected his petition.
El ministro José Ramón Cosío le respondió al gobernador de Oaxaca que la Corte no está “amarrada” ni “sujeta” a lo que haga la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, además de que la investigación de la Corte se extenderá a todas las autoridades involucradas y no sólo a las del ámbito local.
Justice Cosío responded to the governor that the Court was not “tied” or “subject” to what the CNDH does, and that the commission will range over officials at all levels of government, not just the state.
Mientras que la ministra Margarita Luna Ramos corrigió al mandatario oaxaqueño, al recordar que las recomendaciones de la CNDH no podían tomarse como cumplidas por el momento, sino únicamente como aceptadas.
Meanwhile, Justice Luna Ramos corrected the Oaxaca governmor, reminding him that the recommendations of the CNDH cannot be taken as having been complied with yet, only as having been accepted.
Este último comentario generó que, incluso, el ministro Mariano Azuela considerara que “de momento sólo hay buenas intenciones” de parte del gobernador.
This last comment led even Justice Azuela to state that “at the moment, there are only good intentions” on the governor’s part.
Indagarán violaciones
Violations to be probed
Después de revisar éste y otros puntos, el máximo tribunal aceptó, tal como se preveía desde el lunes, la solicitud que le hizo la Cámara de Diputados para que investigue la presunta violación de garantías individuales que se registró en Oaxaca, durante los conflictos que se generaron en la entidad a partir de mayo de 2006.
After reviewing this and other points, the nation’s top court accepted, as expected, the request from the lower house of Congress to investigate alleged violations of individual rights in Oaxaca during the conflicts that emerged there in May 2006.
Por ocho votos contra tres, la mayoría de ministros de la SCJN acordó ejercer la facultad de averiguar hechos graves violatorios de derechos fundamentales que le otorga la Constitución en su artículo 97.
By a vote of 8-3, the majority agreed to exercise its investigative powers in human rights cases under Article 97 of the Constituton.
De último momento, el ministro Mariano Azuela se sumó a la mayoría. En cambio, los ministros Sergio Aguirre, Sergio Valls y José de Jesús Gudiño se mantuvieron en su postura de rechazo de investigar los hechos ocurridos en Oaxaca.
At the last minute, Justice Azuela joined the majority. Justices Sergio Aguirre, Sergio Valls and José de Jesús Gudiño maintained their opposition.
La mayoría de ministros dejó pendiente para el jueves decidir quiénes serán los magistrados federales que tendrán a su cargo la comisión investigadora, y cuáles serán los lineamientos que deberán seguir en sus indagatorias.
The majority left until Thursday the decision on which federal magistrates will be appointed to the commission and what lines they will follow in their inquiries.
Se prevé que las investigaciones giren, al menos, en torno a tres ejes:
It is expected that the investigations will revolve around at least three axes:
Las violaciones que cometieron en contra de los integrantes de la APPO las autoridades federales, estatales y municipales, por extralimitarse en el uso de la fuerza pública.
[tktktktktk]
Las violaciones en las que incurrieron todas las autoridades por haber omitido, retardado o incumplido con sus deberes y funciones para garantizar la seguridad de la población, y que afectaron a los ciudadanos que no participaron en el conflicto, y que se vieron afectadas de diferentes formas, lo mismo en su seguridad personal que en la de sus bienes.
[tktktktktk]
Y las violaciones en que incurrieron los ciudadanos que participaron en los conflictos y que afectaron a otras personas
[tktktktktk]
GVO’s Brazil editor, José Murilo, moderates a Google Group known as “The Imaginary News and Nonsense Agency” under the pseudonym of “Mr. Elf.” A PBS blog recently interviewed him under that pseudonym. The photograph of “Mr. Elf” it ran seems to be a Second Life screenshot. See PBS: “The Imaginary News & Nonsense Agency”
The New Market Machines 