Saturday, March 22nd, some of us from CASA went to interview Jorge Salinas Jardón, ex-political prisoner of the Atenco conflict whose legal proceedings ended a month ago.

Jorge had come to Chiapas to participate in one of the Caravans Against Repression making rounds in Zapatista communities. The Caravans are part of the “Worldwide Campaign in Defense of Autonomous Indigenous Lands and Territories in Chiapas, Mexico, and the World”, whose goal is to create a presence of Mexican social fighters in order to observe and denounce repression against autonomous communities.

Jorge participated in the most recent Caravan of close to 40 people, which departed from Mexico City and surrounding areas to arrive in Chiapas on March 15th. Over the following week the members of the Caravan passed through communities pertaining to the 5 Zapatista Caracoles, and attempted to visit Amate Prison, but were denied entry. On March 22nd they held a press conference to report on their experiences.

In his testimony, Jorge recounted some of his experiences as a political prisoner as well as the police atrocities committed in Atenco in May 2006, atrocities which still occur in almost every place in the world where people fight for a life of dignity and freedom. In addition, Jorge spoke of the support given to the political prisoners on hunger strike in Chiapas, and the importance of international solidarity. Most importantly though, Jorge reminded us of the responsibility to not forget and keep the memories of our struggles fresh. In this way, we can continue writing our own history.

“My name is Jorge Salines Jardón. I work in telecommunications and participate in the Zapatista Telefonista Collective. We are supporters of The Other Campaign and the 6th Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle.

The Sixth Delegation left on January 2006. Delegate Zero (Subcomandante Marcos) left La Garrucha to meet with diverse social organizations in struggle all over Mexico (…), passing through states in Southeast Mexico and finishing in Mexico City. The discovered that a government trap had been set when they arrived at the final event in Mexico City (…).

The Other Campaign’s final event began May 3rd, but there were confrontations in Texcoco throughout the day. The municipal and state governments had made an agreement with our compañeros in Atenco that they could sell their flowers on May 3rd. The florists arrived early that day to sell their flowers. Upon their arrival, the police were there waiting and began to beat them and toss them off the premises..

The besieged called on compañeros from Atenco to help (who offer their support indiscriminately to any group that asks, large or small). The group left Atenco for Texcoco to protect their compañeros from the police by creating a diversion.

The T.V. stations, already sympathetic to the government, displayed the images all day and until exhaustion. The anchormen made comments such as “How much longer are we going to permit this violence against our police forces?” and “Somebody has to enforce order!”

The police had entered savagely with tear gas. This was not reported by the media. The police killed a 14 year old child, provoking the people into anger. Thus, a blockade was set up on a busy freeway and main commerce route...

Subcomandante Marcos identified it as a trap and declared red alert in all Zapatista communities. Since then, the Caracoles have been closed and militia forces ready for combat. He also called on The Other Campaign to support Atenco.

The Other Campaign gathered at night on May 3rd. The freeway blockade stood firm and the protesters had detained 6 policemen, demanding the release of their 22 compañeros (who had been arrested in the police-florist conflict).

We had no idea how many of them would come. On May 4th thousands of federal military personnel arrived, disguised as PFP (Preventative Federal Police), including municipal government agents and the Texcoco police force. During the night, they came pounding the ground with their feet and shields, yelling “We are going to kill you; we are going to eat you”

They came with tear gas, and we defended ourselves using rocks and sticks. Soon followed a small confrontation lasting 5-10 minutes. A tear gas canister hit a 20 year old student in the head. He fell wounded, his brain matter exposed. He didn’t die right away…but it took his father and friends 12 hours to get an ambulance... Later, he spent several days in a coma before dying.

In the end the blockade was removed, allowing the cars to pass. At this point, we thought that the police would leave. However, they pressed on. We resisted in several places, until they surrounded us in the town center.

At sunset, (the police) were taking people from their homes to a secret destination where they intended to extract information about the location of the other adherents.

In my case, they shot me in the ankle preventing my escape. I tried to run, but they caught up with me and beat me savagely. Later, a journalist told me that 27 police beat me as I lay in fetal position to protect myself.

They dragged us to a truck and told us they were going to take us far away and kill us, kicking us and beating us the whole time. Once in the truck they piled us up like animals and blind-folded us.

They took everything from me on the way there: my cell phone, my identification, keys, and money – I was a union treasurer at the time. They also took my leather jacket. Spoils of war. They also took advantage of the woman. For the entire 6 hour trip, they beat us and sexually abused the women. We couldn’t see because of the blindfolds, but we heard the screams.

It was remarkable that nobody begged for mercy, No one asked for forgiveness... We thought they were going to kill us, but we never said we were wrong. Unlike the 6 detained police who began to cry in front of the cameras asking forgiveness. We are of a very different constitution, us rebels and those damned cowards.

They took us to jail and tortured us. Afterwards, they put us in a small room and removed the blindfold and ordered us to hand over our valuables. But at that point we didn't have anything left (...).

They took the most heavily beaten amongst us to the “López Mateos de Toluca” hospital and treated us like animals there and stitched our wounds without prior cleaning. Afterwards, we went almost a full day without water (...). They told us “It's not our fault that you're here”.

Our cellmates displayed their solidarity with us, all severely wounded. They immediately lent us a hand, gave us water, and bathed us.

I was there until May 12th (8 days). I had to pay a fine of 15,000 pesos (~US $1,430) I just finished my legal proceedings a month ago. There are still 16 of our companions in prison. 3 of them have been identified as “leaders” and are in “La Palma”, a maximum security prison. Now, our struggle is to free them in the name of justice.

There hasn't been justice in this country for a long time. The people who steal, who commit fraud, and who murder all die of natural causes (...).

Nevertheless, the struggle continues. The Front in Defense of Land (an Atenco organization involved in these matters) is rebuilding, and at the moment are doing workshops and other activities (...). As we know, The Other Campaign is in retreat due to the growing military and paramilitary aggression here in Chiapas.

Our imprisoned compañeros continue the struggle. They keep on living, even though they cannot go out into the street (...). They say in their letters to not grow weary, that this is our commitment, and we won't stop until we are all free. ”

On the legal situation of the 3 from Atenco who are still imprisoned:

The 3 in maximum security prison have been sentenced to 67 years. However, a friend advised us that this can be reduced by half because they weren't even involved in the freeway blockade, nor the detention of police officers. The 16 others haven't been sentenced yet, but it appears they will be released soon.

On the political prisoners on hunger strike in Chiapas:

Among their many tasks, the caravan arrived to support the strikers in any way we could. We went to “El Amate” to visit them, but they didn't let us in (...). However, it is nice to know that the prisoners' relatives have been supporting them and passing on our messages. As well, it is a victory that one of us has been released (Zacario was the political prisoner from Pueblo Creyente who initiated the current hunger strike in Chiapas. The government released him on March 19th, after being on hunger strike for more than a month).

On the importance of International Solidarity:

Everything that is done in other countries to support us helps us alot (...). The Other is planning the 6th international encuentro, and we would like to invite our international compañeros to imagine an organization without borders. Borders are created by people in power to impede the passage of human beings (...). This is the purpose of borders, no more. It makes us happy to know that something is being done. We believe the government takes notice, because the things that happen in other countries do indeed affect them”.