Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My friend Bety Cariño was killed by Mexican Paramilitaries in Oaxaca

by Keegan Smith


A good friend of mine Bety Cariño (39?) who I lived and worked with in Mexico was killed in southern Mexico by paramilitaries. The paramilitaries acted with the support of the State and National government to eliminate opposition to their plans and their way of thinking. Bety was one of the most charismatic and caring people I have come across in my 27 years. She has 2 young childen and hundreds of friends who have been touched by her passion and courage. She was the leader of the organisation CATCUS  which supported local indigenous communities and in securing projects for small business and agriculture initiatives. Together with the organisation she informed about womens and childrens rights to basic services. She also informed about the dangers of transgenic crops and pesticides and the damage caused by massive mining and damming projects which are proposed for Oaxaca.

Bety participated in various movements and forums in Mexico and Central America and travelled to Europe to increase awareness about the situation in Mexico and particularly the situation Oaxaca. Bety went to every length to make people feel welcome and had amazing power in her spirit to overcome personal loss and illness for the sake of her beliefs. This infectious passion will outlive her many lifetimes over.

This is one of many horrible crimes committed everyday in order to maintain the flow of capital, and the power it holds, in the hands of the few. While I am no longer inclined say eye for an eye and I don't want vengance for the pain this act has caused. The world needs very profound changes. This is not a call to arms but to reflect and change our minds. Our physical world is a reflection of our thoughts.

Our way of life mandates these conflicts. Those who refuse expansion and destruction and call for the right to a dignified life are being exterminated for suggesting change, for creating change or simply not bowing to the demands of capital (the rich). More money more power, get in the way you'll be defamed, mocked and if that doesn't work you'll be killed. I have lived this reality first hand and through history books.

Fortunately ideals and ideas will never be exterminated by the bullet. Bety's death only reinforces that we have no option but to try to live by our ideals. The opposite is self-extermination and condemnation to our own enslavery within this system.

Those who are concentrating power understand that the majority cannot continue to be allowed to consume in the way we are today. Their plan is an economic collapse which will leave the majority dying or on the edge of survival, vulnerable and controlled by police states. Under privitised systems those who can't pay die. Most of the world is now living this reality. Misinformation and the distraction of pop culture are the principle weapons of control. For those who get through the gap like Malcomn X, Che Guevara, Martn Luther King, Ghandi and my dear friend Bety a more sinister fate awaits.

The only option for the majority to escape this fate is to take power and look for a new economic, social and spiritual model which can avoid this genocide. Putting our heads under our pillows is no sollution.

Don't take my word for it. Think it through.. who holds power today? Why are most people not interested in politics, history or economy? What are the plans of those who have money (power)? What about the people who have very little money who are interested in the fate of the world.. why are they invariably anti-capitalist? Why do they buy less stuff? Why do they talk about spirit and love? Why don't they watch so much TV.

A good friend of mine is dead because she believed in a better world. Her two young kids and the thousands of people she influenced now have the responsibility of continuing her struggle. 

2 comments:

Thailer said...

Thanks so much posting this. I haven't been able to find other information in English about these horrible acts of the paramilitary actions in Oaxaca. Thanks for your work. We need to raise awareness in the USA.

Anonymous said...

Reporters still missing Contralínea: APRIL 27, 2010
Erika Ramirez and David Cilia, journalists of the weekly Contralínea, and two others (David Venegas, the organization VOCAL, and Noah Bautista) are still missing in the vicinity of the autonomous community of San Juan Copala Juxtlahuaca municipality, Oaxaca.
As human rights defenders, journalists were part of the caravan of peace that started at noon yesterday, April 27, bound for this town. Composed of at least 25 people, the caravan was aimed at documenting the gross violations of individual rights suffered by Triqui drivers of autonomy. Furthermore, bringing humanitarian aid consisting of food and medicines.
So far, unknown health conditions of the five missing, including the weekly Contralínea journalists who may have been deprived of their liberty by the alleged paramilitary group, affiliated PRI, Social Welfare Unit of the Triqui Region (UBISORT.)
On his return to Juxtlahuaca, about two in the afternoon on April 28, 2010, the police operation, which sent rescue the PRI government of Ulises Ruiz, said "not having found injured" in the area where the ambush occurred.
Unfortunately, they were found two bodies: the Yyry Jakkola, observer from Finland, and the Baby Beatrice Trujillo, director of the Center for Communal Support.
Interviewed by Contralínea, the commander of the operation, Lazaro Hernandez, said the 45 elements of the State Agency of Investigation, the doctors and experts will return to the scene to make an exhaustive search. In his first tour, the state police were not the perpetrators of the attack.
Citlali Monica Santiago, who survived with gunshot wound in the back, said that all vehicles that made up the caravan of peace were bursts on both sides. Upon leaving the hospital Juxtlahuaca this morning, said the assault took place very close to the autonomous community of San Juan Copala.
Erika Ramirez and David Cilia were bound for the autonomous village to document the murder of the radio announcers Triqui Community Voice that Breaks the Silence, Felicitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista, which occurred on April 7, 2008 in an ambush, also executed by UBISORT paramilitary group.
San Juan Copala is located in the municipality of Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca. Composed of more than 700 people, the community was declared independent on January 1, 2007 and since then, facing paramilitary violence stemming from the alleged land dispute between the organizations UBISORT (identified with the government of Ulises Ruiz), the Movement Triqui Unification and Struggle and the Movement of Independent Triqui Unification and Struggle (driver of the autonomous municipality).
Contralínea rejects aggression and calls for the live presentation of its journalists, Erika Ramirez and David Cilia, and human rights defenders and Noe Venegas David Bautista.
List of members of the caravan, issued by the Regional Centre for Human Rights Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño, AC:
1. Baby Beatriz Trujillo, director of Center for Community Support Working Together (Cactus, AC), killed
2. Pablo Gonzalez, member of Cactus
3. David Venegas, organization VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom), disappeared
4. Noah Jimenez Bautista, VOCAL
5. Daniel Arellano Chavez, VOCAL
6. Rubén Valencia, VOCAL
7. Soemi Ramírez Erika Pardo, Contralínea journalist, disappeared
8. Cilia Cajeme David Garcia, Contralínea journalist, disappeared
9. Monomer Mery, coordinator for Mexico of UN Finnish Union
10. Yyry Jaakkola, Finnish Uusi Tuuli Ry Organization (Nine Wind), murdered
11. Audberto Matias Cruz, of Association for Peace, Finland
12. Davide Cassinari, Italian observer
13. Martin Santana, observer of Belgium
14. Fernando Santiago, the Indian Brigade Oaxaca
15. Roger Valle, newspaper APIM
16. Citlali Monica Santiago
17. Lisa Hotmann
18. Daniel Arellano
19. Trinidad Sampablo
20. Esther Cruz Ortiz
21. Lorenzo A. Serrano, Sec. 22 SNTE
22. Baby Rene Sanchez, Sec. 22 SNTE
23. Omar Esparza, CORN
24. Roger, correspondent of Noticias Huajuapan
25. Reporter El Despertar

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