“Caravana Against Repression in Mexico” is in Chicago through Tuesday as part of a 30-day, 18-city caravan to oppose the U.S.-funded Merida Initiative—a multi-billion dollar military program that supplies weapons, heavy artillery, training and intelligence services to the Mexican government.
The caravan features 8 activists from Mexico who will speak on human rights violations, state repression, disappearances and the role the U.S. has played in state repression against Mexican citizens.
The participants (seven women and one man) are political prisoners’ relatives and representatives of the following organizations:
• Students of Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College, where 43 students were kidnapped in Iguala on Sep 26, 2014
• Xochicuautla, an Otomi Indigenous community that fights against the forceful displacement of families and communities from their land by trans-national mega projects.
• Families of victims of the June 19th Nochixtlán massacre in Oaxaca where federal police forces shot at protesting teachers and the people of this town who reject the recently imposed Education Reform Law.
• Farmworkers from San Quintín, Baja California Norte, who have been in a long fight and boycott of Driscoll berries until a collective bargaining agreement can be signed.
• “Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa” from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, who have denounced the violence against women and feminicide in México.
• Two mothers who continue to demand the appearance (alive) of their children after the tragic events of September 26th, 2014, where 43 classmates were kidnapped and three were killed by police and military personnel.
• Teachers of the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), who have been fighting in defense of public education and against the Education Reform Law being imposed as a tool to attack collective bargaining rights of teachers and the subsequent repression against their national strike earlier this year.
Sunday October 23, 2016
11:00am – Noon
Social Justice Initiative
1253 S Halsted, Ste. 310
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Community Discussion
St. Pius Church Basement
1919 S Ashland
Tuesday October 25th
12:00-2:00
Press Conference & Protest
Mexican Consulate in Chicago
204 S Ashland Ave
After press conference, the caravan’s participants and their supporters in Chicago will march down Ashland to the Mexican Consulate (204 S Ashland Ave) to protest the Mexican Government’s acts of repression vs the Mexican people and to deliver a letter to the Consul addressed to President Peña Nieto.
6:00-8:30pm
Community Gathering
Centro Autónomo
3640 W Lawrence
Please bring a dish to share