Arrest the Killers
When Brad was killed, the people photographed firing guns at the
protesters were police, police commanders, and operatives and
bodyguards for the PRI party, including Pedro Carmona, Abel Santiago
Zarate aka “El Chino,” Juan Carlo Soriano aka “El Chapulin,” Commander
Manuel Aguilar Coello, and Juan Sumano. They are directly linked to
the corrupt Governor Ulises Ruiz, and we demand their arrest.

Drop False Charges, Release Political Prisoners
Since Brad’s death, Ulises Ruiz’ government has been attempting to
bring charges for Brad’s killing against Brad’s friends, APPO people,
witnesses, and those who risked their lives trying to get Brad to a
hospital. We join the National Commission on Human Rights, and
Reporters Without Borders in finding these attempts to be an absurd
and outrageous attempt to divert attention from the real killers. We
demand an end to this smokescreen and the punishment of innocent
people including Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, Hugo Colmenares Leyva,
and Octavio Perez Perez.

Justice for Brad, Freedom for Oaxaca
Brad is only one of dozens of activists, reporters, civilians, and
unarmed people killed by the State response to the Oaxacan movement
for justice and freedom. Friends of Brad Will not only demands
justice for them, but demands what they demand: the end of corrupt
brutal rule by Ulises Ruiz.

No to Femicide
We join in solidarity with the friends and family of Marcella Sali
Grace Eiler, an international solidarity activist working with CIPO,
Colectivo Mujer Nueva and witnesses of Brad’s death, who was found
brutally raped and murdered September 25th in San Jose del Pacifico
in the state of Oaxaca. Her death is part of continued widespread violence
against women in Mexico, and a symptom of the failure of the Mexican
government to address it. As the Calderon government disregards human
rights and attempts to impose military control of everyday life, we
demand justice for all the victims of the femicide and an immediate
end to impunity for the rapes and murders of women throughout Mexico

No to Plan Mexico
A year almost to the day after Brad was murdered, the Bush
Administration announced the Merida Initiative (aka Plan Mexico),
providing at least $1.6 billion in US armament, training, and
resources to the same police and military forces that killed Brad and
many other activists and journalists in Mexico and Central America
under the pretense of stopping narco-trafficking. Already the weapons
have been used in massacres and repression of activists in Morelos and
Chiapas. Along with the AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers, Tikkun,
Wespac, Witness for Peace, Cispes, and Jews for Racial and Economic
Justice, The Friends of Brad Will demand and end to the Merida
Initiative.

——————–

Nuestras Demandas para el Segundo Aniversario

de la Muerte de Brad

Detenga los Asesinos

Cuando se mataron a Brad, las personas que aparecen en las fotos, disparando pistolas contra las manifestantes, fueron la policía, los comandantes de la policía, y los operativos y las guardaespaldas del partido PRI, como Pedro Carmona, Able Santiago Zarate “El Chino,” Juan Carlo Soriano “El Chapulin,” Commander Manuel Aguilar Coello, y Juan Sumano. Son ellos quien tienen relaciones directos con el corrupto gobernador Ulises Ruiz. Exigimos su detención!

Retire los Cargos Falsos, Libere a los Prisioneros Políticos

Desde la muerte de Brad, el gobierno de Ulises Ruiz ha sido intentando traer cargas para el asesinato de Brad contra los amigos de Brad, la gente de la APPO, los testigos, y aquellos que se arriesgaron su vida tratando de llevarle a Brad al hospital. Unimos con la Comisión Nacional para Derechos Humanos y Periodistas Sin Fronteras en nuestro encuentro de que este intento es una manera absolutamente absurda e intolerable de desviar la atención lejos de los asesinatos verdaderos. Demandamos que se acabe con esta curtina de humo y el castigo de gente inocente como Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, Hugo Colmenares Leyva, y Octavio Perez Perez.

Justicia para Brad, Liberación para Oaxaca

Brad es sólo uno de docenas de activistas, periodistas, civiles, y personas desarmadas asesinado por la respuesta del Estado contra el movimiento Oaxacana para justicia y liberación. Los amigos de BradWill no sólo demandan justicia para ellos, sino también las mismas demandas que demandan ellos: el fin del gobierno corrupto y cruel de Ulises Ruiz.

No al Neo-Liberalismo y Femicidio

Unimos en solidaridad con los amigos y la familia de Marcella Sali Grace Eiler, una activista de solidaridad international trabajando con CIPO, Colectivo de Mujer Nueva, y con los testigos de la muerte de Brad quien se descubrió violada brutalmente y asesinado el dia 26 de septiembre 2008 en San Jose del Pacífico en el estado de Oaxaca. Su muerte es una parte de la escalación de la violencia contra las mujeres en una época de acuerdos comericales y guerras de drogas. Demandamos que se acabe con el Tratado de Libre Comercio de Norteamérica (TLCAN), el Tratado de Libre Comercio de Centroamérica-República Dominicana-EEUU, y el Plan Puebla Panama (alias el Proyecto Mesoamérica), y los sistemas culturales y políticas que han permitido las violaciones y los asesinatos contra las mujeres.

No al Plan México

Casi un año al día después de que se mataron a Brad, la administración de Bush anunció la Iniciativa Merida alias Plan México, porporcionando por lo menos 1.6 billiones de dólares para el armamento de EEUU, la formación, y los recursos para la misma policía y fuerza militar que se mataron a Brad y otros activistas y periodistas en México y Centroamérica debajo de la pretensión de parar narco-traficantes. Las armas ya han sido usado en matanzas y represiones contra activistas en Morelos y Chiapas. Junto con el AFL-CIO, los Trabajadores Siderúrgico de los EEUU, Tikkun, Wespac, Testigos para Paz, Cispes, Judios para Justicia Económica y Racial, Los Amigos de Brad Will demandan que se acabe con la Iniciativa Merida.

An altar to Brad Will, created by artist Tanyth Berkeley, whose work has been featured at the Museum of Modern Art will be on display at the world renowned BELLWETHER gallery.

July 10th - August 8th, 2008 Opening Reception: Thursday, July 10th, 6-8PM

Vanessa Albury, Tanyth Berkeley & Todd Chandler, Tammy Rae Carland,
Patricia Cronin, Amrita Das, Leela Devi, Rob Hauschild, Paa Joe,
Joss paper effigies, Roy Kortick, Lisa Ross, Victorian hair
wreaths, Marc Swanson & Joe Mama-Nitzberg

Curated by Becky Smith

If Love Could Have Saved You, You Would Have Lived Forever is an
exhibition of art and objects that reference the aesthetics, material
culture, and traditional gestures surrounding death and remembrance.
(more…)

Great piece by journalist Clarence Page. One mistake: his implication that Amnesty International opposed the Merida Initiative. They didn’t; they supported it on ‘condition’ that it included notoriously inadequate human rights safeguards. Even though the final bill did not have even these safeguards, Amnesty refused to issue a statement of opposition to the Merida Initiative.

Sad testament to that human rights organization.

RJ

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/OPINION03/806290306

Drug wars next door

As if our military didn’t have its hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan, the head of the Minuteman Project border security group seems to think they might also make good narcotics cops.

Minuteman cofounder Jim Gilchrist suggested in recent radio interviews that the U.S. give Mexico 12 months to corral its criminal drug cartels and rising violence, particularly in border towns like Juarez and Tijuana — or deploy the U.S. Army to do the job. (more…)

Immediate Release ********************** May 13th, 2008

Left and Right Unite to Oppose Mexico Foreign Policy Scheme

Amnesty International Joins Opposition to Bush’s Merida Initiative

Contact:
NYC: Robert Jereski, 212-973-1782
Washington, DC: Harry Bubbins, 646 641 5788

Opposition to the President’s ebbing “Merida Initiative” scheme to give $1.4 Billion in military aid to Mexico’s police and military implicated in widespread human rights violations grew with Amnesty International issuing a statement to Congress.

“Aid for Mexico must not be a blank check for Mexican security forces that have been implicated in crimes like rape and torture,” said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). Amnesty International said that any initiative to support Mexico’s fight against drug cartels and organized crime must focus on the rule of law and should also press for justice in the unresolved killing of U.S. journalist Bradley Roland Will, and other civilians, in Oaxaca in 2006.

“We are encouraged by Amnesty International’s recognition of human rights abuses by Mexican forces,” said Robert Jereski of Friends of Brad Will. “But we hope for more from human rights organizations, especially when top labor unions reject this dangerous scheme outright.” (more…)

also see video here:

and spanish-language article here.

US Parents Seek Answers in Mexico Death

By JESSICA BERNSTEIN-WAX –

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The parents of an American journalist slain in
southern Mexico said Wednesday they were unsatisfied with the progress
authorities have made in the case and will have outside investigators
review video footage and forensic evidence.

Bradley Roland Will, a 36-year-old journalist-activist from New York,
was killed in October 2006 while filming unrest in Oaxaca state, where
protesters had been fighting for months to oust Gov. Ulises Ruiz for
alleged electoral fraud. Will recorded video and wrote dispatches for
indymedia.org in the month before his death.

“It’s been a year-and-a-half now,” said father Hardy Will, who
traveled to Mexico City and Oaxaca with Bradley’s mother Kathy Will to
meet with authorities and human rights groups. “We would expect some
progress and concrete results.”

[Note: Links to other articles at the bottom of the next page] (more…)

An excellent week of events about Brad, impunity in Mexico and the Bush Administration’s push for sending $1.4 billion in taxpayer money into the rat hole of ‘drug war’ funding. As most of the members of Friends of Brad Will are well aware, this would be a colossal mistake, promising to destabilize Mexico with violence and an entrenched brutal security apparatus, just at a moment when indigenous communities, fair trade activists, and good government associations are mobilizing to demand an end to corruption, fraud, and abuses of power.

That’s why the United Steelworkers, the Drug Policy Alliance, Global Exchange, Witness for Peace and many others oppose Plan Mexico. Bush & Calderon’s Plan Mexico ignores the real need for fair economic development, promising instead NAFTA with a stick.

Oh yeah, and it would also do zero to stop narco-trafficking (see Plan Colombia and our Plan Mexico section for more info, including this excellent article).

Check out the amazing events, which our network helped put together. Thanks to the prestigious School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University for inviting us to make a presentation about Plan Mexico and the new security paradigm (Feb 21); thanks to Caridad Svich and Jason Grote who invited us to provide a panel discussion and dance performance piece at the elegant and delightful Conference on Latin American Theater entitled, No Passport DREAMING THE AMERICAS (Pics here);
And thanks to Bluestockings independent highbrow bookstore for inviting Friends of Brad Will and continuing to inform your clients about Brad Will’s murder and Plan Mexico!

Here below are pictures of the events!

Here’s a link to the Crimethinc re-publishing of the Rolling Stone piece and a discussion of it.

Great news! Friends of Brad Will met with Senator Schumer yesterday

at his book-signing event in Brooklyn.

We leafleted using a flyer with his picture on it and urged him to show his leadership by calling for accountability for the murder of U.S. journalist Brad Will and others murdered in Mexico by Mexican government paramilitaries.

We also brought the Merida Initiative to his attention and urged he speak out against it.
(more…)

Great news! Friends of Brad Will met with Senator Schumer yesterday in Brooklyn to urge his support of accountability for the murder of U.S. journalist Brad Will and others murdered in Mexico by Mexican government paramilitaries and bring the Merida Initiative to his attention and urge he speak out against it.

The Merida Initiative known as Plan Mexico is a $1.4 billion military package proposed by President Bush for Mexico. It is being debated in Congress now (even though they haven’t even seen the full ’security’ initiative.

Please read through the brief note (w/talking points on Plan Mexico) below and give Senator Schumer a call or email urging an end to impunity for Brad Will’s murder and the murder of innocent Mexicans in Atenco, Oaxaca and elsewhere in Mexico by Mexican security forces and that he oppose Plan Mexico. (more…)

see also Human Rights Watch’s report.

Original article.
Mexico Human Rights Agency Called Ineffective

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: February 14, 2008, New York Times

MEXICO CITY — There is a common saying in Mexico about police investigations and government inquiries that goes “no pasa nada,” or “nothing happens.”

Indeed, so seldom are officials, soldiers and business leaders held responsible for their actions in court that one often also hears Mexicans decrying their “culture of impunity.” Investigations often start with great fanfare only to die a quiet death. (more…)