Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
October 8, 2015
Video: Yaqui Water: The Right and the Resistance
.
.
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Oct. 8, 2015 -- Censored News celebrates the release of our brothers, Vicam Yaqui Spokesmen Mario Luna and Fernando Jimenez from prison. They were falsely imprisoned for one year in Sonora, Mexico.
In an interview with Luna, La Jornado reports what happened to him in prison. Luna describes his work counseling others.
On leaving the prison, he said, “Right now, I urgently need to go to see the community, to involve myself in the work of defending our water, to bring myself up to date on the legal fight, to be with my family,”
Vicam Yaqui maintained the long running highway barricade on the busy coastal route, a major trucking route, through their community to demand their water rights and to halt the theft of their water.
Censored News was there, and was the only media from the United States present, during the first consultation on water rights at the International Water Forum in Vicam Yaqui Pueblo before the barricade began.
The National Indigenous Congress and Zapatistas support Vicam Yaqui in their struggle.
Video by TeleSur
Censored News
![]() |
| Mario Luna and Fernando Jimenez |
In an interview with Luna, La Jornado reports what happened to him in prison. Luna describes his work counseling others.
On leaving the prison, he said, “Right now, I urgently need to go to see the community, to involve myself in the work of defending our water, to bring myself up to date on the legal fight, to be with my family,”
Happy, with his two daughters in his arms and surrounded by Yaqui tribal authorities, Mario Luna passed through the prison for the last time on the afternoon of September 23. As he left, he emphasized, “strong, convinced that I should never have trod the floors of the jail, strengthened in my convictions, and bound always to the tribe´s fight against the Independence Aqueduct." Read article: https://dorsetchiapassolidarity.wordpress.com/tag/yaqui/
The video above explains the right of Yaqui in Sonora to 50 percent of Rio Yaqui, the Yaqui River, water now being stolen by the Independence Aqueduct for the City of Hermosillo. Vicam Yaqui maintained the long running highway barricade on the busy coastal route, a major trucking route, through their community to demand their water rights and to halt the theft of their water.
Censored News was there, and was the only media from the United States present, during the first consultation on water rights at the International Water Forum in Vicam Yaqui Pueblo before the barricade began.
The National Indigenous Congress and Zapatistas support Vicam Yaqui in their struggle.
Video by TeleSur
Published on May 19, 2015
In-depth reports and analysis from our extensive network of correspondents throughout the region on the most important developments in Latin America.
Since before the Spanish colonization, the Yaqui indigenous tribe has inhabited the arid part of northern Mexico in the state of Sonora near the Yaqui River. For centuries, the tribe has defended its territory, autonomy, self-determination and identity. The Yaquis are a nation with their own laws, internal rules, cultural identity, land and river. For centuries they have depended on the Yaqui River for survival. In 2010, however, the Sonora state government began construction on a 172 km megaproject known as the Independence Aqueduct to supply the city of Hermosillo and agro-industrial enterprises with water from the Yaqui River. The project openly violates a 1940 decree by former President Lazaro Cardenas, which guarantees that at least 50 % of the water belongs to the Yaquis. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the tribe, declaring the state’s environmental impact study void and ordering an injunction for the suspension of the aqueduct. Sonora state authorities, however, have ignored the ruling and last September arrested Yaqui spokesmen Mario Luna and Fernando Jimenez in what the tribe considers an attempt to intimidate them and dissuade them from resisting the aqueduct and fighting for their constitutional rights. teleSUR
Since before the Spanish colonization, the Yaqui indigenous tribe has inhabited the arid part of northern Mexico in the state of Sonora near the Yaqui River. For centuries, the tribe has defended its territory, autonomy, self-determination and identity. The Yaquis are a nation with their own laws, internal rules, cultural identity, land and river. For centuries they have depended on the Yaqui River for survival. In 2010, however, the Sonora state government began construction on a 172 km megaproject known as the Independence Aqueduct to supply the city of Hermosillo and agro-industrial enterprises with water from the Yaqui River. The project openly violates a 1940 decree by former President Lazaro Cardenas, which guarantees that at least 50 % of the water belongs to the Yaquis. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the tribe, declaring the state’s environmental impact study void and ordering an injunction for the suspension of the aqueduct. Sonora state authorities, however, have ignored the ruling and last September arrested Yaqui spokesmen Mario Luna and Fernando Jimenez in what the tribe considers an attempt to intimidate them and dissuade them from resisting the aqueduct and fighting for their constitutional rights. teleSUR
National Lawyers Guild urges Clemency for Leonard Peltier
.
Censored News
Peter Clark, Co-Director, International Leonard Peltier Defense contact@whoisleonardpeltier.
Today, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) in coordination with the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC) sent a letter urging President Obama to grant Executive Clemency to 71-year-old political prisoner and Native American activist, Leonard Peltier.
“Despite overwhelming evidence of FBI misconduct—including the coercion and intimidation of witnesses, the utilization of false testimonies, and the concealment of a ballistics test reflecting his innocence—Mr. Peltier has been denied a new trial and is long overdue for parole,” the letter states.
An innocent man, Native American activist Leonard Peltier was wrongfully convicted in connection with the shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1977. Imprisoned for nearly 40 years—currently at the federal prison in Coleman, Florida—Peltier has been designated a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, 55 Members of Congress and others—including a judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Peltier’s appeals—have all called for his immediate release. Widely recognized for his humanitarian works and a six-time Nobel Prize nominee, Peltier also is an accomplished author and painter.
The NLG also advocated for Peltier's release during the Clinton Administration.
“It’s long past time for the healing to begin between Indigenous Nations and the U.S. government—with regard to the Peltier case, as well as other tragic incidents of the past,” said Peter Clark, Co-Director, ILPDC.
The Peltier case has been examined by renowned author Peter Matthiessen (“In the Spirit of Crazy Horse”) and by a documentary film produced and narrated by Robert Redford (“Incident at Oglala”). Although the courts have acknowledged evidence of government misconduct—including the coercion of witnesses, the intentional use of false testimonies, and the concealment of ballistics evidence reflecting his innocence—Peltier remains in a maximum security prison.
The power to commute Peltier’s sentence of two life terms rests with President Obama.
“Mr. Peltier is 71 years old and in poor health. This is the very time for renewed commitment and unity. We’re very pleased that the National Lawyers Guild have taken this action on Mr. Peltier’s behalf and are actively involved in securing his freedom,” said the ILPDC. |
October 7, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)




