Casa Chapulin

During my time in Oaxaca at the end of August, I attended a workshop in international solidarity at the Casa Chapulin Collective in Oaxaca City. The Casa Collective is a very interesting concept. From their website: “CASA, Colectivos de Apoyo, Solidaridad y Acción, responds to the call for international solidarity with grassroots indigenous and campesino movements by maintaining two centers in Mexico for education, support, and activism: one in Chiapas and another in Oaxaca. We seek to further social justice and sustainable development in Mexico and the United States through education, network building and facilitating first hand experience of globalization and human rights issues. We provide volunteers affordable housing, resources, a space for reflection and support, and orientation to social justice, privilege and solidarity issues in Chiapas and Oaxaca.” The workshop I participated in is part of this latter goal.

The bulk of the workshop focused on Plan Mexico, a United States 1.4 billion dollar aid package to Mexico and Central America that focuses on beefing up the security and military capabilities of these country, particularly Mexico. The plan has been “sold” mainly in terms of a tool to combat drug trafficking through Mexico into the United States. However, advocates have questioned the true motivations of the package, seeing it as a part of a broader effort of the U.S. to establish increased geopolitical control in Mexico. These advocates have pointed out both the contradictions inherent in the plan and its possible (and often likely) negative effects on the people of Mexico. For example, it provides aid for arms and hi-tech military equipment to a military and police force that, in general, have been made infamous for their corruption, retaliation against innocent civilians, and harsh oppression of social resistance.

I am deeply worried about what the plan could mean for the safety and security of the Mexican people, particularly indigenous people, and for the possibility of the people to engage in social action, including peaceful protest. Unfortunately, the plan has already been passed through the U.S. Congress. Nevertheless, it is important that we are educated on the content of the plan and its possible implications. The following article by Laura Carlsen provides a good summary and also places the plan in its recent historical context: A Primer on Plan Mexico http://www.narconews.com/Issue53/article3093.html.