"Watch, Discuss, and Distribute This Video" "March, April, May, June, July, and August, those are the months for planting." "August and September are for harvest." "October and November the cycle ends just as winter begins." "Corn, wheat, barley, beans are part of our lives." "When we have a party, something to celebrate, everyone puts in a little bit of what we have." "So if they take this land away from us, they take away everything." "They take away the land, but they also take away our customs, because we celebrate during the harvest, and what could we celebrate, if we didn't harvest anything?" "There would be nothing." "On October 23rd, 2001, the Mexican government announced that it would construct a new international airport for Mexico City, with an initial investment of 1.6 billion dollars." "The project would require the expropriation of almost 5,000 hectares of farmland around Texcoco." "About 500 farmers from Atenco, living on the threatened land, expressed their opposition to the government's decision and blockaded the federal highway between Texcoco and Lecheria." "Zapata Lives!" "The struggle goes on and on!" "If Zapata were alive, he would walk with us!" "In the following months, the farmers organized and confronted a governmental expropriation of land that signaled the beginning of the most important project in President Vicente Fox's term: The project was "Plan Puebla Panama"." "Starting in San Salvador Atenco, it would create an industrial and transportation corridor that would open the Mexican south to the world's most important transnational corporations." "With marches to the Zocalo in Mexico City, to Toluca, the capitol of the state of Mexico, and with various demonstrations, they defended their land." "After several months in resistance, the farmers decided to form an organization and called it the "People's Front in Defense of the Land"." "In July of 2002, the communal landowner, Jose Espinosa Juarez, died after being beaten by state police, when they attempted to uproot the resistance." "The resistance continued, and on August 2nd, 2002, the government of Vicente Fox announced the complete cancellation of the airport project." " 2006 - Mexico prepares for national elections that will define the country's direction and elect the nation's new president." "The "Zapatista National Liberation Army" releases the "Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle", and the members of the "People's Front in Defense of the Land" declare themselves adherents to the "Other Campaign", a project which among other things, proposes to unify the country's various social resistance movements, outside of the electoral process and the political party system." "In April of 2006, the "Other Campaign" and Subcomandante Marcos arrive in San Salvador Atenco." "In either direction from the town of Atenco, all this was already expropriated." "We didn't own it anymore." "The communal farmers accompany him on his tour throughout Mexico City." "Fox, understand that the country isn't for sale!" "This is the context in which the following events unfolded..." "BREAKING THE SIEGE" "Communal market Texcoco, May 3rd 2006." "At about seven o'clock this morning, 8 flower farmers tried to set up their stalls outside the Belisario Dominguez Market, in Texcoco, but local police prevented them from doing so." "But they weren't alone." "They had the support of members of the "People's Front in Defense of the Land", from San Salvador Atenco." "In a matter of minutes, the streets of Texcoco were converted into a battlefield." "They beat me with a stick and with clubs." "Now, did you respond to this agression?" "Did you defend yourselves?" "Well, we tried to defend ourselves." "I mean we weren't going to just let them beat us." "8:00 AM" "The flower vendors take refuge in a house and are besieged by police agents." "8:10 AM" "Members of the "People's Front in Defense of the Land" blockade the highway between Texcoco and Lecheria." "They start taking hostages." "3:00 PM" "State police begin taking measures to break up the blockade in the Texcoco-Lecheria highway." "3:00 PM, This is the body of Javier Cortes Santiago." "According to family members, he was 14 years old and lived in Acuexcomac, close to San Salvador Atenco." "According to local residents, he died in the confrontation with the police." "Okay, right now we're going back to where things are happening on the ground." "We're going to San Salvador Atenco." "Well Jorge, Gloria - ...one thing that has caught our attention in the center of San Salvador Atenco is that they are ringing the church bells, and what they're doing is trying to get more people to come out and join the confrontation." "Infact, we have some images that truly speak to what is happening, to the force that they are exerting The people are sending the police running, Gloria, these people are making the police run away, and well, quite simply, because they have surrounded them." "Like I said, the people are emerging from several different streets and the police felt surrounded, there, under the bridge, they've caught up to them, and there we can see how they are beating them." "One of them even has a machete in his hand." "These are live images taken where a police officer has fallen." "This is so shameful, what we are seeing on television." "I don't know what the government is waiting for to give the order for strong, effective, precise action to finish off these men who are attacking a police officer." "This is shameful." "The authorities are waffling, both the Mexico State government and the federal government." "5:20 PM Riot police carry out an operation to arrest Ignacio del Valle, leader of the "People's Front in Defense of the Land", in Atenco." "They flush out the flower vendors, who were taking refuge in a house in Texcoco." "6:00 PM Residents of San Salvador Atenco maintain their blockade on the highway and threaten to blow up some gasoline trucks to further shield themselves." "8:30 PM Tension fills the air with the imminent possibility of confrontations between police and residents." "This was part of the strategy, I think, to justify this vindictive, "eye for an eye" mindset if they beat up one of our cops, then that justifies the police going in." "And committing all kinds of "irregularities" against the community." "Since dawn, yesterday's confrontations and scenes of violence are etched in our minds." "They go up to the unconcious police officer and kick his testicles in the most vile." "What happens..." "There are confrontations." "Much of it is filmed." "But we see that, as soon as this happens, as soon as they kick a police officer laying in the dirt, , well, that image is going to be replayed, ad nauseum, throughout the day, and the following day, and all of Saturday, and Sunday, and through Monday they will keep showing that image." "The problem begins, when they start managing the information and the editorials in order to create a consensus that favors the mobilization of police forces and the abuses, by police forces, against the residents of Atenco." "That is what worries me." "And what about the idea, for example, that those same residents of Atenco had the right to tell their side of the story." "That was completely absent in the news media." "There was a very worrisome bias in the reporting." "On May 3rd, the police attacked some cameramen and photographers, who tried to document the confrontations and arrests." "My name is Eduardo Verdugo." "I'm a photographer, and I work for AP, Associated Press." "On Wednesday, we went to San Salvador Atenco." "When we got there, the first clash had already started." "We got there just as the second one was starting and the police were already advancing towards the first blockade on the highway." "There was a skirmish on both sides, rocks going back and forth." "We were with a group of photographers and cameramen in the middle of the situation." "The police started arresting people, protesters They were beating them." "We got closer to take pictures, which is when they attacked us, aggresively, with their sticks and shields." "They hit me several times, in the back, in the head." "They went after my equipment, because they wanted to take it away from me." "In fact, they got their hands on it, but I fought back and they weren't able to snatch it away." "The police came after us to keep us from taking photos." "Few people heard that, on that day in Texcoco, private homes were raided, residents were beaten, people who had not participated in the conflict were arrested, and some of the women arrestees were sexually abused." " Gabriella Tellez Ramirez, 18, detained on May 3rd - I was on my way home from work, on Manuel Gonzalez street,... when I saw a truck into which they were putting the men and women." "I didn't move." "The cops saw me and one of them said:..." ""What are you looking at?" And the other one said: "Arrest her for being an idiot!"" "One of them started grabbing my face and they stuck their fingers in my mouth and in my vagina and they forced me to perform oral sex on them." "They grabbed my breasts and said: "This one is really good and she's nursing, isn't that right, fucking bitch?"" " Later, as the minutes passed, more and more police arrived in the town of San Salvador Atenco, and this is what happened..." " Please we're asking you to come down." " One second...and this happened...at 11 'o clock in the morning..." " We need you to come down." " We're asking you to tell it like it is." "We want you down there, down there!" " We don't want you up here." "Alright..." "Listen to this Jorge Heriberto:" "Cuahutitlan Izcalli says that we should be more impartial, you and I." "How is it possible that we are calling for more police to attack the people." "No sir, we are calling for more police to defend the police!" "The ones who are beating the police are the residents of San Salvador Atenco, as we have just seen in those images." "When we talk about all this, we see that this kind of propaganda is trying to exploit people's emotions their fear, their insecurity, their rage, their anxiety." "The governor insists, to the police authorities, ...if the dialogue right now isn't enough, then send in more police reinforcements to resolve this situation once and for all." "This was repeated with one objective:" "to solidify the idea in people's heads that this small group in Atenco, these people with machetes, are violent." "And if they are violent, then they are subversive." "And if they are subversive, then they must be subjected to "law and order"." "They are violating "constitutional order"." "(Enrique Pena Nieto, Gouvernor of Mexico State)" " Good evening, Mr Governor." " Javier, very good evening to you.Pleasure to see you." "The situation still isn't resolved?" "It isn't resolved, Joaquin, but obviously we have been working on this since dawn this morning. 94 people have been arrested." "The authorâ€¦the probable, intellecual author of the events, Ignacio del Valle, has been arrested." "By manipulating people's emotions, their fear and terror, they are creating a kind of consent, an agreement that the repression is necessary." "That sets the scene for the following day..." "May 4th 2006:" "This morning the "Federal Preventive Police" launched an operation to open up the Texcoco-Lecheria highway." "About eleven police were known to have been taken hostage." "At least six of them were freed at dawn this morning and are being cared for." "Right now, from the air, we can see the arrival of the police." "Juan Carlos Gonzalez has information for us:..." "That's right Diana." "Right now we are seeing how the police are making their way down the main street of Atenco..." "Riot cops!" "Riot cops!" "Son of a bitch!" "Beat'm up,...harder!" "Through his spokesperson, Ruben Aguilar, the president of the country denies that there is ingovernability in Mexico." "He says the Mexican state is responding firmly to these situations that disrupt law and order." "Ruben Aguilar also commented that everything is almost under control there in San Salvador Atenco, and that the federal police who were kidnapped have been freed." "The electronic media weren't just generating propaganda Here they were also leading the May 4th operation in Atenco!" "At 6:50 AM, the "Federal Preventive Police" enter San Salvador Atenco." "They allowed us to see because an operation of this kind is designed to function that way..." "They allowed us to see the people who had been beaten." "In my article, I said that this street was a corridor of blood and extraordinary violence." "They allowed us to see that." "They wanted us to see that!" "What did they allow us to see?" "When we arrived and set up in a cloud of tear gas, what the police did was keep this street open and put police at either end of the street, so that we couldn't go anywhere else." "They didn't let us get by, because it was over there where they were carrying out the majority of the raids." "The raids were what we couldn't see." " Let's go, with everything, everyone..." " Move it!" "Move it!" "Move it!" "One very important fact that should be pointed out:" "The federal police often bring with them a person known here in Mexico as a "chivaton" or snitch a person from the same community, who they select beforehand, and who they disguise as a police officer with his face covered." "He went at the front of the group pointing out houses." "Then the police went in, searched the houses, and if they found anyone, they dragged them out, indiscriminately, without even asking who they were..." "or if they were women or men who lived there or if they had participated in the blockade." "They came running over...a whole wave of cops." "And the helicopters were up there." "And this wave of cops came." "I don't know how many." "You couldn't count them." "This filled up with cops all around here, they surrounded us." "They beat my kids here in the courtyard, and they took them." "My kids yelled at me to close myself inside, that the cops wouldn't enter the house." "They were all outside...with sticks, with what kind of weapons." "We didn't have any weapons, we didn't!" "I don't want anymore." "I don't want to remember anymore." "I heard another blow on the door, another blow on the door and the cops were coming in." "They were moving very fast." "They pushed over this wardrobe with everything in it." "They scattered all my things." "They took everything." "They even took my money." "And they pushed us up against the wall, all three of us..." "Then they started taking the boys away..." "We decided to keep quiet." "We were very afraid." "We were all silent, we couldn't even cough..." "There were 23 of us in there." "There was a boy (Alexis Benhumea), who had been injured by a tear gas canister." "His skull was split open." "His father said the boy was from the university." "The first thing we did was contact the Red Cross of Toluca, the Red Cross in town, the Red Cross in Texcoco, the Red Cross in Mexico City, even the International Red Cross, and they said that they were there,but that the police, especially the federal police, weren't letting them through." "How long were you in that room?" "Over eleven hours..." "If we look at who participated in the operation,... we see that it was basically two agencies:" "one federal and the other state." "The "Federal Preventive Police", which is a militarized police force, and the State Security Agency, of the state of Mexico, which also includes forces with paramilitary preparation and characteristics." ""Operation Rescue" was an action carried out by special forces in the "Federal Preventive Police", and backed up by the state police and the State Security Agency." "This kind of action is known, in military terms, as "population control"." "In this case, they applied the counter-insurgent teachings that were made popular by the French coronel Lacheroy, who was run out of Indochina by the Vietnamese, in the battle of Dien Bien Fu, and who later analyzed why the French lost to the Vietnamese." "Also during the battle of Algiers, when Algeria was fighting for liberation from French occupation, this policy of "population control" and psychological warfare was all the fashion, and one of its elements was intelligence." "Obviously, in Atenco, since the failure of Vicente Fox's airport project,... they have been gathering intelligence on these people who they call "macheteros"." "They've been spying and gathering intelligence, but in addition, they also use "population control"." "Propaganda is a key element in this kind of psychological warfare and action." "The number of police who participated in the operation was approximately 3,500 officers in total." "They were up against 300 civilians." "A ratio of forces of 10 to 1." "The number of people arrested in the operation were 106 people." "Of those, 47 were women, 16 were minors, 2 were human rights observers, 3 were independent journalists and 5 were foreigners who were immediately deported by the Mexican government." "It would seem to give the impression that what they wanted to do was to make a clear demonstration of force and mete out an exemplary punishment that would serve as a warning to other social movements in other places." "At that moment, the forces moved in and took away the people above." "And those of us who were below started to hear how they were beating them." "The women were crying and they yelled at them:" ""you stupid whores and bitches, now you're going to see what it's like to be in a riot..."" " Help!" " What's your name?" " Valentina." "Help me!" "They put me on top of other bodies." "I think I was the last to be put on the truck and they tell me to put my head over there, okay?" "And the only place I could put my head was in a pool of blood, but I'm not talking about drops of blood..." "I'm talking about the floor of the truck being filled with blood." "And a boot suddenly is pushing my head forcing me to put it in the pools of blood." "And so that's when the sexual humiliation starts." "All the police who were in that truck...well...they put their hands and fingers wherever they wanted." "When the truck stopped, I had my pants totally pulled down." "They kicked me, hit me, and threw me on the truck." "The trip from San Salvador Atenco to the prison normally lasts two hours, but this trip lasted approximately six hours." "I start looking to the side and I realize that actually the bodies on my side are almost like corpses, okay?" "I mean totally ripped open, swollen, full of blood, and the screams of pain..." "and the smell of blood was terrible." "They made us keep still." "They didn't even let us look up." "We couldn't see." "And so the slightest movement you made you got hit." "In the truck they told us that we were going to die." "And I heard the women shouting out:" ""No more..."" ""...don't touch me..."" ""...please no more!"." "And they told them:" ""Open your legs, you fucking bitch!"" "RAPED, 30 OF THE 47 WOMEN ARRESTED IN ATENCO" "Barbara Italia MENDEZ MORENO, 27, Student, Employee" "HAD HER VAGINA PENETRATED..." "BY THEIR FINGERS..." "SCREAMING THAT THEY WOULD RAPE ME..." "Emperatriz FLORES ROSAS, 20, San Salvador Atenco" "HE CALLED ME A WHORE..." "AND PUT HIS HANDS DOWN MY PANTS..." "FONDLED MY BREASTS..." "POLICE ABUSE DOCUMENTED IN ATENCO ..." "When they get to the jail, the prisoners are denied access to the outside world and are cramped into tiny cells." "They don't receive adequate medical care and are not given a judicial hearing as the law requires." "On May 11th, the "Center for Human Rights 'Miguel Agustin Pro'" released a report documenting the cases of abuse in Atenco." "They also made public a video with testimony from three members of the police force who participated in the offensive and who appeared with their faces concealed for security reasons." "When we go in for this kind of thing, it's always normal procedure to beat people when the media isn't looking, and in this case it was anything that moved, which is why they always go in first." "Were there state police that went in carrying guns?" "What kind of guns were they carrying?" "Actually, whenever we get called in to this kind of thing, we never have time to disarm." "It's hurry up, we're going to work, and lots of times we have our weapons and we hide them between our pants and our shirts." "Here we want to emphasize and underscore that the responsibility lies with the state and not with an individual police officer nor with some subordinate who gets out of control." "Tonight we appreciate the opportunity to have here with us..." "thanks and good evening to the governor of the state of Mexico, governor Enrique Pena Nieto." "Mr Governor, good evening." "Why did it have to come to this?" "Didn't you realize what was happening?" "Without a doubt this all started with the violent events that we saw yesterday, and that brought us to the point of having to take measures to restore order and peace in the town of Atenco." "That is, this was not a confrontation with the residents of Atenco, but instead with a group that, I dare say, does not represent the interests of this population." "Instead it's a group that, in the recent past, had risen up with machetes and sticks seeking any pretext for agression and violence so they could confront the authorities." "All very recently." "And what happened yesterday, Joaquin, a series of regrettable and extremely violent events forced us to make the decision to go in at dawn today to restore peace and order in San Salvador Atenco." "Wilfrido Robledo Madrid Chief of "ASES"" " State of Mexico" " Sir, what crime are they accused of?" " Excuse me..." " What crime are they accused of?" " It would be easier to tell you which crimes they are not accused of, because they have really done everything." "The more than 200 detained on the 3rd and the 4th, face charges including: "Conspiracy to Kidnap", "Organized Crime", and "Attacks on Public Thoroughfares", charges considered to be serious." "On the night of May 3rd, adherents to the "Other Campaign", and their sympathizers, began arriving in San Salvador Atenco to support the residents." "Many of them were among those arrested the following day, May 4th." "Freedom for political prisoners!" "What kind of legal state?" "Freedom for political prisoners!" "These are our people!" "... ...Support us!" "...support us!" "Tanks and battles won't keep Atenco quiet!" "Atenco, brother, the people give you their hand!" "The companeros from the "People's Front in Defense of the Land" are adherents to the "Other Campaign"." "The "Other Campaign" has made it clear that an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us!" "Atenco and the "People's Front in Defense of the Land" understood that." "It was their dignity and their commitment with the people down below that sent them to Texcoco to defend those people." "Now...today...we...the "Other Campaign" cannot do less." "In the whole country we are going to mobilize for this freedom." ""Operation Rescue" was planned and designed by experts in anti-insurgency, within the "Federal Police Force", the PFP, and with support from officers from the "Center for Investigation and National Security", the CISEN, and from the "State of Mexico's Security Agency", the ASES." "There's no way that the decision behind this action didn't go through the national security cabinet, the head of which is the country's president, the commander in chief of the armed forces." "Yesterday's regrettable and violent events provoked by a small group in the state of Mexico are an affront to society and an attack on the rule of law." "The operation was in the hands of Vice Admiral Wilfrido Robledo Madrid, a character who has ties to Carlos Salinas de Gortari (ex-president), and who worked for Carlos Slim in charge of security for the Carso Group." "He is ex-associate of the CISEN and ex-director of the "Federal Preventative Police", a position from which he resigned under accusations of corruption." "He's also a close friend of Roberto Madrazo (candidate of the PRI), and of the Atlacomulco group, and is now the chief of the "State of Mexico's Security Agency", (ASES)." "Wilfrido has had a series of key relationships in police command, which allowed them to carry out the operation exactly the way they did." "On one hand, there's the Chief of the highest rank of the "Federal Preventive Police", Ardelio Vargas." "He's one of his agents." "On the other hand, a key character from the world of anti-terrorist forces within the CISEN,..." "Genaro Garcia Luna." "He's also one of his agents." "So, Wilfrido was able to move the pieces in such a way that they could carry out an operation quite naturally..." "easily..." "let's say...without resistance." "This is Genaro Garcia Luna, intelligence expert, ex member of the CISEN, Director of the Federal Investigation Agency, and one of Wilfrido Robledo's key men in the Atenco offensive." "He's also a sports pal of president Vicente Fox from the 60ies." "In the planning and execution of such an important state operation, they had to bring in men they could trust." "Sir, in the case of the young man who died, were the authorities responsible in any way?" "... ...or who do you blame for this death?" "No, no, they provoked his death." "He died from a firecracker." "This "firecracker" isn't part of the arsenal of the armed forces?" "Of course not." "No one came here armed." "This isn't the people of San Salvador Atenco." "It's the minority, led by Ignacio del Valle, taking advantage of the situation." "They brought this situation upon themselves." "I mean, the biggest problems have been with this group, regrettably It is the actual population of San Salvador Atenco demanding the presence of the authorities, demanding that the police guarantee their security." "And something very important...the only death officially recognized is that of the 14-year-old boy who died, according to authorities, from a firecracker fired by the very same people from Atenco who carry those kinds of projectiles." "So it is that, the people are also blaming and pointing to Ignacio del Valle as the one primarily responsible for the events taking place in Atenco." "It was a bullet and not a firecracker that caused the death of young Javier Cortes Santiago, as is later revealed in the autopsy." "The caliber of the bullet matches up with the type of weapon used by the state police." "THE DEADLY BULLET CAME FROM A GOVERNMENT WEAPON" "There was no blood." "Nothing, nothing." "Nothing but a small hole in his chest." "(Felipe Cortes, father of Javier Cortes) And the doctor said that they were going to...well...open him up... to see what caused his death,...to see if it was a little hole made by a firework,...or I don't know but when they opened him up..." "it was a bullet." "CONFIRMED THAT POLICE KILLED BOY IN ATENCO" "How did the boy die?" "The boy died from the impact of a .38 special, and it was another cop who shot him." "Point blank." "Because the boy had discovered where he was hiding." "That is, he saw that there was a state police officer, who took out his gun and shot him." "Fortunately we can say that it was a clean operation, in spite of the tragic loss of a young person yesterday." "We regret this and other excesses that took place." "But the most important thing is:" "we re-established order, we re-established the peace." "I'm the first to lament the events that took place in San Salvador Atenco." "We acted to re-establish order and tranquility." "Protecting you and your family is this government's firm commitment." "What were they really after with this?" "That is the most fundamental question." "On one hand it was to lower the victims' defenses, to smother them in their own defenselessness, break them down if they are political activists, but not only that..." "this was directed at the whole population." "This kind of policy seeks to generate terror, fear, paralyzing fear throughout the population." "The message is:" "Don't get involved!" "If you get involved, the same thing could happen to you as happened to the women arrested in San Salvador Atenco." "This is the perverse logic that surrounds this counter-insurgency policy,... which is in fact, a war against the people." "We don't want facism in Mexico, but in the countries where we have been, it always starts somewhere, and many times, it starts with this." "So it's important to overcome fear, terror." "It's important to overcome the..." "the disgust that produces these kinds of situations, and it's important to tackle them, deal with them, and make them public to allow for debate and discussion." "Numerous protests have taken place around the world, criticizing the actions taken against Atenco and demonstrating solidarity with detainees." "We are in a bad way, very traumatized, very frightened." "I'm not staying in my house right now." "I'm staying in another village for that reason." "Because a person gets frightened." "It's not fear...just impotence..." "Because of everything that's happened." "Maybe before they could fool us, but with everything that's happened since 2002, I think we've had our eyes opened a little bit, and that has helped us a lot." "Now, hopefully and god willing..." "little by little the town and our people will get our confidence back." "Some of the detainees keep staying in hunger strike since detention." "Alexis Benhumea was declared brain death by the medicals." "(He already died June 7th after 34 days in koma.)" "Any person of responsability hasn't yet been charged." "Without support of the following groups and persons the production of this film would not be possible:" "Noncommercial copies, spreading an use of this film or parts of it are allowed, as the authors are mentioned." "English Subtitles by unknown, but thanks for translation."