Posts
Chronicle of an illegal and failed
eviction
First
communication
In the pre-dawn
hours of the 28th of November, three days after the
commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of
Violence against Women, and three days before the end of the term of
the governor of the the State of Oaxaca, approximately 40 members of
the State Police under the direction of Commander Vicente Cruz Morga
arrived at the Home for the Protection of Young Women of Oaxaca,
located at the corner of Matamoros and Tinoco y Palacios in the
city's historic center. Their intention was to intimidate the young
women living there so that the police could enter and take possession
of the building illegally. Since the police did not possess an
eviction notice, the young women asked the police to wait until the
person responsible for the building could arrive, and denied them
entrance.
When Luz de la
Rosa, Director of the Protection of Young Women of Oaxaca program,
arrived, Commander Morga did not produce a document or order for
eviction, and said that they would wait for the person in charge of
the eviction, who would present the document so that they could
proceed. Some time later a person arrived who did not want to
identify himself in an official manner, but who said he was Angel
Donato, who ,we found out later, is the current legal officer of the
Secretariat of Administration of the State Government, by the name of
Angel Donato Ramirez Cabrera. He demanded in a domineering manner
that the door be opened so that the eviction from the building could
proceed. When he was asked to produce a legal document to support his
demand, he argued that he was the authority and that he did not need
to produce any document.
After we refused
to open the door, he gave orders to the police to knock down the
door. At the same time, all of the police officers who had come in
the Kodiak riot-squad truck and two patrol cars got down to follow
his order. We asked for intervention from the Human Rights Defense
agency and from the Special Office for Attention to Crimes Against
Women, so that they could observe and testify about the proceedings.
Nonetheless, we were told that everything would be done according to
the law (although he never produced any official document), and that
everything would be recorded on video. Angel Donato asked by
telephone for a locksmith to force entrance, who arrived almost
immediately. We asked the locksmith who had sent him, and he said he
was sent by Father Alejandro (Rodriguez Gonzalez). From that we
understood that the situation was not only on the part of the state
government but also under the auspices of the clergy of Oaxaca.
Because we would
not let them get close to the main door to the building, Donato gave
the order to force the lock on the door of the small grocery store
that is part of a project to help sustain the Casa. The locksmith,
surrounded by ten police officers, tried to force the lock. After he
was unable to open the lock with his tools, they tried to knock the
door down with blows. Fortunately, they were not able to achieve
their goal, since the young women inside the Home had put a large
quantity of furniture against the door to impede the illegal, forced
entry by the police force.
Given the
determination of the State Police and the legal officer of the
Secretariat of Administration, we started a series of video
recordings to publish on social networks the outrage that was
victimizing the young women of our organization, which provides them
the only means of continuing their studies. In this way, the civil
society would solidify in our support. After not being able to
achieve their illegal entry, the police decided to leave, although
not without threatening that they would return with more force and
with the necessary documents, saying, “We can go in and we will go
in.”
After this, we
began to take precautionary legal steps on behalf of the young women
of our organization to guarantee their security and their physical,
psychological and moral safety.
We appeal to the
State Authorities (secular) and to the Church for them to conduct
themselves legally, in the same manner that we have done, and not to
fall into the temptation to traffic in influence-peddling.
Pedro Lemus
Volunteer for the
Home for the Protection of Young Women of Oaxaca
Spanish-English translation by Robert Adler
You can find the Spanish original here.
No comments:
Post a Comment