"This home is the only home some of us have"--translation of news story about the attack on Oaxaca's Home for the Protection of Young Women

This is an English translation of a story by Yuri Sosa that appeared in the Oaxaca newspaper Las Noticias on November 29, 2016. It personalizes the impact of the illegal attempt by the State Government, apparently at the urging of the Church, to evict the Home for the Protection of Young Women of Oaxaca from the building it has occupied for more than 40 years:

For Marcela Santiago Antonio, the Home for the Protection of Young Women of Oaxaca (a Civil Association) means a better future.

The young woman, from San Pedro Jicayan, on Oaxaca's coast, came to the City of Oaxaca, the State capital, at the age of 18, with the goal of studying towards a professional career. Thanks to the support that this organization provided, she has achieved her goal and is now a college graduate with a license in Intercultural Education.

"The only thing I ask is that they don't throw us out of this space; for some of us it's the only way we have to go forward," pleads Ms. Santiago Antonio, a few hours after the Monday pre-dawn raid by elements of the State Police with the intent of evicting the residents and staff of the shelter, located in the Historic Center of Oaxaca.

Since the young women still do not know how this attempt to evict them will end, they remain barricaded in the building.

Through a window beyond which can be seen one of the young women's rooms, Marcela caled for the authorities to allow the center to remain open.

If she had remained in her village, she would have had to end her studies after high school, the highest level of education available there. But one day the village doctor, who had come from the Capital, told her about the Home for the Protection of Young Women in Oaxaca, where she could stay while attending the university, she explained, surrounded by her companions.

"This is a safe place, where you meet other people with the same goal, which is to better ourselves," she said. "Here we're not alone; we're part of a group."

Marcela said that one of the goals the young women share is to spread the word about the existence of the shelter in the communities they come from, so that other young women can have the same chance to better themselves.

She is eternally grateful to the director and staff of the Home since she, at the age of 26, can still live there and be provided with the necessities of life.

"If the Home were to close, I don't know what I would do, where I could go," she said. "The doctor who helped me died six years ago." As she spoke, her companions indicated with their expressions that they would be in the same desperate situation.

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You can read more about these events at the following URLs:

http://viva-oaxaca.blogspot.mx/2016/11/chronicle-of-illegal-and-failed.html

http://viva-oaxaca.blogspot.mx/2016/11/cronica-de-un-desalojo-ilegal-y-fallido.html

http://viva-oaxaca.blogspot.mx/2016/11/church-and-state-vs-vulnerable-young.html

CHRONICLE OF AN ILLEGAL AND FAILED EVICTION IN OAXACA--CHURCH AND STATE VS POOR AND INDIGENOUS YOUNG WOMEN

Chronicle of an illegal and failed eviction

First communication

In the pre-dawn hours of the 28^th 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.

And my description of the events, in English, here.

CHURCH AND STATE VS VULNERABLE YOUNG WOMEN IN OAXACA

Oaxaca's Casa de la Proteccion a la Joven (Home for the Protection of Young Women), in the historic center of the city, has sheltered, protected, and educated vulnerable young women since 1974. It's a highly successful program, run on a shoestring, that provides a home, community, counseling and other assistance to up to 20 girls and young women who have come to Oaxaca from indigenous communities and outlying villages to try to create better lives for themselves.

At 4:00 a.m. on November 28, without warning, the home was assaulted by approximately 40 members of Oaxaca's State Police along with a representative of the State Secretariat of Administration. They attempted to evict the 20 young women asleep in the shelter, along with Luz Maria de la Rosa Hernandez, the program's director. Remarkably, the women were able to barricade the heavy wooden door to the home, and, so far, prevent the eviction.

Some of the staff and young women of La Casa para la Proteccion de la Joven

in the building's courtyard. Director Luz de la Rosa (front row, center)

According to the director, neither the police nor the government functionary presented any kind of legal documentation or justification for the raid.

The director explains that, for the last few years, the Archdiocese of Oaxaca has been trying to appropriate the building that has been the program's home for more than forty years. As is often the case in Oaxaca, the building's ownership history is unclear, and the Church's claim to the property was in the process of being negotiated and litigated.

However, it appears that rather than allowing the legal process to take place, the Archdiocese prevailed on the outgoing state government (the six-year term of the current governor, Gabino Cue Monteagudo, ends tomorrow, November 30) to order the State Police to evict the women and take possession of the property.

Ms. de la Rosa explains that the program has been housed in the same building since 1972, through a series of 15-year concords with the State. It appears that the original owner, General Francisco Leon, stipulated that on his death the building should be used for the public good, by an academy that no longer exists. At some point the State apparently appropriated the building, and, until recently, was content for it to house the program for the protection of young women.

Why the State changed its mind is not clear, but, as reported in the newspaper Las Noticias on 29 November, it may have decided to give the building to the Arcdiosese in compensation for a building "erroneously" appropriated from the Church in a neighboring city by the previous governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. The Archdiocese claims that the property was granted to two local priests for their private use.

From behind the barricaded doors of the Home for the Protection of Young Women, Ms. de la Rosa said that she had requested the intervention of the Defensoria de los Derechos Humanos del Pueblo de Oaxaca (Defenders of Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca) to prevent further violation of the rights of the young women in the program.

Explaining that this apparent misuse of the power of the Church and State could not succeed once it became public knowledge, Ms. de la Rosa asked for help in spreading word of the attempted eviction as widely as possible.

"This home is the only one many of us have," said one of the young women in the program.

"All we ask is that they don't throw us out of this space," said another. "It's the only way we have to move ahead."

A detailed account (in Spanish) of the attempted eviction appears along with this report.