Monthly Archives: March 2013

Project 380: Aid to Violence Related Mexican Political Asylum Seekers on Humanitarian Parole

Project 380: Aid to Violence Related Mexican Political Asylum Seekers on Humanitarian Parole

“Rita’s family and about 500 other individuals who, after staring death in the eyes,are legally present in the United States and they want to work.  They each need a minimum of $380.00 just to get the visa to allow them to work.  The 380 PROJECT was designed to assist in that specific need. All funds will go directly to the U.S. State Department for these work visa fees.”

Please consider contributing $3.80 or $38.00 or $380.00 or any amount to this project.

Project 380

Rita lived in a small town near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on the land that had been her family home for many generations. Officials in the United States and Mexico decided to put a new international bridge near Rita’s community. That meant that the price of Rita’s land was rapidly increasing in value and corrupt officials wanted Rita to leave. The cheapest way to accomplish that was through terror. And those acts of terror included killing Rita’s husband while she and her children huddled in the next room. Then, Rita happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and she witnessed a Mexican federal policeman murder a room full of people. She ran, but they hunted her. Her family – mother, brother’s family, and children – ran to the United States border with only the clothes on their backs.

After weeks of complex immigration processes, the family was granted humanitarian parole and they were admitted into the United States. They do not have official asylum, but they are legally residing here.  During the next four years, they will go through many more legal proceedings and finally an Immigration Judge will determine if their asylum will be granted, or if they will be forced to return to Mexico.

Meanwhile, the family has no financial support, and because of their status, they cannot take advantage of any U.S. entitlement programs.  A group of people who knew of their status and their financial need are providing funds to ensure that the family has a safe home and food temporarily.

Rita, her brother, and his wife want to work so they can provide for their family. However, their work visas take a long time to process, and it costs $380.00 each time they renew their work visas.  The visas are granted for random time spans – a few months up to a year.  Then, the applicants have to pay the $380.00 again and repeat the renewal process which takes 60 to 90 days.

Rita’s family and about 500 other individuals who, after staring death in the eyes, are legally present in the United States and they want to work.  They each need a minimum of $380.00 just to get the visa to allow them to work.  The 380 PROJECT was designed to assist in that specific need. All funds will go directly to the U.S. State Department for these work visa fees.

Please consider contributing $3.80 or $38.00 or $380.00 or any amount to this project. Click here to make an ONLINE DONATION.  At the drop down menu choose: 380 Project: Political Asylum

Checks can be made to Catholic Charities, c/o Deacon Tom Baca, 1280 MedPark Drive, Las Cruces, NM 88005.  For more information you may contact Crystal Massey at the law office of Carlos Spector, crystalatspector@gmail.com.

Please consider contributing $3.80 or $38.00 or $380.00 or any amount to this project.

At least 11 people murdered in Juarez since Saturday night…

A lot of people have been killed in Juarez during Saturday and Sunday… Follows are the stories I’ve found more or less in reverse chronological order.  The first story in the list reports that an armed group executed 3 men in the Granjas de Chapultepec neighborhood. Two men were killed immediately in the drive-by shooting. Another man was injured and died later.  Witnessed report that it took 40 minutes for ambulances to arrive. This multiple homicide occurred at about 6 pm.

Earlier today, the body of a woman was found inside a house in the colonia Toribio Ortega. She had been raped and beaten to death.  I think the next incident took place late Saturday night, but the fiscalia reported it today. Two men died in a shooting at the Pool Bar Bachacas and 5 more people were injured.
Also on Saturday night, a doctor was murdered in a pharmacy, reportedly for not paying extortion fees. Also, a bus driver was shot and died later at a clinic.
And in another incident late Saturday night, a couple were murdered in their house in Rinconada de las Torres.  The house was also robbed. The killers apparently locked the couple’s children (aged 8 years and 3 months) in a separate room while they removed valuables from the house. Since the house was located in a gated neighborhood, the thieves forced the woman to accompany them on various trips to and from the house as they removed items so that they could pass the guards without being questioned. When they finished taking the belongings from the house, they returned and murdered both adults. In the morning, a neighbor heard the children crying and when he went to investigate he found the parents murdered.  Also, a man who worked as a watchman at a hotel in La Playa neighborhood was found dead this morning, his body hidden behind a stairwell.
I am not sure that I have found all of the reports in the press, but it looks like there have been at least 11 people killed between Saturday night and Sunday evening, so far.  molly

Uruapan, Michoacan…7 bodies displayed in public park…

Early Sunday I saw the notice in El Diario that 7 men had been found dead in Uruapan, Michoacan. Later that afternoon, the report was expanded and the photographs appeared–the seven men were displayed in the grassy area of a traffic circle, sitting in white plastic chairs, shot in the head and with posters displaying messages:
Cartulinas said, “Warning, this is going to happen to all muggers, pickpockets, thieves of cars, homes and pedestrians, kidnappers, rapists and extortionists.”
And variations on that theme… Several of the dead have been identified and they are small-time thieves and beggars.  Hmmm.  Meanwhile, Proceso reported that the Secretary of Government of the state of Michoacan told the media that they should not magnify the multiple execution in Uruapan without being sure to put it into context and explain that it was related to narcotrafficking. Otherwise, the incident would be used to say something bad might be happening in Uruapan.  Did anyone think to ask how such a work of “installation art” could be completed without the help (or at the least the non-interference) of authorities?
And perhaps I am mixing up too much here, but today there was a long AP article reporting on the involvement of the Honduran police in death squads involved with social cleansing…all paid for by the US.But this incident seems a clear case of social cleansing. Also, there have been many articles lately in both Mexican and US press noting the growth of  vigilante groups. Most of the articles present this as a positive development.  And this was not the only multiple homicide reported today in Mexico… More to follow… molly

In Mexico, Self-Defense Groups Move to Fill Security Vacuum–World Politics Review

At least the term “social cleansing” is being mentioned.
“Things like land grabs or social cleansing [in Mexico], we haven’t heard of that yet. But it’s only a matter of time in my view,” Isacson warned, explaining that there is not a check on the power of such groups in Mexico. “There is no state. There is no one there to punish you if you overstep your authority.” 
But it is not true that it is not occurring YET in Mexico.  President Calderon himself has said it. And human rights activists in Chihuahua first mentioned it back in 2009.  I do not know if all of these articles are still online, but they are archived in the frontera list.
Here are just a few where social cleansing is mentioned as being a very important factor in the huge numbers of killings. molly