Activists in New York hold fundraiser for Red Solidaria: Decada Contra La Impunidad (8/16/2016)

In anticipation for the visit of the Mexican advocacy and human rigths defense group, Red Solidaria Decada Contra La Impunidad, Mexicans in New York held a fundraising event in Brooklyn. At the May Day Space, they also screened the film: Republica del Silencio, a documentary that weaves through the details of the El Charco case. 'Red Solidaria' will arrive to New York in early September to meet with other Human Rights Lawyers and legal associations.

La Cartita --In anticipation of the visit from the Mexican advocacy and human rigths defense group, Red Solidaria Decada Contra La Impunidad, Mexicans in New York held a fundraising event in Brooklyn this past Sunday night. The event was held in the May Day Space in Brooklyn. The group screened a documentary film showing the El Charco massacre, an attack perpetrated by the Mexican army on a community of unarmed Mexicans in which 11 were killed and 5 were injured.

Survivors recalled in the documentary those crucial moments leading to the death of many of their neighbors and friends. One remembered that the Mexican military opened fire even after attesting that they were unarmed. Still another mentioned being scared of organizing or gathering with others in meeting spaces, indicating signs of PTSD. A young woman at the time, an UNAM student recalled being tortured by government personnel as the military cordoned the area. The government's pretext for the attack was that they were guerillas from the EPR - they were not.

Mexicans abroad are continuing the fight for a better Mexico. Organizing events often in tandem with social movements operating domestically in Mexico even with consistent intrusion from their local consulates; a daily newspaper, El Diario de Mexico currently operates at the behest of Mexico's government, according to court documents.

The event closed with words from Antonio Tizapa***, who is the father of one of the 43 disappeared students, delivering remarks on both the progress of the Ayotzinapa case in the international court system of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the points of contact between his experience and that of the survivors of the El Charco Massacre. He mentioned that when the event took place he still lived in Guerrero. Finally, he noted that only a few newspapers covered the El Charco Massacre, a point also made by a Red Solidaria representative during an open conversation.

***Mr. Tizapa does not collect donations in any event for himself, nor for Ayotzinapa. He donated to Red Solidaria - a group in dire need of logistical support - in this event too.