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A Call to Shut Down The Mexican Consulates
Date: January 6, 2015 – 8:00 AM
Place: 204 S. Ashland Ave
Chicago Mexican Consulate
Time: TBA (***Facebook Event***)

What:
On the occasion of Enrique Peña Nieto’s visit to Washington DC, we shut down the Mexican Consulate in Chicago to protest state violence against the people of Mexico. We also protest the aggression of the Consulate against community members in Chicago: they have denied us access to the space, they have blocked the doors against us during open hours, have physically assaulted us and called the Chicago police to arrest us when we tried to inform the public and conduct a meeting. All of these actions are in violation of international treaties: the consulate is obligated to protect the rights of Mexicans abroad, including the right to free speech. We denounce the aggression of the Mexican state on both sides of the border! We invite you to shut down the nearest Mexican consulate in your area. Here is a list of Mexican consulates in US and Canada

Why:
Enrique Pena Nieto advertises himself as the savior of Mexico, and Mexican consulates claim to protect and provide services to Mexicans abroad. In reality, the Mexican state is the perpetrator of the systematic disappearances and massacres against indigenous people, campesinos, students, social movements and everyday people. As agencies of the state, the consulates play a crucial role in this systemic violence. We shut down the consulates to say enough!! No more business as usual for the Mexican narco-state and the corporate interests it represents.

It is time to offer the community services to inform ourselves of the social and political struggles we are facing in Mexico and here in the United States:

1.) The attack against the students in Ayotzinapa is just one example of a history of a systematic violence, which is now carried out under the name Plan Merida. Under the guise of “fighting drugs cartels”, over 130,00 people have been killed and over 30,000 disappeared in Mexico since 2006, all under the sponsorship of the United States.

2.) The Mexican consulate in Chicago uses G4S as their private “security” firm. This is the world’s largest private security and military company, involved in the occupation of Palestine and in the militarization of the US-Mexico border. G4S also profits from the surveillance and monitoring of immigrants under deportations proceedings, immigrant detention, and the transport of detained prisoners. Using G4S agents and local Chicago Police, the consulate has threatened and aggressed us when we have tried to organize public assemblies to provide information about the political and social issues faced by people in Mexico and by immigrants here, they have instigated fear against us for inviting testimonies against state crimes.

3.) Consulates are here to humiliate and dehumanize us, to keep us dependent on their papers and to convince us this form of government is the only way we could organize our societies. We refuse to line up and wait on the streets, we refuse to be turned into numbers, into obedient and dead things that are ruled from above, we claim our humanity, our rage and defiance, we claim our voice and our right to confront this space that should belong to us.

In Chicago, we will shut down the consulate and instead of their services of humiliation we will provide informational services about:
-The Plan Merida
-The corporate power of G4S – the private security firm used by the Mexican consulate and the ways consulates routinely violate laws and treaties by policing, bullying and mistreating Mexican citizens abroad
-The attacks against the students of Ayotzinapa and the farce federal investigation; political prisoners in Mexico and the repression against social movements
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Semillas Autónomas
semillasautonomas@gmail.com