Obama Administration seeks to halt Texas execution of Mexican national, Humberto Leal Garcia

From "NYDailyNews.com, Saturday, July 2nd 2011, 11:43 AM

BY Aliyah Shahid, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice

This 1995 booking photoe shows Humberto Leal Garcia. The UN human rights office called July 1, 2011 on the US state of Texas to spare the life of a Mexican death row inmate convicted of rape and murder, as there were questions about whether he had a fair trial.  

The Obama Administration is taking the unusual step of trying to halt the execution of a Mexican citizen who has been sentenced to die for the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl more than 16 years ago.

U.S. authorities want to delay Humberto Leal Garcia's execution --scheduled for Thursday -- for up to six months to give Congress time to consider legislation that would directly affect his case.

The federal government rarely intervenes in state death penalty cases.

Leal, a 38-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico, wasn't told he could contact the Mexican consulate after his arrest-something his lawyer's argue is mandatory under international law.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has also appealed to Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call off the lethal injection.  CLICK HERE to read more.

Peru Indigenous Struggle for Justice

From Maryknoll News Notes, July/August 2011, Vol. 36, No. 4

On May 2, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns brought Trinidad Carlos Serna, a human rights lawyer from Peru, to the United Nations so that she could present the case of the indigenous people of Peru's Puno region and their great struggle against the devastation to their lands being caused by mining corporations with the collusion of the Peruvian government. While the information was well received by those who heard her compelling story, the Peruvian ambassador to the UN remained completely unresponsive.

On June 24, five people were killed and dozens injured when those protesting the mining concessions broke fences and ran into the airstrip of Juliaca's international airport. Following is a public statement from Catholic leaders in the diocese:

Faced with the tragic events of June 24, as priests, nuns, committed laity and various institutions within the Diocese of Puno, we consider it our evangelical duty to speak out publicly. First, our condolences to the families of the peasant brothers who have been killed and we express our solidarity to the more than 30 persons who were wounded by bullets and buckshot, some of whom were maimed for life.

We find that the inhabitants of the Ramis river basin for years have been peacefully lobbying the central government for effective action against the semiformal and informal mining that is polluting their fields, their animals and their own lives. In making this claim they are also asking for the health of us all, because the pollution reaches Lake Titicaca and affects the food and water we consume in the region.

The government of Alan Garcia, however, did not take seriously the requests, took a pro-mining stance, and did not meet the covenants agreed upon while they let time pass until conflict broke out, as happened in Moquegua, Bagua and Islay. And when in the midst of the strike, a mob tried and partly took the city's Manco Capac airport, the DINOES police and those of the USE from Lima, backed by the soldiers stationed in Puno, acted not as deterrents, but responded by bullying and shooting at close range. There, people like Antonio Campos Huanca, who were not protesting, were killed and others were injured.

CLICK HERE to read more.

TIEMPOS DE DOLOR Y DE ESPERANZA

Gracias a Victor Mendoza por mandar este artículo.

          Frente a los luctuosos sucesos del 24 de junio en Juliaca, sacerdotes, religiosas, laicos (as) comprometidos(as) y diversas instituciones del ámbito de la diócesis de Puno, consideramos nuestro deber evangélico pronunciarnos públicamente. Nuestra primera palabra es de condolencia a los familiares de los cinco hermanos campesinos asesinados y de solidaridad con los más de 30 heridos de bala y perdigones, algunos de los cuales quedarán lisiados de por vida.

Constatamos que los habitantes de la cuenca del río Ramis desde hace años han venido reclamando pacíficamente ante el gobierno central una acción efectiva frente a la minería semiformal e informal que ha contaminado sus campos, sus animales y sus propias vidas. Al hacer este reclamo ellos están también  pidiendo por la salud de todos nosotros, pues esa contaminación llega hasta el lago Titicaca y afecta los alimentos y el agua que consumimos en la región.

El gobierno de Alan García, sin embargo, no tomó en serio estas peticiones,  llevó una  política pro-minera, no cumplió los pactos acordados y dejó pasar el tiempo hasta que estalló el conflicto, como también ocurrió en Moquegua, Bagua e Islay. Y cuando en medio de la huelga, una turba intentó y en parte tomó el aeropuerto Manco Cápac de esta ciudad, policías de la DINOES y de la USE de Lima, apoyados por militares asentados en Puno, actuaron no en forma disuasiva, sino matonesca y disparando  a quemarropa. Ahí fueron heridas y asesinadas incluso personas que  no estaban protestando, como don Antonio Campos Huanca (58).

Estas muertes y graves agresiones contra la vida no pueden quedar impunes. Tiene que responder judicialmente el gobierno central, que es lento para dar soluciones y rápido para la represión. También tienen que responder judicialmente la policía y los militares.  Los huelguistas y sus dirigentes tienen que asumir sus responsabilidades y revisar autocríticamente su actuación en este fatídico 24 de junio, así como deslindar con infiltrados y provocadores presentes en su reclamo y exigir, previa investigación, sanciones para ellos.  HAGA CLIC AQUI para leer más.

Mercy Sisters call for end to deportations

from the National Catholic Reporter, June 27, 2011

CHICAGO -- Hundreds of silhouettes were planted like garage sale signs on the lawn at St. Xavier University in Chicago, the white writing on the black paper giving only the name and country of an immigrant recently deported or facing deportation. These faces represented only a fraction of the nearly 400,000 people deported from the United States every year, but behind each was a story of a family torn apart.
The number of deportations has risen under the Obama Administration, prompting faith-based organizations to advocate for families being ripped apart by the process.  CLICK HERE to read more.

I don't have to be afraid of the border anymore

from the National Catholic Reporter, July 1, 2011

Tucson, Ariz. -- What Leo Guardado most remembers about crossing the border back in 1991 was moving along in moonlit shadows, trying, as a 9-and-a-half-year-old, to stay low and to keep his own shadow from showing.
He realizes, as he talks about it, that most of his memories of that 26-day trip play out in moonlight, because it was almost always night when he and his mother, Maria, and about seven others from their small hamlet in Chalatenango, a northern province in El Salvador, moved through deserts and jungle-like terrain and crossed rivers to get to Tijuana, Mexico, and the short final scramble to San Diego.  CLICK HERE to read more.