Nestora Salgado, U.S. citizen and indigenous rights leader, is a political prisoner in Mexico — a casualty of the raging war against indigenous people there. She began by making frequent trips to bring aid to her desperately poor home town of Olinalá in the state of Guerrero. Then, appalled by the drug gang-fueled violence and crime she witnessed, she helped organize a community police force. Mexican law gives indigenous people the right to form their own local law enforcement.
Salgado was chosen as comandanta. The unit significantly reduced crime, and addressed prostitution, rape and domestic violence. But Salgado ran afoul of local officials when she exposed their ties to organized crime and government corruption.
Then two community police found the town sheriff at the scene of a double assassination, tampering with evidence and stealing property from the dead, and arrested him. Salgado refused to release him without a trial. Days later, she was arrested by federal troops on bogus kidnapping charges. She is now suffering harsh treatment in a maximum security prison 2,000 miles from Olinalá and her supporters.
Active defense is essential to freeing her. Please sign the online petition. The Freedom Socialist Party has lit the fire for protests at Mexican consulates on Dec. 10, 2013, International Human Rights Day, in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland, Ore. For more details, visit the FSP Get Involved page. Attend a rally, or organize one where you live!
