UT Working Group Alleges Texas/Mexico Border Wall Violates Human Rights

A multi-disciplinary working group of faculty and students at the University of Texas at Austin claimed on Friday, June 13, 2008, that human rights are being violated by the United States through consthttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifruction of a wall on the Texas/Mexico border. The working group submitted a series of briefing papers to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the “Commission”), an inter-governmental body of the Organization of American States (“OAS”) composed of seven independent experts. The Commission’s mandate is to examine and monitor compliance by member States of the OAS, including the United States, with human rights obligations established in international law.

The full text of the briefing papers are available at:
http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/humanrights/publications/

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Thanks to our supporters!

Many thanks to all the people who've supported us in 2007-2008! We value all your
hard work, prayers, tears, sweat, and commitment to the border indigenous peoples' struggles against U.S. policies of violence.

May 16th Deadline for Lower Rio Grande Communities to Voice Concerns About the Wall

http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=20

Pérez: There's still time for Valley residents to testify against border wall

By Steve Taylor
[Rio
Rio Grande Valley landowner Betty Perez (center) testified against the border wall at a congressional field hearing in Brownsville on April 28. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

BROWNSVILLE, May 3 - A rancher and farm owner who testified against the border wall at last Monday’s congressional hearing in Brownsville says there is still time for other Rio Grande Valley residents to have their say.

“Written testimonies can now be submitted in association with this hearing and added to the Congressional record,” said Betty Pérez. “This is one of the best opportunities we have had for our voices to be heard.”

Pérez said comments need to be mailed in by May 16 and sent to:

Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Pérez said any comments submitted do not have to be in response to the testimony given at the Monday’s hearing at the University of Texas at Brownsville. “They can address the many negative impacts that the wall will have,” she said.

Pérez is an active member of the No Border Wall coalition and a former director of the Friends of the Wildlife Corridor. She and her family own ranchland north of La Joya, on the northwest edge of Hidalgo County. The ranch was bought in the 1930’s by Pérez’s maternal grandfather. However, she can trace her roots in the Valley back to Mexico and to the Texas land grants of the 1700s on both her maternal and paternal sides.

Pérez was a panelist at the hearing held jointly at by the House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee and the Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee. Both are subcommittees of the Natural Resources Committee. The hearing, titled “Walls and Waivers: Expedited Construction of the Southern Border Wall and the Collateral Impacts on Communities and the Environment.”

In her testimony, Pérez pointed out that a previous opportunity for Valley residents to have their say about the border wall was snuffed out by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Late last year, thousands of Valley residents wrote or gave oral comments as part of the federal government’s draft Environmental Impact Statement. However, the EIS process was eliminated last month when Chertoff announced he was waiving more than 30 federal laws and regulations in an effort to speed up construction of 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border by year’s end.

The Department of Homeland Security has yet to make the comments submitted as part of the draft EIS process available to the public.

“This is an important opportunity to inform members of Congress, and to ensure that our voices become part of the official record,” Pérez told the Guardian.

“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff has announced that since he waived the National Environmental Policy Act there will be no Final Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements, and it is unclear what will happen to the hundreds of public comments that they received at the open houses they held in McAllen, Brownsville and other cities along the border.”

In her testimony to the House panel, Pérez said DHS has failed to enter into meaningful dialogue with Valley residents about the border wall plan.

“Secretary Michael Chertoff and the DHS are either out of touch or misleading the nation in saying that residents along the border have had this opportunity to be heard many times before,” Pérez said, in her testimony.

“The handful of open house meeting they held, left people frustrated and angry that their questions were not answered and that their opinions could only be written or given to a stenographer. These meetings were not opportunities for public input or dialogue; they were rigid forums where DHS did not listen or respond to legitimate concerns.”

Pérez said Chertoff abused the REAL-ID Act in order to issue his waivers and bypass the National Environmental Policy Act.

“That makes the comments submitted to members of Congress in connection to the field hearing even more important,” Pérez said.

Michael Paul Hill (Nnee') Reads Statement UNPFII

SLIDE SHOW! Nde' Nnee' T'nde Women De-Colonization

Indigenous Chacalacas in South Texas

To view and listen to SLIDESHOW Go to this link!

Eloisa Garcia Tamez--DHS SURVEY IN EL CALABOZ!

Many thanks to Nat Stone, documentarian and key supporter of Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength! Ahi'i'e Nat!

Emergency Travel Funds Needed for Margo Tamez

Dear community,

Due to several key events unfolding in El Calaboz with the upcoming visit of the Congressional Delegation led by Congressman Raul Grijalva (Arizona) and accompanied by the Chair of T'ohono O'odham Nation to South Texas for scheduled Congressional Hearings at the University of Texas--Brownsville campus, it is imperative that I travel to Harlingen, TX on Friday night or Saturday morning.

I am calling upon our supporters to help me purchase a roundtrip airline ticket immediately, so that I can be present for key dialogues taking shape between the U.S. Congressional representatives and the Lipan Apache Women (El Calaboz) Defense.

Please email me: sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com if you can assist with this urgent need.

Many thanks,
Margo Tamez

Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength--Gain 8 Signatories to Monday's Statement

Final Approved Statement by Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength to the UN Special Rapporteurs:

Joint Statement to United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Seventh Session APRIL 21 – MAY 2, 2008, United Nations Headquarters, New York

Intervention under Agenda Item 5-Human Rights: Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples and other special rapporteurs

By: Lipan Apache Women Defense

Supported By: Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, Western Shoshone Defense Project, Tonatierra, Indigenous Enviromental Network, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Centro De Cultura Pueblo Nacion Mapuche Pelon Xaru, Native Women’s Association of Canada, International Geographical Union-Indigenous Peoples Knowledge and Rights Commission

Good morning Madame Chairperson, Permanent Forum members and delegates. My name is Michael Paul Hill, I am Chiricahua Apache and I am here on behalf of the Apache land defenders from El Calaboz ranchería, El Polvo village (Redford) and the San Carlos Apache Communities. We as Indigenous border communities with traditional territories along the now US/MEX border corridor, along with our non-indigenous neighbors in the southwestern border region of United States and northern Mexico, stand against the political and physical walls, barricades, and fencing that the United States is constructing at this very moment.


We urge the UNPFII to bring special focus and critical attention to the colonization, militarization and industrialization of the T’nde’, Nde’, Nnee’, Dine’ traditional lands and peoples. We ask the Forum to support the peaceful but firm resistance efforts of the Lipan Apache Women land and culture defense, and the Southern Athapaskan Alliance against the increasing militarized occupations and assaults by the United States and Mexico on our lands, culture, livelihoods, ceremonies and traditional sustenance. Of the 2000 mile long militarized conflict zone, over 1400 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border is the traditional territory of the Apache people. The Apache people must be given the opportunity to participate in the environmental, economic, social, and political decision-making in the region.


There are currently over 18,000 U.S. soldiers occupying our border communities with a buildup of up to 75,000 by 2010, and an estimated 8-10,000 Mexican soldiers currently deployed in the border towns and villages positioned for crackdowns on civil society indigenous protests against the construction of a Berlin-style wall which is dissecting Yaqui, O’odham, Opata, Mayo, Cocopah communities along the border. Indigenous women are particularly targeted by violence that militarization culture imposes on the U.S.-Mexico conflict region evidenced by the 4000+ disappeared and murdered women of Juarez and other border towns.


In response to this year’s theme of climate, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods we bring the Forum’s attention to the adverse affects of the 18 ft high cement and steel border wall on the spiritual welfare of the Apache and other Indigenous peoples along the US/MEX border corridor. This physical barrier is disrupting animal migration routes and deterring the growth of native vegetation and herbal medicinal plants used in traditional ceremonies. The border wall will impede the safe travel on foot, car, and other modes, of Apache people back and forth across the militarized zone. Militarization of the border has resulted in the industrialized destruction of habitats, environments, livelihoods, bio-diversity, water sources, traditional agricultural practices, traditional food security, and traditional peace practices. To allow construction of the border wall, the U.S. recently “waived” over 35 laws to build the wall which provided some measure of protection to indigenous people’s rights to their environment, culture, and way of life.


We respectfully request that the UNPFII consider our recommendations to take an intersectional approach to climate change that involves consideration of militarization, industrialization, gender, and environmental degradation in the U.S.-Mexico militarized zone of occupation and conflict.

Ahi'i'e Ussn, ahi'i'e diyini, ahi'i'e shimaa £ebaiyé T’nde-Nnee’, ahi'i'e shitaa Sumá Ndé-Nneé.

Eloisa García Tamez Grandmother, El Calaboz,

Margo Tamez Co-founder Lipan Apache Women—Defense/Strength

Indigenous Peoples Organization~~Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength Prepare Statement to the UNPFII 2008

Official Statement to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2008, New York City, New York.

April 22, 2008



Joint Statement to United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Seventh Session APRIL 21 – MAY 2, 2008, United Nations Headquarters, New York

Intervention under Agenda Item 5-Human Rights: Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples and other special rapporteurs

By: Lipan Apache Women Defense

Supported By: Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras, Western Shoshone Defense Project, Tonatierra, Indigenous Environmental Network,

Good morning Madame Chairperson, Permanent Forum members and delegates. My name is Michael Paul Hill, I am Chiricahua Apache and I am here on behalf of the Apache land defenders from El Calaboz ranchería, El Polvo village (Redford) and the San Carlos Apache Communities. Although we are an Indigenous border community, with our inherent aboriginal territory along the now US/MEX border corridor, we along with numerous non-indigenous border communities within the southwestern border region of United States and northern Mexico, stand against the political and physical walls, barricades, and fencing that the United States is constructing at this very moment.

In response to this year’s theme we urge the UN PFII to bring special focus and critical attention to the colonization, militarization and industrialization of the T’nde’, Nde’, Nnee’, Dine’ traditional lands and peoples. We ask the Forum to support the peaceful but firm resistance efforts of the Lipan Apache Women land and culture defense, and the Southern Athapaskan Alliance against the increasing militarized occupations and assaults by the United States and Mexico of our lands, cultures, livelihoods, ceremonies and traditional sustenance, such as the migration patterns of the deer, elk, javelina, other big game and small game including the fowl, and many others too numerous to mention. These adverse affects of the four legged migration pattern through 18 ft. high cement and steel border walls and physical barricades deter the growth of native vegetation and herbal medicinal plants used in traditional ceremonies and the spiritual welfare of the Apache and Indigenous peoples along the US/MEX border corridor and impede the safe travel on foot, car, and other modes of Apache people back and forth across the militarized zone.

Of the 2000 mile long militarized conflict zone, over 1400 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border is the traditional territory of the Apache people. The Apache people must be given the opportunity to participate in the environmental, economic, social, and political decision-making in the region.

Due to the last two centuries of attempts to officially exterminate the Apaches of all clans and bands, Apache people today experience the highest levels of poverty, racism, sexism, gender violence, hunger, malnutrition, disease, gang violence, depression, and PTSD. They suffer extreme levels of social, economic and political displacement, dispossession, removal and diasporas while the world commodifies our ancestors on t-shirts, coffee cups, and tourist trinkets.

There are currently over 18,000 U.S. soldiers occupying our border communities—with a buildup of up to 75,000 by 2010, and an estimated 8-10,000 Mexican soldiers currently deployed in the border towns and villages positioned for crackdowns on civil society indigenous protests against the construction of a Berlin-style wall which is dissecting Yaqui, O’odham, Opata, Mayo, Cocopah communities along the border. Indigenous women are particularly targeted by violence that militarization culture imposes on the U.S.-Mexico conflict region evidenced by the 4000+ disappeared and murdered women of Juarez and other border towns.

Climate, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods are critical areas the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is forced to address in regards to the current battle waged against the Lipan Apache Women land and culture defenders. Militarization of the border has resulted in the industrialized destruction of habitats, environments, livelihoods, bio-diversity, water sources, traditional agricultural practices, traditional food security, and traditional peace practices. To allow construction of the border wall, the U.S. recently broke all democratic principles prescribed by its own Constitution and officially “waived” over 35 laws to build the wall. These violations of state, national and international laws set in place by decades of civil and human rights movements in the United States, which provided some measure of protection to indigenous people’s rights to their environment, culture, and way of life have been revoked by the Department of Homeland Security. Current debates focused on "clearing brush to catch 'illegal aliens'!" do not consider the threat of U.S. Army cranes, bull-dozers, tractors, pavers and tanks to old-growth and requisite woodlands along the river necessary for ecological health and safety, as well as a staple for the traditional indigenous life ways. Included in the groups who cannot speak for themselves are the “habitat” peoples, the "eleven unique plant and animal communities found in the four most southern counties of Texas." These critical sectors of the Lower Rio Grande region, under threat by the border wall, are concentrated in Cameron County, home to Lipan Apache people.

We urge the UNPFII to set as an urgent initiative a special session on restoring gender to the debate and decision-making on climate change and bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security attempts to intimidate and to force the Lipan Apache Women Defenders to surrender their lands. We urgently request the UNPFII to meet us in dialogue at this forum, and ask that you consider our recommendations to take an intersectional approach to climate change that involves consideration of militarization, industrialization, gender, and environmental degradation in the U.S.-Mexico militarized zone of occupation and conflict.

Ahi'i'e Ussn, ahi'i'e diyini, ahi'i'e shimaa £ebaiyé T’nde-Nnee’, ahi'i'e shitaa Sumá Ndé-Nneé.

Read by:
Official Representative Michael Paul Hill (Chiricahua Apache)
Supported by Official Representative Michelle L. Cook (Dine’)

On behalf of:
Eloisa García Tamez, Grandmother, El Calaboz,
Margo Tamez Co-founder Lipan Apache Women—Defense/Strength

Lipan Apache Women--Defense/Strength Accepted as an Indigenous People's Organization of the UNPFII

Lebaiye Nde' hi'ke Nnee Isdzan Shimaa Shinii' -- Lipan Apache Women (LAW) Defense/Strength is an official IPO of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 7th Session, April 21- May 2, 2008.

Official representatives for the IPO are Michael Paul Hill (San Carlos Apache/Chiricahua Nnee') and Michelle Cook (Dine').

This year's UNPFII will be focused on the following:
Climate Change, Bio-cultural diversity, and livelihoods, and the stewardship role of indigenous peoples.

The IPO representatives for LAW-Defense/Strength will present a statement explaining the local struggle for independence, sovereignty, self-determination of traditional Apache and indigenous communities of the Lower Rio Grande communities whose people and territories are dissected by the U.S.-Mexico border.

The statement analyzes the intersectional relationship between climate change and bio-diversity and colonization, feudal social and economic systems, chemical manufacturing and industrialization, war contracting, an East Berlin-type concrete-steel wall, militarization & international soldiering, Blackwater, Jim Crow Deep South Texas where Lipan Apache women/indigenous women are central figures in the indigenous rights debates.

Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength Co-founder, Margo Tamez, connects the current struggles and conflicts with the United States Department of Homeland Security and the violence of the Mexican state against her people on both sides of the border to the mysogynist culture of settler nations and their ongoing wars against women-centered land-based societies.

Lipan Apache Women--Defense/Strength is a resurgent indigenous popular social, economic and political movement to restore balance among all people and systems. We emphasize the importance of First Nations of Mother Earth and the need to restore the foundational indigenous laws which uphold relationships between matrilineal indigenous land-based cultures and our stewardship role to protect the ecosystems of the Lower Rio Grande valley, the most bio-diverse region of the U.S. southern border with its neighbor, Mexico.

The Apache territories and natural resources are currently being threatened by industrial corporate-run states. Lipan Apache Women Defense/Strength seeks to partner with our community members to protect and restore the complex web of riparian, aquatic, mammalian and reptilian life-systems which support the Lipan Apache traditional medicinal and food plant livelihoods. These are intrinsically webbed with the traditional ways of life of the First Nations of Nde', Nnee', and T'nde banded peoples who've stewarded the region since time immemorial.

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law, Eloisa Garcia Tamez and Margo Tamez Call on Indigenous & Environmental Experts To Weigh in on Survey

--FOR WIDE DISTRIBUTION--

The Government plans to have a Border Patrol agent and two environmental engineers visit Dr. Eloisa Tamez’s property in El Calaboz, Texas, for a preliminary environmental assessment on Tuesday at 1 PM.

If possible, it would be very helpful if a small team of experts could be assembled including one or more experts on (1) border environmental issues, (2) cultural / indigenous issues, and (3) land value issues (including easements). This team will be crucial not only to assist property owners during these initial stages of surveying border properties, but even more importantly when in a few months the Government starts to condemn land permanently mainly in AZ and Texas to build a border wall. Formulating an expert border team is critically important.

Please circulate this email to anyone with expertise who may be interested. Academics, please circulate to your listservs. Experts interested in helping, please email me your resume and a couple of sentences about your interest.

If any experts may be available to be at Dr. Tamez’s land in El Calaboz on Tuesday at 1 PM, please email Eloisa Tamez Eloisa.tamez1@gmail.com , Margo Tamez sumalhepa.nde.defense@gmail.com and pschey@centerforhumanrights.org. Thanks.

Best wishes,

Peter
_____________________

Peter A. Schey
President and Executive Director
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
256 S. Occidental Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90057
Telephone: (213) 388-8693 ext. 104
Facsimile: (213) 386-9484
Electronic mail: pschey@centerforhumanrights.org
www.centerforhumanrights.org http://www.centerforhumanrights.org
www.legalizationusa.org http://www.legalizationusa.org
www.immigrantchildren.org http://www.immigrantchildren.org
www.casa-libre.org http://www.casa-libre.org/
www.vocesunidas.org http://www.vocesunidas.org
www.unityblueprint.org http://www.unityblueprint.org

The Final Step (DHS is land on the borderline)

Brownsville Herald

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/benavidez_85955___article.html/land_reyes.html

The Final Step

By Kevin Sieff/The Brownsville Herald

April 16, 2008 - 11:36PM

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has embarked on its final step before beginning construction of a border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border-purchasing land on which the structure will soon stand.

On Wednesday, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers offered Eduardo Benavidez $4,100 for a sliver of his 3.5 acres in El Calaboz, about 10 miles west of Brownsville. Because his land lies along the path of the border fence, officials told him, he'll have no choice but to sell.

Benavidez isn't ready to sell his land along the Rio Grande, even if it is to the federal government. "I'm not signing anything," he responded when DHS made their offer.

After the officials left, Benavidez, 86, called his brother. "These guys think they can do anything," he said.

DHS plans to construct 700 miles of fencing by the end of 2008. But first, the federal government must purchase land from several hundred South Texas landowners-including Benavidez, who was born on his property in 1922 and still earns a living cutting sheet metal there.

"We do have people beginning negotiations with landowners in the Valley," said Lloyd Easterling, an assistant chief for security operations for U.S. Border Patrol. "These are very initial negotiations."

Not all landowners have adopted Benavidez's refusal to sell. On Wednesday, his neighbor and cousin, Juanita Benavidez, agreed to part with .33 acres of her land for $12,500.

"It's a fair price," she said, "but I didn't want to sell it."

Benavidez said she felt pressured to sign documents from the Army Corps of Engineers.

"They were very forceful...and I don't want them to think I'm a communist or something like that," said Benevidez, who was given two weeks to consider the offer.

Benavidez, who speaks only Spanish, said she was given a copy of the government's offer in English. No written translation was provided. The officials did explain in Spanish the amount of money that was being offered to her.

Also, a list of relevant terms, including "acquisition," "easement," and "eminent domain" was also provided by the Army Corps of Engineers, but only in English.

The Cameron County Appraisal District estimates the value of Juanita Benavidez's 4.6 acres at $25,000. But like many of her neighbors, she doesn't care much for monetary evaluations.

"I've lived here for 37 years," she said. "I raised a family here."

The 18-foot tall fence will run through Benavidez's backyard, south of where the International Boundary and Water Commission's levee currently stands.

In rural Southmost, Jose Manuel Reyes and his three brothers are also considering the government's offer. The brothers live in adjacent houses along the Rio Grande.

Reyes was offered $2,200 for a 140 by 15-foot swath of land, roughly one sixth of his property. The appraisal district values the entire property at $12,000.

"I'm not sure if this price takes devaluation into account," Reyes said. "How much will my property be worth when an 18-foot fence runs through the backyard?"

But Reyes is growing increasingly despondent. "It doesn't matter what what we do," he said. "They're going to put it up whether we like it or not."

Reyes acknowledges that he could hold out and let a federal judge mediate negotiations over the land's value, but he isn't eager to engage in a legal battle.

"After all that, I wonder if I would even gain anything," he said. "What if they take away our original offer?" he asked. "At least now we'll get something."