When he first saw her he cried and confided to her that the recently arrived Spaniards treated all Native people with contempt and cruelty and asked her "why is it that all of us Natives are treated like dogs?". The Virgin replied that she was there to help all of them, that Juan Diego was her xocoyotzin (my dear son, in Náhuatl), that she was Tonantzin (Mother Earth) and that BOTH Spaniards and Náhuatls were equal and equally valuable to her and that all of them were her children. Since then millions of people in Mexico and abroad seek her guidance, help and protection and revere her as our Mother.
This occurred 290 years before slavery was officially abolished in Mexico and 334 years before it was abolished in the US.
Fast forward 475 years later, move north of the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande as they call it here).
On the morning of December 12, 2006, while more than five million Mexicans were celebrating our beloved Virgin of Guadalupe in the outskirts of Tepeyac Hill, more than ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED immigrant workers, working in the plants of the meat packing company called Swift located in six different states, were raided, handcuffed, arrested and sent to undisclosed locations. To this day no lawyer has been able to contact them. They were arrested under the premise that they were using either false social security numbers or numbers that belong to other people. According to the corresponding authorities they were after only 170 individuals. Why did they arrest more than 1,300 then?
The immigrant communities in those states (Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Iowa and Minnesotta) have been terrorized and shattered, this will bring unknown consequences to all. Among the known and immediate consequences is the fate of the innocent victims of all: the children. According to reports from immigrant and human rights groups in Colorado, there are AT LEAST hundred children that have become orphans instantly in that state. They don't have parents anymore as their parents have been arrested and nobody knows their whereabouts. Or worse, even if they knew about them, their parents will most likely be deported to their countries of origin. A headline from a Colorado newspaper reads "breast-feeding mother missing in raid", she had left her new born baby at her home with a baby-sitter. What will happen to this baby?
According to the law when an employee is not officially allowed to work here but was anyway hired by a company, the enforcement (arrests) should be applied to the employers, not the employee.
What kind of punishment is this? This is a dirty war against immigrants, correction, this is a dirty war against BROWN immigrants. This is a demonstration of hate, nothing to do with security or la chingada, as immigrants come here looking for jobs because in their countries of origin and due to the infamous IMF, World Bank, Nafta etc. (organisms that are controlled by this country) there are no jobs. And also, because the employers here like to hire them as these immigrants represent low costs for the companies.
Most of the thirteen hundred arrested come from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Peru and most of them are Native American (Maya, Aztec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Inca, Quechuas, etc.) or of Native descent. This is their land. They have inhabited this land for thousands of years, not only for two hundred years or less.
This happened exactly 475 years after a Native American asked "why are we treated like dogs?". Unfortunately today, the question still applies. WHY ARE WE TREATED LIKE DOGS?
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I already called my representatives here in California and asked them to take a critical stand against these horrible events and that they STOP this human tragedy happening in those six states and to STOP the raids. I called the representatives below and to my dismay, nobody knew what I was talking about, I had to give them lots of details and even mentioned newspapers articles and radio programs to them.
I urge you to call your representatives too and ask them to stop this war against colored immigrants.
Barbara Lee (510) 763-0370
Barbara Boxer (415) 403-0100
Diane Feinstein (415) 393-0707
For more information:
La Jornada, jueves 14 de diciembre, 2006.
Redadas en plantas empacadoras en EUA
Democracy Now, Thursday, December 14, 2006.
More than 1,200 arrested in six state immigration raid (READ transcript)
(READ transcript)
(LISTEN to interview - go to minute 42:16)
Rocky Mountain News, Thursday, December 14, 2006
ICE accuses Swift & Co. of skirting deportations
The fallout: At least 100 kids parentless
San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Identity theft probe results in raids in 6 states / Federal agents arrest illegal workers at meatpacking plants
Marta Granillo (right) cries for her husband and others arrested by federal officials at a Swift meat processing plant in Greeley, Colo. Rocky Mountain News photo by Ahmad Terry via Associated Press
