PRESS RELEASE<\/p>\n
For Immediate Release<\/p>\n
October 28, 2006, 12:40 a.m. Contact:
\nBeka Economopoulos, (917) 202-5479
\nBrandon Jourdan, (646) 342-8169
\nEric Laursen, (917) 806-6452<\/p>\n
WILLIAM BRADLEY ROLAND, U.S. JOURNALIST\/CAMERMAN, KILLED BY OAXACA
\nPARAMILITARIES ? KILLER ID’D – ACTIONS BEING PLANNED IN U.S.<\/p>\n
William Bradley Roland, aka Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and camerman, was shot and killed yesterday in Oaxaca, Mexico, by paramiliaries affiliated with the PRI, the former Mexican ruling party. Will was in Oaxaca covering the continued resistance of teachers and other workers against the PRI-controlled government of the State of Oaxaca. According to reports from New York City Independent Media Center and La Jornada, Will, 36, was shot at the Santa Lucia Barricade from a distance of 30-40 meters in the pit of the stomach by plainclothes paramilitaries and died while enroute to the Red Cross.<\/p>\n
Centro de Medias Libres (http:\/\/vientos.info\/cml<\/a>) in Mexico City reports that from Will’s recovered videiotapes, they have identified his killer as a paramilitary named Pedro Carmona, ex-president of Felipe Carrillo Puerto de Santa Lucia del Camino, a colonia in Oaxaca.<\/p>\n At last report, Will was one of five people who died in the last day, along with 17 wounded, as paramilitaries and federal police poured in to retake the city, according to Centro de Medias Libres. The city had been in the hands of the workers for five months. Will is the first American to be killed in the months-long confrontation. A longtime journalist and activist, he covered land occupations in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., direct actions and rebellions in Argentina and Ecuador, land occupations in Brazil, and anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia. He was a much-beloved figure in the global justice movement in the U.S. and leaves behind many grieving friends.<\/p>\n Friends of Brad in the U.S. will be calling actions in the next day to demand that the U.S. State Department press the Mexican government to investigate Brad’s murder and address the terroristic regime that made it possible. Additionally, they will press for solidarity in the U.S. with the Mexican movement for social justice that Brad gave his life to document in Oaxaca. today, word came out over the movement radio station that a woman with red-dyed hair was kidnapped from barricade 3 (my barricade).<\/p>\n i thought for sure it was celia, a friend (we?ve been dating) who?s at the barricade more than anyone else, and is as much of a target for the ruling classes than anyone else in the neighborhood. it turned out it wasn?t. but things in the colonia started to get worse.<\/p>\n lots of gunshots, lots of wounded, and at least one death: a compa of mine, named Brad, from the U.S., doing some reporting for Indymedia NYC. (and several more died today in the city)<\/p>\n i wasn?t there.<\/p>\n i?ve been out in a poor colonia of rural migrants, protecting CIPO member Vicky, who was assaulted the other day by PRIistas. her brother lives in political exile in canada, and her life, now, is in danger. she?s a fighter, an informal leader, of the movement here, where we?re primarily defending a primary school and the international highway from PRIistas and others.<\/p>\n what a helpless feeling it was. today, i spent a frantic 30 minutes from the highway barricade, trying to find out if they grabbed celia. then, when word from the radio of the confrontations and gun fighting came, in my neighborhood, all i could do — once again — was desperately try to get through by phone, and wait. i still don?t know that much.<\/p>\n we all know i need to be here. vicky needs me here. and this is a key part of the movement. and i couldn?t have gone to the ?hood even if we wanted me there. we?ve blocked off the roads of the entire city and much of the state. i?d be walking probalby 8 hours to get there. and it?d be a sketchy walk, at least alone.<\/p>\n groups of non-capitalist media networks are calling for an international day of action to avenge brad?s death.<\/p>\n take action where you can, soon.<\/p>\n Eric<\/p>\n Updated 29 October: More on this story from Al Giordano<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release October 28, 2006, 12:40 a.m. Contact: Beka Economopoulos, (917) 202-5479 Brandon Jourdan, (646) 342-8169 Eric Laursen, (917) 806-6452 WILLIAM BRADLEY ROLAND, U.S. JOURNALIST\/CAMERMAN, KILLED BY OAXACA PARAMILITARIES ? KILLER ID’D – ACTIONS BEING PLANNED IN … Continue reading
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