At 20 some million inhabitants in its metro area, it's by far the most populous city I've ever been to.
As I was landing, looking down into the winding streets of the city, I got the feeling that this was a place one could get lost in and never found again.
That intimidated me a bit.
So, getting blackout drunk on mezcal during a business dinner and wandering out in the streets was probably not a good idea.
"Motorized vehicles create remoteness which they alone can shrink. They create distances for all, and shrink them for only a few."
—Ivan Illich
(photo: #Brasilia)
🚗🧵
An incredibly lifelike panoramic reconstruction of Tenochtitlan before contact. Some with sliders that let you compare the view directly with #CDMX today. It feels like a place in another world.
Se pasaron de rosca las autoridades al no atender a las personas que realizaron un paro de 9hrs en vías primarias de la alcaldía Benito Juarez por el problema contaminada en el agua
Después de 9 horas de bloqueo, se reabre la circulación en Avenida de los Insurgentes; mañana volverán a cerrar a las 11:00 hrs si no los atienden
Call for solidarity with Jorge “Yorch” Esquivel, anarcho-punk political prisoner in Mexico
Jorge has now been held in prison for over a year without a trial, and urgently needs funds to cover legal fees and prison costs (food, water, phone calls, visits, administration fees, service costs, etc).
Jorge "Yorch" Esquivel is a beloved compañero of the punk community, and a long-time participant of the Okupa Che. He was arrested on December 8, 2022 by plainclothes police as he was leaving the campus of the Ciudad Universitaria (of the UNAM university) in Mexico City as part of a campaign of criminalization against the Okupa.
BACKGROUND
On February 24, 2016, an operative was carried out in which plainclothes policemen detained him, "planting" drugs on him in order to fabricate crimes, and accusing him of drug trafficking, as part of a campaign of repression on the squatted auditorium Okupa Che in UNAM (still existing). The whole case was plagued with irregularities. He was transferred to Oaxaca and then to a maximum-security prison in Hermosillo as a strategy to hinder his legal defense by taking him far away from his support networks. Thanks to the solidarity and legal work, he was reclassified from the crime of drug dealing to simple possession of narcotics, and was released on bail in March 2016.
Even though he was no longer in prison, he was not out of danger. Constant threats and journalistic reports did not cease; the press even reported his death and accused him of participating in organized crime. Meanwhile, steps were being taken to frame him once again and re-arrest him for the same fabricated crime.
On December 8, 2022 he was arrested in exactly the same place - a few steps outside Ciudad Universitaria, where the Okupa is located, once again by plainclothes police - with the grounds for this illegal detention being that the Attorney General's Office appealed the decision to reclassify the crime.
The compañero's health is fragile due to an extended hospitalization a couple years back and the toll the prison conditions have taken on him.
CURRENT SITUATION
Jorge is currently incarcerated in the Reclusorio Oriente prison in Mexico City. The legal process is still in the evidence stage. Several hearings have been postponed and Jorge’s process is being delayed and prolonged to keep him in what is called “preventative imprisonment” with no sentence, which is common for cases of political prisoners in Mexico. Despite the fact that there is no evidence to keep him in prison, the strategy of the State is clearly to drag it out as long as possible, which is a tortuous level of uncertainty for all of us close to Jorge.
Thanks to the solidarity of individuals, collectives and networks, it has been possible to cover Jorge's expenses inside the prison, which have been very high due to the corruption that reigns in Mexican prisons. We are raising funds to support his legal costs and basic needs to be able to survive in this unjust incarceration, and to re-join the community on the outside as soon as possible. We call upon the solidarity of our friends and compañerxs around the world to help us in supporting our compañero Yorch.
Yesterday, hundreds marched in Mexico City for Trans Day of Visibility/Vengeance from the Chamber of Deputies to the Zócalo, where they were teargassed by police.
Today in Mexico City, riot police attacked a march of blind and visually impaired people who were demanding dignified working spaces in the city's metro stations.