On 10 May, Marcelino Coache Verano, an activist associated with the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and secretary of the union of laborers of Oaxaca de Juarez’s City Hall, was threatened with death by two armed strangers who forcibly entered the offices of the union. One struck the union-leader with a knife in the abdomen and a leg; the injuries, however, were not life-threatening. Later in the week, Coache announced that the Federal Attorney General’s Office had launched an investigation to find those responsible for the crime. It is worth mentioning that Coache has, together with other APPO leaders, feared for his security since his having been imprisoned in 2006 and again in 2008, in addition to the kidnapping and torture to which he was subject in March 2009. In light of this latter attack, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him preventive measures in May 2009.
For more information (in Spanish):
Attack on union leader in Oaxaca (La Jornada, 12 May)
Marcelino Coache accuses URO of attempting to kill him (Frente Popular.wordpress.com, 12 May)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Oaxaca: New threats in the case of Marcelino Coache (4 May 2009)
(Foto: http://www.diariopm.com)
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