Rivera is one of many hundreds of political prisoners in America's homeland gulag.

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The long and short of it is this: a Calgary based company, Blackfire Exploration Ltd, is responsible for the death of Mariano Abarca; and the Calgary Herald won't publish an obituary commemorating his death.

Mariano Abarca was killed over a barite mine one year ago today.

I've been to Mariano's gravesite in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. Pretty much everyone in his community testifies that the man didn't have an enemy, not until the mining company came to town. After maintaining a blockade for months, sometimes even holding it down by himself, Mariano was shot in the back while sitting in his open top jeep in front of the hardware store in downtown Chicomuselo.

Before he was killed, Mariano was detained and beaten by company employees wearing their company uniforms. He told an attaché to the Canadian Ambassador to Mexico that he needed protection, and that if he was killed the blood would be on Canada's hands.

Now Mariano is dead.

He is remembered as an excellent speaker and an honest man, who wasn't going to let the company get away with cheating his town and damaging the valuable, communally held lands that villagers use to grow sustenance crops. After his assassination, Bety Cariño, an anti-mining activist, spoke at a demo at the Canadian embassy in protest.

Now Bety is dead. She was killed by paramilitaries in April.

The war in Mexico advances, and it's a war for territory. The drugs are there, but they're a pretext for a war designed to displace people and open up new territories for mining, oil & gas, hydroelectric projects, and false solutions to climate change (UN REDD program, etc).

While all this goes on, the corporate douchebags behind Blackfire and many other equally vile entities live in impunity in Vancouver, in Calgary, in Toronto, in Ottawa and Halifax and elsewhere, and the Status QUo Media (SQUM) kills a dead man's obituary.

Pathetic, pathetic system we're living in here peeps. That said, I hope folks will take a moment in memory of Mariano and Bety today, and remember to support your friends who are going to COP-16 in Cancún. We need to start weaving our struggles way tighter.

Background information on the case of Mariano Abarca.

Here's the release from Common Frontiers:

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
November 26, 2010

‘In Memoriam’ for murdered Mexican anti-mining activist refused by Calgary Herald

An ‘In Memoriam’ classified ad to be run on November 27th on behalf of the family of murdered anti-mining activist Mariano Abarca R. has been called "unsuitable" by the Calgary Herald, though several other Canadian newspapers, including the Globe and Mail and the Edmonton Journal, have agreed to print it.

"We are confused about why the Calgary Herald would refuse a paid ‘In Memoriam’ on the anniversary of the death of Mariano Abarca. Former employees of Blackfire Exploration, a Calgary-based firm, are in jail in Chiapas, Mexico awaiting court appearances related to his murder. We sincerely hope the Herald is not simply trying to avoid controversy from a local company," says Rick Arnold, coordinator of Common Frontiers.

Abarca, a leading anti-mining activist in the community of Chicomuselo, in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, was gunned down outside his house on November 27, 2009. The Blackfire barite mining operation near the town of Chicomuselo, which Abarca and his community were opposing, was closed by state environmental authorities a week later, on December 7, 2009. A Canadian delegation to Chiapas in April this year found a community devastated by environmental destruction, intimidation, violence, and bad mining practices.

While in Canada in September of this year, Jose Luis Abarca Montejo, the youngest son of the murdered mining activist, spoke publicly about how he holds Blackfire responsible for the death of his father, who had complained to local authorities about receiving death threats from Blackfire employees before he was killed.

"Intimidation, violence and even murder are not unusual occurrences around the world where mining companies, many of them based in Canada, sometimes operate with impunity," says Stuart Trew, trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians, one of 36 civil society organizations which signed a letter November 22 condemning the Canadian government’s failure to pass Bill C-300. The act would have held Canadian mining companies accountable for overseas violations of human rights and environmental standards. A report commissioned by Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada also pointed to Canadian companies as some of the worst offenders.

This Saturday, to mark the one-year anniversary of Mariano Abarca’s death, residents of Chicomuselo are holding a mass, a mid-day public information session on the legal status of the case, and an evening vigil at the Mariano Abarca family home. Several churches in Calgary are now considering reading out or posting the ‘In Memoriam’ in response to the Herald’s denial.

-30-

After years of online discussion and personal debates, anti-tar sands activists and Indigenous community members are taking the controversy around the role of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGOs) in resistance movements to a public forum.

"We have ENGOs that are coming in and making decisions on our behalf," said hereditary chief Toghestiy from the Wet'suwet'en First Nation during the opening panel of the fourth annual Everyone's Downstream (EDS) conference in Edmonton, Alberta.

"Where do these decision-making powers come from?" he asked, echoing similar questions from conference participants at yesterday's inaugural event.

This evening, at 5pm PST / 8pm EST, a 'Following the Money Upstream' panel will be broadcast live online, focusing on foundation funding, ENGOs, secret deals, and proposed alternatives. Links to video recordings of all EDS events are also posted on the home page of the conference website and can be viewed at any time afterwards.

Dru Oja Jay and Macdonald Stainsby, co-authors of Offsetting Resistance: The effects of foundation funding from the Great Bear Rainforest to the Athabasca River, will present their substantial research on the secret agreements made behind closed doors by foundations and ENGOs.

"There's no transparency whatsoever," said Jay, who recently published an article about the likelihood of an impending deal between foundation-funded ENGOs and corporate tar sands industry members to greenwash the largest industrial project on the planet.

The majority of funding for campaigns and actions opposing the tar sands is channeled through a 'Tar Sands Coalition', says Jay, which is led by former Corporate Ethics campaigner Michael Marx.

The CEO of the Tides Foundation has publicly stated that Tides seeks to "bridge these two polarized camps," referring to the tar sands industry and environmental groups. For the Indigenous communities at the 'Ground Zero' of tar sands impacts, as well as those all along the proposed pipelines crisscrossing the continent, reconciliation with a giga-project they seek to shut down is  impossible.

"We have to stop the agreement," emphasized Jay, adding that "whoever signs that agreement then has a vested interest" in terms of their role in the tar sands resistance.

Also on the 'Following the Money Upstream' panel this evening is Sheila Muxlow, who works with the Prairie Chapter of the Sierra Club, one of a number of ENGOs that have been involved in the controversial meetings and agreements.

First Nations Policy Analyst Russell Diabo is the final panelist, bringing his analysis of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement and other funding and process issues to the table.

"Our challenges are mammoth challenges in comparison to ENGOs or activists because our challenges are real," said outspoken former Chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, George Poitras, from Fort Chipewyan, which is located directly downstream from the tar sands.

Many more issues are likely to come up during the presentations and discussion this evening, as well as proposals for alternative and accountable grassroots structures for collaboration, funding, decision-making, and solidarity work, such as the proposal for the creation of a Climate Justice Co-op.

For those tuning in to the live broadcast and those watching the videos after the fact, comments are welcomed either via chat or message.

Sandra Cuffe is reporting from the 4th annual Everyone's Downstream conference for the Vancouver Media Co-op.

• Environment

By Canada Palestine Association Vancouver - Nov. 24, 2010

...I'm a MEC member...I was on board the humanitarian aid ship the Mavi Marmara when it was assaulted by Israeli commandos on May 31st 2010...I had over $1000 of high quality MEC clothing and equipment in my luggage but the Israeli soldiers either stole or destroyed almost everything I had...I will not purchase one single item of equipment or clothing from MEC until you come to your senses and stop dealing with Israeli companies. They support Israel's brutal military, oppress and exploit the Arab minority in Israel and support the illegal occupation and brutalisation of Palestine.

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