400+ Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike Against Inhumane Conditions in Tanivet, Oaxaca

Today, Monday February 17, 2020, Indigenous political prisoner, Fredy García Ramírez, together with 400 other prisoners, began a hunger strike demanding better conditions inside the prison of Tanivet, Tlacolula, Oaxaca.

 

As prisoners, we denounce the conditions in this prison, which are inhumane and violate our human rights and our dignity. We have put forward the following demands:

1. Food: We demand good food. What we receive now is very little, consisting of a spoonful of refried beans and some small machine-made tortillas. The lack of food has caused some prisoners to become very ill.
2. Health: We request medical attention for the sick, as various prisoners have died due to the lack of medical attention.
3. Work: We demand adequate time to work in order to generate income for our economic subsistence. Many of the prisoners have relatives who do not have enough money to cover their expenses and work inside the prison is their only source of income.
4. Communication: We demand that visiting time with our families be extended. As it stands now, we have little time to visit with our family members. Many relatives come from far away and often do not have the means to visit their imprisoned relatives on the weekends.
5. End of mistreatment: We demand respect for our human rights. The prison authorities keep us oppressed and do not provide for our basic needs. Conjugal visits are prohibited and when we attempt to raise our voices in protest, we are beaten by officials at the order of the director. Thus, we hold the director of the prison responsible for whatever aggression carried out against us in response to the hunger strike.
6. Confinement: We demand complete freedom to work and live amongst ourselves and that the assigned dining area be used because the one being used now is not sufficient.
7. Visits: We demand that the families are able to visit without harassment, as many of them are treated poorly when trying to enter the prison and the prison rules are set as if it were a maximum-security prison, which it isn’t.
8. We ask the National Commission of Human Rights to document the development of the strike. We ask that the social organizations be attentive to whatever aggression carried out against us. We also ask that the National Commission of Human Rights visit the prison of Tanivet to corroborate the state of the strike as well as the conditions in which we are being held.

Sincerely,

Fredy García Ramírez and 400 other prisoners in the prison of Tanivet

Tlacolula, Oaxaca

February 17, 2020