Video Report From the Occupied Town of Xoxocotla, Morelos: Eyewitnesses Talk of Indiscriminate Attacks From Helicopters Using Weaponry Supplied by the United States

“Take a Look for Yourselves and Size Up the Absurd Amount of Firepower Sent to Squash a Public Protest”

By Gregory Berger
Special to The Narco News Bulletin

October 14, 2008

Three days ago I reported in these pages on the attack on the indigenous town of Xoxocotla, Morelos, in which the Mexican army participated, in blatant violation of the Mexican constitution.

Reporters and videographers faced harassment by armed soldiers and police while trying to do their work. At least one reporter I spoke with was attacked by police and forced to surrender the video tape of what he had recorded. We were able to shoot an hour’s worth of video footage and get it out of Xoxocotla without being accosted by police or military personnel.

This past weekend, I was scheduled to give a video editing workshop from various local universities. We took advantage of the activity to collectively edit this video report assembled from the material I shot.

Viewers should pay close attention to the close-up of the gas bomb dropped on an unsuspecting housewife by cowards in a helicopter: The “warning label” is in English and the bomb itself was presumably manufactured in the United States.

As I reported in my previous article, the use of the military in Xoxocotla is very distressing and would never have been allowed to happen had the Calderon regime not gradually desensitized the public to the presence of the army on the streets as part of its so-called “war on drugs.” Thanks to the “Merida Initiative,” approved by the U.S. Congress this year, such attacks are now paid for by U.S. tax dollars.

Take a look for yourselves and size up the absurd amount of firepower sent to squash a public protest.

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