US Students Visit the Padillas

Right now medical students from Wayne State University in Michigan are staying in Vicente's community and providing medical care to people of the area.

In mid-March a group of law students from Saint Louis University will visit the Padilla family at their farm in Matagalpa after meeting with other Padilla supporters in Managua. As law students, they are particularly interested in learning more about the case. We hope that enough interest will be generated to strengthen the support the family has and to spread the word about the injustices being committed against this peasant family.

In mid-February, students from Xavier University in Ohio also met with Vicente and accompanied him at the trial in San Ramon.

If your group is interested in meeting with Vicente or staying in his community, please contact Lillian Hall (friends@ibw.com.ni)

Vicente Visits the National Assembly

On Thursday, February 16th, Vicente and 22 supporters and human rights activists from the US, Canada, and Nicaragua, visited the National Assembly to speak with the Human Rights and Agrarian commssions. After waiting nearly three hours because the deputies were in a plenary session, Vicente and a handful of the activists were allowed to speak with them. Miguel, a Nicaraguan law student who has recently gotten involved in the case, gave a clear and concise summary of the situation. Then Vicente, in his calm and dignified manner, gave an eloquent testimony about the way this case has affected his life and the life of his family. He also focused on the way he was brutalized by the TAPIR special forces brought to the farm in the private vehicles of McEwan on December 29th, 2005. He still bears the mark of these beatings on his forehead.

He also emphasized that he feels his life is in danger and that should anything happen to him, his wife or children, the person responsible is José Esteban McEwan.

Several of the deputies showed interest in pursuing the issue and encouraged Vicente to submit a formal complaint to the human rights commission. They also said they would bring the issue up at their inter-institutional meeting with army and police to discuss the issue of police brutality.

Vicente also pointed out to the deputies that this was his second visit to the National Assembly since the problem began and that the last human rights commission did little to help.

We hope that this time the human rights commission will help and we will follow-up with them, so that they don't put his case in a drawer like they seem to have done last time.

Setback for Vicente: Judge dismisses property damages despite abundant evidence

On Friday, February 17th, the final decision was to be made regarding property damages on Vicente's land. On September 13th, workers of Santa Emilia Estates, owned by José Esteban McEwan and Victor Yanovich, invaded the 3 manzanas of land in dispute, ripping out fence posts, cutting and stealing the barbed wire fencing, and cutting down banana plants.

For this final decision, McEwan appeared in the San Ramon couthouse escorted by his armed guards and this time accompanied by truckloads of farmworkers from other farms his family owns. These workers, carrying signs saying "Abajo los cheles" ("down with the foreigners"), ironically are unaware that 80% of Santa Emilia Estates is owned by a US citizen, Victor Yanovich. Vicente spoke with some of them and they did not even know why they were brought there and showed surprise that it was a property dispute in which McEwan was taking land from a poor peasant like themselves.

Vicente was supported by some human rights activists from Managua and a few people from his community. Since it is an expense to transport people from the community to San Ramon, Vicente did not have many people from La Grecia there. In retrospect, he feels this was a good thing, since he suspects McEwan had hoped to create a confrontation between his workers and Vicente's supporters.

During the trial Matagalpa policeman Rafael García was called to testify. García had been the policeman sent to the farm to verify the damages after the Sept. 13th incident. During his testimony his legs were bouncing up and down as he would glance over at McEwan and his armed bodyguards. García testified that he had not seen any damages despite the fact that he had months before inspected the property and written up an assetment that indeed there were damages. His contradiction in his verbal testimony and his written and signed inspection report did not seem to interest the judge Maribel Parrilla.

After this obvious perjury, the prosecutor insisted that the judge visit the farm to see for herself. While she apparently did not want to go, in the end she did. The judge, lawyers, and Vicente were accompanied in the site inspection by journalists from Channels 2 and 8 (TV), radio stations Radio Vos and Radio Corporación, and the newspaper La Prensa. The judge and all the journalists saw the damages. The judge reluctantly signed a document stating that there were damages, but upon arriving in San Ramon after the inspection found McEwan and his workers "not guilty."

According to witnesses judge Parrilla made a comment to the effect that while that was her verdict, higher authorities might disagree.

Vicente's analysis is that the judge lacked the courage to find a large landowner, such as McEwan, guilty of a crime despite abundant evidence. She knew that Vicente can appeal the verdict, which he intends to. She, quite simply, passed the buck.

Getting involved

There are a few ways to get involved. If you are in Nicaragua, or are planning to be, and would like to stay with the Padilla family on their farm, please contact me at msgracecary@comcast.net. Vicente and his family feel more protected when accompanied and it shows McEwan the support which Vicente has.

Currently there is a major need for economic support for Vicente's family and the two peasant families helping them on the farm. Since McEwan's workers came in on Dec. 29th and 30th and took all the coffee berries on the disputed part of the property, Vicente has lost all of that income; money he counted on for the upcoming year.

Therefore, he is in need on financial support to pay his lawyer, to send his children to school, to travel from the farm to Matagalpa and Managua to meet with human rights activists, journalists, and lawyers, and money just to work the farm. We feel that this amount comes to about $ 300 dollars per month.

Any contribution, no matter how small, is urgently needed and gratefully accepted.

To make a financial contribution, 100% of which will go directly to the family, please send a check to Lillian Hall. Please earmark the check: Vicente Padilla case.

Lillian Hall
AP. 5391
Managua
Nicaragua