Comrades from COB will be in court February 12. They face trumped up criminal charges and are accused of being in an "illegal union".

Against repression and defamation in the press – COB AIT

As has been explained before, the union in Araxa has been participating in struggles against the high cost of living which was started with social struggles against the high price of public transport. A group was formed by militants of the COB, students and autonomouse people and it has had some small success in this area. It organized pickets in May 2013, followed by the wave of protests in June.

During the June protests, various fascists were present in the streets. There were also problems with the police – unjustified arrests and police violents against the anarchist and anarchosyndicalist comrades.

As if that were not enough, the president of the official assembly of students (Student Union Araxaense - UEA) delivered, names and addresses of members of the committee to combat poverty to the judge of the city of Araxá. That has caused outrage among anarchist students, who announced a campaign to boycott the newspaper "A Voz de Araxá" (associated with UEA) and denounced the UEA, that has connections with fascists.

The campaign also aimed to clarify questions about the social struggle, which has suffered great repression and serious allegations against militants from COB, accusations based on false evidence during the demonstrations of June. The Voz de Araxá falsely claimed that one comrade was a thief and COB/AIT is a gang. Rather they explain that it is a trade union and their struggles are real and horizontal.

The owner of the newspaper and President of the UEA in reality have shown signs of fear as they have accused the militants without evidence in order to silence the struggles through imprisonment, as can be told by the amount of times they have arrested some comrades.

We declare our total rejection of the repression by the state and treacherous organizations and reaffirm our total belief in the union and social struggle with our comrades, as well as with the Libertarian Youth of Araxá, a student group that has always been with the union even in their most difficult times.

Currently, both the COB and the youth are suffering political persecution by the state and fascists from Araxa. COB is also faced with charges of forming an illegal union. The next court date will be on February 12, 2014.

Solidarity with the comrades of COB from Araxa and the Libertarian Youth!