12-01-2010, 01:54 PM
Petition of Julian LeBaron
To the Mexican People
My petition is directed to those who have come to feel that our vote in popular elections brings only further tragedy and disillusionment. It is for those who feel that we live in a nation of sheep and wolves; not one of free men and women; but in a nation where we feel we can no longer ask, much less demand, the right to keep what we have produced by our own hands, talent or minds. I call upon those who cultivate the land, those who care for animals, those who work in commerce, mines, and construction; those who labor in our industries; and those who care for our children; and to all who live honestly, but have almost stopped dreaming, because they feel defeated by a system that does not make good our efforts.
I petition all to recognize that a system that does not respect the life, property, and conscience of the individual, is a system of criminals. How many are numbered in their ranks is irrelevant. Only a barbarian, slave, or fool will accept control of his person, his property or his mind at another man’s bidding. A system where society is ruled by men, and not by law, is a society of buzzards and cannibals who feed on desolation. Brute force in not a substitute for justice. No true man can be forced to believe that another man’s will is omnipotent.
I am petitioning those who have suffered the devastation and horrendous abuses of murder, kidnapping and extortion. I speak to those who have been victims of men who force the involuntary sacrifice of our good, so they can live further entrenched in their evil. These men are cowards who destroy the lives of those who know how to live, for the benefit of parasites who do not.
I petition all who abhor the enactment and enforcement of laws which forbid self-defense and resistance against crime and violence. There are those who seek to protect criminals who wantonly destroy the rights of the innocent, and descend to a condition less than human, themselves.
In Chihuahua and throughout Mexico innumerable cases of criminal offense have been inflicted upon innocent men, women and children, leaving in their wake sorrow, suffering, and desolation.
In the small mountain town of Gomez Farias, my uncle Raul Rascon presided as president of the county commission. In August 2008 he reported to state authorities serious infractions of the law in his community. Days later he was kidnapped from his home, and we have never seen him again.
In my own county of Galeana an upright man, Miguel Angel Mota, who had been a friend of our family for many years, was serving as chief of public security. After he was offered a bribe from the criminal element here, but rejected it, he was kidnapped from his home by a group of armed men who wore federal police AFI uniforms. The next morning he was found on the side of the highway a kilometer from Colonia LeBaron, almost decapitated by seventeen bullets in the head. No recognition was given by state officials, and the case was virtually ignored.
My wife lost her younger brother, Alfredo Apodaca, when a leader of a depraved band who was protected by authorities in the municipality of Ascencion, Chihuahua, wanted his girlfriend. His truck was found burned almost beyond recognition in a nearby field. Both perpetrators of the crime and local officials mocked petitions of the family. The investigation was a total farce; we have never seen Alfredo again.
I, Julian LeBaron, have had the hateful experience of being chased at high speed by outlaws who wore ski masks and were heavily armed. When my vehicle ramped a bridge at seventy miles an hour, I stalled in the middle of the town of Ignacio Zaragoza. In a residential area and in view of many persons, I was severely beaten with their machine guns. In the presence of my wife and children, they threatened to kidnap me, terrorizing my family. Their motive; a perverted humorous caprice.
On the second of May, 2009, my sixteen-year-old brother Eric LeBaron was kidnapped from our father’s ranch in the mountains by parasites who demanded a million dollars so that they would not return him in pieces. Our community was consulted, and we all refused to pay the ransom. We got him back!
On the seventh of July, 2009, I suffered as I would never have imagined, the kidnapping and execution of my older brother Benjamin LeBaron, who was my best friend in the world, and the head of a civil peace-activist organization, the SOS Chihuahua. Another dear friend Luis Widmar, seeing twenty heavily-armed men next door, immediately went to my brother’s assistance. Having never offended anyone, these two men left ten orphans and two heartbroken and inconsolable widows, all because they had resisted the idea of impunity for criminals.
On the seventh of January it will be six months since that horrible crime. We received promises of justice from many branches of government, both state and federal; but to date, not one person has been prosecuted or sentenced.
Throughout our nation countless people have lost their lives and their security in a similar manner, while politics of confusion, and expressions of magic words appear to have more sway than what happens; pretending that nothing exists outside of a refusal to identify it.
I want to engrave upon the conscience of all honorable Mexicans, that our country does not belong to the violent, or to those who wield their way by force and intimidation. Shall we continue to accept the illusion? Or will we raise a standard to which honest and upright citizens aspire—a standard of truth and justice?
My desire is to act and represent (as I wish we all would) a gathering point for those who hunger and thirst for integrity and justice. I seek places where honorable men and women can live with dignity and self-respect. I look for these goals, not in our towns or cities, but in the hearts of more than one hundred million Mexicans. It is time that we awaken the lion!
Let each man accept his individual responsibility, and demand his sacred right to life, property and freedom of conscience. It is not so much for love of our neighbor, but for love of ourselves. Liberty and justice will come only when we demand them, and create a collective conscientiousness that will restore our national honor, so we may live in a sanctuary inside our bodies, minds and homes. The future of civilization lies not in force; but in morality
This year 2010 marks the anniversary of our independence in 1810, as well as that of our revolution in 1910. Let us invite the spirit of our liberators Hidalgo and Juarez into our legislative assemblies. Let us make laws which prescribe a just punishment for crime, that our people can dwell in safety and security. Let us evoke the influence of Morelos and Zapata in our tribunals, that our judges will know how to give just sentence to criminals; so that the innocent will be protected.
Severe as it is, the cost of injustice toward the individual is insignificant, when compared to the cost it extracts upon a whole society. Confidence in just law, and in honorable legislation is the prime motivator in the advancement of culture, society, and especially of the individual.
In answer to a statement by the chief executive of my country, “I have the will; but I need men.” I would like to say: “I love my country, Sir. Here in Chihuahua, you have a man you can count on!”
Julian LeBaron
Colonia LeBaron, Chihuahua
January 6, 2010
To the Mexican People
My petition is directed to those who have come to feel that our vote in popular elections brings only further tragedy and disillusionment. It is for those who feel that we live in a nation of sheep and wolves; not one of free men and women; but in a nation where we feel we can no longer ask, much less demand, the right to keep what we have produced by our own hands, talent or minds. I call upon those who cultivate the land, those who care for animals, those who work in commerce, mines, and construction; those who labor in our industries; and those who care for our children; and to all who live honestly, but have almost stopped dreaming, because they feel defeated by a system that does not make good our efforts.
I petition all to recognize that a system that does not respect the life, property, and conscience of the individual, is a system of criminals. How many are numbered in their ranks is irrelevant. Only a barbarian, slave, or fool will accept control of his person, his property or his mind at another man’s bidding. A system where society is ruled by men, and not by law, is a society of buzzards and cannibals who feed on desolation. Brute force in not a substitute for justice. No true man can be forced to believe that another man’s will is omnipotent.
I am petitioning those who have suffered the devastation and horrendous abuses of murder, kidnapping and extortion. I speak to those who have been victims of men who force the involuntary sacrifice of our good, so they can live further entrenched in their evil. These men are cowards who destroy the lives of those who know how to live, for the benefit of parasites who do not.
I petition all who abhor the enactment and enforcement of laws which forbid self-defense and resistance against crime and violence. There are those who seek to protect criminals who wantonly destroy the rights of the innocent, and descend to a condition less than human, themselves.
In Chihuahua and throughout Mexico innumerable cases of criminal offense have been inflicted upon innocent men, women and children, leaving in their wake sorrow, suffering, and desolation.
In the small mountain town of Gomez Farias, my uncle Raul Rascon presided as president of the county commission. In August 2008 he reported to state authorities serious infractions of the law in his community. Days later he was kidnapped from his home, and we have never seen him again.
In my own county of Galeana an upright man, Miguel Angel Mota, who had been a friend of our family for many years, was serving as chief of public security. After he was offered a bribe from the criminal element here, but rejected it, he was kidnapped from his home by a group of armed men who wore federal police AFI uniforms. The next morning he was found on the side of the highway a kilometer from Colonia LeBaron, almost decapitated by seventeen bullets in the head. No recognition was given by state officials, and the case was virtually ignored.
My wife lost her younger brother, Alfredo Apodaca, when a leader of a depraved band who was protected by authorities in the municipality of Ascencion, Chihuahua, wanted his girlfriend. His truck was found burned almost beyond recognition in a nearby field. Both perpetrators of the crime and local officials mocked petitions of the family. The investigation was a total farce; we have never seen Alfredo again.
I, Julian LeBaron, have had the hateful experience of being chased at high speed by outlaws who wore ski masks and were heavily armed. When my vehicle ramped a bridge at seventy miles an hour, I stalled in the middle of the town of Ignacio Zaragoza. In a residential area and in view of many persons, I was severely beaten with their machine guns. In the presence of my wife and children, they threatened to kidnap me, terrorizing my family. Their motive; a perverted humorous caprice.
On the second of May, 2009, my sixteen-year-old brother Eric LeBaron was kidnapped from our father’s ranch in the mountains by parasites who demanded a million dollars so that they would not return him in pieces. Our community was consulted, and we all refused to pay the ransom. We got him back!
On the seventh of July, 2009, I suffered as I would never have imagined, the kidnapping and execution of my older brother Benjamin LeBaron, who was my best friend in the world, and the head of a civil peace-activist organization, the SOS Chihuahua. Another dear friend Luis Widmar, seeing twenty heavily-armed men next door, immediately went to my brother’s assistance. Having never offended anyone, these two men left ten orphans and two heartbroken and inconsolable widows, all because they had resisted the idea of impunity for criminals.
On the seventh of January it will be six months since that horrible crime. We received promises of justice from many branches of government, both state and federal; but to date, not one person has been prosecuted or sentenced.
Throughout our nation countless people have lost their lives and their security in a similar manner, while politics of confusion, and expressions of magic words appear to have more sway than what happens; pretending that nothing exists outside of a refusal to identify it.
I want to engrave upon the conscience of all honorable Mexicans, that our country does not belong to the violent, or to those who wield their way by force and intimidation. Shall we continue to accept the illusion? Or will we raise a standard to which honest and upright citizens aspire—a standard of truth and justice?
My desire is to act and represent (as I wish we all would) a gathering point for those who hunger and thirst for integrity and justice. I seek places where honorable men and women can live with dignity and self-respect. I look for these goals, not in our towns or cities, but in the hearts of more than one hundred million Mexicans. It is time that we awaken the lion!
Let each man accept his individual responsibility, and demand his sacred right to life, property and freedom of conscience. It is not so much for love of our neighbor, but for love of ourselves. Liberty and justice will come only when we demand them, and create a collective conscientiousness that will restore our national honor, so we may live in a sanctuary inside our bodies, minds and homes. The future of civilization lies not in force; but in morality
This year 2010 marks the anniversary of our independence in 1810, as well as that of our revolution in 1910. Let us invite the spirit of our liberators Hidalgo and Juarez into our legislative assemblies. Let us make laws which prescribe a just punishment for crime, that our people can dwell in safety and security. Let us evoke the influence of Morelos and Zapata in our tribunals, that our judges will know how to give just sentence to criminals; so that the innocent will be protected.
Severe as it is, the cost of injustice toward the individual is insignificant, when compared to the cost it extracts upon a whole society. Confidence in just law, and in honorable legislation is the prime motivator in the advancement of culture, society, and especially of the individual.
In answer to a statement by the chief executive of my country, “I have the will; but I need men.” I would like to say: “I love my country, Sir. Here in Chihuahua, you have a man you can count on!”
Julian LeBaron
Colonia LeBaron, Chihuahua
January 6, 2010