Advisory: Press Conference to support Karla in fight against deportation

Posted by admin on Jan 17th, 2012

Mexican award-winning journalist and whistleblower facing deportation in coming weeks.

MEDIA ADVISORY –

WHAT: Press Conference with Karla Ramirez aka Karla Lottini, her lawyer Lobat Sadrehashemi, UBC Liu Scholar Manuela Valle, and others.
WHEN: Thursday January 19, 2012 at 10 am
WHERE: YWCA (733 Beatty Street)

January 17 2012, VANCOUVER Coast Salish Territories- Award-winning Mexican journalist and now whistleblower Karla Berenice García Ramírez, who writes under the penname Karla Lottini, fears for the safety of herself and her family as she awaits deportation orders.

In Mexico she worked for a government ministry, the National Council for Culture and Arts (Conaculta), and won awards including Cultural Journalist of the State (Quintana Roo, 2000). While employed at Conaculta, she uncovered severe corruption within the government ministry. As a result, Karla and her family members were subjected to verbal and physical intimidation including repeated death threats. Karla fled to Canada as an asylum seeker in 2008. Her and her husband have two Canadian-born children including a 1 year old as well as a newborn baby. As is the case for 90% of Mexican asylum seekers in Canada, Karla has been refused refugee status but has an active application to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds and is also seeking a judicial review of her Pre-Removal Risk Assessment.

While in Canada, Karla launched her book The Talent of Charlatans, an exposé of the severe corruption within the cultural agencies of the Mexican Government, at SFU and UBC. According to Manuela Valle, a UBC Liu Scholar, “Karla Lottini is an amazingly brave woman, journalist, and mother who is facing deportation back to Mexico. She has been denied political asylum despite the death threats she has received after the publication of her book. The support from Canadians to her case is absolutely critical to protect her and her family from an increasingly violent and deadly climate of censorship in Mexico.”

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Media Contacts:
Karla Lottini: 604 716 0697;
Lobat Sadrehashemi (lawyer): 604-678-6870
Sozan Savehilaghi (No One Is Illegal): 778 322 5349

For background information, see
Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/mexican-journalist-launches-last-ditch-bid-to-fight-deportation/article2304725/

No One Is Illegal (English and espanol): https://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=4620

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