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. The calls for Karla  and her family to remain in Canada have grown. Below are excerpts from just some of the dozens of people who have written in support of Karla and her family.

Manuela Valle, a UBC Liu Institute 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.”

Alexander Dawson, Director Latin American Studies at SFU:
“Vendettas that are unrelated to the drug war are often carried out with complete impunity under its cover. This is why I believe that Karla Berenice Garcia Ramirez’s claim is credible. It is my hope that the Canadian government begin to adopt a posture that reflects the serious nature of these crises, and acts in a less restrictive manner in these types of refugee claims.”

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Stephanie Law, Globe and Mail Monday, Jan. 16, 2012 8:53PM EST

Mexican journalist Karla Berenice García Ramírez, her husband and her two young Canadian-born daughters, are fighting deportation from Canada – and, as they see it, for their lives. She and her husband fled to Canada from Mexico in 2008 after she and her family received death threats that had escalated from less threatening intimidation starting in 2003, the apparent result of her efforts to uncover corruption at a government ministry. She was working at the ministry at the time, but had previously been employed as a journalist.

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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.

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(espanol abajo)

Dear friends and allies of No One Is Illegal Vancouver Coast Salish Territories,

We are writing to ask for your support for Karla Berenice García Ramírez, whose pseudonym as a writer is Karla Lottini. Karla is a Mexican whistleblower, award-winning journalist, and writer who sought but has been denied refugee status in Canada. Karla arrived to Canada as an asylum seeker in 2008 with her husband, with whom she now has two Canadian-born children including a 2 month old baby. While in Canada, Karla has continued to write, including the launch of her book “Talent of the Charlatans’ at UBC and SFU. (Link to UBC book launch here and SFU book launch here).

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Dear friends and allies of No One Is Illegal Vancouver Coast Salish Territories,

We are thrilled to be able to share the news with you that Nader has been  released from detention and his Pre-Removal Risk Assessment has been accepted!

Nader is a 46 year old Iranian refugee who had been detained and imprisoned by Canadian Border Services Agency since 2005. Nader spent over SIX years behind bars, without any substantive charges, under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Act. His length of detention has been unprecedented in Canada and Nader had been on a seven-week hunger strike to protest his ongoing, essentially indefinite detention.

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