UPDATE: OCTOBER 2nd, 10:00AM- Alejandro Released!
Alejandro de la Torre has been released from Wood County Jail. When more information becomes available we will update. For now, check out what Alejandro said before he was arrested on our blog.
UPDATE: OCTOBER 2nd, 9:00AM – Alejandro’s Bail Set at $10,000
Yesterday Houston resident Alejandro de la Torre delayed Keystone XL clear cutting operations on a family farm outside Winnsboro, Texas for almost an entire day. De la Torre locked himself to an underground capsule in the pathway of Keystone XL to protect the farm, saying simply that “I’m here to stand up for people on the front lines because they’re being trampled to make way for corporate profits.” After the Wood County Sheriff Department confiscated peaceful observers’ cameras they arrested him for his courageous action.
De la Torre is currently being held on trumped up charges and a bail set at $10,000, an outrageous sum for a nonviolent peaceful protester. As a supporter of Alejandro and the blockade please demonstrate your support with a generous donation to his bail.
UPDATE: 8:00PM – Excellent Coverage From KLTV Channel 7 – Tyler
KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News
UPDATE: 6:00PM – Read Alejandro’s Story of How His Passion For Environmental Justice Motivates Him
“I’m willing to risk arrest because I have a certain amount of personal privilege that allows me to participate. I don’t live near a Gulf refinery, or on land that’s at risk from a devastating tar sands spill, so I’m able to play a small part in an action that will really help people’s lives. I’m here to stand up for people on the front lines because they’re being trampled to make way for corporate profits.
I’m sick of seeing these devastating affects on a personal and community level and on a grand global scale in which corporations and their profits call all the shots.”
Read more of Alejandro’s story here.
UPDATE: 4:00PM – Bulldozer Has Moved in to Level More of the Family Farm
After being delayed almost an entire work-day by Alejandro’s actions Keystone XL construction crews quickly moved in with machinery to get in at least one hour of work bulldozing a local landowners beloved family farm before the end of the work day.
To permanently stop this toxic pipeline we need more people to join us. Sign up to attend our Direct Action Training Oct. 12-14th.
UPDATE: 3:45PM – Alejandro Has Been Arrested For Helping Save a Family Farm From Keystone XL
After delaying construction for almost an entire day Alejandro has been extracted from the underground capsule and arrested. Through his brave actions he was able to bring to light the disrespect that local landowners have suffered at the hands of TransCanada’s eminent domain abuse and trampling of landowner rights.
Support Alejandro’s legal fees with a generous donation.
UPDATE: 3:00PM – Police Chiseling Away at the Underground Capsule That Alejandro is Locked Into
UPDATE: 1:25PM – Police Put a Screen Around Alejandro So Observers Can’t Watch and Protect Him
Since the police stole our main camera right now we only have photo of the screen taken far away with a cell phone camera. A backup photographer arrived on the scene later and took high definition photos that we’ll upload on our flickr stream tonight.
UPDATE: 1:15PM – Police Attach Hand-Cuffs to Alejandro’s Ankles – Undeterred He Holds Strong
UPDATE: 1:00PM – Police Steal Camera From Observers Standing Nearby on Private Property
After the the torture tactics used on our blockaders last week at the encouragement of TransCanada supervisors we’ve made ever effort to ensure we have observers on the scene carefully watching with a video camera. Observers were standing nearby on private property when police confiscated their camera! Fortunately, TV crews are arriving on the scene and hopefully they wouldn’t be subjected to this same obstruction of civil liberties.
UPDATE: 11:30AM – Fire and Rescue Crews Arrive With More Plain Clothes Police
UPDATE: 11:00AM – Police Baffled About How to Respond – TransCanada Helicopter Circling Overhead
UPDATE: 10:30AM – TransCanada Workers Bringing Shovels and Threatening to Dig Alejandro Out
UPDATE: 9:30AM – Police Arrive and Begin to Calmly Access the Situation
___
WINNSBORO, TEXAS – Monday, October 1, 2012 8:00AM – A Tar Sands Blockade protester has stopped the destruction of a small family farm in East Texas by locking himself in front of oncoming Keystone XL clearing equipment. Houston resident, Alejandro de la Torre, 28, is taking action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from destroying the home of yet another Texas family threatened by TransCanada’s poisonous tar sands slurry.
In a powerful display of conviction, De la Torre locked his arm into a concrete capsule buried directly in the proposed path of the toxic pipeline. This courageous act is preventing TransCanada’s unwelcomed onslaught of machines from devastating property captured through eminent domain abuse. Follow live updates on facebook and twitter.
“I was raised in New Orleans, so I’ve seen how local communities suffer at the hands of multinational corporations,” attests de la Torre. “I’m willing to risk arrest today to stop this tar sands pipeline because I have the privilege to help protect the safety of those most affected. Keystone XL endangers the health and safety of everyone from the landowners and their families now threatened by cancer causing leaks, to the refinery communities in Houston that have to breathe the dirty air, as well as people of color around the world who are disproportionately affected by climate change.”
Below is a previously recorded video of the landowner, Susan Scott whose land stands to be clear-cut today, confronting TransCanada’s surveyors.
In a separate protest just miles away on the other side of Winnsboro, Tar Sands Blockade’s aerial tree protest enters into its second week. Sitters in platforms nearly 100 feet in the air are not deterred by reckless behavior on the part of TransCanada’s work crews. Despite repeated warning of the dangers on the part of the protesters, the company is encouraging the use of dangerous tree clearing equipment within feet of protesters’ trees, endangering their lives.
Today’s blockade comes less than a week after TransCanada supervisors encouraged law enforcement to brutalize two peaceful protesters who were acting in defense of the largest tree blockade in Texas history. One of the abused protesters, Benjamin Franklin, explained why peaceful civil disobedience must continue despite the violence orchestrated by TransCanada, “I encourage everyone to persevere in the face of this type of sheer brutality. To follow one’s moral compass in spite of extreme challenges is the way we move forward towards a more humane, tar sands-free planet.”
“TransCanada doesn’t have any local community ties, it lies about the safety of its pipeline because it cares more about money than about people,” claims Ron Seifert, spokesperson for Tar Sands Blockade. “If this multinational corporation had any compassion for East Texan’s homes, it would respect our constitutionally protected property rights instead of condemning the land and using it for its own private gain.”
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Kim Feil
October 1, 2012 at 3:40 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Alejandro de la Torre, it was my privledege to speak to you at the training camp. I pray for your safety as you are as I type this being approached by the police…..thank you for sharing with me how you live in Houston and how the air is so bad where you live…..
Josh Rollins
October 1, 2012 at 3:48 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Keep it up Alejandro!
william
October 1, 2012 at 3:49 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Doing this for all our children and the future they deserve of asthma and cancer free while we turn to more sane alternatives than choking ourselves in toxic fumes to fuel narrow profits.
Lois
October 1, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
thank you Alejandro for your courage in putting your personal safety on the line for the good of all..you inspire hope.
Sarah
October 1, 2012 at 4:32 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Alejandro de la Torre, I am so proud of you and for standing up for your convictions and for giving those without a voice a voice. You are an amazing individual. I knew that in high school, I know that now. You are in my thoughts and I hope you stay safe. You are special.
Anonymous
October 1, 2012 at 5:48 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Alejandro,
How much are you being paid to do this?
A. Man
Jonathan
October 1, 2012 at 5:56 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
love and solidarity from ohio. hope to join you soon.
Victor
October 1, 2012 at 6:23 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Switch to PM on your updates. =)
And good work Alejandro!
jd
October 1, 2012 at 7:04 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Tar sands blockade should be charged for every second a law enforcement officer is on site of the protesters stupidity
Crash
October 1, 2012 at 9:01 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Police have no right to confiscate cameras of private citizens without a warrant. Keep documenting the abuse. To jd– By law enforcement’s illegal and unamerican actions against the protests, I would guess that they are being compensated by TransCanada. If you don’t approve of protests, I suggest taking up residence in Russia. Protests are frowned upon there.
Pinnkyd
October 1, 2012 at 11:29 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The foreign oil company Trans Canada should have to pay for the police time since it appears the police work for them not the tax payers of the property they are helping to take away from American citizens.
Marguerite
October 2, 2012 at 3:08 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Actually, the pipeline has NO RIGHT to take people’s land.
jd
October 1, 2012 at 9:25 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I have no problem with protesters as long as they the hell out of the way!!!
rc
October 1, 2012 at 9:57 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Mil gracias, Alejandro!
Hiciste un trabajo buenisimo.
Adelante en paz!
Espero que el espiritu de amor te llena en los dias siguientes.
Sandy Tabin
October 1, 2012 at 11:05 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Thanks, appreciate your courage. There’s got to be some off duty law enforcement on protesters side that can show up to keep an eye out. Trans Canada will pose a danger to life.
Pinnkyd
October 1, 2012 at 11:36 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Police have no right to confiscate cameras of private citizens without a warrant. Keep documenting the abuse. Seriously sue them and use the money to fight on.
Thank you brave citizens for standing up against this injustice.
jd
October 2, 2012 at 12:23 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Crash i think i will, I’ll move to Russia just as soon as you get back from your little trip to HELL!!!!. At least they know how to deal with protesters there.
Eric Collignon
October 2, 2012 at 12:27 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
JD, look at the bigger picture here dude.. please!
Eric Collignon
October 2, 2012 at 12:26 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Thank you Alejandro, and good luck.
I’m not from around, but reading this story makes me realize again we have much, much work to do to create awareness among those who do not understand that respect and love goes above meaningless things as money, power, ego..
Bulldozing peoples home for oil? Shame on you Trans Canada, shame on you law-enforcers.. you should be protecting people against those big corporations!
Keep it up!
Greetings from Belgium
K-Ro
October 2, 2012 at 1:06 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Go Alejandro!
jd
October 2, 2012 at 2:33 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Iam looking at the bigger picture. No matter what anybody does someone is going to complain or protest about it. That is the way it has been through out history.
CH
October 2, 2012 at 2:46 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@jd: exactly, because people “complain” and “protest” about what they don’t agree with we are blessed with things like democracy, womens’ right to vote, abolition of slavery etc
Do you seriously think those in power were freely giving away those and other achievements of human history? No, they did not – they were won by those who complained and protested – including by putting their own health and lives on the line for the greater good. To quote you again: “THAT is [indeed!] the way it has been throughout history.”
Victor
October 2, 2012 at 7:23 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
JD likes to protest protesters.
Marcia Denison
October 2, 2012 at 4:47 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I wish you safety and wellness, Alejandro. You are a true hero. If everyone stood up for their convictions like you and those on the tree platform, the world would be a much better place for all. It’s a travesty that eminant domain is allowed to be misused so. FERC and the State of Texas seem to have no respect for the people, siding with foreign corporations in the face of great harm. A full investigation must be launched. Thank you for your bravery and persistance.
J.P. Travis
October 2, 2012 at 2:37 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Are they taking the woman’s farm, or simply putting a pipeline under it? It would be nice if your story actually included some facts.
rebecca
October 3, 2012 at 1:31 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
SHAME ON THAT SHERIFF, HE IS TO ANSWER TO THE PEOPLE OF HIS COUNTY. NOT THE FEDS! HE SHOULD HV PROTECTED THIS MANS RIGHTS AND KICKED OUT THE INTRUDERS. ” THE COUNTY SHERIFF. AMERICAS’ LAST HOPE” BY SHERIFF ,RICHARD MACK.
Nomad93
October 5, 2012 at 4:07 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Great job to all the brave men and women who making stand to protect the rights of others. I wish i could be there. Also to JD you have the right to you opinion and the right to express your opinion, but there is no need for you to be disrespectful. Also I suggest you take the time to brush up on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. Those documents are not only the foundation for this nation but also the highest law of the nation. Also it wouldn’t hurt if you took the time to read your state Constitution, that document is the foundation for you state and also the highest law of your state. So in the end us activist have the full rights to freedom of speech,freedom of assembly, and countless other right that we exercise at rallies, marches, strikes,blockades, and so on.
BREAKING: Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm » Tar Sands Blockade « SunnyRomy
October 1, 2012 at 3:40 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] read more via BREAKING: Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm » Tar Sands Blockade. [...]
Environmental Justice: Why I Got Arrested to Stop Keystone XL » Tar Sands Blockade
October 1, 2012 at 11:02 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] « BREAKING: Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm [...]
Environmental Justice: Why I Got Arrested to Stop Keystone XL | OccuWorld
October 2, 2012 at 12:14 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] following is based off of an interview with Alejandro de la Torre the night before he was arrested to protect an East Texas family farm from Keystone XL’s [...]
BREAKING: Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm » Tar Sands Blockade « SunnyRomy
October 2, 2012 at 9:59 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] BREAKING: Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm » Tar Sands Blockade. Rate this:Share this:Like this:LikeBe the first to like [...]
Tuesday Reads: Romney and Zingers, Environmental Activism, and A Bit of Schadenfreude « Sky Dancing
October 2, 2012 at 10:36 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] another environmental story on the attempts to block the Keystone XL pipeline: BREAKING: Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm. It’s a live blog of the “Tar Sands blockade.” Here’s their Facebook [...]
TransCanada protests reveal a bum deal for Texas landowners | Grist
October 2, 2012 at 4:27 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] leg of TransCanada’s pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. On Monday, one protestor chained himself to an underground piece of equipment, delaying for hours a crew tasked with clearing the the pipeline’s path. Tar Sands [...]
Eradicating Ecocide in Canada - Police Confiscate Cameras of Observers at Tar Sands Blockade Action
October 2, 2012 at 6:46 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Sprague told Firedoglake police put a screen up over Torre to block observers from seeing what police were doing as they tried to remove [...]
TransCanada protests reveal a bum deal for Texas landowners | "Global Possibilities"
October 2, 2012 at 8:43 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] southern leg of TransCanada’s pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast. On Monday, one protestor chained himself to an underground piece of equipment, delaying for hours a crew tasked with clearing the the pipeline’s [...]
Insult to Injury: Shannon Retroactively Arrested for a Felony | OccuWorld
October 5, 2012 at 11:15 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have received this charge: Shannon Beebe, Alejandro de la Torre, and Maggie Gorry. Alejandro, arrested on Monday, was given a $10,000 bail for defending a family farm from Keystone XL’s destruction. Then [...]
Join Our Direct Action Training Camp (Oct 12-14) » Tar Sands Blockade
October 7, 2012 at 10:05 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] was arrested for defending a family farm and delaying Keystone XL construction for most of a [...]
Two Freelance Journalists Arrested While Reporting on Tree Blockade (Day16) » Tar Sands Blockade
October 10, 2012 at 5:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] However, the Wood County Sheriff’s Department has yet to return the camera they confiscated from peaceful observers at an action last week. [...]
Tar Sands Blockade « Occupy The Polls
October 22, 2012 at 5:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] On October 1st Alejandro de la Torre locked himself to the ground to protect a family farm. http://tarsandsblockade.org/7th-action/ [...]