dorset chiapas solidarity

January 29, 2016

A Latin American meeting will be held with the participation of Indigenous representatives and local communities: “With the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ we are defending the rights to the land, territory, and forests”

Filed under: Indigenous, Uncategorized — Tags: , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 6:00 pm

 

.

 

A Latin American meeting will be held with the participation of Indigenous representatives and local communities: “With the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ we are defending the rights to the land, territory, and forests”

 

Laudato

Representatives of Indigenous and local communities from Latin America will assemble in San Cristobal de las Casas (Chiapas, Mexico), within the framework of Pope Francisco’s visit, to discuss the encyclical “Laudato Si” which calls to seek alternatives to the ecological crisis we all are facing.

January 20th, 2016.
Managua, Nicaragua.

Indigenous people, local communities, and groups involved in social processes representing 15 countries in Mesoamerica and the Amazon will meet in San Cristobal de Las Casas (Chiapas, Mexico), in the context of the Pope Francisco’s visit to this town, to talk about the content of the encyclical “Laudato Si” and to send a message to the world regarding the invaluable contribution made by the people and communities to protect nature through the defence of territories, biodiversity, ecosystems, and cultural diversity.

This meeting titled “With the encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ we are defending the rights to the land, territory, and forests”, will be held on February 13th and 14th, considering that the Pope’s visit will be developing on Monday, February 15th. This encounter will be organized by the Human Rights Centre Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (Frayba), the Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forests (AMPB), the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the Mexican Network of Forest Peasant Organization (Red MOCAF).

Through the Encyclical “Laudato Si” Pope Francis has called to the union of the whole human family in the search for a sustainable and comprehensive development against an ecological crisis of our common home: planet Earth, where the strength of the proposals of modernity turn against us. Undoubtedly, one of the most visible expressions of this crisis is climate change. In the context of the global ecological crisis, the protection of rainforest is part of the core solution.

The Amazon Basin and Mesoamerica represent approximately 45 % of tropical forests worldwide; the Lacandona jungle, located in Chiapas, is the centre of highest biodiversity in the tropics of North and Central America. There is a growing amount of scientific evidence demonstrating the clear match between areas of tropical forests -and its conservancy- and territorial presence of ancestral indigenous people and local communities.

On the other hand, the preservation of tropical forests is considered the main strategy to address climate change. Indigenous people are being successful in protecting the forests through their traditional practices despite the many pressures that represent the global development and the voracious consumer appetite which drives the expansion of mining projects, hydroelectric dams, roads crossing the jungle, and monocultures among many other threats that negatively impact territories and ecosystems.

Justified as progress, these pressures are easily supported by irresponsible public policy or the impunity that almost always goes hand in hand with corruption. Also becoming more frequent are the use of violence, the murder of indigenous and community leaders, and the criminalization of actions implemented by the territories in defence of life.

For the organizations calling to this rendezvous, the Papal Encyclical is a precious moral and political contribution, in which can be found new arguments in the struggle for the protection of their territories and the life they host. Indigenous people and local communities expect the papal message to gradually spread worldwide, accomplishing with this that even more people gain awareness about the impact of our actions on nature and life itself.

 

http://www.alianzamesoamericana.org/a-latin-american-meeting-will-be-held-with-the-participation-of-indigenous-representatives-and-local-communities-with-the-encyclical-laudato-si-we-are-defending-the-rights/

.

.

Oxchuc: From a postelectoral conflict to a social one

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 5:47 pm

 

.

Oxchuc: From a postelectoral conflict to a social one

by Chiapas Support Committee

12573721_1107257432627095_2952853625268197728_n-600x450-1

Protesters paint: “Maria Gloria Out” on Oxchuc municipal building.

 

By: Isaín Mandujano

The Oxchuc Rebellion…

Many weeks ago Oxchuc went from being a post-electoral conflict to being a social conflict.

The post-electoral protest that the ex-candidates for mayor of the Nueva Alianza and the Chiapas Unido started after the July 19, 2015 elections was rebuffed in the beginning by state authorities, but with the passing of months spread like foam.

Little by little more and more of the 115 communities that make up the Tzeltal Indigenous municipio (county) of Oxchuc added themselves to the protest.

The entire town rose up to put an end to the political bossism (cacicazgo) that the husband and wife Norberto Sántiz López [1] and María Gloria Sánchez Gómez have maintained for more than a decade, all with the support of the PRI and now of the PVEM.

According to the Institute of Elections and Citizen Participation Ciudadana (IEPC, its initials in Spanish), María Gloria Sánchez Gómez won at the ballot box in accordance with the local and federal tribunals. But the residents are convinced that if she won, it was not cleanly and transparently. She did everything in the purest style that characterizes the PRI and the PVEM, bullying and conditioning delivery of government aid, buying votes, bussing in voters, stuffing ballot boxes, cloning ballots, etcetera.

From the Secretary General of Government, all of the PRI structure encrusted in important positions moves and covers up for Norberto Sántiz López and María Gloria Sánchez Gómez, who started a political boss system in that municipio dating from the time of ex-governor Roberto Albores Guillén. [2]

They support and defend her insistently from the Government Palace. They don’t leave María Gloria and her husband alone. They defend their interests, the political interests, the economic interests and those of her party.

For the time being, those in the General Ministry of Government are looking for someone to blame in order to hide their inefficiency. They accuse the PVEM’s local deputy, Cecilia López Sánchez, of being behind it and she has firmly denied that accusation. Nevertheless, they now want to take away immunity.

State authorities believed that it was going to be easy to sway and negotiate with Oxchuc’s residents. They thought that it would be the same as with the Chamulas, that offering them municipal government posts and public works would silence them.

In Oxchuc they are decided to not let them govern more. The entire population said: “Ya basta!”

And as the days pass the movement doesn’t diminish, it gets stronger. The most recent support is from the parents of the 43 Ayotzinapa disappeared. And, many other local social groups locales now start to come and give them backing.

That’s because what was started here was a fight against political bosses [caciques) that proliferate in the majority of the 122 municipios de Chiapas just like they do in Oxchuc. Oxchuc is just the tip of the iceberg of all the conflicts that are there and haven’t yet broken out.

The State Congress del Estado resists letting her fall and installing a municipal council as residents demand.

We’ll see how much more time passes and how it continues to grow.

“It’s no longer post-electoral, but rather social as many people lead it, since the communities of this municipio have expressed their opposition in a single voice and demand the immediate dismissal of Sánchez Gómez and her town council,” says Oscar Gómez López of the Permanente Commission of Justice and Dignity of Oxchuc.

—*—

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Norberto Sántiz López was a former mayor of Oxchuc. Agents of Mexico’s Attorney General arrested him as he was trying to leave the country in 2005. The charges against him were related to misappropriating municipal funds for his personal enrichment. He was also alleged to be the leader of a paramilitary group known as the “Anti-Zapatista Revolutionary Indigenous Movement” (Movimiento Indígena Revolucionaria Antizapatista, MIRA). Before going to prison, Santiz López arranged for his wife to replace him as mayor. Her installation was widely publicized as the election of Mexico’s first Indigenous woman mayor.

33c76f6d-150c-4d50-97eb-de3fba75d4b6[2] Roberto Albores Guillén was appointed substitute governor of Chiapas on January 7, 1998. His predecessor had been forced out following the Acteal Massacre. He remained interim governor until December 2000 when his successor took office. Albores Guillén did a lot of anti-Zapatista stuff and is the ex-governor the Zapatistas call “Croquetas” (Dog Biscuits).

See also: http://compamanuel.com/2016/01/13/66-police-injured-in-oxchuc-chiapas-confrontation/

Originally Published in Spanish by Chiapas Paralelo

Monday, January 18, 2016

Re-published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

 

.

.

Human Rights Defenders demand justice for journalist killed in Oaxaca

Filed under: Journalists, Uncategorized — Tags: — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 5:31 pm

 

.

Human Rights Defenders demand justice for journalist killed in Oaxaca

 

CZV-WMAUkAA4trW

 

On January 21, 2016 another journalist was gunned down in Mexico recently, his name is Marcos Hernández Bautista, 38 years old, journalist from “Noticias – Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca”. Hernández Bautista was killed in San Andrés Huaxpaltepec, in the coastal district of Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca. They found his body slumped by his car. He’s the fifth journalist killed under Gabino Cué’s term as governor. According to police forces, the communicator was killed instantly by a 9mm bullet in his head.

The deadly attack occurred on the Federal Coast Highway 200 leading to Santiago Jamiltepec. The deceased, also served as councillor for culture in Santiago Jamiltepec, and was a contributor to radio stations in Santiago Pinotepa Nacional and Jamiltepec. The newspaper “Noticias” demands that judicial authorities “thoroughly investigate the bloody deed which goes against freedom of expression, and also to punish the person or persons responsible.” Marcos Hernandez Bautista was also an activist of the leftist Party “National Regeneration Movement” (Morena). According to a study conducted by Reporters without Borders, Mexico was the most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America in 2015.

Press statement by the Council of United Peoples in Defense of the Green River (COPUDEVER, who struggles for the cancelation of the “Paso de la Reina Project” for Hydroelectric Exploitation in the coastal region of Oaxaca):

logo-copudever

The murder of Marcos Hernandez joins a long list of violent incidents in the coastal region of Oaxaca, most have gone unpunished.

There are interest groups with economic and political power in the region which continue to control the life of communities.

Marcos Hernandez was a journalist close to the people, he always supported our fight for the defence of territory, always gave us a voice in the media, was always on our side, always accompanied us in our demonstrations, events, festivals, in our lives.

We regret that our region’s voice Marcos has been silenced, as he was among the few who dared to denounce, he believed in the organization of the people and their rights.

Thanks Marcos for your presence, we join the pain of your family.

As the Council of United Peoples in Defence of the Green River: We demand that the murder of Marcos does not go unpunished!

Punishment for those responsible!

We demand that the Mexican government provides guarantees for the work of journalists, defenders of human rights!

San Antonio Río Verde, Oaxaca January 23, 2016

 

Read more:

More about COPUDEVER (Information by Sipaz)

Reporters without Borders (Press Freedom Barometer – Mexico)

Press statement  COPUDEVER (Pdf in Spanish) 

Article by “Commitee to Protect Journalists”

 

http://educaoaxaca.org/english/1851-human-rights-defenders-demand-justice-for-journalist-killed-in-oaxaca.html

.

.

Oaxaca, the fight for the air

Filed under: Indigenous, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 5:13 pm

 

.

Oaxaca, the fight for the air

 

 radio-oaxaca-300x225

 

By Jaime Quintana Guerrero
January 20, 2016
Desinformémonos
Translated by Scott Campbell

Bi, in the Binnizaá or Zapotec language, means “air”, means “spirit.” “For us, air not only represents life, it also carries loved ones who have died. When one dies, their spirit becomes air and returns to the people.”

The struggles against the wind farms that abound throughout the state also, then, contain this element: “They want to change the path of the wind, of the air, of our spirits, of our loved ones.”

Carlos Martínez Fuentes, a member of Radio Totopo in Juchitán, Oaxaca, is the one who explained the above. Radio Totopo, with its nine years transmitting together with the spirits in the air, also belongs to the Popular Assembly of the Juchitecan People.

The emergence of the radio was a result of sheer necessity. On the one hand, as a tool in the resistance struggle to Plan Puebla Panama, which includes the wind farm system being put into place between those two locations.

As well, because the tradition of the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca (as with most) is oral. The radio fits perfectly, then. “In Oaxaca, 16 different languages are spoken. The indigenous oral tradition is the key reason behind the existence of community radio stations and community assemblies, their main supporters,” explains José Juan Cárdenas, member of the Integral Community Communication organization.

This organization works to strengthen and promote communal means of communication, above all, facilitating community access to the technology necessary to occupy the air: radio booths, antennae, microphones, and FM transmitters (which they install).

Specifically, spoken in Oaxaca are Mixtec, Zapotec, Chinantec, Chatino, Mazatec, Chontal, Chocholtec, Ixcatec, Amuzgo, Mixe, Triqui, Cuicatec, Huave, Zoque, Nahua, and Afromestizo, among others.

Its 94 municipalities are governed by Internal Normative Systems, through which the communities participate in the election of their authorities, using ancestral methods specific to each locale.

“The air is part of the territory, and therefore it is one way to remain and to survive as a people.”

The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca

Oaxaca shook in 2006: from the teachers’ movement to the street barricades in which thousands of people and organizations of all types participated. From that ferment the first community radio station, Radio Plantón, emerged as a tool.

The rise of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) allowed the people to reclaim their voices and later, to seek to spread them. “It was through that that the people understood the importance of the media and of the necessity of taking them,” explains José Juan.

It is also the case that the Binnizaá or Zapotec peoples (as well as many others in Mexico) rely more on speech than on text. “The most successful means of communication are radio and video, we feel more comfortable receiving information through those mediums,” explains Martínez Fuentes.

In spite of its centrality to the dissemination of information, as explained in the above quote, there is no data on how many radio stations exist in Oaxaca. It is known that the use of the radio spectrum has grown like never before in the last ten years.

“If you scan the radio dial when you’re in Oaxaca, you’ll always come across a community radio station from a nearby community, although not all of them are communal, there are many commercial ones. In Tehuantepec, for example, there are twenty stations among which few are communal,” says José Juan.

Air is the centre for Oaxacans. “It’s an element of mother earth, key for the survival of living beings on the earth. We began to fight for the air because it’s unthinkable that they want to privatize it.”

The air, private

radio-comunitaria-plan-oaxaca-300x225

Private investment plans (and the displacement that follows) are abhorrent to the people, as understood from the land. Neftalí Reyes Méndez, from the Service for an Alternative Education (EDUCA), gave some information to that effect: “Just for the generation of electricity and the extraction of minerals they plan to put into place 60 hydroelectric dams and 40 mining projects.”

In the community of Magdalena Teitipac, they banned mining after driving out the company that was exploiting the area, as decided by the Council of Elders, the local Committee for the Defence of Territorial and Cultural Integrity, and, who else?, the community radio station Teiti Radio-Lova.

There are different forms of financing the stations. In the case of San Juan Tabaá it comes from the municipality, elected by the Internal Normative System of each community. Another way, as in the case of Santa María Yaviche, they created a foundation to sustain it. In the case of Villa Tálea de Castro it was the community itself that pitched in to get the radio going.

Radio Totopo, an example of resistance

“In 1994, national and international businesspeople appeared, trying to commercialize the air, they started putting a price on it. This was a cause for reflection by our peoples.”

Radio Totopo inherited the name of that form of consuming maize, as shared by five First Nations: Chontal, Ikoo, Ayuuk, Zoque, and Zapotec. Each has its own way of making and eating the totopo.

“Also, among us there has been discrimination, there have been conflicts. But facing that we have united in order to defend our territory, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. One way of expressing this common nationality is to appeal to the totopo, which represents cultural diversity as well as unity among the nations of southern Oaxaca and Veracruz,” says Carlos Fuentes. “We took the name Totopo to unite the people.”

Businesspeople and some anthropologists attack the community stations, saying their argument has no scientific basis, that there is no way to prove that there are spirits in the air. “It is part of our cosmovision, which we have preserved for thousands of years, we don’t have to support it scientifically,” he adds.

Since 2012, the Ikoos and Zapotecs have united to confront the company “Eólicas del Sur” (formerly Mareña Renovables), responsible now for trying to extend wind farm projects into the urban area of Juchitán.

From the microphone to the air or how to start a community radio station

sistema-radio-oaxaca-300x225Integral Community Communication is not the only organization which promotes (through training people) these kinds of radio stations in Oaxaca. Ojo de Agua, Palabra Radio and Acción Comunitaria do as well.

They warn that lack of knowledge can sometimes cause communities to break their equipment, “as they don’t know how to get it started, but it’s also not their fault for not knowing.”

They give some suggestions:

  • From the microphone, the audio enters through a channel on the mixer. What does that do? It is a tool that serves to mix different sources of audio that come from microphones, recorders, computers, MP3s, etc.; it mixes them and converts them into one: the output channel. “The mixer is like the brain of the radio, where all the sounds converge and it processes them.”
  • The single signal goes through the limiter compressor, which is important to maintain the signal at good audio quality, listenable, without harmonics (echoes). From the compressor to the transmitter: the device that turns the audio into electromagnetic waves. The transmitter determines the frequency on the radio dial and allows people to find it and listen to it. Identify it.
  • From the transmitter the waves pass to an amplifier, which gives power to the exciter, which through a cohesive cable finally sends the signal to the antenna.
  • The antenna, this is the key element: it controls the energy the transmitter uses and sends the message to the air. Thanks to something called a “superheterodyne receiver,” the signal stops being a wave and turns into a frequency. Only the message passes. The message sent by our radio, which we listen to in our home.

 

http://elenemigocomun.net/2016/01/oaxaca-fight-for-air/

.

.

January 28, 2016

Zibechi: A Left for the 21st Century

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 6:58 am

 

.

Zibechi: A Left for the 21st Century 

 

zap-dolls-in-truck

By: Raúl Zibechi

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, those who joined the militancy often heard a phrase: “Being like Che.” With that, an ethic was synthesized, a conduct, a mode of assuming collective action inspired by the personage which –through giving his life– became the compass for a generation.

“Being like Che” was a motto that didn’t expect militants to follow point-by-point the example of someone who had become an inescapable reference. It was something else; not a model to follow, but rather an ethical inspiration that implied a series of renunciations in the image and resemblance of Che’s life.

Renouncing comforts, material benefits, including the power won in the revolution, being willing to risk your life, they are central values in the heritage that we call “Guevarismo.” For a good while, those were the axes around which a good part of the leftist militancy, at least in Latin America.

That left was defeated in a brief period that we can situate between the State coups of the 1970 and the fall of real socialism, a decade later. It didn’t come out of the big defeats unscathed. Just as the fall of the Paris Commune was a parting of waters, according to Georges Haupt, which led the lefts of that epoch to introduce new themes on their agendas (the party question moved to occupying a central place), the defeats of the Latin American revolutionary movements seem to have produced a fissure in the lefts at the start of the 21stCentury.

It’s still very early to make a complete evaluation of that turn since we are at the beginning of it and without sufficient critical distance and, above all, self-criticism. However, we are able to advance some hypotheses that connect those defeats closely with the current conjuncture we experience.

The first is that we’re not talking about turning back the clock to repeat the old errors, of which there were many. Vanguardism was the most evident, accompanied by a serious volunteerism that impeded our comprehending that the reality we sought to transform was very different from what we thought, which led to underestimating the power of the dominant classes and, above all, to believing that a revolutionary situation existed.

But vanguardism didn’t cede easily. It is solidly rooted in the culture of the lefts and although it was defeated in its guerrilla version, it seems to have mutated and remains alive as much in the so-called social movements as in the parties that pretend to know what the population wants without the need to listen to it. A large part of the governments and progressive leaders are good examples of the perseverance of a vanguardism without a proclaimed vanguard.

The second has a relationship to the method, armed struggle. The fact that the generation of the 60s and 70s had committed gross errors in the use and abuse of violence is not saying that we have to throw everything out. We remember that at least in Uruguay it was thought that: “action generates conscience,” thus granting an almost magical ability to the armed vanguard to generate action in the masses only with its activity, as if the people could act by mechanical reflexes without the need for organizing and preparing themselves.

The armed organizations also committed indefensible atrocities, using violence not only against their enemies, but often also against their own people and also against those compañeros who presented political differences with their organization. The assassinations of Roque Dalton and Comandanta Ana María, in El Salvador, are two of the gravest deeds inside the rebel camp.

However, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to defend ourselves. We must not go to the opposite extreme of trusting in the system’s armed forces (as the Vice President of Bolivia points out), or stripping the repressive forces of their class character. The examples of the EZLN, of the Mapuche people of Chile, of the Indigenous Nasa Guard in Colombia and of the Amazonian Indigenous of Bagua in Peru demonstrate that it’s necessary and possible to organize collective community defence.

The third question is the most political and also ethical. Within the legacy of Che and within the practice of that generation, power occupies a central place, something that we cannot deny, nor should we. But the conquest of power was for the benefit of the people; never, never for one’s own benefit, not even for the group or party that took state power.

There is an open discussion about this theme, in view of the negative balance of the exercise of power by the Soviet and Chinese parties, among others. But beyond the errors and horrors committed by the revolutionary powers in the 20th Century, even beyond whether or not it’s appropriate to take State power in order to change the world, it’s necessary to remember power was considered a means for transforming society, never an end in itself.

There’s a lot of cloth to cut about this issue, in view of the brutal corruption encrusted in some progressive governments and parties (particularly in Brazil and Venezuela), questions that few now dare to deny.

The left that we need for the 21st Century cannot help but have present the history of past revolutionary struggles. It’s necessary to incorporate that motto “being like Che,” but without falling into vanguardism. A good update of that spirit can be: “everything for everyone, nothing for us.” The same thing can be said of the “to govern obeying,” which seems like an important antidote to vanguardism.

There is something fundamental that it would not be good to let escape. The type of militants that the 21st Century left needs must be modelled by the “will to sacrifice” (Benjamin). It is evident that the phrase sounds fatal in the current period, but we cannot obtain anything without doing away with that tremendous fantasy that it’s possible to change the world voting every five years [or four] and consuming the rest of the time.

————————————————————

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Friday, January 22, 2016

Re-published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

 

.

.

 

 

 

January 25, 2016

Xochicuautla community condemns highway project and expresses its solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Chiapas who face eviction

Filed under: Frayba, Indigenous, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 1:47 pm

 

.

Xochicuautla community condemns highway project and expresses its solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Chiapas who face eviction

 

xochi

@Resistencia indígena otomí (Miguel Ángel Xenón)

 

On 12th January, 2016, at a press conference at the offices of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Centre for Human Rights (CDHFBC, better known as Frayba), authorities of the Otomí-Ňätho indigenous community of San Francisco Xochicuautla, located in Mexico State, and members of the Indigenous Peoples’ Front in Defence of Mother Earth condemned the “illegal imposition of the Toluca-Naucalpan highway project by Enrique Peña Nieto and the Higga Group.” 

They stated that the project would destroy 3,900,000 square meters of Bosque Sagrado. Xochicuautla community, adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and part of the National Indigenous Congress, also condemned the constant aggression suffered by the community “from the State: political prisoners, persecution, attacks, death threats, military encircling of the community and the continuation of works in spite of the protection orders that oblige the company to stop.”

They also expressed their solidarity with various struggles in defence of land and territory in Chiapas. They condemned “the murders of indigenous Tsotsils and Tseltals in Bachajon”, in Chilon municipality, “with the objective of imposing a tourist complex” at Agua Azul waterfalls. Moreover, they demanded the immediate release of Santiago Moreno Pérez, Emilio Jiménez Gómez y Esteban Gómez Jiménez from San Sebastián Bachajón, “political prisoners” and adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle. They recalled that San Isidro Los Laureles community, in Venustiano Carranza municipality, that decided to reclaim some 165 hectares of their land “as is their right, in accordance with that stipulated” under Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries of the International Labour Organization.

They greeted Las Abejas de Acteal,  who were recently victims of an ambush against three of its members in San Joaquin community, Pantelhó municipality, on December 29, 2015, and the attack resulted in the murder of Manuel López Pérez. “The thirst for justice of our people is a channel that waters and keeps our hearts moist”, they added. Finally, they acknowledged “the efforts for autonomy” of “our sisters and brothers in Tila”, who in their search for freedom had decided on the autonomy of their ejido and “their right to govern themselves.”

They called on “indigenous and campesino communities, students, teachers, feminist organizations, and in general, the collectives of Mexico and the world to declare themselves against the ecocide in San Francisco Xochicuautla.”

https://sipazen.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/chiapasnational-xochicuautla-community-condemns-highway-project-and-expresses-its-solidarity-with-the-indigenous-peoples-of-chiapas-who-face-eviction/

.

.

January 24, 2016

Ejidatarios of Simojovel demand better medical care and warn of possible “more radical actions”

Filed under: Human rights, Indigenous, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 2:04 pm

 

.

Ejidatarios of Simojovel demand better medical care and warn of possible “more radical actions”

 

P1020888

COMMUNIQUÉ FROM EJIDO LA PIMIENTA, Simojovel, Chiapas.

Enough of so many lies, deception and mockery from the state and federal government and the institution the IMSS.

Enough now of deaths due to lack of medical care.

Enough now of despotic treatment from the doctors in the hospitals.

Community La Pimienta, Simojovel.

Chiapas, Mexico

January 18, 2016.

To public opinion.

To the free media.

To the local, state, national and international press.

To the defenders of human rights.

To the various religious denominations.

To the different social, state and national organizations.

To the United Nations (UN)

To the World Health Organization (WHO)

To the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

To the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas.

To the native peoples of Mexico.

To all the men and women of goodwill who have tirelessly defended life.

To the teaching establishment in general.

In the ejido La Pimienta, Simojovel, Chiapas, Mexico, the government continues not to fulfil its commitments.

On 8th May,2015, 31 babies were vaccinated by the IMSS, of whom 2 died and 29 are still suffering the consequences of that negligence by the Mexican state.

Following this negligence, the community of La Pimienta demanded that the federal and state government clarify what happened; the government proposed a dialogue with the community, we agreed, with the desire to find a better alternative form of care. In the early days the government tried to give attention and even offered personal benefits to parents to allay public discontent; We interpret this as the government’s attempt to divide the community. Today we go out to inform the public and to demand the government fulfil what is written in the minutes.
As a continuation of this struggle, on June 5, at a table of dialogue we signed a minute with the following commitments.

  1. Construction of a hospital equipped with trained staff to provide medical care in La Pimienta.
  2.  Completion of the paving of the road from Simojovel to La Pimienta and the construction of 2 road bridges suitable for vehicles.
  3. Construction of classrooms for the primary school “JOSE GOROZTIZA” and the COBACH.
  4. Donation of a new ambulance equipped by the IMSS.
    After the signing of this minute we believed there would be time to wait for the execution of the works, so we were waiting for what was agreed in this first minute.

Again last October 14, we met to raise the situation that prevailed in the face of the agreements signed earlier, so likewise another minute was signed with the following agreements:

  1. Installation of EMSAD in the community.
  2. The health sector and the City Council agreed to give a date for the construction of the clinic and donation of an ambulance to the community.

As the community of La Pimienta gathered together in general assembly we analysed what in reality we see and what is happening in our community and in many other parts of the state. That the minutes signed are only paper commitments because eight months after the two babies died and the 29 who continue to suffer consequences, the government does not intend to fulfil these commitments.
In the meetings we have attended with the government they only sign minutes and execution of the work is minimal which serves to control the community, the evidence is as follows:
1. In the completion of the paving of the road from Simojovel to La Pimienta and the construction of two vehicular bridges, there is no progress, they have only postponed the starting date.
2. as regards health, they have only painted the facade of the clinic; currently it does not have basic medicines and supplies, for healthcare we have to turn to private medical care services in the county seat because the health centre in Simojovel is still in the same conditions [as when the babies fell ill.]
The babies affected by the vaccine are now no longer offered the same attention as at the beginning, now they receive poor care and abuse offending our dignity as indigenous today, the costs generated are borne by the parents, when we had raised the topic of “lifelong care for the 29 babies.”
On Friday January 15, 2016, the federal, state, and local government and the authorities of the IMSS made ​​a ceremony of handing over a very out-of-date model of ambulance, the community strongly rejected it for being in a poor condition, and repudiated the bad attitude of the government. When the staff of the IMSS were told that we were demanding a new ambulance, they simply replied that the government has no money. How is it possible for them to say that they have no money when they are buying the world’s most expensive personal aircraft?

Given the above, we reject the television and media images manipulating the social reality in which we live, trespassing, assaulting, threatening and damaging our human dignity.

Therefore, we demand that the government comply with the following:
1. – Completion of the road from Simojovel to La Pimienta
2. – Construction of the 2 road bridges
3. – Construction of a hospital
4. – Provision of a supply of medicines and medical equipment and the delivery of a new ambulance of premier quality
5. – Construction of classrooms for the primary school “JOSE GOROZTIZA”
6. – Lifelong healthcare for the 29 babies
7. – Reparation of damages.
8. – That the government ensure it does not repeat what happened on 8 May 2015.

We warn: if governments continue with their lies and deceptions, we will take more radical actions. And we will hold responsible Peña Nieto, Manuel Velasco and the IMSS institution.

Sincerely

For the dignity of the indigenous peoples

Mexican Peoples wake up now, Mexico is enslaved by so much corruption of the bad governments

Ejido La Pimienta.

.

.

 

January 23, 2016

Mexico is Suffering an Epidemic of Disappearances – Amnesty International

Filed under: Human rights — Tags: , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 1:20 pm

 

.

Mexico is Suffering an Epidemic of Disappearances – Amnesty International

 

003n1pol-1

Members of Amnesty International and other invited human rights defenders present the report: “Treated with Indolence: the State’s response to the disappearances in Mexico” at a press conference in the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City Photo: Francisco Olvera

La Jornada: José Antonio Román

Mexico City – Amnesty International (AI) claims that Mexico suffers from an epidemic of disappearances fed by the attitude of “incompetence, inertia and indifference” shown by the government. They are more concerned about giving “relevant political answers” than creating real and effective public policies aimed at confronting this phenomenon.

In their recent report, “Treated with Indolence: the State’s response to the disappearances in Mexico”, the international organisation for human rights emphasized that almost half of the 27,600 disappeared or unfound people have been reported missing during the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto. According to official statistics, this number was 3,425 in 2015.

The 52-page document published by AI emphasizes that many cases have derived from police arrests or army detentions. Furthermore, the fact that Mexican police and army do not keep a record of arrests, “allows authorities to deny complete responsibility and wash their hands of the situation.”

The document also warns of how the Mexican State needs to urgently recognize the magnitude of the problem and to take on the responsibility of investigating all cases of disappearance and forced disappearance which have taken place in the country. Additionally, they need to force those responsible for the crimes to face up to justice and comply with the due process guarantees, as well as, ensure an opportunity for comprehensive reparations of the harm caused to any victims and their families.

AI used their report to highlight two symbolic cases showing various facets of the problem. Firstly, the much reported Cuauhtémoc City, in Chihuahua, where 351 people have disappeared since 2007. The other case was the incident of 43 students disappearing from the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School, in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.

The document, which was officially presented yesterday in the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City [el Museo de Memoria y Tolerancia], claims: “In Mexico, it does not matter whether the disappearance case is a hidden one or a high profile one, as either way, the authorities seem incapable of a giving solid institutional response which leads to finding out the truth about the case and guaranteeing justice.”

Amnesty International brings to our attention the incompetence, which affects the entire system and the State and Federal authorities’ lack of desire to investigate the disappearance of thousands of people and find them, further feeding the human rights crisis of epidemic proportion.

The director of the Amnesty International Programme for the Americas, Erika Guevara-Rosas, stated, “The incessant wave of disappearances that has taken over Chihuahua and the completely irresponsible way in which the investigation of the forced disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa students is being handled demonstrates the Mexican authorities’ absolute disregard for dignity and human rights.”

She highlighted that in many reported cases of disappearances, the victim was seen for the last time when they were arrested by members of the police force or the army. However, “the Mexican Government does not keep a detailed record of arrests, which therefore allows the authorities to deny any responsibility and to wash their hands of the forced disappearances.”

As a result of an investigation, interviews and testimonies from victims’ families linked both to the Cuauhtémoc City case and the Ayotzinapa case, AI claims to have established that neither of the searches carried out have been adequate or well planned.

AI adds that in both cases the authorities have dealt with the information in an irresponsible manner and that the way in which the authorities in charge of the investigation have treated the families is unsatisfactory, hurtful and with a deep disinterest.

The report concludes with 21 recommendations for the Mexican State regarding needed legislation, the search for disappeared persons and investigation of the facts, the comprehensive reparation to victims for damage and other measures of public policy.

Translated by Amy Johnston 

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2016/01/15/politica/003n1po

January 20, 2016

San Francisco Teopisca defends its land

Filed under: Indigenous, La Sexta — Tags: , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 5:50 am

.

San Francisco Teopisca defends its land

After 19 years of defending their land, provocations continue against San Francisco Teopisca, an adherent to the sixth

 

dsc_0480 (1)

San Francisco Teopisca, Chiapas, Mexico.

“We place responsibility on the 3 levels of government for what can happen to any one of our compañeros for not giving priority to our land demands that we demand as campesinos. We also place responsibility on Señor Pedro Hernández Espinoza for any physical harm that any of our compañeros may suffer.” (Campesinos and campesinas of San Francisco, municipio of Teopisca, Chiapas México, January 10, 2016.)

To the EZLN

To the CNI (Congreso Nacional Indígena, National Indigenous Congress)

To the adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle

To the alternative communications media

To the human rights defenders

To national and international society

We are a group of men and women adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle since 2009, when we started in the struggle as the Other Campaign. Currently, we are part of Semilla Digna (Dignified Seed), which is a group formed by communities of the Sixth in Chiapas, belonging to the CNI. Our struggle is the defence of land and territory.

In 1995, we campesinos started to take steps with the state government of Chiapas to legalize the piece of land called “El Desengaño,” approximately 170 hectares (421 acres) owned by Pedro Hernández Espinoza. But the government never gave us a solution to our need for land. Much time passed and we saw that it was impossible that the government would attend to our request. We decided to occupy these lands because we have the legitimate right being the original peoples and the right to free determination as Convention 169 of the ILO points out.

We have been defending these lands for 19 years, organizing men and women and after several years we decided to formally work these lands. In 2012, we placed a banner on which it says that these lands are ours for the reasons mentioned on March 24, 2014. We placed various hand-painted signs (letreros) to declare and demand our legitimate right. On July 19, 2014, we declared ourselves to be in formal possession of “El Desengaño.”

On September 24, we campesinos once again pronounced that we would continue working it. We, the campesinos of this San Francisco group, have been looking for the most kind and peaceful way to dialogue with Señor Pedro Hernandez Espinoza. We have extended various invitations in various ways, but he never accepted or fulfilled any invitation we made. Now, Señor Hernández Espinoza’s animals are kept in a smaller space and we gave him 5 days to come and take them out, because we hold to our word that we don’t want the animals, WE WANT THE LAND.

We place responsibility on the 3 levels of government for what could happen to any of our compañeros because of not giving priority to our demands for the land that the campesinos urgently need. We also place responsibility on Señor Pedro Hernández Espinoza for any physical harm that any of our compañeros may suffer.

Sincerely,

Organized Group of Teopisca, Chiapas, Mexico

Adherents to the EZLN’s Sixth Declaration

Members of Dignified Seed, 
a space for struggle

Members of the National Indigenous Congress

NEVER MORE A MEXICO WITHOUT US

—————————————————–

Originally Published in Spanish by: Pozol Colectivo

Monday, January 11, 2016

Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

.

.

January 16, 2016

Caravan of Civil Observation and Solidarity for Chimalapas

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 1:57 pm

 

.

 Caravan of Civil Observation and Solidarity for Chimalapas

 

caravan

@Desinformémonos

 

On January 10 and 11, agrarian authorities, communities and non-government organisations made up the Caravan of Civil Observation and Solidarity for Chimilapas to San Francisco de La Paz community, in the municipality of Santa Maria Chimilapa, Oaxaca. Those present noted the repeated incursions against communal territory, particularly on the property of San Isidro la Gringa. They were also witnesses to the “call for justice and respect for human rights of the town and the indigenous families who live there.”

Based on what they observed, the visitors asked the Federal Government and the state governments of Oaxaca and Chiapas to: carry out immediate joint peaceful operations to vacate the three locations currently invaded (Reforma-Pescaditos, Arroyo la Gringa-Emanuel I and Arroyo Zapote-Emanuel II); ensure that David Vega, indicated as the material and intellectual author of the kidnapping and disappearance of the comunero Pablo Escobedo be brought to justice; make a thorough investigation to locate the whereabouts of the remains of said comunero; and enable permanent federal supervision and surveillance “to prevent and avoid new invasions and looting of communal territory, as well as any acts of harassment, provocation or violence.”

The Caravan of Civil Observation and Solidarity for Chimalapas declared its support for the call for justice for the people of Chimalapa and also its rejection of government attempts to silence this resistance. By the same token, it asks the people of Mexico and the world join the call for the defence of this territory, which is “the most biodiverse in Mexico and Mesoamerica.”

https://sipazen.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/chiapasoaxaca-caravan-of-civil-observation-and-solidarity-for-chimalapas/

.

 

.

January 15, 2016

Ejido Tila denounces “paramilitary cell and government lies”

Filed under: Autonomy, Indigenous, Paramilitary — Tags: , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 12:23 pm

 

.

Ejido Tila denounces “paramilitary cell and government lies”

 

tila-2

@La Otra Ejido Tila

 

In a public statement on January 5, 2016, the Tila ejido, adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, reported the names and surnames of those who form “a small cell of paramilitary groups who have been organizing inside” their ejido. They also claimed that, “the political landscape is full of lies” on the part of the “current mayor of Tila, Chiapas Prof. Edgar Leopoldo Gómez Gutiérrez,” and that “on a number of occasions the removal of the town council had been requested and this request had not been heeded.” As a result, on December 16, 2015, they noted that, “the general assembly that makes the agreements has tired of so many problems that the town hall brings us, and decision making was being done by the assembly, which was working peacefully, formed by thousands of ejidatarios (communal landholders). The ejidatarios also publically denounced “Oscar Sánchez Alpuche, government undersecretary […] as being one of those responsible for reorganizing and regrouping the paramilitary groups to attack the social organizations that struggle in defence of land and territory […] jailing and disappearing as a strategy to subdue social campaigners.”

In spite of the difficulties within their ejido, they assured that they will continue to demand respect and we will not tire, because here is an ejido community and head of the non-municipal Ch’ol people of Tila, it [the town hall] does not certify its legal possession so to find a solution it must respect our rights because we have all our documentation. Our highest authority, which is the general assembly of the ejidatarios as a people, expelled the town hall council and it was not the decision of the Commissioner for Communal Lands as the bad government is saying, let that be clear.” They asked that, “the various non-government organizations and defenders of human rights be alert to what is happening in the Tila ejido.”

https://sipazen.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/chiapas-tila-ejido-denounces-paramilitary-cell-and-government-lies/

.

.

Detention Order for Nestora Salgado upheld

Filed under: Indigenous, Uncategorized — Tags: , , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 12:12 pm

 

.

 Detention Order for Nestora Salgado Ratified

 

nestora-salgado

Photo@Desinformémonos

 

On January 7, Leonel Rivero Rodriguez, the attorney of Nestora Salgado, commander of the Regional Coordination of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC), announced that the First Criminal Court of the High Court of Justice of Guerrero rejected the appeal presented by the defence, and ratified the detention order against her for the offence of aggravated kidnapping. The judges of the First Criminal Court of the High Court issued their decision on December 15 last, but this had not been made public due to the holiday season. Nestora Salgado García was detained in August 2013, and is currently a prisoner at Tepepen Penitentiary in Mexico City.

Rivero explained that the judges rejected the appeal presented by the defence to revoke the detention order handed down by the Tlapa Criminal Court against the commander of CRAC in the municipality of Olinalá due to lack of evidence. He noted that, “Based on a decision reached by the federal courts on February 18, 2015, Nestora Salgado is acquitted of the offense of organized crime.” He said that an appeal had been lodged for lack of evidence to the Criminal Court of the Judiciary of Guerrero. The attorney announced that, “A direct appeal will be lodged with the Federal Judiciary against the decision taken by the three judges in Guerrero.” He reiterated that, “If this court declares the trial void, Nestora Salgado will walk free.”

Some days later on January 10, social organizations, human rights defenders, journalists and artists from Guerrero demanded freedom for the community activist Nestora Salgado during a collective protest in front of Tepepan Prison in Mexico City. The activists denounced the irregularities that prevail in the arbitrary arrests, not only of Nestora, but also of the other political prisoners and members of CRAC-PC, such as Bernardino García Francisco, Ángel García García, Eleuterio García Carmen, Abad Francisco Ambrosio, Florentino García Castro and Benito Morales Bustos, members of the community police in El Paraíso, and Samuel Ramírez Gálvez, a member of the community police in Zitlatepec.

https://sipazen.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/guerrero-detention-order-for-nestora-salgado-ratified/

 

~~~~~

 

Detention order against human rights defender Nestora Salgado García upheld – Front Line Defenders Appeals

 

download
12 January 2016

On 6 January 2015, the First Criminal Chamber of the Superior Tribunal of Justice of Guerrero rejected the appeal presented by the defence lawyers of Ms Nestora Salgado García requesting her immediate release.

Nestora Salgado García is a human rights defender and indigenous leader from the state of Guerrero, where she has worked to protect indigenous rights, and in particular the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination. Prior to her arrest in August 2013, she led the organisation of the Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias: Policía Comunitaria – CRAC-PC (Regional Coordinating Body of Community Authorities: Community Police) in the municipality of Olinalá, in Guerrero. The community police force was organised and led by Nestora Salgado García in an effort to combat increases in violence, violent crimes, political corruption, and violations of the rights of indigenous peoples in the municipality of Olinalá. The Governor of Guerrero initially promised to support the community police force, before deciding to eliminate it in November 2014.

The decision to uphold the detention order against Nestora Salgado García follows an appeal lodged by the human rights defender’s lawyers demanding her immediate release, based on a decision of the First Unitary Tribunal of the Twenty-First Circuit of Chilpancingo, from March 2014. This decision revoked the original detention order against Nestora Salgado García, due to a lack of evidence against her. In spite of this, the human rights defender was not released and is now being held at the Tepepan detention centre in Mexico City, to where she was transferred from the federal maximum security prison in Nayarit in May 2015.

Nestora Salgado was illegally and arbitrarily detained on 21 August 2013 on fabricated charges of aggravated kidnapping. The charges originate in actions she took in accordance with her role and duties as a member of CRAC-PC. The human rights defender has been kept under detention for over two years and has yet to be tried for the charges she faces.

On 28 January 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures in favour of Nestora Salgado. In its decision, the IACHR took into consideration the fragile situation faced by the human rights defender at the maximum security federal prison in Nayarit, and the risk to her life and personal integrity. The human rights defender has reported that she has not been provided with access to proper medical treatment for chronic pains she suffers from as a result of a previous car accident; and that she had been subjected to ill-treatment while detained.

Due to the State’s failure to comply with the protective measures issued by the IACHR, the human rights defender embarked on a hunger strike in May 2015, resulting in the significant deterioration of her health. On 29 May 2015, after almost a month on hunger strike, she was transferred to the Tepepan detention centre in Mexico City.

Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned by the arbitrary arrest and pre-trial detention of human rights defender Nestora Salgado. Further concern is expressed for her physical and psychological integrity and security, and the fabricated charges brought against her. Front Line Defenders believes that the detention of Nestora Salgado is intended to prevent her from carrying out her legitimate work in the defence of indigenous peoples’ rights and their rights to self-determination in Mexico.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Mexico to:

  1. Immediately and unconditionally release Nestora Salgado García, and drop all charges against her, as Front Line Defenders believes that she is being held solely as a result of her legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
  2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Nestora Salgado García, including through the implementation of precautionary measures for her protection as requested by the Inter American Court of Human Rights;
  3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Mexico are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.

.

.

Eleventh Anniversary of the Foundation of The Voice of Amate

Filed under: Political prisoners, Repression, Uncategorized — Tags: , — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 10:08 am

 

.

Eleventh Anniversary of the Foundation of The Voice of Amate

 

amate

@CGT Chiapas

On January 5th, The Voice of Amate, “a voice that cried out and continues to cry out”, celebrated its eleventh year. The Voice of Amate was founded in 2005 as a result of the process of organization of indigenous prisoners “because of the injustices” in their cases. Roberto Paciencia Cruz, detained at the Social Rehabilitation Centre (Cereso) in San Cristobal de Las Casas, recalled this commemorative date, acknowledging “your non-violent struggles and all the compañer@s who joined forces.” He also thanked Alberto Patishtan and the Supporters of The Voice of Amate “for sharing your words, your struggles, your stories. For me it is like a light that I shine on my path. Even though I am in captivity, I feel happy with those who continue to awaken those who are asleep, so that they wake up and turn their eyes to the better path of struggle.”

He finished by saying, “to all those who are committed, let us be noble so that nobody defeats us, let us be noble so that nobody humiliates us. We will cry out in any language, be it Tsotsil, Tseltal, or in French […] that the struggle has no borders.”

https://sipazen.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/chiapas-eleventh-anniversary-of-the-foundation-of-the-voice-of-amate/

.

.

January 14, 2016

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — dorsetchiapassolidarity @ 7:34 pm

 

.

66 Police injured in confrontation in Oxchuc, Chiapas

 By: Elio Henríquez, Correspondent

oxchuc-fire

Before, during and after the confrontation with police in Oxchuc, Chiapas, dissidents burned three trucks belonging to the State Preventive Police, two small trucks of the “Trustworthy Police” and two buses belonging to commercial lines, besides damaging a tractor-trailer. Photo: La Jornada

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas

The assistant government secretary in the Los Altos zone of Chiapas, Edgar Rosales Acuña, reported that a confrontation between state and municipal security forces, and residents of the municipio of Oxchuc who demand the dismissal of Mayor María Gloria Sánchez Gómez, of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM, its initials in Spanish), left 66 police injured, 15 houses vandalized and eight vehicles burned.

He said that the confrontation took place on Friday night when some 500 state police attempted to recover control of the municipal headquarters, situated 50 kilometres from this city (San Cristóbal de Las Casas), hours after the state police detained 38 opponents of the mayor, for the crime of rioting and for their alleged participation in the protests against Sánchez Gómez, who won the elections last July 19.

A dispute over power

The dispute for power in Oxchuc between the mayor and the local deputy, Cecilia López Sánchez, also of the PVEM, intensified with the burning of the city hall two days before the mayor would take possession of the office on last October 1, for the second time in less than 15 years.

For the last three months, hundreds of Sánchez Gómez opponents have held marches and carried out roadblocks to demand her dismissal and the formation of a municipal council, with the argument that she divides the population and benefits from her position as mayor that her husband Norberto Sántiz López had.

After different proposals, state authorities called the dissidents to a meeting in this city last Friday to deal with the theme, but the 38 members of the commission were detained by the police.

Rosales Acuña explained that after the detention, which occurred after noon on Friday, hundreds of Oxchuc indigenous blocked the highway that communicates this city with Ocosingo and Palenque, at the place of the municipal headquarters. They took possession of a tractor-trailer and two buses and blocked a street to impede the passage of state police vehicles.

He added that at night more than 500 police entered the municipal capital, which led to the confrontation with sticks, stones, machetes and other objects. “We have 66 injured, between state and municipal police who resisted the aggressors’ attack for more than three hours, after they found out that their leaders had been arrested,” he assured.

He reported that only eight of the agents were hospitalized, of which two are “delicate” and were moved to Tuxtla Gutiérrez. “They were injured with rockets, Molotov cocktails, sticks, stones and other objects.”

He expressed that before, during and after the confrontation, the dissidents set fire to three State Preventive Police trucks, two small trucks of the Trustworthy Police and two buses belonging to commercial lines, besides damaging a tractor-trailer.

He stated that they vandalized 15 houses, among them that of the municipal president and of the Indigenous Peace and Conciliation Judge, Rogelio Sántiz López, who together with two of his sons remained held this evening.

Tension in the municipio

“The situation remains tense in Oxchuc, although with less intensity than yesterday (Friday). Fortunately, we have no deaths and all the injuries are on our side because the police went armed only with clubs,” he specified.

He maintained that the opponents of the mayor “are a tactical group with military training who make patrols at determined times, who intimidate and deceive people, and oblige them to go to the marches because if they don’t they fine them. They also threaten them with taking away (cutting off) their water, light and drainage. They are well-trained groups who are confronting the governmental apparatus.”

The opponents reported that the assistant secretary for human rights of the Chiapas Secretariat of Government, Mario Carlos Culebro Velasco, “deceived” them because upon initiating the Friday meeting he told members of the commission that: “two packets would be open for negotiation: the mayor’s dismissal and that of Deputy Cecilia López, (and) he offered to integrate some of us into the Oxchuc municipal government and into the state government.”

In a comunicado signed by Hilda Gómez and Reynaldo Sántiz, they added that: “Culebro Velasco asked if we wanted to eat some tamales, and therefore ordered his collaborators to serve them with coffee. He left the office at 12:25 PM and two minutes after the farce of showing friendliness, ministerial police agents entered and detained the commission’s 38 members.”

The dissidents insisted on the dismissal of María Gloria –who works out of her private home–, releasing the detainees and forming: “a plural and inclusive municipal council that will generate peace and will work for all of the communities in Oxchuc.”

Translator’s Note:

The day after this was published, the Altos (Highlands) teachers’ organization issued a statement about this situation, indicating the leftist teachers group may be involved, and a citizens’ group also issued a statement.

———————————————————–

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Re-published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

 

.

.

 

Older Posts »

The Shocking Blue Green Theme. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 632 other followers