On 24 March, adherents to the Other Campaign from Mitzitón, municipality of San Cristóbal de las Casas, published an open letter announcing that they had lifted the road-block they had erected since the detention of the Other-Campaign adherent Manuel Díaz Heredia by units of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR). The same letter announced the release of two police officers and three governmental officials from the Ministry for Social Development (SEDESOL) that Mitzitón Other-Campaign adherents had detained on the day of Díaz Heredia’s capture in an effort to win his release. The authors of the communiqué agreed to await the end of the 144-hour period provided by constitutional law for a judicial solution to Díaz Heredia’s case, warning that they would engage in “more serious protest actions,” including a “permanent roadblock,” if their comrade were not to be released after that time.
On 25 March, Díaz Heredia was in fact released from the Amate prison, due to the presiding judge’s finding a lack of evidence for his participation in the trafficking of persons for which he had been charged.
For more information (in Spanish):
Open letter from Other-Campaign adherents in Mitzitón, in full (25 March)
Ejidatario and Other-Campaign adherent from Mitzitón released for lack of evidence (La Jornada, 26 March)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Risk of confrontation in Mitzitón following arrest of ejidatario (25 March)
sipazen.wordpress.com 