From 1 to 5 April was held the campaign “5 Days of Global Action for the 5 of Bachajón” to demand the release of 5 Tseltal campesinos from San Sebastián Bachajón who have been imprisoned since February, accused of several crimes during a confrontation for the control of the entrance to the Agua Azul waterfalls. They are presently being held in the Playas de Catazaja prison in Chiapas.
Collectives associated with the Other Campaign and particularly those of the Zezta International carrid out actions in Mexico, India, South Africa, Italy, Austria, Colombia, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, France, Switzerland, canada, Spain, Argentina, and the US. The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights opened a blog in support and solidarity with Bachajón and the indigenous and campesino peoples of Chiapas which provides detailed information regarding the actions undertaken during the campaign.
In a bulletin released on 4 April, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights framed this campaign by affirming that these 5 prisoners “are political prisoners, given that, according to our investigations, on 2 February they weren’t even located in the place of the events.” In other news, on 6 April, the International Secretary of the Global Organization against Torture published a new brief on the case that stresses that the organization “newly condemns all human-rights violations here denounced, in particular the absence of respect for due process, for the right to be presumed innocent, and for judicial protection, against all the ejidatarios detained in February 2011 and in particular the minor Mariano Demeza Silvano and Misters Jerónimo Guzmán Méndez, Domingo Pérez Álvaro, Juan Aguilar Guzmán, Domingo García Gómez, still detained. The [organization] manifests its preouccpation for the security and physical and psychological integrity of the aforementioned persons; it urges that state and federal authorities guarantee these.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Tzeltales de Bachajón detenidos, presos políticos: Frayba, La Jornada 5 April 2011
Protesta adherentes de ‘la otra campaña’ en consulado de México en NY, La Jornada 4 April 2011
Inician campaña de cinco días para exigir liberación de tzeltales presos en Chiapas, La Jornada 2 April 2011
Blog en solidaridad con los Presos de Bachajón; Solidaridad Chiapas, 6 April 2011
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Press conference by ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón (20 March 2011)
Chiapas: Special report by Frayba: Government creates and administers conflicts (8 March 2011)
Chiapas: The Peace Network visits prisoners from San Sebastián Bachajón (8 March 2011)
Chiapas: detentions vis-a-vis blockade of road Tonala-Pijijiapan during action of the Other Campaign (26 February 2011)
Chiapas: Caravan of women to San Sebastian Bachajón (25 February 2011)
Chiapas: Agua Azul, new happenings and denunciations (17 February 2011)
Chiapas: update in the Agua Azul case (14 February 2011)
Chiapas: roadblocks and detention of militants in Mitzitón (10 February 2011)
Chiapas: confrontation over control point at Agua Azul leaves one dead and several injured (7 February 2011)
