Chiapas: 15 days of hunger strike and 6 days of sit-in

Sit-in at the Cathedral plaza @ SIPAZ

The sit-in of relatives of prisoners on hunger strike and fast in three different prisons in Chiapas continues: the CERSS no. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casa, El Amate no. 14 in Cintalapa, and no. 6 in Motozintla. On 13 October in a press-conference in the same sit-in, the relatives expressed their pain and suffering upon seeing that their loved ones were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, beyond the torture, humiliation, and lack of due process to which they have been subjected. They reiterated that they would not move from their sit-in until their relatives are released, despite the threats on the part of municipal authorities to dismantle the module out of consideration for the coming Meeting of Adventure Tourism to be held in the city from 17 to 23 October.

During the press-conference, the cases of the prisoners who demand their release were read. One example is that of Juan Díaz López, a member of Voces Inocentes, who suffers his second accusation, given that the first time the person he had supposedly killed is alive; he only had left the community. On this occasion, Juan is accused by his own mother for the death of another women, but it seems that there are interests beyond resolving the crime. “My father manipulates [her]. He wants to take our land, home, and coffee-plants.”

La Jornada relates his experience, part of the history expressed with these words: “His arrest took the case of a lynching. On 17 May a group of 400 persons removed him from his home. An armed group from Yolonchén participated. They beat him ‘for several hours.’ They doused him with gasoline and forced him to take the herbicide Gramoxone. They meant to hang him from a tree and they cut him twice with a knife on both wrists. He fainted, after hearing things like ‘Where is Frayba, where you are organizing?'”

In the blog We are not all here are related the cases of the marriage of Alfredo López Jiménez y Rosa Díaz López. Alfredo was fitted with a plastic bag on his head in an attempted asphyxiation. He was beaten and electrocuted so that he would confess that he received 600,000 pesos. On 10 May he was taken to the Public Ministry. There he and his wife were warned that “if [he] does not confess, you will die.” “We were so injured and tired that we confessed,” says Alfredo, who would endure 15 days in bed without any medical attention at all. The Ministry forced him to sign documents he did not read. He had neither a lawyer nor a translator.

Rosa was also tortured and beaten in the stomach five years ago. She asked that this be stopped, as she was four-months pregnant, “but they did not stop.” They placed her in a room where they undressed her, threatening to rape her if she did not say she kidnapped Claudia, the person supposedly taken. “How can I confess to something I didn’t do?” she replied. One of the agents threw her to the ground, while others took hold of her, meaning to rape her. Her son was born with cerebral palsy. It is believed that this resulted from the assault to which she was subject during her arrest.

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia matrimonio de Chiapas tortura y acusación falsa por secuestro, No estamos todxs, 13 October 2011

Campesino tzotzil sufre por segunda vez acusación falsa, tortura y encarcelamiento, La Jornada, 13 October 2011

Carta de los presos políticos del penal No. 5 de San Cristóbal de las Casas a Javier Sicilia, Cencos, 13 October 2011

Plantón en San Cristóbal de familiares de los presos políticos en huelga de hambre. Actualizado al 13 de octubre, Enlace Zapatista, 13 Octobrer 2011

Juan Collazo, preso solidario de la Voz del Amate invita a poyar huelga de hambre que sostienen por su liberación, Enlace Zapatista, 13 October 2011

Comunicados de los Presos políticos de la OtraCampaña en Huelga de Hambre, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 12 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas y el GT No Estamos Todxs sobre l@s compañer@s en huelga de hambre, Enlace Zapatista, 11 October 2011

Palabra de los familiares de los presos en huelga de hambre en conferencia de prensa desde el Frayba, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 10 October 2011

Familiares de los pres@s polític@s de Chiapas en huelga de hambre convocan a rueda de prensa el 10 de octubre, Enlace Zapatista, 7 October 2011

Harán plantón indefinido familiares de 13 presos en San Cristóbal de las Casas, La Jornada, 10 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas, Enlace Zapatista, 8 October 2011