Chiapas: release of Miguel Vázquez Deara, adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle from the ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón

On 26 June, Miguel Vázquez Deara, adherent to the a la Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle from the ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón, was released, having been arrested in September 2011 for the presumed crimes of armed robbery and criminal association.  He had been condemned to seven years and nine months imprisonment in November 2012.

In its informational bulletin published before this release, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) denounced that his arrest had been “based in a fabricated charge made by officialists who are interested in the Agua Azul waterfalls; he was obliged under torture to sign a declaration of self-incrimination.  These acts whch seek to undermine the actions taken to defend the territory of the ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón by this adherent to the EZLN’s Sixth Declaration […] has a long-standing basis, going back several years.”

The CDHFBC noted that his case was symbolic, “one of the cases that reflect that in the state of Chiapas, the administration of justice is denied […] and there is a lack of adequate defense made for indigenous people; the application of the law does not accord with established legal principles, such as the presumption of innocence and, in this case particularly, the criminalization of those who organize in defense of their rights such as the right to land, self-determination, and autonomy.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Nota Informativa: Libertad a Miguel Vázquez adherente a la Sexta de San Sebastián Bachajón (CDHFBC, 26 de junio de 2013)

Liberan a Miguel Vázquez, defensor de Bachajón (La Jornada, 26 de junio de 2013)

Boletín: Se repone el procedimiento a Miguel Vázquez, indígena tseltal por graves violaciones a los derechos humanos (CDHFBC, 25 de junio de 2013)

Transmisión de la Conferencia de prensa de los ejidatarios de SSB (Koman Ilel, 28 de junio de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: ejidatario adherent to the Sixth Declaration murdered by gunfire in San Sebastián Bachajón (29 April 2013)

Chiapas: Adherents to the Other Campaign in San Sebastián Bachajón denounce looting and impunity (22 April 2013)