Guerrero: Teachers’ megamarch ends with the occupation of Congress

Photo @Francisco Olvera

On 18 April, thousands of members of the Popular Movement of Guerrero (MPG) and sympathizers from other states marched through the Sol Highway and subsequently took the state Congress to demand that the legislators hold session to approve the decreed reform of the State Law on Education No. 158.  It is estimated that 80,000 people participated in the mobilization.

Upon learning that the legislative session had not begun, the protestors decided to take the building.  Minutes after the occupation of the Congress, the MPG leadership received a telephone call to organize a dialogue-table with governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero in Casa Guerrero, where the 50 members of the negotiation team led by Gonzalo Juárez moved.  The commission of 15 deputies was led by PRD official Víctor Salinas, president of the Education Commission, to analyze the proposed changes to the law.Protestors were joined by teachers from Oaxaca, Michoacán, Morelos, Puebla, Zacatecas, and Chiapas, as well as Mexico City; similarly, members of the Mexican Electricians’ Union, #IAm132, workers from the Autonomous University of Guerrero, the College of Bachelors, retired people, normalist students, campesin@s, and some 50 members of the Communal Police from the House of Justice in El Paraíso, Ayutla de los Libres municipality, also joined the march.

For more information (in Spanish):

Megamarcha en Chilpancingo culmina con toma del Congreso (La Jornada de Guerrero, 19 de abril de 2013)

 Alianza Aguirre-PRI frena ley de educación apoyada por una marcha de 80 mil (Sur Acapulco, 19 de abril de 2013)

Se atora la reforma en el Congreso (La Jornada de Guerrero, 19 de abril de 2013)

CETEG libera la Autopista del Sol y Congreso de Guerrero (Excelsior, 19 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: March-meeting of Section 22 of the SNTE in commemoration of 25 November (30 November 2012)

Guerrero: Briefs – Reactivation of arrest-orders against CETEG members (10 November 2010)

Chiapas: Increase in feminicides and State Accord for Gender Equality

@CIMAC Noticias

Some days ago was found the body of Violeta Margarita Cancino González, a youth of 18 years of age from Nueva Independencia (Ángel Albino Corzo municipality) in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, where she studied.  According to the police and experts, the young female was wrapped in blankets and seemingly preserved in ice before having been thrown to the site where she was located.

According to Martha Figueroa, from the Collective of Women (Colem), from January 2013 to date there have been registered 25 murders of women in the state, with 18 of these having to do with reasons of gender.  She affirms that the number has increased considerably this year.  Figueroa indicated that furthermore, Colem has requested a meeting with the Attorney General Raciel López Salazar to discuss the question, but on three occasions the official has canceled the meeting.

For his part, at the close of the signing of the state Accord for Gender Equality, López Salazar indicated that from January to date there have been registered around 20 homicides of women, and that six people have been arrested for these crimes.  He assured that the cases have nothing to do with drug-trafficking or serial murders, but he also refused to classify them as feminicides, though he did concede that 60% of the crimes had had to do with “emotional conflicts and jealousy.”According to the Law for Access to a Life Free of Violence for Women in the state of Chiapas, feminicide occurs whenever there exists or there has existed between the perpetrator and the victim a relation of familiarity due to blood-relations or sexual relations.  It is feminicide also when the victims presents signs of sexual violence of any sort, and when injuries or mutilations can be seen on the body, whether these be imposed before or after murder.

For more information (in Spanish):

Hallan a joven estudiante muerta en Chiapas; suman 20 feminicidios en el año (Proceso, 16 de abril de 2013)

El 60% de feminicidios en Chiapas, por ‘desencuentros’ entre parejas: procurador (Proceso, 17 de abril)

Por “celos”, mayoría de asesinatos de mujeres en Chiapas/Cimacnoticias  (CIMAC Noticias, 18 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Colem Group of Women take action against feminicide (19 October 2012)

Chiapas: Press-conference by Group of Women COLEM denounces violence against women (9 February 2012)

Chiapas: social organizations present report regarding situation of women in Chiapas (16 August 2012)

National: Amnesty International publishes report on violence against women in Mexico (20 July 2012)

Chiapas: Justice is demanded in the case of the feminicide of the youth Itzel Yanet Méndez Pérez (16 May 2012)

Oaxaca: march of relatives of victims of feminicide and members of human rights organizations for women

On 15 April, relatives of victims of feminicide and members of women’s human rights organizations marched newly in Oaxaca City to demand justice, in light of the different cases of feminicide that have been presented in recent weeks in the state.It should be recalled that civil-society organizations have registered more than 197 feminicides (20 of which have occurred in 2013) and 57 disappeared women and female children during the administration of acting governor Gabino Cué (2010 to present).  Ana María Hernández, member of Consorcio for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity in Oaxaca, has declared that during the entire six-year administration of former governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (2004-2010) a total of 283 women were killed in Oaxaca.  Hence can be seen the grave increase in the frequency of this crime.

For more information (in Spanish):

Marchan en Oaxaca familiares de víctimas de feminicidios; exigen justicia al gobernador (La Jornada, 15 de abril de 2013)

Video: Castigo a feminicida, exigen ONG´s (1 mn.),

Feminicidio en Oaxaca al nivel de Ciudad Juárez, alertan (CIMAC Noticias, 16 de abril de 2013)

Oaxaca, en focos rojos por feminicidios (Noticiasnet.mx, 16 de abril de 2013)

No todos los homicidios en Oaxaca tienen tinte de feminicidios: PGJ (Milenio, 8 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: More feminicides under Gabino Cué than in the final years of Ulises Ruiz (24 January 2013)

Chiapas: Adherents to the Other Campaign in San Sebastián Bachajón denounce looting and impunity

On 17 April, adherents to the Other Campaign of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle from San Sebastian Bachajón, Chilón municipality, published a new communique in which they recall their struggle and evaluate the former state administration of Juan Sabines Guerrero.  They denounce the impunity of looting and a justice system that serves the State, one that has allowed their ejido to experience “looting of territory and imposition of a control-point at the entrance of the Agua Azul cascades, removed from residents.”  They reiterated their desire to resist looting and to free their prisoners Antonio Estrada Estrada, Miguel Vázquez Deara, and Miguel Demeza Jiménez, “victims of the authorities for their lack of capacity and independence to apply the law.” They greeted others, who have also been imprisoned for raising their voice.  They recognized Alberto Patishtán Gómez in particular: “With a simple heart, and humble in his words, [he is] a great comrade that they sought to silence with the walls of political prison.  He will always be present in our slogans and in the process of our struggle.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncian despojo de tierras en Agua Azul, Chiapas (La Jornada, 18 de abril de 2013)

México: San Sebastián Bachajón se pronuncia en contra de la persecución estatal (Comunicado de los adherentes a la Otra Campaña de San Sebastián Bachajón, 17 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Denial of motion to ejidatarios who adhere to the Sixth Declaration from San Sebastián Bachajón (7 February 2013)

Chiapas: New denunciation from San Sebastián Bachajón (10 July 2012)

Chiapas: Ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón “occupy” control-point in Agua Azul before being displaced (25 June 2012)

Chiapas: Sit-in of the Front of Ejidos in Resistance in San Cristóbal de Las Casas (6 January 2012)

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)

 

Guerrero: The Communal Police joins the fight for the defense of education

Photo @SIPAZ

On 8 April, members of the Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities (CRAC) from the Tixtla municipality entered Chilpancingo following a march from their communities, to demand the release of the second commander of El Troncón, Nahum Santos Bartolo. The protestors included 41 communal police from Acatempa, Tecocintla, Zacazonapa, and El Troncón, which are communities that have recently joined the CRAC; they answer to the House of Justice in El Paraíso, which pertains to Ayutla.  The reason for this protest was to call for the return of the second in command.  Once he was freed, the CRAC joined another cause: the demand for the liberation of the teacher from Chilapa, Mario Durán Torres, who was arrested by federal police during the operation to displace the occupation of the Sol highway on 5 April.  Torres has been accused of assaulting 8 federal police officers.  In downtown Chilpancingo, the communal police marched alongside teachers.In assembly on 6 April, the CRAC decided to join the demands of the teachers in Guerrero to demand free education.  In a bulletin, they mention that “Our communal institution makes its demands with the teachers of Guerrero who are mobilizing themselves [...].  The deputies should take into account teachers’ proposals for inclusion within the law on education in Guerrero, given that it is precisely the teachers who know about education.”

For more information (in Spanish):

POSICIONAMIENTO SOBRE EL MOVIMIENTO (CRAC, 6 de abril de 2013)

Policías comunitarios marchan armados de Tixtla a Chilpancingo (La Jornada de Guerrero, 9 de abril de 2013)

La Toma de Chilpancingo (la Jornada de Guerrero, 9 de abril de 2013)

Policías comunitarios armados llegan a Chilpancingo; logran la libertad de su comandante (El Sur de Acapulco, 9 de abril de 2013)

Se une la Policía Comunitaria a la defensa de la educación, sin armas (Desinformémonos, 8 de abril de 2013)

Para más información de SIPAZ:

Guerrero: CRAC-PC desmiente afirmaciones periodísticas sobre acercamiento con la UPOEG (7 de marzo de 2013)

Guerrero: Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias – Policía Comunitaria (CRAC-PC) se pronuncia contra decreto estatal (19 de febrero de 2013)

Guerrero: Toman autoridades vinculadas a la UPOEG la Casa de Justicia de la CRAC en San Luis Acatlán (14 de febrero de 2013)

Guerrero: Gobernador Aguirre se involucra en situación de inseguridad de Ayutla. Reitera Policía Comunitaria: “no somos nosotros” (22 de enero de 2013)

Oaxaca: Opinions shared regarding educational reform

On 3 April, Gabino Cué Monteagudo, governor of Oaxaca, submitted to federal deputies his initiative to modify the General Law on Education which, in his words, would seek to “make topical” the constitutional reform in terms of education and express that educational reforms cannot be realized “from the desk.”  He added that this initiative has been supported by section 22 of the National Educational Workers’ Union (SNTE), and that it is the product of work done jointly with teachers rather than pressure or fraud, as the National Action Party (PAN) has accused in the state congress.  Regardless, for his part, Rubén Núñez Ginés, secretary general of section 22 of the SNTE, has distanced himself from the reform initiative submitted by Gabino Cue given that, in his words, the reform project lacks legitimacy for Oaxacan teachers, given that it was never approved by the state assembly or the teachers’ leadership.  He stressed that section 22 will continue to mobilize as a means of pressuring for the inclusion of the Program for the Transformation of Education in Oaxaca (PTEO) within the reform initiative made to the General Law on Education, despite the fact that on 9 April, the local legislature rejected the PTEO, “for it is not viable,” as noted by Alejandro López Jarquín, president of the Junta for Political Coordination in the state Congress.  López Jarquín emphasized that the document “does not have juridical weight and is only an analysis rather than an initiative.”  The PRD legislator said that “one part of the PTEO is unconstitutional, because it contradicts the national education reform that is in effect; for this reason, it is impossible thusly to legislate.”Beyond this, following the displacement suffered by teachers in the state of Guerrero, following their blockade of the Sol highway which was dislodged by federal police, the Oaxaca governor confirmed the arrival of 200 federal police from the airport to the capital of Oaxaca on 6 April, as a means of re-enforcing public security and avoiding radical protest actions that might be carried out by teachers associated with section 22 of the SNTE.It should be recalled that the last time that federal police arrived in Oaxaca coincided with the social revolt of 2006, when teachers of section 22 demanded the resignation of governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, whom they had found responsible for forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions, as well as political murders.

For more information (in Spanish):

Gabino Cué entrega a diputados federales su reforma educativa (La Jornada, 3 de abril de 2013)

La sección 22 se deslinda del plan (La Jornada, 3 de abril de 2013)

Exige Gobernador de Oaxaca no politizar el movimiento magisterial (Noticias MVS, 9 de abril de 2013)

Llegan 200 elementos de la PF a Oaxaca (Milenio, 6 de abril de 2013)

Policía Federal en Oaxaca, para evitar protestas radicales del Magisterio: Cué (E-Oaxaca, 8 de abril de 2013)

Rechazan legisladores de Oaxaca propuesta educativa de maestros (La Jornada, 9 de abril de 2013)

Rechaza la Junta de Coordinación Política la violencia de profesores (La Jornada, 9 de abril de 2013)

Chiapas: Petition from the CDHFBC to release Alberto Patishtán Gómez

Children of Patishtán @ Swefor

On 10 April, some 400 persons marched in the El Bosque municipality to demand the release of professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, who was “unjustly” been incarcerated in prison no. 5 of San Cristóbal de Las Casas for nearly 13 years, accused of having participated in an ambush that resulted in the death of 7 police officers.  “All indigenous people feel incarcerated, rejected, and discriminated against” with his imprisonment, as protestors noted in a letter directed to the magistrates of the First Collegiate Tribunal of the Twentieth Circuit, which shortly will resolve whether or not to release the teacher.  This letter arrived on 11 April, organized by relatives of Patishtan and the Movement of the People of El Bosque in favor of the release of Alberto Patishtán Gómez; it counted approximately 5000 signatures.  For its part, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) published petitions for Patishtan on Avaaz.org and Change.org, to be presented before the magistrates.

Several media have noted the juxtaposition of the ordered liberation of 15 persons accused of having participated in the Acteal massacre, as demanded by the First Hall of the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation (SCJN), which rejected a review of Patishtán’s request for innocence on 6 March.  The notes made by Aristegui Noticias indicate that “the news reflect the different modes of justice in Mexico, where those accused of guilt are released and those accused of innocence are incarcerated.”

Beyond this, the actions for professor Patishtán continue.  Within prison no. 5, Patishtán Gómez announced the close of a second week of hunger-strike that will continue with two silent marches within the prison, on 13 and 14 April.  In solidarity, Enrique Gómez Hernández will be participating in the hunger strike from 11 to 19 April in the Amate prison no. 4 in Cintalapa.  On 19 April is planned a pilgrimage in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the day that Alberto Patishtán will have his forty-second birthday.

For more information (in Spanish):

Carta de Avaaz.org para firmar en español

Carta de Change.org para firmar en español

Entregan a tribunal carta con 5 mil firmas para que libere a Patishtán (La Jornada, 12 de abril de 2013)

Con Patishtán en prisión, todos los indígenas nos sentimos encarcelados  (La Jornada, 11 de abril de 2013)

Libres por orden de la Corte, otros 15 indígenas implicados en el caso Acteal (La Jornada, 11 de abril de 2013)

Patishtan y Acteal: las diferentes varas de la justicia (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de abril de 2013)

Entregan 4 mil 736 firmas a favor de la Libertad de Alberto Patishtán (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 11 de abril de 2013)

Anuncia 9 días de ayuno Enrique Gomez Hernández Solidario de la Voz del Amate (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 11 de abril de 2013)

Alberto Patishtán anuncia el termino del ayuno y comparte acciónes para el 13 y 14 de abril (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 11 de abril de 2013)

In English:

Avaaz petition in English

Change.org petition in English

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Forthcoming actions for the release of Alberto Patishtán (8 April 2013)

Chiapas: “Justice is its opposite,” declares Alberto Patishtán (20 March 2013)

México/Chiapas: SCJN rejects review of case of Alberto Patishtán(20 March 2013)

Mexico/Chiapas: Alberto Patishtán should be immediately released, notes Olga Sánchez Cordero (5 March 2013)

Mexico/Chiapas: The SCJN admits the Patishtán case (12 October 2012)

Chiapas: death-threats directed against lawyer who presented demands against the cabinet of former governor Juan Sabines

The lawyer Horacio Culebro Borrayas, who on 3 April opened a legal demand before the PGR against former governor Juan Sabines Guerrero (2006-2012) and 50 members of his cabinet, denounced that he had been the victim of anonymous phone-calls threatening him with death.  He called for a citizens’ mobilization on 12 April, toward the end of demanding the application of justice to Sabines Guerrero, and to all those implied in what he calls the “robbery of the century,” with its seizures of assets.

Culebro Borrayas has submitted before the Special Prosecutorial Office of the Federal Attorney General’s Office in Mexico City a complaint involving at least 20 crimes, including delinquent association, organized crime, illicit enrichment, torture and kidnapping, crimes against dignity of persons, and procedural fraud.  Public servants and their coalitions are among those accused.

Culebro Borrayas says that “Sabines Guerrero, his former collaborators, and former local deputies must explain what happened, and why there is no money, when there is this crisis, poverty, and marginalization.  Someone must say where these state resources are, and they must be returned; the people must not remain silent, but must rather demand justice.  It is said that public and private debt is on the order of 40 billion pesos.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Insisten en que PGR investigue a Juan Sabines (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 11 de abril de 2013)

Amenazan de muerte a abogado que denunció a Sabines (Proceso, 8 de abril de 2013)

PGR acepta querella contra ex gobernador Juan Sabines (El Universal, 7 de abril de 2013)

Demandarán a ex gabinete de Juan Sabines (Milenio, 31 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Youth criticizes governor for indebting Chiapas in Comitán ceremony (15 October 2012)

http://sipazen.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/chiapas-youth-criticizes-governor-for-indebting-chiapas-in-comitan-ceremony/

Chiapas: PUDEE denounces “climate of violence” generated by the CFE in the zone below Tila

On 7 April, the organization United Peoples in Defense of Electricity (PUDEE) released a communique denouncing the behavior of personnel from the parastatal Federal Electricity Commisison (CFE), following its cutting of electrical energy to several residents of the Emiliano Zapata community in the zone below Tila.  PUDEE indicated that, beyond cutting electricity, a CFE worker entered the land of a PUDEE member without permission, and when the property-owner attempted to block his entrance, the worker “raised his hand with the intent of beating him on the head.”  Before the CFE workers left, they warned the residents that “soon we will return to continue [with] mass-electricity cuts,” perhaps accompanied by the police, and they “threatened arrest-orders and the carrying out of electricity cuts in the neighboring community of Paso Chinal and the communities below Tila.”  In the denunciation, PUDEE expresses that “the ejidal and communal authorities are worried,” because the CFE is creating conflicts.  PUDEE found the leaders of the three levels of government responsible for whatever may follow, denouncing that “it is they who now are reactivating paramilitary groups and sowing terror, fabricating crimes and harassment, and administering threats of arrest-orders against the people.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia íntegra de PUDEE (07/04/2013)

Cuarto Poder: Pobladores se resisten a liquidar tarifa de CFE (10/04/2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: PUDEE denounces harassment and electricity cut-off by CFE (24 March 2012)

Chiapas: PUDEE denounces harassment by the CFE (25 February 2011)

 

Chiapas: Article 19 challenges legal reform in Chiapas due to its violation of the right to information

On 8 April, Article 19 published a communique saying that “on 7 March 2013, the state congress of Chiapas approved nearly unanimously the Initiative presented by Governor Manuel Velasco to include within the Penal Code of Chiapas a crime that would sanction the obtaining of information from police and [the] justice [system], thus vaguely generated an effect that inhibits the right to information.”  The approved reform was formulated within these terms: “There will be imposed a penalty of from two to fifteen years imprisonment with a fine of between 200 to 400 days of minimum wage to whoever carries out acts to obtain information from public security forces having to do with persecution, punishment, or the execution of sentences regarding their location, activity, operation, or general work.”

Article 19 expresses its concern, claiming that this reform would tend to “criminalize access to information and freedom of expression,” thus making it even riskier for journalists to investigate and share information with rural-dwellers and urban residents, in accordance with their rights to access to public information.

In this sense, Article 19 called on the National Commission on Human Rights, the State Council on Human Rights in Chiapas, and the Federal Attorney General’s Office to exercise their powers to present motions calling into question the constitutionality of this reform, toward the end that the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation judge this.

For more information (in Spanish):

Posicionamiento. Chiapas, reforma legal violenta el derecho de Acceso a la Información, ARTICLE 19, 8 de abril de 2013

Un retroceso”, ley contra ‘halconeo’ en Chiapas: Artículo 19, Proceso, 8 de abril de 2013

Meterán a la cárcel a quienes tomen fotografías de policías en Chiapas, Miradasur, 14 de marzo de 2013

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Mexico: 172 aggressions against journalists in 2011 – Article 19 (2 April 2012)