National/Chiapas: EPN in Navenchauc, Zinacantán launches actions for the National Crusade against Hunger

Enrique Peña Nieto and Da Lula Silva (@Animal Político)

On 19 April, accompanied by the former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto visited the community of Navenchauc in the Zinacantán municipality in the Highlands of Chiapas, where he launched actions for the National Crusade against Hunger.  In January of this year, the Las Margaritas municipality in Chiapas had been selected for the inauguration site of this campaign.

In his comments, EPN defended the Crusade against Hunger and called on Rosario Robles Berlanga, Secretary for Social Development, to “weather” the criticisms of those who “only concern themselves with elections.”  He added that “for us, for this government, we have a clear objective, a task of commitment to Mexicans, which is to put an end to hunger.”  It should be recalled that the previous day, Robles Berlanga fired a delegate of this institution in Veracruz, Ranulfo Márquez, so that he could be investigated for the presumed utilization of the resources of the Crusade to the benefit of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the upcoming state elections.  On 23 April, he will present testimony before the federal Senate regarding the supposed advances of this program.

At the event was also present Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, former president of Brazil and initiator of the program “Zero Hunger” which allowed 33 million people to leave poverty and another 40 million to ascend to the middle class of Brazil.  Lula noted that the “Zero Hunger” program gave rise to many criticisms: “They said that the program had welfare characteristics.  They said it was populist, that it thought nothing more than of elections.  They said that this program was merely to give handouts to the people, and that people would then become lazy.”  He assured on the other hand that “Hunger does not exist because of lack of money, agricultural production, or technology.  It exists due to the lack of shame on the part of the authorities in this world [...].  So for this reason, President, the poor do not have reason to have patience, but instead should be present and trust in their government.  They have you; do not fail them.”

For more information (in Spanish):

“Hay hambre por falta de vergüenza de gobernantes”: Lula (Proceso, 19 de abril de 2013)

Lula acompañará a Peña en Cruzada contra el Hambre (El Universal, 19 de abril de 2013)

Espaldarazo de Peña a Rosario Robles: hay que aguantar (La Jornada, 20 de abril de 2013)

EPN: nos critican los que sólo piensan en elecciones (La Jornada, 20 de abril de 2013)

National: New death-threats directed against Fray Tomás, director of “La 72″

Fray Tomás González @ Periódico ABC

On 17 March, Fray Tomás González Castillo, director of the Refuge Home “La 72″ for migrant persons, denounced that he and those residing in the home received two death-threats from organized crime operating in Tenosique, Tabasco. “It should be mentioned that in recent weeks, we have accompanied many persons who have gravely victimized by extortion and death-threats.  We have denounced this before the PGR and PGJ of Tabasco,” notes the communique published by Fray Tomás.

His communique adds that the home had reported this to public security forces (Ministerial Federal Police, PGJ, Federal Police, Mexican Army), leading to the provocation of “an operation with a great lack of coordination: they took three people indicating as being migrants.  Regardless, they did not detain those who we consider to be the principal leaders, among them the chief who leads the gang that operates between Tenosique y Coatzacoalcos. This puts us at greater risk and danger.”

Both Fray Tomás and Rubén Díaz Figueroa, from the Usumacinta Center for Human Rights and a member of Amnesty International (AI), have denounced the death-threats and aggressions engaged in by soldiers, state police, and other uniformed people in Tenosique before the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE).  Raúl Izquierdo and Samuel Villicana León, visitors with the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), have accompanied the migrant defenders in their presentation of complaints before the government in Tenosique, where the events occurred.

The “All Rights for All” National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations has announced that “it is important to indicate that these aggressions against the migrant home and the rights-defenders who work there has to do with the accompaniment and the denunciations made regarding the situation of migrant peoples transiting through Mexico.  From this Network we manifest our support and solidarity with the “72″ migrant home; we recognize the important work done their daily to support our brother migrants.”  Amnesty International (AI) itself has called on Mexican authorities to provide “effective and immediate” protection for Fray Tomás González and Rubén Figueroa.

For more information (in Spanish):

Urgente desde Tenosique: Amenaza del crimen organizado a Defensores de Derechos Humanos (Frontera Sur, 18 de marzo de 2013)

Exigimos proteger la vida de Fray Tomás González y del personal del albergue “La 72” (Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos “Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos”, 18 de marzo de 2013)

Denuncian agresión contra defensores de migrantes en Tabasco (Proceso, 20 de marzo de 2013)

Pasan noche de zozobra en el refugio La 72 (La Jornada Veracruz, 19 de marzo de 2013)

Amnistía Internacional urge a las autoridades a dar protección a defensores de migrantes amenazados de muerte (Periódico Sin Embargo, 18 de marzo de 2013)

Pide mafia mi cabeza: fraile; caen 3 bandidos (Tabasco Hoy, 20 de marzo de 2013)

Fray Tomás, defensor de los migrantes, denuncia amenazas de muerte (Diario El País, 20 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas/Tabasco: “The forgotten border” press-conference (13 December 2011)

Civil Observation Mission ends in Tenosique; migrants and rights-defenders in grave danger; caravan of Central American mothers searching for disappeared relatives arrives in Tenosique (14 November 2011)

Mexico: Caravan for Peace concludes after journeying to Tabasco, Veracruz, and Puebla (28 September 2011)

 

Chiapas: Denial of motion to ejidatarios who adhere to the Sixth Declaration from San Sebastián Bachajón

On 31 January, the definitive judgment to deny a motion to ejidatarios from San Sebastián Bachajón regarding the return of their common-lands which were occupied by state authorities and a group close to the government was made public, this within the context of the dispute over possession of the control-point that is seen at the entrance of the Agua Azul waterfall.

The motion had been promoted by Mariano Moreno Guzmán, a Tseltal indigenous man from the ejido, with the juridical identity of “substitute representation of ejidal goods,” so as to avoid the privatization of land in question, their being collective.  As Moreno Guzmán’s lawyers commented (Maribel González Pedro y Ricardo Lagunes Gasca), the General Assembly of the ejido did not provide its consent to the convention signed in February 2011 between the state government and the “officialist” authorities who recently turned over the common lands.  According to defense lawyers, during the trial the president of the ejidal commission, Francisco Guzmán Jiménez, and the state government showed a document called “act of assembly” which confronted an objection, due to its not complying with established standards as stipulated in agrarian laws and international law on indigenous rights.  Regardless, the judge in the case declared Moreno Guzman’s attempt invalid, as it would supposedly not represent the requisite “substituted representation,” instead recognizing the “assembly act,” thus supporting the transfer of lands in dispute to the Chiapas government.

González Pedro and Lagunes Gasca noted that the sentence of the judge constitutes “a disregard for indigenous peoples and the constitutional reforms of motion and human rights.”  The ejidatarios who adhere to the EZLN’s Sixth Declaration, for their part, indicated that after showing “the necessary documents that justify and evidence the looting of our common-use lands from the community of San Sebastián Bachajon, the authorities of justice continue defending the interests of the government.”

For more information (in Spanish):

La Jornada: Niegan amparo a indígenas de San Sebastián Bachajón (01/02/2013)

Comunicado de Maribel González Pedro y Ricardo Lagunes Gasca (31/01/2013)

Denuncia de los ejidatarios de San Sebastián Bachajón después de la negativa (01/02/2013)

La Jornada: La ley no está hecha para los pobres, se lamentan ejidatarios de Bachajón (02/02/2013)

Acusan los ejidatarios de Bachajón al gobierno de despreciar a los indígenas (La Jornada, 6 de febrero de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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)

Chiapas: Ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón retake control-point in Agua Azul (13 December 2011)

Chiapas: Denunciations by ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón (7 November 2011)

Chiapas: The four prisoners from San Sebastián Bachajón are released (18 August 2011)

Chiapas: Press conference by ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón (20 March  2011)

Guerrero – briefs: Rally for justice and the end of impunity in Chilpancingo; NGOs request definitive cancellation of La Parota

Foto @CENCOS

On Thursday May 5, social organizations in defense of human rights, such as the Community Development Workshop (TADECO), the Committee of Family and Friends of the Kidnapped, Disappeared and Murdered in Guerrero, the Guerrero Network of Human Rights (Redgroac), and the Regional Coordinator of Communal Authorities (CRAC), among others, protested in the zócalo of Chilpancingo against the violence that continues to pervade the state of Guerrero.  Minutes before the rally for justice and to end impunity, the authorities of the capital city council cut the electricity to prevent the protests from being heard through the speakers. However, this action did not stop the activists who, without microphones, raised their voices to speak. Manuel Olivares, of Redgroac, said he joined the march that was organized by Javier Sicilia to tell the authorities “enough murders, kidnappings, disappearances”. Javier Monroy, coordinator of TADECO, and the director of the Citizen Movement of Guerrero Alphabetization, Austreberto Basilio Goytia, expressed outrage over the murder of the director of the Center of Studies and Projects for Total Human Development, Quetzalcoatl Leija Herrera, which occurred on May 4 in the central plaza of Chilpancingo. In a communique on May 5, TADECO and the Committee of Family and Friends of the Kidnapped, Disappeared and Murdered in Guerrero demanded, among other things, that the State Government of Guerrero “respect, facilitate and support the collaboration of the families of victims of social violence in the investigations”, and that the Federal Government “[…] clarify the cases of campesino Javier Torres Cruz, of the community of La Morena, who was murdered recently [and t]he identification and punishment of those responsible for the extrajudicial murders […] of Raúl Lucas Lucía and Manuel Ponce Rosas”.

Additionally, in a press statement on May 3, national and international human rights networks urged the federal and local government to cancel the La Parota hydroelectric dam project. On the day of April 19, 2011, the Agrarian Tribunal (TUA), based in Acapulco, issued a ruling that annulled the land assembly held on April 28, 2010, which was intended to impose the construction of the hydroelectric project. National and international networks have welcomed the cancellation of the agrarian assembly decision and now call for the definitive cancellation of the project, based on Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which states that the consent of communities is a requirement and without which, no project that involves the removal or relocation of the population can be carried out.

For more information:

Sabotea alcaldía capitalina mitin de ONG contra la violencia en el zócalo (La Jornada, 6 May)

Respaldan organizaciones en el Zócalo de Chilpancingo la Marcha por la Paz (Sur Acapulco, 6 May)

Communique of TADECO and Committee of Family and Friends of the Kidnapped, Disappeared and Murdered in Guerrero

Exigen ONG’s cancelar definitivamente La Parota, por fallo de juez (Radio Formula, 3 May)

Redes de OSC llaman a poner punto final a La Parota (CENCOS, 3 May)

For more information from SIPAZ:

TUA annuls the 28 April 2010 assembly regarding La Parota (May 12)

Brutal murder of LGBT activist in Chilpancingo (6 May)

Guerrero – briefs: The violent legacy of the Zeferino Torreblanca administration; New Governor Ángel Aguirre to meet with La Parota opposition; Tlachinollan receives Human Rights award from Amnesty International

On April 1, Guerrero’s new governor, Ángel Aguirre Rivero took office. The previous governor, Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, was strongly criticized by various civil society actors during his term in office. In a press release on March 25, the Community Development Workshop (TADECO) and the Committee of Relatives and Friends of Kidnapped, Disappeared and Murdered in Guerrero said, “Under the agonizingly bad governance of Zeferino Torreblanca, the lack of coherent and effective policies on security and human rights was not only a result of the inefficiency and inability of his government, but rather, such crimes were being organized by the state, reaffirming the fact that the governments of Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo and Felipe Calderón Hinojosa are ultimately responsible for this situation by action, omission or connivance. ” Similarly, the president of the Human Rights Commission of Guerrero (CODDEHUM), Juan Alarcón Hernández, said that during the term of Torreblanca, Guerrero suffered setbacks on human rights and now faces a stage that is “unfortunate and of crisis.” At least 202 abductions, more than 5,000 intentional homicides, including 11 journalists and 447 against women, and 170 missing, is the legacy left by Zeferino Torreblanca in Guerrero, according to CODDEHUM.

The new governor, Angel Aguirre, in an interview with Formula Radio on Tuesday April 5, clarified that in the case of the La Parota dam, he did not say he supported its construction and that he would consult the mayor Manuel Anorve Baños. “No, I did not say ‘yes’ to La Parota, I said that there were a number of projects to be analyzed, among which is La Parota.” He said the April 11 Council will meet with the Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota (CECOP), accompanied by Archbishop Carlos Garfias Merlos from the Diocese of Acapulco. During his campaign, Aguirre first came out against the hydroelectric project, possibly for the support of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, but after a meeting with the former governor, Zeferino Torreblanca, he said he would consider it. For his part, the mayor of Acapulco, Manuel Anorve – who was a candidate for governor of the state alliance, Better Times for Guerrero – reiterated his support for the construction of the hydroelectric dam. He stated that no one can be against the development of Acapulco. He said hydroelectric power is “a new and economically important industry that will generate 10,000 jobs. I’ll be doing what corresponds to me being a mayor in order for the project to be realized.”

Finally, on 19 March, Amnesty International issued a statement that the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Montaña and its director, Abel Barrera Hernández, will receive the VI Human Rights Award from Amnesty International. The organization wants to recognize the struggle for the human rights of the indigenous population in the state of Guerrero, parting from the work of the anthropologist Abel Barrera and the Human Rights Center of the Montaña. The awards ceremony will take place during the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International in Berlin, Germany on May 27 this year.

For more information:

Cinco mil asesinatos, 202 secuestros y 170 desaparecidos, la herencia de Torreblanca (Proceso, 29 March)

Se extingue un gobierno de pesadilla y en el horizonte no percibimos ninguna luz de justicia (TADECO and the Comittee of Relatives and Friends of Kidnapped, Disappeared and Murdered in Guerrero, 25 March)

Dice Aguirre sobre el sexenio de Zeferino que no habrá revanchismos, pero tampoco impunidad (Sur Acapulco, 7 April)

Se reunirá Ángel Aguirre con los opositores a la presa La Parota (La Jornada, 7 April)

Refrenda Añorve su apoyo a La Parota; nadie puede ir contra el desarrollo, dice (Sur Acapulco, 7 April)

Incluirá Aguirre a la Iglesia en discusión por La Parota (La Jornada, 7 April)

Con Aguirre, relación de trabajo y de respeto, dice Añorve Baños (La Jornada, 7 April)

Comunicado de Amnistía Internacional (19 March)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero – breves: Instalación de mesas de trabajo en los casos de Inés Fernández y Valentina Rosendo; Acto simbólico en el río Papagayo en contra de la presa La Parota, CRAC convoca para Foro contra la minería – 12 de abril (25 March)

Guerrero – briefs: Release of charges against members of Radio Ñomndaa; Offices of El Sur de Acapulco closed by threats; Indigenous person murdered by the Army of Tlacoachistlahuaca; A campaign in defense of Mother Earth launched

On March 25, an order was issued for the release of Radio Ñomndaa members, David Valtierra Arango, Silverio Matías Domínguez and Genaro Cruz Apóstal, after having been indicted on charges of unlawful deprivation of liberty in the case of Narisco Garcia Valtierra. Initially, the men had been sentenced to 3 years and 2 months in prison with a fine of 1,753 pesos, and according to their defense, without any proof that the defendants had participated in the events. The same judge who ruled against the defense at first, almost simultaneously exonerated José Luis Rocha Ramírez, a member of a powerful cacique group in Xochistlahuaca, who was responsible for the injury Silverio Matías and caused the loss of his eye – a fact that members of Radio Ñomndaa considered as an indicator of lack of impartiality by the judge.

One week prior, during the First Meeting of Community Radios, Free Radios and National and International Alternative Media – celebrated from March 18 to 20 in San Luis Acatlán, in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero – organizations in attendance endorsed the work of the human rights defender and member of Radio Ñomndaa, David Valtierra Arango. It was stated that through the criminal proceedings rigged against him, Valtierra has been subject to slander seeking to discredit his work as an advocate and promoter of human rights for the people of Nanncue Ñomndaa, which he has been doing since 2000.

Additionally, on March 25, in the face of persisting threats, the director of the newspaper El Sur de Acapulco, Juan Angulo, stated that the newspaper’s offices in Acapulco would be closed. The employees of the paper will work from home and do additional writing and editing for the upcoming editions at El Sur’s offices in Chilpancingo. It was announced that the closure of the facilities would last until the end of Zeferino Torreblanca government on 31 March. The editor of the newspaper blamed the governor for the threats against the newspaper and the lack of security for journalists.

Moreover, on the morning of March 24, army troops raided three properties without permission in the town of Tlacoachistlahuaca, allegedly looking for weapons and drugs. One of the soldiers responded to a warning shot and killed an indigenous rancher. On El Zapote ranch, a rancher awoke to realize the presence of strangers on the property, and thus shot a rifle to try to scare them away. In response, soldiers fired at the rancher, Cyril Victor Felicitas, an indigenous Na Savi man from Zacualpan, who died in one of the rooms of the ranch near the stream of Tlacoachistlahuaca.

Finally, on March 28, various organizations, as well as free community radios and alternative media groups, launched the Campaign in Defense of the Territory, called: With an Open Heart Defend our Mother Earth Against Mining. This campaign comes after recognizing that between 2005 and 2010 alone, approximately 200,000 hectares of indigenous territory of the Costa Chica and Montaña regions of Guerrero have been made accessible to foreign companies by the federal government, through concessions of 50 years, during which the companies may perform activities exploration and exploitation without consultation of indigenous peoples nor acknowledgement of their rights to territory. The first stage of the campaign will be devoted to disseminating information on the problems of mining.

For more information:
Absuelven a defensores de derechos humanos de Xochistlahuaca (CENCOS, 29 March)

comunicado-radio-Ñomndaa-29-03-2011 (29 March)

Avalan trabajo del comunicador David Valtierra como defensor y promotor de derechos humanos (CENCOS, 23 March)

Amenazan a periodistas de El Sur de Guerrero. Con Denise Maerker (Radio Formula, 25 March)

Cierra El Sur sus oficinas en Acapulco; protesta así por la falta de garantías a sus trabajadores (Sur Acapulco)

Soldados matan a indígena durante un allanamiento (La Jornada, 26 March)

Website of the campaign against mining in the Costa Chica and Montaña region:

http://acorazonabierto.acervo.org

comunicado-campaña-a-corazon-abierto-defendamos-nuestra-madre-tierra-en-contra-de-la-mineria

For more information from SIPAZ:
Guerrero – briefs: Prodh Center sends amicus curiae in the case of Radio Ñomndaa; Union of peoples and social organizations mobilizes to demand preferential rates for electricity; “1,289 murders, 289 disappeared and 25 kidnapped in 4 years”: TADECO (27 March)

Guerrero: Wounds of conflict over water access in Tecoanapa (Costa Chica)

Tecoanapa

Photo @ Guerrerense Network of Civil Society and Human Rights Organizations

On March 17, the lack of intervention by the state and municipal governments in Tecoanapa, in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero, resulted in a clash between the inhabitants of five villages belonging to the municipality, and the inhabitants of the county seat. The clash was due to the decision of residents from the five villages Mecatepec, Tepintepec, El Guayabo, Barrio Nuevo and El Carrizo to finish establishing a drinking water system by themselves.

The aformentioned communities lack access to water because, in spite of having a concession to the liquid, there is no infrastructure to get it into the communities. At the same time, there is discharge of drainage from the head municipality, Tecoanapa, flowing into the only river accessible to the communities, causing contamination, as well as skin, gastrointestinal, eye and ear diseases. Since 2005, in the face of increasing pollution of the river, the five communities formed the “Council of Authorities of the Five Towns of Tecoanapa” to make arrangements for access to water, and in 2006, this resulted in the adoption of the project called the “Tecoanapa Multiple Drinking Water System”.

However, to date, the project has not been completed. The work has been slowed by a group of the municipal seat, calling itself the Tecoanapa Water Committee, a body composed of individuals who manage the water, without having legal authority to do so. This committee has also been exploiting the water by selling it to ranches, ponds and purification companies in the area. The “Multiple Water System”, to be completed, would affect the economic interests of the members of this Committee.

The clash between the two groups on March 17 left at least 20 injured – 15 of the community group and 5 of the municipal seat. Present at the confrontation were members of the State Preventative Police, but they did not intervene to prevent violence. The standoff ended when roughly 50 soldiers arrived, which calmed the people. At night, the technical secretary of the Guerrerense Network of Civil Society and Human Rights Organizations, Manuel Olivares Hernández, reported that the inhabitants of the towns spoke of the possibility of continuing with the laying of the pipeline. The chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODDEHUM), Juan Alarcón Hernández, asked the state government to take protective measures for the five communities in the municipality of Tecoanapa. The request was accepted but not fulfilled so far.

Given the unwillingness of the authorities to take responsibility for complying with the construction of the potable water pipeline, the Five Communities ask civil society to send urgent appeals to the Mexican authorities (see release of the Five Communities below).

For more information:

Enfrentamiento por el agua en Tecoanapa; reportan 12 heridos (La Jornada, 17 March)

Dejan 20 lesionados enfrentamientos por el agua en Tecoanapa (Sur Acapulco, 18 March)

Cumplen el emplazamiento y retoman cinco pueblos la obra del agua potable (Sur Acapulco, 18 March)

No cumplió el gobierno las medidas cautelares a favor de los cinco pueblos de Tecoanapa: Codehum (Sur Acapulco, 18 March)

Ficha tecnica-agua-caso tecoanapa dic2010

14-03-011-COMUNICADO-5-pueblos

Guerrero – briefs: Prodh Center sends Amicus Curiae in the case of Radio Ñomndaa; Union of Peoples and Social Organizations mobilizes to demand preferential rates for electricity; “1,289 murders, 289 disappeared and 25 kidknapped in 4 years”: TADECO

On March 15, the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights (Centro Prodh) presented an amicus curiae to the High Court of Justice of the state of Guerrero to provide elements to the case of David Valtierra Arango, Genaro Cruz Apóstol y Silverio Matías Domínguez, members of the Committee of Radio Ñomndaa in Xochistlahuaca. Through the amicus curiae, they expressed concerns that called attention to relevant aspects for consideration in the case. The amicus curiae makes a “strong appeal to the Judiciary of the State of Guerrero to be a guarantor of justice.” Also mentioning that “[t]he reasoning of the Judge of the First Instance showed profound lack of consideration for cultural and ethnic diversity, which are  recognized in the Constitution” and that “taking a determination of the Amuzgo regulatory system to the field of criminal law, reflects a lack of recognition for the self-determination of indigenous peoples and their authorities”.

Additionally, the Union of Peoples and Social Organizations of the Montaña, Costa Chica and Central regions of the state of Guerrero, will mobilize on March 21, to demand the application of preferential rates on lighting, in Guerrero, from the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE). Leaders of the group reported that its motion is seeking that federal and local deputies undertake a bill for the application of the preferential rates, which would take into account socio-economic factors in stead of climatological ones, as has happened in states such as Chiapas and Tabasco.

Lastly, during the Fifth Day for Life, Liberty, Justice and Citizen Rights, on Monday, March 14, the director of the Workshop of Community Development (TADECO), Javier Monroy, denounced that in the last four years, the TADECO and the Committee of Family and Friends of the Kidknapped, Disappeared and Murdered in Guerrero, registered “1,289 murders, 289 disappeared and 25 kidknapped” with no connection to organized crime. The event was held on the fourth anniversary of the disappearance of Jorge Gabriel Cerón Silva, leader of TADECO.

For more information:

Centro Prodh entrega amicus al Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Guerrero en el caso de indígenas defensores de DH de Xochistlahuaca (16 March)

Ante la falta de resultados en la CFE, indígenas se movilizarán para bajar tarifas (Sur Acapulco, 15 March)

En cuatro años, más de mil asesinatos de ciudadanos ajenos al crimen, insiste Tadeco (Sur Acapulco, 15 March)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero – briefs: Tlachinollan requests support inthe case of Radio Ñomndaa; Invitation to a workshop against mining in the Montaña and Costa Chica regions (18 March)

Guerrero – briefs: Tlachinollan requests support in the case of Radio Ñomndaa; Invitation to a workshop against mining in the Montaña and Coasta Chica regions

On February 21, a hearing was held to observe the case of Genaro Cruz Apóstal, Silverio Matías Dominguez and David Valtierra Arango, members of the community radio station Radio Ñomndaa of Xochistlahuaca, following a petition for review, which was filed in 2010, after the three were issued a sentence of 3 years and 2 months in jail, and to pay a fine of $1.753,000 (pesos) for the crime of deprivation of liberty. Days later, 70 human rights advocacy organizations and members of the National Network of Civil Society Organizations for Human Rights “All human rights for all ” in Mexico, sent a letter to the president of the High Court of Justice of the State to resolve the case impartially and in accordance with the law. The organizations expressed their interest in the review of this criminal case considering that there have been many irregularities and the fact that the judge has not assessed that the alleged victim, Narciso García Valtierra, claims to not know the defendants and was not deprived of his liberty. The Center for Human Rights Tlachinollan, which bears the legal defense of the case, is seeking the support of civil society, spreading a postcard on the event web sites and sending letters to the President of the High Court of Justice.

Additionally, in the previous months, the Regional Coordinator of Communal Authorities – Community Police (CRAC-PC) and communities of Guerrero’s Montaña and Costa Chica regions, have been organizing against mining exploration, by the Hochschild and CAMSIM corporations, which is underway in the region. They claim that communal territories and the CRAC are threatened by transnational mining interests. Communities are now struggling back and organizing through community radio La Voz de La Costa Chica. At the risk of entering the mining areas of the Mountain and Costa Chica, the CRAC-PC, Radio Ñomndaa, the Zezontle Collective, the Zapateando Collective, the Free Media Network and the Center for Human Rights Tlachinollan, held a meeting and workshop for community radio and independent media interested in supporting the informative and organizational processes of the peoples inhabiting the region. This event, to be held on March 18 and 19 in San Luis Acatlan, is to broaden the strategy of defending the territory, culture and environment.

For more information:

Piden 70 ONG al Tribunal apego a derecho en la revisión de sentenciados de radio Ñomndaa (Sur Acapulco)

Envían ONG carta al TSJ por caso Ñomndaa (La Jornada, 01 de marzo)

Entrevista con David Valtierra, miembro de Radio Ñomndaa (6 de marzo)

Carta modelo para caso Radio Ñomndaa-marzo2011

Video que forma parte de la campaña en contra de la mineria en guerrero: “Tenemos todo y nos falta todo” (9 de marzo)

Encuentro de radios comunitarios: Por la defensa de nuestros territorios, nuestra cultura y el medio ambiente

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero – breves: Falta de voluntad del Estado mexicano para cumplir con sentencia en caso de Valentina e Inés; Comunidades indígenas contra la explotación minera en La Montaña; CECOP pide resolución acerca de petición de nulidad de asamblea de 28 de abril (17 de febero)

Guerrero – breves: Piden apoyo para caso Radio Ñomndaa; SCJN atrae amparo pedido por familiares de Rosendo Radilla; 4 meses de desaparición de activista Victor Ayala; Debate entre candidatos a la gobernatura estatal: 18 de enero (17 de enero)

Guerrero – breves: Desalojan el Módulo de TADECO y espacios de artesanos en la Plaza Cívica de Chilpancingo; Asesinan al líder del ERPI (1 de marzo)

Guerrero – briefs: TADECO module and space for artisans in Plaza Cívica of Chilpancingo forcibly evicted; ERPI leader is assassinated

On 25 February, officials from Chilpancingo City Hall, supported by some 20 police and one public notary, evicted the informational and cultural space organized by the Workshop of Communal Development (TADECO) in the Plaza Cívica of the city.  Similarly, on 27 February, municipal police, among other officials, attempted to evict the artisans who have for several years sold their goods in the Plaza.  One such artisan was arrested and released 7 hours later.  The leadership of the artisans has presented an affidavit to the Public Ministry for the crimes of injuries, robbery, abuse of authority, and death-threats.  The attempted eviction finds its basis in the intentions of City Hall to leave the Zócalo of the capital-city clear of ambulatory merchants.  The members of TADECO, like the merchants in the center of Chilpancingo, installed themselves in a sit-in to demand that their spaces be returned to them so that they can continue to sell.  TADECO and the Committee of the Disappeared invite those who support them to attend the manifestation planned for Thursday 3 March at 10am in La Alameda.  For his part, Juan Alarcón Hernández, president of the Commission of Defense of Human Rights (CODDEHUM), called on municipal authorities to behave in accordance with the law and to respect the culture of legality regarding the human rights of the artisans and merchants of the capital’s Zócalo.

In other news, on Wednesday 23 February, a group of armed men killed Rubén Santana Alonson, presumed to be the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent People (ERPI), in the community La Laguna in the Sierra de Coyuca de Catalán.  Javier Monroy, TADECO coordinator, noted that the comandante Ramiro was killed in a similar way to Santana Alonso, adding that such shows that the government seeks to dismantle the ERPI.  Omar Guerrero Solís, better known as comandante Ramiro, member of the ERPI, was killed on 4 November 2009 in the Sierra de Coyuca de Catalán.  Rubén Santana was associated with the latest attack on the state police that occurred in October 2010 when police climbed the sierra to rescue the kidnapped cattle-rancher Homero Montúfar; before arriving to La Laguna they were intercepted by an armed group.  According to the official report, armed subjects killed Rubén Santana Alonson; no other details are provided.

For more information (in Spanish):

Manifestación TADECO y Comité Desaparecidos

Golpes y amenazas en intento de desalojo de artesanos del Zócalo de Chilpancingo (Sur de Acapulco, 28 February)

Con policías, quitan a comerciantes reinstalados en el zócalo capitalino (La Jornada, 26 February)

Pide la Codehum al alcalde Astudillo “evitar cualquier acto de violencia” (Sur de Acapulco, 28 February)

Por exceso de confianza, el asesinato del lugarteniente de Ramiro: Javier Monroy (La Jornada, 28 February)

Matan a presunto líder guerrillero en la sierra de Coyuca de Catalán (Sur de Acapulco, 28 February)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Uncertainty over future of TADECO module at Chilpancingo Civic Square (24 February)

Guerrero: Reactivation of arrest-orders against members of CETEG; social organizations meet before the Inter-American Commission; Mexican State violating sentence, it is accused; homage to Comandante Ramiro (11 November 2010)