July 1, 2008
President Felipe Calderón addressing the X Tuxtla Presidential Summit (Source: La Jornada)
At the suggestion of Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Plan Puebla-Panama was abandoned in favor of the new “Mesoamerica Project.” The decision was approved on Saturday June 28 at the 10th Tuxtla Summit, site of the meeting of the leaders of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica. Also present were the governors of the Mexican states of Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tabasco, Guerrero, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Chiapas.
According to those in attendance, the new project eliminates some 95% of the development and infrastructure projects originally planned for in the Plan Puebla-Panama since its inception in 2001. The remaining plans concentrate on highways and infrastructure, and energy, electrical and information networking. In addition, there will also be a focus on plans to establish mechanisms for joint purchases of food stuffs and fertilizers, as well as working together on the issues of biofuels, fuel prices and climate change.
The leaders also reiterated their pledge to fight organized crime, noting that with the approval of the Mérida Initiative a foundation is now in place to start a Security Plan between Mexico and Central America that will include bilateral and multilateral strategies. It is estimated that there will be some USD 953 million slated for concrete measures within the plan.
As of the time of writing, there has been no response from the Mexican or international civil society on this issue.
More information:
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June 4, 2008
Francisco Pérez Vázquez and Ángel Concepción Pérez Gutiérrez. Source: Frayba.
On the night of June 2, 2008, the Zapatista prisoners Ángel Concepción Pérez Gutiérrez and Francisco Pérez Vázquez were released from the State Center for the Social Reinsertion of Sentenced Prisoners (CERSS) #14 in Yajalón, Chiapas. They had been incarcerated since 1996 for a case of homicide. Until April 24, they were detained in the prison of Tacotalpa, in the neighbouring state of Tabasco; that day they were transferred to Yajalón. The legal justification for their liberation has yet to be made public.
See also SIPAZ’s previous posts related to these detainees: their detention in the prison of Tacoltalpa, Tabasco, their hunger strike at the end of April, and their transfer from Tabasco to Chiapas.
More information (currently only available in Spanish):
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April 7, 2008
Fuente: zapateando.wordpress.com
As of Saturday April 5, the eight detainees continued to maintain their hunger strike in CERESO #14, known as “El Amate” in Cintalapa issued a communiqué stating that they were terminating the strike. The group of seven men and one woman made the decision in response to a letter written by the Emeritus Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Samuel Ruiz García. Other sources also indicate that the detainees in CERESO #5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas have taken the same option. A further consequence of the letter has been the removal of the sit-in maintained at the State Government buildings in Tuxtla Gutiérrez since March 24 by family members of the detainees.
More information:
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February 1, 2008
[Source: Noticias de Oaxaca, 01/31/2008]
According to a report by the News of Oaxaca Newspaper (Noticias de Oaxaca), on January 30th, in the areas surrounding the “El Tequio” Sports Complex, an armed command unit of four assassinated the chief of the Bank, Industrial, and Commercial Auxiliary Police (PABIC), Alejandro Barrita Ortiz, his body guard, Jesús Eduardo Prado Pérez, along with Alonso Muños Rafael and Virginia Galán Rodríguez. These reports were confirmed by the Attorney General of Justice, Nicolás Martínez Ramírez.
[Source: Noticias de Oaxaca, 02/01/2008]
On February 1st, the same newspaper published a photo of graffiti attributed to the Army of Popular Revolution (EPR), supposedly claiming responsibility for the assassination of the chief of PABIC. The graffiti was discovered on a wall of the Institute of Educational Sciences (ICE) in the Autonomous University “Benito Juárez” of Oaxaca (UABJO), located in University City (photo above).
The spokesperson for the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), Florentino López Martínez, previously identified the assassinated commander as one of the responsible in his kidnapping and that of other members of the Popular Revolution Front (FPR) during the social conflict of 2006. After the assassination, López Martínez expressed concern that the murder of these four people in “El Tequio” could lead to further militarization of the state.
More Information:
Mexico police chief, three others killed in Oaxaca
Police commander, 3 others slain in southern Mexico
Quieren culpar al EPR de la ejecución (Noticias, 01/02/2008)
Prevé APPO militarización en Oaxaca (Noticias, 01/02/2008)
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November 21, 2007
The Caravan of the Other Campaign for the Defense of Human and Collective Rights of the Zapatista Peoples, carried out between 17-20 November 2007, ended its visit to the zZapatista communities. The Caravan, which was the outcome of the Second National Forum in Solidarity with the Zapatista Communities in Jojutla, Morelos on October 27 this year, divided itself into four workingbrigades in the Highland, Northern and Jungle zones.
SIPAZ attended the press conference that was held yesterday, November 20, 2007, in TierrAdentro (SCLC).
Audio recordings from the press conference:
Reading of the press-bulletin, in Spanish:
Conclusions by Ernesto Ledesma, coordinator of CAPISE
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October 11, 2007
After a year, viewing Oaxaca
Saturday October 6, 8:30 pm in La Pera
Photo exposition
After a year, viewing Oaxaca
Perspectives from Oaxaca
Exposition by the Photographic Center Manuel Álvarez Bravo
The table:
Liberty of free speech and repression in Oaxaca
With the participation of:
- Sergio Beltran Arruti, general coordinator of the alternative education project at the University of Land (Unitierra), through which he has been collaborating in the Oaxacan People’s Popular Assembly (APPO). He was a member of Radio Plantón, one of the most important community transmitters of the recent Oaxacan movement.
- Silvia Hernández, member of the organization VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices constructing Autonomy and Freedom).
Moderating:
Marina Pages, SIPAZ coordinator
Leonardo Toledo, Independent Photographers
For more information:
Sergio Beltran
http://oaxacalibre.org/oaxlibre/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=497&Itemid=34
Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo
http://cfmab.blogspot.com/
Fotografos Independientes
http://www.tragameluz.org.mx/
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October 11, 2007
On the evening of September 24th the six men who had been detained in the forced eviction in Montes Azules were liberated from imprisonment according to the Chiapas state bulletin. The penal case was annulled in relation to the crimes they were accused of (looting and environmental damages “ecocide”).
They were arrested on August 18 in the eviction operation against “El Buen Samaritano” and “Nuevo Salvador Allende”. Their family-members, 33 women and children currently in the storeroom belonging to ARIC (Asociación Rural de Interés Colectivo – Rural Association of Collective Interest) in the municipality of Ocosingo.
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September 28, 2007
On the 14th of September a federal judge from Acapulco decided in favor of the indefinite suspension of work on the hydroelectric dam project La Parota and ordered the Federal Commission on Electricity (CFE) to stop construction. The District 8 Court in Guerrero conceded an appeal to the inhabitants of Cacahuatepec halting the work that was initiated in June of 2005. This project is considered one of the most important of Vicente Fox’s government (2000-2006). Since the beginning of construction four years ago, environmentalists and non-governmental organizations have denounced the many environmental risks to the waters of the Papagayo River and the biodiversity within the zone, as well as, the irreparable damage to the constitutional right to a healthy environment.
The inhabitants opposed to the mega-project, organized within the Council of Collective Landholders and Communities Opposed to La Parota (CECOP) in the region have argued that the construction of the dam will provoke the displacement of 25,000 people and flood 17,300 hectares of land. It is worth remembering that the resistance against La Parota dam project has cost the lives of three rural farmers who were assassinated during a confrontation to impede its construction.
The lawyer for the Mexican Center of Environmental Rights (CEMDA), Xavier Martínez Esponda, indicated that the provisional suspension of the hydroelectric dam project sets a precedent in Mexico now that the protection of the environment has been privileged over a project around infrastructure, as well as, permitted the protection of public interest.
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