Chiapas: Conflict erupts in Venustiano Carranza, with two dead and several injured

On 5 May in Venustiano Carranza, there were seen confrontations between members of the campesino organizations Casa del Pueblo and the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization-Chiapas (OCEZ-Chiapas), resulting in several injured and two dead.  According to information provided by the diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the confrontation began during the early morning of Sunday 5 May, when masked persons entered into different residences firing guns and burning homes.  In their respective communiques, both groups blamed the opposing organization for having initiated the conflict.  During the course of the happenings, which engulfed nearly the entire urban zone of Venustiano Carranza with the exception of two neighborhoods, two persons died and several more were injured.  For its part, the OCEZ-Carranza Region (OCEZ-RC) distanced itself from the events.

Following the confrontations, the state government indicated that it all had to do with an agrarian conflict, and for this reason it did not consider itself competent to attempt resolution of the problem.  Regardless, on 7 May, toward the end of seeking a solution to the conflict Noé Castañón, General Secretary for Governance, Raciel López Salazar,  state Attorney General, and Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca, head of the Secretary for Public Security and Citizens’ Protection, visited the area to try to find a solution to the conflict, in accordance with media reports.  It was proposed that families belonging to OCEZ-Chiapas, which presently find themselves outside the offices of Citizens’ Protection, that they be relocated to the Berriozabal municipality, a proposal they rejected.  The same journalistic source indicated that a military check-point had been established at the entrance of a community of the municipality, with several fly-overs reported.

For more information (in Spanish):

Proceso: Enfrentamientos entre pobladores dejan tres muertos en Chiapas (05/05/2013)

Proceso: Pasividad del gobierno de Manuel Velasco causa violencia en Chiapas: ONG (06/05/2013)

Proceso: Campesinos de Chiapas temen más agresiones de supuestos paramilitares (08/05/2013)

Comunicado de la OCEZ-FNLS

Comunicado de la OCEZ-Chiapas

Comunicado de la OCEZ-RC

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Denunciation of residents of Candelaria El Alto, Venustiano Carranza regarding the “El Desengaño” territory (25 March 2012)

Chiapas: new public denunciation from the Candelaria El Alto community (16 January 2012)

Chiapas: confrontation in Candelaria El Alto, Venustiano Carranza (28 September 2011)

Oaxaca: Disturbances during May Day march; human-rights defender among those arrested

@ CODIGO-DH

On 1 May in Oaxaca City, there was held a commemorative march for International Workers’ Day which resulted in confrontations between protestors and the municipal police, leaving 34 arrested, including 7 minors.   In a communique, the Committee for Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights Gobixha (CODIGO-DH) reported that the police opened fire with live ammunition, firing into the ground before the protestors and the air above them.  Furthermore, Gobixha demanded the liberation of Susana Ramírez Jiménez, a CODIGO-DH member, who was arrested as she was documenting abuses on the part of the police, having identified herself as a human-rights defender; however, this did not prevent her from being arrested.  Due to the context in which her arrest was performed, and given the lack of communication and violation of the right of habeas corpus, an Urgent Action was released demanding her immediate release, as well as that of those who were “arbitrarily arrested.”  On 2 May, in an update on the situation of Ramírez Jiménez, who at that time still was incarcerated, CODIGO-DH indicated that “our fear is that they could fabricate crimes against her, due to her mere presence at the time and space of the protest, so as to systematically criminalize human-rights defenders and social activists.  We denounce the excessive use of public force on the part of the police, who used their firearms to ‘contain the protestors’ by firing high-caliber weapons, including R-15′s, just in front of the protestors, both into the air as into the ground.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Acción Urgente: Nuevas detenciones arbitrarias en Oaxaca, entre ellas una integrante de CODIGO-DH (01/05/2013)

CODIGO-DH: Defensora de CODIGO DH sigue detenida (02/05/2013)

Ciudadanía Express: Documentan abusos policiales en detención de manifestantes (02/05/2013)

Quadratín Oaxaca: Liberarán a menores que participaron en disturbios del 1 de Mayo (02/05/2013)

Noticias Oaxaca: Violencia opaca Día del Trabajo (02/05/2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Harassment of the offices of Código DH (8 April 2013)

Oaxaca: Harassment and robbery of offices of Consorcio (14 November 2011)

Oaxaca: new intimidation directed at Alba Cruz (18 January 2011)

National: Second March for National Dignity

On 10 May, Mother’s Day in Mexico, there was held a “Second March for National Dignity” in which participated Mexican and Central American mothers who are seeking out their disappeared daughters and sons in Mexico.  The caravan was accompanied by civil-society organizations that demand truth and justice for the at least 26,000 cases of disappearances that have occurred in recent years, the majority of which continue without having been investigated.

“Today, May 10, is a very special day for many women who are mothers in Mexico.  However, for these mothers it is a sad memory of the absence of their children,” emphasized Daniel Zapico, representative of Amnesty International (AI) in Mexico.  “It is time that these authorities recognize the dignity of the struggle of these families and act to observe their obligations to clarify their disappearances and hold those responsible to justice,” noted the communique published by AI on the occasion.

For its part, the Network All Rights for All expressed that “it is very worrying that a year after the first March for National Dignity, the demands of mothers and relatives have not been resolved, and the number of disappeared continues to rise.  These realities show us the incompetence and lack of will on the part of local, state, and federal authorities to labor to resolve the disappearances and above all to guarantee, protect, and respect the human rights of all.  The Mexican State should take its responsibility by finding the disappeared, utilizing all the means available to it so that victims have access to truth, reparations, and the security of not continuing to be object of violations that damage their dignity.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Madres con hijos desaparecidos marchan, lanzan globos, cuentan su historia, lloran… (Proceso, 10 de mayo de 2013)

Madres de desaparecidos exigen búsqueda efectiva de sus familiares (La Jornada, 10 de mayo de 2013)

La Red TDT se solidariza con la Segunda Marcha de la Dignidad Nacional (Comunicado Red TdT, 10 de mayo de 2013)

Demandan que se tipifique como delito la desaparición de personas en Chihuahua (Proceso, 9 de mayo de 2013)

Participará Amnistía Internacional en Marcha de la Dignidad Nacional (La Jornada, 9 de mayo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National: Mothers of the disappeared on hunger strike before Segob (16 November 2012)

Mexico: Caravan of mothers of Central American migrants seeking out their children (2 November 2012)

National: “March for National Dignity, mother seeking out their children and justice” (18 May 2012)

Mexico: Report of the UN Work Group on Forced and Involuntary Disappearances (24 March 2012)

Chiapas: 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: the International Week of the Disappeared and Detained ends (9 June 2011)

Mexico: Preliminary conclusions from the UN relator regarding extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions in the country

From 22 April to 2 May, the Special Relator of the Untied Nations on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, visited Mexico, where he met with governmental officials, judges, members of civil society, and victims in Mexico City and the states of Chihuahua, Guerrero, and Nuevo León.

Upon finishing his visit, Heyns urged the Mexican government to strengthen the structure of the country in terms of protection of human rights in general and the right to life in particular, so as to reduce the necessity of the use of force.  Mr. Heyns also recommended the reduction of the involvement of military forces in police tasks.

“From my point of view, it is particularly important to diminish the participation of soldiers in police work, to assure that civil courts judge members of the armed forces who have been accused of committing human-rights violations, including murders of civilians; and to establish clear and broadly recognized standards on the use of force on the part of public-security forces,” he said.  The Special Relator also called special attention to the problem of impunity: “All of these lives that have been lost should be investigated with the same rigor, and each perpetrator should be apprehended and judged.  To follow this object it would serve not only to diminish impunity but also to re-establish the value that society places on life,” he emphasized.  Heyns stressed the importance of making justice by solving past homicides, whether committed during the Dirty War, or the more than 100,000 registered during the government of Felipe Calderón.  Whichever strategy is chosen for the future, he noted, must first look to the past.

For more information (in Spanish):

El desastre mexicano pone a dudar al relator Heyns (Proceso, 7 de mayo de 2013)

Comunicado de prensa: Relator Especial de la ONU urge al Estado mexicano a fortalecer la protección de los DH y reducir el uso de las fuerzas militares en labores policíacas(OACNUDH, 3 de mayo de 2013)

La estrategia militar contra crimen no funciona: ONU(El Universal, 3 de mayo de 2013)

Impunidad sistémica y endémica, principal desafío del gobierno federal: Christof Heyns (La Jornada, 3 de mayo de 2013)

Observaciones preliminares sobre la visita oficial a México del Relator Especial sobre ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias, Christof Heyns, 22 de abril al 2 de mayo del 2013b (2 de mayo de 2013)

Ojalá gendarmería no se trate del Ejército con “otro uniforme”: Relator de la ONU (Proceso. 2 de mayo de 2013)

Activistas y víctimas de Guerrero se reúnen con el relator de la ONU (La Jornada, 30 de abril de 2013)

Presenta ombudsman a relator de la ONU panorama de derechos (La Jornada, 25 de abril de 2013)

Especial interés de relator de la ONU en temas de fuero y justicia militar del país(La Jornada, 24 de abril de 2013)

Detallan a relator de la ONU un negro panorama en derechos humanos en México (Proceso, 24 de abril de 2013)

Chiapas: Call for Justice and the #Release of Patishtán, from 4 May to 19 June

From 4 May to 19 June, relatives of the prisoner Alberto Patishtán Gómez, the Movement of the People of El Bosque in Favor of the Release of Alberto Patishtán, and other organizations have organized a campaign called “For Justice and the #Release of Patishtan.”  In the blog which contains the information regarding Patishtán Gómez, it is asserted that “the lawyers of professor ALBERTO PATISHTAN have been informed at the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation that the resolution is still to be awaited [...].  In light of this, we believe that during this month of May it is possible to remit the case before the FIRST COLLEGIATE TRIBUNAL which will release its decision immediately.  As a consequence, the resolution as to whether his innocence will be recognized or not could be had in the month of June 2013.”

On 19 June will have passed 13 years since the beginning of the incarceration of professor Patishtán, and it is for this reason that the campaign will be launched.  Beyond this, there will be carried out presentations of the documentary “Alberto Patishtan: Live or Die for Truth and Justice.”  In this sense, there will also be a campaign to sign letters directed to the justices of the First Collegiate Tribunal of the Tuxtla Gutierrez Circuit.  Some of the other actions to be included will be a march every Friday from 10-12pm and from 4-7pm, with the Twitter hashtag #ReleasePatishstán.

For more information (in Spanish):

CONVOCATORIA POR LA JUSTICIA Y LA #LIBERTADPATISHTAN del 4 de mayo al 19 de junio 2013 (Blog Alberto Patishtán, mayo 2013)

Documental: Alberto Patishtán; Vivir o Morir Por la Verdad y la Justicia (Koman Ilel, abril 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Pilgrimage of the Believing People for the release of professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez (23 April 2013)

Chiapas: Petition from the CDHFBC to release Alberto Patishtán (15 April 2013)

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

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

Guerrero: Impunity continues in the Ayotzinapa case; students arrested and then released

Photo @SIPAZ

At the beginning of May, Amnesty International (AI) called on the state government of Guerrero to take all necessary actions to avoid the eventuality that the murder of two students from the rural normal school “Isidro Burgos” of Ayotzinapa continue in impunity, so as to assure that those who are found responsible be prosecuted.  In a communique, AI joined the call carried out by different Mexican civil-society organizations and international organizations to put an end to the impunity that has prevailed in the case of the murder of two students from the rural normal school of Ayotzinapa in 2011.  The organizations which signed the public letter to Guerrero’s governor, Ángel Aguirre Rivero, include among others the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights and the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights.  In the letter, they emphasize that  “The obligation to diligently investigate these types of acts finds its basis not only in the law of Guerrero, but also in the political Constitution and the international accords [signed by Mexico] in terms of human rights.”

In other news, during the afternoon of 7 May, 25 students from the rural normal school of Ayotzinapa were arrested by state police using violence and beatings, and even firearms, according to witness testimony, on the federal highway between Chilpancingo and Iguala.  The students were transferred to the State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE), where they were surrounded by anti-riot police.  The arrest catalyzed a mobilization undertaken by teachers from the State Coordination of Educational Workers from Guerrero (CETEG) during the evening, who carried out a sit-in before the principal entrance to the PGJE office.  Following several hours of protest, the students were released on the morning of the 8th.

For more information (in Spanish):

Carta Pública al gobernador Ángel Aguirre (2 de mayo de 2013)

AI pide a Guerrero poner fin a impunidad en caso Ayotzinapa (El Universal, 5 de mayo de 2013)

Llama AI a dar fin a la impunidad en Caso Ayotzinapa (Novedades Acapulco, 5 de mayo de 2013)

Liberan a comunitarios y detienen ahora a 25 alumnos de Ayotzinapa (El Sur de Acapulco, 7 de mayo de 2013)

Liberan esta madrugada a los 25 normalistas de Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 8 de mayo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Release of police charged for the murder of students from the Rural Normal of Ayotzinapa (29 April 2013)

Guerrero: normalists commemorate first anniversary of repression in Ayotzinapa (21 December 2013)

Guerrero: New aggressions against students in Ayotzinapa (26 November 2012)

Guerrero: “The Ayotzinapa case cannot remain in impunity” – OMCT (16 August 2012)

Guerrero: Ayotzinapa denounces impunity six months after the deaths of two students (17 June 2012)

Guerrero: CNDH confirms serious rights-violations against students of Ayotzinapa (16 January 2012)

Guerrero: Extrajudicial execution of students from the Rural Normal of Ayotzinapa (21 December 2011)

Oaxaca: Death-threats directed at two human-rights defenders

Two human-rights defenders, both of them members of the Comprehensive Committee for Defense of Human Rights Gobixha AC (CODIGO-DH), suffered harassment and assault on 8 May, reports Amnesty International (AI).

“Alba Cruz Ramos, human-rights defender, received a threatening text message on 30 April.  It was similar to other threats that she had received previously: in this one, she was called ‘mami’ and told that the senders had unresolved business to finish; they did not attempt to repeat the threat, but instead acted on it.  Alba Cruz Ramos, lawyer and coordinator of the Comprehensive Committee for Defense of Human Rights Gobixha AC (CODIGO-DH), has since 2007 been awarded precautionary measured as ordered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights so that she be afforded protection in light of the threats she has received due to the work for defending human rights,” as the AI Urgent Action notes.

AI continues: “Another human-rights defender who works with CODIGO-DH, Susana Ramírez, was detained and released after having spent 34 hours incarcerated.  She did not suffer abuses, but CODIGO-DH believes that her arrest was revenge for her work in defense of human rights.  As part of her work in the department of communications in CODIGO-DH, Susana Ramirez has been covering a protest in Oaxaca City during which protestors confronted the municipal police.  Susana Ramirez told the police that she had not been participating the protest, but rather documenting it; nonetheless, she was arrested together with 28 others.  She was held incomunicado for several hours, and was denied the right to speak with her lawyer and her family until 14 hours after her arrest.”

For more information (in Spanish):

México: DEFENSORAS DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS, AMENAZADAS, Amnistía Internacional, 8 de mayo de 2013

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Harassment of the offices of Código DH (8 April 2013)

Oaxaca: Harassment and robbery of offices of Consorcio (14 November 2011)

Oaxaca: new intimidation directed at Alba Cruz (18 January 2011)

Guerrero: Release of 6 members of Communal Police who were detained on 6 May

Meeting in San Luis Acatlán, 17 February 2013. Photo @SIPAZ

Members of the Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities (CRAC) were released after having paid bail of 62,000 pesos, as reports Vidulfo Rosales, defense counsel and representative of the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights.  He explained that six communal police had been released after having been arrested for 24 hours in Acapulco by the Subdelegate of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) for the crime of carrying firearms.  Raúl de Jesús, coordinator of the Communal Police in San Luis Acatlán, declared to the media that the crime was of carrying firearms of 9mm caliber, which are supposedly used for defense, taken from arrested persons.

The CRAC released a bulletin on 6 May declaring that “IT IS CLEAR THAT THERE EXISTS AN INTENTION AND OBJECTIVE TO DISMANTLE OUR COMMUNAL INSTITUTION BY REPRESSING IT, HARASSING IT, AND LEADING OUR PEOPLES TO ASSUME DEFENSIVE POSTURES.  IN LIGHT OF ALL THIS, THE GOVERNMENT DENIES THE WORK OF OUR COMMUNAL POLICE AND THE CRAC, WHICH DURING THE PAST 17 YEARS HAVE EFFICIENTLY RESOLVED THE PROBLEMS OF INSECURITY AND JUSTICE IN THE REGION OF THE MOUNTAIN AND LA COSTA CHICA.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Boletin CRAC 6 DE MAYO 2013

Liberan a policías comunitarios en Acapulco tras pagar fianza (Radio Fórmula, 7 de mayo de 2013)

PGR libera a los dos últimos detenidos de la policía comunitaria en Guerrero (Crónica, 7 de mayo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: CRAC-PC demystifies journalistic claims regarding UPOEG (20 March 2013)

Guerrero: Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities-Communal Police (CRAC-PC) pronounces itself against state decree (26 February 2013)

Guerrero: Authorities linked to the UPOEG occupy the House of Justice of the CRAC in San Luis Acatlán (26 February 2013)

Guerrero: Governor Aguirre intervenes in situation of insecurity in Ayutla. Communal Police repeats: “it is not us” (24 January 2013)

Guerrero: Self-defense against organized crime in 4 municipalities (15 January 2013)

Guerrero: Social insurrection in Olinalá against organized crime (9 November 2012)

Oaxaca: Meeting of Peoples in Resistance for the Defense of Territory in the Tehuantepec Isthmus

During 4 and 5 May, there was held the Meeting of Peoples in Resistance for the Defense of Territory in Juchitán de Zaragoza, in the Tehuantepec Isthmus, where there was popular agreement to block the construction work of the wind-energy park Bi Hioxio (Strong Wind) being advanced by the transnational Spanish firm Fenosa Union-Natural Gas (UFGN), located within communal Juchiteca lands.  As was confirmed by physical examination, UFGN has continued its work on the side of the highway toward Unión Hidalgo, where the foundations for several wind-energy installations have already been installed.

Beyond this, Eurodeputies Ska Keller (Germany) and Satu Hassi (Finland) visited the Isthmus region to learn more about the problems of wind-energy parks that are being installed, some of them with European capital, so as to make recommendations in this regard before the European parliament.  They also visited the Piedra Larga site, owned by the Demex firm in Unión Hidalgo, where they observed wind-energy generators leaking oil.

Furthermore, during the Meeting agreement was had to carry out a campaign in the communities of the Tehuantepec Isthmus to abstain from state elections for 7 July, as well as strengthen the creation of communal police units where they do not exist, toward the end of advancing the right to self-determination and self-defense of indigenous communities.

For more information (in Spanish):

Acuerdo comunitario para frenar parque eólico en el área de Juchitán (La Jornada, 5 de mayo de 2013)

Pactan en el Istmo oaxaqueño campaña de abstención para los comicios de julio (La Jornada, 6 de mayo de 2013)

Audio:

Primer día del Encuentro de Pueblos en Resistencia por la Defensa del Territorio, Istmo de Tehuantepec (Radio Zapatista, 4 de mayo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Confrontation over supposed “approval” of wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (8 January 2013)

Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)

Oaxaca: confrontations between PRI militants and opponents to wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (7 December 2012)

Oaxaca: Threats from shock-groups in San Dionisio del Mar (26 October 2012)

Oaxaca: entry of Caravan of Solidarity impeded to San Dionisio del Mar (15 October 2012)

Oaxaca: Meeting for resistance in San Dionisio del Mar, and new threats (21 September 2012)

Oaxaca: Communards of San Dionisio del Mar revoke contract for wind-farm (9 February 2012)

Chiapas: Enrique Peña Nieto’s visit creates conflict in Zinacantán

The residents of the Navenchuac community (Zinacantán municipality), where President Enrique Peña Nieto led an act on 19 April for the so-called Crusade Against Hunger, recalled the municipal agent Antonio Pérez Gómez by means of popular assembly, with his having been accused of not having reported on the destination of the economic resources received for the transport of persons and works.

“The problem began when the people asked the municipal agent where he had left the money he had received to feed the residents during the president’s visit, and since he denied having received any such money, the assembly decided to call the mayor, José Sánchez de la Cruz, who confirmed that Pérez Gómez had received ten thousand pesos, and that he would also give another ten thousand,”  noted the residents of the community.

The protestors say it is necessary that the governor call the mayor to accounts, given that he has not reported on the amount of resources received by President Enrique Peña Nieto following his visit to the Navenchuac community.  They indicated that “what is known in the community is that the mayor and his agent have received much money [unclear how much] so as to give to the people of the communities during the act, but the only actual beneficiaries were members of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico, who received 200 pesos cash each, as well as chicken to eat,” but others “did not even receive soda.”

“We know that the President left money after his visit [...] which was only received by those who are close to him, a total of 1.2 million pesos, also for productive projects that were advanced in a very discreet and personal manner.  There supposedly are agents who had access to this reunion which had 16 million at its disposal, and this has not been reported either to the municipality or to municipal agents,” noted the protestors.

For more information (in Spanish):

Dinero dejado por Peña Nieto para obras y acarreo, genera pleito en Navenchauc, Mirada Sur, 7 de mayo de 2013

Acusan a edil de Zinacantán, Diario de Chiapas, 7 de mayo de 2013

Presidente de Zinacantán se quedó con toda la paga, Noticias, 2 de mayo de 2013

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National/Chiapas: EPN in Navenchauc, Zinacantán launches actions for the National Crusade against Hunger (22 April 2013)