Oaxaca: One-year anniversary of the murder of Bernardo Vásquez

15 March marked the one-year anniversary of the murder of Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, spokesperson of the Coordination of United Peoples in Defense of the Ocotlan Valley (CPUVO) and opponent of the “Trinidad” mine owned by the Cuzcatlán firm, which is a subsidiary of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc, located in the municipality of San José del Progreso.  During 2010 and 2011 Bernardo and members of the CPUVO received death-threats for which they responded with 20 juridical demands, none of which was processed.

Commemorating the one-year anniversary of Bernardo Vázquez’s murder, on March 15 a group of 200 people carried out a ceremony to remember this social activist, before the very site of the Cuzcatlán mine in San José del Progreso.   In accordance with the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights (Centro Prodh), the entire group was arrested following their public act.  These events took place when members of a group supportive of the mine (transported in 5 trucks) blockaded access, including federal highways, to inhibit the free movement of the protesters, who were also fired upon so as to intimidate them.  There were no reports of injured persons, but among those arrested are found members of the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territory, of the CPUVO, residents of San José del Progreso, and members of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights, including its director, José Rosario Marroquín Farrera.

“A year after his murder, the violations of the collective rights of the people continue to be prosecuted by the mining firm, and there has been no institutional means by which to resolve this conflict.  This date leads us to recall the level of impunity with which the mining firms are operating; it also recalls the complicity of municipal, state, and federal governments with the implementation of these projects,” as is noted in the communique by REMA (Mexican Network of those Affected by Mining) that was published for the one-year anniversary.

For more information (in Spanish):

Bernardo VIVE en la lucha de los pueblos de Oaxaca (EDUCA, 15 de marzo de 2013)

A un año del asesinato de Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez se continúan violando los derechos humanos en San José del Progreso (Colectivo Oaxaqueño en Defensa de los Territorios, 14 de marzo de 2013)

Situación de emergencia en San José del Progreso (CodigoDH, 15 de marzo de 2013)

A un año del asesinato de Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, REMA exige justicia para San José del Progreso, Oaxaca, México (Otros Mundos Chiapas, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Activistas hacen toma simbólica de mina en El Progreso, Oaxaca(Milenio, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Retiene grupo armado a 200 activistas opositores a una mina en Oaxaca (WRadio, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Opositores a minera y defensores de DH bien tras hostigamiento(Centro Prodh, 15 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Opponents to mining in San José del Progreso are attacked (25 June 2012)

Oaxaca: access to the Cuzcatlán mine is blocked in San José el Progreso (16 May 2012)

Oaxaca: Actions, denunciations, and mobilizations in the case of San José del Progreso (3 April 2012)

Oaxaca: Murder of the spokesperson of the Coordination of the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (25 March 2012)

Oaxaca: Two opponents of mining in San José del Progreso are fired on (8 February 2012)

Mexico: “Mined land, the defense of the rights of communities and of the environment” (14 December 2011)

National: Thousands of persons participate in the March for Life in Mexico City

Photo @megafono.lunasexta.org

Thousands participated in the March for Life organized by the Network of Autonomous Anticapitalist Resistance (RRAA) left from the Ángel de la Independencia toward the Zócalo of Mexico City on Wednesday 13 March, while activities in solidarity were carried out in another 20 states of Mexico.  During the march there were made many slogans, including rejections of the war against the people and opposition to the rape of Mother Earth, megaprojects, the disappearance of employment, militarization, repression and criminalization of social protest, and attacks on the autonomy of indigenous peoples.

Raúl de Jesús Cabrera, coordinator of the Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities-Communal Police (CRAC-PC) from the House for Justice in San Luís Acatlán, Guerrero, once again stressed the posture of the CRAC in terms of the context of the present discussions regarding self-defense processes and communal police: “Today we have come with 50 people to demonstrate to the federal government that our struggle has always been from below.  We come to totally reject the place of mining firms in Guerrero, which operate mainly in communal territories.  We also reject the decree that the Guerrero state governor Ángel Heladio Aguirre has released, calling for the Communal Police to integrate into the state apparatus, and for the community to be the subject of the federal government, as he desires.  We will not allow this, because our rulers are the people.  There is our base [...].  We would like to report to Mexican society that it not be deceived by the media, because the media at times lie.  There is a great deal of confusion now regarding the relationship between the Communal Police and the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) and self-defense in Guerrero.  We do not have links or ties with them.  We are independent and autonomous.”

For more information (in Spanish):

México DF: Voces desde la Marcha por la Vida(www.megafono.lunasexta.org 14 de marzo de 2013)

México: Durante Marcha por la Vida, Viudas de Pasta de Conchos piden justicia (Kaos en la Red, 15 de marzo de 2013)

El variopinto México de abajo marcha por la vida (Desinformémonos, 18 de marzo de 2013)

For more information (in Spanish):

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)

Chiapas: “Justice is its opposite,” declares Alberto Patishtán

“Justice is its opposite, given that those who have committed crimes such as those accused over the Acteal case are free while those like me who are innocent continue to be imprisoned by the government,” noted Alberto Patishtán Gómez, a prisoner who had been incarcerated now for 12 years, in an interview with La Jornada.  ”It would seem that one has to kill in order to leave prison,” he reiterated, referring to the mode of resolution taken by the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation (SCJN), which newly ordered the release of another prisoner who had been held for presumably having participate din the 1997 Acteal massacre.  It should be recalled that now a total of 58 of the accused for this massacre have been released.  Noé Castañón, secretary of governance, has announced that in this way that it has been done with all, there will be a convention made to provide them with lands so that they do not return to Chenalhó, so as to avoid problems in the area.

Alberto Patishtán recalled that, differently, the SCJN decided not to review his own case, instead noting that the Primary Tribunal in Tuxtla Gutiérrez will be the one to decide whether or not the motion requested by his lawyers be reviewed.

For its part, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights affirmed that the primary hall of the SCJN’s action represents a negation of justice to the thousands of people who processes have been replete with irregularities.  Leonel Rivero, laywer for Patishtán, notes that regardless there is the possibility that the tribunal give him his reason and so immediately provide him his liberty.

For more information (in Spanish):

La justicia está al revés, “pareciera que hay que matar para salir de la cárcel”: Patishtán (La Jornada, 14 de marzo de 2013)

El centro Frayba demanda la libertad inmediata del tzotzil Alberto Patishtán(La Jornada, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Aún existen posibilidades de que se reconozca la inocencia de Patishtán(La Jornada, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Liberan a indígena acusado por la matanza de Acteal(La Jornada, 15 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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)

Mexico/Chiapas: Postponement of the SCJN’s decision on the Patishtán case (12 October 2012)

Chiapas: Alberto Patishtán loses his sight, and request on his part (28 September 2012)

Mexico/Chiapas: Request for recognition of innocence of Alberto Patishtán before the SCJN (19 September 2012)

Oaxaca: Events and marches in observance of International Women’s Day

On 8 March in Oaxaca state, there were had several marches and events to observe International Women’s Day.  The state of Oaxaca is one of the states with the highest increase in number of feminicides.  During the course of the year 2013, the Institute of Oaxacan Women has reported 11 homicides against women.

The march that occurred in Oaxaca de Juárez was carried out by more than 1500 persons, including teachers from Section 22 of the National Educational Workers’ Union (SNTE) and members of social organizations.

In San Pedro Amuzgos, more than 200 women organized to march through the principal streets of the community, demanding respect for their rights and a halt to violence against women.  For its part, the Committee of Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights Gobixha (Código DH) presented the campaign “Pain is never love” as part of its activities to prevent violence against women in the region, given that it maintains an office in San Pedro Amuzgos.

It should be mentioned that in 2012 the Oaxacan state Congress approved the reforms to the Penal Code which classify the crime of feminicide, sanctioning it with 40 to 60 years imprisonment.  However, this law has not been sufficient to halt violence against women, given that every 4 days there is registered a feminicide in Oaxaca.  Over the course of the administration of Gabino Cué Monteagudo so far, there have been observed 176 feminicides, as denounced by the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI).

For more information (in Spanish):

176 Feminicidios en el gobierno de Gabino Cué: Ucizoni (Frontera Sur, 5 de marzo de 2013)ç

Oaxaca: 11 femenicidios; crece el odio hacia mujeres (Tiempo en Línea, 7 de marzo de 2013)

Desfilan mujeres en San Pedro Amuzgos exigiendo el respeto de sus derechos (CodigoDH, 9 de marzo de 2013)

Obligan a desnudarse a mujeres y niños en cárcel de Oaxaca(Excelcior, 10 de marzo de 2013)

Marchan S-22 y organizaciones sociales hacia el Zócalo de Oaxaca, piden respetar derechos de las mujeres (ADN Sureste, 8 de marzo de 2013 

National/International: Nueva Esperanza community returns, but in critical conditions, notes civil society

Residents of Nueva Esperanza returning to their lands @ Frontera Sur

Following a year and half, the residents of Nueva Esperanza returned on 28 February to their country, Guatemala, following their displacement in 2011 by the Army toward the border with Mexico.  The relocation took place in Petén, in a territory recalled “The triumph of Nueva Esperanza,” this following the arrival of an agreement with the Guatemala government.  “Regardless, the residents continue to experience critical conditions, being homeless and without water,” denounced a Civil Mission that accompanied them during their return.

By means of a communiqué, the Civil Mission expressed its concern regarding the conditions in which the displaced found their land, “given that they now no longer have shelter, ground, or any place to sleep, which violates the obligations of the governments in cases of resettlement and reinstallation, especially considering that the majority of the displaced are children.”

It should be recalled that personnel from the 72 Hogar Refuge for Migrant Persons and Rubén Figueroa, member of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement who works with this migrant home, received death-threats at the beginning of March on the part of peoples identified “as the criminals who request quotas and control migratory flow from Tenosique to Coatzacoalcos,” as indicated by a communiqué from Fray Tomás, director of the migrant home.

For more information (in Spanish):

Desplazados retornan a Guatemala, pero continúa en condiciones críticas (Centro ProDH, 6 de marzo de 2013)

Comunicado conjunto: retorno Nueva Esperanza a Guatemala (Red por la Paz Chiapas, 7 de marzo de 2013)

A una semana de las amenazas. La 72 (Frontera Sur, 11 de marzo de 2013)

Amenaza de muerte por defender a migrantes (Frontera Sur, 12 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National/International: Nueva Esperanza community returns to Guatemala after a year and a half (5 March 2013)

National: “Nueva Esperanza: displaced for a year, and in critical conditions”: Civil Mission (16 August 2012)

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)

Chiapas: Celebration of 8 of March, International Women’s Day

CIDECI, 7 March. Photo @SIPAZ

In observance of International Women’s Day on ( march, the Center for Women’s Rights Chiapas (CDMCh), Semilla del Sur A.C., and the Center for Higher Studies of Mexico and Central America (CESMECA) organized a seminar for juridical and political analysis of the agrarian reforms and counter-reforms in Mexico and Chiapas on 6 and 7 March in the Unitierra-CIDECI in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

Women’s march, 8 March. Photo @SIPAZ

On this same day 8 March, women and men who attended the seminar also marched through the streets of San Cristóbal de Las Casas to demand respect for the rights of women.  Arriving to the center of the Plaza de la Resistencia, there was established a communal space for the exchange of organic campesino products.

On this same day, the member-organizations of Pact Zero Violence against Women expressed their solidarity with the actions taken during the day for the rights of women in a communiqué.  They reaffirm in this document that “the member organizations of Pact Zero believe that together with the necessary legal measures for the protection of women in light of situations of violence in the workplace (which should be expanded, improved, and above all observed in practice) should be implemented together with the establishment of additional mechanisms oriented to prevent and sanction this type of violence, adopting and implementing these from the organizations, associations, collectives, and institutions that seek to eliminate these.”

For its part, in observation of International Women’s Day, the City Hall of San Cristóbal de Las Casas saw an installation and occupation as performed by the members of the Municipal Council to Guarantee Women the Right to Lives free of Violence.  In this act, the municipal executive, affirmed that a priority of his government is to associate itself to questions related to women.  For this reason, he said, he has instructed the director for Equality of Gender and Development of Women to follow through with cases that are currently in process.

For more information (in Spanish):

PRONUNCIAMIENTO OCHO DE MARZO

COMUNICADO DEL PACTO CERO VIOLENCIA CONTRA LAS MUJERES(Melel Xojolobal, 8 de marzo de 2013)

Se crea Consejo para garantizar vida libre de violencia a las mujeres(Imparcial Chiapas, 6 de marzo de 2013)

Mexico: Insufficient attention to human rights on the part of EPN

 Nearly a hundred days into the new administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, Annesty International (AI) expressed that “the few measures that Enrique Peña Nieto has taken in terms of human rights simply do not correspond to the gravity of the situation that Mexico is experiencing.”

“There exist worrying indications that this government is not giving sufficient priority to the protection of human rights.  The new administration should break with the empty promises from before regarding human rights, putting an end to the impunity of abuses,” noted Javier Zúñiga, special assessor of AI.

Victims of violence, police reform, code of military justice, migrants, women, indigenous people, human rights defenders and journalists: AI went systematically through the problems that exist and the lack of significant progress in each sphere.

For more information (in Spanish):

Peña Nieto: Cien días esperando verdaderos avances de derechos humanos (Comunicado de prensa de AI, 5 de marzo de 2013)

AI: insuficiente atención de Peña a derechos humanos (La Jornada, 5 de marzo de 2013)

Ai: Insuficiente respuesta de EPN en derechos humanos (El Universal, 4 de marzo de 2013)

Pide AI al gobierno de Peña más compromiso con derechos humanos(Milenio, 4 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Nacional: Amnesty International presents report regarding use of torture in Mexico (19 October 2012)

National: International judges report on conclusions of the observation of state of justice in Mexico (12 October 2012)

Chiapas: Presentation of report on torture in Chiapas “From Cruelty to Cynicism” (2 July 2012)

The OMCT condemns torture in Chiapas (18 August 2011)