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: Denuncia PUDEE amenazas y hostigamiento de la CFE

On 23 March, representatives from communities in resistance and members of the People United for the Defense of Electricity (PUDEE) from the Tila, Sabanilla, Tumbala, and Salto de Agua municipalities released a communique in which they denounce “the climate of confrontation among communities being provoked by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) in the communities of the northern zone of Chiapas.”  The communique mentions that, since the beginning of the year, the CFE has been visiting the communities of these municipalities toward the end of finding the authorities of the communities in resistance who refuse to pay for electricity prices, which in recent years been very high.  “[They call for] meetings in the communities to inform that starting this year, the indebted must pay for their consumption of electricity, and the CFE will install meters, so as supposedly to offer quality services.  They also offer a convention whereby users commit to paying their debts over the course of five years.  They are saying that they will be changing to digital meters and other technological equipment to control electrical services.  This is one of the means of controlling us and refusing us service.  In some communities, there are confrontations, because ejidal authorities and rural agents are accepting these tricks.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado PUDEE (23 de marzo de 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: harassment and threats from the CFE directed at organizations resisting high-electricity prices denounced

In a communique published on 22 February, the Laklumal Ixim organization (Our People of Maize) denounced the harassment and threats carried out by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) against organizations resisting high-electricity prices in the Tila and Tumbala municipalities (northern Zone of the state of Chiapas).  Laklumal Ixim note that CFE employees have systematically visited those in civil resistance (of indigenous majority) so as to give them documents to pay.The organization denounced that “the CFE threatens to demand penal penalties, if payment is not received for the continued use of electricity [...].  In this way they seek to facilitate the robbery of the people and the repression of their struggle for the right to just prices that accord with the conditions of poverty in which the majority of people of Chiapas live.”  Laklumal Ixim affirmed that in a similar sense, female beneficiaries of the “Opportunities” program have been threatened with having their benefits revoked if they did not pay for these bills.The organization noted that more broadly, “communities of the northern jungle regions who pay for their electricity find themselves rather worried about the CFE’s decision to increase electrical energy prices and to suspend subsidies, such that prices have skyrocketed, making payment practically impossible.”Laklumal Ixim stressed moreover that “it is lamentable that the present governor, instead of attending to the enormous structural challenges and social conflicts [in the state], spends his time on tour, celebrating, and promoting his image as a wasteful spender, as though he were in an electoral campaign.  We seriously call on the Chiapas state-government soon to assume its constitutional responsibilities and to observe its promises, such that during this government there comes to be a just price for all those in Chiapas.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Iniciará CFE en Chiapas procesos legales por resistencia al pago de energía (Milenio, 26 de febrero de 2013)

Comunicado completo de Laklumal Ixim (22 de febrero de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National: Mobilizations at the national level against high electricity prices (12 February 2013)

Mexico: National day of protests against high electricity prices (4 April 2012)

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

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

Campeche: Arrest of activist campaigning against high electricity prices (26 May 2010)

Mexico: AI Declares Activists against High Electricity Tariffs Prisoners of Conscience (10 March 2010)

Chiapas: PUDEE denounces harassment by the CFE

Members of the organization Peoples United in Defense of Electrical Energy (PUDEE) reported that personnel from the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) is installing digital measurement-devices in the communities of the municipality of Tila, toward the end of charging those who find themselves in resistance to paying for electricity.

They denounced that since 24 January CFE personnel “are harassing us and installing measurement-devices in the homes of our comrades who resist the payment of the consumption of electrical energy.  They arrive with many people to set up the devices, thus intimidating users.”  They also mentioned that “[t]hey make us sign conventions to continue paying for consumption, but if we do not commit ourselves to signing, they threaten us to cut us off.  They tell us that these are the orders of the government.”

For more information (in Spanish):

No to digital measurement-devices: PUDEE, (Cuarto Poder, 18 February 2011)

The PUDEE northern jungle region denounces harassment by the CFE (communiqué in full of the PUDEE, 16 February 2011)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Intimidation and polluting project in the municipality of Tila are denounced (9 July 2010).

Chiapas: Public Denunciation by the United Peoples in Defense of Electric Energy (3 December 2008)

Guerrero: briefs – CETEG leader is detained; auctions to be held for La Parota: CFE

Following the protests of the State Coordination of Education Workers in Guerrero (CETEG) last week, agents of the Ministerial Police of the State (PME) of Guerrero detained Félix Moreno Peralta and Jorge García Hernández, two of the principal leaders of CETEG, on Sunday 24 October.  The two were accused of attacks on communication media.  The director of the PME, Fernando Monreal Leyva, said via telephone interview with La Jornada that the capture was made with an arrest order authorized by the primary judge from the judicial district of Tabares, from the port of Acapulco.  This would be the first arrest of 40 that are ordered against teachers accused of blocking the Sol highway and avenues in Chilpacingo, as well as for invading the government-palace of Chilpancingo to demand loans and work.

In an interview with the Sur de Acapulco, the CETEG spokesperson Ramón López expressed on behalf of CETEG his “rejection of this repression from the terror-government of the state; we see with sadness that they use these methods to stop mobilization.”  Protesting the detention of Félix Moreno and demanding his immediate release, the teachers of CETEG occupied educational installations in Chilapa, Tlapa, Acapulco, and Costa Chica, and they plan action against the harassment that the state government visits on social activists.   In a press-conference, leaders of civil and social organizations such as the Workshop for Communal Development (TADECO), miners of Taxco, the Guerrero Network of Civil Human-Rights Organizations, and CETEG, among others, reiterated their support for the arrested teacher-leader and denounced the repression suffered by social activists.

In other news, the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE) has announced that in 2011 will be held auctions for the hydroelectric dam La Parota, located in Acapulco, a move that would imply the investment of nearly $900 million.  Alfredo Elías Ayub, director of CFE, assured that the project is a priority for the parastatal company, since it was integrated into the Budget of Costs of the Federation 2011; once it is approved definitively, the work of auctioning can begin.  Elías Ayub declared that “the approval [of the Congress of the Union] is there, but we have to have the people [ie, the ejidatarios] come to a position in which they clearly see the benefits [to such a project].”  For his part, Felipe Flores Hernández, spokesperson of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota (CECOP) announced that this organization will meet with members of the Commission of Energy of the House of Deputies and will request before the Congress of the Union that the budget requested by CFE not be approved.  Flores Hernández affirmed in a telephone interview with La Jornada that he is not surprised that the CFE has requested a budget to continue with the hydroelectric project.  He warned that, if the Congress of the Union does not attend to the application made by ejidatarios, they could radicalize their opposition to the dam, employing road-blocks to impede the movement of CFE personnel and vehicles.

For more information (in Spanish):

CETEG takes offices of the SEG in Tlapa y Acapulco (La Jornada de Guerrero, 26 October)

Two CETEG leaders are detained (La Jornada, 25 October)

Two leaders of the CETEG teachers are detained (El Sur de Acapulco, 25 October)

In 2011 auctions will be held for La Parota, says the CFE (Milenio, 20 October)

Opponents to La Parota will appeal to the IACHR (La Jornada, 27 October)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Briefs – CECOP receives precautionary measures; Report on human rights; Civil society organizations continue asking for the liberation of Raúl Hernández (5 de julio)

Guerrero: Briefs – CECOP demonstrates before the Senate / Press-conference on the cases of Inés and Valentina is held (27 May)

Chiapas: Intimidation and polluting project in the municipality of Tila are denounced

Placas del PUDEE en Jolnixtie @ SIPAZ

On 24 June, there was released a public communiqué written by representatives of the organization Kichán Kichañob regarding the high electricity-prices that the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) charges, as well as the CFE’s threats to cut off services.  For their part, representatives of the organization People United in Defense of Electricity (PUDEE) and ejidal authorities of the community Jolnixtie Section 1 warn in a communiqué released on 30 June about a drain-and-capture project for polluted water, one of the results of which would be that other waters in the area could be rendered no longer fit for human consumption.

According to the communiqué released by Kichán Kichañob’s representatives, the CFE is charging prices that do not correspond to consumption-levels on the part of the populaces of the communities of Limar, Nuevo Limar, Usipá, Cruz Palenque, and Jol-Ako, all of which find themselves in the zone below Tila.  The communiqué states that the CFE “intimidates us if we don’t pay” by means of use of the police and threatening mass electricity-cuts.  The representatives demand respect for their “right to resist by not paying these high prices.”

In Jolnixtie section 1, another community in the zone below Tila, representatives of PUDEE and ejidal authorities have denounced the proposed construction-project of an open-air drainage system in the neighboring community of Libertad Jolnixtie section 2 that would pollute the stream that passes through Jolnixtie section 1, “affecting kilometers of rivers, streams, springs, and aquifers, polluting the environment, and affecting the diverse plant and animal species that already threatened with extinction.  At the same time, we will [if the project proceeds] stop using our waters to prepare food, wash clothes, and bathe ourselves.  This development would affect more than a thousand families as well as pre-schools and primary schools.”  They explain that this project, promoted by the mayor of Tila, Limber Gutiérrez Gómez, is supported by the ejidal authorities of Libertad Jolnixtie section 2, along with people who identify themselves as part of the paramilitary group “Peace and Justice,” which is tied to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD), and Green-Ecologist Party (PVEM).  “This construction will affect a hectare of land cultivated by Mr. Francisco García Hernández, who was approached by paramilitary groups that uprooted fruit- and wood-trees that [Hernández] had had planted.  They insulted him and threatened to expel him from the community if he did not cease construction on his land.”  The ejidatarios have called on the appropriate authorities to cancel the project; they allege that they were never consulted about the project to begin with, in violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

For more information (in Spanish):

Complete communiqué of representatives of Kichán Kichañob

Complete communiqué of representatives of PUDEE and ejidal authorities from Jolnixtie section 1

Cuarto Poder: CFE intimidations are denounced; Chols “resist”

Cuarto Poder: Drainage system hurts the environment, it is claimed

Campeche: Three activists from the movement against high electricity-prices are released on bail

The three activists before the media after being released © AMAP

On 6 June, Sara López, Joaquín Aguilar, and Guadalupe Borjas were released on bail after having spent nearly eleven months in prison for having participated in the civil-resistance movement against high electricity-prices in Candelaria, Campeche.  These three members of the movement were accused of having illegally kidnapped an official from the Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE), among other charges.  According to the press-release distributed by the Mexican Alliance for the Self-Determination of Peoples (AMAP) and the National Network of Civil Resistance to High Electricity-Prices, the crime of kidnapping was at a certain point in the legal process reclassified as a misdemeanor; as such, the three prisoners were released on bail of 3,300 pesos each.  It should be mentioned that the three were declared prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International on 4 March.

Regardless, according to the aforementioned press-release, the “legal process will continue, and [the three activists] will have to appear before the court on the 1 and 15 of each month, although the defense for the prisoners of conscience, headed by lawyer David Peña Rodríguez, claimed that it will give notice of appeal for a new order against this finding of the court, since ‘we are clearly convinced of their innocence, and we will show this to the judicial officials.’  Peña Rodríguez emphasized that ‘this accusation constitutes a political sanction against resistance to high electricity-prices; we will not allow the government to criminalize social protest and poverty.’”

Furthermore, a member of the civil-resistance movement against high electricity-prices in Candelaria, Campeche, confirmed to SIPAZ that Octavio Solís Cortés, detained on 15 May, was also released.  No further details were released.

For more information (in Spanish):

• Press-release by AMAP and the National Network of Civil Resistance to High Electricity-Prices (06/06/2010)
• La Jornada: 3 activists who protested against CFE are released (08/06/2010)
• Tribuna Campeche: Candelaria activists are released on bail (06/06/2010)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

• Campeche: Arrest of activist campaigning against high electricity prices (26/05/2010)
• Mexico: AI Declares Activists against High Electricity Tariffs Prisoners of Conscience (10/03/2010)
• Campeche: National Meeting for the Liberation of Political Prisoners of Candelaria, Campeche (27/10/2009)

Oaxaca: Assambly cancel the authorization given to CFE in “Paso de la Reina” project

In a press conference held on the 27th July, a member of The Council of Unified Peoples for the Defense of the Río Verde (Copudever, El Consejo de Pueblos Unidos por la Defensa del Río Verde) in Tataltepec de Valdés, alongside the president of the Communal Lands Commission of Paso de la Reina, Juan Gómez Gómez, commented that the general assembly had revoked and cancelled the authorization, which on the 27^th June 2007 had granted in writing permission for the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE, Comisión Federal de Electricidad) and other departments to conduct studies of the land. The government-sponsored CFE has, however, ignored the opposition expressed by various indigenous communities, and maintains its decision to go ahead with the construction of the hydroelectric dam in community lands, that will run through the Río Verde in the Istmo of Oaxaca. This is in spite of the fact that those affected demand that the project is cancelled and have already mobilized themselves to stop the preliminary workers of the site.

The representative of Copudever, Juan Gómez Gómez, has demanded that the authorities respect the rights of the cooperative and the ‘free and informed’decision of the indigenous communities, as recognized by the internationally signed and ratified agreements of the Mexican government.

For more information, see

“Ejidatarios de Oaxaca se alistan para luchar contra presa de CFE”, La Jornada (27/07/2009)

“NO a la presa Paso de la Reina”, Prensa Indígena (07/03/2009)

“Rechazan pueblos la hidroeléctrica Paso de Reina en Oaxaca”, Cimacnoticias (21/05/2008)

More information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Hydroelectric dam project “Paso de la Reina”

Chiapas: National Network of Civil Resistance against the High Prices of Electricity is formed

On May 16 and 17, a meeting of organizations from 7 Mexican states took place in order to organize a National Network of Civil Resistance against the High Prices of Electricity. This meeting took place in CIDECI- University of the Earth in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, and representatives of 20 organizations from Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, the Federal District, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Veracruz attended in order to organize a united front against the privatization and high prices of electricity.

After a short recuperation of the history of civil resistance and the struggle against electricity prices in various parts of Chiapas since the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the representatives of each organization shared their experience of struggle and the situations they are dealing with. In addition, the organization analyzed the government policy regarding electrical energy, and that during two decades there have been various legal reforms which helped the process of privatization of electricity, which in Mexico is administered by the state.

The objectives of the National Network of Civil Resistance against the High Prices of Electricity are to: “Strengthen our processes of resistance against the high prices of electricity through coordination at a national level which implies: organization and co-ordination, communication, solidarity, sharing of experiences, learning, widening of the network. Struggle for the respect and compliance with the San Andres Accords. Struggle against the privatization of electrical resources.”

The Network will be run under the following principals: “Independent of the government and political parties, democratic and militant; in Solidarity: `if one is attacked, they attack all of us’; non-negotiation with the government except involving prisoners: recognize and respect our differences and diversities. Reclaim the electrical energy for the people”.

For More Information:

DECLARACIÓN POLÍTICA DE LA RED NACIONAL DE RESISTENCIA CIVIL A LAS ALTAS TARIFAS DE LA ENERGÍA ELÉCTRICA (In Spanish)

Artículo de La Jornada sobre la Conformación de la Red Nacional de Resistencia Civil a las Altas Tarifas de la Energía Eléctrica (In Spanish)

Refusing to Pay for the Lights: Local Struggle against Privatization – SIPAZ Report, December 2004