Chiapas: Penal authorities in Chiapas violate rights of incarcerated persons and their families

On 2 February, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) published a report on the prison conditions found in the State Centers for the Social Rehabilitation of the Sentenced (CERSS) that exist in Chiapas.  This report bases itself in denunciations received by the center during the year 2010 sent by a total of 2,142 persons imprisoned in different prisons of Chiapas as well as by relatives and friends of such individuals.  The report presents several human-rights violations committed by penal authorities and administrative groups within the prisons.

The report examines the cruel treatment and torture suffered by those who visit their imprisoned relatives or friends.  The testimonies obtained by Frayba are in their majority from indigenous women who, in visiting the prisons, are subjected to having to become nude, touching and revision of the genitalia, and other actions that violate the right to personal security and integrity, in addition to the right of women to lead lives free of violence.  They are often restricted in their familial right to visit the detained.

The CDHFBC manifested its preoccupation and reminded “the government of Chiapas that regardless of the crimes committed by the imprisoned, their rights are inviolable and cannot be limited for security reasons.”  It affirmed moreover that “the right of the imprisoned to receive dignified treatment refers not just to actions that violate  the security and integrity of the interned but is also extended to what is referred to as conditions of a dignified life: shelter, food, and protection of health.”  It specifies that “the situation lived by female prisoners is grave and discriminatory; the spaces they occupy are insufficient and lack the conditions of dignity for their situation and their physical and mental development.”  It stressed finally that “the situation of the imprisoned in Chiapas is a failure as regards the question of the social integration of the imprisoned, in addition to being so as regards their human rights broadly understood.  This Center of Human Rights has shown that the majority of the imprisoned are impoverished individuals who pertain to indigenous groups or migrants who lack formal education and are unaware of the implications of judicial processes that place them into vulnerable situations with regard to access to justice.”

In an example of that which was reported by the CDHFBC, prisoners from the association Voz del Amate and residents of Mitzitón imprisoned in the No. 5 prison of San Cristóbal de Las Casas announced on 2 February that they would engage in a hunger-strike of 36 hours “with the purpose of asking God to rectify injustice,” denouncing that “today the prisons are overpopulated due to the injustices between men and women who for lack of economic resources cannot afford lawyers and others for being speakers of indigenous languages who lacked translators in the prison during processing and end up being sentenced.”  The same day, those in solidarity with the Voz del Amate also announced that they would begin a hunger strike to demand that the government grant them their unconditional release.

For more information (in Spanish):

• Report on the Prison System in Chiapas (CDHFBC, 2 February 2011)
• Denunciation of the Voz del Amate (La Voz del Amate, 2 February 2011)
• Communiqué of those in solidarity with the Voz del Amate (2 February)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Meeting of Organization of Relatives of Prisoners of Ocosingo (OFPO) (6 October 2010)

Chiapas: Fifth anniversary of the “Voz del Amate” (8 January 2011)

Chiapas: the Peace Network presents report on Chiapas’ border zone

In light of the deterioration of the human-rights situation lived in Chiapas, the civil organizations that comprise the Peace Network agreed in early 2010 to carry out documentation-visits in distinct regions of the state of Chiapas from which have originated testimony regarding problems that disrupt the international protection and guarantee of human rights, thus putting at risk conditions of social peace.

The organizations that constitute the Peace Network organized a “Civil Mission of Observation of Human Rights and Social Conflictivity,” which began its work of observation and documentation in four municipalities of the border zone of Chiapas: Comitán, Trinitaria, Comalapa, and Chicomuselo.

The Civil Mission visited these municipalities during the days 16, 17, and 18 March 2010.  In each of the municipalities were held interviews with actors who agreed to share their testimony on various issues regarding human rights.  The questions that received the most emphasis during the interviews were organized around the following themes: migration; militarization; land and territory; economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights; rights of women; and criminalization of social protest.  The results of these interviews can be found in a published report that was presented during the 7 October press-conference.

On 6 August, there was held a space among interviewed individuals and organizations during the March civil mission to assess the information that went into the report, which allowed for the report that was presented at the press-conference to be finalized.  This report presents an evaluation of the tendencies and principal problems documented during the mission as well as possible moves toward the construction of peace that, despite everything, were seen as present in the visited municipalities.

For more information (in Spanish):

Peace Network press-release (7 October 2010)

Report of the Peace Network’s Civil Mission of Observation-Border Zone (October 2010)

Tribute to Don Samuel Ruiz, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas

On January 25, 2010 the 50^th anniversary of the Episcopal ordination of Don Samuel Ruiz, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, will be celebrated.

Within the framework of the celebration, the diocese has organized a Theological Pastoral Congress that will be held from January 20 to 23. The event will offer a space for reflection with speakers from Mexico and other countries including Pablo Richard, Mariana Gómez Álvarez Icaza, Monsignor Victor Corral and Elena Lopez. The first day’s series of speakers was scheduled to begin with Gustavo Gutiérrez, whom current bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel has referred to as the father of Liberation Theology. However, due to health related concerns Gutiérrez will not be able to attend though his prepared address will be read at the event. In addition, clergy member from several different regions of the diocese will be speaking each day reflecting of their personal experiences with Bishop Emeritus Don Samuel Ruiz and their path within the diocese.

For More Information:

The event program (in Spanish)

The San Cristóbal de las Casas diocese website (access to the text of adresses given, in Spanish

Streaming AUDIO of the event:
http://giss.tv:8000/cong_teo_past.mp3
(Copy the above url into your personal audio program, in Spanish)

Streaming VIDEO of the event:
http://www.livestream.com/50aniversario

Chiapas: Acteal, Site of Conscience, Impunity and the Other Justice

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“We took our case before the highest court in the nation, (…) but all we encountered there was supreme impunity.”

On Dec. 22, 1997, 300 people prayed for peace when 45 of them were massacred by paramilitaries, a result of the low intensity warfare that the government implemented against the zapatista rebels and their sympathizers.

Twelve years later, this “State crime” which has been denounced by General J.F. Gallardo, continues in impunity. None of the planners of the massacre were found guilty and this year several of those who carried out the massacre were released. Denied justice and an official history, the Abejas Civil Society (La Sociedad Civil Las Abejas) held the Forum of Conscience and Hope, Building the Other Justice… (Foro de Conciencia y Esperanza, Construyendo la Otra Justicia…) on Dec. 21, 2009. The Other Justice (A grassroots alternative to the official justice system)is that which remains in the historic memory of the people. The Other Justice does not seek punishment but rather repentance and reconciliation as was stated by the president of the Abejas. “The conscience is a very strong force in the construction of the other justice,” he said, “we have to begin with our own conscience,” “continue with the conscience of the people in general,” and “Finally, although it is the most difficult, (…) to touch the conscience of the aggressors.” As a result, the following day Acteal was declared a “Site of the Conscience of Humanity,” according to the banner hung above the entrance to the site “for inspiration for all of those that struggle for peace and an indelible memory for future generations.”

To make sure that the massacre at Acteal is never forgotten, on Dec. 21 the director of the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center (CDH Frayba) read the names of each of the 45 victims aloud. On Dec. 22, the representative from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico defined the massacre as “the bloodiest event in Mexico’s recent history” and denounced: forgetfulness and impunity are not the response expected from a democratic State which respects human rights. The bishop of the San Cristobal de Las Cases diocese, who celebrated the commemorative mass on Dec. 22, stated in his homily “It is a mockery and shameful that due to minor legal issues, 29 individuals have been exonerated [after committing] this horrendous crime (La Jornada, 23/12/09).

In the presence of more than 600 peoples, a large number of priests and social organizations from Chiapas and other states, in addition to a strong presence of international solidarity, the Abejas shared their path, their pain and their hope through a small theatre production and a long declaration in which they reiterated their vindication not solely for justice, but for peace. “We don’t want a war that will cost the blood of millions of brothers and sisters. We want a new revolution, but not a violent one, so that we can have liberty, justice and peace and to take back the land from those who are plundering and destroying it.”

Listen to the Forum of Conscience and Hope, Building the Other Justice (in Spanish):

Ponencias del “Foro de Conciencia y Esperanza, Construyendo la Otra Justicia…”, 21 de diciembre de 2009 (blog de Las Abejas)

Programa de Radio con las conclusiones del encuentro (blog de Las Abejas)

For More Information:

Acteal: sembrando paz y esperanza (artículo de Milenio Online, 21/12/09)

Acteal, sitio de conciencia (Boletín 41 del Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 22/12/09)

Acteal sitio de conciencia: un recordatorio de la impunidad en México (artículo de La Jornada, 22/12/09)

“Una burla”, el desenlace jurídico del caso Acteal: Arizmendi (artículo de La Jornada, 23/12/09)

Pide Alto Comisionado de ONU al Estado poner fin a impunidad en caso Acteal (artículo de La Jornada, 22/12/09)

Foro de Conciencia y Esperanza, la Otra Justicia (artículo de Indymedia Chiapas, 22/12/09)

Sites of Conscience webpage

For More Information from SIPAZ:

The Massacre at Acteal (SIPAZ documents)

MEXICO: 61 Years After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Sixty-one years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 11 years after the UN’s declaration on human rights defenders, several organizations dedicated to the defense and promotion of human rights are reporting the current situation in their respective states as well as at the national level.

In Chiapas, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) published a special bulletin in which they denounced the fact that in the state “the defense of human rights is subject to intimidation, attacks and killings.” After recounting the harassment suffered by human rights defenders Frayba concludes: “This year the work done in defense of human rights has been criminalized to the point of considering human rights defenders participants in organized crime or part of a supposed subversive network to destabilize the government in 2010.”

In Oaxaca, the “Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño” Regional Human Rights Center, made a public declaration in which they highlighted the state’s current situation “drowning in impunity, corruption, human rights violations and social decomposition.” They questioned the state government denouncing that: “In the Fifth Report issued by the Oaxacan State Government it is evident that this is a government made up of a small group, with an explicit goal of appropriating territories in order to turn Oaxaca into a personal dictatorship.”

In Guerrero, in a press conference held by the Guerrero Network of Human Rights Civil Organizations (Red Guerrerense de Organismos Civiles y de Derechos Humanos) in Chilpancingo, a number of campesino, indigenous, social and human rights organizations presented a joint statement. The document, titled “People and Rights Trampled On,” states that “In Guerrero the shadowy era of the dirty war continues to repeat, because governments allowed the army to return to poor regions were there have been armed uprisings. (…) Today the reappearance of the army throughout the state of Guerrero is a form of punishment against new insurgent movements. (…) We social and civil organizations that have documented serious violations of the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, are facing not just a slander campaign against our work as human rights defenders but we are also suffering surveillance, harassment and threats carried out with the sole purpose of putting a stop to our work, silence our denunciations and violate our right to defend human rights and fully exercise freedom of expression.”

At the national level, the Early Warning Network (Red de Alerta Temprana) together with other organization, published a report titles Panorama of the Current Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Mexico. In the conclusions they warn: “We consider that [the government] is implementing a strategy to identify human rights defenders and their organizations as ‘enemies’ of the system and identifying the political affiliation of the victims and rights defenders in order to criminalize their actions. Through the use of threats, harassment, murder attempts, arbitrary detentions and the application of arrest warrants against these individuals they are trying to create an environment of tension and fear with the clear objective of polarizing the collective work of these organizations, creating divisions and diminishing or ending the work they do. There is a pattern of aggression that corresponds to a psychological operation of terror.”

For Mor Information:

“Tlachinollan” Human Rights Center of the Montaña: Who defends human rights defenders? (10/12/09)

In Spanish:

• Boletín especial del Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, Chiapas (9 de diciembre de 2009)

• Pronunciamiento público de BARCA, Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos “Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño” A.C., Oaxaca

• Pronunciamiento en Guerrero: “Personas y derechos pisoteados”

• Panorama de la situación de los defensores de derechos humanos en México (documento completo)

Chiapas: “Pueblo Creyente” Pilgrimage in Venustiano Carranza Brings Together 850 People

“We can live without gold, without water we will die.”
“The Pueblo Creyente is aware.”

On December 6, 2009, the “Pueblo Creyente” (Community of Faith) held a pilgrimage to “express [their] feelings in favor of life, respecting the rights of organizations in order to develop out communities together.” Eight hundred fifty individuals—most of them belonging to the San Bartolomé Apóstol parish in Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas—made the two hour pilgrimage to the church at Venustiano Carranza singing and denouncing the mining companies as well as the lies and abuses of power surrounding the current situation.

In November, the Mexican national daily La Jornada had made public pieces of the report published by the State Attorney General’s Office titled, “The Prevailing Situation in the Municipality of Venustiano Carranza.” The report is an intent on documenting the existence of a “subversive network” that is supposedly planning destabilizing acts for the year 2010 and whose focal point is said to be Jesús Landín, a catholic priest in Venustiano Carranza. The report also appears to have “justified” the harassment denounced in recent months by the diocese and other social activists.

In late November, several priests and members of religious orders from the Southern Zone made a public declaration stating: “Instead of slander, harassment and persecution, we hope that the governor will join the people in defending the holy land of Chiapas, lungs of the nation, and serve as an example of respect for the rights that are clearly delineated in the constitution and that defend the treaties signed by Mexico before the international community.” In the communiqué distributed during the recent pilgrimage, the Pueblo Creyente also clarified: “Our role as the Church is to promote and defend life, a life with justice and dignity in order to realize peace in our communities and not to create acts that provoke instability and more suffering for the community.”

After the pilgrimage—in a church so full of people that many were seated on the floor—the parish priest Jesús Landín gave mass and called for unity in “these violent times.” In a prayer, a sister asked God to “[liberate them] from the abuses of power, from the companies that destroy nature, […] and that [they be granted] peace, peace and justice.” “Padre Chuy,” who has received all types of threats in the past months, ended by thanking the people for the show of solidarity and care received by the parish workers.

A representative of the Pueblo Creyente from the parish in Chicomuselo came in solidarity with the message of the pilgrimage and invited all of those present to Chicomuselo on Dec. 22.

For More Information (in Spanish):

Comunicado de la Peregrinación del Pueblo Creyente (6/12/2009)

Declaración de los sacerdotes y religiosas de la zona Sur de la diocesis de San Cristobal (noviembre 2009)

Católicos se solidarizan con sacerdote Landín (artículo del Cuarto Poder, 7/12/2009)

Marchan en Carranza en apoyo a sacerdote “acechado” por el gobierno (artículo del blog “Observatorio CIudadano” 6/12/2009)

Peregrinaciones y misas en apoyo a Jesús Landín (artículo de La Jornada 7/12/09)

More From SIPAZ:

Journey of the “Community of faith”: Reflection and Action on a Changing Reality

Chiapas: International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women

The United Nations has declared November 25^th “International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women”. This date was chosen in commemoration of the brutal assassination of the three Marabal sisters under the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic in 1960.

Rashida Manjoo, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women, affirmed that “all women have the right to live free of violence” and called for the States to assume the responsibility to end violence in the lives of women. On the eve of the day, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the UN, announced that “at some point in their lives 70 percent of the world’s women suffer from physical or sexual aggression on the part of a man, who in the majority of cases is the husband, partner, or someone the woman knows. This is unacceptable.”

Women from independent organizations, indigenous women, members of The Other Campaign, syndicates, and international women all marched in the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas to call attention to the violent situations from which women continue to suffer.

During a meeting in the city’s center one woman said, “Today we remember the heroic, dignified and rebellious fight; this is a day of reflection and of anger and denunciation of the different forms of violence that we suffer as women.”

The public declaration by the organizers of the march stated, “We call to the women and men of both country and city to resist in a civil and peaceful manner, and to build alternatives that are equal across gender, class, and ethnicity in terms of economy, nutrition, education, sanitary, and security.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Pronunciamiento politico organizaciones en Chiapas

Indymedia Chiapas (26 de noviembre de 2009)

Hacen recuento de los atropellos contra mujeres (La Jornada, 26 de noviembre)

Informe presentado a CIDH sobre la violencia institucional contra las mujeres en México (noviembre de 2009)

SIPAZ: Special Report on the Case of Acteal

The Supreme Court (SCJN) Ruling: an irreproachable ruling judicially, a highly questioned decision based in the historical and actual context

On August 12, the chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) granted an appeal to 26 indigenous men incarcerated for more than 11 years and convicted of the killing of 45 indigenous people, who on December 22, 1997 were killed in the community of Acteal, municipality of Chenalhó (in the highlands of Chiapas). Twenty of them were freed the next day, while the other six will repeat the judicial process which condemned them. There remain 31 cases to be heard by the SCJN in the future, which could lead to similar rulings.

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More information from SIPAZ:

Impunity and the responsability of Mexican Authorities in the Acteal Case (February 2008)