Oaxaca: Meeting for Autonomous Life

Between the 8th and 11th of April, the Meeting for Autonomous Life (Encuentro por una Vida Autónoma in Spanish) took place in El Llano Park in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. A great number of non-governmental organizations and many indigenous vendors came to present their ideas, information and merchandise. An estimated few hundred people attended the events that took place during the four day meeting.

The first day of the meeting began with a dicussion by Swiss-Mexican social critic, Jean Robert, who presented a lecture entitled “Tools and autonomy” in which he criticized the ways in which technologies are used today. He fiercely attacked the concept of “experts,” stating that the very idea of  having experts negates  the very existence of the knowledge of ordinary people. He went on to affirm the traditions of “pre-modern” peoples, which, according to Robert,  centrally featured social customs that ensured equitable and fair resource distribution, particularly with regard to water–this, in light of the acute water crisis faced by the peoples of Mexico and many other societiesa. Robert concluded by claiming that technology can indeed promote progress, if they are used to further the cause of human autonomy.

On the second day of the meeting, César Añorve of the Center for the Innovation of Appropriate Technology (CITA) delivered a presentation called “Regenerating our relationship with water.” Añorve brought up two important points: first, that it is necessary that human beings change their attitudes regarding their waste–that is, not to think of human waste as necessarily disgusting–and also to start using dry-latrines. The latter recommendation, Añorve said, could significantly reduce the amount of water that is presently wasted. During his talk, he presented a model of a dry latrine; during the four day meeting, there was one that could be used.

Later that day, the Chiapas-based organization Otros Mundos discussed its Popular Water and Energy School (EPAE) – a project aimed at promoting sustainable alternatives for the management of water and energy while raising awareness about the effects of climate change through the training of community promoters in Chiapas.

Another bold initiative present at the meeting was the Independent Center for Intercultural Creation of Appropriate Technology (CACITA). The members of CACITA demonstrated their ecological machinery–principally, blenders and washing-machines powered by bicycles. They invited those who attended the meeting to use the devices and also distributed instruction manuals so people could build such tools on their own.

Also emerging from the meeting was the People’s Climate Dialogue and Convention, a participatory social process that intends to provide information on threats of climate change as well as give space to those wishing to express themselves regarding this phenomenon. On the first day, the founding-document of the environmental group Rising Tide México was read publicly, after which came a popular discussion. In the following days three round-tables took place during which was discussed the events of the Convention of Parties (COP) of the UN last December in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Also discussed were the efforts that Mexican civil society should be taking in anticipation of the next COP, which is to take place this November in Cancún. On the second-to-last day of the conference, Silvia Ribeiro of the environmental NGO ETC gave a presentation on the alarming technological proposals that the world’s governments seem to be contemplating to use against climate change, and representatives of  SolarMax Energy presented solar heaters as an alternative to domestic gas use. It could be said that Rodolfo Diaz summarized the popular sentiment of the People’s Climate Dialogue and Convention when he said that those to blame for the present situation will not be those who allow for the extrication from such.

For more information:

Independent Center for the Intercultural Creation of Appropriate Technology

Rising Tide México

GRAIN (associated with ETC)

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)

Oaxaca: Meetings and Accusations

On November 13^th and 14^th the Oaxacan Collective for the Defense of the Land convened a Second National Forum entitled: “Weaving Resistance in Defense of Our Land.” The meeting took place in the Mixe community of San Juan Jaltepec de Candayoc, in the municipality of San Juan Cotzocon. The objectives were to “exchange experiences in defense of land, territory and natural resources of indigenous people and communities, and explore the possibilities of joining forces to create a common defense.”

The final declaration emphasized: “that the lack of recognition of the autonomy over our land and territory, the lack of legal mechanisms for defense, and the false mediation of agrarian requests has resulted in innumerable agrarian conflicts between communities… Today Chiapas and Oaxaca are examples of an experiment in megaprojects and public policies that have only generated conflict, internal division in communities, looting of land and the violation of our rights… From the hearts of our people we declare that our communities and indigenous people are in resistance. We won’t be defeated by this new neoliberal offensive stripping us of our land. We profoundly believe in the value of our collectivity, of exercising authority as a service, of the collective ownership of the earth and the rebuilding of our land as people, as institutions that give us strength.”

In light of these outstanding issues a communiqué denouncing the intimidation of the people of Paso de la Reina was circulated on November 19, a few days before the Forum. The previous day a mass had been held in support of their cause and was presided over by the Bishop of Puerto Escondido.

Before that, on November 18, the “Meeting for Justice and Against Impunity: Cases Before the Supreme Court of Mexico” was held in the city of Oaxaca. The goal of the event was to analyze the Supreme Court’s resolutions in the cases of Lydia Cacho, Atenco, Acteal and Oaxaca, and the implications for the social movement, victims of repression, and defenders of justice and human rights.

The final resolution underlined the fact that in all the cases presented there was a “prevalence of deep-rooted impunity” and pointed out that “Mexican administrative bodies and legal officials are quick and expeditious when it comes to punishing and reprimanding citizens who are defending their rights against government abuses, but they’re slow and inefficient when it comes to correcting an injustice, and are practically powerless when it comes to trying to apply justice to a higher official.”

For more information:

Declaración de Jaltepec, Foro la resistencia por la defensa de nuestros territorios (14 de noviembre)

Denuncia Paso de la Reina

Pronunciamiento final del Foro por la Justicia y contra la Impunidad

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Rechaza asamblea ejidal autorización a la CFE para construcción de presa en Paso de la Reina

Oaxaca: Foro Tejiendo Resistencias por la Defensa de Nuestros Territorios

Oaxaca: NGOs present their diagnosis of human rights work

On October 14^th, several human rights organizations presented a report on the situation of human rights workers in Oaxaca. The document contained information compiled in 2008 and the first half of 2009, and highlighted that fact that human rights work is criminalized and subject to persecution.

 

The report called “A Diagnosis of the Situation of Human Rights Workers in Oaxaca” was released with a press communiqué that denounced “the increase in abuse against human rights workers registered by NGOs, with more frequent cases of intimidation and harassment, as well as an increase in more serious crimes like assault, threats to personal safety, illegal detentions, defamation, discrediting, legal persecution, and others, with the goal of preventing the work of human rights workers to defend and promote human rights and report infringements on those rights.”

 

Written by Peace Watch Switzerland, the report is based on interviews with 17 organizations working in the defense and promotion of human rights. The report covers subjects such as Impunity, Criminalization of Social Protest, Militarization, Rupture of the Social Fabric, Agricultural Conflict, the Defense of Natural Resources as well as the Electoral Process Leading to 2010. In addition, the report reveals the need for coordination between human rights organizations in order to create “a ‘Working Space for Human Rights Defenders’ where they can share intervention methods as well as monitor the pattern of attacks against human rights workers who promote, defend or organize to demand the validity of human rights.” So far this space is made up of the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue A.C., Bartolome Carrasco Briseno Human Rights Center A.C., the Mexican Human Rights League A.C., Alternative Education Services A.C., the 25^th of November Committee A.C., and the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center A.C.

For more information (in Spanish):

• Boletín de Prensa por la publicación del Diagnóstico (pdf)
• “Diagnóstico sobre la situación de las defensoras y los defensores de derechos humanos en Oaxaca” (pdf)
• Centro Independiente de Noticias: “Más agresiones a defensores humanos por el proceso electoral 2010 en Oaxaca”

Oaxaca: Supreme Court decision in Oaxaca case

On October 14^th the Supreme Court of Mexico (SCJN) made a decision regarding human rights violations by authorities during the Oaxaca conflict of 2006 and 2007. The decision finds the governor at the time, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, responsible for human rights violations.

With a vote of seven to four, the Supreme Court holds the Oaxacan governor responsible for human rights violations committed by state police during the conflict that lasted from May 2006 until June 2007. However, a proposal submitted by Ministers Juan N. Silva Meza, Jose de Jesus Gudino Pelayo and Jose Ramon Cossio was rejected. Their proposal sought to include Vicente Fox, then president of Mexico, as well as Minister of the Interior, Carlos Abascal and Public Security Minister, Eduardo Medina Mora in the list of those responsible for allowing an unmanageable situation that exposed the population to situations that put their human rights at risk. The Supreme Court Minister Jose Ramon Cossio said now it will be up to Felipe Calderon and the Mexican Congress to decide whether or not they will proceed with a political trial against the Oaxacan Governor.

Ruiz Ortiz said he disagrees with the Supreme Court decision, calling into question whether or not Fox should have been included. Members of the Popular Assembly for the People of Oaxaca (APPO), who had asked for Ruiz Ortiz’s resignation during the conflict, insisted on the Oaxacan governor’s responsibility for human rights violations. The Secretary of section 22 of the National Education Workers Union (SNTE) Gabriel Lopez Chinas, said the ex-secretary general Jorge Franco Vargas and the ex-public attorney Rosa Lizbeth Cana Cadeza should also be put to trial for being the operators “of unlimited repression against the Oaxacan people.” Section 22 of the SNTE – which brings together teachers from all over Oaxaca – suffered repression from the state government on June 14^th, 2006. That repression resulted in the creation of the APPO, which integrated different social, political and indigenous organizations that confronted state authorities during the second half of 2006 to demand the resignation of the governor, whom they accused of suppressing social, political and indigenous organizations.

For more information:

• Resolución de la SCJN en el caso Oaxaca
• La Jornada: Violó Ulises Ruiz garantías individuales durante el conflicto en Oaxaca: SCJN (15/10/09)
• La Jornada: El Estado, obligado a reparar los daños ocasionados por el conflicto en Oaxaca (19/10/09)

More Information from SIPAZ:

THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SITUATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN OAXACA (August 2007) 

Oaxaca: Campaign for the punishment of the Assassins of Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes

In 2006, architect Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes, father of four and member of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), used to attend protests and carried provisions to the demonstrators. He always maintained “a very firm idea against acts of violence committed on behalf of the government.” He was killed on August 22, 2006 “at point blank and no chance at defending himself”. He was shot at by “paramilitary groups under the command of Aristeo López” who was José Murat’s ex-police officer in Oaxaca. Sampablo Cervantes was the first to be killed by such violent acts that terrorized the state between 2006 and 2007.

On August 8, 2009, three years after his death, his relatives decided to initiate a Campaign for the Punishment of the Assassins of Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes in the City of Oaxaca, pleading for justice in this case. The goal of the activities carried out by this campaign is for “the demand of the punishment of those responsible for the murder of Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes” indicating as culprits both active participants and intellectual responsibles: “the chiefs of police and government officials Manuel Moreno Rivas, Lizbeth Caña Cadeza, Jorge Franco Vargas “el Chuckie”, Bulmaro Rito Salinas, Lino Celaya Luría, Aristeo López Martínez and Ulises Ruiz, to name a few; there is no forgetting those who were associated with the Caravan of Death that took Lorenzo Sampablo’s life.”

Lorenzo Sampablo’s widow, Petra González Garnica, made a public plea to reaffirm the importance of pursuing justice so as to not forget the 26 people who were assassinated, over 500 people who were detained and 300 people who were interrogated during the repression that occurred in Oaxaca between 2006 and 2007. Petra González did not accept any compensation offered to her, and proclaimed that she would not accept it until they have found justice for her husband’s murder. Relatives of those assassinated, taken prisoner or injured during the confrontations in 2006 and 2007, held a meeting where, with much sorrow and indignation, they recounted all the consequences of impunity that changed their lives. After three years of violent acts, they have been left totally bereft. The suffering continues and the petition is absolutely clear to never let the dead and the injustices committed fall into oblivion.

For more information:

Blog: “Campaña por el Castigo de los Asesinos de Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes”

”Justicia para Oaxaca: Lorenzo Sampablo Cervantes Presente Ahora y Siempre” (31/08/2009)

Oaxaca: Demands made for reparation of harm caused by torture and by arbitrary privation of freedom

Press conference – source LIMEDDH

In a press conference held on the 5th August, the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights–Oaxacan subsidiary (LIMEDDH), alongside the Magisterial Commission of Human Rights (COMADDH) of Section 22 of the Mexican National Education Workers Union (SNTE), and the Committee of Family and Friends of the Disappeared, Killed, and Imprisoned People of Oaxaca (COFADAPPO), presented their stance with respect to the report submitted by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) regarding Human Rights violations committed during the social conflict in Oaxaca, covering the period from May 2006 up to July 2007. They also announced that this year, 63 people who were detained on the 25^th November 2006 have demanded, through LIMEDDH, that state authorities repair the moral damage cause by torture and arbitrary privation of freedom.

According to the press bulletin issued by LIMEDDH on the 5^th August, “serious violations within the constitutional framework of individual safety and human rights have not been investigated and remain in the dark, following the conclusion reached by the preliminary investigation report (…) of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in regards to the social political conflict of 2006 (…) in the area of Oaxaca. Arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and violations of the principle of right to a just process are a few of the Human Rights violations committed by the state and federal authorities”. LIMEDDH emphasized the importance of the work carried out by non-governmental organizations in regards to Human Rights in light of the existing climate of impunity. Furthermore, LIMEDDH also called attention to the fact that there exist various public reports carried out by international human rights organizations that contrast with the report submitted by the SCJN and that give evidence of the serious violations committed during the conflict.

In addition, LIMEDDH announced that, so far this year (2009), 63 people who were detained on the 25^th November 2006 and who have been victims of Human Rights violations have demanded that state authorities repair the moral damage cause by torture and arbitrary privation of freedom, the total amount reaching 58,400,000.00 $ (Pesos Mexicanos), 940,000.00 $ for each victim. LIMEDDH stressed that “it is not a case of putting a price on personal freedom or on physical or psychological integrity and wellbeing, yet of restoring the right that the victims have to be compensated by the perpetrator, the Mexican State; furthermore, it represents the public shame that the State Government of Oaxaca should express, independently and without undermining legal and administrative responsibility, in the crimes committed by public responsible officials.” LIMEDDH also called upon state and federal authorities to abstain from any type of harassment against Human Rights defenders, victims and family members; on the contrary, it was stressed that all national institutional routes of obtaining justice will be considered closed and that they will turn to international Human Rights courts to denounce this if need be.

For More Information (in Spanish):

• Boletín de prensa de la LIMEDDH

• La Jornada: Physicians for Human Rights cuestiona dictamen forense (06/08/09)

• La Jornada: Descalifica la CNDH reporte de la PGR sobre el asesinato de Brad Will (07/08/09)

More information from SIPAZ:

• THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SITUATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN OAXACA (August 2007)

Oaxaca: Detention of journalist Ernesto Reyes

Fuente: www.libertad-expresion.org.mx

On the 21st July, members of the Mexican Army in Oaxaca detained and condemned the newspaper journalist Ernesto Reyes Martínez, who writes for Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca and works as correspondent for the radio station XEW, part of the radio newsreel Hoy por Hoy. Ernesto Reyes Martínez was detained whilst taking photographs of an alleged detention that was happening on the federal highway. Various organizations, such as the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) and ARTICLE19 have condemned the detention, stating that “the illegal retention of the journalist lasted an hour and 30 minutes, during which time he was kept in solitary confinement and was not allowed to make telephone calls”. It is important to recognize the precarious situation in which many journalists find themselves in Mexico, a country that is marked for being the second most dangerous in the world in regards to human rights violations of journalists. In light of this event, ARTICLE19 and Cencos have called upon the state government to “adopt the necessary means to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, as the privation of the right of society to be informed is a direct threat for the consolidation of democracy”.

For more information, see:

“Militares obstruyen ejercicio periodistico en Oaxaca”, Cimacnoticias (22/07/2009)

“Alerta-LE: Militares obstruyen ejercicio periodistico en Oaxaca”, Campaña permanente de protección a periodistas en México (21/07/2009)

Mexico: Mexico undergoes the Universal Periodic Review

On February 10, for the first time, Mexico underwent the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. The UPR is a mechanism of the UN whose objective is to examine the achievement of human rights agreements and obligations in each member State. The critics of the presentation given by the Mexican government have been many and vocal. Jose Luis Soberanes, the Mexican ombudsman, stated that “the issues have been badly presented” and the results “have been manipulated”. He also expressed that in Mexico “the problem that we have is that what is resolved in the international bodies, such as the Human Rights Council, later is not implemented. There is a gap between what happens in the international bodies and what happens internally”.

The government stated in its report the proposal to withdraw the military from the fight against organized crime in the long term and support the establishment of a National Program of Human Rights. This plan has been questioned by organizations for being proposed solely for the UPR and without the intention of actually implementing it.

In addition two other reports were presented: the first compiled by agencies of the UN and the other by NGOs. While the Mexican state presented its report, the Mexican and international NGOs were allowed to be present but were not allowed to talk.

The report of the organizations from civil society, which was presented in September of 2008, showed a different reality with regard to human rights in Mexico. It criticized that the militarization and the fight against organized crime has focused entirely on questions of security and has sacrificed respect for human rights. It stressed that criminalization of social protest continues along with aggression and hostility towards human rights defenders, violations of fundamental guarantees by the military, feminicide, torture, and arbitrary detentions.

International organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch strongly emphasized problems of impunity in Mexico. They pointed to “the hundreds of homicides and the 700 forced disappearances which took place between the 1960s and 1980s” and that it still continues by not giving sentences according to the facts in San Salvador Atenco and in Oaxaca in the last few years. “The agents of the federal, state, and municipal police of Mexico are implicated in grave human rights violations; such as torture, violations, and homicide, especially the actions committed during the civil disturbances in San Salvador Atenco and the City of Oaxaca in 2006, which have still not been brought to justice”.

Friday, February 13, the countries carrying out the review on February 10, South Africa, Pakistan, and Nicaragua, will present their report to the public. The government of Mexico will show in the document if it accepts, rejects, or waits to decide on the criticisms and proposals which the Council formulated in the session on Tuesday.

More Information:

Highlights of the Univeral Periodic Review of Mexico – UNHCHR (10/02/09)

Reports by the Government, Civil Society, and the UN- UNHCHR

Press Release by the Human Rights Center PRODH on the UPR (10/02/09)

More Information in Spanish:

ONG mexicanas ante el Examen Periódico Universal de México, Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos (10/02/2009)

Article 19 coincide con el Consejo de Derechos Humanos sobre las agresiones a periodistas en México (10/02/2009)

Acusan ONG ante la ONU impunidad en la violación a DH en México, La Jornada (07/02/2009)

Oaxaca: National Forum “Building Paths and Developing Plans for Political Transformation”

On September 19th and 20th, the National Forum “Construyendo Caminos y Articulando Proyectos para la Transformación Política” (“Building Paths and Developing Plans for Political Transformation”) occurred in Oaxaca. According to the organizers, the meeting was a gathering of 240 people; this included men, women, representatives and members of seventy-three social and civil organizations, including social movements from Chiapas, Morelos, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and the state of Mexico, as well as representatives from Australia and the United States.

The final political declaration emphasized that “this event is occurring within the context of a serious institutional crisis and of a fragile democracy, in which we as a country are immersed; it is occurring within the many experiences of struggle and resistance from many diverse social movements in Mexico and through the necessity of re-articulating the social and political processes of the people of Oaxaca in the face of the authoritarianism of the government”.

The proposed objectives of this event were: to generate a space of discussion for the diverse range of social movements in the country; to identify common elements between the national and local settings, as well as to reach a consensus on the priority courses of action within the social agenda.

For More Information (In Spanish):

Political Declaration of the National Forum “Building Roads and Developing Plans for Political Transformation”

Opening Speech by Dolores Gonzáles (SERAPAZ: Services and Consulting for Peace)