Chiapas: ejidatario adherent to the Sixth Declaration murdered by gunfire in San Sebastián Bachajón

During the night of 24 April, Juan Vázquez Gómez, former Secretary General of the adherents to the other Campaign in the San Sebastián Bachajón ejido, was murdered by unidentified persons who shot him five times just outside his house.

In an informative note released on 25 April, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights condemned the murder of Vázquez Guzmán “who was known for his active defense of the land and territory in light of the government’s looting of the Agua Azul cascades and the imposition of a control point at their entrance.”  It recalled that on 17 April the ejidatarios of San Sebastian “publicly denounced that its territory is being threatened by the official policy of territorial looting, indicating continuity under the present government of the state.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Nota informativa del Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (CDHFBC, 25 de abril de 2013)

Asesinan a ejidatario adherente a la Sexta declaración en Bachajón (La Jornada, 25 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Adherents to the Other Campaign in San Sebastián Bachajón denounce looting and impunity (22 April 2013)

Chiapas: Denial of motion to ejidatarios who adhere to the Sixth Declaration from San Sebastián Bachajón (7 February 2013)

Chiapas: New denunciation from San Sebastián Bachajón (10 July 2012)

Chiapas: Ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón “occupy” control-point in Agua Azul before being displaced (25 June 2012)

Chiapas: Sit-in of the Front of Ejidos in Resistance in San Cristóbal de Las Casas (6 January 2012)

Chiapas: Press conference by ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón (20 March  2011)

Chiapas: Special report by Frayba: Government creates and administers conflicts (8 March 2011)

 

Chiapas: Adherents to the Other Campaign in San Sebastián Bachajón denounce looting and impunity

On 17 April, adherents to the Other Campaign of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle from San Sebastian Bachajón, Chilón municipality, published a new communique in which they recall their struggle and evaluate the former state administration of Juan Sabines Guerrero.  They denounce the impunity of looting and a justice system that serves the State, one that has allowed their ejido to experience “looting of territory and imposition of a control-point at the entrance of the Agua Azul cascades, removed from residents.”  They reiterated their desire to resist looting and to free their prisoners Antonio Estrada Estrada, Miguel Vázquez Deara, and Miguel Demeza Jiménez, “victims of the authorities for their lack of capacity and independence to apply the law.” They greeted others, who have also been imprisoned for raising their voice.  They recognized Alberto Patishtán Gómez in particular: “With a simple heart, and humble in his words, [he is] a great comrade that they sought to silence with the walls of political prison.  He will always be present in our slogans and in the process of our struggle.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncian despojo de tierras en Agua Azul, Chiapas (La Jornada, 18 de abril de 2013)

México: San Sebastián Bachajón se pronuncia en contra de la persecución estatal (Comunicado de los adherentes a la Otra Campaña de San Sebastián Bachajón, 17 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Denial of motion to ejidatarios who adhere to the Sixth Declaration from San Sebastián Bachajón (7 February 2013)

Chiapas: New denunciation from San Sebastián Bachajón (10 July 2012)

Chiapas: Ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón “occupy” control-point in Agua Azul before being displaced (25 June 2012)

Chiapas: Sit-in of the Front of Ejidos in Resistance in San Cristóbal de Las Casas (6 January 2012)

Chiapas: Press conference by ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón (20 March  2011)

Chiapas: Special report by Frayba: Government creates and administers conflicts (8 March 2011)

 

Chiapas: Close of EZLN cycle of communiques “Them and Us–Looks”

Throughout February, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) continued publishing a series of communiques united under a common title of “Them and Us: Looks.”  Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés signed a communique for the first time (part 6): he explained the role of Subcomandante Marcos (the “window”), his (the “door”), and announced that the EZLN would invite adherents to the Sixth Declaration to the Zapatista zone: “Here we will await you from this door that it is my duty to care for, so that you enter this humble school of my comrades who want to share the little that we have learned….”

In these communiques, the Zapatistas finished defining the what and with whom of their coming actions, reporting that from now on they would be in communication only with members of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle, using texts with “the basic elements of the history of neo-Zapatismo.”  They announced the beginning of a “course that the Zapatista support-bases will given to comrades from the Sixth in Mexico and the world.”

For more information (in Spanish):

ELLOS Y NOSOTROS. VII.- L@s más pequeñ@s. (19 de febrero)

ELLOS Y NOSOTROS. VI.- Las Miradas. Parte 6: ÉL SOMOS. (14 de febrero de 2013)

ELLOS Y NOSOTROS. VI.- Las Miradas. Parte 5: Mirar la noche en que somos. (De la luna nueva al cuarto creciente) (13 de febrero de 2013)

ELLOS Y NOSOTROS. VI.- Las Miradas. Parte 4: Mirar y comunicar. (11 de febrero de 2013)

ELLOS Y NOSOTROS. VI.- Las Miradas. Parte 3: Algunas otras miradas. (8 de febrero de 2013)

Ellos y Nosotros. VI.- Miradas. Parte 2: Mirar y escuchar desde/hacia abajo. (7 de febrero de 2013)

ELLOS Y NOSOTROS. VI.- Las Miradas. 1.- Mirar para imponer o mirar para escuchar. (6 de febrero de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: EZLN communiques “Them and Us,” parts II-V (29 January 2013)

Chiapas: release of new communique by the EZLN hours before the arrival of Enrique Peña Nieto to lands under its influence (22 January 2013)

Chiapas: The Voz del Amate and those in solidarity fasting and praying

Since 30 January, “political prisoners from the Voz del Amate and those in solidarity with the Voz del Amate, adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle, who are being held in prison no. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas,” in the words of the communique, undertook a day of fasting and prayer for 12 hours for 7 consecutive days so as to demand justice and release for those who are fasting.

“On the one hand this new call is made to the state government of Manuel Velasco Coello, so that he put an end to these injustices that are separating us from our families, so that we be released as soon as possible without conditions,” they noted.

It should be mentioned that in September 2011 the members of the Voz del Amate and those in solidarity with them undertook a hunger-strike and fast which lasted 39 days.

For more information (in Spanish):

Anuncian Solidarios y la Voz del Amate jornada de ayuno y oración (Enlace Zapatista, 30 de enero de 2013)

Denuncia de lxs Solidarixs y la Voz del Amate (Blog No estamos todxs, 28 de enero de 2013)

Juzgado de Simojovel puede acabar injusticia de 7 años (La Jornada, 28 de enero de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: End of hunger strike (14 November 2011)

Chiapas: Two more prisoners join the hunger strike; concentration of family-members at sit-in (4 November 2011)

Chiapas: National and international support for Patishtán and the prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (26 October 2011)

Chiapas: New denunciation by Las Abejas (28 October 2011)

Chiapas: 20 days into hunger strike and 11 days into sit-in of relatives, 2 prisoners are released (27 October 2011)

Chiapas: 15 days of hunger strike and  days of sit-in (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: Sit-in of relatives of relatives of prisoners on hunger strike(17 October 2011)

Chiapas: MPJD arrives once again to Chiapas, there to express solidarity with Las Abejas, prisoners on strike, and Zapatistas (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: 8 days of hunger strike at CERSS no. 5 (7 October 2011)

Chiapas: Prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (4 October 2011)

Chiapas: Public day for Fasting and Prayer for Peace in the San Cristóbal prison (26 September 2011)

 

Chiapas: Denunciation of residents of Candelaria El Alto, Venustiano Carranza regarding the “El Desengaño” territory

Venustiano Carranza municipality (http://www.e-local.gob.mx)

In a 19 March 2012 communiqué, residents of the community of Candelaria el Alto, Venustiano Carranza municipality, who are adherents to the Other Campaign denounced that on 15 March members of the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization-Carranza Region (OCEZ-RC) from the San José La Grandeza neighborhood began to burn the crops and trees located on their lands.  They recalled that since 6 April 2011 the OCEZ-RC had invaded the “El Desengaño” territory.

After informing the state government, they report that on the next day “arrived a PEP [Preventive State Police] truck, asking about the Candelaria el Alto case, wanting to enter the territory, adding that if we gave permission they would start patrolling and reach the place where the invaders came, beyond promising to protect those of the OCEZ-RC [...].  Upon hearing this we told them to leave our community, because we have told the government several times now that we do not have more land to sell.  So why did they arrive and deceive us in this way, knowing that we will not sell the little we have left.  We will not permit more looting, after the 98 hectares of land that the state bought for the benefit of [OCEZ-RC].”

They demanded a solution as well as respect: “we are now in the season close to the time to sow our crops (corn and beans), so it is urgent the state resolve our problems.  If it does not, we will be exposed for another year without our basic crops, thus putting at risk the lives of the children, women, and elderly of the community.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia completa de habitantes de la comunidad de Candelaria el Alto municipio de Venustiano Carranza adherentes a la Otra Campaña(19 de marzo de 2012)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

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

Chiapas: adherents to the Other Campaign from San Sebastián Bachajón denounce meddling by state-government

Archived photo (@chacatorex.com)

On 7 December, after having taken the control-point at the entrance of the Agua Azul waterfalls for two days, the ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón, adherents to the Other Campaign, denounced the intervention of the Secretary for Governance of Chiapas, Noé Castañón, who arrived to the ejido personally and who, according to them, offered them money before threatening to call the police to displace them.  They indicate that there has been a move toward militarization since their refusal to sign the accord presented by Castañón; the agreement would have a part of the proceeds of access to the waterfalls be sent to the ejidatarios.  In their own words, they say that they are “not requesting handouts from the government, nor do we do this for economic interests.  The only objective we have is to recover the land that was unjustly handed over to the state-government of Chiapas to construct something that only now can be seen.  That was the objective we sought, which now causes militarization against our people, as they tell us that they will send all the social-activist leaders to jail, opening arrest-orders against us as though we were taking from them their palace of governance.”

For more information (in Spanish):

- Denuncia de San Sebastián Bachajón sobre la Caseta de Agua Azul e intenciones del Gobierno del Estado (Ejidatarios de SSB, 7 December 2011)

- Denuncian ejidatarios de Bachajón injerencia del gobierno chiapaneco (La Jornada, 7 December 2011)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón retake control-point in Agua Azul (13 December 2011)

Chiapas: Denunciations by ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón (7 November 2011)

Chiapas: The four prisoners from San Sebastián Bachajón are released (18 August 2011)

Chiapas: Press conference by ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón (20 March  2011)

Chiapas: Special report by Frayba: Government creates and administers conflicts (8 March 2011)

Chiapas: Prisoners fasting and on hunger strike

Photo @ Zapateando

On 29 September, 7 prisoners being held in prison no. 5 of San Cristóbal de Las Casas began a total and indefinite hunger stirke, while 4 others initiated a daily fast to last 12 hours.  Both initiatives have been taken to protest the diseases these prisoners suffer.  Adherents to the Other Campaign, they pertain to the Political Prisoners of the Voz del Amate, those in solidarity with la Voz del Amate, and prisoners who are adherents to the Mitzitón Other Campaign as well one other prisoner from Voces Inocentes.

In a public communiqué they expressed that “after having been subjected to the injutsices that have caused our families and us great pain, given these unjust incarcerations and the fabrication of crimes that take from us our liberty just because we have defending rights in some cases or in others due to illiteracy or poverty.  In this way they have violated our rights, as they continue to do on many occasions, in light of the many occasions on which we have been ignored for demanding justice on the part of the corresponding institutions.”

In their demands, they direct themselves to the governor of the state with these words: “We demand that Juan Sabines Guerrero, governor of the state, intervene immediately to effect the unconditional liberty that is owed to us.”

They invite civil society to continue with its struggle: “Finally we invite our comrades and independent national and international organizations as well as NGO human-rights centers to keep watch over our cause to demand justice and liberty for all political prisoners in the country.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Los presos políticos del CERSS Nº 5 Chiapas se declaran en huelga de hambre. La RvsR Chiapas llama a solidarizarse, Enlace Zapatista, 29 September2011

Campaña por la libertad del compañero Alberto Patishtan  (Enlace Zapatista)

En huelga de hambre adherentes de la Otra Campaña en el CERSS no. 5, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 29 September 2011

Con ayuno exigen su liberación indígenas presos en Chiapas, Proceso, 29 September 2011

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Public day for Fasting and Prayer for Peace in the San Cristóbal prison (26 September 2011)

Chiapas: Rosario Diaz, imprisoned for six years, and denunciation by Voz del Amate (8 September 2011)

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

- Chiapas: the case of Alberto Patishtán Gómez presented before the IACHR, and denunciation by la Voz de Amate (10 August 2010)

- Chiapas: visit to observe 2011 call for “jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum” Honor denied (30 July 2010)

Chiapas: prisoner Alberto Patishtán Gómez’s latest communiqué and its coverage by La Jornada (19 July 2010)

Chiapas: medical neglect in the case of Alberto Patishtán (25 March 2010)

Chiapas: confrontation in Candelaria El Alto, Venustiano Carranza

On 21 September, in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, indigenous individuals of the Emiliano Zapata Organization-Carranza Region (OCEZ-RC) and members of the community Candelaria El Alto who are adherents to the Other Campaign had a confrontation regarding possession of 185 hectares of land.  Both groups blamed the other for having begun the violence.

OCEZ-RC denounced that eight of its members were injured during the confrontation.  It affirms that the conflict began when a group of men armed with machetes reached the stretch of land in question and began to insult members of OCEZ-RC and throw rocks at them.  In light of this, the organization installed an indefinite plantation in front of the municipal palace to demand that the municipal government of Venustiano Carranza punish the aggressors.

The communiqué of the Digna Ochoa Center for Human Rights writes this on the question: “We indicate that the aggression committed today by a paramilitary shock-group that hides behind the label of the Other Campaign in Chiapas shows the contradiction between its word and coherence, given that today it launched an action to denounce the aggressions taken by paramilitary groups such as Paz y Justicia against communities that pertain to the EZLN, as in the case of the community of San Patricio in the municipality of Sabanilla; this at the same time that groups of adherents in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza carry out paramilitary-type aggressions against members of the OCEZ-RC.  Not to support the practice of these groups that say they are part of the Other Campaign in Chiapas means that it is an opportune time to put distance between the two and to clarify one’s position.”

The adherents of the Other Campaign in Candelaria El Alto have blamed campesinos of the community Nuevo San José la Grandeza who pertain to the OCEZ-RC for the aggression.  In a communiqué, they reported that on 21 September they were meeting where they do guard-shifts, given the situation in the community following the land-occupation by OCEZ-RC  of Nuevo San José la Grandeza, who took the land El Desengaño in April of this year.  There was had an accord of not allowing three persons who come to work it.  Soon, they affirmed that 10 persons arrived “provoking and insulting.”  They denounce that “after the confrontation the members of the OCEZ-RC communicate with persons who are positioned in our lands and who pertain to the colony San José la Grandeza, who are from the same organization.  60 persons arrive, dressed in black with their faces hidden, armed and firing their high-caliber weapons.  The firefight lasted some two hours, and subsequently they returned to their camp.  We would also like to mention that this same day at about 9:30am they cut the electricity to the community so that we could not have communication.  Since yesterday we have been receiving threats regarding their desire to enter our homes to attack us.  We also understand that this form of threatening and attacking us is done so that we abandon our lands, so that they can have them.”  They ended their communiqué by expressing that “we would like to say to the OCEZ-RC that it is not possible that you take from us our bread, as we are campesinos who are conscious that it is the bad government that benefits [from this].  We demand that the state-government immediately take responsibility on the matter, given the situation of danger that our families are experiencing.”

For more information (in Spanish):
Organizaciones de nuevo en conflicto (Cuarto Poder, 24 September)

Miembros de la OCEZ y zapatistas chocan por control de un predio de 185 hectáreas (Proceso, 23 September)

Un enfrentamiento deja a ochos heridos (Cuarto Poder, 23 September)

Agresión paramilitar en contra de la OCEZ-RC, 8 heridos con machetes y palos (Comité de Derechos Humanos de Base Digna Ochoa, 22 September)

Denuncia pública de los adherentes a la Otra Campaña de Candelaria(Comunidad organizada Candelaria el Alto adherentes a la Otra Campaña, 22 September)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: OCEZ-Carranza Region carries out day of actions to demand observation of their demands (15 April 2011)

Chiapas: Protests against high electricity prices

On 8 September, responding to a call from the national network, there were held marches and manifestations in different parts of the country.  In Mexico City, members of the National Assembly of Users of Electrical Energy and the Mexican Union of Electricians (SME) carried out a march.

In Chiapas, on 7 September, the Other Campaign called for a forum of its adherents in San Cristóbal de las Casas “to make common the denunciations that share the situations of looting that are lived when [people] are in organized resistance.  Situations that are lived in the city and outside of it.”  This gave rise to begin a campaign under the title “Halt the War against Mother Earth and her Peoples.”  Participants also carried out a march in the Cathedral plaza on the 8th.

The autonomous Council of the Coast of Chiapas realized another protest “No to the privatization of electrical energy, and we claim this as a human right and not a commodity; that looting and privatization of natural resources stop, and that the lands of organized peoples in resistance be respected; just prices for electricity for all Mexicans; an end to repression, persecution, and criminalization of social activists, human-rights defenders, journalists, and activists.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Marcha por las Altas Tarifas de Luz, Consejo Autónomo de la Costa de Chiapas, 8 September 2011

Campaña Alto a la Guerra Contra la Madre Tierra y sus Pueblos, 9 September 2011

Marchan grupos sociales de Guerrero y SME contra cobros excesivosde CFE (La Jornada, 9 September)

Protestan por las altas tarifas de energía eléctrica de la CFE, Cuarto Poder, 9 September 2011

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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)

Campeche: National Meeting for the Liberation of Political Prisoners of Candelaria, Campeche (27 October 2009)

Chiapas: The four prisoners of San Sebastián Bachajón are released

On 25 July was held a press-conference at the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) to observe the release of the four prisoners of the San Sebastián Bachajón ejido, municipality of Chilón.  For five months Juan Aguilar Guzman, Jeronimo Guzman Mendez, Domingo Perez Alvaro y Domingo Garcia Gomez had found themselves incarcerated in the CERESO 17 in the municipality of Playas de Catazajá.  The fifth prisoner, a minor, Mariano Demeza Silvano, had been released on bail on 8 July from the juvenile detention center of Berriozábal.

Marcelino Hernández Gomez, human-rights defender and member of the CDHFBC, spoke of the numerous denunciations of rights-violations of the indigenous of the zone “committed by functionaries at all levels of the state government.”  Moreover he expressed that to date no one has been punished at all for the violent acts that occurred at the beginning of February in San Sebastián Bachajón, among those who had been accused.  Domingo Pérez Álvaro, one of the formerly imprisoned, explained: “We were imprisoned for nearly six months for having defending our lands.  They have been persecuting us now for three years [...] because we as ejidatarios and authorities defend our lands and natural resources left to us by our ancestors.”

On 5 February of this year, the State Attorney General’s Office of Chiapas imprisoned 10 ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón, adherents to the Other Campaign, among them a minor, following a conflict with PRI militants regarding the control of a checkpoint located at the entrance of the touristic center at the Agua Azul waterfalls.

Víctor Hugo López, director of the CDHFBC, declared that beyond suffering an unjust imprisonment, the five also were subjected to abuses in prison and “experienced one of the worst moments as prisoners of the state.”  Although the Tzeltal ejidatarios recovered their physical liberty, noted Hugo López, they are still “prisoners” of a “unilateral process led by the police and Federal Army in their lands, confronting governmental projects that have lacked all consultation with residents.”  Juan Aguilar Guzmán, also released, thanked national and international solidarity with prisoners in Tzeltal.

For more information (in Spanish):

Exige el Frayba respeto a las garantías de ejidatarios de San Sebastián Bachajón (Jornada, 27 July 2011)

En conferencia de prensa los ex presos políticos de San Sebastián Bachajón hablan de su liberación  (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 25 July 2011)

Palabra de los ex presos y Frayba sobre la liberación de los presos políticos de Bachajón (Radio Zapatista, 25 July 2011)

México: Salen libres los presos políticos de San Sebastián Bachajón – Entrevista

Libres los 4 Presos Políticos de San Sebastián Bachajón

Un preso político de Bachajon esta libre

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Facing police repression, adherents to the Other Campaign from San Sebastián Bachajón abandon control-post they had taken the previous day (24 April 2011)

Chiapas: Press conference by ejidatari@s from San Sebastián Bachajón (20 March  2011)

Chiapas: Special report by Frayba: Government creates and administers conflicts (8 March 2011)

Chiapas: The Peace Network visits prisoners from San Sebastián Bachajón (8 March 2011)

Chiapas: detentions vis-a-vis blockade of road Tonala-Pijijiapan during action of the Other Campaign (26 February 2011)

Chiapas: Caravan of women to San Sebastian Bachajón (25 February 2011)

Chiapas: Agua Azul, new happenings and denunciations (17 February 2011)

Chiapas: update in the Agua Azul case (14 February 2011)

Chiapas: roadblocks and detention of militants in Mitzitón (10 February 2011)

Chiapas: confrontation over control point at Agua Azul leaves one dead and several injured (7 February 2011)