Chiapas: Pilgrimage by the Believing People for the release of professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez

On 19 April, on the birthday of professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, some 8,000 people participated in a pilgrimage for the release of this Tsotsil teacher in the capital city of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.  This was a pilgrimage organized by the Believing People, a Tsotsil team from the San Cristobal de Las Casas diocese, and the Movement of El Bosque for the Release of Alberto Patishtán.  The march was accompanied by teachers from Section 7 of the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE); the route was to end at the First Collegiate Tribunal of the Twentieth Circuit, where there may be held discussions regarding the liberty of Patishtán in the next few days.  Beyond this, there was held a rally at the Council on Federal Judiciary in Mexico City, besides the protests held outside Mexican consulates and embassies throughout the world.

Different communication media made public the state government’s intention to cancel this pilgrimage, given that it coincided with the visit of Enrique Peña Nieto and the former president of Brasil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to relaunch the National Crusade against Hunger in Navenchauc, Zinacantán, which is not far from Tuxtla Gutiérrez.  These pressures were communicated by the subsecretary of governance, Moisés Zenteno, from the mayor of El Bosque, Orlando Martínez, and two residents of the community who “only want money,” as professor Martín Ramírez said, being a member of the Movement of El Bosque for the Release of Alberto Patishtán;  he added that he had replied by saying that he could not “arrest the mobilization, given that it is a national and international affair,” to which was replied that “the mayor threatened that Patishtán could be held longer in prison if the march in fact took place.”  Subsequently, Martín Ramírez received a call from Moisés Nimrod, warning him that the pilgrimage had to be canceled “because the governor will release Patishtán.”  Requesting that the official confirm this deal, Nimrod reneged and recognized that it was not in the hands of the government, but that “he will see what he can do.”

In other news, the governor of Chiapas, Manuel Velasco Coello, visited Alberto Patishtán Gómez in prison no. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas a day before the pilgrimage, and he committed himself to promoting the release of Patishtán and a new review of the cases of the other prisoners from the organizations the Voz del Amate and those in solidarity with the Voz del Amate. Accompanying the governor were the state attorney general, Raziel López Salazar, and teh state secretary for public security, Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca. Before Alberto Patishtán, Velasco Coello expressed his personal interest in the case, declaring that he believes in his innocence, and committing himself to discuss the case with president Enrique Peña during his visit the following day.

Víctor Hugo López, director of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC), indicated that the government “demands a cancellation of the pilgrimage programmed for this Friday, because it wants to demonstrate a scene cleansed of social protest; this would be the first mass-mobilization in the state capital during this new administration.”  He also added that the CDHFBC was concerned for the security both of Patishtán and Martín Ramírez, “because the tone of the demand changed from request to threat and, as we have seen in other cases, repression can be used after negotiations fail to achieve what is desired.”

Lastly, the Believing People published a communique during the pilgrimage, expressing that “Today the federal and state governments [...] have proposed strategies of a crusade against hunger.  That is not true in their words; we believe and are convinced that it is in fact a CRUSADE AGAINST THE HUNGRY; we indigenous and campesino peoples ARE HUNGRY, but we have hunger for the truth and justice in the Acteal case, and HUNGER FOR THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF OUR BROTHER ALBERTO PATISHTAN.”  It continues: “Mssrs. Justices of the First Collegiate Tribunal of the Twentieth Circuit, do not continue staining your dignity and prestige maintaining imprisoned our brother.  Within the historical memory of the Mexican people the decision that you take regarding this innocent person will remain forever remembered.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Tzotziles y maestros marchan por la libertad de Patishtán (La Jornada, 20 de abril de 2013)

Peregrinan tzotziles por libertad de Patishtán (El Universal, 19 de abril de 2013)

Palabra de Pueblo creyente en la peregrinación por la Libertad de Patishtán (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 19 de abril de 2013)

Se compromete Manuel Velasco a gestionar la libertad de Patishtán (La Jornada, 18 de abril de 2013)

Presiones para detener las movilizaciones a favor de Patishtán por visita de Peña Nieto (Desinformémonos, abril 2013)

El Gobernador de Chiapas Manuel Velasco Coello reconoció inocencia de Patishtán (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 19 de abril de 2013)

Liberación Inmediata e incondicional a nuestro hermano Alberto Patishtán Gómez (Blog Las Abejas de Actea, 19 de abril de 2013)

Audio-video:

Retransmisión de la peregrinación y entrevistas (Koman Ilel, 19 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Petition from the CDHFBC to release Alberto Patishtán (15 April 2013)

Chiapas: Forthcoming actions for the release of Alberto Patishtán (8 April 2013)

Chiapas: “Justice is its opposite,” declares Alberto Patishtán (20 March 2013)

México/Chiapas: SCJN rejects review of case of Alberto Patishtán(20 March 2013)

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

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

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

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

For more information (in Spanish):

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

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

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

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

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

México/Chiapas: SCJN rejects review of case of Alberto Patishtán(20 March 2013)

Mexico/Chiapas: Alberto Patishtán should be immediately released, notes Olga Sánchez Cordero (5 March 2013)

Mexico/Chiapas: The SCJN admits the Patishtán case (12 October 2012)

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

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

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

Mexico/Chiapas: SCJN rejects review of case of Alberto Patishtán

Image @ Koman Ilel

On 6 March the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation (SCJN) decided not to review its competence regarding the case of professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, from the El Bosque municipality of Chiapas.  The decision was taken on the basis of the project of the justice Olga Sánchez Cordero, who had suggested new hope to favor the cause of Patishtán, given that, if he had been judged according to the criteria approved by the Primary Hall in recent years, surely he would have been released due to the grave violations of due process which occurred during his trial.

Manuel Velasco Coello, governor of Chiapas, affirmed that the Tzotzil indigenous man Alberto Patishtán Gómez, who had been imprisoned since 2000, “should be released.”  In a communiqué, he assured that Patishtán Goméz, who has been sentenced for 60 years, “should be granted a recognition of his innocence.”  ”The SCJN’s decision should have favored the release” of Patishtán, reiterated the governor.

Now, the case returns to a court in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.  “There still remains racism within Mexican justice,” claimed Patishtán’s defense team.  It is hoped that the new process will last three weeks in arriving to the tribunal in Tuxtla.  All indications show that this court could decide on the resource of innocence.

For more information (in Spanish):

Patishtán debe ser puesto en libertad: gobernador de Chiapas (La Jornada, 7 de marzo de 2013)

SCJN: Doce años de injusticia son insuficientes para Alberto Patishtán(Centro de Medios Libres, 7 de marzo de 2013)

“Estamos gobernados por la injusticia”: Patishtán tras negativa de la Corte (La Jornada, 6 de marzo de 2013)

Rechaza la SCJN resolver el caso del profesor indígena Alberto Patishtán (La Jornada, 6 de marzo de 2013)

Rechaza el caso de alberto la SCJN (Blog de Alberto Patishtán, 6 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Mexico/Chiapas: Alberto Patishtán should be immediately released, notes Olga Sánchez Cordero (5 March 2013)

Mexico/Chiapas: The SCJN admits the Patishtán case (12 October 2012)

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

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

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

Chiapas: Communal radio is dismantled, youth detained

On Tuesday 12 October 2010 at approximately 7:30pm an operation carried out by members of the State Attorney General’s Office and the Sectorial Police of the state of Chiapas dismantled the communl radio “Proletarian radio 107.5,” located in the installations of the Emiliano Zapata Popular Organization (OPEZ) in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.  The station is affiliated with the Global Association of Communal Radios (AMARC).

According to denunciations, authorities arrested six people, including a minor of 14 years of age who was working at the station, who were released 24 hours later.  Authorities reportedly neither identified themselves nor presented any documents justifying their behavior.  All the transmission material belonging to Proletarian Radio was confiscated, reducing the station to radio-silence.

For more information (in Spanish):

 

Police close Proletarian Radio in Chiapas (La Jornada,  13 October 2010)

Bulletin: Communal radio is dismantled in attack on freedom of expression (bulletin of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights, 13 October 2010)

Protests against closing of citizens’ radio in Chiapas (Proletarian Radio communiqué, 14 October 2010)

Brutal police operation against a communal radio in Chiapas reduces it to silence (Reporters without Borders press-release, 15 October 2010)

Chiapas: Urgent action involving the detainees of the MOCRI-CNPA-MN

In an urgent action on April 8, the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) expressed serious concerns about the “detention incommunicado of Pedro López Gómez, Genaro Gómez Gómez, Ramiro Hernández Gómez, and Marcelino Ruiz Gómez, all of whom are family members of persons incarcerated in the prison CERRS 14 also known as ‘El Amate`, and Eric Bautista Gómez; all of whom were detained in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, in the State of Chiapas.”

According to the denunciations of the Regional Independent Campesino Movement – National Coordination Plan de Ayala- National Movement (MOCRI- CNPA- MN) and from the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (Limeddh) at dawn on April 7 members of the State Preventative Police forcibly removed a “peaceful demonstration in front of the Government Palace in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez”. For 15 days, this demonstration had been protesting in solidarity with eight prisoners who are members of the MOCRI-CNPA-MN, who had sewed their lips shut and begun a hunger strike on March 23 because they had been unjustly jailed. During the removal of the protest, according to information from the OMCT, four people were detained “and to date we do not know where they were taken to after being detained”. The encampment of the prisoners who were on a hunger strike inside El Amate was also dismantled by the guards.

The OMCT also denounced that “at the same time that these detentions were taking place at the protest, another group of four patrols of the Preventative Police violently evicted the offices of the MOCRI-CNPA-MN and various residents of the neighborhood, Colonia “Emiliano Zapata”, and during this operation Eric Bautista Gómez, the spokesman of the MOCRI, was detained.

According to an article in La Jornada on April 9, the government stated that the detainees had been placed under arraigo (pre-charge detention) in a secure house and would be freed soon.

For More Information (In Spanish):

Boletín y denuncia publica, MOCRI CNPA MN (08/04/09)

OMCT: Caso MEX 080409/Detenciones en incomunicación/Temor de desaparición forzada/Riesgo de torturas y/o malos tratos  (08/04/09)

AU-010-2009.MOCRI-CHIS: Denuncia publica: Uso excesivo de la fuerza pública, detenciones arbitrarias, riesgo de desaparición forzada de personas y de actos de tortura en contra de familiares e integrantes de MOCRI CNPA, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, LIMEDDH (07/04/09)

Presuntos policías intentan secuestrar a líder del MOCRI, El Proceso (06/04/09)

Desalojan plantón de labriegos dentro de la cárcel de El Amate, La Jornada (07/04/09)

Liberarían en Chiapas a seis detenidos, La Jornada (09/04/09)

More Information de SIPAZ:

Chiapas: New denunciation from El Amate, SIPAZ Blog, 2/4.