Oaxaca: 17 Men Pose as Transgender to Register as Candidates

Photo @ Colectivo por la Ciudadanía de las Mujeres (Women’s Citizenship Collective)

On May 7th, the Women’s Citizenship Collective and women belonging to the muxe and trans community, originating from different regions of the state of Oaxaca, demanded in the framework of a press conference the cancellation “of the records of the men who illegally registered their candidacy to participate in the electoral contest, occupying spaces destined for women.”

17 of the 19 candidatures registered by the Electoral Institute and of Citizen Participation of the State of Oaxaca (IEEPCO in its Spanish acronym) of the self-affirmed transgender candidates were identified as fraudulent. These male candidates are not part of “the trans or muxe community of Oaxaca, and contrary to this, in most cases, their marital relationship and the procreation of children with women is publicly known”, according to the press release. They also state that “even some of the candidates are seeking re-election as municipal presidents and during their previous positions they did not declare to be transgender.”

All this occurred in order to evade the requirement of gender parity and place men in non-corresponding spaces. Since Article 16 of the Guidelines on Gender Parity 2018 states that: “In case of nomination of transgender, transsexual, intersex or muxes, the nomination will correspond to the gender to which the person is self-assigned and said candidacy will be taken into account in compliance with the principle of gender parity.”

Only two registered candidatures were accepted by the LGBTI community and the Women’s Citizenship Collective, since they are candidates, “who in addition to self-affirming as muxes, socially name themselves with those names in their daily lives (…) and in addition, their daily statements and actions reaffirm and consolidate that muxe identity as part of the free development of their personality.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado de prensa  | Exigen cancelar registros de hombres que usurpan espacios de mujeres trans (Colectivo por la Ciudadanía de las Mujeres, 7 de mayo de 2018)

Hombres se hicieron pasar por transgénero para ganar candidaturas en Oaxaca, acusa Colectivo (Proceso, 7 de mayo de 2018)

Hombres simulan ser trans para ocupar candidaturas de mujeres (Cimacnoticias, 7 de mayo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Mujer transgénero recibe su credencial de elector de una representación del INE (8 de agosto de 2017)

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Oaxaca: Cautionary Measures after Journalist Receives Death Threat on Facebook

(@Artículo 19)

“On May 1st, the reporter of Piñero de la Cuenca digital media, Juan Alberto Carmona Contreras, better known as Betillo, was threatened with death on Facebook by unknown persons in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca, as well as being harassed by unknown people outside of his home”, the organization for freedom of expression Articulo 19 reported.

Given the elements of context and concern, the organization stressed that “the threat that circulated on Facebook was accompanied by the dissemination of a photograph that was taken of the reporter in December 2017 when he was threatened by public officials of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR in its Spanish acronym). At that time, a police agent was annoyed with the reporter while covering an fireworks operation in Loma Bonita, Oaxaca and, according to the report of the journalist to Articulo 19, the public official stated: “I’ll get you, even if I lose my job and it’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

For this reason, and from that date, Carmona Contreras requested the intervention of the Federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. However, Articulo 19 stressed that, “it have not been enough to stop the aggressions against him.”

In view of the most recent events, the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca issued precautionary measures in favor of the reporter and opened file DDHPO/CA/504/(01)/OAX/2018.

For more information in Spanish:

Amenazan de muerte a periodista de Oaxaca en redes sociales (Artículo 19, 6 de mayo de 2018)

Defensoría de Oaxaca emite medidas cautelares para periodista amenazado de muerte en Facebook (Proceso, 7 de mayo de 2018)

Dictan medidas cautelares a reportero de El Piñero, quien anteriormente fue amenazado por agente de la PGR (Página3.mx, 7 de mayo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Denuncian la desapareción de un periodista en el Istmo de Tehuantepec (23 de enero de 2018)

Nacional/Internacional: relatores de la ONU y la CIDH sobre Libertad de Expresión llaman a México a redoblar esfuerzos para proteger a periodistas (7 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional/Oaxaca: Red nacional de periodistas exige detener la violencia contra comunicadora (17 de octubre de 2017)

Nacional/Internacional: Espionaje a periodistas y activistas en México (27 de junio de 2017)

National: 20,390 Forcibly Displaced in 2017 – Over 329,900 in the Last 12 Years

(@CMDPDH)

On May 2nd, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH in its Spanish acronym) published a report on forced internal displacement in Mexico that indicated that in 2017, the climate of violence that prevails in the country caused 25 internal forced mass displacement events in nine states of the Republic, which affected 20,390 people. In the last 12 years at least 329,917 people have had to flee their homes, a figure that is “extremely conservative” as it only includes the cases in which entire communities have had to move. The CMDPDH estimates the figure could exceed one million people, although it affirms that the government has not published figures due to not wanting to “recognize the scale of the problem and the existence of an armed conflict.”

The report states that the states of Guerrero (seven cases), Sinaloa (five), Chihuahua (three), Chiapas (three) and Oaxaca (three) concentrated practically all mass displacement episodes registered in 2017. Chiapas was the entity where the phenomenon affected the largest number of people: 6,090, most of them originating in the municipalities of Altos de Chalchihuitan and Chenalho. 60.44% of the people affected were indigenous and the vast majority lived in rural areas

Of all the factors that led to forced displacement, the majority of them were caused by armed organized groups. Other causes were political violence, social conflict and territorial disputes and, to a lesser extent, the implementation of extractive mining projects.

The CMDPDH regretted that in Mexico the issue of forced internal displacement remains an issue without diagnosis, without public policies or official responses: “Internally displaced people do not have a framework of protection, they are like a kind of legal limbo where nobody confers them rights. The displaced people are left at the mercy of the will of local governments.” In addition, although it acknowledged the existence are two local laws, in Chiapas and in Guerrero, lack of regulations has prevented their proper enforcement to date.

For more information in Spanish:

Informe 2017 : Desplazamiento interno forzado en México (CMDPDH, informe completo, 2 mayo de 2018)

La violencia provocó el desplazamiento forzado de 20 mil 390 personas en 2017: CMDPDH (Proceso, 2 de mayo de 2018)

Más de 20 mil desplazados en México durante 2017; la mayoría, indígenas: Informe (Aristegui Noticias, 2 de mayo de 2018)

En 12 años, 329.9 mil víctimas de desplazamiento forzado en el país (La Jornada, 3 de mayo de 2018)

Los conflictos territoriales y la violencia llevan al éxodo a más de 12.000 indígenas en México (El País, 3 de mayo de 2018)

Por la violencia, más de 325 mil personas han dejado sus hogares a la fuerza en México (Animal Político, 3 de mayo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Persiste riesgo a la vida de indígenas tsotsiles en Aldama, denuncia el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (26 de abril de 2018)

Chiapas: SIPAZ visitó a personas desplazadas de Chalchihuitán (20 de abril de 2018)

Guerrero: De la civilidad truncada a la desaparición de la razón, informe final de la Misión de Observación al Estado de Guerrero (16 de abril de 2018)

Chiapas: Plantón desplazados ejido Puebla, Chenalhó (10 de abril de 2018)

Chiapas: Otro conflicto agrario en los límites de Chenalhó provoca desplazados en el municipio de Aldama [blog incluye antecedentes] (27 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas: desplazados de Chalchihuitán denuncian condiciones en las que se siguen encontrando(23 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas : sin condiciones de seguridad regresan a casa más de 4000 desplazados en Chalchihuitán (4 de enero de 2018)

SIPAZ: BOLETÍN URGENTE – Reactivación del conflicto agrario entre Chenalhó y Chalchihuitán : violencia generalizada e impunidad (16 de diciembre de 2017)

National: CNI Will not Support any Presidential Candidate and Calls on Peoples to Organize

Marichuy in Oventik (@SIPAZ)

At a press conference in Mexico City on May 2nd, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym), the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) and its spokesperson, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, “Marichuy”, announced that they will not “seek or accept any alliance with any political party or candidate” before the elections on July 1st. They said that they will not call to vote or to abstain, but will continue looking for “all those below to dismantle the pestilent power from above”: “Vote or not vote, get organized. We will walk building the keys to heal the world.”

In a statement written after the second working session of the CIG, held on April 28th and 29th in Mexico City, they gave indications as to what they learnt when trying to collect signatures across the country so that Marichuy could participate as an independent candidate for the presidency: “We hear the pain of all the colors that we the Mexico of below are” and “we made our political proposal grow from below, from where the struggle of many native peoples, their problems and their proposals were made visible.” They affirmed, on the other hand, that “the electoral process is a great cesspit in which those who could falsify thousands of signatures and who have the billions of pesos that allow them to coerce and buy the vote contend, while most of the people of Mexico is torn between poverty and misery”; and that “the original peoples and those who walk below and to the left do not fit into their game; not because of our color, our race, our class, our age, our culture, our gender, our thinking, our heart, but because we are one with Mother Earth and our struggle is that it does not turn everything into a commodity.”

They asked “all of us who are the people of Mexico, the compas of the networks of support for the Indigenous Council of Government in all the states of the country, the compañeras and compañeros who made up the Hour of the Blossom of the Peoples Civil Association to continue consulting and evaluating us, making assessments, finding and walking the new paths that we decide, always organizing, even if they vote or do not vote for any candidate. Your words, feelings and proposals matter to us.” Finally, they revealed that in the month of October they will hold a General Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress, to know the results of the assessment of the original peoples grouped in the CNI, and to advance in the next step.

For more information in Spanish:

Falta lo que falta (CNI, 2 de mayo de 2018)

El CNI no buscará ninguna alianza política… el proceso electoral “es un gran cochinero”, dice “Marichuy” (Proceso, 2 de mayo de 2018)

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“No vamos a apoyar a ningún candidato”: CNI (La Jornada, 2 de mayo de 2018)

Marichuy dice que su movimiento no apoyará a ningún candidato: “esta elección es un cochinero” (Sin Embargo, 2 de mayo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional : Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar? (27 de abril de 2018)

Nacional : CNI convoca al “siguiente paso en la lucha” (17 de marzo de 2018)

Nacional: CNI denuncia ataque contra la caravana del CIG. (22 de enero de 2018)

Nacional: Marichuy critica trampas del INE a su candidatura (26 de octubre de 2018)

Nacional: Marychuy se registra como candidata independiente a la Presidencia de la República (18 de octubre de 2017)

National/International: Mexico – First Country to Ratify TPP-11

(@Convergencia)

On April 24th, the Chamber of Senators ratified in plenary session the Integral and Progressive Treaty of Transpacific Association (TPP-11) with 73 votes in favor, 24 against and four abstentions. With this, Mexico became the first country of those that make up this agreement to ratify it. For the treaty to effectively enter into force, it will be necessary for it to be ratified by at least 5 other countries.

The Mexican business sector greeted this new agreement: “Today, businessmen are convinced that its entry into force will benefit Mexican companies, workers and consumers by generating a more competitive and dynamic economy, for the benefit of Mexican families. The countries that are part of the CPTPP constitute 14% of the annual production of the entire world, with which they become one of the largest free trade zones at an international level. This agreement opens the doors to ten Pacific economies to Mexican producers and entrepreneurs, who will have preferential access to these markets. Therefore, new opportunities are created for the generation of formal and better paid jobs in our country.”

In return, the Convergence of Social Organizations and Citizens “México mejor sin TLCs” (Mexico Better Without FTAs), which brings together 200 social organizations, campesinos, trade unions, human rights organizations and academics, demanded in a statement “that this Treaty not be ratified and negotiated in our name without transparency and without public participation.” It said that it requested an “audience with the Presidency of the Senate Board of Directors to express its appreciations and alternatives to the contents of the Treaty that compromise human rights and the care of the land, unfortunately to date we have not been received which deepens concerns.”

It criticized the fact that in less than a month, the senators intend to approve TPP-11, “since it will affect various productive sectors and the guarantees of Mexicans in different areas, including labor and health, without having held public hearings as provided by the Law on the Approval of Commercial Treaties with all sectors involved.”

It attributed the hurry “to the fear of the current government that with the elections of July the composition of the Legislative Power changes and whoever wins the presidency does not endorse the TTP-11.” In addition, it finally noted with concern that “it is feared that with the same hurry and before the new government and the next legislature take office, they intend to approve the recently concluded modernization of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Mexico as well as the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that should end in the first week of May.”

For more information in Spanish:

Piden a CNDH intervenga contra ATP por violar las leyes (La Jornada, 23 de abril de 2018)

México se convierte en el primer país en ratificar el TPP-11 (El Financiero, 24 de abril de 2018)

El sector privado celebra la ratificación en el Senado del Tratado Integral y Progresista de Asociación Transpacífico (CCE, 25 de abril de 2018)

Los pros y contras del TPP11 para México (Expansión, 25 de abril de 2018)

Por un modelo económico que ponga al centro los derechos humanos y el cuidado del medio ambiente (Convergencia “México mejor sin TLC’s”, 25 de abril de 2018)

National: Senate Approves Controversial Social Communication Law

On April 26th, the Senate of the Republic approved the Law of Social Communication that aims to regulate the official publicity that federal and state public entities grant to the media, with 60 votes in favor, 46 against and one abstention. This Law is also known as #LeyChayote (name of the bribe that can be given to journalists and the media). Among other things, the new law establishes that the Ministry of the Interior will regulate spending on this matter, which has been questioned by civil organizations, as it continues to provide political control over government spending.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico stated: “By adopting the Social Communication Law without taking into account international human rights standards, a historic opportunity has been lost to correct the bad practices that exist around the assignment of Official Advertising in Mexico.”

For its part, the Free Media Collective composed of journalists, media, civil, academic and business organizations denounced: “This law violates the freedom of expression, press and information since the absence of such regulatory framework allows arbitrary and discretionary use of the distribution of official advertising and generates censorship of the media and critical journalists.”

It should be recalled that the formulation of this law is due to an unprecedented sentence of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation that granted an injunction to the organization for freedom of expression Articulo 19 last November, forcing Congress to regulate public resources destined for propaganda, which exceeded two billion dollars since 2013. Minister Arturo Zaldivar stated that the absence of regulation encourages an arbitrary exercise of the budget in terms of social communication, which “constitutes a mechanism of restriction or indirect limitation of freedom of expression, clearly proscribed by the Constitution (…) encourages the policy of spending on social communication channels fiscal resources towards media close to the positions of the Government and denies access to those resources -or simply threatens to restrict it- to the media that are critical of the Government’s policies.”

The Collective #MediosLibres lamented that the text only legalizes political propaganda disguised as information without achieving substantive regulation. The collective also denounced a simulation by the legislators regarding public consultation. “The lack of dialogue with civil society and of its integration in the process had as a consequence that this law obeys very particular interests and not those that a society like the Mexican [one] requires”.

For more information in Spanish:

Todo listo para legalizar el uso arbitrario de la publicidad oficial (Proceso, 7 de abril de 2018)

El Senado aprueba la Ley Chayote para regular la publicidad oficial (Animal Político, 25 de abril de 2018)

Ley Chayote viola libertad de expresión, no hay reglas claras en publicidad oficial: Medios Libres (26 de abril, Animal Político)

Ley Chayote: mandato incumplido (Sin Embargo, 27 de abril de 2017)

El Congreso mexicano aprueba una polémica ley de propaganda oficial (El País, 27 de abril de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/Internacional: relatores de la ONU y la CIDH sobre Libertad de Expresión llaman a México a redoblar esfuerzos para proteger a periodistas (7 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional/Internacional: Espionaje a periodistas y activistas en México (27 de junio de 2017)

 

Chiapas/National: Roundtable Discussion “To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: Forbidden to Think?”

Roundtable discussion “To watch, to listen, to speak. Forbidden to think?”

From April 15th to 25th, the roundtable discussion “To watch, to listen, to speak: Forbidden to think?”, convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), was held at the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Indigenous Integral Training Center -University of the Earth (Cideci-Unitierra in its Spanish acronym) in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Academics, artists and activists participated in this event whose main objective was to take stock of the campaign of Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, “Marichuy”, in her aspiration to be an independent candidate for the presidency of the Republic in the next elections in July as spokesperson for the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym).

Subcomandante Galeano stated that, contrary to the criticism that this initiative would divide the vote of the left or that it was an instrument of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994), “if Marichuy did something, it was to lay bare the Mexican political electoral system in which illegality is rewarded with candidacies like those of Jaime Rodriguez ‘El Bronco’ and Margarita Zavala, who, even with accumulated false signatures, were granted registration”. He asserted that, “If everything is a game to divide the vote, why did the system not move to ensure registration? The truth is that there is no place for Marichuy, there is no place for the original peoples.” On the contrary, “those who violated all laws were left,” said Galeano. He stressed that, “The result of your mobilization, Marichuy, showed that the INE, is a” job placement agency.”

In a subsequent intervention, Subcomandante Galeano also warned that the economic powers of the capitalist system will do everything possible to stop the victory of presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. “We say that now the hydra is mad, goes for everything and everyone (…) Capital goes for everything and will not allow Lulas, Dilmas, Kirchner, Correas, Evos, or Lopez Obrador, or whatever you call anything that offers respite.”

On another note, “Marichuy” explained that, “There is a lot to do for this Mexico. They are waiting for us. We are going to have a meeting of councilors, and in this construction that awaits us we are many. We will not sit around thinking: ‘we did not do it’. We must continue to strengthen the work that is already being done by the peoples and communities.”

In this regard, Subcomandante Galeano affirmed that they will unconditionally support what the CIG decides, even if at a certain moment they decide to join a political party: “We support them unconditionally. What they decide. We will wait for you (for the consultation to take place) and listen in silence and respect (…) We can understand your reasons and we will support you. They will not receive attacks and criticism from us.” Marichuy and several other participants stressed, however, that the objective of their movement is the construction of autonomies in the different communities that join, “autonomies of government and in each of their development processes.” Galeano confirmed that, “this has nothing to do with the quest for power. For the EZLN this is the most important political initiative since the beginning of the war.”

Within the framework of the event, Dr. Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, 96 years old, was appointed commander Pablo Contreras of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (CCRI-EZLN). Commander Tacho explained the decision underlining that “To be a Zapatista one has to work and he has worked for the life of our peoples. He has not tired, he has not sold out, he has not given up.” He noted that, “If things go well, the Zapatista is rewarded with more work. (…) The gift that we are going to give [to Pablo Casanova] is more work.”

For more information in Spanish:

Cobertura completa del evento (incluyendo audios) :

Sigan bailando porque la lucha sigue – Arranca el Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” con concierto musiquero (Radio zapatista, 16 de abril de 2018)

¿Cumplimos o no cumplimos? – Día 2, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 17 de abril de 2018)

¿Revolución? ¿Reforma? ¿Lucha por la Vida? – Día 3, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 18 de abril de 2018)

¿Y la posibilidad de que ganemos es casi nula? – Día 4, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 19 de abril de 2018)

¿Y entonces, quiénes? – Día 5, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 20 de abril de 2018)

¿Juntxs ante el colapso? – Día 6, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 21 de abril de 2018)

¿Y cómo hablamos la verdad? – Día 7, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 22 de abril de 2018)

¿Escucharnos para sentirnos? – Día 8, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 23 de abril de 2018)

¿Heredar el deber y la memoria? – Día 9, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 24 de abril de 2018)

¿Un nosotrxs sin México? – Día 10, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 25 de abril de 2018)

El corazón está listo – Día 11, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 26 de abril de 2018)

Cobertura en medios

“Los que violaron todas las leyes quedaron”: EZLN (Proceso, 16 de abril de 2018)

“Lo que Marichuy hizo fue exhibir, desnudar, el sistema político-electoral en México”: EZLN (Aristegui Noticias, 17 de abril de 2018)

Al tramposo lo premian, al justo (a Marichuy) lo castigan: EZLN; ya ven, ¿no que éramos de Salinas? (Sin Embargo, 17 de abril de 2018)

El sistema capitalista buscará frenar a AMLO, advierte el EZLN (Proceso, 19 de abril de 2018)

El EZLN apoyará a Marichuy y al CIG… aun si deciden sumarse a un partido político: subcomandante Galeano (Proceso, 20 de abril de 2018)

Pablo González Casanova, exrector de la UNAM, es nombrado comandante del EZLN (Proceso, 22 de abril de 2018)

González Casanova se convierte en el ‘comandante Pablo Contreras’ (La Jornada, 22 de abril de 2018) EZLN, “Marichuy, apoyo a los candidatos presidenciales”: o cómo los medios mutilan el mensaje (Regeneración Radio, 25 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : CNI convoca al “siguiente paso en la lucha” (17 de marzo de 2018)

Nacional: CNI denuncia ataque contra la caravana del CIG. (22 de enero de 2018)

Nacional: Marichuy critica trampas del INE a su candidatura (26 de octubre de 2018)

Nacional: Marychuy se registra como candidata independiente a la Presidencia de la República (18 de octubre de 2017)