National: March for Resignation of Enrique Peña Nieto

Call for march for resignation of Peña Nieto

On September 15, the symbolic commemoration day of “El Grito” – the cry for the Independence of Mexico – thousands of people responded to the call launched on social networks for a march to demand the resignation of Enrique Peña Nieto.

#RenunciaYa, is the hashtag with which this non-partisan demonstration was called for on social networks since September 2, just after the publication of the Government’s fourth report. Led by parents of the 43 student teachers from Ayotzinapa, followed by farmers from Atenco, machete in hand, about 4,000 citizens, mostly young, began the #RenunciaYa protest, according to Animal Politico. The protesters left the Angel of Independence monument with the aim of reaching the Zocalo to face the president. However, at the Palace of Fine Arts, thousands of riot police, deployed by the Ministry of Public Security of Mexico City, blocked their passage. However, in the Zocalo, a small group of protesters who had managed get through started whistling and shouting slogans against the president just as President Enrique Peña Nieto appeared. According to La Jornada, “a young man showed a poster criticizing the federal administration and was immediately surrounded by elements of the Federal and Presidential Police. Some people demanded that the police allow the youth to express himself, to which they responded “we are only following orders.” Federal Police kept the young man surrounded until the fireworks ended, he was photographed and they made video of the youth and finally two policemen said they would accompany him to the exit.”

In Chiapas, the governor, Manuel Velasco Coello, did “El Grito” from an alternative site to the square of Tuxtla Gutierrez, as it was occupied by teachers opposed to the education reform bill.

For their part, the Las Abejas of Acteal Civil Society Organization, in their last statement, give several examples of why, according to them, “there is no longer independence.” They claim that, “this heroic and historic struggle for the independence of Mexico […] has been betrayed by the PRI governments and other political parties in Mexico who have been in power.” Because “The idea of the struggle, independence in 1810, meant that Mexico was independent, sovereign, democratic. […] However, the edge of that independence began to end with the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari with agreements and commercial, political and military treaties with neoliberal and capitalist countries, one of them is: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the United States and Canada.”

In addition, the Xinich’ Coordinator of Social Organizations remembered September 15 with a statement in which it demands the removal of Enrique Peña Nieto as an “incompetent” in addition to “delivering our nation into the hands of foreigners.” It also expressed support for the struggle of the teachers against the so-called educational reform and demanded “the repeal of structural reforms, justice for the people massacred at Viejo Velasco, Acteal, for the 43 disappeared student teachers of Ayotzinapa, for Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, compliance with the San Andrés agreements signed between the federal government and the EZLN…”

 In Oaxaca, in the state capital, the governor, Cué Monteagudo, did his sixth and last “Grito” from the balcony of the government palace amid shouts of “murderer” and “traitor”. According to Educa, “elements of the State Police prevented the entry of teachers from Section 22 into the square to give their alternative ‘Grito’ with teargas, sparking a confrontation”. At least 20 people sustained minor injuries.

For more information in Spanish:

En méxico ya no existe independencia, es por las mal llamadas reformas constitucionales (Las abejas de Acteal, 22 de septembre de 2016)

#Chiapas Xinich’ recordó el “15 de Septiembre” exigiendo la renuncia de EPN, la abrogación de las reformas estructurales y el cumplimientos de los “Acuerdos de San Andrés” (Koman Iles, 20 de septiembre)

Marchan para exigir la renuncia de Peña Nieto (La Jornada, a 16 de septiembre 2016)

15 de septiembre: Policías repliegan marchas en Oaxaca y Chiapas (Educa, a 15 de septiembre 2016)

Miles de personas dan el Grito en el Zócalo (La Jornada, a 15 de septiembre 2016)

Renuncia ya y los acarreados: dos marchas rumbo al Zócalo (Animal político, a 16 de septiembre 2016)

Hay apertura para la crítica, dice presidencia sobre posible rechifla a Peña durante el Grito (Animal político, a 14 de septiembre 2016)

15 razones para marchar y gritar #RenunciaYA (Animal político, a 6 de septiembre 2016)

Ciudadanos convocan a marchar hoy 15 de septiembre para exigir renuncia de Peña (Animal político, a 2 de septiembre 2016)

 For more information from Sipaz:

Nacional : cuarto informe del gobierno de Peña Nieto (12 de septiembre 2016)

 

National: Back to School with no Sign of Resumption of Dialogue between Teachers and Government

Teachers’ movement sit-in in, Tuxtla Gutierrez, September 11 @ SIPAZ

On September 19, teachers of Sections 7 and 40 of the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) in Chiapas began the 2016-2017 school year after four months of work stoppage to demand the repeal of the education reform bill, passed in 2013. Section 22 in Oaxaca had done the same since September 7. In both cases, no incidents occurred.

Now that school activities have returned to normal throughout the country, teachers’ leaders reiterated their call for the federal government to return to the national negotiating table. They told media that they maintain their three axes of struggle: “strengthen the reorganization stage, promote legislative means to respond to our demand for repeal of educational reform and continue the construction of an alternative education proposal.”

The head of the Federal Ministry of Public Education (SEP), Aurelio Nuño Mayer, has maintained his position: there will be dialogue in Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas “to be able to settle local issues in these four states; that is to say administrative problems.” He reiterated that under no circumstances will they accept tables to discuss the repeal of educational reform.

For more information in Spanish:

Nuño: pese a conflicto con la CNTE, las clases están plenamente restauradas (La Jornada, 24 de septiembre de 2016)

CNTE insiste al gobierno que regrese a negociar (La Jornada, 24 de septiembre de 2016)

Sección 22 de la CNTE pacta pagos y ascensos con el gobierno (Proceso, 23 de septiembre de 2016)

Regresan a clases tras 120 días de paro magisterial en Chiapas (La Jornada, 19 de septiembre de 2016)

‘‘Nos dejaron solos’’, reprochan varios docentes de Chiapas a los de Oaxaca (7 de septiembre de 2016)

En el eventual diálogo con la CNTE sólo se tratarán temas administrativos: Nuño (La Jornada, 6 de septiembre de 2016)

Los 114 días que sacudieron a México (La Jornada, 6 de septiembre de 2016)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : impasse en dialogo entre el Magisterio y el gobierno; parcial regreso a clases (2 de septiembre de 2016)

Chiapas: Desalojo violento hacia el plantón de maestros y maestras en San Cristóbal de Las Casas (22 de julio de 2016)

Oaxaca/ Nacional: La CNTE y la Segob acuerdan mesas de negociación (13 de julio de 2016)

Oaxaca: Organizaciones de Derechos Humanos presentan informe sobre represión en Nochixtlán (11 de julio de 2016)

BOLETÍN URGENTE: REPRESIÓN MAGISTERIAL EN OAXACA (22 de junio de 2016)

Chiapas/Oaxaca: Actualización de las protestas magisteriales; al menos 6 muertos en Oaxaca (21 de junio de 2016)

Chiapas: Letter from Roberto Paciencia Cruz on International Prisoners’ Day

Image @ Beatriz Aurora

This September 24, as part of International Prisoners Day, Roberto Paciencia Cruz, unjustly imprisoned in Penitentiary No. 5, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of the EZLN, shares his word. In an open letter to public opinion, the state media, national and international alternative media, the Sixth, the brothers and sisters of Believing Peoples, to the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, independent organizations, the National Indigenous Congress and the EZLN, in the name of all those unjustly imprisoned, Roberto reveals the pain, preoccupations and injustice that they are suffering by being separated from their families. He claims that “those who are most punished by these injustices” are the prisoners’ families. He points out the lack of consideration by the authorities for them: “the governors do not care that the family of a prisoner is crying, or go to sleep hungry or that our children walk barefoot for lack of support from their parents.”

Roberto ends his letter inviting “all state, national and international independent organizations to join this cause in demand for our freedom.”

It should be remembered that despite giving ample evidence of his innocence, more than three years of his detention, Patience Roberto Cruz has still not been sentenced.

For more information in Spanish:

Velasco Coello el acérrimo enemigo de indígenas, a quienes se les fabrica delitos y se les encierra en la cárcel (Revolución TRESPUNTOCERO, 11 de agosto de 2016)

 For more information from Sipaz:

Chiapas: Niegan entrada a visitas del injustamente preso, Roberto Paciencia Cruz, en el CERESO No. 5   (30 de agosto de 2016)

Chiapas: Roberto Paciencia Cruz, tres años preso en el Centro Estatal de Reinserción Social de Sentenciados (CERSS) número 5 (19 de agosto de 2016)

 

Chiapas: Roberto Paciencia escribe a Alejandro Díaz (24 de junio de 2016)

 

 

Chiapas: Roberto Paciencia se asume como Adherente a La Sexta (25 de mayo de 2016)

Chiapas: Denuncia Roberto Paciencia desatención en su salud visual (24 de febrero de 2016)

National: Official Visit to Mexico of UNO Working Group on Business and Human Rights

Pavel Sulyandziga and Dante Pesce, United Nations Working Group, during the presentation of their preliminary report. Photo:@Jesús Villaseca.

From August 29 to September 7, two representatives of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights of the UN made an official visit to Mexico: Pavel Sulyandziga, a human rights defender of Russian origin, who currently serves as president of the Working Group, and Chilean Dante Pesce, who has a long history of working with civil organizations both nationally and internationally. The purpose of the visit was, first, to identify cases of damages to individuals, communities and the environment due to business activities. After, to promote respect for human rights on the part of any company implementing the three Guiding Principles of the United Nations on business and human rights. The first principle states that, “the State is responsible to respect, protect and enforce human rights.” The second defines that “companies must comply with the laws made by the state and respect human rights.” The third states that, “Those affected should have access to redress mechanisms.”

Prior to the arrival of the Working Group, more than 100 civil society organizations, groups, communities and academics prepared a report to give an overview of the situation at national level. This coalition documented 68 cases that show serious violations and abuses of human rights by the State and companies from different sectors, and a lack of access to remediation for victims. It shows that the most frequently violated rights are: to land and territory (32 cases), access to information (28 cases) and to a healthy environment (22 cases). The sectors where most abuses were documented were: mining (11 cases), hydrocarbons (9), energy (8), construction (8) and industrial agriculture (6). In addition, more than 50% of cases of intimidation and threats against opponents of business projects were documented.

During their ten-day visit, members of the Working Group went to Mexico City, the States of Mexico, Oaxaca, Jalisco and Sonora, where they held meetings with various actors: officials from the three levels of government; companies like Grupo Bimbo, Grupo Mexico, Cemex, Pemex and CFE; civil society organizations and human rights defenders. They also received 81 testimonies from individuals and representatives of communities affected by various business activities, lack of access to information and consultation and on behalf of victims of violations of labor rights, and victims of serious impact to their health and environment. In Oaxaca, they listened to indigenous communities in the municipalities of El Espinal and Juchitan de Zaragoza affected by wind farm projects, who claim that “the whole consultation process was considered defective, since windmills had already been installed in the region without any prior consultation.” In the State of Mexico, they visited the Otomi-Mexica indigenous community in San Francisco Xochicuautla, opposed to a compulsory purchase order issued in October 2012 without any prior consultation in order to build the Toluca-Naucalpan highway on their land. Despite obtaining a restraining order, the construction of the highway has continued with the approval of state and federal authorities. The representatives of the Working Group reported that the Grupo Higa, builders of the project, never responded to their request for an interview.

On September 7, members of the working group presented a preliminary report on the results of their visit at a press conference. At the conference, Pavel Sulyandziga said: “It became clear that the main concerns about human rights violations linked to business are related to improper exercise of due diligence by the government and companies in the design and implementation of large scale projects. These are mainly projects in the mining, energy, construction and tourism sectors, which often affect indigenous communities. “

Furthermore, the preliminary report addresses challenges regarding labor rights in the country to remedy “the precarious situation of workers hired temporarily, the lack of access to social security, low wages and a minimum wage which is currently below the level [of the cost of] the basic food basket and is not sufficient to allow workers to support themselves and their families”, and “the weak capacity of the labor inspectorate to effectively monitor compliance with labor standards. “

The final report will be submitted in June 2017, at the 35th session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations Organization. Meanwhile, the Working Group calls on the Mexican Government to “advance transparency, consultation, due diligence and respect for people and the environment” and on companies to “maintain standards of human rights and avoid seeking profit from impunity, corruption and lack of transparency and accountability.” It concluded by saying that there is much to be done to improve the current crisis of human rights in Mexico: “greater efforts are needed to change public policies, practices, mentalities but also to foster a culture of transparency, integrity, ethical behavior and democratic values.”

 Para más información:


http://www.proceso.com.mx/452190/onu-verificara-respeto-a-derechos-humanos-en-empresas-gobiernos-mexico ( Proceso, a 24 de agosto de 2016)
Visita a México del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Empresas y DDHH: Puntos desde la Sociedad Civil (Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA), a 29 de agosto de 2016)

12 claves sobre la investigación de la ONU a empresas y los derechos laborales en México (Animal político, a 8 de septiembre 2016)
Boletín: El Estado mexicano debe cumplir las recomendaciones del Grupo de Trabajo de la ONU sobre empresas y derechos humanos ( Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, a 08 de septiembre 2016)

Deberá acatar México recomendaciones de la ONU sobre empresas y derechos humanos: ONGs (Aristegui Noticias, a 08 de septiembre 2016)

Declaración del Grupo de trabajo de Naciones Unidas sobre empresas y derechos humanos al final de su visita a México Ciudad de México, 7 de septiembre de 2016 ( Oficina del Alto Comisionada de las Naciones Unidad Derechos Humanos, a 09 de septiembre de 2016)

Concluye visita de grupo de trabajo de la ONU en México ( La Jornada, a 17 de septiembre 2016)

Para más información de Sipaz:

Nacional: Irrupciones en territorios indígenas para la implementación de megaproyectos: San Francisco Xochicuautla y Atenco (4 de abril de 2016)

Nacional: Xochicuautla obtiene cancelación de la autopista (17 de marzo de 2016)

Oaxaca: Indígenas zapotecos se amparan por violaciones graves al derecho a la consulta (21 de agosto de 2015)

 

Oaxaca: 500 Murdered Women Registered During Gabino Cue Monteagudo’s Term

Photo @EDUCA

On September 2, the indigenous education teacher Juanita Ramirez Osorio, a 25-year-old indigenous Triqui “was executed with ten gunshots, one to the head.” Juanita was found on the Copala riverbed, near the municipality of Constancia del Rosario. This crime makes four women, including a minor, murdered last weekend. The crime is in addition to the 75 cases registered this year. According to Consorcio Oaxaca, they have recorded “500 femicides during the administration of Gabino Cue Monteagudo”, while during the administration of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, 283 violent deaths of women were counted. Higher numbers of femicides “have occurred in the Mixteca and Costa regions.” The Rosario Castellanos Women’s Studies Group (GESMujer) claimed that the “government’s discourse remained in formalisms despite the commitment that the governor had with social organizations that monitor cases of women murdered due to gender.”

Gender equity and respect for the human rights of women were part of the discourse of Gabino Cue “even before starting his administration, and with four months left to complete his term, the number of murdered women and victims of femicide in the state increased by over 60% compared to the figures of his predecessor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.” With more than 20 years of recording violence against women, the president of GESMujer, Avellaneda Diaz, said that from January to August 2016 58 murders of women were recorded: 18 cases occurred in the Isthmus; Costa and Valles, 10 in each region; Cuenca, eight; and Mixteca, seven. In addition, 34 killings were done with firearms and seven with sharp weapons.

It is noteworthy that there is no “Gender Alert” in the state of Oaxaca, despite these figures. In July 2015, for the first time, the Interior Ministry declared a Gender Alert for 11 municipalities in the State of Mexico. Currently, there are alerts in the states of Morelos, Michoacan and Jalisco. The Gender Violence Alert emergency actions are implemented by a government to confront and end violence against women. As established in the General Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence, warning of gender violence aims to ensure the safety of women, the cessation of violence against them and to eliminate inequalities produced by legislation that offends their human rights. The National Citizens’ Femicide Observatory has documented 2,299 cases of femicide in the country only between 2012 and 2013. The presence of femicide in the country has led to civil organizations in Nuevo Leon, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Colima, Baja California, Sonora, Veracruz, Queretaro and San Luis Potosi also seeking Gender Violence Alert to be decreed.

 For more information in Spanish:

Registra Oaxaca 500 mujeres asesinadas durante el sexenio de Cué (Educa, 6 de septiembre de 2016)

GESMujer: Discurso a favor de las mujeres fue eso, un discurso (Oaxaca a Diario, 3 de septiembre de 2016)

Ejecutan a dos mujeres en el Istmo, pese a operativos de Seguridad (Página 3, 3 de septiembre de 2016)

La alerta de género, una herramienta ineficaz para detener los asesinatos de mujeres (18 de abril de 2016, Animal Político)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: En 2016 continúan los feminicidios (25 de febrero de 2016)

Oaxaca: Alarmante incremento de los feminicidios: organizaciones de la sociedad civil (18 de diciembre de 2015)

Chiapas: Feminicidios a la alza: seis víctimas en menos de diez días (23 de octubre de 2015)

Chiapas: Gran incremento de feminicidios, se construirá un monumento en honor a las víctimas(4 de septiembre de 2014)

 

Implementation of Follow-up Mechanism for Ayotzinapa Case Approved

IACHR approves special mechanism to follow Ayotzinapa case (Photo@Tlachinollan)

On September 10, after a meeting between the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Mexican state, implementation of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Ayotzinapa case was approved. The mechanism aims to follow up the recommendations made by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) in the two reports that it gave the government during its yearlong investigation into the case of the disappearance of the 43 students from the Normal Rural School on the night of September 26 and 27, 2014, in Iguala, Guerrero state.

 For more information in Spanish:

Forenses argentinos también desmienten a Zerón: no estuvieron en el río San Juan (La Jornada, a 28 de abril 2016)

COMUNICADO | CIDH anuncia el inicio de la implementación del Mecanismo de Seguimiento del GIEI (Tlachinollan centro de derechos humanos de la montaña, a 12 de septiembre 2016)

CIDH aprueba mecanismo especial de seguimiento para investigación Ayotzinapa (Fundar centro de analysis o investigacion, a 1ero de agosto 2016)

CIDH aprueba mecanismo especial de seguimiento para investigación Ayotzinapa (Tlachinollan centro de derechos humanos de la montaña, a 29 de julio 2016)

National: Fourth Report of Peña Nieto’s Government

Demonstration in Mexico City marking the Fourth Presidential Report (@Centro PRODH)

On 1 September, thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of Mexico City to express their disagreement in response to the delivery of the Fourth Report of the Government. The march was led by relatives of the 43 student teachers who are missing from the Normal Rural School, Ayotzinapa, Guerrero since 2014. It is noteworthy that in mid-August, a survey published by the newspaper Reforma showed that support for the government of Peña Nieto stood at only 23%, the lowest a Mexican president has had in the last two decades.

In the days before the report, several media criticized the performance of the current administration, questioning, among other things, the increase in violence, political scandals, human rights violations and poor economic results.

The Secretary of the Interior, Osorio Chong, gave the document to the Mexican Congress, where he stressed that the relationship between the executive and legislative branches has shown effective dialogue towards establishing agreements, which allowed the approval of “the reforms that Mexico demanded.” He stated that “the transformation is already underway” and that it is time to move from a project with vision for the future to a better reality in the present. However, speaking to media, legislators from both the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) questioned the lack of results.

For his part, President Enrique Peña Nieto held a meeting with about 300 young people (under 35) at the National Palace, which was broadcast via streaming through YouTube and Facebook Live, to talk about the report.

The event began with a recorded message in which the president said the goal of this new format was “change from monologue to dialogue.” Peña Nieto gave details on the content of the report, noting among other things, lower prices for Internet and cellular services; the creation of two million formal jobs (“four times the jobs generated in the same period in the previous six years”), and the fact that Mexico is one of the countries that receives most tourists and attracts most investment. However, while employment figures are intended to show that things are going well for this government, beyond the national unemployment rate (3.9% in June 2016) there is another concept called “rate of critical employment conditions” (RCEC). THE RCEC measures the percentage of the working population working less than 35 hours and as a result receives a monthly income lower than the minimum wage. At national level, according to the government report, about 14.5% of the employed population, i.e. 7.7 million Mexicans, is in that condition. In 2015, the rate was 12.2% of the employed population, some 6.2 million people. In 2014, it was 11.4%, some 5.7 million workers. That is to say, one and half million Mexicans joined these deteriorating conditions of employment and salary from 2015 to date in 2016. Two million when compared with 2014. In some states the rate is above 20% and even 30%, as in Chiapas.

Peña Nieto was questioned about the visit of US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, (he said that “it allowed (the Republican candidate) to realize the relevance of Mexico for the USA”); on accusations of plagiarism of his law thesis (he said it was a “methodological error”); and increasing the price of gasoline (on which he assured that “he never promised gasoline wasn’t going to go up”).

On cases of human rights violations, such as Nochixtlán (Oaxaca) and Tanhuato (Michoacan), he argued that there is a commitment to the clarification of events from the investigations of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR). He stressed that there has been progress to create better conditions regarding human rights and that cases of violations involving the armed forces and the federal public security institutions have decreased.

Finally, on the topic of teachers, he reiterated that education reform aims to improve the quality of education in the country for young people to have more opportunities and tools for their future. He insisted that dialogue could be resumed until the right to education of children and young people of Oaxaca and Chiapas is guaranteed.

For more information in Spanish:

Reporte sobre ‘México Próspero’ confirma golpe a los más desprotegidos (Zocalo Saltillo, 2 de septiembre de 2016)

Peña Nieto sostiene que México avanza en materia de DH (La Jornada, 1ero de septiembre de 2016)

Peña ha logrado grandes cambios pese a resistencias, defiende Osorio Chong (Revista Proceso, 1ero de septiembre de 2016)

Palabras del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto, previo al encuentro con jóvenes en Palacio Nacional con motivo de su 4o Informe de Gobierno (Radio Formula, 1ero de septiembre de 2016)

Nadie puede decir que plagié mi tesis, responde Peña a jóvenes por su Cuarto Informe (Animal Político, 1ero de septiembre de 2016)

Osorio Chong entrega el Cuarto Informe de Peña y pide a legisladores analizarlo sin ideologías de por medio (Animal Político, 1 de septiembre de 2016)

4to. Informe de Gobierno: más muertos, menos dinero y muchos escándalos (Aristegui Noticias, 31 de agosto de 2016)

Para descargar el cuarto informe de gobierno (@gob.mx)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Nacional: Múltiples críticas a la presentación del Tercer Informe de Gobierno de Peña Nieto

(8 de septiembre de 2015)