On March 22, Professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, a prisoner being held in Penitentiary No. 5 of San Cristóbal de las Casas and member of the Voice of Amate (La Voz de Amate), issued an open letter to the media, adherents to the Other Campaign, independent organizations, human-rights organizations, and the Sixth International denouncing the behavior of the various levels of the Mexican government in their handling of prisoners and his case in particular. In a letter written from the hospital Vida Mejor in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Patishtán, who received the the award of jTatic jCanan Lum from Bishop Emeritus Samuel Ruiz Garcia in January 2010, addressed the fact that Mexican jails are today “over-populated” due to systemic injustice and misapplication of the law. According to Patishtán, prisoners have lost “land, houses, money, work [and] family” due to their incarcerations and are also “malnourished, neglected when they are sick and exposed to infections due to lack of preventative care.”
Patishtán also noted that due to the “neglect and bureaucracy” of “those responsible” for Penitentiary No. 5, he has lost vision in his right eye (the reason he is currently hospitalized). In response, Patishtán demanded that the authorities “immediately become involved in the treatment of the sick” and thus “cut or remove the bureaucracy” that he sees as “an enormous obstacle that prevents the treatment of those who are sick, indigenous or not.”
Patishtán concluded by demanding his “immediate and unconditional freedom,” due both to his innocence and delicate medical state. He also called on people to continue fighting for “Freedom and Justice.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Patishtán’s letter in full (22 March)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: Presentation of the “jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum” Honor (26 January 2010)
Chiapas: Alberto Patishtan’s case generation action around the world (19 September 2009)
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