On 21 March, residents of the new population center “Montes Azules,” municipality of Palenque, carried out a road-block on the federal highway that goes from Benemérito de las Américas to Palenque to demand that their rights be respected and that the commitments made by the state government during the community’s relocation in 2005 be observed.
As noted by the civil organization Enlace, Capacitación y Comunicación in a call to support the struggle of the community: “On 4 February 2005, seven communities that were located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (REBIMA) of the Lacandon Jungle were relocated to a location in the municipality of Palenque. The communities accepted the relocation on the condition that, during the negotiation-process, the federal and state governments promised them that the lands to which they would be moved would be in a perfect state, that they would be regularized, that the houses were well-made, that electricity would be subsidized, that they would have quality educational and health services, potable water, as well as a modern system of drainage and treatement of waste. They were offered a dream, but they were given a nightmare. During the relocation to the new center of population, the persons left under the threat that if they returned to the jungle they would be incarcerated. Those who decided to stay were removed forcibly.”
The demands of the community Nuevo Montes Azules include being attended by the three levels of government to assure its deed to the land on which it finds itself, something that has yet to be done, in addition to the “immediate cessation of the threats on the part of the Federal Commission of Electricity to suspend services to the population,” a controlled price for the community, and the cancellation of accumulated debts, together with the construction of the classrooms for the high school and of a clinic and pharmacy. The community has denounced in particular that “in the three months of this year 48 persons have come down with malaria, and people have died. The majority of the sick have to buy our medicine. When Agrarian Reform brought us here it promised us a clinic and a permanent doctor. These promises were false. We are 117 families who are affected. We ask the National Commission on Human Rights to intervene soon, and we request that the three levels of government engage in a dialogue with officials, given that the functionaries have not exhibited the capacity to solve these problems during the past seven years.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Pronunciamiento público de las y los reubicad@s de Nuevo Montes Azules (21 March)
Llamamiento al apoyo en la lucha del poblado de reubicados Nuevo Montes Azules-1 (Enlace, Comunicación y Capacitación, 21 March)
Bloquean vía; piden acuerdos (Cuarto Poder, 22 March)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: La Realidad JBG claims more evictions to come in Zapatista territories (5 May 2010)
Chiapas: Montes Azules Social Forum (17 March 2010)
Chiapas: Montes Azules evictions jeopardize peace in Chiapas (9 February 2010)
Chiapas: New evictions in Montes Azules (3 February 2010)
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