On May 24, in La Realidad, Chiapas and in many parts of Mexico and the world, a tribute to the Zapatista support base José Luis Solís López, alias “Galeano,” will be performed. Galeano was killed in La Realidad on 2 May. For several weeks, statements and actions of solidarity have been organized.
This past week, Chol and Tsotsil organizations and communities of the Northern Zone and of the Highlands regions of Chiapas have joined the protests. The United People in Defense of Electrical Energy (PUDEE), adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, in the Northern Region, proclaimed in a statement that “We are all Galeano,” and that: “It is the same way and strategy that was used in the Northern region of Chiapas with the low-intensity warfare, which was operated through [the paramilitary group] Peace and Justice. There are still witnesses, survivors and victims’ families in the communities, that were victims of this counterinsurgency and extermination warfare. This strategy was designed in the 94 Plan of Campaign for Chiapas, and implemented by the Mexican government after the armed uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in 1994. Such a strategy resulted in dozens of forced disappearances, murders, forced displacement, sexual violence and massacres; all crimes against humanity that remain unpunished. (…) This is why we condemn the violence in autonomous regions nowadays. “
Also from the Northern zone, members of the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Freedom (Xinich) stressed that “We understand these events as an attack against our organized people and against all the indigenous peoples that are struggling for freedom and peace. Furthermore, these actions are performed in order to plunder the wealth that runs through the veins of our mother land and our natural resources. We have protected and taken care of what has belonged to our people for millennia.”
From the Highlands of Chiapas, on May 22, the Las Abejas Civil Society held a day of prayer and fasting in the framework of the monthly commemoration of the massacre of Acteal. In a statement, it denounced ‘the paramilitary aggression against our Zapatista brothers and sisters and the killing of Galeano. It is very clear that this is the product of the dirty war or counterinsurgency war in Chiapas, designed since 1994. We already know the speeches or rather the lies of the the bad governments: when their paramilitaries massacre women and children, they say that “they were confrontations” due to “inter-community conflicts.” And when these liars and criminals are politically challenged and pressured by international men and women, once again they make a speech or a lie to try to convince, saying that the government “condemns the regrettable facts and will apply the full weight of the law against those responsible “etc”.’
For more information (in Spanish):
Comunidades choles y tzotziles se suman a protestas por agresiones al EZLN (21 de mayo de 2014)
Comunicado de la Sociedad Civil Las Abejas: También sentimos dolor y rabia por el ataque paramilitar a nuestros hermanos bases de apoyo del EZLN (22 de mayo de 2014)
Comunicado del Comité de Defensa de la Libertad Indígena y X’inich (20 de mayo de 2014)
Comunicado del PUDEE (18 de mayo de 2014)
New analytical articles on the aggression in La Realidad
La agresión de la CIOAC en La Realidad se suma a casos de hostilidad antizapatista (La Jornada, 18 de mayo de 2014)
El gobierno federal apoyó en 2010 a un hombre arrestado por asesinar a zapatista (La Jornada, 20 de mayo de 2014)
Chiapas: la Cioac-H y sus paramilitares (Luis Hernández Navarro, La Jornada, 20 de mayo de 2014)
For more information of SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: EZLN announces homage to Zapatista murdered in La Realidad and announces primary results of investigation on the case (May 18, 2014)
Chiapas: EZLN communiqué “Pain and rage” (May 18, 2014)
Chiapas: Attacks on EZLN support bases leave one dead and 15 injured among Zapatistas (16 May 2014)
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