National/International: CNI Groups Organize as USMCA Comes into Effect

At the end of June, before the imminent entry into effect of the new free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA), the Metropolitan Anticapitalist and Antipatriarchal Coordination and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) called for a series of protest activities that will include: a virtual march “Against USMCA! No to the New Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico!”, On July 1st; a virtual Forum “Analysis and Perspectives: a Comparative Framework of NAFTA-1994 and its Contributions to Social Inequalities”, on July 16th; and a public presentation of the legal resources presented before national and international bodies against megaprojects, on July 30th and 31st.

On July 1st, the day the new trade agreement came into force, the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT), also part of the CNI, published a statement denouncing that this type of agreements “cement the legal frameworks to use force by law in the imposition of megaprojects in Mexico, as well as a whole series of policies, laws and reforms that violate the human rights of indigenous peoples and the Mexican people.”

It declared that the wave of violence that plagues the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is “linked to the imposition of megaprojects and extractivist policies of the Mexican government”, in particular the Trans-Systemic/Interoceanic Corridor-Train, “a historic project that since the mid-19th century has been proposing using the geostrategic position of the Mexican Isthmus as a commercial node for global trade, this as part of the expansionist project of the US, which, by not achieving its objective in Mexico, gained control over the Panama Canal, a project that is currently obsolete compared to the demand from this rampant global market.”

It warned about the fact that “the Mexican Isthmus is seen as the primary node in these treaties, and with the discourse of emerging from the economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, national and international pressure is created in our region by capital to streamline the works and construction of this Trans-Systemic/Interoceanic Corridor-Train from the port of Coatzacoalco, Veracruz to the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, interconnected with Section 1 of the Maya Train, passing through the new Dos Bocas refinery and extending from Salina Cruz to Tapachula, Chiapas, to consolidate an energy, rail, port and industrial corridor, militarizing and reordering the entire south-southeast of Mexico and placing the new border with the US on the Tehuantepec Isthmus.”

Given this, the APIIDTT made a “call to organization, to resistance and to fight for the life and future of coming generations. The Isthmus is Ours, not the companies, nor the governments, it is of the indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, it is of the Mexican people and of any person who decides to defend it, take care of it, and respect it.”

For more information in Spanish:

Boletín completo (APIIDTT, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Tratados como el T-MEC «cimientan los marcos jurídicos para usar la fuerza» contra los pueblos: comunidades del Istmo (Desinformémonos, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Jornada de lucha contra el T-MEC y los megaproyectos (CNI, 30 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ: 

National/International: USMCA Comes into Effect with Mechanisms for Internet Censorship and Criminalization of Digital Locks Evasion (July 3, 2020)

National/International: United States Formally Approves USMCA Trade Agreement(February 2, 2020)

National/International: Mexican Senate Ratifies US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (July 4, 2019)

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA (June 25, 2018)

 

National: Friar Raul Vera Sends Letter of Resignation to Pope Francis

In a video conference, the bishop of the Diocese of Saltillo, Friar Raul Vera Lopez, announced that he has already sent his letter of resignation to the Vatican in accordance with canon law, which indicates that he must do so when he turns 75. On June 21st he will be this age.

The bishop commented that the reason for his resignation is to comply with the protocol, not because he wants to leave the Diocese of Saltillo and reiterated that the decision will be made by Pope Francis and that he will “gladly” obey.

For almost 30 years, Fray Raul Vera has been a witness and also protagonist of some of the social conflicts that have marked the history of the country. He was a peace promoter in Chiapas after the uprising of the Zapatista movement. He was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, along with Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia in 1995. He played a key role during the social crises due to the massacres of Aguas Blancas and Acteal, today he accompanies the families of thousands of disappeared and murdered by organized crime.

He has denounced violations of the human rights of indigenous people, women, migrants, miners, the LGBT community, as well as abuses of power and harassment by drug gangs.

For more information in Spanish:

Envía obispo Raúl Vera López su renuncia al Papa Francisco; resolución podría tardar, Zocalo, 2 de junio de 2020

Raúl Vera, el obispo revolucionario de la Iglesia católica, El Sol de Hidalgo, 7 de junio de 2020

Renuncia Raúl Vera, obispo de la Diócesis de Saltillo, Diario de Jalapa, 2 de junio de 2020

Raúl Vera presenta al Vaticano su renuncia como obispo de Saltillo,Yahoo, 1 de junio de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: New Auxiliary Bishop Named in San Cristobal de Las Casas Diocese (June 10, 2020)

National: Saltillo Diocese Denounces Intimidation of Fray Jose Raul Vera Lopez (July 20, 2019)

Chiapas: Mons. Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez Becomes New Bishop of San Cristobal(January 22, 2018)

 

Chiapas: New Auxiliary Bishop Named in San Cristobal de Las Casas Diocese

@CEM

On June 6th, the Bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez reported in a press conference that Pope Francis appointed Father Luis Manuel Lopez Alfaro, who had been serving as general vicar, as auxiliary bishop of this same diocese. He announced that the episcopal ordination of Lopez Alfaro is scheduled for next August 28th in the city.

The new bishop, originally from Mexico City, 57 years old and incardinated to the archdiocese of Toluca, has been collaborating in the diocese of San Cristobal for 16 years and has been pastor in Teopisca and Comitan, as well as pastoral vicar of pastoral and general vicar.

“His appointment is a joy within the suffering of the quarantine due to the pandemic”, said Monsignor Aguilar Martinez, while acknowledging the work of Lopez Alfaro who is“esteemed, close, of an accessible, simple and at the same time careful manner.”  “It will actually be a real aid for the entire diocese, which has 36 thousand square kilometers”, Aguilar Martinez said.

Lopez Alfaro, for his part, stated that two of the main issues for the diocese are justice and caring for Mother Earth. “The subject of justice is very complicated by everything that is experienced. In the diocesan assembly we opted for ecological care and that we still have a long way to go in that sense, how to care for the common home.” Another problem, he added, “is that many of the diocese’s servants are older, tired and fewer and fewer.” He recognized that the current times are very complicated: “how to be a pastor in these new circumstances is a great challenge; we have to learn to be a different style church for what we are living through.”

For more information in Spanish:

Papa Francisco nombra obispo a sacerdote de San Cristóbal (La Jornada, 6 de junio de 2020)

Papa Francisco nombra a nuevo obispo auxiliar (Cuarto Poder, 7 de junio de 2020)

Llega obispo auxiliar a diócesis de SCLC (NVI Noticias, 6 de junio de 2020)

Nombran a nuevo obispo en Diócesis (Diario de Chiapas, 8 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Mons. Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez Becomes New Bishop of San Cristobal (January 22, 2018)

Chiapas: Bishop of Tehuacan, Next Bishop for the Diocese of San Cristobal (November 10, 2017)

Chiapas: Bishop Felipe Arizmendi presents his resignation to the Pope (May 14, 2015)

 

National: CSOs Request Dialogue Spaces “Given the Disturbing Vulnerability of [Indigenous] Peoples and Communities” in Coronavirus Pandemic

In a statement published on May 14th, a dozen Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), including La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center (Guerrero), EDUCA (Oaxaca) and the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Chiapas), expressed their “deep concern about the conditions that the pandemic may generate in the communities during the following weeks and months, and we ask that a space for dialogue be opened to build proposals that address their conditions and needs.”

They recalled that these groups “have been historically forgotten by public health institutions, causing the systematic violation of their right to health,” a vulnerability that has been reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19)

“In addition to the lack of infrastructure, medical personnel and continuous supply of medicines, institutional discrimination and the lack of a culturally adequate and affordable preventive approach to the communities are added; as well as, in this context, the lack of adequate monitoring and follow-up of migrants who return to their communities, taking care of their dignity”, they denounced.

They also worried about “the economic vulnerability of most of the people in the communities. Lack of access to decent sources of employment in communities makes them dependent on trade and informal employment, as well as remittances from migrants in the United States. In the current context of global economic crisis, both local sources of income and remittances are at risk of declining sharply, without a program to guarantee a basic income.” They are alarmed that the food security of several of these communities is at risk.

On the other hand, CSOs expressed their concern at the fact that “communities face a reduced capacity to defend their territories and the environment, since their spaces for community decision-making are restricted and access to institutions for the provision of justice is limited”, which is why they support “the demand for a moratorium on all large-scale infrastructure projects that are affecting or may affect indigenous territories without their consent, with potential adverse impacts on human rights.”

Finally, they warned about the context of increased violence against women aggravated by the context of a health emergency.

Against this background, the authorities urged “to adopt better actions aimed at this population in matters of health, economy, food, water, sanitation, attention to conflict and security, without prejudice to their self-determination and autonomy.” They also called them “To open a space for dialogue and collaboration with civil society that allows us to face this crisis from multiple places; recognizing the efforts that communities are already making to face the crisis due to the pandemic from their own ways of life and organization.”

For more information in Spanish:

Ante la preocupante vulnerabilidad de pueblos y comunidades frente al COVID-19, organizaciones de la sociedad civil piden espacio de diálogo (OSC, 14 de mayo de 2020)

Comunidades indígenas, en especial vulnerabilidad por Coronavirus advierte ONG (Milenio, 14 de mayo de 2020)

Preocupa a ONG’s vulnerabilidad de pueblos y comunidades frente al Covid 19(El Sie7e de Chiapas, 15 de mayo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Cuts for Indigenous Women in Violent Situations(May 15, 2020)

Oaxaca: People of Oaxaca Granted Injunction against Sanctions for Use of Face Masks (May 11, 2020)

National: CNDH Calls for Protection of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Populations against COVID-19 (April 14, 2020)

National: Organizations Denounce Health Neglect in Open Letter to AMLO (April 16, 2020)

National: Numerous Collectives Call National and International Communities to Back Urgent Action against Maya Train

@ Enlace Zapatista

On May 11th, different groups made a call to support an urgent action against the Maya Train project, since, despite the injunctions filed by the communities of Ocosingo, Palenque and Salto del Agua and the COVID-19 pandemic, work has not been suspended, thus violating the “Right to Health, life and active participation in the defense of their rights.”

It is expected that on May 14th, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will resolve the definitive suspension of this project, which had been provisionally done by a Federal Judge in previous weeks.

Added to this is the decree published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, where the government announced that it will have the Armed Forces carry out public security tasks, which represents for indigenous peoples and communities not only “unleashing a war against the drug cartels, which impose dispossession of forests, waters, minerals, wood and facilitate the entry of business and government megaprojects, but also face corruption, the links it has with organized crime, its complicity with fuel theft, the acts of repression and dispossession of indigenous peoples and communities, the use of public force to impose megaprojects, the forced displacement that they cause in the communities, according to them to bring order, as well as the murders, rapes and the criminalization of social protest social.”

Given what is happening and could happen, it seeks to promote knowledge and resistance against the project in civil society through actions such as concentrating information on the subject for its dissemination; share the existing poster (s) and/or design new ones that denounce the project and its damages; write and disseminate pronouncements in this regard; identify campaign initiatives by existing Mexican citizen groups to support them, or launch one; promote saturation of phone calls or emails to SCJN, FONATUR, CNDH, etc., speaking out against the project; and, invite networks, groups, contacts, to join in the campaign tasks.

For more information in Spanish:

Diversos colectivos promueven acción virtual contra el proyecto de despojo nombrado tren maya (Enlace Zapatista, 11 de mayo 2020)

Urgen intervención de la CNDH para frenar obras del Tren Maya (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de mayo 2020)

¿Por qué decir ¡NO! al “Tren Maya”? (Los Hijos del Maíz- Tlax, 11 de mayo 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Armed Forces Decreed Public Security Duties for Five Years; “Militarism Came out of the Closet” – CSO(May 14, 2020)

Chiapas: Federal Court Orders Suspension of Palenque Section of Maya Train; FONATUR Considers Injunction “Unfair” (May 13, 2020)

National: Online Forum “No to the Misnamed Maya Train”(May 5, 2020)

 

Oaxaca: Organizations, Communities and Movements Demand Suspension of Trans-Isthmus Project (May 2, 2020)

Oaxaca: Illegal Start on Trans-Isthmus Corridor without EIR Denounced (April 28, 2020)

National: Almost 200 Organizations Demand Halt to Maya Train Works During Emergency; AMLO Confirms Megaprojects Will Continue (April 25, 2020)

 

National: Armed Forces Decreed Public Security Duties for Five Years; “Militarism Came out of the Closet” – CSO

@Gobierno de Mexico

On May 11th, a decree was published that will attribute extraordinary public security tasks to the Armed Forces for the next five years in aid of the National Guard (GN). The document is titled “Agreement by which the permanent Armed Forces are available to carry out public security tasks in an extraordinary, regulated, supervised, subordinate and complementary manner” and aims to ensure that the GN develops its structure, technical capabilities and implementation throughout the national territory by this means. This decree complies with the fifth constitutional transitory article on National Guard that Congress approved last year. It argues that this auxiliary work of the armed forces must not exceed a period of five years (until March 2024, seven months before the end of the six-year term of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)).

The decree provides that the military participate in “safeguarding the integrity of people and their assets; guarantee, maintain and restore order and social peace, as well as prevent the commission of crimes” in immigration control centers, federal highways, railways, airports, customs, fiscal areas and urban spaces considered as federal areas, among others.

The text published in the official government gazette does not clarify who will have command of the military forces dedicated to these tasks, since it only instructs the secretary of the branch, Alfonso Durazo, to coordinate with the secretaries of National Defense (SEDENA) and the Navy- Mexican Navy (SEMAR). However, it indicates that the supervision of members of SEDENA and SEMAR will correspond to the internal control bodies of each agency, so that the Ministry of Citizen Security and Protection will not have the capacity to sanction members of the armed forces under its coordination.

Opposition parties questioned whether the decree is giving powers to the Armed Forces that exceed what the Constitution mandates, because it does not subordinate military action to civilian command in matters of security and that it formalizes the militarization of the country.

For its part, the group #SeguridadSinGuerra (Security Without War), made up of more than 30 civil organizations, expressed its rejection of the decree, considering that “it has a series of gaps, including the need for the temporal and geographical scope in which the Armed Forces will act with powers of public security, does not contemplate accountability mechanisms, nor does it guarantee that the armed forces will subordinate themselves to a civilian power.”

“A government that is truly committed to the demilitarization of the country and the construction of peace should not issue an agreement of this type, but rather clear rules, precise objectives and a system of supervision and accountability while they continue on the streets,” the collective said.

The decree also generated reactions on social networks with labels such as #FueraDictaduraMilitar (Military Dictatorship Out) or # ResistenciaPorMéxico (Resistance For Mexico), with comments expressing concerns that it could affect the liberties of citizens or accusing AMLO of having a contradictory discourse by opposing the militarization of the streets during the six-year terms of Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, and Enrique Peña Nieto, but legally empowering the Armed Forces to carry out public security actions.

For more information in Spanish:

AMLO ordena la intervención del Ejército en labores de seguridad pública (Proceso, 11 de mayo de 2020)

Senadores de oposición chocan por decreto de AMLO (Proceso, 11 de mayo de 2020)

La oposición y sociedad civil protestan en la Red contra decreto que da facultades a militares(Sin Embargo, 11 de mayo de 2020)

Con decreto de AMLO, militarismo salió del closet: colectivo Seguridad sin Guerra (El Universal, 11 de mayo de 2020)

Se oficializa el apoyo de militares a la GN (La Jornada, 12 de mayo de 2020)

AMLO legaliza intervención militar en 12 tareas policiales; ONG acusan falta de plazos y controles (Animal Político, 12 de mayo de 2020)

For more infrmation from SIPAZ:

National/International: “When Words Are Not Enough” – Amnesty International Report almost One Year after AMLO Takes Office (December 4, 2019)

International/National: Un Human Rights Committee Issues 48 Human Rights Recommendations for Mexico (November 12, 2019)

National: National Guard Secondary Laws Passed; Concerns over Human Rights Continue (May 28, 2019)

National: AMLO Confirms Head of National Guard Will Be Serving Military Officer(April 9, 2019)

National: NGOs, Activists and CNDH Insist on Necessity that National Guard Be “Truly Civil” (April 8, 2019)

 

National/International: Mexico and IACHR Formalize Reinstallation of IGIE for Ayotzinapa Case

IGIE in previous phase (@Centro PRO DH)

In a statement published on May 7th, the Interior and Foreign Relations Secretariats reported that the Mexican government signed an agreement with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the reinstatement of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE).

The objective in this new stage will be to provide international technical assistance for the advancement of investigations and to assist in the preparation of search plans, care for victims and other relevant aspects in the case of the forced disappearance of 43 students from Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guerrero, in September 2014.

The statement explained that the process “was carried out taking into account the representation of the parents of the students, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the experts themselves who will form part of the International Group of Independent Experts.”

It specified that this action is part of the commitment established in the “Decree that instructs to establish effective material, legal and human conditions to strengthen the human rights of the relatives of the victims of the Ayotzinapa case to truth and access to justice”, issued by President Lopez Obrador on December 4th, 2018 and which raised, among other points, the possibility of passing agreements that allow the IACHR to cooperate.

For more information in Spanish: 

Gobierno de México y CIDH firman acuerdo para reinstalación del GIEI, a fin de seguir brindando asistencia técnica en el caso Ayotzinapa (comunicado completo, 7 de mayo de 2020)

Firman Segob y SRE acuerdo con CIDH para reinstalación del GIEI (La Jornada, 7 de mayo de 2020)

Firman acuerdo de reinstalación de GIEI en caso Ayotzinapa (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de mayo de 2020)

Formalizan reinstalación del GIEI en el caso Ayotzinapa (Regeneración, 8 de mayo de 2020)

Acuerdan México y CIDH reinstalar el GIEI para el caso Ayotzinapa (El Universal, 7 de mayo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/Guerrero: Agreement to Reintroduce Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts in Ayotzinapa Case. Number of Disappeared Increases in the Country (January 14, 2020)

 

Guerrero: Attorney General Will Investigate Ayotzinapa Case “Almost from Scratch”(September 25, 2019)

 

Guerrero: New Stage in Investigation of Ayotzinapa Case – Creation of Special Investigation Unit with Omar Gomez Trejo as Head (July 8, 2019)

 

Chiapas: San Cristobal City Council Asks CONAGUA to Revoke Water Concession to Coca-Cola FEMSA

Photo: Chiapasparalelo

On March 26th, the Trustee of the City Council of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Miguel Angel de los Santos Cruz, sent an official communication to the National Director of the National Water Commission, as well as to the Director of the Southern Border Basin Agency of CONAGUA, in which it expresses reasons for the revocation of the concession granted to the Coca-Cola FEMSA company to take advantage of groundwater in the municipality.

Miguel Angel de los Santos Cruz commented on the negative effects of soft drinks on health, since it puts at risk the supply of the vital liquid, as well as on the serious collateral damage related to the consumption of soft drinks, such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and caries, among others. “The cancellation of the concession is requested in order to give priority to the needs of the people of San Cristobal over commercial and industrial use, since our municipality suffers from a shortage of water”, he added.

San Cristobal de Las Casas has an approximate population of 209,591 inhabitants, and the Operating Agency, the Municipal Drinking Water and Sewerage System (SAPAM in its Spanish acronym), reports an approximate water consumption of 10,688 million 520 thousand liters a year in the city.

On another note, the organization Otros Mundos A.C pointed out that the FEMSA-Coca Cola bottling plant extracts 1.3 million liters of water a day from two wells located on the slopes of Cerro Huitepec, San Cristobal de las Casas, where communities lack the vital liquid. This is equivalent to 65,000 20-liter containers.

“It is our expectation that the federal agency with powers to grant concessions on water use, review the request presented within the framework of human rights provisions, considering the precautionary and preventive principles provided for in national and international legislation and clearly vindicated in the decisions of the organizations that protect human rights, as well as in the cases analyzed by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation”, the letter adds.

The City Council reported that the municipal Trustee has among his main powers and obligations, provided for in article 58 of the Constitutional Development Law on Municipal Government and Administration, that of “procuring, defending and promoting the interests of the municipality”, the reason why the application presented represents a legal imperative, given the consequences for the population caused by the concession granted.

For more information in Spanish:

Boletín de prensa den Ayutamiento de San Cristóbal de Las Casas sobre la extracción del agua en la ciudad , Otros Mundos A.C 30 de abril de 2020

Síndico de SCLC pide revocación de concesión de FEMSA-Coca Cola por daños a los DDHH de la población, Chiapas paralelo, 30 de abril de 2020

Ayuntamiento de San Cristóbal de las Casas pide a Conagua revocar concesión a FEMSA-Coca Cola, Sinembargo, 1 de mayo de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Comunicado por la defensa del agua en San Cristóbal de las Casas, 22 de abril de 2020

Chiapas: Plataforma por el Derecho Humano al Agua respalda la Iniciativa Ciudadana de Ley General de Agua ante concesiones privadas que limitan el acceso al vital líquido, 10 de abril de 2019

Chiapas: Protest to Cancel Femsa-Coca Cola Concession in San Cristobal de las Casas (April 14, 2017)

 

National: CNDH Calls for Protection of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Populations against COVID-19

@Cuartoscuro

On April 10th, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) called on the authorities of the three levels of government to take measures to protect the indigenous and Afro-descendant population that is at high risk due to the increasing spread of Coronavirus.

In the press release that was published, they emphasized the vulnerability of this group of people because the “majority are far from the country’s urban centers, with little or no coverage by medical infrastructure and marginalized from the information that makes them aware of their rights.”

For this reason, they highlighted the importance that preventive measures to combat this virus “be produced and disseminated in clear and timely messages in the mother tongue and indigenous languages” and that the message of “stay at home” be strengthened by “stay in your community.” In addition, they urged that at the same time it was necessary to review and guarantee the non-invasion of the territories since “a social policy of non-access to indigenous and Afro-descendant territories means believing in the collective ethical care of their own forms of control, exercising their autonomy and free self-determination.”

Taking into account the increased risk situation of women in isolation, they specifically called for guaranteeing access to justice for victims of family violence.

It is also worth mentioning that following the call of the CNDH, the organization Movement of Indigenous Peoples, Communities and Organizations, National Movement (MPCOI-MN) made a statement and demanded that an Emergent Food Support Program be implemented for the time the emergency lasts.

“The increase in recessions at the national level and the real possibility of a global depression will further aggravate the situation, causing fear that many indigenous people will die, not only from the virus itself, but also from conflicts and violence linked to the shortage of resources, and in particular drinking water and food,” they said in the statement.

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado de la CNDH (el 10 de abril de 2020)

Pide CNDH proteger a población indígena por COVID-19 (La Razón el 10 de abril de 2020)

Organizaciones indígenas piden atención y protección ante coronavirus (El Popular el 12 de abril de 2020)

Exhorta CNDH a los gobiernos a proteger salud de los indígenas (El Diario de Chihuahua el 11 de abril de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Health Workers Denounce Shortages in Hospitals (April 10, 2020)

National: Migrant Dies in Protest at Migrant Center in Tabasco; INM Blamed (April 5, 2020)

Chiapas: National Guard and Police Oppression of Migrants Protesting over COVID-19 Fears (March 30, 2020)

Chiapas: CIG Calls for Global Day for Life #ElEncierroNoMeCalla April 4th to 10th

Given the current coronavirus pandemic, the Indigenous Government Council (CIG) of the National Indigenous Congress launched a call for a Global Day for Life to be held from April 4th to 10th and asked “not to give up the struggle […] for humanity” after the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) announced the temporary closure of the caracoles two weeks earlier.

“In defense of life and because #ElEncierroNoMeCalla [The lockdown won´t silence me], we invite everyone, collectives, networks, organizations, individuals, supporters and adherents of the Sixth, to participate and hold musical, theatrical, dance activities, singing, poetry, cinema, painting, photography, documentaries, book reading, analysis, discussion, reflection, conferences and everything you can imagine, to shout at the bad governments of the world; that despite the Pandemic we continue to fight for life, we continue to fight against capitalism of death and patriarchy.”

The aim is to spread these activities through social networks under the hashtag #ElEncierroNoMeCalla to denounce that “national governments make their fundamental decisions subject to the dictates of financial capital.”

For more information in Spanish:

Coordinación Metropolitana, Anticapitalista y Antipatriarcal convoca a Jornada Global por la Vida #ElEncierroNoMeCalla (Enlace Zapatista el 28 de marzo de 2020)

POR CORONAVIRUS EL EZLN CIERRA CARACOLES Y LLAMA A NO ABANDONAR LAS LUCHAS ACTUALES (Enlace Zapatista el 16 de marzo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: EZLN Closes Caracoles Due to Coronavirus and Calls on People to Continue Struggle (March 19, 2020)

National: EZLN and CNI Hold Events on the First Anniversary of the Murder Samir Flores (February 25, 2020)

Chiapas/Mexico: EZLN, CNI and CIG Convene Actions in Defense of Territory and Mother Earth “We Are All Samir” (January 14, 2020)

Chiapas/National: Fourth Assembly of CNI-CIG Held in San Cristobal de Las Casas (January 13, 2020)

Chiapas/Nacional : CNI- CIG “vivimos la guerra del capital contra los pueblos del mundo”, convocatoria a la cuarta Asamblea Nacional (November 8, 2019)

Chiapas/National/International: EZLN Invitation to “Celebration of Life: December of Resistance and Rebellion” (November 10, 2019)