Oaxaca: Third anniversary of movement against wind-energy projects in San Dionisio del Mar

On 29 January, the Huave people of San Dionisio del Mar commemorated the third anniversary of their wind-energy resistance.  In this sense, there was held a march in which 500 people participated.  During a political act in the municipal auditorium, protestors reiterated their opposition to wind-energy projects in the Tehuantepec Isthmus.  Arturo Lona Reyes, bishop emeritus of the Tehuantepec Isthmus and a representative of the Tepeyac Center for Human Rights, celebrated a mass and affirmed that “the communal assemblies are the light in the darkness.”  Members of the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ), the Revolutionary Popular Front (FPR), CIARENA, the Network Organization of Young Indigenous Women, the 21 June Mareños Mototaxi group, and the Mugier Ndyuck Civil Association were present at the action.

It should be recalled that in January 2012, following debate regarding the conditions under which a contract had been signed with the Preneal firm in November 2004, the communal assembly agreed to censure the mayor Miguel López Castellano after it was revealed that he had received 20 million pesos from the firm in exchange for an authorization of change in land use.  For the same reason, protestors decided to occupy the municipal palace.

An Ikjoot communard said in an interview with La Jornada that “the threat against our territory persists because the concession for the wind-energy park has no end-date.  Beyond this, now the PRI would like to open the door to more mining.  We know that there are six mining concessions for gold, salt, and other metals in San Dionisio, in the La Riqueza park, where they are attempting to build an open-pit mine.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Pueblos impulsan su autonomía tras evitar construcción de parque eólico en Oaxaca (La Jornada 28 de enero de 2015)

Lucha por la autonomía en San Dionisio del Mar (Video Subversiones, 28 de enero de 2015)

Frente al extractivismo capitalista, San Dionisio del Mar lucha por la autonomía (Subversiones, 29 de enero de 2015)

Las asambleas comunitarias son esperanza en el Istmo: Lona Reyes(Quadratin Oaxaca, 29 de enero de 2015)

Cumple San Dionisio tres años de resistencia (Noticiasnet.mx, 29 de enero de 2015)

Huaves conmemoran tres años de “resistencia eólica” en el Istmo de Tehuantepec (La Jornada, 30 de enero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Conflicts over extraordinary elections in San Dionisio del Mar (30 December 2014)

Oaxaca: Mareña Renewables to cancel wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (15 January 2014)

Oaxaca: Meeting of Peoples in Resistance for the Defense of Territory in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (17 May 2013)

Oaxaca: Confrontation over supposed “approval” of wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (8 January 2013)

Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)

Oaxaca: 4 years and 7 months on, presumed murderer of human-rights defenders Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola is apprehended

On 21 January, Elías Cruz Merino, leader of the Movement for Triqui Unification and Struggle (MULT) and official of San Juan Copala, was arrested as one of the presumed murderers of the human-rights defenders Bety Cariño y Jyri Jaakkola (Finnish).  Both were killed in April 2010 as they participated in a humanitarian caravan headed to San Juan Copala.  Cruz Merino is accused of the premeditated murder of the two activists.

Since April of last year, the National Association of Democratic Lawyers denounced that those responsible for the murders had been plainly identified, but that the government had refused to implement the corresponding arrest-orders.

Omar Esparza Zárate, widower of Bety Cariño and leader of the Indigenous Zapatista Agrarian Movement (MAIZ), affirmed that this arrest constitutes an advance, but he observed that 10 other arrest-orders remain unobserved.  He noted: “For us it is clear that they continue to be protected by certain power-groups in Oaxaca.  Still, we will continue to demand that justice not be delayed but instead expedited.”    Esparza Zárate also announced that European parliamentarians will carry out a visit to Mexico in February to pressure the Mexican State and continue demanding justice.

For more information (in Spanish):

Capturan a policía implicado en crimen de los activistas Cariño y Jaakkola (Proceso, 22 de enero de 2015)

Encarcelan a dirigente del MULT por homicidio de ‘Bety’ Cariño y de finlandés (Radio Formula, 22 de enero de 2015)

Capturan a presunto homicida de Bety Cariño (Noticias.net, 23 de enero de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Parents of Jyri Jaakkola visit Mexico for fifth time to demand justice (7 December 2014)

National/Oaxaca: Mothers of the disappeared express solidarity with Omar Esparza and his family on hunger strike (18 May 2014)

Oaxaca: In response to 4 years of impunity, hunger strikes and protests taken to resist murders of Bety Cariño y Jyri Jaakkola (2 May 2014)

Oaxaca: Three-year impunity continues in the case of the murders of Bety Cariño y Jyri Jaakkola (17 May 2013)

Oaxaca: 12 arrest-orders released against presumed material authors of the murder of the Mexican defender Bety Cariño and the Finnish observer Jyri Jaakkola (12 October 2012)

Oaxaca: Demand for the immediate release of Damián Gallardo

In August 2014, the UN Work-Group on Arbitrary Detentions called on the Mexican government to release the indigenous human-rights defender Damián Gallardo Martínez, who is being held in a maximum-security prison in Puente Grande, Jalisco, and so “put an end to this situation of multiple rights-violations,” as well as “provide appropriate means of compensation for this person.”  The resolution was also sent to the Unitary Tribunals based in El Salto, Jalisco, which cover legal motions regarding kidnappings and organized crime

The Committee of Relatives and Friends of Damián Gallardo, the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH-Oaxaca), Services for an Alternative Education (EDUCA), Consorcio for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity Oaxaca, the New Women’s Collective, and the Oaxacan Citizens’ Initiative make public a communique in which they stress that “both motions [in his favor] are in progress, such that in this strict sense, the resolution is adequate for Damián Gallardo Martínez to be released immediately.  If he continues to be held, the responsibility for his illegal privation of liberty will be in the federal judicial power, for having violated the principles of control of conventionality against the rights-defender.”  Furthermore, they denounced “the permissibility of the actions of the Mexican State, which beyond systematically violating human rights, demonstrate a marked lack of interest in observing its international obligations and repeatedly guard silence in light of the indications and challenges that have been targeting it.  In this sense, we demand the immediate release of Damián Gallardo Martínez.”  They added that the case “effectively shows the systematic practice of criminalizing social protest and imprisoning social activists, practices that each day become more common and evident in the country, as well as the the practices of torture, arbitrary detention, and abuse of the justice system” against human rights-defenders.”

It bears mentioning that Damián Gallardowas arrested on 18 May 2013, accused of having participated in a group of kidnappers supposedly comprised of members of Section 22 and the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).  However, in accordance with information provided by the UN Work-Group, it has been shown that “the arrest and detention of Damián Gallardo Martínez are arbitrary” on three distinct levels.  The document also stresses that “the arrest of this person seems to be motivated by the activities in which he has been engaged in service of the indigenous peoples to whom he belongs,” and it notes that the defender signed a confession after “having been subjected to threats, acts of intimidation, and torture.”  As regards the denunciations and evidence presented about other abuses, the experts determined that the allegations of torture must be forwarded to the UN Special Rapporteur.

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado de Prensa (Educa Oaxaca, 16 de diciembre de 2014)

Llama ONU a Peña a poner en libertad a activista oaxaqueño (Proceso, 16 de diciembre de 2014)

ONU pide a Peña Nieto liberar a Damián Gallardo para poner fin a violaciones múltiples (Página 3, 17 de diciembre de 2014)

Confirma la ONU tortura en contra de profesor oaxaqueño (W Radio, 16 de diciembre de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: 16 months after the imprisonment of Damián Gallardo, and following call from UN, there is no response from the Mexican State (12 October 2014)

Oaxaca/National: Assault on teacher Damián Gallardo in a prison of Jalisco (13 June 2014)

Oaxaca: 8 years after the conflict of 2006, impunity prevails. Truth Commission is founded

Image @ Código DH

On 25 November, eight years were commemorated since the confrontation between civil society and the police that took place in 2006, including 25 killed, around 500 arrested, 380 tortured, and 5 disappeared.  Though the Supreme Court for Justice in the Nation (SCJN) has found that “there were serious generalized and particular violations of individual rights” and the recommendation released by the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), these have proven inadequate for the tasking of punishing those responsible.  The Commission of Relatives of the Disappeared, Murdered, and Political Prisoners of Oaxaca (COFADAPPO) demanded that the recently founded Truth Commission (comprised of Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, Diego Osorno, and Mariana Patricia Jiménez) provide real results to the members of Section 22 of the National Educational Workers’ Union (SNTE) and to the people of Oaxaca, who were brutally repressed  in 2006.  Porfirio Domínguez, who was arrested by the federal police on 25 November 2006 during the final confrontation between the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and the PFP (federal police), also demanded that the SCJN’s report be heeded.

For its part, the Gobixha Committee for the Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights (Código DH) indicated that “Oaxaca experienced on 25 November 2006 one of the most brutal repressive episodes in the history of the state […].  Today we see the same practice exercised against those arrested on 20 November in Mexico City, as they were taken to federal prisons without respecting habeas corpus, as the law establishes.  Arbitrarily violating the legal rights of these persons demonstrates that the justice institutions have not changed.”  In a press-bulletin, Código DH indicated ex-governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz as the principal responsible party, and that “despite the existing documentation, basically the grave rights-violations we have seen this committed this year continue in impunity.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Oaxaca 2006: 8 años de impunidad (Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha – Código DH, 25 de noviembre de 2014)

Los días de infierno pretenden ser enterrados con un silencio cómplice; Ulises Ruiz y camarilla gozan de impunidad (Página 3, 25 de noviembre de 2014)

Reprocha Cofadapo trabajo de Cué sobre 2006 y piden resultados ‘reales’ a la Comisión de la Verdad (Noticias Net, 25 de noviembre de 2014)

‘Insuficiente la Comisión de la Verdad para castigar a culpables de 2006’: LIMEDDH (Noticias Net, 25 de noviembre de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: March-meeting of Section 22 of the SNTE in commemoration of 25 November (28 November 2012)

Oaxaca: March of teachers and social organizations in observance of the repression of 25 November 2006 (28 November 2011)

Oaxaca: Presumed killer of Brad Will is detained (5 June 2012)

Oaxaca: Urgent Action for new harassment against Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno (30 September 2010)

 

Oaxaca: Civil Mission reports violation of right to consultation; APIIDT shares views

Consultation in Juchitán (@CODIGO DH)

Three non-governmental organizations-the Project for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ProDESC); the Project for Organization, Development, Education, and Investigation (PODER); and the Gobixha AC Committee for Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights (Código DH)-were present during the preliminary accords for the consultation process regarding the installation of a wind-energy project in Juchitán, Oaxaca.  In a first report, they reported that there were “violations against the basic principles of the right to consultation, including that it be prior informed, culturally adequate, transparent, free, and in good faith try to accord with the highest international standards on human rights.”  They indicated furthermore that clear and transparent mechanisms were lacking during the decision-making process, leading to “an antagonistic environment among the parties.”  They denounced as well “security incidents against participants represent one of the gravest aspects seen in this first phase of the consultation.”  They mentioned concretely that “members of the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ), from the the Assembly of the Indigenous People of the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT), as well as a communal radio denounced that during the sessions they were subjected to harassment, direct threats, and security problems related to the consultation process.”

For this reason, they made the following recommendation: “That translation and interpretation be carried out by certified translators and interpreters during all stages of the consultative process; that the participants be assured of having sufficient information regarding the breadth, limits, and implications of the consultative process in an adequate, complete, and consistent manner during each of the sessions; that clear, explicit mechanisms of participation be established; that these conditions of participation be ensured for all those in attendance; that security measures be adopted to guarantee the security of participants, so that the consultation progress in a free manner and in good faith, without harassment or intimidation.”

Members of the APIIDT also presented a document including observations and proposals to the techincal committee of the consultative process.

For more information (in Spanish):

Violan derecho de consulta en plan eólico de Oaxaca: ONG (La Jornada, 13 de noviembre de 2014)

Preocupantes violaciones en consulta sobre proyecto eólico en Juchitán; genera confrontación (Pagina3.mx, 13 de noviembre de 2014)

Reporte completo de la Misión de Observación (12 de noviembre de 2014)

Solicita Educa garantizar proceso de consulta en Juchitan (El Libertador de Oaxaca, 12 de noviembre de 2014)

Entrega APIIDTyT propuestas para protocolo de consulta en Juchitán(Pagina3.mx, 14 de noviembre de 2014)

Comunicado completo de la APIIDT (APIIDT, 13 de noviembre de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Threats against APPJ members in terms of consultation regarding wind-energy project in Juchitán (13 November 2014)

Oaxaca: Beginning of consultation regarding wind-energy park in Juchitán (12 November 2014)

Oaxaca: Various denunciations in the Tehuantepec Isthmus from community assemblies organized against wind-farms in their territories (6 September 2014)

Oaxaca: Opponents to wind-energy parks threatened with death in the Isthmus (2 March 2014)

Oaxaca: Denunciation of harassment and death-threats against human-rights defenders in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (9 December 2013)

Oaxaca: Threats against APPJ members in terms of consultation regarding wind-energy project in Juchitán

On 5 November, three members of the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ) received threats by phone from a local number telling them “what have you been doing at the forum?  You have no reason to be there” and to “be careful of the consequences; we will meet.”  A fourth person from the same group did not take the call upon identifying the same number.  On 4 November, they also noticed surveillance in the place where the APPJ was holding a meeting with people linked to the Bii Hioxo wind-energy plant owned by Fenosa Natural Gas.  The APPJ members identified these surveillers as being the material authors of the harassment and threats made against the APPJ.

These threats come within the context of the first phase of agreements for a consultation that is being carried out in Juchitán, Tehuantepec Isthmus, regarding a new wind-energy project impelled by Wind-Energy of the South (formerly Mareña Renewables) that would install 132 towers in the region.

In an Urgent Action regarding these threats, the organization Código DH denounced that “[t]he violation of the rights of those participating in the consultative process imperils the security of persons.  It is a way of attempting to silence the critical voices and to reduce the participation of the citizenry within a process that should be open and broad.  It is unacceptable that this is a question of guaranteeing rights by violating those of others, either by action or omission.  The existence of these new threats against members of the [APPJ] who find themselves participating in this exercise shows this to be true.  It not only violates the right to participation by a specific group that has denounced the installation of the Bii Hioxo wind-energy park on communal lands and been critical of the process, denouncing death-threats and harassment on multiple occasions, but also taints the first phase of this consultative process, which should guarantee the participation of all those who are interested in participating.”

The APPJ together with other collectives and social organizations has questioned the consultation that has been initiated in Juchitán as a “joke” and a “circus,” given that it only began once 13 wind-energy parks and more than 800 wind-towers had been installed in the region.

For more information (in Spanish):

Nuevas amenazas a integrantes de la APPJ en el marco de la consulta que se realiza en Juchitán (Acción Urgente de CODIGO DH, 6 de noviembre de 2014)

Hostigamiento y amenazas obstaculizan el debido desarrollo de consulta sobre proyecto eólico en Juchitán, Oaxaca (CODIGO DH, PODER, PRODESC, 6 de noviembre de 2014)

Es viciada e ilegítima consulta sobre instalación de parque eólico en Juchitán (La Jornada, 5 de noviembre de 2014)

Es una burla consultar después de invadirnos de aerogeneradores: juchitecos (Página3.mx, 5 de noviembre de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Beginning of consultation regarding wind-energy park in Juchitán (12 November 2014)

Oaxaca: Various denunciations in the Tehuantepec Isthmus from community assemblies organized against wind-farms in their territories (6 September 2014)

Oaxaca: Confrontations in Álvaro Obregón community, Juchitán, leave several injured (15 March 2014)

Oaxaca: Opponents to wind-energy parks threatened with death in the Isthmus (2 March 2014)

Oaxaca: Denunciation of harassment and death-threats against human-rights defenders in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (9 December 2013)

Oaxaca: Twentieth anniversary of EDUCA. “20 years of sowing social processes”

Services for an Alternative Education (EDUCA) has now celebrated its twentieth anniversary.  The organization began after the armed insurrection of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in Chiapas, and it has been following two major aspects in its work: the promotion of citizens’ participation in Oaxaca and human rights, particularly of indigenous peoples.  Using the slogan “20 years of sowing social processes,” the civil organization this year will review what it has sown and what it has reaped.

EDUCA members have affirmed that “20 years ago, we raised our voice to give reason to our hope.  Today we continue firmly with that conviction.  It is true that 20 years are not many; they are in fact a mere breath in time, but at the same time that span could be a life full of struggle.  Thank you!”

For more information (in Spanish):

Para Educa, sexenio de URO, el más negro (Noticiasnet.mx, 19 de octubre de 2014)

EDUCA 20 años sembrando procesos sociales. Felicitaciones de cumpleaños (EDUCA, 3 de noviembre de 2014)

Recuento de la historia de EDUCA (EDUCA)

Entrevista con Marcos Leyva Madrid, Director de EDUCA A. C. sobre el vigésimo aniversario (EDUCA)