Chiapas: Las Abejas Civil Society Denounces Persecution and Murder of Human Rights Defenders and Protectors of Mother Earth and other Violent Situations

@Area de comunicación de Las Abejas

On February 22nd, within the framework of the monthly anniversary of the Acteal massacre (1997), Las Abejas Civil Society issued a statement in which it denounced not only impunity in that case but that “in Mexico of the era of the “Fourth transformation “human rights defenders, protectors of Mother Earth are persecuted and murdered, the truth is still covered up and women and girls are murdered, just as the criminal governments of the PRI and the PAN did.”

It also stated that “if we had a premature conscience, we would swallow the tale of the MORENA president that uncontrollable violence in the country, femicides, kidnapping and murder of girls is the fault of previous governments. It is outrageous that this president does not have the decency to admit that once he assumed power in Mexico, he assumed to serve a rotten system of government that can only persist causing destruction and feeding on blood.”

It outlined several more recent cases, also stating that “every day there is news of murders that make the news of the previous day remain forgotten, taking away from the fact that there is a new woman or girl murdered and raped.” It mentioned the case the repression against the fathers and mothers of the 43 disappeared students of Ayotzinapa, during their visit to the Mactumatza Normal Rural school in Chiapas; the detention of Miguel Lopez Vega, delegate of the National Indigenous Congress, member of the Zacatepec community radio station and member of the Puebla Peoples in Defense of the Land and Water Front, Morelos and Tlaxcala (although he was released through social pressure, Las Abejas believe that it was to intimidate the movement against companies in the Huejotzingo Industrial corridor) and femicides; among others.

For more information in Spanish:

Hoy sólo vamos a poder mencionar algunos casos de violencia, de injusticia y de asesinatos contra hombres y mujeres (Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal, 22 de febrero de 2020)

Se deslindan Abejas de Acteal de supuesto integrante de su Mesa Directiva (Reporte Ciudadano, 23 de febrero de 2020)

Se deslindan Abejas de Acteal de supuesto integrante de su Mesa Directiva (Noticias Primer Plano, 23 de febrero de 2020)

Se deslindan las Abejas de supuesto integrante (Diario de Chiapas, 24 de febrero de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: “This year begins with a lot of violence and it is increasing” – Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society (January 28, 2020)

Chiapas: Las Abejas de Acteal Hold Commenoration 22 Years after Acteal Masacre (January 13, 2020)

Chiapas: Las Abejas de Acteal Celebrate 27th Anniversary (January 4, 2020)

Chiapas: Protesting Prisoners Begin Three-day Hunger Strike

On February 5th, it was announced at a press conference held at the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights that four indigenous prisoners from Chiapas began a hunger strike for three days on that day.

With this action they demand to speed up the review of their cases that are currently on the so-called Reconciliation Table and in the Mixed Court of Bochil, and then their release.

“They also demanded that their space of struggle be respected inside both prisons until their freedom is obtained; that the “psychological reprisals and threats of the prison director of San Cristobal, Jose Javier Sanchez Rios and Judge Maria Guadalupe Flores Rocha stop, as well as the provision of medicines and medical care in the corresponding área.”

The prisoners who started the three-day fast this morning are, Adrian Gomez Jimenez, and the brothers German and Abraham Lopez Montejo, who are imprisoned in San Cristobal prison and Marcelino Ruiz Gomez, interned in Comitan prison.

For more information in Spanish:

Con ayuno, presos tzotziles en Chiapas piden revisión de su expediente, La Jornada, 5 de febrero de 2020

Presos indígenas torturados inician huelga de hambre, chiapas paralelo, 5 de febrero de 2020

Denuncias de los presos: Chiapasdenuncia, 5 de febrero de 2020

video de la conferencia de presnsa https://www.facebook.com/CdhFrayba/videos/493698384679288/UzpfSTM3MjYxNDE5NjQ1NTM0ODoxMDIxNjAwNzE4MjIzMzU2/ 5 de febrero de 2020

audio de palabras de los presos, https://soundcloud.com/chiapas-denuncia-p-blica/presos-reiniciaran-huelga-de-hambre-en-chiapas 5 de febrero de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Prisoners in San Cristobal de Las Casas Denounce Theats and Negligence from Prison Authorities (January 28, 2020)

Chiapas: Death Threats against FRAYBA and Relatives of Prisoners (December 11, 2019)

Chiapas/International: Solidarios de la Voz del Amate Seeks Alliances with Other Processes in Latin America (December 6, 2019)

Chiapas: Freedom for Juan de la Cruz Ruiz (December 5, 2019)

Chiapas:Presos del Cerss 5 son amenazados de ser reubicados si no detienen su protesta (September 6, 2019)

Chiapas: Prisoners in San Cristobal de Las Casas Denounce Theats and Negligence from Prison Authorities

Since the beginning of the year, the Working Group No Estamos Todxs has published several complaints from prisoners imprisoned in the State Center for Social Reinsertion (CERSS) Number 5 of San Cristobal de Las Casas, who are organized in the Voice of Indigenous People in Resistance and The True Voice of Amate. In these communiqués, they state that they have been exposed to threats and negligence by the prison authorities.

In a statement dated January 22nd, they denounce “the constant threats of the director of this prison Number 5 named Jose Javier Sanchez Rios” through intimidation, review of their belongings and robberies among other things. They said that they will continue “the sit-in until they get freedom because to date there has been no response from the authorities.” In another statement from January 17th, they reported on the negligence of the prison authorities to access medicines they need and even extortion to effectively obtain them.

For more information in Spanish:

Los hostigaminetos y amenazas por parte del director del CERSS numero 5 a nuestros compañeros presos en lucha no paran (Grupo de Trabajo No estamos Todxs, 23 de enero de 2020)

Nuestro compañero preso en lucha German López Montejo denuncia a las autoridades del CERSS 5 por la falta de medicamentos y la corrupción al interior del penal (Grupo de Trabajo No estamos Todxs, 17 de enero de 2020)

Compañeros presos en lucha de la organización La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia y de la Verdadera Voz del Amate denuncian que su integridad física se vio en riesgo por la negligencia de las autoridades penitenciarias (Grupo de Trabajo No estamos Todxs, 17 de enero de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Death Threats against FRAYBA and Relatives of Prisoners (December 11, 2019)

Chiapas/International: Solidarios de la Voz del Amate Seeks Alliances with Other Processes in Latin America (December 6, 2019)

Chiapas: Freedom for Juan de la Cruz Ruiz (December 5, 2019)

Chiapas:Presos del Cerss 5 son amenazados de ser reubicados si no detienen su protesta (6 de septiembre de 2019)

Chiapas: Death Threats against FRAYBA and Relatives of Prisoners

On December 9th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) denounced at a press conference death threats against its staff and those who make up the Collective of Relatives of Prisoners in Struggle “who received in November and so far in December death threats, surveillance, harassment and intimidation, in the context of the struggle for the freedom of native prisoners, particularly Juan de la Cruz Ruiz.”

It explained that the threats began to appear from November 12th, 2019, when “approximately at 10 pm, a black car with tinted windows left an envelope inside the home of a defender of the Family of Prisoners in Struggle. The envelope contained a message with newspaper clippings that said: Faro: catastrophic warning, call for help (the defender’s name is omitted) is in danger of death, life is very short, death is inevitable, one more, November, take care of her, try to save her life. It is worth mentioning that Faro is the last name of the Director of Frayba.”

Another incident occurred on November 19th when a new message was discovered at the domicile of the same defender where they wrote the name apparently in blood. That same night, at 9:00 p.m., an advertisement related to a funeral home was found in the house of a member of FRAYBA. “It is possible to say that in none of the neighboring houses they left this announcement”, it emphasized.

FRAYBA also reported that “as a result of these threats we have documented greater vigilance and harassment of both the families of the prisoners and the organizations and groups that accompany them.” It denounced that “to date, an adequate protection response has not been obtained from the mechanisms of the Mexican State” although “the defender filed a complaint with the Attorney General of the State of Chiapas for the threats and FRAYBA has made several written interventions before state and federal authorities.” It said that “the guarantee and protection is not made effective by the Mexican State, minimizing the risk situation that due to the circumstances we value coming from agents of the State itself.”

“After one year after Rutilio Escandon’s government, neglect, indifference and no response to the human rights situation persist; resulting in the obstruction towards the demand for justice and discrimination for indigenous peoples,” it claimed.

It urged the authorities to cease the death threats, vigilance, intimidation and harassment towards those who make up the Collective of Families of Prisoners in Struggle and Frayba, as well as their solidarity networks; to guarantee the life, security and personal integrity of the defenders mentioned, as well as the prisoners organized in La Voz de Indigenas en Resistencia, La Verdadera Voz del Amate and Viniketik in Resistencia; and that immediate measures are implemented to obtain the freedom of Juan de la Cruz Ruiz, Adrian Gómez Jimenez, Abraham Lopez Montejo, Germán Lopez Montejo and Marcelino Ruiz Gomez “who are arbitrarily deprived of their freedom and whose human rights have been violated by the Mexican State.”

For more information in Spanish:

Amenazas de muerte a defensora y al Frayba (CDH Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 9 de diciembre de 2019)

Denuncian amenazas de muerte contra activistas y defensores del Frayba y familiares de presos (Proceso, 9 de diciembre de 2019)

Frayba pide a CIDH medidas cautelares para indígenas amenazados (La Jornada, 9 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/International: Solidarios de la Voz del Amate Seeks Alliances with Other Processes in Latin America (December 6, 2019)

Chiapas: Freedom for Juan de la Cruz Ruiz (December 5, 2019)

Chiapas:Presos del Cerss 5 son amenazados de ser reubicados si no detienen su protesta (6 de septiembre de 2019)

Chiapas: After over 100 Days on Hunger Strike, Prisoners Need Appropriate Medical Attention and Continue to Demand Freedom (June 27, 2019)

Chiapas: Indigenous Prisoner Released after 16 Years Awaiting Sentencing and 60 Days Hunger Strike (May 26, 2019)

Chiapas: Diego Lopez Mendez Freed, Prisoner and Member of Solidarios de la Voz del Amate

Chiapas/International: Solidarios de la Voz del Amate Seeks Alliances with Other Processes in Latin America

Alberto Patishtan (@El Sie7e de Chiapas)

In a press conference that was held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas on December 4th, members of the Solidarios de la Voz de Amate organization announced that on December 8th they will participate in the Observatory of Rights of Peoples “The Worthy Fight of the Latin American Peoples, is the Libertarian Air of the Peoples of the World” in which they will share the struggle for political prisoners and unduly imprisoned in Chiapas.

Former prisoner Alberto Patishtan (who was in jail from 2000 to 2013) said they intend “to raise our voice of struggle and resistance, for the government to listen to us that we are not alone in the demand for our rights.” He recalled that “nine colleagues who have been in criminal proceedings for several years without sentencing and others who have already been sentenced with evidence that was manufactured by public ministries” are still imprisoned in Chiapas. He affirmed that “the government from political operators has studied the criminal records, they realized the irregularities, but even so due to lack of will and arrogance they do not want to free our companions in struggle for many years.” He denounced that “with sacrifice they have demonstrated their innocence by exposing their bodies and their lives, by means of a hunger strike and fasting inside the prisons, where they stopped eating for several days, even so the government does not want to yield. It’s not about competition, it’s about the freedom of poor and innocent Indians.”

For more information in Spanish:

Buscan presos alianza de apoyo con el resto de Latinoamérica(El Sie7e de Chiapas, 5 de diciembre de 2019)

Pueblos latinoamericanos se reuniran en Oaxaca para alzar su voz de lucha (Prensa Libre, 5 de diciembre de 2019)

Buscan presos políticos alianza de apoyo con el resto de Latinoamérica (Noticias Primera Plano, 4 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Exigen libertad para las 9 presos solidarios de la Voz del Amate (6 de noviembre de 2019)

Chiapas:Presos del Cerss 5 son amenazados de ser reubicados si no detienen su protesta (6 de septiembre de 2019)

Chiapas: After over 100 Days on Hunger Strike, Prisoners Need Appropriate Medical Attention and Continue to Demand Freedom (June 27, 2019)

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Chiapas: Plantón y Ayuno en Solidaridad con Presos en Huelga de Hambre (a 84 días de su inicio), 6 de junio de 2019

Oaxaca: CEDHAPI Denounces “Extrajudicial Execution” of Indigenous Defender

@Facebook

At the beginning of December, the Center for Human Rights and Advice to Indigenous Peoples (CEDHAPI in its Spanish acronym) denounced the “extrajudicial execution” of the indigenous defender Catalino Barradas Santiago, at the hands of elements of the municipal police of Santos Reyes Nopala, on the eve of the elections for municipal president (by customary law) in that community.

The president of CEDHAPI, Maurilio Santiago Reyes, indicated that the events occurred on November 30th and that two people were also injured in the attack, while a third was arrested and imprisoned in the Puerto Escondido prison, of whom “it is known that he was tortured by the municipal police of Santos Reyes Nopala,” he said. He also stated that a group headed by the mayors of San Pedro Mixtepec and Santos Reyes Nopala, respectively, continues to intimidate opponents with weapons to maintain control of the municipality.

He finally said that on December 2nd, when the body of Barradas Santiago was being waked, a group of armed people went to shoot at the house where the wake was held.

Given what happened, the CEDHAPI requested the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to issue an urgent action in the case of the detained person, and the Human Rights Ombudsman of Oaxaca and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, to issue precautionary measures. It also urged the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE in its Spanish acronym) to investigate the extrajudicial execution of the human rights defender, observer of the legality of the municipal president’s elections in Santos Reyes Nopala.

For more information in Spanish:

Denuncian “ejecución extrajudicial” de un defensor indígena cometida por la policía municipal de Santos Reyes Nopala (Página 3,mx, 5 de diciembre de 2019)

Denuncian “ejecución extrajudicial” de defensor indígena en Oaxaca (Proceso, 4 de diciembre de 2019)

Asesinado por policías (NVI Noticias, 4 de diciembre de 2019)

Policías municipales asesinan en Oaxaca al defensor indígena Barradas Santiago (Contralínea, 3 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: International Organizations Call for Release of Fredy Garcia of CODEDI (November 24, 2019)

Oaxaca/International: WOAT Warns about State Inaction in Disappearance Case of Ernesto Sernas Garcia (October 17, 2019)

Oaxaca: Murder Attempt on CODEDI Member (September 26, 2019)

Oaxaca: Denuncian criminalización por liberación de ordenes de aprensión contra sindicalistas del sector salud e integrantes de Sol Rojo (16 de agosto de 2019)

Chiapas: Freedom for Juan de la Cruz Ruiz

Photo @Frayba

On December 3rd, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (also known as Frayba) announced through a press conference that it had presented an indirect injunction for the freedom of the torture survivor, victim of violations of due legal process and currently in arbitrary deprivation of his freedom, Juan de la Cruz.

The indigenous Tsotsil Juan de la Cruz Ruiz, a prisoner for more than 12 years accused of the crime of homicide, filed the injunction to request the protection of federal justice as since February 2016 there is a recommendation for freedom with suspended sentence issued by the Reconciliation Bureau, La Jornada reported.

At the conference Pedro Faro Navarro, director of Frayba, reported that the request for indirect injunction was delivered in the District Court of Injunction and Federal Trials in the State of Chiapas, of the Twentieth Circuit, based in the capital.

“In the aforementioned document, it is claimed that even when there is a recommendation for freedom with a suspended sentence, dated February 11th, 2016, Juan de la Cruz remains in unjust prison at the Center for Social Reinsertion for the Sentenced No. 5, in San Cristobal de Las Casas,” he added.

He also noted that the recommendation “was sent for specific processing before the Undersecretary of Executions of Criminal Penalties and Security Measures, which since February 12th, 2016 received and had to issue the freedom ruling.”

He said that Juan’s family and those “who accompany him in the defense of his rights” face harassment, threats, vigilance and intimidation, facts that were already denounced before the State Attorney General’s Office.

Frayba urged “the highest Court to grant the injunction and protection of federal justice and that the authorities responsible for resolving this case comply with the recommendation they have issued so that Juan is released immediately.”

For more information in Spanish:

Para más información vea esta conferencia de prensa, en el Museo de la Ciudad de Tuxtla. (Chiapas Paralelo, 3 de diciembre de 2019)

Tras 12 años preso, indígena tzotzil solicita protección de la justicia (La Jornada, 3 de diciembre de 2019)

Indígena preso en Chiapas pide protección de la justicia federal (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 4 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas:Presos del Cerss 5 son amenazados de ser reubicados si no detienen su protesta (6 de septiembre de 2019)

Chiapas: After over 100 Days on Hunger Strike, Prisoners Need Appropriate Medical Attention and Continue to Demand Freedom (June 27, 2019)

Chiapas: After over 100 Days on Hunger Strike, Prisoners Need Appropriate Medical Attention and Continue to Demand Freedom (June 27, 2019)

Chiapas: Indigenous Prisoner Released after 16 Years Awaiting Sentencing and 60 Days Hunger Strike (May 26, 2019)

Chiapas: Chiapas Prisoners Enter Fourth Week of Hunger Strike (April 8, 2019)

Chiapas: Diego Lopez Mendez Freed, Prisoner and Member of Solidarios de la Voz del Amate (March 15, 2019)