National: 20,390 Forcibly Displaced in 2017 – Over 329,900 in the Last 12 Years

(@CMDPDH)

On May 2nd, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH in its Spanish acronym) published a report on forced internal displacement in Mexico that indicated that in 2017, the climate of violence that prevails in the country caused 25 internal forced mass displacement events in nine states of the Republic, which affected 20,390 people. In the last 12 years at least 329,917 people have had to flee their homes, a figure that is “extremely conservative” as it only includes the cases in which entire communities have had to move. The CMDPDH estimates the figure could exceed one million people, although it affirms that the government has not published figures due to not wanting to “recognize the scale of the problem and the existence of an armed conflict.”

The report states that the states of Guerrero (seven cases), Sinaloa (five), Chihuahua (three), Chiapas (three) and Oaxaca (three) concentrated practically all mass displacement episodes registered in 2017. Chiapas was the entity where the phenomenon affected the largest number of people: 6,090, most of them originating in the municipalities of Altos de Chalchihuitan and Chenalho. 60.44% of the people affected were indigenous and the vast majority lived in rural areas

Of all the factors that led to forced displacement, the majority of them were caused by armed organized groups. Other causes were political violence, social conflict and territorial disputes and, to a lesser extent, the implementation of extractive mining projects.

The CMDPDH regretted that in Mexico the issue of forced internal displacement remains an issue without diagnosis, without public policies or official responses: “Internally displaced people do not have a framework of protection, they are like a kind of legal limbo where nobody confers them rights. The displaced people are left at the mercy of the will of local governments.” In addition, although it acknowledged the existence are two local laws, in Chiapas and in Guerrero, lack of regulations has prevented their proper enforcement to date.

For more information in Spanish:

Informe 2017 : Desplazamiento interno forzado en México (CMDPDH, informe completo, 2 mayo de 2018)

La violencia provocó el desplazamiento forzado de 20 mil 390 personas en 2017: CMDPDH (Proceso, 2 de mayo de 2018)

Más de 20 mil desplazados en México durante 2017; la mayoría, indígenas: Informe (Aristegui Noticias, 2 de mayo de 2018)

En 12 años, 329.9 mil víctimas de desplazamiento forzado en el país (La Jornada, 3 de mayo de 2018)

Los conflictos territoriales y la violencia llevan al éxodo a más de 12.000 indígenas en México (El País, 3 de mayo de 2018)

Por la violencia, más de 325 mil personas han dejado sus hogares a la fuerza en México (Animal Político, 3 de mayo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Persiste riesgo a la vida de indígenas tsotsiles en Aldama, denuncia el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (26 de abril de 2018)

Chiapas: SIPAZ visitó a personas desplazadas de Chalchihuitán (20 de abril de 2018)

Guerrero: De la civilidad truncada a la desaparición de la razón, informe final de la Misión de Observación al Estado de Guerrero (16 de abril de 2018)

Chiapas: Plantón desplazados ejido Puebla, Chenalhó (10 de abril de 2018)

Chiapas: Otro conflicto agrario en los límites de Chenalhó provoca desplazados en el municipio de Aldama [blog incluye antecedentes] (27 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas: desplazados de Chalchihuitán denuncian condiciones en las que se siguen encontrando(23 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas : sin condiciones de seguridad regresan a casa más de 4000 desplazados en Chalchihuitán (4 de enero de 2018)

SIPAZ: BOLETÍN URGENTE – Reactivación del conflicto agrario entre Chenalhó y Chalchihuitán : violencia generalizada e impunidad (16 de diciembre de 2017)

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Chiapas/National: Roundtable Discussion “To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: Forbidden to Think?”

Roundtable discussion “To watch, to listen, to speak. Forbidden to think?”

From April 15th to 25th, the roundtable discussion “To watch, to listen, to speak: Forbidden to think?”, convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), was held at the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Indigenous Integral Training Center -University of the Earth (Cideci-Unitierra in its Spanish acronym) in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Academics, artists and activists participated in this event whose main objective was to take stock of the campaign of Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, “Marichuy”, in her aspiration to be an independent candidate for the presidency of the Republic in the next elections in July as spokesperson for the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym).

Subcomandante Galeano stated that, contrary to the criticism that this initiative would divide the vote of the left or that it was an instrument of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994), “if Marichuy did something, it was to lay bare the Mexican political electoral system in which illegality is rewarded with candidacies like those of Jaime Rodriguez ‘El Bronco’ and Margarita Zavala, who, even with accumulated false signatures, were granted registration”. He asserted that, “If everything is a game to divide the vote, why did the system not move to ensure registration? The truth is that there is no place for Marichuy, there is no place for the original peoples.” On the contrary, “those who violated all laws were left,” said Galeano. He stressed that, “The result of your mobilization, Marichuy, showed that the INE, is a” job placement agency.”

In a subsequent intervention, Subcomandante Galeano also warned that the economic powers of the capitalist system will do everything possible to stop the victory of presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. “We say that now the hydra is mad, goes for everything and everyone (…) Capital goes for everything and will not allow Lulas, Dilmas, Kirchner, Correas, Evos, or Lopez Obrador, or whatever you call anything that offers respite.”

On another note, “Marichuy” explained that, “There is a lot to do for this Mexico. They are waiting for us. We are going to have a meeting of councilors, and in this construction that awaits us we are many. We will not sit around thinking: ‘we did not do it’. We must continue to strengthen the work that is already being done by the peoples and communities.”

In this regard, Subcomandante Galeano affirmed that they will unconditionally support what the CIG decides, even if at a certain moment they decide to join a political party: “We support them unconditionally. What they decide. We will wait for you (for the consultation to take place) and listen in silence and respect (…) We can understand your reasons and we will support you. They will not receive attacks and criticism from us.” Marichuy and several other participants stressed, however, that the objective of their movement is the construction of autonomies in the different communities that join, “autonomies of government and in each of their development processes.” Galeano confirmed that, “this has nothing to do with the quest for power. For the EZLN this is the most important political initiative since the beginning of the war.”

Within the framework of the event, Dr. Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, 96 years old, was appointed commander Pablo Contreras of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (CCRI-EZLN). Commander Tacho explained the decision underlining that “To be a Zapatista one has to work and he has worked for the life of our peoples. He has not tired, he has not sold out, he has not given up.” He noted that, “If things go well, the Zapatista is rewarded with more work. (…) The gift that we are going to give [to Pablo Casanova] is more work.”

For more information in Spanish:

Cobertura completa del evento (incluyendo audios) :

Sigan bailando porque la lucha sigue – Arranca el Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” con concierto musiquero (Radio zapatista, 16 de abril de 2018)

¿Cumplimos o no cumplimos? – Día 2, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 17 de abril de 2018)

¿Revolución? ¿Reforma? ¿Lucha por la Vida? – Día 3, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 18 de abril de 2018)

¿Y la posibilidad de que ganemos es casi nula? – Día 4, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 19 de abril de 2018)

¿Y entonces, quiénes? – Día 5, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 20 de abril de 2018)

¿Juntxs ante el colapso? – Día 6, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 21 de abril de 2018)

¿Y cómo hablamos la verdad? – Día 7, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 22 de abril de 2018)

¿Escucharnos para sentirnos? – Día 8, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 23 de abril de 2018)

¿Heredar el deber y la memoria? – Día 9, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 24 de abril de 2018)

¿Un nosotrxs sin México? – Día 10, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 25 de abril de 2018)

El corazón está listo – Día 11, Conversatorio “Miradas, escuchas, palabras: ¿prohibido pensar?” (Radio zapatista, 26 de abril de 2018)

Cobertura en medios

“Los que violaron todas las leyes quedaron”: EZLN (Proceso, 16 de abril de 2018)

“Lo que Marichuy hizo fue exhibir, desnudar, el sistema político-electoral en México”: EZLN (Aristegui Noticias, 17 de abril de 2018)

Al tramposo lo premian, al justo (a Marichuy) lo castigan: EZLN; ya ven, ¿no que éramos de Salinas? (Sin Embargo, 17 de abril de 2018)

El sistema capitalista buscará frenar a AMLO, advierte el EZLN (Proceso, 19 de abril de 2018)

El EZLN apoyará a Marichuy y al CIG… aun si deciden sumarse a un partido político: subcomandante Galeano (Proceso, 20 de abril de 2018)

Pablo González Casanova, exrector de la UNAM, es nombrado comandante del EZLN (Proceso, 22 de abril de 2018)

González Casanova se convierte en el ‘comandante Pablo Contreras’ (La Jornada, 22 de abril de 2018) EZLN, “Marichuy, apoyo a los candidatos presidenciales”: o cómo los medios mutilan el mensaje (Regeneración Radio, 25 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : CNI convoca al “siguiente paso en la lucha” (17 de marzo de 2018)

Nacional: CNI denuncia ataque contra la caravana del CIG. (22 de enero de 2018)

Nacional: Marichuy critica trampas del INE a su candidatura (26 de octubre de 2018)

Nacional: Marychuy se registra como candidata independiente a la Presidencia de la República (18 de octubre de 2017)

Chiapas: Mass Mobilization of CNTE in Chiapas

March on April 10th, 2018 (@Pozol)

Under the slogan “48-Hour Teachers and Popular Strike Towards National Teacher and Popular Strike”, on April 10th, thousands of teachers of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym), parents of families, displaced indigenous peoples, student teachers and members of more than 60 campesino social organizations, marched in Tuxtla Gutiérrez against educational reform and declared themselves in favor of creating a “national united front” to face “the onslaught of the federal government with its public policies and legal reforms that criminalize social protest, which generate unemployment with massive layoffs, suspended payments to teachers, which continues to reduce spending on health and education while increasing it for electoral campaigns.” The mobilization was led by 59 families of displaced indigenous people from Puebla ejido in Chenalho who stated that the government still has not meet their demands to return to their homes.

In other protest actions, they also took over the toll booth on the Tuxtla-San Cristobal highway, conducted an information dissemination brigade in public markets and commercial centers, and visited public and private radio and television stations to publicize the reasons for their protests.

Teachers mobilized despite threats that there would be deductions from their salaries for days they did not show up for work. In this framework, the Ministry of Education stated that “our position is clear: there will be discounts if they do not show up for work. We have met our part of the agreement, for that reason we make an attentive call to the teachers so that they do not put their union interests before the continuity of educational services.”

The CNTE said that if there are no negotiations with the Ministry of the Interior, there will be stoppages on April 30th, May 1st and 2nd.

For more information in Spanish:

Marchan en Chiapas contra la reforma educativa y proponen un frente nacional (Proceso, 9 de abril de 2018)

Desplazados se suman a marchas (Aquí Noticias, 9 de abril de 2018)

CNTE en Chiapas levanta paro y anuncia otro de tres días en protesta contra la reforma educativa (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2018)

Maestros levantan plantón, pero amenazan con regresar (NVI Noticias, 11 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca/ Nacional: La CNTE y la Segob acuerdan mesas de negociación (13 de julio de 2016)

Chiapas/Oaxaca/Nacional: Ante falta de acuerdos sobre la reforma educativa en el diálogo, el magisterio sigue con las movilizaciones (28 de junio de 2016)

Chiapas: Military Spying and Harassment of Indigenous Communities in Palenque, Ocosingo, Chilon and La Libertad Reported

Press conference (@Fray Bartolome de Las Casas)

At a press conference held at its offices on March 21st, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Fryba) and indigenous representatives of 120 communities and Tseltal ejidos, Choles, Tsostiles, Zoques and Mestizos reported that they documented acts of spying and harassment by the military against indigenous peoples in recent times.

They argued that “under the pretext of the application of the Internal Security Law and the “fight against crime”, communities living on the so-called southern border road in the municipalities of Palenque, Ocosingo, Chilon and La Libertad, Chiapas, have been violated in their right to security and personal integrity by elements of the 18th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army, based in Tenosique, Tabasco.” They detailed that the acts of “surveillance, harassment, intimidation, threats and criminalization by the Mexican Army (…) put at risk the life and freedom of those who make up the Organization of Autonomous Peoples in Defense of Uses and Customs.”

For the same reason and since February 21st, by community agreement, the Autonomous Peoples Organization began to hold peaceful demonstrations with the distribution of flyers in the stretches of El Tulipan, Tabasco, and Chancala, Chiapas, to request the return of livestock confiscated in a protest on February 16th and the cessation of harassment.

In the framework of these actions they retained a person who took photos of them, who identified himself as Ezequiel Lopez Lopez, originally from Puebla and who, they discovered, was a soldier in civilian clothing, spying on them. Several soldiers went to the place where he was being held to negotiate his release. However, “while a negotiating table was being set up, the SEDENA besieged the community: some 200 soldiers from Tenosique arrived in the vicinity, cut off access, as well as communication to the outside and electricity and were stationed in attack position, while deploying a media campaign to discredit the organization. On February 24th, government authorities released the confiscated livestock and signed an agreement, which established that there would be no reprisals against members of the Organization. In addition, Ezekiel was handed over without harm.”

However, after these events, the communities and ejidos of the Organization of Autonomous Peoples in Defense of the Uses and Customs of Palenque have reported “greater vigilance and military patrols in the region, as well as an increase in intermittent lockdowns of elements of the Mexican Army, who have shown hostile, threatening and discriminatory behavior.”

When their behavior was questioned, they argued aggressively that “they are powers that the Internal Security Law gives them and that, as indigenous people, they have to abide by the new rules.”

For all the above, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Fryba) urged the Ministry of National Defense to cease acts of harassment, intimidation, threats and criminalization against those who are organized peacefully in the construction of alternative of ways of life, and also respect for the collective rights of indigenous peoples.

For more information in Spanish:

Ejército mexicano realiza espionaje a pueblos originarios en Chiapas (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 21 de marzo de 2018)

El Frayba denuncia espionaje y hostigamiento militar contra indígenas en Chiapas (Proceso, 21 de marzo de 2018)

Municipios de Chiapas, prisioneros del ejército: Frayba (Juicio Político, 22 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : EPN promulga Ley de Seguridad Interior. CNDH promoverá acciones de inconstitucionalidad. (29 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Más aprobaciones controvertidas de Leyes Mexicanas (20 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Senado aprueba Ley de seguridad interior (16 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Ante rechazo a la Ley de Seguridad Interior, EPN pide ampliar “los espacios de diálogo y acercamiento con las distintas organizaciones de la sociedad civil” (11 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Entre protestas se aprueba Ley de seguridad interior (1 de diciembre de 2017)

 

Chiapas: Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez Named as New President of State Human Commission Rights

Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez (@Twitter CEDH)

On March 15th, the Chiapas Congress approved the appointment of Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez as the new president of the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH in its Spanish acronym), replacing Juan Oscar Trinidad Palacios, who took office as head of the Supreme Court of Justice of the State last January.

Zepeda Bermudez, who until recently served as general coordinator of the cabinet of the governor Manuel Velasco Coello and before as head of the Planning Secretariat, was chosen from a shortlist in which the academic Delia Estrada Sanchez and Diego Cadenas Gordillo, former director of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center and former executive secretary of the CEDH, also participated.

Cadenas Gordillo informed that he will challenge the appointment of Zepeda Bermudez when he considers that he is “an businessman, former public, political, and PAN official, which makes him ineligible because he does not guarantee autonomy” of the CEDH.

For his part, Pedro Faro Navarro, current director Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights, said in media that, “the state government and Manuel Velasco are still in the dynamic of imposing key positions on inexperienced people who have been jumping around positions in the different governments.” He assured that Zepeda Bermudez does not have any profile or experience in the defense of human rights. He regretted that “the people of Chiapas have institutions that have cost a lot of effort to create and that are not functioning to the needs of the population because of the violence generated by the State, which continues to commit serious violations of human rights.”

In recent days, Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez, presented his work plan based on three fundamental axes; the promotion of human rights mainly in indigenous languages, the rapprochement of services and the strengthening of the representation of this institution before governmental and non-governmental organizations.

For more information in Spanish:

Designan a presidente de CEDH en Chiapas (La Jornada, 15 de marzo de 2018)

Nombran a empresario y ex funcionario como presidente de la CEDH (Chiapas Paralelo, 16 de marzo de 2018)

Frayba condena nombramiento Zepeda Bermúdez como ombudsman chiapaneco (Tribuna Chiapas, 16 de marzo de 2018)

Zepeda Bermúdez habla del rumbo que tomará la CEDH (Aquí Noticias, 18 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas/National: The Sixth Commission Convokes Roundtable Discussion “To Look, to Listen, to Speak: Forbidden to Think?”

Zapatista Caracol at Oventik (@SIPAZ archivos)

On March 20th, through a communiqué, the Sixth Commission of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) convoked the roundtable discussion “To Looks, to Listen and to Speak: Forbidden to Think?” to be held at the CIDECI-Unitierra facilities in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, from April 15th to 25th, in which “various people from the National Indigenous Congress, from the Indigenous Council of Government, from the arts, sciences, political activism, journalism and culture, will share with us what they see and hear” in the current pre-electoral context.

The address to register is: asistentesemillero@enlacezapatista.org.mx

For more information in Spanish:

La Comisión Sexta del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional convoca al CONVERSATORIO (o semillero, según): “Miradas, Escuchas y Palabras: ¿Prohibido Pensar?” (Comunicado de la Comisión Sexta del EZLN, 20 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : CNI convoca al “siguiente paso en la lucha”(17 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas : 2do Encuentro del « ConCiencias por la Humanidad » convocado por el EZLN (4 de enero de 2018)

Chiapas: La Comisión Sexta del EZLN anuncia el programa de la gira del Concejo Indígena de Gobierno en Chiapas (18 de septiembre de 2017)

Chiapas: El EZLN anuncia nuevas convocatorias e invitaciones para 2017(24 de febrero de 2017)

National/International: Actions for International Day against Dams and in Defense of Rivers and Water

Action in Chenalho for International Day against Dams (@Otros Mundos)

Since 1997, in the framework of the first International Meeting of People Affected by Dams held in Curitiba (Brazil), representatives of 20 countries declared March 14th as the Day of Action against Dams to denounce water management projects and demand equitable and sustainable management of rivers.

On March 14th and in this context, Intercultural Dialogue Days for the Territory and in Defense of the Rio Verde in the community of Paso de la Reyna, Jamiltepec, were held. There, a regional territorial organization process has been established since 2006 that brings together Peoples and Communities in the United Peoples Council for the Defense of the Rio Verde (COPUDEVER in its Spanish acronym) to face the Paso de la Reina Multiple Use Hydroelectric Project.

In Chiapas, the Civil Society Organization Las Abejas de Acteal carried out an action within the municipality of Chenalho, making flyers, painting on light poles and on walls along the roads “with the aim of informing and making the population aware of the projects of death that bad governments and capitalist companies introduce without consent in our territories.” In a statement, they ratified “before all the threats of the death projects that the big national and foreign capitalists want to introduce into our lands and territories, we tell them that they will not happen and hope their brain has the capacity to reflect that their ambitions and extractive dreams are mere projects of destruction and that have caused massacres and genocides, in order to forcefully impose their projects, hiring assassins such as: paramilitaries, gunmen, assassins and even soldiers themselves.”

Several organizations in Chiapas and Mexican and Latin American networks also spoke out against “the unlimited multiplication of dams of all sizes, from large scale works to so-called ‘mini-hydroelectric’ [dams], driven by the policies of the World Bank and other alleged “cooperation” and “development” international financial institutions, by the neoliberal structural reforms of the corporatized states, the discourse of “sustainable energy” and the creation of “clean development mechanisms.”” They spoke out against the almost 100 dam projects that exist in the state of Chiapas, including, among others, the expansion of the Chicoasen II and Angostura projects in the Zoque area, 19 mini-hydroelectric projects and the reactivation of the Itzantun project. They also spoke against the new draft General Water Law that “deepens the inequality between the population and the private sector in terms of access to water in the country, by putting the State at the service of [private] companies.”

For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento de Las Abejas de Acteal en Día Internacional de Acción contra las Presas y por los Ríos, el Agua y la Vida (Sociedad Civil Las Abejas, 14 de marzo de 2018)

Día Internacional de Acción Contra las Represas: Celebramos los ríos de Chiapas y del mundo (OCS de Chiapas y redes mexicanas y latinoamericanas, 14 de marzo de 2018)

Celebran 14 comunidades la vida y la riqueza biocultural del Río Verde en Oaxaca (Vínculo informativo, 15 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : CEMDA publica informe 2017 que indica incremento de la vulnerabilidad de defensores ambientalistas (7 de marzo de 2018)

Oaxaca: Amenazan a la entidad 67 proyectos hidroeléctricos (12 de septiembre de 2016)