National: “The Offensive of Those Above against the Movement from Below”, CNI Communiqué Reports Intensification of Repression

On June 12th, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) published a new communiqué titled “The Offensive of Those Above against the Movement from Below” “to repudiate the repressive escalation against compañeros from our peoples where they have been nominating councilors for integration of the Indigenous Council of Government for Mexico, which represents for us an attack against the CNI and our proposal that we have launched throughout the nation.”

It denounced threats, attacks, arrests and a murder in four communities in Chiapas, a community in Queretaro, one in Morelos, one in the State of Mexico, one in Michoacan, one in Campeche, and the situation of Mayan indigenous people in Guatemala who are displaced in Campeche.

The CNI identified these events as part of “the intensification of the war against our peoples, the storm that flashes across the sky and now seeks to end hope for all Mexicans represented by the Indigenous Council of Government and our spokeswoman, of the use of attack groups and paramilitaries to strike at the struggle of the peoples that make up the CNI, of the criminalization and persecution of those who fight for a just world, from below and to the left.”

 For more information in Spanish:

La ofensiva de arriba, ante el movimiento de abajo (CNI, 12 de junio de 2017)

“Escalada represiva” contra pueblos del Congreso Nacional Indígena (Contralínea, 12 de junio de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Aumenta tensión en Tila (9 de junio de 2017)

Chiapas : Allanamiento y robo de información a integrante de Semilla Digna, parte del CNI (8 de junio de 2017)

Chiapas: Asesinan a Rodrigo Guadalupe Huet Gómez(6 de junio de 2017)

Nacional / Chiapas : El CNI conforma su Concejo Indígena de Gobierno y elige a su vocera (31 de mayo de 2017)

Chiapas: Burglary and Information Theft from Member of Semilla Digna and CNI

(Photo@Web del CNI)

In a bulletin published on June 6th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC in its Spanish acronym, also known as Frayba) expressed concern about the robbery and burglary at Alejandra Padilla Garcia’s home, a member of Semilla Digna, an organization that forms part of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), as well as being a collaborator of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Indigenous Center for Integral Training – Unitierra Chiapas (CIDECI – Unitierra Chiapas).

The events occurred in San Cristobal de Las Casas, on May 28th, 2017 while Alejandra Padilla Garcia was in CIDECI – Unitierra Chiapas, where the General Assembly of the CNI was held for the formation of the Indigenous Council of Government and the election of its spokesperson.

According to documents from the CDHFBC, “the door of Alejandra’s house was found open, as well as that of her room, from which a laptop with important information about the work she does accompanying organizational processes in communities of Chiapas and other states of the Republic”.

In this context, the CDHFBC underscored that during the last three months, “Alejandra and other members of the CNI and the support team of CIDECI – Unitierra Chiapas have been monitored and monitored and followed by several individuals on board suspicious vehicles.”

The CDHFBC repudiated “these types of actions that undermine the security of human rights defenders, whose objective is to fracture the fabric of solidarity with indigenous and peasant communities, as well as instill fear in people who dedicate their efforts to commitment in favor of the rights of indigenous peoples.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Allanamiento y robo de información a la defensora Alejandra Padilla (Boletín del CDHFBC, de junio de 2017)

Allanan y roban domicilio de defensora de derechos en Chiapas (Desinformémonos, 7 de junio de 2017)

Allanan y roban casa de defensora (Cuarto Poder, 7 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional / Chiapas : El CNI conforma su Concejo Indígena de Gobierno y elige a su vocera (31 de mayo de 2017)

National/Chiapas: CNI Forms Indigenous Government Council and Elects Spokesperson

Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, spokesperson for the Indigenous Council of Government (Photo@: Colectivo Tragameluz)

 From May 26th to 28th, the assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) was held to form its Indigenous Council of Government (ICG in its Spanish acronym) and to appoint its spokesperson who will be an independent candidate to the presidency of the Republic in 2018. The meeting that took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas included 858 representatives of 58 indigenous peoples, guests, observers, as well as the general command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) headed by Subcommandantes Moises and Galeano.

On the 27th, three working groups were opened to discuss the aims and strategies of the ICG, its operation and organization, and its links with other sectors of civil society.

On the 28th, the CNI delegates elected the 71 councilors who will form the ICG: two councilors, one woman and one man, were appointed for each of the indigenous regions participating in the CNI, with the exception of resident peoples in the metropolitan areas of Mexico and Guadalajara, in which cases a single councilor was named for each people. Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, 57, an indigenous Nahua from Tuxpan in Jalisco and a traditional doctor was appointed spokesperson of the CIG and will be the independent candidate to the presidency of the Republic in 2018. The EZLN gave its support to the decision of the CIG.

The spokesperson confirmed that the process they are undertaking as indigenous peoples is for life and not for power, and declared that it is not exclusive, that is to say only for indigenous peoples, but that all sectors of society are called on to participate: “Our fight is for life. This step we take is difficult but necessary. We have to take it if we want to continue to exist as peoples. We also open the invitation to all [members of] organized and unorganized civil society to join this struggle for life”, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez stated.

For more information in Spanish:

Hoy anuncian quién será la candidata indígena independiente para 2018 (La Jornada, 28 de mayo de 2017)

Pronunciamiento de la Asemblea Constitutiva del Concejo Indigena de Gobierno (Congreso Nacional inigena, Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, 28 de mayo de 2017)

¿Qué es el EZLN y por qué respalda a una mujer indígena como presidenta de México?(News Vice, 28 de mayo de 2018)

“No vamos por votos, nuestra pelea es por la vida”: Concejo Indígena de Gobierno (Educa, 29 de mayo de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional : Candidata presidencial “no es decisión de una persona” (Subcomandante Moíses) (15 de noviembre de 2016)

Chiapas / Nacional : CNI y EZLN realizarán consulta para nombrar a una candidata indígena hacia las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 (15 de octubre de 2016)

Chiapas: “The Walls of Capital, the Cracks of the Left” Critical Reflection Seminar Ends

Between April 12th and 15th, the Critical Reflection Seminar “The Walls of Capital, the Cracks of the Left” was held at Cideci-Unitierra in San Cristobal de Las Casas. It included the participation of commanders of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and of several intellectuals of the country.

Participations focused mainly on the neoliberal capitalist system today and what is to come, the resistances and possibilities that the proposal to form an Indigenous Council of Government and to appoint an indigenous candidate to the presidential elections of 2018 opens, given that with the current situation, “We have no choice but to make the earth shake its centers”, said Gilberto Lopez y Rivas.

From the first day, Subcomandante Insurgente Moises, spokesperson for the EZLN, explained why the capitalist world resembles a walled estate reminiscent of slavery on the estate, its boss-caporal-butler-foremen command structure, where government structure subordinate to the command of capital, its “employer.”

Later, he stressed that, “the migrants did not leave because they wanted to, but because they could no longer be on their farm, better known as a country.” He announced that after “emptying their pockets and not finding euros, the Zapatista communities agreed to work collectively to raise a total of 3,915.5 kg. of clean and roasted coffee to send to the migrant brothers, so that they are the ones who organize themselves there and see how to turn the coffee into resistance and rebellion.” He clarified: “We below need to help each other to demonstrate that we do not need those who give conditioned support,” referring to the government and political parties.

For his part, Subcomandante Galeano made a call to fight collectively because “the storm is coming and what is seen now is not even remotely the peak”, because “the worst is yet to come and individuals, bright and capable as they might be of feeling will not be able to survive survive if it is not with others, others.” He added that “Zapatismo as libertarian thinking does not recognize the rivers Bravo and Suchiate as limits of its aspiration of freedom”, because “the fight against capital is global.”

Referring to the upcoming electoral context, he reiterated that “among the options our position has been and is clear: There is no good foreman but we understand that someone, most of the time as a comfort therapy, makes a differentiation between the bad and the worse. (…) We do not want to choose between a cruel and kindly boss, simply and plainly do not want bosses.”

He added: “I would recommend that you take advantage of what the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) will do from May this year. We truly hope that the CNI will fulfill its own mandate and will not fall into the search of votes and posts, but that it will take a brother’s ear for whoever is below in pain and loneliness, to relieve him with the call to the organization.” He expressed that “Come closer as a sister, brother, brothers, because when the time comes when no one knows where to go, those who are despised and humiliated today will know where the path and the look, they will know the how and when. They will know the answer to the most urgent and important question in those moments: What next?”

At the end of the event, Subcomandante Insurgente Moises concluded “They listened to our words. It is now up to you to discern which ones serve you to organize, work and fight where you live. (…) We have only to organize and go for everything (…) People below: organize, fight and work in resistance and rebellion.”

For more information in Spanish:

Participación de la Comisión Sexta del EZLN en el Seminario de reflexión crítica “LOS MUROS DEL CAPITAL, LAS GRIETAS DE LA IZQUIERDA” (Participación del 12 al 15 de abril, Enlace zapatista)

Día 1: Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda (12 de abril de 2017)

Día 2: Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda(Radio zapatista, 13 de abril de 2017)

Día 3: Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda (Radio zapatista, 14 de abril de 2017)

Día 4: Los muros del capital, las grietas de la izquierda (Radio zapatista, 15 de abril de 2017)

El enemigo capitalista no va dejar que el pueblo mande, por eso hay que organizarnos: EZLN (Radio Formula, 14 de abril de 2017)

“Lo peor está por venir”, advierte el subcomandante Galeano (La Jornada, 15 de abril de 2017)

Lo que viene será peor: subcomandante Galeano (Proceso, 16 de abril de 2017)

Refrenda el EZLN que la lucha es contra el capitalismo (Contralínea, 17 de abril de 2017)

La postulación de la candidata indígena es un llamado a la organización, más que un asunto electoral (Desinformémonos, 17 de abril de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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

Chiapas / Nacional : CNI y EZLN realizarán consulta para nombrar a una candidata indígena hacia las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 (15 de octubre de 2016)

Chiapas/National: CNI and EZLN Launch Call and Denounce Repression against Purepecha Community in Michoacan

On April 2nd, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) launched the Call for the Constituent Assembly of the Indigenous Government Council for Mexico. In the second stage of the Fifth CNI, held from December 29th-31st, 2016 and January 1st, 2017, they had agreed to “CALL the authorities, representatives, delegates and councilors appointed by the peoples, nations, tribes, neighborhoods, communities and indigenous organizations that participate in the CNI to the celebration of the: CONSTITUTIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE INDIGENOUS GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FOR MEXICO.” They announced that this assembly will be held from May 26th-28th at the Indigenous Center for Integral Training (CIDECI-UNITIERRA) in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

In addition, on April 4th, 38 people from the Purepecha indigenous community of Arantepacua, Michoacan, were arrested “by members of the Michoacan police in the midst of the land dispute between communities in the municipalities of Uruapan and Nahuatzen.” To push for the release of the 38 community members arrested, the town demonstrated the following day blocking the Arantepacua-Nahuatzin road. Another group traveled to the city of Morelia to learn about the legal status of the detainees. “The reaction of the government of Silvano Aureoles was to send a convoy of more than 70 units with elements of the Special Operations Group of the Michoacan Police to Arantepacua community where, with teargas and firearms, they began the persecution of the population, including women and children. They ransacked homes and as reported by the community spokesman, from the events (…) there are four villagers dead, ten injured.”

In response, the CNI and the EZLN denounced the repression against the Purepecha community and the “betrayal” of the Michoacan government to “not allow dialogue to solve a long-standing agrarian conflict” in a joint communiqué. The CNI and EZLN stated that “bad governments think that spreading terror in the indigenous territories of Michoacan and much of the national geography is how they are going to silence the people and their word, but that will not happen, the word that the indigenous peoples today shout collectively is born precisely of the indignation, being fed up and the decision to not allow themselves to be killed, dispossessed, divided or bought.” In addition they said that, “your pain for the murder of your compañeros is ours. We fight because we have the certainty that the punishment of the guilty will arise from the dignity, resistance and rebellion of our peoples.”

Meanwhile, from April 12th-15th the seminar of critical reflection “THE WALLS OF CAPITAL, THE CRACKS OF THE LEFT.” will be held at CIDECI-UNITIERRA. Registration is from Tuesday, April 11th, 2017 at 10:00 am at the same venue.

For more information in Spanish:

Convocatoria a la Asamblea Constitutiva del Concejo Indígena de Gobierno para México (Enlace Zapatista, 2 de abril de 2017)

Comunicado conjunto del CNI y el EZLN denunciando la represión contra la comunidad Purépecha de Arantepacua, Michoacán. (Congreso Nacional Indígena, 6 de abril de 2017)

Comunicado conjunto del CNI y el EZLN denunciando la represión contra la comunidad Purépecha de Arantepacua, Michoacán. (Enlace Zapatista, 6 de abril de 2017)

La comunidad indígena de Arantepacua víctima de la violencia del gobierno de Michoacán (Desinformémonos, 6 de abril de 2017)

“El mal gobierno de Silvano Aureoles los traicionó e impidió el diálogo con los comuneros”: CNI y EZLN (Desinformémonos, 7 de abril de 2017)

“No nos confundan, no pretendemos competir con los partidos políticos porque no somos sus palabras mentirosas y perversas”: Congreso Nacional Indígena (Desinformémonos, 11 de abril de 2017)

LOS MUROS ARRIBA, LAS GRIETAS ABAJO (Y A LA IZQUIERDA). (Enlace Zapatista, 14 de febrero de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional : Candidata presidencial “no es decisión de una persona” (Subcomandante Moíses) (15 de noviembre de 2016)

Chiapas / Nacional : CNI y EZLN realizarán consulta para nombrar a una candidata indígena hacia las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 (15 de octubre de 2016)

National: CNI Denounces that “The War against its Peoples” Continues

Photo @ SipazOn

March 9, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) published a communiqué denouncing that while they continue to organize themselves towards “the formation of an Indigenous Council of Government (…) the dispossession and repression from the bad governments on its three levels continues to act against our Mother Earth, our peoples and our autonomous organizations. “

 The CNI again gives various examples of repression being suffered by indigenous peoples, among others, the acts of violence that occurred in the state of Oaxaca against the community of San Francisco del Mar, Tehuantepec Isthmus region “to impose the approval of wind projects involving the dispossession of an important part of common land of this community and would seriously affect its rich and delicate ecosystem.” This region is a vital place for thousands of fishermen and fishing is the source of food for the entire population. “If the project was approved, it would mean taking away their right to their source of life and livelihood.” The CNI stated that, “this is an integral plan of dispossession of the territories of the communities of the Isthmus to fulfill the megaprojects they intend to impose in the region with the so-called Tehuantepec Isthmus Special Economic Zone (SEZ).”

It also lashed out against the armed forces of “bad government that have acted in unison with the criminal gangs and particularly against the indigenous community of Santa María Ostula” in the state of Michoacan, where 34 comuneros have been killed and at least 5 are disappeared. It again demanded “the punishment of the responsible military and politicians, the cancellation of arrest warrants against Ostula commanders and the Sierra Costa region, the presentation of the disappeared alive, and absolute respect for the communal territory of Ostula.”

Finally, the CNI demanded the immediate release of the unjustly imprisoned indigenous ñhañhú Raymundo Pascual Garcia, originally from San Ildefonso, Amealco, in the state of Queretaro, who was arrested for participating with his community in the mobilizations against the “gasolinazo“.

 For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado del Congreso Nacional Indígena del 9 de marzo de 2017 (Enlace Zapatista, 9 de marzo de 2017)

Pescadores rechazan proyecto eólico en San Francisco del Mar (Istmo Press, 7 de marzo de 2017)

Comunicado “Una historia para tratar de Entender (Enlace Zapatista, , 17 de noviembre de 2016)

Lo importante es la insumisión, no ganar la presidencia con candidata indígena: EZLN (Proceso, 17 de noviembre de 2016)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional : Candidata presidencial “no es decisión de una persona” (Subcomandante Moíses) (15 de noviembre de 2016)

Chiapas /Nacional: Polémica después de la propuesta planteada por el EZLN y el CNI en octubre (24 de octubre de 2016)

Chiapas / Nacional : CNI y EZLN realizarán consulta para nombrar a una candidata indígena hacia las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 (15 de octubre de 2016)

 

 

 

Chiapas: EZLN Announces New Gatherings and Invitations for 2017

In their latest communiqué of February 14, “THE WALLS ABOVE, THE CRACKS BELOW (AND TO THE LEFT)” The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) convened a Global Campaign and several activities “Against Capital and its Walls: All The Cracks.” The first of them, the Campaign “Against the Walls of Capital: Resistance, Rebellion, Solidarity and Support from Below and to the Left”, where they called to “organize with autonomy, to resist and to rebel against persecutions, arrests and deportation” and stated that “every human being has the right to a free and dignified existence in the place that seems best to them, and they have the right to fight to remain there.” They called on the “Sixth as a whole to organize (…) to support in and with activities of those who resist and rebel against expulsions. Whether they are supporting them to return to their homes, creating ‘sanctuaries’ or supporting existing ones, with legal advice and support, with money, with the arts and sciences, festivals and mobilizations, commercial and media boycotts, be it in cyber space, wherever and however it may be. In all the spaces where we move it is our duty to support and show solidarity.”

They also announced their support and solidarity for those who resist arrests and deportations: “To begin, we will send you the artistic works created by the indigenous Zapatistas for last year’s CompArte, as well as organic coffee produced by the indigenous Zapatista communities in the mountains of the Mexican Southeast, so that, through their sale, they can carry out artistic and cultural activities to formalize support and solidarity with migrants and displaced persons throughout the world who see their life, liberty and goods threatened by the xenophobic campaigns promoted by Governments and the ultra right in the world.”

The three calls for 2017 invite you to a critical reflection seminar “THE WALLS OF CAPITAL, THE CRACKS OF THE LEFT” from April 12 to 15, CIDECI-UniTierra in San Cristobal de Las Casas; all artists to the second edition of the “CompArte for Humanity” with the theme “Against Capital and its Walls: All the arts” from July 23 to 29 in Oventik caracol and CIDECI-UniTierra, and the virtual edition will be from August 1 to 12 online; the scientists of the world to the second edition of “ConSciences for Humanity” with the theme “The Sciences Against the Wall” from December 26 to 30 at CIDECI-UniTierra. They also asked for people “to be attentive to the activities convened by the National Indigenous Congress, as part of its own process of forming the Indigenous Council of Government.”

For more information in Spanish:

LOS MUROS ARRIBA, LAS GRIETAS ABAJO (Y A LA IZQUIERDA). (Enlace Zapatista, 14 de febrero de 2017)

EZLN convoca a campaña mundial frente a los muros capitalistas (TeleSur, 15 de febrero de 2017)

El EZLN convoca a la resistencia frente a los ‘muros del capital’ (La Jornada, 14 de febrero de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Anuncia EZLN actividades para el 2016 (9 de marzo de 2016)

Chiapas/Nacional : Nuevo comunicado del EZLN aclara propuesta conjunta con el CNI (25 de noviembre de 2016)

Chiapas/Nacional : Candidata presidencial “no es decisión de una persona” (Subcomandante Moíses) (15 de noviembre de 2016)

Chiapas / Nacional : CNI y EZLN realizarán consulta para nombrar a una candidata indígena hacia las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 (15 de octubre de 2016)