Chiapas: Wave of Violence Continues in the State

Chilon Municipality @ Chiapas

On January 27th, two men were found executed and two vehicles burned in the municipality of Chilon. Several newspapers mentioned that it was the result of a confrontation between alleged self-defense groups and an organized crime gang. They also reported that one of the victims could be related to the gang “Pesthoneros, a group that is dedicated to kidnapping, murder among other criminal acts.”

The events occurred at the conclusion of the tour of the pre-candidate of the PRI to the governor, Roberto Albores Gleason.

It should be remembered that in the municipality of Chilon there is a post-electoral conflict since 2015, which has left at least 12 dead, according to Universal.

For more information in Spanish:

Chiapas: Dos ejecutados tras mitin de precandidato del PRI-PVEM a gubernatura (Regeneración, 28 de enero de 2018)

Matan a dos hombres en Chilón (( Imágenes fuertes )) (Alerta Chiapas, 28 de enero de 2018)

Mueren 2 en ataque tras mitin de precandidato priista al gobierno de Chiapas (SDP Noticias, 28 de enero de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Enfrentamiento en Oxchuc (26 de enero 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)

Chiapas: Nuevos incidentes post electorales en Oxchuc. (4 de abril de 2017)

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National: CNI Denounces Attack on CIG Caravan

Marichuy in Oventik, Chiapas @ SIPAZ

On January 21st, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) denounced that the caravan of the independent candidate, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, Marichuy, was attacked in the Tierra Caliente region while traveling to the coastal municipality of Aquila, Michoacan.

The CNI said that the caravan was attacked on a stretch between the roads of Buenavista and Tepalcatepec: “heavily armed individuals in two vans stopped, threatened and took cell phones and photographic equipment from journalists accompanying the route.”

After the attack, the CNI demanded “security guarantees for the caravan and our spokesperson. We ask that you be alert for the safety of our colleagues.”

The State Government, through the Ministry of Public Security (SSP in its Spanish acronym) reported on Twitter that, “there was no armed attack on the caravan of the independent pre-candidate to the Presidency of the Republic, Marichuy.” According to El Heraldo, the authorities “handle the report of robbery of journalists who went to cover the activities of the pre-candidate, of which there has been no formal complaint; The Investigation Folder was opened based on the public complaint until tonight.”

It should be remembered that the region where the attack took place is one of the most violent in Michoacán, where criminal gangs have had a strong presence for decades. There, the Michoacan Family, the Knights Templar, Los Viagras, H3 gained strength and therefore self-defense processes emerged five years ago. Today the territory is disputed between the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel and the aforementioned gangs, according to information from Proceso.

For more information in Spanish:

Denuncian asalto a caravana de Marichuy en Michoacán (El Financiero, 21 de enero de 2018)

Grupo armado ataca a caravana de “Marichuy” en Michoacán (Proceso, 21 de enero de 2018)

Gobierno del estado de Michoacán desmiente ataque a caravana de Marichuy (El Heraldo de Chihuahua, 22 de enero de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Choles del Ejido Tila celebraron el segundo aniversario de su autonomía y auto gobierno con María de Jesús (20 de diciembre de 2017)

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)

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

National: 2018 Electoral Process Most Violent of the Century

Photo @ Impulso Quintana Roo

On September 8th, the 2018 electoral process began. According to Excelsior, “it is the most violent on record in Mexico.”

It already exceeds the number of cases registered in 2015, which totaled 21 homicides.

“Of the politicians murdered from September 2018 to date, nine were from the PRD and nine from the PRI, two from Movimiento Ciudadano (MC), two from Morena, one from the PAN, one from PT, one from Nuevo Alianza (NA) and another one from the Guerrero Party of the Poor.” The Huffington Post reported.

Among them was the mayor of Bochil, Chiapas, Antonio Zenteno Albores from the PRI, who was murdered in Tuxtla Gutiérrez on December 18th, 2017.

For more information in Spanish:

Apenas arranca 2018 y ya es el proceso electoral más violento en lo que va del siglo (Huffington Post, 9 de enero de 2018)

Nuevo proceso electoral mexicano es el más violento del siglo (Tele Sur, 9 de enero de 2018)

Asesinan a alcalde de Chiapas (El Financiero, 18 de diciembre de 2017)

Detienen a un involucrado en homicidio de edil de Bochil, Chiapas (El Excélsior, 29 de diciembre de 2017)

National: Marichuy Criticizes INE Traps to her Candidacy

Photo @ SIPAZ

On October 14th, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, the candidate for the presidency of Mexico and spokesperson for the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) began a tour of the five Zapatista caracoles. During the tour, the spokesperson was accompanied by CIG councilors and a delegation from the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym).

The tour was in the context of gathering the support of citizens, the collection of 866,500 signatures, to be accepted as an independent candidate.

During the tour, in the different caracoles the spokesperson Marichuy was received by thousands of Zapatistas, organizations and civil society who waited for hours to see and listen to her and the councilors. After several talks by different speakers, each caracol held for a cultural event.

During and after the Marichuy tour and the civil association that promotes the candidacy denounced “a presumed sabotage to prevent it from reaching the number of signatures necessary and thus avoid its registration.”

According to the complaint of the CNI, “On October 18th, the INE website https://apoyociudadano.INE.mx was blocked for least five hours, during which time it was impossible to carry out any type of auxiliary registration operation or review the progress of signatures During the sessions and tours, access to telephones and the internet was blocked in the municipalities of Altamirano and Ocosingo, places where these services usually work well.”

For more information in Spanish:

PRONUNCIAMIENTO DE LA ASOCIACIÓN CIVIL “LLEGÓ LA HORA DEL FLORECIMIENTO DE LOS PUEBLOS” SOBRE SABOTAJES Y OBSTACULIZACIÓN EN LA OBTENCIÓN DEL APOYO CIUDADANO PARA MARIA DE JESÚS PATRICIO MARTÍNEZ. (Congreso Nacional Indígena, 23 de octubre de 2017)

Denuncian presunto sabotaje para impedir el registro de Marichuy como candidata independiente (Proceso, 24 de octubre de 2017)

México: Denuncian ataques para impedir candidatura de Marichuy (teleSUR tv, 25 octubre de 2017)

El sabotaje a “Marichuy” evidencia el poderoso interés para impedir que contienda en 2018: asociación (Sin Embargo, 25 de octubre de 2017)

For more information form SIPAZ:

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

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

National: Marychuy Registers as Independent Candidate for the Presidency of the Republic

Photo: @radiopozol

On October 7th, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez, Marichuy, registered as an independent candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in her role as spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Council of Government (IGC). She announced that her campaign will be done with collective support, so she will not receive money from the National Electoral Institute (INE)

According to Milenio newspaper, the National Indigenous Council stated that “after the countless racist and classist acts, we have managed to fulfill all the requirements that the electoral law and the INE structure, built by the members of the institutional parties, impose to prevent that a person from below, a woman and indigenous, can aspire to the independent candidacy to the Presidency.”

La Jornada newspaper reported that she advanced some of the contents of her proposal explaining: “As a woman, as a mother, as a worker, I also tell you that we must fight against machismo.” She called for “organizing those pains and rages” of the population. “For them, the people below do not exist and we have to organize ourselves, to end this capitalist, patriarchal and racist system.”

It is worth remembering that in May 2017, the indigenous peoples of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) formed an Indigenous Council of Government (IGC) and elected Marychuy in San Cristobal de Las Casas as spokesperson, stating at that time that she would be their independent candidate for the presidency of Mexico, with the support of the EZLN.

For more information in Spanish:

‘Marichuy’ se inscribe como aspirante independiente a la Presidencia. (La Jornada, 7 de octubre de 2017)

Marychuy llega a su registro ante el INE arropada por EZLN. (La Razón, 8 de octubre de 2017)

Indígenas eligen a su vocera y aspirante presidencial para 2018, ¿quién es y quién la respalda?. (Animal Político, 29 de mayo de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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

Nacional: “La ofensiva de arriba, ante el movimiento de abajo”, comunicado del CNI anuncia agudización de la represión. (SIPAZ, 17 de junio de 2017)

Chiapas : Allanamiento y robo de información a integrante de Semilla Digna, parte del CNI. (SIPAZ, 6 de agosto de 2017)

Chiapas: MOVEDITE Announcement on Early Political Campaigns

Photo:@MOVEDITE

On August 19th, 2017, the Movement in Defense of Life and Territory (MOVEDITE in its Spanish acronym) of Chiapas issued a statement from the community of Santa Cruz in Sitala, where they strongly denounce, “political groups disguised as civil associations or aid foundations that use people and abuse their poverty. Where they condition the most basic aid for votes and thus corrupt those who they say they support.”

They further reproached “the political propaganda on posters, painted walls and calendars that promote candidates outside the stipulated time. Without respecting the laws and norms, it is obvious that what really matters to the parties is the triumph of their groups and not the good of the people.”

They also added that they reject “people who are visiting communities offering support and wanting to buy community leaders. It confirms that the parties have not changed and will not change the way they do things.”

They recalled through the communiqué that it is illegal for the parties to advance the campaign using, for example, the creation of foundations.

They urged all who receive this word to build autonomy and denounce lies from the path of their traditions seeking a fairer and more dignified life, where everybody has a place.

 Their denunciation is headed by a statement by Bishop Felipe Arizmendi, Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas in which he states, “The parties split, divide and confront the communities. Legislators should analyze the feasibility and suitability of another electoral system: […] by traditions and customs. Analyze this path and advance democracy, if it really interests them that the people be the ones who build their history.”

It is worth mentioning that MOVEDITE is made up of Tseltal, tsotsil, ch’ol and mestizo men and women with presence in 11 parishes of 12 municipalities and one ejido of Chiapas, members of the Believing People of the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas.

 For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento de MOVEDITE ante las campañas políticas anticipadas. (20 de agosto de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Culmina peregrinación de 12 días del Movimiento de defensa de la Vida y el Territorio en San Cristóbal de las Casas. (29 de noviembre de 2017)

Chiapas: El pueblo Zoque se está movilizando contra de los mega-proyectos en Chiapas. (29 de junio de 2017)

Chiapas: Peregrinación de unos 400 católicos en defensa de los pueblos, la Madre Tierra y por la liberación de presos. (6 de septiembre de 2016)

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)