National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks

(@Quinto Poder)

Following the position proposed by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the framework of the 25th anniversary of the armed uprising on January 1st, thousands of social network users strongly challenged the Zapatistas. Rebelion magazine summarized the opinions expressed in the following terms: “The accusation that the EZLN was an “instrument of Carlos Salinas de Gortari” predominated; questioning their belligerence against this government and their limited opposition to the governments of Felipe Calderon (PAN) and Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI); (…) contempt and underestimation towards the AMLO voters; racist expressions against Zapatismo were also broadcast and there were even calls to liquidate Sub-commander “Marcos-Galeano”.

Zapatista sympathizers pointed out “ignorance”, “falsehoods” and “slander” in what was circulating. “The slander and lies campaign against the #EZLN, mounted by trolls, bots and some followers of the 4T (Fourth Transformation announced by AMLO), has far exceeded the malicious stories propagated by the PRI, PAN and the agencies of government intelligence for 25 years”, even Luis Hernandez Navarro, journalist with La Jornada, stressed. The Zapatista supporters set up the hashtag #OtroMundoEsPosible [another world is possible – one of the best known slogans of the EZLN internationally], in response to what they considered to be “a hate campaign”, a label that trended in the following hours.

It should be recalled that in its communiqué at the beginning of the year, the EZLN clearly marked its distance from the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and his National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), and rejected three key projects of the AMLO proposal for the development of southeastern Mexico: the construction of a trans-tropical railway in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Maya Train and the project of reforesting 500,000 hectares with a million trees.

However, this discord is not new, but dates back to 2001, when the “Indigenous Law” was approved, which the EZLN considered a “betrayal” of the San Andres Accords on indigenous rights and culture and which were signed between the movement and the federal government in February of 1996. This approval was given when Andres Manuel served as Head of Government of Mexico City and had a wide influence in the fraction of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD in its Spanish acronym) in the Congress of the Union, which he did not use.

The rupture with AMLO supporters was consummated in 2006, when AMLO was presented for the first time in the campaigns for the presidency of the Republic and the EZLN did not support his candidacy but said that the candidates “are all the same.” When AMLO lost in the midst of what was designated as electoral fraud, the perception remained among his supporters that the EZLN had played a role in favor of the PRI and PAN parties. By that time, the EZLN had clarified through the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle that its position was “anti-capitalist” and “anti-systemic”, and its position was “below and to the left”, something that would increasingly distance it from the electoral left.

It should be noted that the EZLN is not the only one that has positioned itself in this way faced with the new federal government. The National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) said that they felt themselves “reflected in the path of the Zapatista indigenous communities.”

In a statement that also came out on the anniversary of the uprising, they said that “the INPI [National Institute of Indigenous Peoples] and its new indigenous policy is nothing more than the deepening of this offensive against life, with which they want to weaken the struggle for the autonomy of the native peoples that, with their struggle, stop the devastation that they impose from above. The CNI and our colleagues from the Indigenous Council of Government do not believe the foreman of capitalism who claims to govern Mexico, and we will not accept any false consultation like those with which they want to legitimize the theft of indigenous and campesino territories, our extermination and the exacerbation of the war against us. We will not accept our death even if they bring thousands or millions of votes which, according to them, decided it this way.” They also announced that, “along with with the deepening of the capitalist war we will also deepen our resistance and rebellion. The mining companies with which they made pacts, the megaprojects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the immoral project of the Maya Train, the devastation and privatization to plant industrial forest plantations in the Lacandon Jungle and the territorial alienation to big capital that are [represented by] the Special Economic Zones will confront with true power, the one below. The one that does not surrender, that does not sell out and does not give up, because to do that is to know we are dead as peoples.”

For more information in Spanish:

La soledad de los zapatistas en la multitud que son (Ojarasco, 11 de enero de 2019)

Celebrando el 25 aniversario del alzamiento zapatista (Desinformémonos, 9 de enero de 2019)

Amarga celebración: Los 25 años de la experiencia zapatista (Espoir Chiapas, 9 de enero de 2019)

EZLN: ¿hay vientos que anuncian tempestades? (La Jornada, 8 de enero de 2019)

La soledad del EZLN (ALAI, 7 de enero de 2019)

EZLN: 25 años de resonancia (Sin Embargo, 6 de enero de 2019)

Entre el EZLN y AMLO, desencuentro eterno (Proceso, 5 de enero de 2019)

Las discrepancias AMLO-EZLN se suben a la Red. Usuarios asumen la polémica en favor y en contra (Sin Embargo, 5 de enero de 2019)

Conflicto EZLN-AMLO puede elevarse a escala internacional (Cuarto Poder, 4 de enero de 2019)

El CNI y CIG se alinean con el EZLN y rechazan megaproyectos del gobierno federal (Proceso, 3 de enero de 2019)

Comunicado del Congreso Nacional Indígena y el Concejo Indígena de Gobierno por el 25 Aniversario del levantamiento armado del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (CNI, enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Zapatista Mass Meeting in Realidad Caracol 25 Years after Armed Uprising (January 14th, 2019)

Chiapas: Second Assembly of National Indigenous Congress (CNI) (October 22nd, 2018)

Chiapas/Mexico: Invitation to the Second National Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) (September 18th, 2018)

Chiapas : CNI denuncia amenazas y agresiones en la zona Norte, 16 de agosto de 2018

National: First National Encounter of Women Convened by CNI (August 10th, 2018)

National: CNI Will not Support any Presidential Candidate and Calls on Peoples to Organize (May 10th, 2018)

Chiapas/National: Roundtable Discussion “To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: Forbidden to Think?” (May 5th, 2018)

 

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Oaxaca: “Simulation” of Gender Parity – Women Threatened and Forced to Renounce Posts: National Electoral Institute

(@IEEPCO)

During the first week of January, at least three cases have been reported in which elected municipal presidents did not assume their political office, such that the posts were occupied by men. According to Proceso, “these are the municipal presidents of Santiago Tamazola, Anayeli Huerta Atristain, of the PRI-PVEM-Nueva Alianza coalition; of San Miguel Ahuehuetitlan in the Mixteca area of Oaxaca, Fidelia Bernarda Cuenca Fermin, and of San Juan Bautista Tlacoatzintepec, Martha Regules Mendoza (Morena).”

In addition, the National Electoral Institute (INE in its Spanish acronym) reported in a statement about three other cases in San Juan Colorado, Santa Maria Teopoxco and Pinotepa de Don Luis where mayors are being threatened to resign their positions.

Counselor Adriana Favela denounced that “we cannot allow them to continue to be used by political parties only to cover a quota, it is not enough that parity is in the law, we must get women to occupy their positions without any kind of simulation.”

Favela called on the governor and the authorities of the state of Oaxaca to stop political violence against women and ensure that vacant positions are taken over by women. If necessary “the INE will use this situation to appoint women”, the counselor assured.

For more information in Spanish:

Condena INE violencia política de género que sufren presidentas municipales de Oaxaca (Comunicado de prensa del INE, 9 de enero de 2019)

Violencia política de género contra alcaldesas en Oaxaca debe ser investigado y castigado: INE (Proceso, 9 de enero de 2019)

Pide IEEPCO al Congreso garantizar libre cargo de alcaldesas (El Universal, 8 de enero de 2019)

Presidenta municipal de San Juan Colorado sin bastón de mando (El Imparcial de la Costa, 4 de enero de 2019)

Renuncia Fidelia Cuenca, alcaldesa de San Miguel Ahuehuetitlán (SDP Noticias, 4 de enero de 2019)

Alcaldesa de Santiago Tamazola, Oaxaca, renuncia y deja cargo a su cuñado (El Universal, 3 de enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: investigation of resignations of women candidates elected as mayors or deputies whose positions would be occupied by men (September 20th, 2018)

Oaxaca: 17 Men Pose as Transgender to Register as Candidates (May 14th, 2018)

National: Historic Elections in Mexico – Historic Record of Political Violence (July 17th, 2018)

International/National: Mexico’s 2018 Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland (@Animal Político)

On November 7th, as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council, representatives from 108 countries made questions and recommendations on the subject to Mexico at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The last review had been carried out in 2013.

The Mexican government delegation acknowledged that “considerable challenges” persist in the protection of human rights defenders and journalists, torture, forced disappearance, femicidal and anti-migrant violence, as well as impunity in the criminal justice system.

Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, leader of the Mexican delegation for this UPR, said that “Mexico remains a country open to international scrutiny, and assured that the State will continue to work with civil society to address the recommendations made in this Review.” The Human Rights Council of the UN, based on this, will make recommendations for the Mexican State, which must answer those it will accept and those it will not for March 2019. It should be noted that by then the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will be in office.

At the end of the session ColectivoEPUmx said that the participation of the States confirmed that the human rights crisis in Mexico persists. It summarized what was stated as follows: “the main issue of concern was the aggressions against and murders of human rights defenders and journalists and the lack of investigation and punishment of the perpetrators. Multiple observations were also made about the structural and institutional violence against women. The need to attack the high levels of violence, corruption and impunity was reiterated, considering that they are accurate and verifiable indicators in the fulfillment of responsibilities regarding the human rights of a State. In this logic, the need for a #FiscaliaQueSirva was reiterated and many concerns of the #SeguridadSinGuerra collective were repeated, such as the revision of the Internal Security Law.”

In view of the above, ColectivoEPU.mx called on the elected federal government to hold a public meeting once these recommendations have been issued and to strengthen the international cooperation for its implementation as well as “generating mechanisms that allow the implementation of the results of this exercise of the UPR and mechanisms to eradicate impunity.”

For more information in Spanish:

COMUNICADO | Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU confirma crisis de DDHH en México (#ColectivoEPUmx, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

En EPU solicitan a México respuestas eficaces para proteger a periodistas y activistas (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

Persiste violencia estructural contra mujeres e impunidad: EPUmx (La Jornada, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

EPU 2018: México reconoce ante el mundo su deuda en Derechos Humanos; naciones señalan retos y deficiencias (Animal Político, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

EPU2018: Llegó el momento, gobierno de EPN se somete a su examen final sobre Derechos Humanos (Animal Político, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: 245 NGO publicly present the “Joint Report for the Third Universal Periodic Review of Mexico”  (September 20th, 2018)

2018: México será examinado por el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU en el tercer ciclo del Examen Periódico Universal (EPU) (4 de abril de 2018)

National: 176 recommendations for Mexico during the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)  (November 13th, 2013)

Nacional: informe de OSC sobre DH rumbo al segundo Examen Periódico Universal (EPU) en octubre (12 de julio de 2013)

Chiapas: Second Assembly of National Indigenous Congress (CNI)

Photo @ SIPAZ

From October 12th to 14th, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) held their second assembly in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas with the objective of “seeing each other, consulting and taking new steps for the construction of the new world we need.”

During the first two days of the event, participation was limited to the members of the CNI-CIG and to some guests who worked at thematic tables from which multiple proposals emerged. The call for the last day was opened to external supporters and representatives of non-governmental organizations. In total, more than 500 people participated, most of them delegates of indigenous peoples in the country who reported situations of violence and violations of their rights in numerous parts of the Republic.

In their final statement, they emphasized the “urgency” to continue in their process of organization “from below”, “in our struggle against the deep disease caused by capitalism.” “The Indigenous Council of Government is the way to honor our differences, to find there the word in which we reflect, and to be a true government,” they ratified.

They marked a clear distance with the incoming government: “we will not be part of any exponential capitalist transformation.” They denounced the “continuity in neoliberal politics”, specifically questioning several projects already announced as the continuation of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ), the trans-isthmus project, the Mayan train, the million trees in the South, the new City of Mexico airport and mining concessions in indigenous territories.

One of the proposals of the incoming government is to resume the San Andres Accords on indigenous rights and culture signed between the federal government and the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in February 1996. In response, the final declaration speaks of the “cynicism” of the proposal if it is not intended at the same time “to touch the murderous capitalist assembly that is the Mexican State”, “without ending the regimes of water concessions, mining, national goods and hydrocarbons, without imposing limits to the imperial power repealing the current Free Trade Agreement and severely limiting the large transnational corporations, without destroying the control exercised by the big crime cartels, supported by military corporations, over our territories.”

They informed that they will take these resolutions to their regions to consult the proposal “to continue building the organization that becomes a self-government, autonomous and rebellious, with compañeros from other geographies, to break the collective inertia imposed on us, to see among us all where the storm comes from and in the middle of it we cannot stop weaving, until our fabric meets the others, which sprout in all corners of Mexico and the world so that councils can be made, that together, we can be a council of government with networks supporting the CIG. They unfold with their own forms and their own identity in the countryside and the city irrespective of borders.”

For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento de la segunda asamblea nacional del Congreso Nacional Indígena-Concejo Indígena de Gobierno (CNI, 14 de octubre de 2018)

“Una mentira la cuarta transformación de López Obrador” CNI-EZLN (Chiapas Paralelo, 14 de octubre de 2018)

Zapatistas e indígenas marcan distancia de López Obrador (Proceso, 15 de octubre de 2018)

La cuarta transformación de AMLO “tiene su mirada puesta en nuestros territorios”, dice el EZLN (Sin Embargo, 15 de octubre de 2018)

Los pasos del Congreso Nacional Indígena (La Jornada, 16 de octubre de 2018)

Volver a casa: segunda asamblea del CNI-CIG (Subversiones, 16 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Mexico: Invitation to the Second National Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) (September 18th, 2018)

National: First National Encounter of Women Convened by CNI (August 10th, 2018)

National: CNI Will not Support any Presidential Candidate and Calls on Peoples to Organize. (May 10th, 2018)

Chiapas/National: Roundtable Discussion “To Watch, to Listen, to Speak: Forbidden to Think?”  (May 5th, 2018)

 

Guerrero: Mixed Unit Disarms 500 Municipal Police and Arrests Two Officers in Acapulco; Public Security Controlled by SEDENA, SEMAR and State Police

(@Somoselmedio)

On September 25th, some 100 Navy elements backed by some 250 soldiers, state and ministerial police took over the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP in its Spanish acronym) of Acapulco, disarmed more than 500 municipal police officers and detained two officers of the body accused of homicide, who were sent to the Iguala prison.

The operation was organized on suspicion of probable “infiltration of criminal groups” in the body and against the null performance of the municipal police against an increase in the crime rate, said the spokesman of the Guerrero Coordination Group (GCG), Roberto Alvarez Heredia at a press conference. He announced that security and the protection of citizens of the municipality of Acapulco will be under control of the State Secretariat of Public Security with the support of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym), the Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR in its Spanish acronym) and the Federal Police.

“The State Attorney General’s Office executed two arrest warrants against Luis Fernando alias El Fenix and Brayan Antonio alias El Brayan for their probable responsibility in the crime of aggravated homicide, who, up to this point, serve as operational commands of the Secretariat of Public Security of Acapulco City Council. The rest of the members of this body are subject to investigation” and they will be subject to trust control tests, he explained.

“The actions carried out yesterday did not register any incident and were carried out in strict adherence to the law and the corresponding protocol and the elements are at this moment under review along with their weapons,” the spokesperson said.

This operation took place after the mayor elected by MORENA, Adela Roman Ocampo, who will take office in a few days, publicly denounced that organized crime controlled the body, and even threatened to kill her collaborators, arguing that if changes were made to the police, “they were going to receive them with bullets,” local newspapers reported.

For more information in Spanish:

Toma la Marina la SSP de Acapulco, desarma a 500 policías y detiene a dos mandos (El Sur, 26 de septiembre de 2018)

Detienen a dos mandos de la policía en Acapulco; toma el gobierno estatal la seguridad (El Sur, 25 de septiembre de 2018)

Afirman que dos carteles infiltraron policía municipal de Acapulco (El Universal, 25 de septiembre de 2018)

La Marina asume el control de seguridad en Acapulco; detienen a 18 policías (Proceso, 25 de septiembre de 2018)

Sedena, Semar y Policía estatal asumen seguridad en Acapulco (La Jornada, 25 de septiembre de 2018)

Relevan a municipales en Acapulco; agentes estatales, al mando (Excelsior, 26 de septiembre de 2018)

Toma Gobierno del Estado de Guerrero control de la Policía Municipal de Acapulco (Aristegui Noticias, 25 de septiembre de 2018)

Si hay cambios en Policía, “los recibiremos a balazos”, advierte el crimen a alcaldesa electa de Acapulco (Proceso, 24 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero : allanan las oficinas de la agencia de noticias Quadratín en Acapulco (25 de abril de 2018)

Guerrero : Asesinan y estigmatizan a la periodista y bloguera Leslie Ann Pamela Montenegro del Real en Acapulco (13 de febrero de 2018)

National: Defenders and Journalists Denounce Insufficient Resources for Continuity of Protection Mechanism

@Red es Poder

 On September 19th, members of the Consultative Council (CC) of the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists in Mexico denounced at a press conference that the more than 700 people benefiting from it are about to be left without such protection and that, they affirm, the Federal Government “has not set aside the necessary resource to guarantee the implementation of the protection measures and, on the contrary, since 2016 it has had a budget decrease of 77%.”

The complainants expressed their concern at this “governmental oversight that puts at risk the life and physical and emotional integrity of hundreds of human rights defenders and journalists, who saw their work truncated, after physical attacks, assassination attempts, death threats, defamation campaigns, disappearance, femicide, among other types of aggression.” They also expressed that in most cases there is impunity “which makes permissible the prevalence, increase and aggravation of aggressions against those who exercise the defense of human rights and/or journalism.”

Officials of the federal government reported that there are economic resources for the end of the year, without guarantees for 2019. The members of the CC affirmed that “the integral protection of human rights defenders and journalists is not a matter of six-year terms, but it has to be assumed as a state policy in which life and physical integrity is involved.” They also noted that, “a comprehensive policy has not been developed to incorporate the gender, intercultural and human rights perspective, where the mechanism operates not only in a reactive manner, but also in a preventive manner to eradicate aggressions against human rights defenders and journalists.” They called on “the Budget Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the next federal government to grant a sufficient budget, as well as guarantee its transparent use and the strengthening of the structure of the mechanism.”

For more information in Spanish:

Sequía en mecanismo de protección a periodistas por falta de recursos (La Jornada, 21 de septiembre de 2018)

Mecanismo de Protección recibe 75 mdp para terminar 2018; defensores acusan que es insuficiente (Animal Político, 20 de septiembre de 2018)

Peña pone en riesgo la vida de los 727 beneficiarios del Mecanismo de Protección: activistas (Proceso, 20 de septiembre de 2018)

Gobierno se lava las manos y aprueba recursos para proteger a periodistas y defensores hasta diciembre (Huffpost, 20 de septiembre de 2018)

La bolsa para la protección de periodistas, cerca de quedarse sin dinero (ADN Político, 19 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National / International: UN-DH denounces that 10 Human Rights Defenders have been murdered in Mexico until now in 2018 (Sept. 21st, 2018)

National: UN-DH urges Mexico to guarantee resources for the protection of journalists and human rights defenders (Sept. 17th, 2018)

National/International: International organizations call Mechanism for Protection for Human-Rights Defenders and Journalists into question (May 16th, 2015)

National: A delicate moment for the Mechanism for the Protection of Rights Defenders and Journalists (Mar. 30th, 2014

National: Launching of Consultative Council of Mechanism for Protection of Journalists and Rights-Defenders (Oct. 26th, 2012)

Chiapas: investigation of resignations of women candidates elected as mayors or deputies whose positions would be occupied by men

@binoticias

In the first days of September, at least 30 women who had been elected as mayors or deputies in the elections of last July 1 submitted their resignation to the Institute of Elections and Citizen Participation (IEPC) of Chiapas. It is feared that they were forced to do so, so as to open the possibility for their positions to be occupied by men.

Although they argued that they did so voluntarily, the IEPC has expressed its concern, fearing that these are cases of political violence against women, so the Provisional Commission for Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination will analyze the situation and the reasons for the mass resignations.

So far, those who have resigned are women from the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) of the Tuxtla Chico and Mapastepec municipalities; of Nueva Alianza in Frontera Comalapa; and from the local party Podemos Mover a Chiapas in Suchiapa. In the municipality of Frontera Hidalgo, the elected municipal president, Leticia Galindo Gamboa, from the PVEM, resigned as well. Ten women from the Green Party who should be made deputies in the local Congress through proportional representationalso resigned.

The IEPC explained that the electoral law has not been violated since, at the time, all the political parties “complied with the parity when registering their forms both for the local mayorships and the local deputies.” However, he clarified that “registering a woman and then compeling her to resign and replace her with a man ─ what are known as simulated candidacies ─, besides being political violence, could be a possible fraud to the law, and if it so, in no way will it be permited“.

For his part, the presiding counselor of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Lorenzo Cordova, condemned the acts of political violence and stated that they would represent a regression in gender parity. He announced that on September 10, a commission of councilors of the INE will go to Chiapas to verify the situation and establish actions in the defense of women’s political rights.

The governor of Chiapas, Manuel Velasco, instructed the Justice Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the situation: “I strongly condemn that the women elected in the July 1 elections could be renouncing their positions due to pressure or to be victims of political violence in order to resign”, he said.

For more information (in Spanish):

Chiapas investiga si renuncia de candidatas fue por presión (Político.mx, 8 de septiembre de 2018)

¿Violencia política contra mujeres en Chiapas? Fiscalía investiga renuncia de 30 regidoras y diputadas (Animal Política, 8 de septiembre de 2018)

Ganaron pero las sustituiría un hombre: 30 regidoras y diputadas renuncian a sus cargos en Chiapas (Animal Político, 7 de septiembre de 2018)

40 mujeres electas renuncian, varones serán diputados o regidores (Regeneración, 7 de septiembre de 2018)

Condena INE que obliguen a candidatas a renunciar para que varones ocupen sus cargos (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de septiembre de 2018)

En Chiapas, al menos 40 “Juanitas” ceden sus cargos de elección popular (Proceso, 6 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Historic Elections in Mexico – Historic Record of Political Violence July 17, 2018

National: 94 Candidates Murdered; Over 1,000 Leave Election Campaign June 25, 2018

Oaxaca: 17 Men Pose as Transgender to Register as Candidates May 14, 2018