Guerrero: First Colloquium for Peace

Photo @ La Jornada

On November 5th, in the auditorium of the Superior Court of Justice in Chilpancingo de los Bravo, the Colloquium for Peace in Guerrero began. The event was convened by the Chilpancingo-Chilapa diocese and the Organization of the Americas for Educational Excellence (ODAEE in its Spanish acronym) and survivors of the Iguala massacre (2014), the current mayor of Chilpancingo participated among others.

On November 6th, in Chilapa, Salvador Rangel Mendoza, bishop of the Chilapa-Chilpancingo diocese, “proposed the inclusion of young people, who now constitute a key sector of the population for reconciliation and peace, as they represent most of the affected and victims in conflicts. He said that achieving peace is everyone’s task, building an inclusive democracy, and a path of peace, concrete actions from different fronts; they cannot sit and wait for only government institutions to build peace.

The cleric proposed a strategy that he commented, has given good results in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in Colombia, through education, establishing as obligatory the subject of peace and reconciliation in the study programs of all levels educational, from primary to professional; the promotion of cultural sports, recreational, and artistic activities; providing them with tools, materials, access to spaces and resources for it; recognizing young people as relevant actors, improving coexistence and transformation; strengthening of youth organizations; promotion of extra-curricular activities, with the purpose of rebuilding the social fabric and promoting general prosperity.”

According to several sources, during the Colloquium the bishop also mentioned that he continues to seek dialogue with organized crime groups in order to achieve a “Christmas truce” in December.

For more information in Spanish:

Contra la violencia en Guerrero se organiza Coloquio por la Paz (La Jornada, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

Obispo de Chilpancingo, Guerrero, pidió a narcotraficantes una “tregua” navideña (Vanguardia, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

Es tarea de todos lograr la paz en Guerrero, coinciden en coloquio en Chilpancingo (El Sur de Acapulco, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Article 19 urges to investigate political motivations in the case of the murder of the journalist, Gabriel Soriano
(November 4th, 2018)

Guerrero: Radio and TV Broadcaster from Guerrero Murdered
(November 1st, 2018)

Guerrero: Mixed Unit Disarms 500 Municipal Police and Arrests Two Officers in Acapulco; Public Security Controlled by SEDENA, SEMAR and State Police
(October 2nd, 2018)

Nacional: Relatores sobre libertad de expresión de la CIDH y la ONU presentan informe después de visita a México (21 de junio de 2018)

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

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National: CNDH Asks SCJN to Declare Interior Security Law Unconstitutional

On November 5th, in a communiqué addressed to the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN in its Spanish acronym), the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) asked it to declare the Interior Security Law, passed in December 2017, unconstitutional in its entirety. It is expected that next November 12th the Court will resolve the challenges before it.

The CNDH argued that “its validity allows perpetuating a state of unconstitutional matters that is contrary to full respect for fundamental rights and the dignity of the people, for which a careful call is made to the Ministers to reconsider the content and the scope of Article 20 of the law, which establishes a full subordination of the civil authorities in command of the Armed Forces, for which reason it should be reconsidered that security actions must be directed at all times by a civil authority, in full respect of the human rights recognized in the Federal Constitution and in international treaties.”

It also expressed its concern on issues such as the incompetence of the Congress of the Union to legislate on matters of internal security; the lack of prior consultation of indigenous peoples and communities; and the authority granted by the military authorities to request any information.

Finally, it stressed, just as it had done before the approval of the Law, the participation of the armed forces in public security tasks “is not the most adequate response to face the crime rate that afflicts our country, given the special nature of his constitutional functions; the above, while recognizing its institutionality, commitment and delivery in the tasks entrusted. On the contrary, the training and training of police officers should be favored; financial intelligence and patrimonial research; the strengthening of prevention, as the attention of inequalities, favoring and serving the exercise of social rights, as well as the attention of arms trafficking, in addition to carrying out a review and rethinking of our penitentiary system.”

For more information in Spanish:

CNDH pide a la Corte votar contra toda la Ley de Seguridad Interior (Proceso, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

CNDH: sin base, Ley de Seguridad Interior (La Jornada, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

CNDH pide declarar inconstitucional la Ley de Seguridad Interior (El Universal, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

CNDH llama a la SCJN a declarar inconstitucional Ley de Seguridad Interior (MX Político, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

CNDH expresa su preocupación por Ley de Seguridad Interior y llama a SCJN a declararla inconstitucional (Revolución 3.0, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Reactions to Minister for Supreme Court’s Proposal on Interior Security Law (November 7th, 2018)

National: Two Judges Declare Interior Security Law Unconstitutional (May 24th, 2018)

Chiapas: Organizations seek legal shelter from the Interior Security Law (April 2nd, 2018)

National: EPN Enacts Interior Security Law. CNDH Declares it Unconstitutional (January 14th, 2018)

National: Interior Security Law Passed amidst Protests (December 7th, 2017)

Oaxaca: CODEDI denounces military harassment; CNI demands that the repression against its members stop

In a statement, the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI) denounced that on the afternoon of October 29, “another act of aggression was recorded” against its members, “when elements of the Military Navy went up in convoy to the Center of Training of the former Finca Alemania in the Zapotec southern sierra ».

It explained that this “military provocation” took place “while hundreds of members of CODEDI were carrying out a mobilization in front of the Huatulco airport, Oaxaca, to demand justice for the 5 community defenders murdered so far this year and to investigate who is to be held accountable for the death of Mardelia Rocibel Cervantes, 22, deceased due to medical malpractice in the hospital of Huatulco”. The CODEDI considered that these more recent events are “an intimidation against the right of demonstration of the people and makes clear the complicity between the state apparatuses and the hitmen of the organized crime”.

It should be remembered that, just on October 25, Noel Castillo Aguilar, 44, a member of CODEDI and “defender of the beach in his community against mafia and business interests” became the fifth member of this organization killed in 2018, No progress has been recorded in the investigations in any of the cases.

The National Indigenous Congress (CNI) denounced for its part “the growing repression against our brothers from CODEDI” and condemned the murder of Noel Castillo Aguilar. It demanded that the repression and the imposition of “megaprojects of death” cease.

For more information (for more information in Spanish) :

Comunicado URGENTE: EJÉRCITO HOSTIGA CODEDI (CODEDI, 30 de octubre de 2018)

CODEDI cierra acceso al aeropuerto de Huatulco (El Imparcial, 30 de octubre de 2018)

PRONUNCIAMIENTO DEL CNI-CIG EN CONTRA DE LA REPRESIÓN CONTRA CODEDI Y CONTRA LA SIMULACIÓN DE “CONSULTAS” EN BENEFICIO DE LA EMPRESA EÓLICA DEL SUR (CNI/EZLN, 30 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: fifth member of CODEDI is murdered so far this year November 2, 2018

Oaxaca: CODEDI Denounces Military Harassment and Persecution August 13, 2018

Oaxaca: Three Members of CODEDI Ambushed and Murdered February 26, 2018

Chiapas: Chiapaneco Group against the extractive model pronounces against dispossession

Meeting of the Chiapaneco Group against the extractive mode, october 2018 (@Otros Mundos)

On October 27, at the end of a two-day meeting that took place in San Cristobal de las Casas, the peoples and organizations that make up the Chiapaneco Group against the extractive model declared themselves “in resistance” to this capitalist model that “seeks commercialize the energy that life gives us, which comes from rivers, sea, sun, wind, forests and volcanoes. We do not agree with the fact that large national and transnational companies come to strip us of our lands and territories with extractive projects such as oil wells, geothermal energy, hydroelectric dams, mines and wind farms, to produce energy that feeds their polluting industries and the model of capitalist life of the big cities ».

They denounced that “companies do not ask for permission from Mother Earth or even the people of Chiapas, when they want to extract the natural commons of our territories, with the complicity of the three levels of government, of the military, paramilitary and police apparatus” . They affirmed that, unlike what entrepreneurs want us to believe, “an energy that displaces peoples can not be green or clean”.

They rejected different projects that are being implemented or that could be implemented in the Costa, Sierra, Zoque, Altos, Selva zones, which “violate our rights as peoples (…). They move us, flood our lands (…). They steal our water and pollute our sources of life “, as well as generate “militarization for the control of the territory and the protection of private projects, not only through the presence of the Mexican army but also of paramilitaries and private guards. “

They finally indicated that “all these projects do not leave any economic, social or cultural development in our communities. The only path that they open for us is that of death. (…) We want to continue with strength and for this we need to be able to continue living in our communities, with our ways of life, with respect and care for our lands and territories. We want the collective rights of peoples to be respected and recognized. “

For more information (in Spanish) :

Pueblos organizados de Chiapas nos declaramos en resistencia ante el modelo energético capitalista (Grupo Chiapaneco contra el Modelo Extractivo, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Pueblos organizados detendrán el avance de proyectos extractivistas en Chiapas (Chiapas Paralelo, 28 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: FDPS Suspends Dialogue with Government until El Puntal Is Closed and Other Concessions Repealed March 1, 2017

Chiapas: nine municipalities declare their lands free of mining and dams December 26, 2015

Oaxaca: SCJN is called to protect the collective rights of the Zapotec community and to cancel the permits of the Southern Wind-Energy Corporation

Juchitán (@Cuartooscuro)

In a statement published on October 25, organizations that defend human rights and the environment called on the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) to “strictly adhere to the highest standards of prior consultation in its sentence, to protect the Collective rights of the Zapotec community, and to order the cancellation of the permits granted to the Southern Wind-Energy Corporation (Eólica del Sur) for the construction of a wind turbine park in Juchitán, Oaxaca, as well as to impose fair reparation measures for the community. ” Next October 31, the highest judicial body will decide whether the human rights of the Zapotec community in the case were violated or not.

It is worth remembering that last May the SCJN attracted the actions for legal protections (amparos) filed by more than a thousand members of the Zapotec community of Juchitán regarding the consultation that was carried out to implement the project of the subsidiary of the transnational Mitsubishi, which, despite the pending litigation, has continued to advance in the construction of the megaproject.

The organizations expressed great concern about the draft resolution that the SCJN intends to present because they fear that a “decision that supports bad practices in indigenous consultations” could be enlisted.

At the press conference in which the statement was presented, Betina Cruz, representative of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Defense of Land and Territory, recalled that since 2014 they oppose this wind farm, “the largest of its kind in Latin America”, since the consultation of the affected communities was given once the company had already obtained the government permits. She noted that currently the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has 1,915 wind turbines, in 24 parks, none installed with prior, free and informed consultations, as established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

For their part, members of the Zapotec community have denounced “that they have been criminalized and threatened before, during and after the consultation because of their opposition to the project, so it was never a free process or one done in good faith. Nor was complete information provided on the impacts of the project and its alternatives for the communities. Even the responsible authorities, like the Sener, sought to accelerate the process to endorse the project, in violation of the uses and customs of the community, and leaving pending issues for discussion ».

The organizations encouraged the SCJN “not to discard this unique opportunity to generate a historical precedent in favor of the effective protection of the indigenous peoples rights within the framework of the Energy Reform and to establish clear rules for the government on how to comply with its obligation to consult peoples and communities. Failure to correct its course, would be deepening the serious situation of discrimination experienced by indigenous communities in Mexico and would allow the reform to be implemented in clear violation of human rights.

For more information (In Spanish):

Opositores a Eólica del Sur, en Oaxaca, alertan por posible decisión de la Corte contra derecho de consulta indígena (Proceso, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Solicitan activistas a SCJN cancelar permisos a Eólica del Sur (La Jornada, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Piden a la SCJN cancelar permisos a Eólica del Sur (El Imparcial, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Piden a la Suprema Corte cancelar permisos a Eólica del Sur por violar derechos humanos de comunidades indígenas (OSC, 25 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Residents of Juchitan win motion to suspend construction of wind-energy park (October 25, 2015)

Oaxaca: Indigenous Zapotecos mobilize themselves over grave violations to right to consultation (September 11, 2015)

Oaxaca: Beginning of consultation regarding wind-energy park in Juchitán (12 November 2014)

Oaxaca: Various denunciations in the Tehuantepec Isthmus from community assemblies organized against wind-farms in their territories (6 September 2014)

Oaxaca: fifth member of CODEDI is murdered so far this year

In a communiqué, the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI) reported that on October 25, 44-year-old Noel Castillo Aguilar, a member of this organization, was assassinated on his way home in the municipality of Santiago Astata.

It affirmed that “this crime is clearly of a political nature since he was a member of the local CODEDI group that is participating in the legitimate struggle to defend its beaches and territory in the region.” It recalled that “this murder is the second attack against the group of that community, since last year one of its representatives was assassinated, and it is also the third attack against compañeros belonging to the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights so far this 2018. This is why we consider that the only responsible for this and all the murders, attacks and violence that we have been subjected to, is the government of the State of Oaxaca led by Alejandro Murat Hinojosa for his complicity in obstructing the investigations and in encouraging attacks against us through the powerful device of impunity.”

CODEDI demanded justice in this and in the previous cases in addition to the cessation of violence against the organized peoples of the Southern Highlands of Oaxaca.

For its part, the Consultative Council of the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists expressed its repudiation of the murders of two human rights defenders and a journalist in the last 24 hours. IT recalled that in the case of CODEDI, on July 17, another of its members, Abraham Hernández González, was assassinated, likewise on February 12 of this year, three persons were murdered: Alejandro Antonio Díaz Cruz (41 years old), Ignacio Basilio Ventura Martínez (17 years old) and Luis Ángel Martínez (18 years old), with no effective investigations or sanctions to those responsible.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Comunicado de CODEDI por el asesinato de un coordinador de la organización (CODEDI, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Intolerable, asesinato de periodistas y defensores bajo mecanismos de protección: ONG (MVS Noticias, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Asesinan a quinto activista del CODEDI en Oaxaca (El Universal, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Espacio Civil de Oaxaca denuncia 5 ejecuciones extrajudiciales, 4 detenciones arbitrarias y 3 allanamientos contra CODEDI en 2018 (Espacio Civil de Oaxaca, 26 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: CODEDI Denounces Military Harassment and Persecution August 13, 2018

Oaxaca: Three Members of CODEDI Ambushed and Murdered February 26, 2018

Chiapas: Fourth Suspect Arrested One Month after Murder of Journalist Mario Gomez

(@Hugo Sánchez)

On October 22nd, journalists from various media outlets in Chiapas protested outside the State Prosecutor’s Office to demand the arrest of the intellectual authors of the murder of Mario Gomez Sanchez, reporter of “Heraldo de Chiapas”, who was murdered in Yajalon on September 21st last. “One month after the murder, the Prosecutor’s Office has not informed us about the investigations. We do not know if the investigations [about the three then arrested] show that they are those who murdered our colleague or are scapegoats”, said journalist Itzel Grajales. The journalists said that they will continue to mobilize until justice has been done in the case.

The following day, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE in its Spanish acronym) reported that a fourth person was arrested in relation to the case: Oscar Leyver “N”, known as “El Zapatudo”, who was arrested in the city of Palenque. On October 2nd, Juan David “N”, alias “El Machaca”, alleged material author of the murder, was arrested; Juan Pablo “N”, who allegedly staked out the journalist’s house, and a minor a minor were also arrested. These three people have already been served an indictment for the crime of qualified homicide.

For more information in Spanish:

Detienen a otro presunto asesino del periodista Mario Gómez (El Universal, 23 de octubre de 2018)

Detienen a “El Zapatudo”, presunto asesino del periodista Mario Leonel Gómez (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 23 de octubre de 2018)

A un mes del asesinato de Mario Gómez, periodistas piden caigan autores intelectuales (Chiapas Paralelo, 23 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Three Arrested for the Murder of Journalist Mario Gomez
(October 8th, 2018)

Chiapas: Heraldo de Chiapas Journalist Murdered in Yajalon
(September 27th, 2018)

National: Defenders and Journalists Denounce Insufficient Resources for Continuity of Protection Mechanism
(September 26th, 2018)

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