Chiapas: FRAYBA Denounces Attack on Zapatista Autonomy

Member of EZLN transport cooperative, archive photo, Angeles Mariscal/Chiapas PARALELO

On July 22nd, in its statement “Attack on Zapatista Autonomy”, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (FRAYBA) denounced the confiscation of two vans that provide autonomous transportation service by the Ministry of Mobility and Transportation in the Municipality of Salto de Agua in the North of Chiapas.

FRAYBA considered that this action represents one more attack against the support bases of the EZLN in the context of military harassment of its territory. It said that “these acts of aggression and harassment contradict the statements of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who during his visit to Chiapas said on July 6 that ‘we endorse our respect for the Zapatista Army despite our differences.'”

For this reason, FRAYBA demanded that the attacks and harassment of the autonomy of the Zapatista peoples cease and that they desist from the acts of criminalization against the drivers and autonomous transport, as well as return the two vehicles retained by the delegation of Transportation in Palenque.

For more information in Spanish:

Agresión a la autonomía zapatista (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas , 22 de julio de 2019)

Frayba exige devolver a bases zapatistas vehículos asegurados (La Jornada, 23 de julio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks (January 18, 2019)

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

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National: Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation Eases Abortion for Rape Victims

@Uniradio Informa

On August 5th, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN in its Spanish acronym) endorsed the Official Mexican Standard (NOM) 046-SSA2-2005 that allows abortion after rape without making an official complaint to the Public Ministry (PM). Terminating a pregnancy for rape was already legal in all the states of the Republic. The new modifications, which will also come into force throughout the country, include access to abortion with a written request under oath to tell the truth without needing the authorization of a competent authority. Among these modifications, the personnel terminating the pregnancy do not need to verify the veracity of the applicant’s word. In the case of girls under 12 years of age, the request will be made by the father and/or the mother or, in their absence, their guardian.

“According to the previous Official Mexican Standard they [women] had to prove that violation, resorting, forcibly, to accusing their aggressor before the PM and they had to wait for the PM’s authorization to terminate the pregnancy. In this case, the norm is aimed primarily at teenage women and women in general,” Javier Laynez Potisek, SCJN minister, said. Arturo Zaldivar, Minister of the SCJN and one of the eight ministers who voted in favor of the modifications, said that, “what is being done is to facilitate access to the victims, precisely so that they can interrupt the pregnancy when it is the result of rape. In the case of rape it seems to me that it is almost unquestionable that this right must be accessible, close, fast and soon.”

“We have indexes, we have very serious statistics on abuse of women, mistreatment, femicide, rape and we also have, unfortunately, recent cases where the authorities try to enforce any subterfuge to deny access to the legal interruption of pregnancy to women and, particularly, girls. As we have said on other occasions, this type of limitations, of obstructions to this right of women, normally affects the poorest, most unprotected women, girls, indigenous women, because there is a certain social sector of the Mexican population that interrupts pregnancy anyway, because it has access to reach places where these types of issues are done, but [for] those layers of our population that are more unprotected, more vulnerable, this Official Mexican Standard is a form of protecting women and girls,” he concluded.

For more information in Spanish:

La SCJN protege los derechos de mujeres y niñas víctimas de violación (Suprema Corte Judicial de la Nación el 5 de agosto de 2019)

México aprobó el aborte por violación sin que medie una denuncia (El Nacional el 6 de agosto de 2019)

Corte, a favor de aborto en violaciones (El Universal el de agosto de 2019)

SCJN garantiza el derecho al aborto en caso de violación (Televisa News el 5 de agosto de 2019)

SCJN aprueba aborto en caso de violación aunque no haya denuncia (Radio Formula el 6 de agosto de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: Spotlight Initiative against Gender Violence Launched in Mexico (June 6, 2019)

Chiapas: denuncian grave incremento de la violencia feminicida en el primer bimestre de 2019 (18 de febrero de 2019)

Chiapas: Tzeltal Women Tortured and Raped by Military in 1994 Denounce Total Impunity (June 9, 2019)

National/International: “Green Tide” – Activists March for Free and Safe Abortion; Threatened across Republic (October 9, 2018)

Oaxaca: Nine Femicides after 28 Days of Gender Violence Alert – Some Municipalities Yet to Implement Declaration (October 2, 2018)

Oaxaca: Segob decrees Gender Violence Alert in Oaxaca for unfullfillment of governor Murat (September 18, 2018)

Oaxaca: Conflict in Mixe Region between Inhabitants of San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla and Tamazulapam del Espiritu Santo Continues

Photo @ Red TdT

Last June, in the framework of the commemoration of the second anniversary of the armed attack, perpetrated against residents of San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla, the Gobixha Human Rights Integral Defense Committee (Codigo DH in its Spanish acronym) and the National Network of Civil Organizations All Rights for Everyone (Red TdT in its Spanish acronym) visited the affected area.

The “attack” occurred on June 5th, 2017, the result of an agrarian conflict between the people of San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla and Tamazulapam del Espiritu Santo. During the conflict “Luis Juan Guadalupe lost his life. In addition, six people were injured by gunfire and four women were held and tortured by local authorities.”

Through a statement, the organizations announced that: “Two years after these events, we found that Ayutla Mixes do not have a connection to their spring (Jënanyëëj), because their water and pipe system was destroyed, causing lack of the vital fluid, mainly affecting children and older adults, who have consistently presented profiles of gastrointestinal diseases.” According to the statement, also, “attacks and disqualifications against defenders have been present, including Elena Gil, academic and defender of the Ayuuk language and culture, who has repeatedly received death threats, as well as other people in  the community who have been victims of aggressions and intimidation in order to silence them, details of which we reserve because of the fear they show.”

They mentioned that according to official documents “27 families of the community have been stripped of their homes and land by an agrarian invasion of more than 200 hectares that seeks to cross the boundaries recognized by both communities.”

In addition, they informed that, in the disputed spring “an installation has been built unilaterally by the state authorities, according to the complaint of the local authorities, to replace the one that was allegedly dynamited on August 25th, 2017 by Tamazupalam and that may collate with archive photos. Given these facts, the state authorities such as the Secretary General of Government (SEGEGO) and the Attorney General of the State of Oaxaca, have ignored and progress is unknown on the complaints filed, violating the right to security and physical integrity of the residents of Ayutla, and her access to justice, with investigations related to the law.”

Currently, Ayutla is still without water despite more than 30 meetings and a “historic agreement” between the two communities [which was denied by the Ayutla authorities]. Also, it should be remembered that recently, the General Secretary of Government (SEGEGO) sent the State Water Commission (CEA in its Spanish acronym) to reconnect the water to Ayutla.

Codigo DH and the Red TdT called:

• “To the State Government to give priority to the solution to the agrarian conflict and guarantee at all times access to justice for victims, security against the risk of violence and new dispossession, as well as respect for the history and documents that keep the memory of the boundaries between both communities.
• To the General Secretary of Government, we demand that you adhere to the agreements signed and recognized by both communities, including May 2018, to avoid new acts of violence and dispossession towards settlers who have suffered repeated violations of their human rights. We also demand the cessation of attacks and disqualifications against defenders.
• To the State Water Commission to guarantee the completion of water reconnection works for Ayutla. It has been more than two years without a drinking water service that violates their human right to water and health, mainly for children and the elderly.
• To the Attorney General of the State of Oaxaca, to continue with the investigations for the clarification and punishment of those responsible for the acts perpetrated on June 5th, 2017, guaranteeing at all times free access to their victims’ information.
• To the Secretary of Public Security of the State of Oaxaca, to guarantee the security and help the population of San Pedro and San Pablo Ayutla given the risk of future aggressions.
• To national and international Human Rights organizations to be aware of the events that may arise in the following weeks.”

For more information in Spanish:

Para Ayutla no hay fiesta, ni agua; solo duelo, injusticia y riesgo de más violencia ante la inacción gubernamental (Codigo DH, 18 de julio de 2019)

Sin solución conflicto por agua en zona mixe (Imparcial Oaxaca, 26 de julio de 2019)

Justicia y agua, para Ayutla (NVI Noticias, 26 de julio de 2019)

Denuncian inacción gubernamental en Ayutla (Red TdT, 18 de julio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Enfrentamiento entre pobladores en la región Mixe. (June 8, 2017)

International/National/Chiapas: Director of Internal Displacement Monitoring Center Highlights Problem in Mexico

Camp for displaced persons from Colonia Puebla in SCLC @AlexandraBilak

On July 24th, Alexandra Bilak, director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC in its Spanish acronym), visited displaced people from Puebla ejido in the municipality of Chenalho.

The IDMC is an internationally recognized organization that publishes figures and analysis on internal forced displacement (FID). This organization visited the camp where FID victims are currently living in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Excelsior newspaper reported that during her visit Bilak “heard testimonies of women and men who are going through this process, as part of a global report. She also noted the conditions in which these families are, in order to know the methodology with which they are cared for and to support the states that are engaged in the matter.”

On the visit, Bilak highlighted that it is a great injustice that they have been displaced for three years “with limited services and under constant threat of new violence.”

During her visit to Mexico, she also met with the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB in its Spanish acronym), the Mexican Commission for Assistance to Refugees (COMAR in its Spanish acronym), the United Nations and other international organizations. She stressed that a first step to address internal displacement in Mexico is to have reliable figures on the phenomenon, which currently do not exist. Without these figures, Bilak pointed out that the magnitude of the problem is not known, nor how it affects children, or is related to sexual violence.

In addition, she drew attention to the lack of an official government authority to monitor internal displacement and attend to those affected. In her presentation, Bilak also posed challenges and advances on the adoption of a general law on the subject that could be based on the experience of other countries, and request the support of organizations for the elaboration of this.

The coordinator of COMAR, Andres Ramirez Silva, “stressed that the institution in charge, for example, serves foreigners who request shelter, but there is no institution that cares for the internally displaced in Mexico (…) emphasized that the general law in the matter, will have to create the budget and the structures that see to the phenomenon, as well as clarify the role that COMAR will play in the issue of internal displacement, since its operational capacity has been limited to foreign flows.”

For more information in Spanish:

“Crimen Desplazó en México a 380 mil personas” El Universal, 24 de julio de 2019.

Realiza IDMC informe de desplazados en Chiapas Excelsior, 25 de julio de 2019.

Urgen en México leyes y recursos para atender desplazamiento forzado Mi Punto de Vista, 23 de julio de 2019.

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Interceptan hombres armados a integrantes del CDH Ku’untik y un desplazado del ejido Puebla. (June 24, 2019)

Nacional/Internacional: Piden CIDH y ONU crear ley para atender a víctimas de desplazamiento forzado (April 18, 2019)

National: Deputies Declare Forced Displacement a Crime (April 15, 2019)

Nacional/Chiapas: la Comisión de Pueblos Indígenas de la Cámara de diputados exhorta a diversas autoridades a resolver la problemática causada por el Desplazamiento Forzado Interno (February 19, 2019)

Chiapas: State Congress asks the government to address the issue of forced displacement; displaced people from Colonia Puebla return to San Cristóbal de Las Casas (October 30, 2018)

Chiapas: Nace la organización “Coordinadora de Personas Desplazadas del Estado de Chiapas” (July 25, 2018)

Chiapas: Hunger Strikers’ Lives at Risk

Photo: frayba

On July 18th, 2019, the families of the prisoners on hunger strike began a fast outside the doors of the Government Palace of Chiapas, to make a new appeal to the governor of Chiapas, Rutilio Escandon, to address the situation of their relatives.

On March 15th, 2019, Marcelino Ruiz Gomez, prisoner in CERSS No. 10 (Comitan), as well as Adrian Gomez Jimenez, Juan de la Cruz Ruiz, Abraham Lopez Montejo and German Lopez Montejo, currently imprisoned in CERSS No. 5 (San Cristobal de Las Casas), began a hunger strike as a form of protest for the injustice and discrimination they suffered during their legal process. They reported that they obtained sentences of between 20 to 25 years in prison, for crimes they did not commit and that their statements were extracted under torture. In addition, their trials are full of violations of due process.

At this moment, according to the reports of Doctors of the World, Switzerland, an international organization that works in the defense of the right to health and provides accompaniment to Juan, Adrian, Abraham and German, the situation in which the prisoners on hunger strike in the San Cristobal de Las Casas prison is worrying, their health has deteriorated badly.

“The risk to the health of the prisoners on hunger strike is increased by the lack of conditions inside CERSS. No. 5 due to medical malpractice in their care and the indifference of the government of the State of Chiapas to see to their demands. Especially, the denial of drinking water has caused diseases such as salmonellosis. Other complications are: tachycardia, liver and kidney problems, gastrointestinal diseases and anxiety.”

According to the bulletin of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights, “the struggle of prisoners on hunger strike demonstrates the critical situation of a system that does not guarantee justice and where prisons become centers of ‘social cleansing’, to which poor people, indigenous people, who can not afford a lawyer to make an adequate defense are subjected. Therefore, we remind the authorities of the State of Chiapas to take into account the Set of Principles for the protection of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment of the United Nations Organization where they indicate that: Every person submitted to any form of detention or imprisonment will be treated humanely and with due respect for the inherent dignity of the human being.”

For more information in Spanish:

“Nuestra lucha es justa, ni barrotes nos detendrán, ni gobiernos, ni alcaides, ni directores o funcionarios públicos, nada ni nadie nos callará.” Denuncia de los presos en Huelga de Hambre, 18 de julio de 2019

Verdad, justicia y libertad para presos en huelga de hambre en Chiapas, CDHFBLC, 18 de julio de 2019

 

En riesgo la vida de 4 presos indígenas que cumplieron 67 días en huelga de hambre, Chiapas Paralelo, 19 de julio de 2019

Indígenas presos en Chiapas suman 65 días en huelga de hambre, La Jornada, 18 de julio de 2019

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: After over 100 Days on Hunger Strike, Prisoners Need Appropriate Medical Attention and Continue to Demand Freedom (June 27, 2019)

Chiapas: Plantón y Ayuno en Solidaridad con Presos en Huelga de Hambre (a 84 días de su inicio), (June 6th, 2019)

Chiapas: Indigenous Prisoner Released after 16 Years Awaiting Sentencing and 60 Days Hunger Strike (May 26, 2019)

Chiapas: Six Prisoners Resume Indefinite Hunger Strike in San Cristobal and Comitan Prisons (May 17, 2019)

Little Progress 60 Days after Start of Hunger Strike in Various Sate Prisons (May 15, 2019)

National: Saltillo Diocese Denounces Intimidation of Fray Jose Raul Vera Lopez

Photo @ Proceso

On July 12th, the Diocese of Saltillo denounced in a communiqué an alleged intimidation directed at Friar Jose Raul Vera Lopez by elements of the Mexican Army at Monterrey airport.

According to different sources, the events occurred on July 11th “at Terminal 2 of Monterrey Airport, when Vera was returning from a flight from Mexico City, the military personnel proceeded to question the prelate on his position and hierarchy, the place of destination and the registration plates of the automobile in which he would travel and took note of the registration number of the vehicle in the notebook they carried.”

Vera Lopez, who has a long career in the defense of human rights, received the answer “that it was only about his safety” when he asked the military “what all these questions were about.”

After the events, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of the Federal Government Alfonso Durazo apologized to Monsignor Vera for what he called an “error” and told him not to worry.

The Bishop received support from different organizations, among them, the Civil Society Organization Las Abejas and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an international organization that “urged the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to put an end to the acts of intimidation against Monsignor Jose Raul Vera Lopez.”

For more information in Spanish:

Denuncian presuntos actos intimidatorios contra el obispo Raúl Vera (El Proceso, 16 de julio de 2019)

Jtotik Raúl Vera y a la Diócesis de Saltillo y así mismo a todas las personas que luchan también como nosotros en contra de la impunidad y de las injusticias. (Las Abejas de Acteal, 13 de julio de 2019)

Diócesis de Saltillo denuncia intimidación a Obispo Raúl Vera López (Milenio, 12 de julio de 2019)

Raúl Vera es intimidado por elementos del ejército en el Aeropuerto de Monterrey, denuncia la Diócesis de Saltillo (Vanguardia, 12 de julio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: Ciudadanos y organizaciones civiles acusan al gobierno de Coahulia de persecución política y criminalización del Obispo de Saltillo Raúl Vera (August 31, 2017)

Chiapas: “Day of Fasting and Prayer for Memory, Resistance, and Life,” 14 years after the Acteal massacre (January 6, 2012)

Chiapas: The CDHFBC presents Don Raul Vera as new president (January 31, 2011)

Chiapas: Obispo José Raúl López Vera recibe el Premio Rafto 2010 (September 28, 2010)

Oaxaca: Nochixtlan Victims Say FGR Refuses to Call Chain of Command of Violent Eviction

Photo @ 24-Horas

In a press conference on July 10th, the Victims’ Committee for Truth and Justice (COVIC in its Spanish acronym) announced that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR in its Spanish acronym) has refused their request to investigate the chain of command involved in the violent eviction on June 19th, 2016 in Nochixtlan.

In their request, which they made last March, COVIC wanted the federal authorities to cite the then president Enrique Peña Nieto, the secretary of the Interior, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, the former governor of Oaxaca Gabino Cue Monteagudo, the former national commissioner of the Federal Police, Enrique Galindo Ceballos, and the former National Security Commissioner, Renato Sales Heredia.

COVIC’s lawyer, Daniel Blas Garcia, said that “the demands are part of the first point of the recommendation 7VG/2017 issued by the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH).”

He pointed out that they know “that the order came from above (…) however, on June 25th, the Public Prosecutor’s Office only granted that Enrique Galindo be interviewed, while it continues to oppose the collection (of the other interviews), under the appreciation that there are no reasons to call them.”

COVIC called on the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, as well as the FGR, to show signs of certainty and will to the tens of thousands of victims in Mexico about an effective access to truth and justice, through processes that are not re-victimizing or debilitating, Proceso reported.

It should be recalled that in Nochixtlan, on June 19th, 2016, an eviction carried out by federal police against residents and teachers of Section 22 of the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym), which left eight dead and more than 100 injured.

For more information in Spanish:

La FGR rechaza citar a Peña Nieto y Osorio Chong por caso Nochixtlán, denuncian víctimas (El Proceso, 10 de julio de 2019)

FGR se niega a investigar a exfuncionarios implicados en hechos violentos de Nochixtlán: Comité de Víctimas por la Verdad y Justicia (Desinformémonos, 11 de julio de 2019)

Fiscalía rechaza citar a Peña Nieto y Osorio Chong por caso Nochixtlán, acusan víctimas (SDP Noticias, 10 de julio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Third Anniversary of Nochixtlan (June 21st, 2019)

Oaxaca/National: CNDH Issues Recommendation for Serious Human Rights Violations during Events in Nochixtlan on June 16th, 2016 (October 28, 2017)

Oaxaca: Impunidad amparada por el gobierno a dos años de Nochixtlán: ONU-DH (June 22, 2018)

Oaxaca: President of Nochixtlan Victims Committee Attacked (April 12, 2018)