National: 161 Defenders and 40 Journalists Murdered in Last Presidential Term of Office

(@Proceso)

On November 29th, at a press conference in Mexico City, the Network All Rights for All (Red TdT in its Spanish acronym) reported that during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto (December 2012-November 2018), 161 defenders and 40 journalists were murdered with impunity. “This demonstrates conclusively that the six-year term of office that ended was lethal for dissenting voices: painful data, which become lives torn apart for a country that is democratic and that, officially, is not at war,” it stressed.

In its report “From Memory … Hope”, the Tdt Network stressed that only 3% of the cases of murdered defenders are judged and that these investigations “often ignore their activity as the cause of the murder.” 42 of the defenders belonged to an indigenous people. 40% of the people killed were community defenders, and most of them were working for the defense of Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCE) and of the Earth and the territory. 19 were women and three were trans. The most dangerous states were Guerrero (28% of cases), Oaxaca (20%) and Chihuahua (11%).

The Tdt Network denounced that the response of the Mexican State to this situation “has been limited to the action of the Protection Mechanism for Defenders and Journalists operated by the Ministry of the Interior, which has only reactive measures and does not obey the specific needs of the beneficiaries. This year, even, the Trust that endows the Mechanism with resources ran out of resources, putting 727 defenders and journalists at greater risk.”

It proposed that the struggle of all these defenders “was interrupted in a violent way, but not their ideals and convictions, not their dreams or the memory of their just struggle for a different world. There lies the hope. In all those people who during these six years and still now persist in the defense of human rights, in this service for life. The hope is in the learning, achievements and seeds sowed of those people who, although they are no longer there, continue to be present in their fighting and dignified spirit.”

For more information in Spanish:

161 personas defensoras de DH asesinadas en sexenio que termina, sembradores de esperanza: Red TDT (Red Tdt, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

Red TDT: 161 defensores de derechos y 40 periodistas asesinados en el sexenio (Proceso, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

En el actual sexenio, 161 defensores fueron asesinados en México (El Imparcial, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

Con Peña, 161 defensores de derechos humanos y 40 periodistas asesinados: Red TDT (30 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: “The Time is Now, Effective Public Policies for the Right to Defend Human Rights” Report Published  (October 30th, 2018)

National: Federal Mechanism for Journalists and Defenders without Funding (October 14th, 2018)

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

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

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

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Chiapas/National/International: EZLN Invitation to 25th Anniversary of Zapatista Uprising and Meeting of Networks

In a communiqué published on November 17, the date of its 35th anniversary, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym) invited people to two events to be held at the end of the year: from December 26th to 30th, to a “Meeting of Resistance and Rebellion Networks, of Support for the CIG (Indigenous Council of Government), or Whatever they Are Called” to be carried out in the “Traces of Memory. Subcomandante Insurgente Pedro Did his Duty” center,” in the vicinity of the town of Guadalupe Tepeyac, MAREZ San Pedro de Michoacan.

Also, on December 31st, 2018 and January 1st, 2019, the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the armed uprising will be held in Zapatista La Realidad, location of the caracol “Madre de los caracoles del mar de nuestro sueños”, in the Border Jungle zone.

The email for registration to the first event is redesdic18@enlacezapatista.org.mx; and for the second anniversary25@enlacezapatista.org.mx.

For more information in Spanish:

Invitación a la celebración del 25 Aniversario del Alzamiento Zapatista y a un Encuentro de Redes (EZLN, 17 de noviembre de 2018)

Convoca EZLN a encuentro de apoyo al CIG (La Jornada, 18 de noviembre de 2018)

#EZLN: 35 años de lucha (Subrayado.mx, 18 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: EZLN Publishes Program for First Film Festival “Puy Ta Cuxlejaltic”  (November 5th, 2018)

Chiapas: EZLN Announces “The Impossible Cinema”  (October 14th, 2018)

Chiapas : segunda y tercera parte del comunicado del EZLN compartido durante el Encuentro de Redes en Morelia, (23/08/2018)

Chiapas: Comunicado EZLN (primera parte) UNA FINCA, UN MUNDO, UNA GUERRA, POCAS PROBABILIDADES, (22/08/2018)

Chiapas: Meeting of CIG Support Networks, COMPARTE 2018 “For Life and Liberty” and 15th Anniversary of the Zapatista Caracoles  (August 22, 2018)

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

 

Chiapas: Mass Forced Displacement in Chabajeval, Municipality El Bosque

(@Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights)

The crisis of internal forced displacement in the highlands of Chiapas reached a new peak on November 7th when, according to the parish priest of Simojovel, Marcelo Perez Perez, in the community of Chavajeval, municipality of El Bosque, almost all of the inhabitants of the town (about a thousand people according to the first estimates) fled from there after a conflict in which a 65-year-old man died. On the same day, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights reported that, “while a community assembly was held, there was an explosion and shots were later heard.”

Since that date, displaced people have sought refuge in various places, including in nearby mountains or in the town of El Bosque and in the municipalities of Chenalho, Chalchihuitan and San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Given the rumor that more displaced people were kidnapped in the community of Tierra Caliente, Father Marcelo confirmed that although there were 400 displaced people in this place, they were not kidnapped.

The root of the displacement derives from a conflict between the residents of the community whic “on October 24th, Miguel Perez Lopez, ejido commissioner of Chavajeval, and Carmelino de Jesus Ruiz Álvarez was ambushed and shot at, two more people they were injured,” Chiapas Paralelo states. The investigation of the case by the community authorities has generated tension and accusations among the different groups present in the community.

While it is unclear if there are conditions for a return for the coffee harvest given the risk of losing it, the situation of displacement (which affects all groups) remains critical: “Food corn, beans and medicine are needed. I invite you in your parishes and organizations to show solidarity in prayer and gathering food,” said Father Marcelo Perez.

Civil Protection of Chiapas informed through its Facebook page that it has delivered food and blankets to those affected.

Support can also be provided through CARITAS DE LA DIOCESIS DE SAN CRISTOBAL.

Bank details:

BANORTE

Account number: 0642624985

IBAN: 072130006426249855

ACCOUNT NAME: CARITAS DE SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS A.C.

For its part, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights urged the Mexican government to “guarantee the conditions to stop the escalation of violence in the community of Chavajebal, municipality of El Bosque, Chiapas”; to “favor dialogue and conciliation between the parties for the resolution of the conflict”; to “impartially and efficiently investigate the facts that led to the forced displacement of almost 2,000 people from the community of Chavajebal, municipality of El Bosque, Chiapas”; and to “address the humanitarian crisis situation in accordance with the Guiding Principles of the Forced Internal Displacement of the United Nations Organization and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples in a situation of vulnerability”.

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente del Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas: Se profundiza la crisis humanitaria de los Altos de Chiapas (13 de noviembre de 2018)

Párroco de Simojovel clama por ayuda para desplazados de Chavajeval, Chiapas (El Proceso, 13 de noviembre de 2018)

Suman tres muertos y casi mil personas desplazadas en Chavajebal (Chiapas Paralelo, 13 de noviembre de 2018)

Unos mil habitantes huyeron al monte en Chavajeval, Chiapas; la iglesia dice que hay hambruna (Sin Embargo, 13 de noviembre de 2018)

Habitantes de Chavajeval, Chiapas, enfrentan desplazamiento forzado (Proceso, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

Urge atención a desplazamiento en Chabajeval: Martín Ramírez (NVI, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

Detienen presuntos zapatistas involucrados en asesinato de autoridades de Chavajeval (Ultimatum, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces New Attacks in Aldama and Demands End to Violence (November 19th, 2018)

Chiapas: displaced families from Banavil return to their home to celebrate the Day of the Dead (November 3rd, 2018)

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 30th, 2018)

Chiapas: Oportunidad de profundizar el tema del desplazamiento forzado en el Congreso del estado (October 24th, 2018)

Chiapas: First Festival of Zapatista Cinema “Puy ta jkuxlejaltik” in Oventik

Photo @ Shari Kohlmeyer

From November 1st to 9th, the first Zapatista film festival entitled “Impossible Cinema – Puy ta Cuxlejaltic” (Caracol of our Life) took place, mainly in the Caracol at Oventik, but also with activities and films in the Integral Indigenous Training Center (CIDECI) in San Cristobal de Las Casas. The festival was “fundamentally conceived for the original Zapatista peoples, for their viewing and the eyes of the people who work in or around fiction films and documentary films, who have been invited.” To attend and make the event possible, about four thousand Zapatistas came from the Caracoles in Chiapas. In addition, civil society organizations from San Cristobal de Las Casas, interested people and personalities of Mexican cinema, such as Gael Garcia Bernal, attended.

In addition to the presentation of films of various genres and numerous documentaries a day in two cinemas and on an open-air screen, there was a cultural and interactive program in the form of discussions and workshops. The festival was proposed as an “alternative to the times of death we live”, as well as to “rethink our world with a critical vision and imagine other possible worlds.”

Part of the festival was not only the presentation, but also the recognition of films in their corresponding category (for example “Fall and Get up” or “Look at Yourself in the Mirror”) and of workers in the film industry for their work.

Finally, the festival ended as it began with music, dance and joy combined with Tsotsil traditions and the memory of key events in the Zapatista struggle and growth. It closed with the promise that this first festival will not be the last.

For more information in Spanish:

Una invitación a: “El cine imposible”. Comisión Sexta del EZLN, octubre del 2018. (Enlace Zapatista, 4 de octubre de 2018)

Festival de cine “Puy ta Cuxlejaltic”. Programa General. (Enlace Zapatista, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Termina el Festival de cine Puy ta Cuxlejaltic – Caracol de Oventic (Radio Zapatista, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

Arranca el Festival de cine zapatista Puy ta Cuxlejaltic (Somos el medio, 3 de noviembre de 2018)

Gael García, de abrazo con el sub Galeano (El Universal, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

Festival de cine Puy ta Cuxlejaltic (Caracol de nuestra vida) (Radio Zapatista, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: EZLN Announces “The Impossible Cinema” (October 14th, 2018)

Chiapas : segunda y tercera parte del comunicado del EZLN compartido durante el Encuentro de Redes en Morelia, (23 de agosto de 2018)

Chiapas: Meeting of CIG Support Networks, COMPARTE 2018 “For Life and Liberty” and 15th Anniversary of the Zapatista Caracoles (August 22nd, 2018)

Chiapas: Comunicado EZLN (primera parte) UNA FINCA, UN MUNDO, UNA GUERRA, POCAS PROBABILIDADES, (22 de agosto de 2018)

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

 

 

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces New Attacks in Aldama and Demands End to Violence

Displaced in Aldama (@Rompeviento)

In an urgent action notice published on November 9th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) denounced new attacks perpetrated by an armed group of Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla, in the municipality of Chenalho, endangering the lives of the inhabitants of the neighboring municipality of Aldama.

It explained that on November 7th, a group of about 20 people arrived at the plots in the community of Xuxch’en, in Aldama, to cut their coffee and that, at approximately 11 am, armed individuals of Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla began to shoot at them. It added that a similar event occurred on October 19th, when indigenous people from the communities of Tulantic, Cotzilnam, Tabac, Coco and the capital of Aldama went to take in the harvest at their farms and an armed group of Santa Martha shot at them. Two people were injured, it said.

Faced with the most recent events that stem from an unresolved agrarian conflict since 1977, the Center demanded that the authorities intervene “urgently” and guarantee the life, integrity and personal security of the inhabitants of Aldama. It also urged them to deal with the displacement of 12 families of Xuxch’en and other communities in conditions of forced displacement in Aldama, immediately applying “the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement of the United Nations, as well as how to carry out preventive actions in order to prevent forced displacements from the Aldama communities from continuing due to the armed aggressions in the region.” It also asked “to implement an effective strategy of dismantling, disarming, arresting and punishing the armed civilian groups of Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla and thoroughly investigate the authorities responsible for the organization and action of these groups. We again call for a ceasefire.” The Center asked the Governor Manuel Velasco Coello to assume his responsibility as representative and to see to in a comprehensive manner “and in depth the spiral of violence” that exists in the region, human rights violations and the emergency in which Aldama residents find themselves.

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente: En riesgo la vida de indígenas tsotsiles de Aldama (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

El Frayba exige frenar ataques contra indígenas de Aldama, Chiapas(Proceso, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

Dos heridos y en riesgo comunidades tsotsiles de Aldama tras nuevas agresiones de grupos armados (Rompeviento, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

Solución definitiva a Chenalhó y Aldama (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

Frayba denuncia ataques de grupo armado en la comunidad indígena de Aldama (Desinformémonos, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

El Frayba exige frenar ataques contra indígenas de Aldama, Chiapas (Diario Contrapaoder, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

For more inofrmation from SIPAZ:

Chiapas :Se mantienen amenazas y desplazamiento forzado en Aldama ; Frayba lanza acción urgente (October 14th, 2018)

Chiapas : Persiste riesgo a la vida de indígenas tsotsiles en Aldama, denuncia el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (April 26th, 2018)

Chiapas: Violence increases in the Highlands of Chiapas, 747 displaced and 3 dead in Aldama
(May 10th, 2018)

Chiapas: Otro conflicto agrario en los límites de Chenalhó provoca desplazados en el municipio de Aldama [blog incluye antecedentes] (27 de marzo de 2018)

Oaxaca: First Encounter of Ejido Communities and Authorities for the Defense of Life, Water, the Earth and Territory

(@NSS Noticias)

On the 3rd and 4th of November, the First Encounter of Ejido Communities and Authorities in Defense of Life, Water, the Earth and Territory was held in the community of San Juan Cacahuatepec, on the Costa Chica of Oaxaca. The participants “exchanged feelings, work experiences and alternatives of a regional organization that connect the defense of life, water, the Earth, and the inherited territory of their ancestors.”

They addressed the environmental issues that have in common as communities. Special guests gave an analysis of the context of the Mexican countryside facing the extractivist policies that “views territory as a commodity and not as a source of life in which the guardians are the campesinos” They reported on several reforms that have weakened the autonomy and self-determination of the agrarian nuclei of the Coast of Oaxaca.

Several alternatives were proposed for the outlined problems, and, at the end of the encounter, they agreed to hold a second meeting, in which they will move towards the creation of a Regional Committee in Defense of Life, Water, the Earth and Territory.

Young people made masks that refer to the different plants and animals that suffer devastation in their communities. Later they went out to the streets to march, to the rhythm of slogans such as: “The land is not sold, it is loved and defended” or “United ejidatarios, will never be defeated”

For more information in Spanish:

1er ENCUENTRO DE COMUNIDADES Y AUTORIDADES EJIDALES POR LA DEFENSA DE LA VIDA, EL AGUA, LA TIERRA Y EL TERRITORIO(CODIGO DH, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

En Cacahuatepec realizan 1er Encuentro por la Defensa de la Vida, el Agua, la Tierra y el Territorio (NSS Oaxaca, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

Realizan encuentro por la defensa de recursos naturales en la Costa (El despertar de Oaxaca, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Popular Community Trial against the State and the Mining Companies Held (October 16th, 2018)

Oaxaca : interponen amparo para evitar la privatización del Río Verde/Paso de la Reina (August 3rd, 2018)

National/International: Global Witness Publishes “At What Price? Irresponsible Business and the Murder of Land and Environment Defenders 2017”  (August 6th, 2018)

 

National: Consultations on National Institute for Indigenous Peoples to Begin

(@Notimex)

On October 30th, the Indigenous Peoples Commission of the Chamber of Deputies announced that from November 9th to 18th a series of consultations will be held on the Law initiative that aims to create the National Institute of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples, through ten forums in several states in which the indigenous peoples, communities and authorities will have the opportunity to comment on their possible purposes, attributions and functions.

More broadly, Adelfo Regino, who will head the institute, explained that “six issues will be addressed: the legal nature and purpose of the new body, indigenous peoples as subjects of public law, the powers of the new institute, the principles that should govern institutional performance, administration bodies, as well as strategy of regionalization and transversality.” He stressed that only in Guerrero and Chiapas the forums for consultations will be one per state; while in the rest of the country a meeting is being organized for several entities.

The consultations will begin in Chilpancingo, Guerrero on November 9th.

For more information in Spanish:

Iniciarán en Guerrero las consultas sobre el Instituto Nacional de Pueblos Indígenas (El Sur, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

Pide Adelfo Regino enseñar lenguas indígenas en el país (La Jornada, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

A consulta, instituto de pueblos indígenas en Oaxaca (NVI Noticias, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

Morena hará consulta por el Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (Regeneración, 3 de noviembre de 2018)

Diputados convocan a consulta y foros sobre nuevo Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (MVS Noticias, 1ero de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : AMLO anuncia estructura y responsable de asuntos indígenas en su gobierno (18 de agosto de 2018)