National / International: Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations presents report on Mexico in Geneva, Switzerland

@CDH Tlachinollan

On September 19, at the 39th session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN), the special rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz presented in Geneva, Switzerland, the Report on her visit to Mexico from November 8 to 17, 2017. It should be remembered thats he visited the states of Guerrero, Chihuahua and Chiapas in the framework of that visit.

The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center participated in the presentation of this Report and underlined in a bulletin that one of the cases taken up in the same is the historical struggle of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (CECOP). The Rapporteur refers in her report that despite the fact that the community members have expressed their refusal “the state and federal governments maintain their intention to carry it out, even though it would cause displacement and impacts to lands and traditional natural resources of the affected indigenous communities.”

In general, the report warns that the fight against megaprojects, as well as the defense of territories and natural resources have increased the risk of violence and criminalization, which has led several indigenous leaders to be imprisoned “despite judicial sentences that have ordered the suspension of projects or protection measures granted by international organizations “. It states that the preservation and protection of lands, territories and natural resources of indigenous peoples should be a priority issue that requires proper regulation, in accordance with international law.

This topic was resumed the following day in an event entitled “Defending the territory in Mexico” convened by the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center together with the international organizations International Peace Brigades (PBI), the German Coordination for Human Rights in Mexico, the World Organization Against Torture and the National Network of Civil Organizations for Human Rights All Rights for All (RED TDT), an event in which the Rapporteur was also present. “The leaders and indigenous communities who oppose the projects are killed, forcibly displaced, threatened and intimidated and subjected to insidious harassment in the form of criminal accusations that are often imprecise, highly exaggerated or fictitious”, the rapporteur warned.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Relatora de la ONU denuncia uso del sistema penal contra opositores a megaproyectos en México (Animal Político, 21 de septiembre de 2018)

Violan derechos indígenas megaproyectos en el estado, señala relatora de la ONU (El Sur, 20 de septiembre de 2018)

COMUNICADO | Participa Tlachinollan en la presentación del Informe de la Relatora Especial sobre Pueblos Indígenas  Victoria Tauli-Corpuz sobre su visita a México ante Consejo de DH de la ONU (Tlachinollan, 19 de septiembre de 2018)

Tlachinollan atestigua en Ginebra Informe sobre Pueblos Indígenas de la ONU (MVS Noticias, 19 de septiembre)

Los pueblos indígenas de Guerrero en el informe de la relatora (CDH Tlachinollan, 9 de agosto de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Publishes Report after Visit to Mexico August 21, 2018

National/International: Visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Mexico Ends November 23, 2017

National–Mexico: Visit of UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples November 12, 2017

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Oaxaca: SEMARNAT denies consent of environmental impact to hydroelectric dam project in San Felipe Usila, Chinanteca zone

Chinantla de Oaxaca (@NVI Noticias)

In mid-September, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) denied the consent of environmental impact to the South American transnational company Generación Enersi, SA de CV to install a hydroelectric dam in San Felipe Usila, in the Chinanteca area of ​​the state of Oaxaca. This was reported by Rutilo Lorenzo Felipe, municipal president of San Felipe Usila. The communities in the area had asked him to act to prevent the implementation of this project that they are opposed to from the beginning. For this reason, the city council had offered to SEMARNAT proofs of the damages that a project of this nature could have, both for the flora and fauna of the area.

It should be remembered that in 2014 there was a first attempt by the same company to build a dam on the Perfume River. The new project “contemplated occupying the water of the four rivers of San Felipe Usila, constructing a tunnel that will channel the water, installing a turbine that would generate 121 gigawatts”, according to information published by Noticias Voz e Imagen. It would imply an initial investment of 350 million pesos.

The arguments presented by the municipality were validated by Semarnat, which determined to suspend the continuity of the project, at least in its current format.

For more information (In Spanish) :

Dan revés a hidroeléctrica en la Chinantla de Oaxaca (NVI Noticias, 14 de septiembre de 2018)

Semarnat niega permiso a proyecto hidroeléctrico en Usila (El Imparcial, 17 de septiembre de 2018)

Chinantecos contra hidroeléctrica en San Felipe Usila, Oaxaca (NVI Noticias, 11 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Hydroelectric Dam Canceled in the Lacandon Jungle September 16, 2018

National/International: UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Publishes Report after Visit to Mexico August 21, 2018

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

National / International: UN-DH denounces that 10 Human Rights Defenders have been murdered in Mexico until now in 2018

In a statement published on September 13, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-DH) in Mexico reported that 10 human rights defenders have been killed in the country so far this year, a figure that already exceeds the total number of cases registered last year.

Specifically, it condemned the case number 10: the murder, on September 8, of Margarito Díaz González, leader of the Wixárika community of Nayarit. The UN-DH highlighted that six of the 10 victims identified were indigenous and warned that the whereabouts of activist Sergio Rivera Hernández, who disappeared in Puebla on August 23, remain unknown to this day.

” So far in 2018 we have already recorded more murders of human rights defenders than in the whole 2017. Human rights defenders in Mexico live in a critical situation, and as Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur on HR defenders, pointed out, it is urgent to stop and reverse the trend, because Mexico could be the most dangerous place in the world for them”, it said.

A few days earlier, in her first public intervention as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet deplored that “in Mexico, eight human rights defenders were murdered in the first eight months of 2018. (…) many more have been victims of criminalization, abusive demands, smear campaigns, surveillance, death threats and attacks. Last year was also the deadliest year for journalists in Mexico, with at least 12 murders in 2017”.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Aumentan asesinatos de defensores de los derechos humanos en México: ONU (La Jornada, 14 de septiembre de 2018)

Suman 10 defensores asesinados: ONU-DH (El Economista, 14 de septiembre de 2018)

Condena ONU-Dh asesinato del defensor indígena Margarito díaz González (El Universal, 13 de septiembre de 2018)

Al inaugurar sesión de la ONU-DH, Bachelet deplora asesinatos de defensores y periodistas en México (Proceso, 10 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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

National: UNO Special Rapporteur Visits Mexico to Evaluate Human Rights Situation February 5, 2017

Chiapas: Zoque People’s Assembly against extractivism

@Padre Marcelo Pérez Pérez

On September 8, around 400 people from 22 communities held a Zoque People’s Assembly against extractivism in the community of Linda Vista, municipality of Ixtacomitán. The priests of Amatan, Simojovel, Rayón, Tapilula and Sta. Catarina (Solosuchiapa) invited by the Movement of the Zoque People of Faith in Defense of Life and Territory (ZODEVITE) were also present.

In the main decisions that were made are the agreements not to participate with Zoque representatives in the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples that Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) plans to create, a document to protest against the recent elected Deputy Humberto Pedrero, considering that he does not represent the Zoque people and to conduct a march against hydrocarbons on September 16 in Guayabal and on September 22, in Rayón.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Chiapas : Asamblea del pueblo zoque contra el extractivismo (Rebelión, 13 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Zoque People Mobilizing against Mega-projects in Chiapas July 3, 2017

Chiapas: Ejidos and Communities in the Zoque Area March against Mining Projects May 4, 2017

Chiapas: Forum in Amparo Agua Tinta rejects the Santo Domingo dam project in the Border Zone

First Forum Against Hydroelectric Dams, Amparo Aguatinta (@SIPAZ)

On September 4, the nearly 800 participants of the First Forum Against Hydroelectric Dams in the Border Zone rejected the completion of the Hydroelectric Project for the Generation of Renewable Energy Santo Domingo that is intended to be built in the communities of Loma Bonita and Las Nubes of the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa. They considered that if built, “the territories of the original peoples are to be invaded, the ceremonial centers to disappear and the historical memory of our peoples to be buried, causing massive displacements and the rupture of traditional structures and organizational forms”. They also denounced that this project is based “on the interests of a few on the lives of our peoples” and that it “covers a large part of the protected natural reserves of the region.”

For this reason they demanded the definitive cancellation of the Project and “respect for our mother earth and the territory and our peoples” based on the fullfillment of Constitutional Article 2, the San Andrés Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture, the Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (OIT) and of “all the International Agreements and Treaties signed and ratified by the Mexican Government that protect our territories, native peoples and our cultures”.

They also asked for access to “clear and timely informations from institutions such as the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) regarding the Santo Domingo project. Finally, they demanded to have “a binding consultation that should be clean, transparent, informed and ratified by our peoples and communities ».

For more information (in Spanish) :

En foro rechazan proyecto hidroeléctrico y tren maya (NVI Noticias, 6 de septiembre de 2018)

La “mini represa” Santo Domingo, un proyecto inviable (Otros Mundos, 6 de septiembre de 2018)

Asamblea en Amparo Agua Tinta rechaza proyectos hidroeléctricos (Declaración final, 5 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Chiapas: Hydroelectric Dam Canceled in the Lacandon Jungle September 16, 2018

National/International: Actions for International Day against Dams and in Defense of Rivers and Water March 28, 2018

Chiapas: Meeting of those affected by dams and mining February 4, 2016

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

The National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG), convened their second national assembly, to be held from October 11 to 14 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.

“Our walk continues. And the fundamental difference with the previous stages is that now we are more indigenous peoples walking together, and, most importantly, we are more people, groups, collectives and organizations willing to find in ourselves the solutions that, we know, will never come from above” , they said.

The communiqué continues: “Every day that passes, the capitalist war grows more against the mother earth, our peoples and all those below. From above, the capitalists and their overseers who govern badly Mexico and the world, we don’t receive anything but lies, exploitation, dispossession, contempt and repression”.

In a communiqué signed by the Coordination and Follow-up Commission of the CIG / CNI, they explained that during the meeting they will make a balance and assessment of the last stage of their struggle, of the current situation in Mexico and the world, and from there they will decide “the steps we must take in our struggle as CNI and CIG, together with the Support Networks to the CIG, the national and international supporters of Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, and all those who decided to support the proposal of the CIG“.

For more information (in Spanish) :

CONVOCATORIA A LA SEGUNDA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL ENTRE EL CONCEJO INDÍGENA DE GOBIERNO Y LOS PUEBLOS QUE INTEGRAN EL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA. 11 al 14 de octubre, CIDECI-UniTierra, Enlace Zapatista, 6 de septiembre de 2018

Cada día crece el capitalismo que afecta a la madre tierra: CIG, La Jornada, 7 de septiembre de 2018

For more information from SIPAZ :

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

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

National: CNI Calls for “the Next Step in the Struggle” March 28, 2018

National: “The Offensive of Those Above against the Movement from Below”, CNI Communiqué Reports Intensification of Repression June 21, 2017

Chiapas: Hydroelectric Dam Canceled in the Lacandon Jungle

On August 20, the General Directorate of Environmental Impact and Risk (DGIRA) of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) denied the authorization to build the Santo Domingo hydroelectric dam on the Santo Domingo and Lacantún rivers in the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa, Chiapas.

The project was intended to be developed in the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa, in the region of the Lacandon Jungle, but the permit was denied because, according to the DGIRA, “it contradicts the stipulations of various legal systems, among which are the National Water Reserve Decrees, signed by President Enrique Peña Nieto on June 6, 2018, the Ecological Ordinance Program of the State of Chiapas and the Management Program of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park. In addition, the project is notoriously unviable from the technical and environmental point of view “.

Inhabitants of 51 communities in the municipality of Las Margaritas had rejected the hydroelectric project because, if it were to be carried out, “it will affect our communities and to a large extent the protected natural reserves of the region.”

 For more information (in Spanish):

Rechaza SEMARNAT presa hidroeléctrica Santo Domingo, en Chiapas (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, 23 de agosto de 2018)

Pese inconformidades ¡Va presa hidroeléctrica! (Cuarto Poder, 22 de agosto de 2018)

Frenan presa en la Selva Lacandona (Cuarto Poder 24 de agosto de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ :

National/International: Actions for International Day against Dams and in Defense of Rivers and Water March 28, 2018

Chiapas: Meeting of those affected by dams and mining February 4, 2016