Chiapas/National: Several activities to observe the fourth anniversary of the death of Samuel Ruiz García, bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas

Beyond the pilgrimage and mass that were held on 24 January, several other activities were organized in observance of the fourth anniversary of the death of the bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Samuel Ruiz García.

On 27 January, the jTatik Samuel Museum was inaugurated in the El Caminante Communal Center of San Cristóbal de Las Casas (km 1.5 on the road toward Chamulá, passing Esquipulas).  The new space contains five rooms that show the life and work of bishop Samuel Ruiz García, as well as the history and religions of Chiapas, from before the Spanish conquest, Evangelization, and the most recent history after the EZLN’s armed uprising.

Maldonado Quiroga, a member of the administration of El Caminante, detailed that the museum was created after seven years of data gathering by 11 individuals who comprised the council for the space.  All 11 spent time next to Don Samuel during some point of his life.

On 26 January in Mexico City, there was held an event entitled “Sparkles in the darkness: the teachings of jTatic Samuel Ruiz four years after his passing,” in which several persons who were close to Don Samuel participated.

Raúl Vera, the bishop of Saltillo, recalled for example that “he changed my life, because I entered the indigenous world through the heart of Don Samuel.  I never stopped seeing the future that God was building, and I saw that the evidence that we could create a new world was that we were attempting to so at that very moment.”

For more information in Spanish:

Inauguran Museo en honor al obispo Samuel Ruiz García (Diez Noticias, video, 28 de enero de 2015)

Celebran el cuarto aniversario luctuoso del obispo Samuel Ruiz (La Jornada, 28 de enero de 2015)

Inauguran Museo Jtatik Samuel (Prensa libre, 27 de enero de 2015)

Reconoce Manuel Velasco al obispo Samuel Ruiz (El Sol de México, 26 de enero de 2015)

Más información sobre Samuel Ruíz García (Serapaz)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: burial of Samuel Ruiz in the cathedral of San Cristóbal de Las Casas (31 January 2015)

Chiapas: Burial of Don Samuel Ruiz and presentation of the Jtatic Samuel Jcanan Lum Award (31 January 2011)

Mexico: Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia dies (26 January 2011)

Guerrero: IACHR calls on Mexican government to guarantee medical attention to Nestora Salgado, political prisoner from the Communal Police of Olinalá, Guerrero, held in federal prison in Tepic, Nayarit

Nestora Salgado (@Desinformémonos)

On 28 January, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called on the Mexican government to guarantee medical attention to the activist Nestora Salgado, a member of the Communal Police from Olinalá, Guerrero, who is at present being held in the federal prison of Tepic, Nayarit.

Nestora Salgado, 41 years of age, was arrested in August 2013 after individuals who had been arrested by the Communal Police that she led claimed to have been kidnapped.  A federal judge dismissed these charges in 2014, but several state-level charges remain against her to date.  In January, Rogelio Ortega Martínez, governor of Guerrero, requested that the state attorney general, Miguel Ángel Godínez Muñoz, suspend the charges against her.  However, the petition was ignored following pressure applied by the anti-kidnapping activists Alejandro Martí and Isabel Miranda de Wallace.

For more information (in Spanish):

Pide la CIDH atención médica para Nestora Salgado (Proceso, 2 de febrero de 2015)

CIDH pide a México garantizar atención médica a Nestora Salgado (La Jornada, 2 de febrero de 2015)

CIDH exige iniciar medidas cautelares para Nestora Salgado (El Universal, 3 de febrero de 2015)

La CIDH ordenó que se proteja a Nestora Salgado (Aristegui Noticias, 3 de febrero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Delay in release for Nestora Salgado; her daughter claims to have been threatened by phone (5 February 2015)

Guerrero: Death-threat directed against Nestora Salgado’s daughter and Communal Police commander from Olinalá (25 October 2014)

Guerrero: A year after Nestora Salgado’s arrest, organizations demand her immediate release (2 September 2014)

Guerrero/National: Emergence of Committee of Women for the Liberty of Nestora Salgado (2 September 2014)

Guerrero: Navy kidnaps coordinator of CRAC en Olinalá (13 September 2013)

Chiapas/National: Bishops of southern Mexico pronounce themselves on the “drama of migration”

At the end of January, the Episcopalian Pastoral Commission for Human Mobility, part of the Conference of the Mexican Episcopals (CEM), held a three-day meeting in Tapachula with the participation of nine bishops working in the southern states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatán, Oaxaca, Campeche, and Veracruz. At the end of the meeting, in the document entitled “No to Indifference before the Drama of Migration,” the bishops pronounced themselves, declaring that “the Church is not indifferent to this drama.  The constant calls from the Pope and the bishops in light of this reality are a voice for the conscience of Christians and those who should offer efficient responses to society before this situation.  This is a voice that is lamentably not heard, above all by those who with their criminal practices make each day that passes more painful and more insecure for so many of our Central America brothers.”

Furthermore, they emphasized that “to the authorities we want to remind them to address the question of migration with more gravity in all aspects: above all, working decisively to promote dignified sources of work, the only way forward to eradicate poverty, which is a fundamental factor in this human drama.  It is urgent moreover to find and guarantee physical and legal security for those who transit through our territory.  Hospitality and the human values of Mexicans cannot be allowed to continue deteriorating due to external political interests or pressures.  The policy in this country should be defined by the values and principles of solidarity and respect for human life and dignity, as enshrined in our Constitution.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Pronunciamiento del CEM No a la indiferencia ante el drama de la migración (30 de enero de 2015)

Piden obispos a México y EU abrir las fronteras (Milenio, 30 de enero de 2015)

Obispos repudian plan Frontera Sur (Proceso, 30 de enero de 2015)

Piden obispos mayor atención y seriedad al tema de migración (Chiapas Paralelo, 31 de enero de 2015)

Infructuoso, el Plan Frontera Sur: obispos (La Jornada, 31 de enero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Mexico/Chiapas: Caravan of Central American Mothers, “Bridges of Hope,” in San Cristóbal (16 December 2014)

National/Chiapas: Massive raids against migrants and attack on human-rights defenders (3 May 2014)

National: Migrant pilgrimage arrives in Mexico City (2 May 2014)

Mexico: Caravan of Central American mothers seeking out their children(2 November 2012)

Oaxaca: Third anniversary of movement against wind-energy projects in San Dionisio del Mar

On 29 January, the Huave people of San Dionisio del Mar commemorated the third anniversary of their wind-energy resistance.  In this sense, there was held a march in which 500 people participated.  During a political act in the municipal auditorium, protestors reiterated their opposition to wind-energy projects in the Tehuantepec Isthmus.  Arturo Lona Reyes, bishop emeritus of the Tehuantepec Isthmus and a representative of the Tepeyac Center for Human Rights, celebrated a mass and affirmed that “the communal assemblies are the light in the darkness.”  Members of the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ), the Revolutionary Popular Front (FPR), CIARENA, the Network Organization of Young Indigenous Women, the 21 June Mareños Mototaxi group, and the Mugier Ndyuck Civil Association were present at the action.

It should be recalled that in January 2012, following debate regarding the conditions under which a contract had been signed with the Preneal firm in November 2004, the communal assembly agreed to censure the mayor Miguel López Castellano after it was revealed that he had received 20 million pesos from the firm in exchange for an authorization of change in land use.  For the same reason, protestors decided to occupy the municipal palace.

An Ikjoot communard said in an interview with La Jornada that “the threat against our territory persists because the concession for the wind-energy park has no end-date.  Beyond this, now the PRI would like to open the door to more mining.  We know that there are six mining concessions for gold, salt, and other metals in San Dionisio, in the La Riqueza park, where they are attempting to build an open-pit mine.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Pueblos impulsan su autonomía tras evitar construcción de parque eólico en Oaxaca (La Jornada 28 de enero de 2015)

Lucha por la autonomía en San Dionisio del Mar (Video Subversiones, 28 de enero de 2015)

Frente al extractivismo capitalista, San Dionisio del Mar lucha por la autonomía (Subversiones, 29 de enero de 2015)

Las asambleas comunitarias son esperanza en el Istmo: Lona Reyes(Quadratin Oaxaca, 29 de enero de 2015)

Cumple San Dionisio tres años de resistencia (Noticiasnet.mx, 29 de enero de 2015)

Huaves conmemoran tres años de “resistencia eólica” en el Istmo de Tehuantepec (La Jornada, 30 de enero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Conflicts over extraordinary elections in San Dionisio del Mar (30 December 2014)

Oaxaca: Mareña Renewables to cancel wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (15 January 2014)

Oaxaca: Meeting of Peoples in Resistance for the Defense of Territory in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (17 May 2013)

Oaxaca: Confrontation over supposed “approval” of wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (8 January 2013)

Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)

Guerrero: Marco Antonio Suastegui, opponent to the La Parota dam, is ordered to return to a Guerrero prison

Press conference, 29 January 2015 (@Tlachinollan)

In a press-conference on 29 January, the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights reported that on 26 January, the third judge of the Acapulco district concluded that the penal authorities had no justification for the reasons provided for the transfer of Antonio Suástegui Muñoz, spokesperson of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam (CECOP), to a maximum-security prison in Tepic, Nayarit.  As such, the judge in question ordered Muñoz’s return to the Unión jail in the Isidoro de Montes de Oca municipality, Guerrero State.

It should be recalled that, on 17 June 2014, the CECOP spokesperson was arrested by ministerial police and transferred to Tepic, Nayarit, on the orders of the Guerrero State Secretary for Public Security.

Tlachinollan had solicited a motion in the case “considering that there is a systematic pattern in the employment of maximum-security prisons to punish and silence social activists and communal defenders who protect the exercise of their rights.”  The Center denounced that “the decision of the State Government implied an act that sought to repress and punish Marco Antonio Suástegui Muñoz due to his opposition to the construction of the La Parota hydroelectric dam and for defending his land.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Boletín informativo del Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan (Tlachinollan, 29 de enero de 2015)

Ordena una juez trasladar a Marco Antonio Suástegui al penal de La Unión (29 de enero de 2015, La Jornada de Guerrero)

Exigen inmediato regreso de opositor de La Parota (El Universal, 29 de enero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: The Navy has tried to arrest him, denounces brother of CECOP spokesperson (30 December 2014)

Guerrero: Attack on CECOP members leaves 5 dead (6 December 2014)

Guerrero: Arrest of María de la Cruz Dorantes, CECOP member (25 October 2014)

Guerrero: demand for release of political prisoners in observance of the eleventh anniversary of CECOP (2 September 2014)

Guerrero: soldiers and policemen burst into the La Concepción Commmunity after a Cecop assembly in which the case of Marco Antonio Muñoz Suástegui was reported on (29 August 2014)

Guerrero: Arrest of a leader of the opposition to the La Parota Dam (23 June 2014)

Oaxaca: Violent displacement of UCIZONI members for blockade of refinery in Salina Cruz

On 28 January, workers from Mexican Petroleum (PEMEX) and the Ica-Fluor union displaced members of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) and other social organizations who were carrying out a sit-in at the Antonio Dovalí Jaime refinery in the port city of Salina Cruz.  The protestors were demanding negotiations with the Secretary of Governance, Osorio Chong, to negotiate the question of the gas pipeline that will connect Jaltipan, Veracruz, to Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.  UCIZONI president Juana Inés Ramírez observed that the peoples of the Isthmus demand compensation for the pollution caused by the construction works: on 31 December 2014, “there was damage to cattle, rivers, and marine life.”  More broadly, they demand compensation for the more than 30 disasters that have taken place in the past 2 decades, the definition of actions for environmental remediation and development in the region, as well as information and consultation regarding the Transisthmus Corridor Project.

During the displacement operation, dozens of people were beaten.  It is reported that their assailants were wearing the orange PEMEX uniform, armed with machetes and stones.

For more information (in Spanish):

Atacan en Salina Cruz a integrantes de la Ucizoni por bloqueo de refinería (La Jornada, 28 de enero de 2015)

Trabajadores de Pemex desalojan a opositores al gasoducto en el Istmo(Proceso, 28 de enero de 2015)

Desalojan en Salina Cruz a indígenas que exigen indemnización a Pemex(Nss Noticias, 29 de enero de 2015)

Boletín de UCIZONI (28 de enero de 2015)

Oaxaca: New threats against members of Indigenous Women for Conservation, Investigation, and Management of Natural Resources (CIARENA)

In an Urgent Action published on 27 January 2015, Amnesty International calls on State authorities to protect the security of Silvia Pérez Yescas, a human-rights defender for the indigenous people of the community of Matías Romero, Oaxaca, given that she has received new threats, despite having security protocols in place.

The UA details that on 13 January, Silvia Pérez discovered that several members of her organization, Indigenous Women for Conservation, Investigation, and Management of Natural Resources (CIARENA), had been threatened.  A group of people who said they represented a cacique from the zone told them that they should “[abandon] the stupidities because you can even be thrown in jail for being accomplices of Silvia, and anyway she will be fucked over for getting involved in this problem of land distribution.”  Furthermore, they added that “there are people waiting for when she will show her face.”

For more information from SIPAZ (in Spanish):

Acción Urgente en línea México: Defensores de indígenas reciben nuevas amenazas (AI, 27 de enero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Bounty placed on head of female rights-defender for 100,000 pesos (2 September 2014)

Oaxaca: Armed men threaten human-rights defender (29 January 2013)