National: AMLO – We Won’t Build Dams at El Paso de la Reina, Boca del Cerro or La Parota

Photo @ HydroReview

On January 20th, having been questioned in his morning press conference about a complaint of burglary and harassment in recent days by elements of the Navy against Marco Antonio Suastegui, one of the leaders of the opposition to La Parota dam in Guerrero, the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected that it is among his plans to reactivate the La Parota project.

“No work can be done against the will of the people. La Parota is opposed and that dam is not going to be built. As we are not going to build other dams, I would tell you that we are not going to build the Paso de la Reina dam in Oaxaca and the Boca del Cerro dam in the Usumacinta in Chiapas. The only one that we are going to finish because its expansion has already begun, is that of Chicoasen (…) no new dam will be started, but we will seek to modernize the existing ones. ”

Regarding the issue, the senator of On January 20, after being questioned in his morning conference about a complaint of raid and harassment in recent days by elements of the Navy to Marco Antonio Suastegui, one of the leaders of the opposition to La Parota dam in Guerrero, the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected that it is among his plans to reactivate the La Parota project.

“No work can be done against the will of the people. La Parota is opposed and that dam is not going to be built. As we are not going to build other dams, I would tell you that we are not going to build the Paso de la Reina dam in Oaxaca and the Boca del Cerro dam in the Usumacinta in Chiapas. The only one that we are going to finish because its expansion has already begun, is that of Chicoasén (…) said that no new dam will be started, but it will seek to modernize the existing ones”, the president said.

Regarding the issue, the MORENA senator, Ricardo Monreal, announced on the same day that he decided not to present an initiative to reform the Constitution and the Federal Injunction Law “to prevent the protection of public works that benefit the community” . According to Proceso magazine, “the MORENA member considers that the current federal government has promoted important projects from the beginning, which have been stopped by suspensions granted through injunctions, causing damage to economic and social progress.”

Through his Twitter account, the senator announced that “he had prepared initiatives to reform the Injunction Law, which were reviewed in the past by other means; After talking with groups and specialists, I decided not to present them, to look for a consensus project on the subject. You must listen and accept changes.” 

For more information in Spanish:

Morena en el Senado va por reforma para evitar que amparos frenen proyectos de AMLO (El Proceso, 19 de enero de 2020)

Monreal desiste de sus reformas al amparo para blindar los proyectos de AMLO (Expansión Política, 20 de enero de 2020)

López Obrador descarta retomar proyecto de presa La Parota, en Guerrero (El Proceso, 20 de enero de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Vocero del CECOP presenta queja contra policías estatales que pretendían detenerlo (December 17, 2019)

Chiapas: “La Voz del Pueblo” informa que el Ayuntamiento de Huehuetán no otorga ningún tipo de autorización a las empresas para la construcción de hidroeléctricas en el municipio (July 16, 2019)

Nacional/Internacional: “Gobierno debe frenar abusos de empresas públicas y privadas”: Grupo Focal de la Sociedad Civil sobre Empresas y DDHH (July 5, 2019)

Guerrero: 16 CRAC PC and CECOP Prisoners Released (June 17, 2019)

Celebrará Dia Internacional de Acción Contra las Presas y a Favor de los Ríos, el Agua y la Vida, Y otras formas de resistencia (March 12, 2019)

Chiapas/Mexico: EZLN, CNI and CIG Convene Actions in Defense of Territory and Mother Earth “We Are All Samir”

In a statement published on January 7th, the peoples, communities, organizations, groups and individuals who participated in the Forum in Defense of the Territory and Mother Earth that took place in the Zapatista caracol of Jacinto Canek in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, at the end of December, convened “Days in Defense of the Territory and Mother Earth – We Are All Samir” scheduled for next February.

In that statement, they stated that “capitalism is growing from war and the dispossession of all forms of life. The bad governments and the big capitalist companies, each of them with name and surname, try to make our struggles in defense of the territory and the Mother Earth invisible, even normalizing the murder of our brothers who defend them.” One of them was environmental activist Samir Flores Soberano, a native of Nagua people of Amilcingo, Morelos, who was killed a year ago, which is why his name has remained as a symbol of resistance in defense of the land.

“In Mexico, the acceleration of mining activity and the extraction and conduction of hydrocarbons, the creation of the National Guard in the logic of the Merida Initiative and the impulse, at whatever cost, of the large megaprojects (Trans-Isthmus Corridor Salina Cruz-Coatzacoalcos, the Maya Train, the Morelos Integral Project, the New International Airport of Mexico City) that seek to reorder the territories, populations and borders of North and Central America in a logic of dispossession and capitalist exploitation, place the defense of human life, the defense of the territories of our peoples and the defense of the land in a clearly anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal perspective,” the statement said.

The activities planned for the Conference include:

February 20th, 2020: Various actions in Mexico and the World in Defense of the Territory and Mother Earth, for justice for our dead, our disappeared, our prisoners and against megaprojects of death.

February 21st, 2020: March for Justice For Our Brother Samir Flores Soberanes, for our dead, our disappeared, our prisoners and in Defense of the Territory and Mother Earth. Mexico City. Starting point: Offices of the Federal Electricity Commission in Reforma Avenue, 16:00.

February 22nd, 2020: Assembly in Defense of the Territory and Mother Earth, in the center of the Community of Amilcingo, Municipality of Temoac, State of Morelos, starting at 10 am.

For more information in Spanish:

CONVOCATORIA A LAS JORNADAS EN DEFENSA DEL TERRITORIO Y LA MADRE TIERRA “SAMIR SOMOS TODAS Y TODOS”:  Enlace Zapatista, 7 de enero de 2020

Convocan a Jornadas en Defensa del Territorio y la Madre Tierra “Samir Somos Todas y Todos” (Proceso, 7 de enero de 2020)

Anuncia EZLN Jornadas en defensa del territorio y la Madre Tierra (La Jornada, 7 de enero de 2020)

EZLN, CNI Y CIG convocan a Jornada de Resistencia Civil y Foro por la Madre Tierra; Chiapasparalelo, 7 de enero de 2020

EZLN anuncia marcha en CdMx en “defensa de la tierra”; Milenio, 7 de enero de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/National: Fourth Assembly of CNI-CIG Held in San Cristobal de Las Casas (January 13, 2020)

Chiapas/Nacional : CNI- CIG “vivimos la guerra del capital contra los pueblos del mundo”, convocatoria a la cuarta Asamblea Nacional (November 8, 2019)

Chiapas/National/International: EZLN Invitation to “Celebration of Life: December of Resistance and Rebellion” (November 10, 2019)

 National/International: CNI Mobilizations for Global Day of Struggle in Defense of Life and our Territories – “SAMIR FLORES LIVES” (October 17, 2019)

Chiapas: EZLN Commemorates 26th Anniversary of Uprising

@SIPAZ

On December 31st, 2019, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) held an event to commemorate its armed uprising on January 1st, 1994.

The event began with a military march of hundreds of militiamen from several Caracoles. Afterwards, Sub-commanders Elizabeth and Moises gave a few words reflecting on the last 26 years of struggle and the current stage.

From 1994, they recalled: “26 years ago, on an afternoon like this, we went down from our mountains to the big cities to challenge the powerful. We had no more than our death. A double death, because we died of death and died of oblivion. And we had to choose. Choose between dying as animals or dying as human beings fighting for life. It dawned then that first of January with fire in our hands. The boss that we faced then was the same one who today despises us. He had another name and another face, but he was and is the same now. Then what happened happened and a space for the word was opened. Then we opened our heart to our brother heart and compañero. And our voice found support and comfort in all the colors of the world below. The boss cheated, lied and followed his plan to destroy us. As does the boss now.”

They stressed: “they say that there are no more Zapatistas. That we are very few in resistance and rebellion. That perhaps only one remains a Zapatista. And they celebrate their triumph every year. And every year the bosses congratulate each other saying that they have ended the indigenous rebellions. That we are already defeated, they say. But every year we, we, Zapatistas show ourselves and shout: we are here!”

They said “We are willing to die as an alternative to society, as an organization, as native peoples of Maya roots, as guardians of Mother Earth, as Zapatista individuals. Then we, the Zapatista peoples, followed our way and our calendar, made the offering only to warn Mother Earth that we will defend her, we will defend her to death if necessary.”

That night there were also works of music, rap, and poetry, compiling the 26 years of struggle of the EZLN, and the current continuation of this work.

The event took place near the Morelia caracol, in an EZLN space, where the second International Encounter of Women who Struggle also took place days before.

For more information in Spanish:

Palabras del CCRI-CG del EZLN en el 26 Aniversario Enlace Zapatista, 31 de diciembre de 2019.

Al conmemorar su 26 aniversario, el EZLN reitera su rechazo a megaproyectos de AMLO (Proceso, 1ero de enero de 2020)

Fortalecido, en su 26 aniversario, EZLN reta a López Obrador (Aristegui Noticias, 1ero de enero de 2020)

(Español) “¿A qué estamos dispuestxs para detener la guerra contra la humanidad?”: 26 Aniversario del EZLN Radio Zapatista, 2 de enero de 2020.

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional : Se lleva a cabo Foro en Defensa del Territorio y la Madre Tierra en el nuevo caracol zapatista Jacinto Canek 26 de diciembre de 2019.

Chiapas/Nacional: se lleva a cabo 4ª Asamblea del CNI-CIG en San Cristóbal de Las Casas 21 de diciembre de 2019.

Chiapas: EZLN – Una Ballena en las montañas del sureste mexicano: Segundo Festival de Ciné zapatista 18 de diciembre de 2019.

Chiapas/International: Second Encounter of Women Who Struggle Held by EZLN

@Enlace Zapatista

On December 27th, the Second International Encounter of Women who Struggle was convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) and took place in Morelia from December 27th to 29th. It was inaugurated by Commander Amada, who indicated in her speech that “we have done everything possible to make you happy and safe. It seems easy to say, but we know very well that there are very few places in the world where we can be happy and safe (…) all, regardless of the calendar we have or the geography in which we live, we are in the same situation: the struggle for our rights as women we are. For example, our right to life. And this is where we are sad because, more than a year after the first meeting, we cannot give good accounts. Around the world they continue to kill women, they continue to disappear, they continue to rape them, they continue to despise them. In this year the number of violated, disappeared and murdered has not stopped. What we know is that it has increased.”

In total, women from 49 countries were present, men were not allowed during the three days of the meeting. As of December 26th, 3,259 women and 95 boys and girls had been registered, but many participants also arrived without prior registration. The program proposed a different approach for each day: “Today is a single reporting table and here the microphone will be open. Here we will be able to pass and take the floor and take out our anger, our courage from everything we do (…). And then, tomorrow we have to share the ideas, work and experiences that you bring to find ways to end this nightmare of pain and death. And on the last day of this meeting we will dedicate it to culture, art and celebration. So one day we shout our pains and courage. Another day we share ideas and experiences. And on the third day we shout for joy and strength. Because we are women who suffer. But we are also women who think and organize themselves.” Apart from the official activities, there were several spontaneous discussions and workshops facilitated by women participants who arrived with knowledge or a special interest that they wanted to share with the other women.

Regarding the results and proposals of the meeting, during the closing, Commander Yesica Commander summarized what was agreed upon “1. That we all make and know the proposals as it comes in our thinking on the issue of violence against women. That is, proposals for how to stop this serious problem that we have as women that we are (…) 2. That if any woman in any part of the world, of any age, of any color asks you for help because she is attacked with violence, we respond to her called and let’s look for ways to support it, protect it and defend it. (…) 3. That all the groups and organizations of women who fight that want to coordinate for joint actions exchange with each other ways of communicating with each other, either by telephone or internet or whatever.”

Both the inauguration and the closure were accompanied by the Zapatista women parts of the armed branch of the EZLN in the form of a military exercise.

In the end, the event ended with a final proposal by the Zapatistas: “We propose that each day [on March 8, 2020] each organization or group do what they think is best. And we each carry the color or signal that identifies us, according to the thought and mode of each one. But we all wear black in pain and sorrow for all missing and murdered women around the world. So that we tell you, in all languages, in all geographies and with all calendars: That they are not alone. That we need them. That we miss them. We do not forget them. That we need them. Because we are women who fight. And we don’t sell ourselves, we don’t surrender and we don’t give up.”

For more information in Spanish:

PALABRAS DE LAS MUJERES ZAPATISTAS EN LA INAUGURACIÓN DEL SEGUNDO ENCUENTRO INTERNACIONAL DE MUJERES QUE LUCHAN (Enlace Zapatista el 27 de diciembre de 2019)

PALABRAS DE LAS MUJERES ZAPATISTAS EN LA CLAUSURA DEL SEGUNDO ENCUENTRO INTERNACIONAL DE MUJERES QUE LUCHAN (Enlace Zapatista el 31 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: EZLN lleva a cabo el 26 aniversario de su levantamiento (3 de enero de 2020)

Chiapas/Nacional : Se lleva a cabo Foro en Defensa del Territorio y la Madre Tierra en el nuevo caracol zapatista Jacinto Canek 26 de diciembre de 2019.

Chiapas/Nacional: se lleva a cabo 4ª Asamblea del CNI-CIG en San Cristóbal de Las Casas 21 de diciembre de 2019.

Chiapas: EZLN – Una Ballena en las montañas del sureste mexicano: Segundo Festival de Ciné zapatista 18 de diciembre de 2019.

Chiapas: EZLN convoca al Segundo Encuentro Internacional de Mujeres que Luchan (20 de septiembre de 2019)

Chiapas: Primer Encuentro Internacional Político, Artístico, Deportivo y Cultural de Mujeres que Luchan (13 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas/National: Forum in Defense of Territory and Mother Earth Held in New Zapatista Caracol Jacinto Canek

@Radio Pozol

On December 21st and 22nd, the Forum in Defense of Territory and Mother Earth was held in the new Jacinto Canek caracol, at the Cideci/Unitierra facilities in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Convened by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), the Indigenous Government Council (CIG) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), it was attended by more than 900 people from 25 Mexican states and 24 countries.

The welcome was given by the former candidate for the presidency and spokesperson of the CIG, María de Jesus Patricio Martinez, Marichuy. During the event, presentations and testimonies were made by peoples and organizations in Mexico, as well as of indigenous peoples of Colombia, the Mapuche people of Chile and Kurdish women, with an emphasis on the impacts that megaprojects have on the territory and Mother Earth. We also heard stories of struggle and resistance to continue defending life through organization, collectivity, autonomy, legal action, direct action or the strengthening of one’s own cultures.

It is also worth mentioning the participation of 20 men and women from the Zapatista support bases that explained how for more than 20 years they have made progress in consolidating their own forms of government without omitting the difficulties they have encountered along the way. “The ‘Fourth Annihilation’ will destroy everyone, there will be a lot of sadness, but it gives us courage and anger to see how they continue to deceive our brothers, the situation that comes with the new government that is dispossession. Therefore, given this, we can only resist and face the war of the Fourth Annihilation,” said one of the Zapatista delegates. He also said that “to fight or organize you do not need to be a Zapatista, the important thing is to fight and face the bad system, let’s carry out a great task and take you to work with other colleagues, that is the only way to defend what we have.”

At the end of the event, some agreements were made among which is the convening of Days in Defense of the Territory and Mother Earth “Samir Somos Todxs”, for February 20th, 21st and 22nd, 2020.

The next day, the Jacinto Canek caracol was formally inaugurated, in the facilities of the Cideci/Unitierra, in San Cristobal de Las Casas, from where the Good Government Council will work as “Flower of our word, light of our peoples that reflects for all”.

For more information in Spanish:

Foro en Defensa del Territorio y la Madre Tierra [audios y fotos] (Radio zapatista, 24 de diciembre de 2019)

Indígenas acuerdan conformar modelo económico paralelo al capitalista (Aristegui Noticias, 23 de diciembre de 2019)

Bases del EZLN advierten que seguirán resistiendo la “Cuarta Aniquilación” (Proceso, 23 de diciembre de 2019)

EZLN: al capitalismo no le importa destruirnos; no lo permitamos (La Jornada, 22 de diciembre de 2019)

PROGRAMA DEL FORO EN DEFENSA DEL TERRITORIO Y LA MADRE TIERRA (Enlace zapatista, 20 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional: se lleva a cabo 4ª Asamblea del CNI-CIG en San Cristóbal de Las Casas (21 de diciembre de 2019)

Chiapas: EZLN – Una Ballena en las montañas del sureste mexicano: Segundo Festival de Ciné zapatista (18 de diciembre de 2019)

Chiapas/Nacional : CNI- CIG “vivimos la guerra del capital contra los pueblos del mundo”, convocatoria a la cuarta Asamblea Nacional (8 de noviembre de 2019)

Chiapas/Nacional/Internacional: EZLN invita a participar en el “Combo por la Vida: Diciembre de Resistencia y Rebeldía” (7 de noviembre de 2019)

Chiapas/National: Fourth Assembly of CNI-CIG Held in San Cristobal de Las Casas

@Radio zapatista

On December 18th and 19th, the Fourth National Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Government Council (CIG) was held at the Zapatista Caracol Jacinto Canek, at CIDECI-UNITIERRA, in San Cristobal de las Casas, with the participation of indigenous peoples from 24 Mexican states as well as guests from Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States. This was to “see and understand the neoliberal war that is covered with lies pretending to govern, when they put the country in the hands of large capital, which hinders the collective conscience of the peoples and starts their machinery of dispossession.”

In a joint pronouncement, they denounced that “the bad federal government simulates consulting the indigenous peoples” to “impose the Maya train”, the Morelos Integral Project (PIM) and “the megaprojects of death that reconfigure our country to make it available to the multinational capital, mainly imposing the terrorist power of the United States.”

They said that “to advance in their war, the bad government bets on the dismantling of community fabrics, by promoting internal conflicts that mark communities wit violence, between those who defend life and those who decided to put a price on it, even at the cost of selling the future generations for the millionaire benefit of a few corrupt, served by armed groups of organized crime.”

They affirmed that “our peoples, nations and tribes will continue to care for and defend the seeds of resistance and rebellion in the midst of death. Building a path that will last in the midst of darkness; we, we will be there to heal our mother earth, together with the peoples of the world.”

For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento conjunto de la Cuarta Asamblea Nacional del CNI-CIG y EZLN (CNI, 19 de diciembre de 2019)

EZLN acusa al gobierno de imponer el Tren Maya (La Jornada, 20 de diciembre de 2019)

Fue una consulta simulada para imponer el Tren Maya: EZLN-CNI-CIG (Proceso, 20 de diciembre de 2019)

Consulta fue simulación para imponer el Tren Maya (El Universal, 20 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/Nacional : CNI- CIG “vivimos la guerra del capital contra los pueblos del mundo”, convocatoria a la cuarta Asamblea Nacional (8 de noviembre de 2019)

Chiapas/Nacional/Internacional: EZLN invita a participar en el “Combo por la Vida: Diciembre de Resistencia y Rebeldía” (7 de noviembre de 2019)

Nacional/Internacional: movilización dislocada del CNI en el marco de la Jornada Global de lucha En defensa de la Vida y de Nuestros Territorios – “SAMIR FLORES VIVE” (16 de octubre de 2019)

Nacional: CNI invita a Jornada Global de Lucha “SAMIR FLORES VIVE” el 12 de octubre de 2019 (24 de septiembre de 2019)

Oaxaca : CNI realiza Asamblea Nacional “El Istmo es nuestro” en Juchitán (9 de septiembre de 2019)

National/International: Consultation on Maya Train did not Meet International Standards

@Aristegui Noticias

In a statement published on December 19th, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) said that the indigenous consultation process on the “Maya Train Development Project”, “has not complied with all international standards in the field.”

It reported that it participated as an observer in this process and attended four of the 15 regional information assemblies and eight of the 15 regional consultative assemblies in Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Tabasco and Quintana Roo.

“While the Office recognizes the decision of the Government of Mexico to make efforts to respect, protect and guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples, including their right to consultation and consent for the aforementioned project and welcomes the participation of multiple governmental entities in the process, it observed that the call, the protocol and the information presented only referred to the possible benefits of the project and not to the negative impacts that it could cause,” says the statement regarding the limitations of the informed nature of the process.

In other concerns, the UNHCHR noted that although “during the briefings and in the consultative stage, some authorities stated that the guarantee of various economic, social and cultural rights was not conditional on the acceptance of the project”, “as a consequence of the way in which the project was presented and the sessions were developed, the people of the communities expressed their agreement with the project as a means to receive attention to basic needs such as water, health, education, work, housing, healthy environment and culture, a logic that affects the free nature of the query.”

The UN DH also expressed concern about the cultural adequacy of the process, when the methodology of the process was not built and agreed with the communities involved. “This implied that the definition of whom to consult, where to do it and at what time it was established unilaterally by the authorities,” it said.

It deplored the low participation and representation of indigenous women in the process and that “the majority of those who participated were municipal and ejidal authorities, leaving out other groups and people who are part of the communities.”

It also stressed that the purpose of the information and consultative assemblies was to “establish agreements with the communities regarding their participation in the implementation and distribution of benefits, which could imply that the project will be done regardless of the outcome of the consultation.”

For more information in Spanish:

Consulta por Tren Maya no cumple estándares internacionales: ONU (La Jornada, 19 de diciembre de 2019)

Consulta sobre el Tren Maya incumple estándares internacionales: ONU-DH (Proceso, 19 de diciembre de 2019)

Rechaza ONU consulta ciudadana del Tren Maya (El Universal, 19 de diciembre de 2019)

ONU-DH emite observaciones sobre consulta de Tren Maya (Excelsior, 19 de diciembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: los participantes de la Consulta Indígena aceptaron el proyecto del Tren Maya, autoridades; sigue sin respetarse convenio 169 de la OIT, OSC(17 de diciembre de 2019)

Nacional: Organizaciones civiles, indígenas, y académicos se pronuncian en contra de la consulta por proyecto del Tren Maya. 9 de diciembre de 2019.

Nacional: Inicia proceso de licitación del Tren maya sin consulta previa a pueblos indígenas 4 de mayo de 2019

México: Consulta sobre el Tren Maya y 9 otros proyectos “prioritarios” del próximo gobierno 27 de noviembre de 2018

Nacional: AMLO anuncia consulta para la construcción por el tren maya 10 de noviembre de 2018