National/International: CNI Groups Organize as USMCA Comes into Effect

At the end of June, before the imminent entry into effect of the new free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA), the Metropolitan Anticapitalist and Antipatriarchal Coordination and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) called for a series of protest activities that will include: a virtual march “Against USMCA! No to the New Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico!”, On July 1st; a virtual Forum “Analysis and Perspectives: a Comparative Framework of NAFTA-1994 and its Contributions to Social Inequalities”, on July 16th; and a public presentation of the legal resources presented before national and international bodies against megaprojects, on July 30th and 31st.

On July 1st, the day the new trade agreement came into force, the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT), also part of the CNI, published a statement denouncing that this type of agreements “cement the legal frameworks to use force by law in the imposition of megaprojects in Mexico, as well as a whole series of policies, laws and reforms that violate the human rights of indigenous peoples and the Mexican people.”

It declared that the wave of violence that plagues the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is “linked to the imposition of megaprojects and extractivist policies of the Mexican government”, in particular the Trans-Systemic/Interoceanic Corridor-Train, “a historic project that since the mid-19th century has been proposing using the geostrategic position of the Mexican Isthmus as a commercial node for global trade, this as part of the expansionist project of the US, which, by not achieving its objective in Mexico, gained control over the Panama Canal, a project that is currently obsolete compared to the demand from this rampant global market.”

It warned about the fact that “the Mexican Isthmus is seen as the primary node in these treaties, and with the discourse of emerging from the economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, national and international pressure is created in our region by capital to streamline the works and construction of this Trans-Systemic/Interoceanic Corridor-Train from the port of Coatzacoalco, Veracruz to the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, interconnected with Section 1 of the Maya Train, passing through the new Dos Bocas refinery and extending from Salina Cruz to Tapachula, Chiapas, to consolidate an energy, rail, port and industrial corridor, militarizing and reordering the entire south-southeast of Mexico and placing the new border with the US on the Tehuantepec Isthmus.”

Given this, the APIIDTT made a “call to organization, to resistance and to fight for the life and future of coming generations. The Isthmus is Ours, not the companies, nor the governments, it is of the indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, it is of the Mexican people and of any person who decides to defend it, take care of it, and respect it.”

For more information in Spanish:

Boletín completo (APIIDTT, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Tratados como el T-MEC «cimientan los marcos jurídicos para usar la fuerza» contra los pueblos: comunidades del Istmo (Desinformémonos, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Jornada de lucha contra el T-MEC y los megaproyectos (CNI, 30 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ: 

National/International: USMCA Comes into Effect with Mechanisms for Internet Censorship and Criminalization of Digital Locks Evasion (July 3, 2020)

National/International: United States Formally Approves USMCA Trade Agreement(February 2, 2020)

National/International: Mexican Senate Ratifies US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (July 4, 2019)

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA (June 25, 2018)

 

Chiapas: Three Members of FNLS and ORCAO Released after Detentions in Ocosingo

@Internet

On June 14th, it was announced that Carlos Lopez Gomez, Angeliza Santiz Lopez and Enrique Herrera Jimenez, members of the National Front for the Struggle for Socialism (FNLS), were released after being held for several days in Ocosingo, according to their statements, by the paramilitary group “Los Petules”.

They were handed over in San Cristobal de Las Casas thanks to the intervention of the Vicar for Peace and Justice, Jose Luis Vasares Selvas, from the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas and the pastor of Oxchuc. Simultaneously, the FNLS group also handed over a person from the Ocosingo Regional Organization of Coffee Growers (ORCAO) who had been detained in the Río Florido ejido. This occurred in front of a commission of officials composed of Marco Shilon, of the Commission for Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples (CDPI), Marina Patricia Jimenez Ramirez of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH); Martin Longoria Hernandez from the Coordinator of the CNDH exterior office in San Cristobal and Yolanda Castro representing the FNLS.

Finally, it was reported that negotiations will continue in the coming days between the State Government, representatives of the National and State Commission on Human Rights and the group of indigenous people, since the retentions were due to an agrarian problem.

For more information in Spanish:

Liberan a integrantes del FNLS, Diario de Chiapas, 15 de junio de 2020

Liberan a militantes del FNLS y Orcao que habían retenido en Ocosingo, Contra Poder, 15 de junio de 2020

Después de 6 días, liberan a defensora indígena de Ocosingo, Chiapasparalelo, 14 de junio de 2020

Fueron presentados con vida los indígenas #Tzeltales Carlos López Gómez, Angelina Sántiz López y Enrique Armando Herrera Jiménez, integrantes del #FNLS en el Estado de Chiapas, víctimas de #DesapariciónForzada por el grupo paramilitar los “#Petules”, Comité Cerezo, 14 de junio de 2020

Bloquean e incendian, diario de Chiapas, 12 de junio de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Denuncian desalojo forzado de 45 personas pertenecientes al FNLS en Socoltenango (11/11/2019)

Chiapas: FNLS Reports Delay in Forensic Investigation into Case of Minor Murdered in Ocosingo (July 5, 2017)

 

International: Resistances in Latin America Strengthened on World Environment Day

© Eco Caminata

In the framework of World Environment Day, the Latin American and Caribbean Water Forum was held during the COVID-19 emergency, which was held in the online event “Weaving Networks for Life: Defending Territory is Defending Life!”. During this forum, academics, activists, and environmental defenders from countries such as Puerto Rico, Paraguay, and Honduras, spoke of the challenges involved in defending the environment on the American continent during the pandemic.

Historic struggles by indigenous, Afro-American, and mestizo communities in Latin America, especially against extractive and agribusiness companies, continue despite the health emergency and the additional obstacles it represents. As in both Mexico and in other countries such as Brazil, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia and Ecuador these activities were considered ‘essential’, community resistance was limited by the confinement measures imposed by governments.

Pedro Landa, a researcher in environmental human rights, expressed the importance of joining local struggles to strengthen resistance at the global level. He did so after explaining the “artificial” separation suffered by the Mesoamerican countries but which today continue to defend the same resources and the same territory. He also emphasized the need to “denounce the responsibility of the extractive industries and complicit governments in human rights violations because they promote these types of industries, encourage and impose them, sometimes at gunpoint, of repression, of criminalization and the imprisonment of many defenders of the environment ”, as well as removing the legal shield with which these companies are protected.

Adriana Muñoz Perez, a Paraguayan activist, spoke of the resistance of women who developed an agri-food model since before the pandemic with the aim of fighting agribusiness that continues to expand and displace communities in this territory; and to reduce the economic impact on families by producing their own food. Even though today they are the protagonists of this fight, the pandemic has increased impunity, political persecution, corruption and social inequality for many sectors of the population.

As described in an Infobae article, the null action of the governments of Mexico and of other countries in Latin America against the protection of human rights to the environment, health and violation by companies has led to Citizen organizations leading the defense of these rights. However, these actions put the lives of human rights defenders at risk as there are no justice mechanisms and regulatory ambiguity, as noted by Benjamin Berlanga, head of the Coordination Unit for Social Participation and Transparency (UCPAST) of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).

In this sense, Pedro Landa called for a recognition and a tribute to all the men and women who have died for the defense of the environment rather than a celebration.

For more information in Spanish: 

Evento virtual: Tejiendo redes para la vida (Caminata ecológica, 5 de junio 2020)

Débiles mecanismos de justicia perpetúan agresiones a defensores ambientales (Contralínea, 1 de junio, 2020)

Suma México 499 agresiones a ecologistas en 7 años (QS Noticias, 5 de junio 2020)

La ciudadanía lidera defensa de derecho al medioambiente en América Latina (Infobae, 5 de junio 2020)

Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente, nada que celebrar (Excelsior, 4 de junio 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ: 

Nacional: Organizaciones ambientales denuncian recorte presupuestal de un 75% de la CONANP; “paralizará sus actividades fundamentales”

Nacional: Da AMLO banderazo del Tren Maya entre la pandemia y la inconformidad de la sociedad civil.

Oaxaca/Nacional: Más de 100 OSC rechazan proyecto del Corredor Transístmico a unos día de visita de AMLO

Nacional: fracking sigue en la 4T, denuncian; AMLO desmiente que así sea

Nacional: debaten iniciativa que reformaría la Ley para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas en un contexto de mayor vulnerabilidad para estos sectores debido a la pandemia

Chiapas: Comunicado por la defensa del agua en San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Chiapas : La empresa minera El Puntal S.A. de C.V y el Gobierno de Chiapas amenazan a defensores de Acacoyagua, denuncian

Nacional: CEMDA destaca que continua el riesgo para defensores del medio ambiente

Chiapas: Food Crisis in Displaced Communities; Over Three Thousand at Risk of Hunger

@Frayba

At a press conference on May 26th, the Trust for the Health of Indigenous Children of Mexico (FISANIM) and the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights, (Frayba) warned of the risk of famine for more than 3,000 displaced people in the Highlands of Chiapas.

They documented that based on direct information received from the population of the Maya Tsotsil People from the municipality of Aldama, Chalchihuitan and from the Civil Society Organization Las Abejas de Acteal in Chenalho, people displaced in said municipalities face a food emergency situation that could lead to famine if prolonged. Being in itself one of the most marginalized municipalities in the country, the lives of 3304 displaced persons are also at high risk of contagion by COVID-19 when they are “in overcrowded conditions: in borrowed, rented houses and in critical situations, when armed violence begins they take refuge in the mountains. Several of the families have had their houses burned, destroyed and/or been shot, without access to their farms to cultivate their land and without being able to plant and harvest their corn, beans, fruits and vegetables. Up to now, they do not have the possibility of going somewhere to work, they have not been able to harvest their coffee, being one of the sources of economic income to complete their livelihood throughout the year.”

“In all three cases, the omission of the Mexican State and the lack of compliance with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement of the United Nations (UN) prevail,” they also denounced. This is due to “the constant lack of food, medical attention and emotional damage due to the permanent fear and despair of being attacked, girls, boys, women and the elderly women/men are the most vulnerable victims.”

Faced with this situation, they demanded from the authorities: the implementation of a Food Emergency Plan; the efficient action of the State Council for Comprehensive Attention to Internal Displacement of Persons in the State of Chiapas; the intervention of the International Red Cross to contribute to humanitarian aid; and to deactivate “the violence in these territories caused by armed paramilitary civilian groups that comes from decades of impunity, since today we are in the previous scenarios of what was the Acteal Massacre”, among others.

The two organizations also called for solidarity actions from national and international civil society, including the possibility of financial support to address the food emergency: Trust for the Health of Indigenous Children in Mexico. Scotiabank bank. Account: 00107853564 Interbank password: 044180001078535644.

For more information in Spanish:

Alertamos posible hambruna de Pueblos Mayas en desplazamiento forzado (Frayba, 26 de mayo de 2020)

En riesgo de hambruna más de 3 mil indígenas desplazados de Chiapas; coronavirus agravó su situación (Aristegui Noticias, 26 de mayo de 2020)

Más de 3 mil 300 desplazados en el umbral de la hambruna en Chiapas, alerta el Frayba(Proceso, 27 de mayo de 2020)

Centro Frayba alerta de un “desastre humanitario” en los Altos de Chiapas (La Jornada, 27 de mayo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Injunction Granted to Protect Life, Integrity and Security of Displaced Tsotsil Communities in Aldama (May 4, 2020)

Chiapas: Authorities in Santa Martha and Aldama Denounce New Attacks (March 5, 2020)

Chiapas: Death of Displaced Baby Girl from Rio Jordan, Chenalho (February 28, 2020)

 

 

National: Numerous Collectives Call National and International Communities to Back Urgent Action against Maya Train

@ Enlace Zapatista

On May 11th, different groups made a call to support an urgent action against the Maya Train project, since, despite the injunctions filed by the communities of Ocosingo, Palenque and Salto del Agua and the COVID-19 pandemic, work has not been suspended, thus violating the “Right to Health, life and active participation in the defense of their rights.”

It is expected that on May 14th, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will resolve the definitive suspension of this project, which had been provisionally done by a Federal Judge in previous weeks.

Added to this is the decree published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, where the government announced that it will have the Armed Forces carry out public security tasks, which represents for indigenous peoples and communities not only “unleashing a war against the drug cartels, which impose dispossession of forests, waters, minerals, wood and facilitate the entry of business and government megaprojects, but also face corruption, the links it has with organized crime, its complicity with fuel theft, the acts of repression and dispossession of indigenous peoples and communities, the use of public force to impose megaprojects, the forced displacement that they cause in the communities, according to them to bring order, as well as the murders, rapes and the criminalization of social protest social.”

Given what is happening and could happen, it seeks to promote knowledge and resistance against the project in civil society through actions such as concentrating information on the subject for its dissemination; share the existing poster (s) and/or design new ones that denounce the project and its damages; write and disseminate pronouncements in this regard; identify campaign initiatives by existing Mexican citizen groups to support them, or launch one; promote saturation of phone calls or emails to SCJN, FONATUR, CNDH, etc., speaking out against the project; and, invite networks, groups, contacts, to join in the campaign tasks.

For more information in Spanish:

Diversos colectivos promueven acción virtual contra el proyecto de despojo nombrado tren maya (Enlace Zapatista, 11 de mayo 2020)

Urgen intervención de la CNDH para frenar obras del Tren Maya (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de mayo 2020)

¿Por qué decir ¡NO! al “Tren Maya”? (Los Hijos del Maíz- Tlax, 11 de mayo 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Armed Forces Decreed Public Security Duties for Five Years; “Militarism Came out of the Closet” – CSO(May 14, 2020)

Chiapas: Federal Court Orders Suspension of Palenque Section of Maya Train; FONATUR Considers Injunction “Unfair” (May 13, 2020)

National: Online Forum “No to the Misnamed Maya Train”(May 5, 2020)

 

Oaxaca: Organizations, Communities and Movements Demand Suspension of Trans-Isthmus Project (May 2, 2020)

Oaxaca: Illegal Start on Trans-Isthmus Corridor without EIR Denounced (April 28, 2020)

National: Almost 200 Organizations Demand Halt to Maya Train Works During Emergency; AMLO Confirms Megaprojects Will Continue (April 25, 2020)

 

National: Online Forum “No to the Misnamed Maya Train”

© Educa Oaxaca

On April 30th, an online forum “No to the Misnamed Maya Train” was held, where activists, academics, representatives of indigenous organizations and journalists participated. During this meeting, other issues of relevance were addressed, in addition to the issues directly linked to the Maya Train megaproject, such as the displacement of communities, the ecological impact and non-compliance with international consultation standards.

On the one hand, the impact of organized crime on the work and safety of human rights defenders and resistance organizations was discussed, as well as their direct action in these projects. In addition, there was talk of the recent issuance of the decision of the international public tender awarded to the Mexican businessman Carlos Slim for the second section of the train.

Regarding this, Carlos Gonzalez Garcia, member of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and a lawyer specialized in agrarian law, stated that “the heart of neoliberal corruption, that is, the complicity between large capitals and the Government, remains untouchable. The Mayan Train is the tangible proof of this, the tender that Slim won is very clear.” In addition, he questioned the means through which it is proposed that the ejido lands for the construction of the subsidiaries be contributed to a real estate trust, affirming that this is not established by the agrarian law: “Will it be illegal or will they make reforms in agrarian matters?”

For his part, Ricardo Andrade, member of the Yucatan Resistance Network, spoke from a health protection perspective since, in the midst of the health crisis, this project is not essential and puts the health of all workers at risk and workers who are being asked to participate in the construction of the first section of the train.

Together, the participants expressed that this project is misnamed because it does not represent the communities that share the Maya culture, but is, as in many other cases, the “folkloring” of a culture that is still alive and that is present in the fight for the defense of the territories that will be affected by this megaproject.

For more information in Spanish:

El neoliberalismo no se fue con AMLO, y la presencia de Slim en el Tren Maya lo muestra: activistas (Sin Embargo, 30 abril 2020)

Las contradicciones del Tren Maya (Radio regeneración, 30 abril 2020)

Están en contra del nombre Tren Maya (El Sol de Tijuana, 2 de mayo 2020)

Tren Maya: desmonte de selva para construir el megaproyecto de López Obrador costará 27 millones (Infobae, 4 mayo 2020)

Slim gana el segundo tramo del Tren Maya, la mayor licitación de la 4T a la fecha (Proceso, 30 abril 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Organizations, Communities and Movements Demand Suspension of Trans-Isthmus Project (May 2, 2020)

National: Almost 200 Organizations Demand Halt to Maya Train Works During Emergency; AMLO Confirms Megaprojects Will Continue (April 25, 2020)

Chiapas: FONATUR Receives 14 Proposals for recibe 14 to Build Palenque-Escarcega Stretch of Maya Train (April 5, 2020)

Chiapas/National: Petition in Support of Injunction against Maya Train (March 23, 2020)

 

Chiapas: Injunction Granted to Protect Life, Integrity and Security of Displaced Tsotsil Communities in Aldama

© Frayba

On April 28th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) published a bulletin in which the injunction granted to communities of the Maya Tsotsil people in forced displacement from Aldama is disclosed, this as a result of the petition filed by representatives of communities in said municipality on March 27th.

The third district court, based in Tuxtla Gutierrez, granted an injunction to protect the life, integrity and security of the Aldama communities. This request was made for the “definitive suspension of violence by armed paramilitary civilian groups who act with the acquiescence and tolerance of State officials.” In this sense, the omission of the responsible authorities was denounced in view of compliance with this resolution.

In addition to the aggravation of violence in this area, the communities of Original Peoples are highly vulnerable to the health emergency caused by COVID-19 and the recently announced Phase Three. On the one hand, the population faces attacks with firearms, and on the other, contracting the virus and not having, in any case, guarantees of adequate medical attention. From this perspective, the United Nations Essential Guidelines establish the need to protect the most vulnerable populations, such as communities in forced displacement: “States must apply additional measures in order to address the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 may have on minorities, because of the remote areas where they live, where there is limited access to essential goods and services.”

For this reason, Frayba demanded that the President of the Republic, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the Governor of the state of Chiapas, Rutilio Cruz Escandon Cadenas, comply with the judicial mandate and also:

• Guarantee security to “protect the life of the population of the Maya Tsotsil people in the municipality of Aldama, from armed aggressions that intensified since March 24th, 2020.”
• The investigation of the armed aggressions registered since March 2018 that caused the forced displacement of these communities.
• Provide humanitarian care, housing, health, adequate and dignified food for the victims of these forced displacements and in greater vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information in Spanish:

Otorgan amparo a comunidades del Pueblo Maya Tsotsil en Desplazamiento Forzado(Frayba, 28 abril 2020)

Otorgan amparo a indígenas de Chiapas en desplazamiento forzado (Contralínea, 28 abril 2020)

Indígenas de los Altos de Chiapas, entre el acoso del gobierno y el Covid-19 (La Jornada, 28 abril 2020)

Otorgan amparo para proteger a comunidades de Aldama (Prensa Libre, 29 abril 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: “ Not Only COVID Threatens Life” – Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society (April 25, 2020)

Chiapas: Attacks against Tsotsil Communities in Aldama Continue (April 16, 2020)

Chiapas: Authorities in Santa Martha and Aldama Denounce New Attacks (March 5, 2020)

National: CNDH Requests Cautionary Measures for Cristobal Santiz Jimenez (March 30, 2020)

Chiapas: Por tercera vez en plantón, desplazados de Ejido Puebla, Chenalhó

Chiapas: Death of Displaced Baby Girl from Rio Jordan, Chenalho (February 28, 2020)

 

Oaxaca: Organizations, Communities and Movements Demand Suspension of Trans-Isthmus Project

In a joint statement, more than 150 organizations, collectives and institutions demanded from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and the governments of the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, Chiapas and Tabasco, the immediate cancellation of the so-called “Program of Integral Development of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec-Corridor and Interoceanic Train (PDIIT-TI) ”. Instead, they spoke in favor of building an alternative proposal – based on reflection and horizontal dialogue.

They denounced that the right to self-determination of indigenous and black peoples, peasant communities and the population in general that will be affected by said “Program” and has not been respected as they have not been able to express their approval or rejection through their assemblies.

In addition, they foresee strong environmental impacts “if the new imposition of this set of megaprojects is allowed in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (the area with the greatest biological diversity and the largest producer of ecosystem services in Mexico and Mesoamerica, and therefore also the owner of immense cultural diversity), pollution, health affectation and global warming would be exacerbated, and the basic needs of the inhabitants and towns of a large portion of the south-southeast of our country, as well as the life of future generations, would be compromised.”

On the other hand, they recalled that “development” projects previously implemented in the Isthmus region, “despite their promises of “modernity” and well-being, have not really benefited local populations; on the contrary, they have generated a severe deterioration in their ways of life, their cultures, the environment, the community social fabric, and have been affected by an increase in militarization.”

For more informaton in Spanish:

Exigen la cancelación del Programa Istmo de Tehuantepec-Corredor y Tren Interoceánico, Proceso 28 de abril 2020

PRONUNCIAMIENTO PÚBLICO: CORREDOR Y TREN TRANSÍSTMICO: AMBICIÓN TRASNACIONAL, DEPREDACIÓN Y SOBERANÍA EN RIESGO, EN TIEMPOS DE CRISIS, RECESIÓN, PÁNICO Y PANDEMIA

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Illegal Start on Trans-Isthmus Corridor without EIR Denounced (April 28, 2020)

Oaxaca: Assembly of Isthmus Peoples in Resistance to Megaprojects Formed (March 19, 2020)

https://www.sipaz.org/focus-the-trans-isthmus-corridor-a-not-so-new-project-of-the-new-government/?lang=en (March, 2020)

Oaxaca: Illegal Start on Trans-Isthmus Corridor without EIR Denounced

The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) has asked the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) to immediately suspend and cancel the work of the Trans-Isthmus Train, as it lacks an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

In a communication sent to the head of the Secretariat, Victor Toledo Manzur, the president of the board of directors of that organization reported that the EIR evaluation process presented by the company Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec (FIT) was suspended due to the large number errors and omissions.

The cancellation of the EIR was made due to the fact that there was no consultation process with the indigenous peoples through which said rehabilitation work will be carried out, in addition to the fact that the original project consists of 132 kilometers while the EIR only covered a distance of 63 kilometers. This is omitting 69 kilometers, that is to say, half the route.

UCIZONI also pointed out that the project is illegal, because due to the Covid-19 emergency, the process of indigenous consultation that would be carried out with the indigenous peoples of the northern area of ​​the Tehuantepec Isthmus was suspended and postponed, in which the peoples of southern Veracruz also participate.

For more information in Spanish:

Carta Ucizoni, Ucizoni, 15 de abril de 2020

Denuncian inicio de obra en Corredor Transístmico sin contar con MIA, Aristegui Noticas, 22 de abril de 2020

Exige Ucizoni cancelar rehabilitación de vía férrea en el Istmo; es ilegal, advierte, La Jornada, 24 de abril de 2020

Reclaman parar obras de vía transístmica, NVI Noticias, 24 de abril de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Assembly of Isthmus Peoples in Resistance to Megaprojects Formed (March 19, 2020)

https://www.sipaz.org/focus-the-trans-isthmus-corridor-a-not-so-new-project-of-the-new-government/?lang=en (March, 2020)

National: National Forum “Nature, Indigenous Rights and National Sovereignty in the Tehuantepec Isthmus” Convened; Head of SEMARNAT Says “Trains Are Going Ahead” (February 16, 2020)

Oaxaca: Indigenous Peoples File Complaint with CNDH over Non-compliance with Convention 169 in Consultations on Trans-Isthmus Corridor (February 2, 2020)

 

Chiapas: “ Not Only COVID Threatens Life” – Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society

@Radio Pozol

On April 22nd, within the framework of the monthly commemoration of the Acteal massacre, Chenalho municipality, in which 45 people died in December 1997, the Civil Society Organization issued a statement in which it denounced that the context of the pandemic due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the “official plea to “stay home”, did not prevent feminicides from happening this month, it did not prevent violations of the human rights of migrants who cross our country; forced displacement continued in the case of Aldama, Chiapas, fellow Tsotsil Cristobal Santiz de Aldama was unjustly imprisoned.”

It warned that, in this same context, “what neoliberal governments have done together with the powerful in both Mexico and Latin America, is to take advantage of the COVID-19 emergency, for example they have made laws to reduce sentences in favor of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, as in Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Guatemala.”

It also denounced that, in Mexico, the government “has taken advantage of the pandemic to advance the construction of its “Maya Train”, despite the fact that hundreds of social organizations and indigenous communities demand to cancel it.”

For this reason, Las Abejas considered that the Covid-19 virus “is not life-threatening”. “It is useless for us to take care of the malignant disease if there are people who continue to be manipulated by the caciques and politicians who only think of their own interests and monetary gains at the cost of innocent lives,” they added.

Finally, they proposed that “this health situation we are going through is a message that makes us talk and think with our hearts and leads us to carry out new and healthy actions for us humans and for Mother Earth; because the way of life that the neoliberal capitalist system and colonialism have imposed on us, is useless, it is rubbish.”

For more information in Spanish:

«No sólo el Covid-19 amenaza la vida» (Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal, 22 de abril de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Las Abejas Civil Society Denounces Persecution and Murder of Human Rights Defenders and Protectors of Mother Earth and other Violent Situations (February 25, 2020)

 

Chiapas: “This year begins with a lot of violence and it is increasing” – Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society (January 28, 2020)

Chiapas: Las Abejas de Acteal Hold Commenoration 22 Years after Acteal Masacre (January 13, 2020)