National: Doubts of Campesino and Indigenous Organizations over Agrarian Law Initiative

(@Desinformémonos)

Recently, members of campesino and indigenous organizations have expressed their concern about the agrarian law initiative proposed in October by the coordinator of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) in the Senate, Ricardo Monreal Avila. For Carlos Gonzalez Garcia, a lawyer and member of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym), this proposal “gives continuity” to the Salinist counter-reform of 1992 and is part of a strategy to deprive indigenous peoples: “It aims to harmonize the legal provisions in agrarian matters with structural reforms in energy and hydrocarbons, as well as with the privatization concession regimes of mining, water and national property”; and “it gives transnationals the possibility of seizing land for agricultural and forestry use.”

“With this initiative they forget that the lands have been obtained by the ejidatarios and comuneros after an armed struggle, a hundred years ago [the Mexican Revolution], and that they are not only used to produce and exploit the natural resources that exist there, but also to to recreate their culture and coexistence with the other communities,” campesino organizations said. They criticized that the authorities seek to benefit entrepreneurs “instead of promoting that ejidatarios and comuneros be the ones who are trained and decide on the preservation and exploitation of resources in their territories.”

The Mexican Network of those Affected by Mining (REMA in its Spanish acronym) said that the current Agrarian Law “constitutes, despite all the attempts of previous governments to deteriorate it, a fundamental tool for the defense of the agrarian nuclei of our country in the face of extractive projects that generate dispossession, destruction of land and territory, damage to health and the environment of its inhabitants, as well as criminalization and/or assassinations of those who oppose them.” For its members, the new initiative that would repeal the aforementioned text “constitutes a regression and a new threat to the rights of the campesino peoples who fought for the land and who with their struggle have shaped and given meaning to the history and present of our country. (…) In our opinion, this document is designed under the same logic that drove the agrarian counter-reform of 1992 during the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and, in addition, expedites the implementation of the neoliberal reforms promoted by the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, especially as regards the Energy Reform.”

For more information in Spanish:

Iniciativa de ley agraria es una estrategia de despojo contra los pueblos indígenas: CNI (Desinformémonos, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

Piden frenar Ley Monreal; dirigentes campesinos la consideran privatizadora y neoliberal (MVS Noticias, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

Por regresiva objetan nueva ley agraria propuesta por Monreal (Regeneración, 5 de noviembre de 2018)

Permite despojo el plan agrario de Monreal, alertan grupos indígenas y campesinos (La Jornada, 4 de noviembre de 2018)

Iniciativa de ley para el desarrollo agrario: nueva reforma estructural (La Jornada, 3 de noviembre de 2018)

La REMA se pronuncia en contra de la iniciativa de “Ley para el Desarrollo Agrario” de MORENA (REMA, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Presenta Monreal iniciativa de ley para el desarrollo agrario (La Jornada, 24 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Approval of energy reform (December 17th, 2013)

 

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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

Coordinator of displaces people in Chiapas (@Kuuntik)

In the ordinary session of October 25, the deputies of the Congress of Chiapas approved the point of agreement proposed by the deputy Juan Salvador Camacho Velasco of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) for the attention of people in situations of forced displacement in the state. They urged the Government to advance in the preparation of the State Program for the Prevention and Attention to Internal Displacement and requested the installation of the State Council of Integral Attention to Internal Displacement. They urged that actions should be carried out and that the necessary and adequate measures should be taken for guarantee the life and integrity of displaced persons in the municipalities of Chalchihuitán, Aldama, Ocosingo, Zinacantán and Chenalhó. The petition was extended to all the displaced people of Chiapas so that a return in dignified and safe conditions to their communities of origin might be guaranteed.

On the other hand, after spending 18 days in an indefinite sit-in in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the 254 displaced persons from Colonia Puebla, municipality of Chenalhó, decided to return to a shelter in San Cristóbal de Las Casas (a former chicken farm), “while we try to find a peaceful and comprehensive solution to their current situation”, informed the General Secretary of the Government, Mario Carlos Culebro Velasco. He affirmed that “these actions are complying with the agreements reached with the representatives of these families, but above all, with each of the recommendations issued by human rights organizations, because it is the conviction of the state authority to address the victims and ensure respect for human rights. “

Javier Hernández, representative of the displaced, stated in the media that a minute of agreements was signed with the current government and the elected governor Rutilio Escandón Cadenas so that, in the first days of his administration, Escandón Cadenas will take the case and seek a definitive solution to their displacement which is due to a conflict that was generated in 2016 after political problems in the municipality of Chenalhó.

For more information (in Spanish):

Desplazados, tema central en el Congreso del Estado (Ultimatum, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Solicita Congreso a Velasco atención a desplazados (Meganoticias, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Demandan al gobierno de Chiapas resolver desplazamientos internos (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Familias desplazadas de ejido Puebla reciben ayuda humanitaria (Síntesis, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Desplazados de Chenalhó retornan a San Cristóbal (Prensa Libre, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Fore more information from SIPAZ:

National: 20,390 Forcibly Displaced in 2017 – Over 329,900 in the Last 12 Years, May 11, 2018

Chiapas: Violent Eviction of Road Block Protest by Chenalho Displaced, March 31, 2017

Chiapas: Conflict between Parties Unleashes Violence in Chenalho, March 29, 2017

National/International: UN Special Rapporteur on Rights of Indigenous Peoples Presents Report in Mexico City One Year after her Visit

On October 15th, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz presented her report in Mexico City based on the visit she made to the country in November 2017 to four Mexican states: Mexico, Guerrero, Chiapas and Chihuahua.

When making a comparison with what was observed by the then Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Rodolfo Stavenhagen in 2003, the present report concludes that there have been no significant advances in 14 years, despite the international commitments made by Mexico since then on the issue; this in a context that continues to be of “deep inequality, poverty and discrimination of indigenous peoples that limit their access to justice, education, health and other basic services.”

One of the points that was emphasized in the presentation was the current development policies based on extractivism, energy, tourism, real estate and agricultural megaprojects, which constitute “a major challenge” for the human rights of indigenous peoples. “With regard to social and economic development, government institutions must substitute programs and policies with a welfare approach for those with a human rights focus and that promote empowerment, self-determination, and the priorities and proposals of these peoples,” it said. The report documents that the consultations that have been carried out for the implementation of megaprojects have not complied with the international human rights standards to which Mexico has committed: that they be prior, free, informed, culturally appropriate and in good faith.

On the same subject, the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico, Jan Jarab said that these consultations become a method of blackmail, as those who make them try to convince the inhabitants of indigenous lands with the promise of benefits, which they will lose if they vote against. “It’s a very manipulative context,” Jarab warned. He also said that the processes that they have accompanied from the UN have been “disappointing”, which “makes us doubt the last characteristic, which is good faith.”

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz also explained that indigenous peoples in Mexico face various violations of their rights such as violence, forced displacement, impunity, criminalization of those who defend their lands, lack of access to education, health, housing, and even assassinations, among others.

Some of its recommendations point to the need to “promote and strengthen autonomy, self-government and indigenous legal systems. As established in Article 4 of the UN Declaration on these communities, they have the right to the provision of the means to finance their autonomous functions”; as well as to “create a new relationship between indigenous peoples and the State based on equality, respect and non-discrimination.”

For more information in Spanish:

Las consultas con los pueblos indígenas para explotar la tierra son una manipulación: ONU (Animal Político, 16 de octubre de 2018)

Gobierno, obligado a consultar megaproyectos a indígenas: ONU (La Jornada, 15 de octubre de 2018)

La ONU exige a México consultar a pueblos indígenas sobre megaproyectos en sus tierras (Sin Embargo, 15 de octubre de 2018)

DESTACA CNDH GRAVEDAD DEL 65% DE DISCRIMINACIÓN EN MÉXICO POR ORIGEN ÉTNICO, Y URGE ATENDER TAMBIÉN POBREZA, ALIMENTACIÓN, VIVIENDA, EDUCACIÓN, SALUD Y JUSTICIA PARA QUE LAS PERSONAS INDÍGENAS ACCEDAN A UNA VIDA DIGNA (CNDH, 15 de octubre de 2018)

PRONUNCIAMIENTO DE LAS ORGANIZACIONES Y COMUNIDADES QUE PROMOVIERON LA VISITA DE LA RELATORA ESPECIAL DE NACIONES UNIDAS SOBRE DERECHOS DE LOS PUEBLOS INDÍGENAS, VICTORIA TAULI-CORPUZ, A CHIAPAS, EN 2017. EN EL MARCO DE LA ENTREGA DE SU INFORME EN MÉXICO (OSC de Chiapas, 15 de octubre)

For more information from SIPAZ:

 

National / International: Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations presents report on Mexico in Geneva, Switzerland (25/09/2018)

National/International: UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Publishes Report after Visit to Mexico (21/08/2018)

National/International: Visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Mexico Ends (23/11/2017)

National–Mexico: Visit of UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (12/11/2017)

 

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

Guerrero: 50 arrest warrants against members of CECOP

@Regeneración

Weeks after the release of members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota dam (Cecop), the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – Community Police (CRAC-PC), and civilians of several villages belonging to the Communal Lands of Cacahuatepec, municipality of Acapulco, a new persecution and unprecedented criminalization has been unleashed against members of the movement, reported the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center.

According to several newspapers, ministerial police maintained checkpoints at the entrances of the communal lands of Cacahuatepec such as Las Chanecas, San Pedro Cacahuatepec, Las Palmitas, Tasajeras, San Isidro Gallinero and La Concepción ; and with list in hand illegally review all the peasants that come or go. They also reported that more than 80 policemen travel through the villages of San Isidro Gallinero, Parotillas, La Concepcion, Aguas Calientes, Oaxaquillas, Salsipuedes and Amatillo.

Two weeks ago, “ministerial police illegally searched the home of Clemente Cabrera Benítez, a prominent member of CECOP in the community of Tasajeras, and took him away. On September 4, Tomás Cruz Valeriano from the community of Ilamos was arrested in San Isidro Gallinero, both of whom have an arrest warrant for the crime of damages and dispossession resulting from unfounded accusations and fabricated evidence. The Office of the Prosecutor has released more than 50 arrest warrants against the same number of CECOP members, whose crime has been to defend their lands and natural assets such as the Papagayo River, which is irrationally exploited by gravial businessmen. “

On December 12, a delegation of community members from Cecop, CRAC, from the Council of Affected Communities of La Montaña (Ccdm), from the Popular Front of Tlapa (FPT), from the Front of Communities for the Defense of Collective Rights in La Montaña (Frecoddec) and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center for went to the State Congress where they met with a commission of deputies from Morena. According to La Jornada de Guerrero, they listed several points for urgent resolution, among them the establishment of mechanisms for the prompt release of political prisoners, the immediate expulsion of state forces from the Communal Lands and the cessation of intimidation and harassment of civil organizations.

According to Cuadratin, they also presented a proposal for an initiative to reform the Political Constitution of Guerrero, from articles 8 to 14, regarding indigenous and Afro-Mexican populations so as to guarantee their right to decide and exercise their forms of social, economic and political organization, as well as their own community justice system.

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado / Persecución política contra el CECOP (CDH Tlachinollan, 6 de septiembre de 2018)

Piden organizaciones la libertad de los presos del Cecop y alto al hostigamiento (Sur de Acapulco, 12 de septiembre de 2018)

Piden comunitarios que diputados exhorten al gobierno a no reprimirlos (La Jornada de Guerrero, 13 de septiembre de 2018)

Piden organizaciones reforma que garantice derechos de los pueblos (Cuadratin Guerrero, 12 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: 9 of the 25 detainees for a confrontation in La Concepción in January are released September 17, 2018

Guerrero: Judge Orders Guarantees for Rights to Water, Health and Dignified Treatment for 25 CECOP Prisoners April 24, 2018

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP January 22, 2018

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