Chiapas: Residents of Chiapa de Corzo Reject EPN’s Visit on International Day of Indigenous Peoples

Photo@ proceso.com.mx

On August 7th, President Enrique Peña Nieto arrived in Chiapa de Corzo along with the governor of Chiapas Manuel Velasco Suarez, to commemorate “International Day of Indigenous Peoples.”

According to Aristegui News: “From a day before their arrival, the inhabitants of Chiapa de Corzo expressed their rejection of the visit of the President and declared him ‘persona non grata.'”

“The heroic Chiapa de Corzo does not receive traitors and we consider that Peña Nieto is a traitor to the country because he has reformed the laws against the Mexican people, given up its natural resources, delivered the oil, energy, and will continue to deliver our people (…) we do not want a traitor sellout and murderer.”

According to Angeles Mariscal, a journalist Aristegui News: “Chiapacorceños congregated in the central square of the municipality. They carried banners of rejection for Peña, and walked around the site playing traditional drums and flutes. Riot police surrounded the demonstrators to prevent them from reaching the venue, a sports center.”

Due to this, the planned speeches by both Enrique Peña Nieto and Governor Manuel Velasco were shortened, however, both gave importance to the introduction of Special Economic Zones, which according to Aristegui News is a “project which seeks the investment of private initiative to exploit the natural resources of Chiapas through economic incentives.”

The governor of Chiapas also said, “that this economic policy that now only contemplates the Soconusco zone of Chiapas, must be replicated in the indigenous region.”

He then gave some scholarships to young people and ended his visit and returned to Mexico City.

For more information in Spanish:

Habitantes de Chiapa de Corzo declaran “non grato” a Peña Nieto y policía los reprime. (Aristegui Noticias, 8 de agosto de 2017)

Enfrentamientos por visita de EPN a Chiapas. (La Jornada, 7 de agosto de 2017)

Previo a su visita, declaran a Peña Nieto “persona non grata” en Chiapa de Corzo. (Proceso, 7 de agosto de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : denuncian criminalización de defensores de la Madre Tierra en zona zoque

México/Nacional: Diputados aprueban Ley Federal de Zonas Económicas Especiales

Oaxaca: Se amparan pueblos del Istmo contra Zona Económica Especial (ZEE)

Guerrero: Possible Breakthrough in Ayotzinapa Case

Photo@:SIPAZ

On July 5th, the correspondent for La Jornada in Guerrero, Sergio Ocampo said that, “in La Gavia … the unknown whereabouts of the 43 students of the Normal School of Ayotzinapa, who disappeared in Iguala in September 2014, could be revealed.”

Sergio Ocampo explained that the self-defense groups of the Movement for Peace of San Miguel Totolapan stated that, “between December 2016 and May 2017 they detained several members of Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, El Tequilero’s, gang, among them was a small group of gunmen who are nicknamed “The Matanormalists” [the Student Teacher Killers] […] They claim that under interrogation the killers told how they took about twenty young presumed student teachers in batches, from the municipality of Cocula, adjacent to the one of Iguala, through several towns until arriving at La Gavia, between the night of the 26th and the morning of September 27th, 2014, where they were murdered and buried. […] They even claimed they could point to the exact spot where they were buried.”

According to Sin Embargo, the parents of the 43 disappeared students from Ayotzinapa Normal School and their lawyer Vidulfo Rosales Sierra asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Mexican State during the hearing of the Special Follow-up Mechanism The IACHR in Lima, Peru, to open a new line of investigation on this version of Cocula on July 6th.

 For more information in Spanish:

La Gavia, posible clave del caso Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, a 5 de julio 2017)

Nueva pista del paradero de los 43 de Ayotzinapa en México (TeleSur, a 5 de julio de 2017)

Guerrero: periodistas recorren la ex “guarida” el ‘El Tequilero’, observan pueblo fantasma y hallan camioneta robada (Aristegui Noticias, a 6 de julio de 2017)

Padres de los 43 piden investigar si a sus hijos se los entregaron a “Los Tequileros” (SinEmbargo, a 14 de julio de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Sesión de seguimiento de la CIDH del caso Ayotzinapa : avances nulos (10 de julio de 2017)

Guerrero/ Nacional: Madres y padres de los 43 consideran no acudir a la reunión con la PGR y la CIDH (20 de abril de 2017)

Guerrero : padres de los 43 participan en audiencia de la CIDH (22 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas: CompArte for Humanity Festival Ends

Entrance to Oventic Caracol. Photo: @Sipaz

From July 23rd to 29th, the “CompArte for Humanity – Against Capital and its Walls, All the Arts” festival was held by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

From the 23rd to 27th, at the Indigenous Center for Integral Training (CIDECI) in San Cristobal de Las Casas, many international and national artists participated. Every day they presented art against capitalism and “its walls” but also other issues such as feminism and more than anything they expressed their nonconformity with the state government of Chiapas, the federal government of Enrique Peña Nieto and the US government of Donald Trump through art and humor.

Painting in CIDECI. Photo: @Sipaz

On the 28th and 29th of July, CompArte took place in Oventic Caracol, where the Zapatista artists shared their arts. There, compañera Jimena, a member of the Good Government Council (JBG), of this same Caracol extended the welcome, declaring on behalf of the EZLN that: “The poetry, dance, theater, music, singing with which we express our struggle is not a show. It is the word, voice, anger, rebellion and struggle that we want to share.” It was announced that a third edition of the festival is planned at the closure this week.

 For more information in Spanish:

Festival CompARTE por la humanidad (Radio Zapatista)

“Y justo, a pesar del dolor ríen”, Festival CompArte por la Humanidad, Chiapas México (Pozol Colectivo, a 26 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/Chiapas : Finaliza Festival CompARTE

Chiapas: El festival CompArte sigue en marcha

Guerrero: Relatives Organize Protests 34 Months after Ayotzinapa Tragedy

March for Justice for Ayotzinapa student teachers. Photo@: SIPAZ

July 26, 2017, marked 34 months since the forced disappearance of 43 students from the Raul Isidro Burgos Normal School in Ayotzinapa and the violent death of three others.

In a statement entitled “Listen to my voice, 43”, the mothers and fathers of the disappeared declared that they were “firm and dignified in the struggle for the presentation of our children alive.” They stated, “We are not scared or discouraged by the threats, repression and lies of the government.” In a march on the Paseo de la Reforma they reiterated to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR in its Spanish acronym) their demand that they follow the four lines of investigation that would lead them to the whereabouts of their children: 1. the Mexican Army, 2. Huitzuco, 3. cell phones and 4. the transfer of drugs from Iguala to Chicago as a motive for the crime.

In the statement they also called for a massive participation in the “Listen to my voice 43” days of protest to be held from September 15th to 26th, in several states of the Country “for the presentation of the 43 alive and thousands more, for justice for the murdered, for the freedom of political prisoners, for the abrogation of structural reforms, against the dispossession of our lands and natural assets and against the rising cost of living.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento Escucha mi voz 43 (Comité de Padres y Madres de los 43 y Comité Estudiantil Ricardo Flores Magón de la Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos de Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, a 26 de julio de 2017)

Padres de los 43 exigen al gobierno de Peña deje de sostener la “verdad histórica” (Proceso , a 26 de julio de 2017)

Padres de los 43 marchan en la CDMX (La Jornada en línea, a 26 de julio de 2017)

Gobierno y organismos internacionales silencian caso Ayotzinapa (TeleSur, a 26 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Sesión de seguimiento de la CIDH del caso Ayotzinapa : avances nulos (10 de julio de 2017)

Guerrero / Chiapas: Llega la Caravana de Ayotzinapa a San Cristóbal de las Casas (3 de julio de 2017)

Guerrero/ Nacional: Madres y padres de los 43 consideran no acudir a la reunión con la PGR y la CIDH (20 de abril de 2017)

Guerrero : padres de los 43 participan en audiencia de la CIDH (22 de marzo de 2017)

Oaxaca/Guerrero: Gun Attack on Nochixtlan Victims’ Bus

The attack happened in the early hours of Wednesday. Photo: @Victims Committee for Justice and Truth, June 19th, Nochixtlan

In the early hours of July 26th on a section of the Nochixtlan-Coixtlahuaca road, the bus carrying members of the Committee of Victims for Justice and Truth, June 19th Nochixtlan (Covic in its Spanish acronym), as well as teachers of Section 22 of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), was attacked.

The Bus and its passengers was headed to Mexico City to participate in the commemorative march for the 34 months of the disappearance of 43 students of the Normal Rural School Raul Isidro Burgos, Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.

According to La Jornada newspaper, Covic leader Santiago Ambrosio said: “When they were traveling on the Oaxaca-Mexico highway, on the Nochixtlan-Coixtlahuaca section, a vehicle drove alongside the truck and several individuals started shooting at them. He said that the shots were aimed at the middle of the unit where the teachers and the Covic leaders were traveling and said that the attackers fired at them with the intention of hurting them, as the bullets struck the windows.”

He said: “There were also shots to the front of the truck and the driver was grazed by a bullet in the forehead, which forced them to cancel the participation of the victims of Nochixtlan in the mobilization for the 43 disappeared students of Ayotzinapa, as although there were no injuries, several suffered from nerves because of what happened.”

Covic was created to clarify what happened during the violent eviction on June 19th, 2016, when Federal and state police officers attacked parents and teachers of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers blocking the Huajuapan de Leon-Oaxaca road, near Nochixtlan, in repudiation of the educational reform, an operation in which eight people died and 108 were injured.

 For more information in Spanish:

Balean en Oaxaca un autobús donde iban líderes de Nochixtlán y la CNTE (La Jornada, a 27 de julio de 2017)

Balean autobús de víctimas de Nochixtlán (Plumas Atomicas, a 26 de julio de 2017)

Agresión contra integrantes del Covic que se dirigían a marcha por Ayotzinapa (Surco Informativo a, 26 de julio de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Persisten agresiones y hostigamientos hacia víctimas de Nochixtlán

Oaxaca: Comité de Víctimas de Nochixtlán denuncia “intento de homicidio” contra dos de sus integrantes

Oaxaca/ Nacional: La CNTE y la Segob acuerdan mesas de negociación

Chiapas: Las Abejas de Acteal “Roots, Memory and Hope” Tour

First day in Acteal.  Photo: @Sipaz

On July 18th and 19th, as part of its “Acteal, Roots, Memory and Hope Campaign”, Las Abejas de Acteal toured the communities of Acteal and Nuevo Yibeljo to publicize their path as survivors and Victims of the Acteal Massacre and as members of the organization.

“The aim of this campaign, in the framework of the 20 years of struggle against impunity in the Acteal massacre and the 25 years of organization and resistance, and the walk of Las Abejas, is to raise awareness among children, young people, men, women, the elderly, so that our people may continue to walk in the struggle to seek peace, justice and the good life of for society. And make it clear, to never surrender to the programs and projects of bad government that only brings death.”

They shared the history of the foundation of Las Abejas and testimony of some survivors about how the massacre happened on December 22nd, 1997, “implemented by the 3 levels of government, it is a state crime.”

The different working groups such as the choir of Acteal, health promoters, women artisans, communication, theater, savings bank, education, also participated where they gave their different tasks.

The next tour is scheduled for early August.

 For more information in Spanish:

Para seguir trabajando con nuestra campaña, Acteal: Raíz, Memoria y Esperanza. (Las Abejas de Acteal)

 For more information SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Comunicado de Las Abejas de Acteal en el marco de la conmemoración mensual de la masacre

Chiapas: lanzamiento de la campaña Acteal: Raíz, Memoria y Esperanza

Chiapas: Conmemoración de los 19 años de la masacre de Acteal

 

Oaxaca: Eviction and Arrests at Bií Hioxo Wind Farm

Photo@: Educa

On July 13th, after more than 12 days of peaceful demonstration demanding the establishment negotiations with the executives of the wind power company Electrica de Francia (EDF), the protesting owners of the lands affected by the Bií Hioxo wind farm, took the watchtower of the company EDF, in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.

Ivan Hernandez Jimenez, one of the plaintiffs, pointed out that “the protest against the wind company is due to the lack of support and insensitivity of the representatives of the foreign company.”

According to Proceso, the occupation of the watchtower resulted in an operation of the Regional Command of the State Police at the request of the French company to evict the Zapotecs and arrest 15 demonstrators.

 For more information in Spanish:

Detienen a 15 zapotecos en el parque eólico Bii Hioxo a solicitud de empresa francesa (Proceso, 13 de julio de 2017)

Desalojo y 15 detenidos en parque eólico del Istmo, Oaxaca (NVI Noticias, 14 de julio de 2017)

Detenidas 15 personas por obstruir acceso a Parque Eólico Bií Hioxo, en Oaxaca(Oaxaca entre Lineas, 13 de julio de 2017)

Detienen a 15 personas que bloqueaban parque eólico en el Istmo (Diario Marca, 14 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Oaxaca: Pobladores de Juchitan ganan amparo para suspensión de obras de parque eólico (14 de octubre de 2015)

Oaxaca: Tercer aniversario del movimiento contra los proyectos eólicos en San Dionisio del Mar (30 de enero de 2015)

Oaxaca: Conflictos por elecciones extraordinarias en San Dionisio del Mar (19 de diciembre de 2014