Oaxaca: organizations submit to Congress a legislative agenda to support gender equity

Protest against femicide in Oaxaca (@SIPAZ archivos)

On 4 February, members of organizations that work in favor of the human rights of women, such as Consorcio for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity, submitted to the state congress a legislative agenda that would permit the development of gender equity.  This agenda consists of a package of initiatives that would modify the penal and civil codes and have impacts on the State Law of Access for Women to Lives Free of Violence.  It would allow the prevention of violence against women, and it reaffirms the recommendations of the Commitee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Among the proposals is stressed the call to document obstetric and political violence, within the mandate of the State Law of Access for Women to Lives Free of Violence.  The question of arrest-orders is also advanced in the agenda.  With regard to the penal code, the proposal is to broaden the category of domestic violence and to increase punishment for offending males.  Another component is to sanction those who refuse to provide child support.

“This congress has a very clear debt to women, as seen in its legislative exercise.  We will be vigilant and announce that we will accompany the discussion that will revolve around these initiatives that promote the well-being and security of women in Oaxaca,” noted Consorcio.

For more information (in English):

Presentan Agenda Legislativa para la equidad de género en Oaxaca(Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la equidad Oaxaca, 4 de febrero de 2015)

Iniciativas en pro de la mujer, en la ‘congeladora’ del Congreso: IMO(NoticiasNet, 4 de febrero de 2015)

Confían que Congreso responda a demandas de justicia de las mujeres(NoticiasNet, 5 de febrero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National: Multiple activities for International Women’s Day (16 March 2014)

Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero: Activities to observe International Day of Non-Violence toward Women (8 December 2013)

Chiapas/Oaxaca: Commemoration of femicides during Day of the Dead (13 November 2013)

Oaxaca: March of relatives of victims of feminicide and members of human rights organizations for women (22 April 2013)

Oaxaca: More feminicides under Gabino Cué than in the final years of Ulises Ruiz (24 January 2013)

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

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

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

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

For more information (in Spanish):

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more information from SIPAZ (in Spanish):

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

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

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

Oaxaca: MORENA-affiliated Triqui leader kidnapped and executed

Photo @ Contralínea

On 11 January, Julián González Domínguez, leader of the International Network of Oaxacan Indigenous Persons (RIIO) and representative of the Movement for National Regeneration (MORENA) in the Triqui region, was murdered after an armed group forcibly removed him from his home in the La Brama Paraje Pérez community in the Santiago Juxtlahuaca municipality.  The RIIO state coordination expressed that Julián González, founder of the Movement for the Unification of Triqui Struggle (MULT) and MULT-Independent (MULT-I) was subsequently found in the same municipality with two gunshot wounds in the head.  It added that the leader had received death-threats owing to agrarian conflicts in the region.

It should be noted that González Domínguez was the point-man for organizing the visit of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the Tlaxiaco municipality on 24 January.  His wife had previously been awarded precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

For more information (in Spanish):

Asesinan a líder triqui, impulsor de la autonomía (Contralínea, 13 de enero de 2015)

Ejecutan a líder de Morena (Noticias Net, 13 de enero de 2015)

La Mixteca, Oaxaca, asesinan dirigente de MORENA (Regeneración, 11 de enero de 2015)

Comando asesina en Oaxaca a dirigente triqui afín a Morena (Excelsior, 12 de enero de 2015)

Asesinan a Julián González, dirigente triqui de Morena en la Mixteca(SDP Noticias, 12 de enero de 2015)

Chiapas: Close of the Global Festival for Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion

Photo @ SIPAZ

3 January 2015 marked the end of the First Global Festival for Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion: “Where those from above destroy, we from below rebuild.”  Organized by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), the Festival ended in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, after having shared spaces in four Mexican states.

The events in Chiapas began in the Caracol II of Oventik, “Resistance and Rebellion for Humanity,” where 21 years since the Zapatista uprising of 1994 was celebrated on 31 December and 1 January.  Following speeches from family-members of the 43 disappeared students from the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés read a communiqué and recalled that “only as organized peoples will we find the truth.  All that we want as people is what we have to build among ourselves.  It is in this way that the relatives of the murdered and disappeared students of Ayotzinapa are developing their search for justice and truth.”

Sup Moisés invited those assembled in Oventik to imagine “how a new society could be,” so that they began to struggle using “the example that the relatives of Ayotzinapa present us, that is, that it is better that we who suffer from this disease known as capitalism search each other out and meet.”  He stressed that “what is now most urgent is the truth and justice for Ayotzinapa,” given that “the most painful and indignant reality is that the 43 are not with us.”

Beyond this, Moisés individually embraced the group of relatives and students who were listening to his comments on stage: an embrace “of caring, respect, and admiration.”  Nor did he forget to name the 46 “absent” individuals, including the 3 students who were found on 27 September.

Lastly, on 2 and 3 January, the Festival ended with the sharing of conclusions, agreements, and pronunciations at the CIDECI-Unitierra.  Members of indigenous peoples of the CNI indicated that “we share this same pain that is called capitalism, [and we hope that] our path will be constant.”  One of the students from Ayotzinapa mentioned that “when we bid our farewells to Subcomandante Moisés, we told him that we also desire autonomy for our rural normal schools and […] we believe that with courage, dignity, and the determination of 43 families and thousands of people in the country and throughout the world, this and much more will be possible.  Many thanks.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Clausura del Festival Mundial de las Resistencias y las Rebeldías Contra el capitalismo, en Chiapas (Colectivo Pozol, 3 de enero de 2015)

Entrevistas al final del Festival Mundial de las Resistencias y Rebeldías contra el Capitalismo (Radio Zapatista, 6 de enero de 2015)

EZLN celebra 21 aniversario del alzamiento, abrazando al movimiento de Ayotzinapa (Chiapas Paralelo, 1 de enero de 2015)

Palabras del EZLN en el 21 aniversario del inicio de la guerra contra el olvido. Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés(Enlace Zapatista, 1 de enero de 2015)

Clausura del Primer Festival de las Resistencias y las Rebeldías Contra el Capitalismo (Somos el medio, 5 de enero de 2015)

Todos debemos acompañar a los padres de Ayotzinapa: EZLN (Aristegui Noticias, 1 de enero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National: Inauguration of the First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion (30 December 2014)

Chiapas/Mexico: EZLN to cede its place to relatives and disappeared students of Ayotzinapa (19 December 2014)

Chiapas: New actions by the EZLN to support Ayotzinapa (26 October 2014)

National/International: Multiple mobilizations and marches for the “Pain” and “Rage” of Ayotzinapa (12 October 2014)

Oaxaca: Conflicts over extraordinary elections in San Dionisio del Mar

On 5 December, two persons were injured after a confrontation in San Dionisio del Mar, Tehuantepec Isthmus, including members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and of the Peoples’ Assembly (ADPSM) of this community.  The ADPSM group had established a blockade to inhibit entry of personnel of the National Electoral Institute (INE) who had sought to organize extraordinary elections programmed for 14 December.  Six persons were injured by gunfire and stones, including a man and a pregnant woman.

On 6 December, the Peoples’ Assembly marched through the principal streets of the community to denounce the head of the Oaxacan State Electoral Institute, Gustavo Meixueiro Nájera, for being responsible for these violent acts, “given that it was anticipated that the conditions do not exist to carry out municipal elections due to the sequelae left by our recent struggle against the wind-energy firm Mareña Renewables, and in light of the post-electoral conflict which consequently degraded the social fabric.  The federal and state governments seek to install functionaries in the municipality so as to open the door to these firms.”

On 12 December, 500 elements of the state police and the State Agency of Investigations (AEI) were deployed to San Dionisio to re-establish public order.  Somewhat earlier, members of the General Assembly of the Ikojts People of San Dionisio protested before the National Electoral Institute in Juchitán and burned a municipal police patrol-car in one of the principal access-points to the community, where they had maintained checkpoints.  The State Electoral Institute for Citizens’ Participation in Oaxaca has suspended the mayoral election, without setting a new date.

For more information (in Spanish):

Después de agresión, la ADPSM denuncia a ex-candidato priista de ser responsable (Voces de Oaxaca, 6 de diciembre de 2014)

Boletín de la Samablea de Pueblos de San Dionisio del Marc sobre la marcha el 6 de diciembre (ADPSM, 6 de diciembre de 2014)

ASAMBLEA GENERAL DE SAN DIONISIO DEL MAR RECHAZA ELECCIÓN EXTRAORDINARIA MUNICIPAL : Policía estatal irrumpe en San Dionisio del Mar (ADPSM, 14 de diciembre de 2014)

Cancelan elección de hoy en San Dionisio del Mar (La Jornada, 14 de diciembre de 2014)

ACCIÓN URGENTE: SAN DIONISIO DEL MAR REFUERZA SU DECISIÓN DE LUCHAR HACÍA LA AUTONOMÍA..

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

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

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

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

National: Inauguration of the First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion

First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion (@Radio Zapatista)

On 21 December, the First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion “Where those from above destroy, those from below rebuild” opened in the San Francisco Xochicuautla community, Lerma municipality, Mexico state.  At the invitation of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) which provided them space, the parents of the disappeared students of Ayotzinapa led the event.  Before the stage, 43 chairs were erected with the faces of the disappeared students, to demand their presentation with life.  The event was attended by more than 80 organizations that comprise the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), which represents 35 indigenous peoples of Mexico, as well as adherents to the Sixth from 32 Mexican states and 26 countries.

The EZLN members who attended the event, as had been announced in a 19 December communique, participated for their part “with their faces uncovered so that they do not identify us.  Or, better, so that they identify us as yet another one of you our comrades of the Sixth.”

During the launch of the festival, participants warned that the government would not silence their voices, “even when they disappear our sons and our identities.”  José Luis del Frente, from Indigenous Peoples in Defense of Mother Earth CNI, expressed that they would continue in their mission “to reconstruct our lands, no matter the time it would take.  The trees that have been destroyed will flower once again.”

The “sharings” of the festival will be held in the community of San Francisco Xochicuautla, Lerma municipality, and in Amilcingo,  Temoac municipality, Morelos, on 22 and 23 December.  From 24 to 26 December, the Grand Cultural Festival will be celebrated in Mexico City.  On 28 and 29 December the sharings will continue in Monclova, Candelaria municipality, Campeche, and from 31 December to 1 January, the Festival for Anti-Capitalist Rebellion and Resistance will take place in the Oventik caracol, located in the Chiapas highlands.  Finally, on 2 and 3 January there will be held a plenary meeting for conclusions, accords, and pronunciations at CIDECI, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado del EZLN “La víspera del Festival” (EZLN, 19 de diciembre de 2014)

Confirman familiares y normalistas de Ayotzinapa participación en Festival Mundial de Resistencias (La Jornada, 20 de diciembre de 2014)

Padres de normalistas encabezan festival contra el capitalismo (La Jornada, 21 de diciembre de 2014)

Inauguración del Festival de las Resistencias y Rebeldías [Audios] (Radio Zapatista)

Comenzó el Festival Mundial de las Resistencias y las Rebeldías (Koman Inlel, 22 de diciembre de 2014)

El gobierno actúa como fiador de la impunidad, dicen padres de normalistas (La Jornada, 22 de diciembre de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas/Mexico: EZLN to cede its place to relatives and disappeared students of Ayotzinapa (19 December 2014)

Chiapas: New actions by the EZLN to support Ayotzinapa (26 October 2014)

National/International: Multiple mobilizations and marches for the “Pain” and “Rage” of Ayotzinapa (12 October 2014)