Chiapas: Chiapas Prisoners Enter Fourth Week of Hunger Strike

The 13 prisoners on hunger strike in different prisons in Chiapas have now entered their fourth week on this protest. Their health situation is deteriorating: “German Lopez Montejo, a prisoner on hunger strike, is suffering from fainting due to low blood glucose levels. The Working Group No Estamos Todxs claims that in the CERSS # 14 (Amate Prison) the prisoners are not ingesting the minimum amount of honey for survival because the prison authorities have retained it [their supply].”

On April 4th, SIPAZ visited the inmates of The Voice of Indigenous in Resistance (La Voz de Indigenas en Resistencia) and Supporters of the Voice of Amate (Solidarios de La Voz de Amate). Both are located in CERRS # 5 in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

The reasons for their protest are that they declare themselves innocent of the crimes of which they are accused, and that they were forced to plead guilty under torture. They began their hunger strike to demand their freedom.

Furthermore, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights published a document on March 22nd denouncing that “the 13 people deprived of their liberty began a hunger strike inside prisons to denounce human rights violations they live daily in the penitentiary centers where they are held, as well as to proclaim their innocence given the unfair trials in which they are being prosecuted. It is important to point out that they have denounced torture and cruel inhuman and/or degrading treatment since the moment of their arrest, 12 of them are indigenous Tsotsiles.

The 13 prisoners on hunger strike have indicated that they constantly receive threats and harassment from the prison authorities to give up their protest.

We request that the personal integrity of the 13 persons deprived of their liberty who are on hunger strike be respected and that they be treated in accordance with their dignity and that due respect for fundamental rights be respected.

We urge the authorities of the state of Chiapas to immediately cease acts of threats and intimidation, as well as acts of punishment that constitute torture and cruel, inhuman and/or degrading treatment. “

The people who are on hunger strike are: Abraham Lopez Montejo and German Lopez Montejo, in the Social Rehabilitation Center for Sentences No. 14 El Amate (CERSS No. 14 El Amate), in Cintalapa; Adrian Gomez Jimenez, Juan de la Cruz Ruiz, Mariano Gomez Lopez, Marcos Gomez Lopez, Martin Gomez Lopez, Mariano Perez Velasco, Mario Diaz Rodriguez, Felipe Diaz Mendez and Juan Castellanos Gomez in CERSS No. 5 in San Cristobal de Las Casas; as well as Marcelino Ruiz Gomez and Baldemar Gomez Hernandez in CERSS No. 10 in Comitan de Dominguez.

For more information in Spanish:

Presos indígenas, 18 días en huelga de hambre, 2 de abril de 2019, Chiapasparalelo

Riesgo grave a la salud de nuestros compañeros en huelga de hambre en el CERSS#14, noestamostodxs.tk, 4 de abril de 2019

Reos indígenas de Chiapas se cosen los labios para exigir su libertad,  Proceso, 29 de marzo de 2019

Cese de amenazas y hostigamientos a presos en huelga de hambre en Chiapas, CDHFBLC, 22 de marzo de 2019

Trece presos indígenas cumplen 18 días en huelga en Chiapas; acusan tortura y exigen su liberación, Sinembargo 2 de abril de 2019

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Thirteen Prisoners on Hunger Strike  (March 24, 2019)

Chiapas : seis presos indígenas inician huelga de hambre (16 de marzo de 2019)

Chiapas: Diego Lopez Mendez Freed, Prisoner and Member of Solidarios de la Voz del Amate (March 15, 2019)

Chiapas: Luego de 10 años de Encarcelamiento es liberado Alfredo Goméz Lopez, Víctima de Tortura (21 de febrero de 2019)

Chiapas: Prisoners in San Cristóbal carry out fast to demand respect for their rights (January 4, 2019)

Chiapas: Indígenas presos en San Cristóbal de Las Casas exigen revisión de sus expedientes (4 de enero de 2019)

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Chiapas/International: Urgent Action – Canadian Embassy before Courts for Undue Intervention in Chicomuselo Mining Conflict

On March 25th, a hearing will be held in Ottawa, Canada as representatives of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico were sued in an administrative complaint before the Federal Court of Canada “for their dangerous negotiations in a mining conflict,” related to the criminalization and the murder of Mariano Abarca in Chicomuselo, Chiapas in 2009.

It should be remembered that the local leader of the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA in its Spanish acronym) was murdered “after an active and peaceful resistance that the villagers carried out against this company that extracted barite ore. All the suspects in the case had links to the mining company Blackfire Exploration, but no one was convicted of the murder. The investigation is still open.” In addition, “until the day of his murder, Mariano suffered threats, intimidation, beatings, arbitrary detention under false accusations made by the mining company, among other abuses.”

In the framework of the hearing, the website #Justicia for Mariano Abarca published an Urgent Action in which it stressed that “documentation obtained through the transparency law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada, shows that, despite the significant knowledge that the Canadian embassy had on the facts between the company Blackfire and Mr. Abarca -including the death threats that he faced- it went to the state government of Chiapas to ask it to control the protests against the Canadian company in the community.”

It also denounced that, “there is no will or legal frameworks, regulations or binding protocols for the personnel of the Canadian embassies in order to ensure human rights.” Therefore the Urgent Action raises the demand for “a full and impartial investigation into the case of Mariano Abarca Roblero, and ensure legal measures to prevent embassies from continuing to intervene to overlap the abuse and violation of human rights that Canadian mining companies commit in other countries.”

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente en línea: Embajada Canadiense a los tribunales por su intervención indebida en conflicto minero en México (#Justicia para Mariano, 19 de marzo de 2019)

“En México, los intereses de Canadá son los de las empresas mineras” (Observatorio de Conflictos Mineros en América Latina, 15 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Internacional/Chiapas : Interponen solicitud formal ante gobierno de Canadá para investigar a los diplomáticos en este país ante caso de ambientalista asesinado (7 de febrero de 2018)

Chiapas: 5 years since the murder of mining critic Mariano Abarca (December 15, 2014)

Chiapas: 5,000 Men and Women on Pilgrimage against Mining in Chicomuselo (October 17, 2017)

Chiapas: Anti-Mining Activist Mariano Abarca Killed (December 1, 2009)

Chiapas: Destruction of Camps and Threats to Tsotsil Population in Forced Displacement

On December 23, 2018, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center published this Urgent Action:

New forced displacements in Chalchihuitán, Chiapas

Destruction of camps and threats to Tsotsil population as forced displacement increases conditions of vulnerability and risks for 1,146 people.

Nine camps which housed internally displaced people in Chalchihuitán, Chiapas, were destroyed on December 21, 2018, between 14:00 and 17:00 hours, approximately, in a context of aggression on the part of Hermelindo García Núñez, Municipal Union of Chalchiuitán, member of the National Action Party.

238 displaced families in the Barrio Shishimtotik, Tulantik, Ch’enmut, Bololchojon, Cruz K’ak’anam, Jolcantetik, Cruzton, Bejelton, and Barrio Pom camps lost the few belongings they had in the houses made of plastic, wood, and some with sheets. They also demolished toilets built with donations from solidarity organizations such as Caritas.

The population, mostly women and children, moved again after the aggression and intimidation. Families have lent them spaces, but there have been threats to expel anyone from their community if they help displaced people in this way. Testimonies say that community authorities prohibited humanitarian access, and threatened to tie up and burn representatives of the Chalchihuite Committee, as well as anyone who tries to enter the demolished camps.

At least 1,237 people remain in forced displacement in Chalchihuitán, Chiapas, in conditions of vulnerability and risk, without being able to return to their homes because their land is on the edge of the conflict where armed groups from Chenalhó continue to fire weapons which intensify in the early hours of the morning.

More than a year after the massive forced displacement of communities of Tsotsil people of Chalchihuitán, Chiapas, the situation remains serious and human rights violations continue due to the failure of the Mexican State. The government of Chiapas fails to comply with international commitments to care for and protect displaced people and violates precautionary measure No. 882-17 granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on February 24, 2018, “to guarantee the rights of members of indigenous peoples in a situation of risk to the life, safety, and personal integrity of the 10 displaced communities since November 2017.

For this reason, we demand that the Mexican State:

Guarantee the safety, integrity, and life of the population in forced displacement in Chalchihuitán, Chiapas.

Stop the threats and aggression coming from Hermelindo García Núñez, Municipal Union of Chalchiuitán, against representatives of the Chalchihuite Committee.

In accordance with the Guiding Principles on Forced Displacement of the United Nations, deal comprehensively with the forced displacement in Chalchihuitán, Chiapas.

We ask national and international solidarity to send your appeals to:

C. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Presidente Constitucional de México     Residencia Oficial de los Pinos. Casa Miguel Alemán. Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850 Ciudad de México. Fax: (+52) 55 5093 4901:Twitter: @lopezobrador_

Lic.Olga Sánchez Cordero. Secretaria de Gobernación de México                              Bucareli 99, 1er. piso. Col. Juárez. Delegación Cuauhtémoc;  C.P. 06600 Ciudad de México. Fax: (+52) 55 5093 34 14; Correo:secretario@segob.gob.mx: Twitter: @M_OlgaSCordero

Lic. Luis Raúl González Pérez. Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Edificio “Héctor Fix Zamudio”, Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1922, 6°piso. Col. Tlacopac San Ángel. Delegación Álvaro Obregón. C.P. 01040; Ciudad de México.              Fax: (+52) 0155 36 68 07 67: Correo: correo@cndh.org.mx : Twitter: @CNDH

Lic. Rutilio Escandón Cadenas. Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Chiapas Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas, 1er Piso Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México                                                Fax: +52 961 61 88088 – + 52 961 6188056; Extensión 21120. 21122;                              Correo: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx: Twitter: @JuntoscnRutilio

Lic. Ismael Brito Mazariegos. Secretario General de Gobierno en Chiapas: Palacio De Gobierno, 2o. Piso, Centro C.P. 29000 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. Conmutador: (961) 61 8 74 60 Ext. 20003: Correo: secretariaparticular.sgg@gmail.com

Lic. Alonso Méndez Guzmán. Subsecretario de Gobierno de la Región V. Altos Tsotsil-Tseltal: Francisco I. Madero No. 101, Barrio Guadalupe C.P. 29200 San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Teléfono: 01 (967) 67 465 94 Fax: 01 (967) 67 465 94

C. Margarita Díaz García. Presidente Municipal de Chalchihuitán                                Avenida Central S/N, Palacio Municipal C.P. 29850 Chalchihuitán, Chiapas.              Teléfono: (01 919) 10 1-10-28 o Teléfono: 9671245086

 

For more information in Spanish:

Denuncia el Frayba la destrucción de 9 campamentos de desplazados (La Jornada, 24 de diciembre de 2018)

Destruyen nueve campamentos de mujeres e infantes en Chalchihuitán(Regeneración, 24 de diciembre de 2018)

Destruyen campamentos de 238 familias tsotsiles desplazadas en Chiapas(Contralínea, 24 de diciembre de 2018)

Navidad en Chiapas: destruyen 9 campamentos con 1146 indígenas, la mayoría mujeres, niñas y niños (Sin Embargo, 25 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: displaced families from Banavil return to their home to celebrate the Day of the Dead (November 3, 2018).

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 (October 30, 2018).

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

 

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces New Attacks in Aldama and Demands End to Violence

Displaced in Aldama (@Rompeviento)

In an urgent action notice published on November 9th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) denounced new attacks perpetrated by an armed group of Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla, in the municipality of Chenalho, endangering the lives of the inhabitants of the neighboring municipality of Aldama.

It explained that on November 7th, a group of about 20 people arrived at the plots in the community of Xuxch’en, in Aldama, to cut their coffee and that, at approximately 11 am, armed individuals of Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla began to shoot at them. It added that a similar event occurred on October 19th, when indigenous people from the communities of Tulantic, Cotzilnam, Tabac, Coco and the capital of Aldama went to take in the harvest at their farms and an armed group of Santa Martha shot at them. Two people were injured, it said.

Faced with the most recent events that stem from an unresolved agrarian conflict since 1977, the Center demanded that the authorities intervene “urgently” and guarantee the life, integrity and personal security of the inhabitants of Aldama. It also urged them to deal with the displacement of 12 families of Xuxch’en and other communities in conditions of forced displacement in Aldama, immediately applying “the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement of the United Nations, as well as how to carry out preventive actions in order to prevent forced displacements from the Aldama communities from continuing due to the armed aggressions in the region.” It also asked “to implement an effective strategy of dismantling, disarming, arresting and punishing the armed civilian groups of Santa Martha Manuel Utrilla and thoroughly investigate the authorities responsible for the organization and action of these groups. We again call for a ceasefire.” The Center asked the Governor Manuel Velasco Coello to assume his responsibility as representative and to see to in a comprehensive manner “and in depth the spiral of violence” that exists in the region, human rights violations and the emergency in which Aldama residents find themselves.

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente: En riesgo la vida de indígenas tsotsiles de Aldama (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

El Frayba exige frenar ataques contra indígenas de Aldama, Chiapas(Proceso, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

Dos heridos y en riesgo comunidades tsotsiles de Aldama tras nuevas agresiones de grupos armados (Rompeviento, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

Solución definitiva a Chenalhó y Aldama (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 9 de noviembre de 2018)

Frayba denuncia ataques de grupo armado en la comunidad indígena de Aldama (Desinformémonos, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

El Frayba exige frenar ataques contra indígenas de Aldama, Chiapas (Diario Contrapaoder, 10 de noviembre de 2018)

For more inofrmation from SIPAZ:

Chiapas :Se mantienen amenazas y desplazamiento forzado en Aldama ; Frayba lanza acción urgente (October 14th, 2018)

Chiapas : Persiste riesgo a la vida de indígenas tsotsiles en Aldama, denuncia el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (April 26th, 2018)

Chiapas: Violence increases in the Highlands of Chiapas, 747 displaced and 3 dead in Aldama
(May 10th, 2018)

Chiapas: Otro conflicto agrario en los límites de Chenalhó provoca desplazados en el municipio de Aldama [blog incluye antecedentes] (27 de marzo de 2018)

National/International: Organizations and Defenders Take Urgent Action

Photo: https://contactohoy.com.mx/onu-mexico-rechaza-reforma-por-derecho-a-la-vida-desde-concepcion-en-veracruz/

Civil society organizations and environmental advocates called for urgent action to be taken by companies and the State following the report presented by the UN Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations.

The organizations recalled that “companies do not report what they do to detect and prevent the negative consequences of their actions on human rights” and the Government “has not yet set clear guidelines nor set definite expectations for companies in relation to their responsibility to respect human rights in all their activities.” This is exemplified, among others, in the case of Rio Santiago River, which, according to the organizations, the companies “throw whatever they want and in whatever quantities they want” with impunity, complicity and protection of the authorities; they recalled that in the area of ​​Rio Santiago, where around 300 industries operate, more than 600 people have died from industrial pollution.

The UN report demands that the right to prior, free, informed and culturally appropriate consultation, in accordance with ILO Convention 169, be respected, stating that “consultations should be carried out as early as possible in the process of designing the projects and should leave open the possibility that some projects are not viable.” Against this, Civil Society reported that 32 of the 68 documented cases of abuse by companies violated the right to land and territory and in 28 cases, access to information.

The UN Working Group also denounced that, “too often attacks on human rights defenders go unpunished, without investigations or effective sanctions being applied.” From the civil society they denounced that the existence of hired assassins and paramilitary forces on the payroll of companies that harass and fracture communities were ignored. Mario Luna, spokesperson for the Yaqui community of Sonora and opponent to the Independencia aqueduct, explained that, “we, in the exercise of our rights, have been criminalized, demonized.” Facing this, defenders and civil society demanded that both the State and the companies carry out the recommendations of the UN Working Group and that “the highest government officials and CEOs should make it very clear that intimidation and attacks against human rights defenders are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

CSO members and defenders pointed out that the UN report addressed very few cases and that it could talk more about how companies and authorities relate, labor rights, tourism projects, environmental impacts and the rights of indigenous peoples, in most cases defenders and guarantors of the environment.

For more information in Spanish:

Urge que Estado y empresas acaten informe sobre derechos humanos realizado por ONU: OSC (CentroProdh, a 13 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: Visita oficial del Grupo de Trabajo de la ONU sobre empresas y derechos humanos a México

 

 

 

Chiapas: Hunger Strike by Eight Nurses Continues in Chiapas

(Photo@Alerta Chiapas)

On April 10th, five of eight fasting nurses completed eight days on hunger strike, and for the second consecutive day they were gagged in order to avoid drinking liquids for ten hours as part of their protest outside Rafael Pascacio Gamboa Hospital in Tuxtla Gutierrez. This protest seeks to obtain medical supplies and medicines for the more than one thousand health centers in the state, the reinstatement of several workers unfairly dismissed and the payment of quotas for pensions, insurance, savings fund, housing, etc. This quota was paid by the workers on a monthly basis (a total of 782 million pesos).

On the same day, members of the National Assembly of Social Organizations-Teachers’ and Popular Movement, attended by teachers of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), marched in Tuxtla to the outskirts of the Hospital and expressed their support for the struggle of workers in the health sector. Dozens of civil organizations have also expressed their support.

For his part, the Secretary of Government of Chiapas, Juan Carlos Gomez Aranda, said that through dialogue “the three original petitions have been resolved”: immediate resettlement in their jobs of people dismissed, supply of medicines and payment of Labor benefits. He added that, “the resignation of the director and the administrator of the Regional Hospital was requested in lieu of the complaints raised, so in the spirit of honouring the agreements to lift the hunger strike and not put at the health of nurses risk, the state government accepted this approach.” However, he added that “once this additional point was overcome, the negotiation table was again conditioned with the dismissal of the Secretary of Health (Francisco Ortega Farrera), which does not correspond to the original or subsequent demands of the nurses who are still fasting at the Regional Hospital.” Gomez Aranda said that “new requests are expected to be channeled through negotiation and that they should return as soon as possible with their families and their daily activities.”

The Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (FRAYBA) accepted the request of the strikers to accompany them in the process of negotiation with the state government.

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente del Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Mujer de Chiapas (6 de abril de 2017) – Firma en línea

Se amordazan enfermeras en ayuno en Chiapas (La Jornada, 10 de abril de 2017)

ONG brindan respaldo a enfermeras en huelga de hambre en Chiapas (Proceso, 10 de abril de 2017)

Gobierno de Chiapas responde a demandas de las enfermeras en huelga de hambre (La Jornada, 10 de abril de 2017)

Emiten medida precautoria para garantizar salud de enfermeras en huelga de hambre (Proceso, 6 de abril de 2016)

Enfermeras de Chiapas en huelga de hambre acusan “arrogancia” de autoridades estatales (Proceso, 5 de abril de 2016)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Cinco enfermeras inician huelga de hambre en Tuxtla Gutiérrez (3 de abril de 2017)

Chiapas/México: Sector salud entra en paro contra las reformas del sector salud, la falta de medicamentos y equipo (22 de junio de 2016)

Oaxaca: Condemnation of Harassment and Defamation of Human Rights Defender Rubi Jazmin Cortes Salazar

Protest in Oaxaca, June 2016. Photo@Front Line Defenders

On October 26, the international organization Front Line Defenders, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, the joint program of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT in its Spanish acronym) and the FIDH – Network of Women Activist Defenders of Human Rights of Oaxaca and the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity, Oaxaca AC, made an urgent appeal against the escalation of harassment against Rubi Jasmine Cortes Salazar, human rights defender of the Nuu Savi nation in Mixteca,.

 Rubi is a human rights defender, a feminist of Mixtec origin and member of the Multicultural Alliance of Originary and Radical Women in Tlaxiaco (AMMOR). She was part of the first generation of the Diploma in Women, Feminisms and Decolonization Studies, organized by the Lunas del Sur Civil Association. She is also president of the Committee for the Defense of Public Education, Division 01, Tlaxiaco, and has played a key role in information and coordination with parents of Tlaxiaco in the struggle for conditions and access to education for girls and boys.

 The urgent call reports that Rubi has suffered several attacks in recent months. The last occurred on October 19, when a photomontage was published on social networks in which three bodies, two women and one man, appear in underwear sitting on a bed. On the women’s bodies, pictures of the defender Rubi Cortes and her mother were cut and pasted; on the body of the man, a photo of the mayor of Tlaxiaco, Alejandro Aparicio was used. This photomontage has circulated on Facebook from a “troll” user account. Many of the people who follow this page are from the town of Tlaxiaco, precisely where the defender Rubi lives and conducts her work. The urgent appeal emphasizes that this defamation has a sexist, macho and misogynistic tone generating a strong impact on the safety of Rubi.

 Due to this, the organizations that denounced the events called:

 – For the State Government to publicly acknowledge the importance of the work of human rights defenders in Oaxaca, and in particular the work of human rights defender Rubi Jasmine Cortes Salazar.

– To immediately investigate and punish those found responsible for various attacks against the defender, as well as those responsible for the defamation campaign that seeks to delegitimize her career.

– The immediate implementation of protective measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Rubi Jasmine Cortes Salazar and her family.

For more information n Spanish:

LLAMADO URGENTE: Denuncia de hostigamiento y difamación contra defensora Ñuu Savi Rubí Jazmín Cortés Salazar (Consorcio, a 26 de octubre 2016)

ONG exigen protección para defensora oaxaqueña (CIMAC Noticias, 26 de octubre de 2016)

Denuncian difamación contra defensora Rubí Cortés Salazar (Despertar de Oaxaca, 27 de octubre de 2016)