Chiapas: The Center for Women’s Rights Denounces Lack of Due Process and Access to Justice in Cases of Violence against Women and Femicides

Photo: @CDMCH

On June 26th, 2017, the Center for Women’s Rights of Chiapas (CDMCH in its Spanish acronym), announced that the state government has failed both to implement the urgent measures and the basic agreements taken in the different sessions of the Inter-Institutional and Multidisciplinary Group, established since the Declaration of a Gender Violence Alert of (GVA) in Chiapas, more than half a year ago now. It is worth mentioning that on November 18th, 2016, the GVA was declared in the state of Chiapas.

 The CDMCH stated that, “We denounce in particular the most recurring acts and omissions that we continue to document in our day-to-day work as Rights Defenders before the bodies responsible for procuring and administering justice in Chiapas.”

Specifically, they showed “Omission by the Operators of the system to their duty to preserve the life, physical integrity, rights and interests of women in situations of violence” as well as “Omission in the application of the Protocol of Operative and Technical Action in the Investigation of the crimes of homicide and femicide.”

The Center for Women’s Rights in Chiapas reported that “These patterns of action and omission are just some of the most common that we observe in a systematically, directly by the cases that we have accompanied we have documented these faults in prosecutors such as Bachajon, Yajalon, Ocosingo and San Cristobal; similarly in other Districts, without the Indigenous Public Prosecution taking on the responsibility conferred, we document negligent attention to indigenous people of municipalities such as Salto de Agua, Palenque, Margaritas and Teopisca.”

 Therefore, the CDMCH assured that “we will remain vigilant to the actions that the State implements to meet its obligation to safeguard the life and integrity of women in the state.”

For more information in Spanish:

Omisiones ante Alerta de Violencia de Género en Chiapas (26 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Centro de Derechos de la mujer de Chiapas denuncia amenazas (8 de diciembre de 2015)

Guerrero : emiten Alerta de Género en 8 estados (24 de junio de 2017)

Guerrero: Gender Alert in Eight State Municipalities

(Photo @bajopalabra)

The Ministry of the Interior issued a Gender Violence Alert against Women (AVGM) through the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women (CONAVIM in its Spanish acronym) in eight municipalities in the state of Guerrero: Acapulco de Juarez, Ayutla de los Libres, Chilpancingo de los Bravos, Coyuca de Catalan, Iguala de la Independencia, Jose Azueta, Ometepec and Tlapa de Comonfort.

The Secretary of the Interior reported that the state government will have a period of six months to design a work program and security measures that will be implemented before a gender alert, “with information accessible to the population, as well as designing and immediately implementing a strategy for the recovery of public spaces and the prevention of violence through the implementation of specific security measures in areas at risk.”

In June 2016, the Guerrero Association against Violence against Women had asked the federal authorities to issue a gender-based violence alert, due to high case statistics.

For his part, Governor Hector Astudillo Flores, who led the meeting with women, called “The Government of Guerrero, Committed to Women’s Rights” in Chilpancingo, and independently of the process coordinated by CONAVIM, announced seven urgent actions to eliminate and address all types of violence against women. He acknowledged that based on statistics, from 2009 to 2016 there were 744 cases of intentional homicides of women and girls; and since December 2010, when the crime of femicide was typified in the Guerrero Criminal Code, 142 cases of femicide have been registered.

Members of the Feminist Alliance of the state of Guerrero questioned, however, if the statements of Astudillo are part of a political and media ploy. They reported that so far in 2017 more than 50 femicides have been registered throughout the state .

 For more information in Spanish:

Emiten Alerta de Género en 8 municipios de Guerrero (SDP Noticias, 21 de junio de 2017)

Estas son las acciones para atender la violencia de género en Guerrero (Animal Político, 21 de junio de 2017)

Segob declara Alerta de Violencia de Género en ocho municipios de Guerrero (Animal Político, 22 de junio de 2017)

Alerta de género de Astudillo, cálculo político y mediático: feministas (Quadratin Guerrero, 23 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Campaña Popular contra la Violencia hacia las Mujeres cuestiona falta de avances de Alerta de Violencia de Género (28 de abril de 2017)

Chiapas: Sigue la violencia hacia las mujeres (24 de febrero de 2017)

Oaxaca: Registra Oaxaca 500 mujeres asesinadas durante el sexenio de Gabino Cué Monteagudo (12 de septiembre de 2016)

 

 

 

 

 

Oaxaca: Fourth Encounter of Women Activists and Human Rights Defenders in Oaxaca

Photo @: SIPAZ

On June 15TH and 16TH, the Fourth Encounter of Women Activists and Human Rights Defenders of Oaxaca took place in the capital city of the state. About 70 women from different regions of the state of Oaxaca, the Mixteca, the Sierra Norte, the Isthmus, the Cañada, the Coast, the Sierra Sur and the Central Valleys, as well as representatives of international support organizations and a representative of the European Union in Mexico were present. The meeting aimed at the design of a comprehensive feminist protection strategy promoted by the Oaxaca Consortium for the Parliamentary Dialogue and Equality (Consortium) and various organizations that are part of the Mesoamerican Women Defenders Initiative (IM-Defensoras in Spanish), under the premise of strengthening the defense of the human rights of the various feminist, civil and social movements as well as strengthening alliances between the different struggles of women. They are currently involved in a variety of struggles, ranging from the defense of Earth and Territory, water, migrants, rejection of “death” mega-projects of and high electricity charges to requests for freedom for political prisoners and those unjustly imprisoned.

According to IM-Defensoras, the context in the state of Oaxaca is “adverse and dangerous for the defense of human rights where attacks have risen alarmingly, where impunity and the acquiescence of the state are a pattern.” In 2012, for example, the Consortium registered a total of 48 attacks against defenders in Oaxaca, while in 2016, that number rose to 320. The attacks are of different types: assaults, harassment, threats, slander, defamation and feminicides.

 For more information in Spanish :

Se consolidan procesos de articulación de mujeres defensoras en Oaxaca (Educa, 16 de junio de 2017)

Inicia el 4º Encuentro Estatal de Mujeres Activistas y Defensoras de Derechos Humanos de Oaxaca (Iniciativa Mesoamericana de mujeres defensoras de derechos humanos, 16 de junio de 2017)

 

National: “The Offensive of Those Above against the Movement from Below”, CNI Communiqué Reports Intensification of Repression

On June 12th, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) published a new communiqué titled “The Offensive of Those Above against the Movement from Below” “to repudiate the repressive escalation against compañeros from our peoples where they have been nominating councilors for integration of the Indigenous Council of Government for Mexico, which represents for us an attack against the CNI and our proposal that we have launched throughout the nation.”

It denounced threats, attacks, arrests and a murder in four communities in Chiapas, a community in Queretaro, one in Morelos, one in the State of Mexico, one in Michoacan, one in Campeche, and the situation of Mayan indigenous people in Guatemala who are displaced in Campeche.

The CNI identified these events as part of “the intensification of the war against our peoples, the storm that flashes across the sky and now seeks to end hope for all Mexicans represented by the Indigenous Council of Government and our spokeswoman, of the use of attack groups and paramilitaries to strike at the struggle of the peoples that make up the CNI, of the criminalization and persecution of those who fight for a just world, from below and to the left.”

 For more information in Spanish:

La ofensiva de arriba, ante el movimiento de abajo (CNI, 12 de junio de 2017)

“Escalada represiva” contra pueblos del Congreso Nacional Indígena (Contralínea, 12 de junio de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Aumenta tensión en Tila (9 de junio de 2017)

Chiapas : Allanamiento y robo de información a integrante de Semilla Digna, parte del CNI (8 de junio de 2017)

Chiapas: Asesinan a Rodrigo Guadalupe Huet Gómez(6 de junio de 2017)

Nacional / Chiapas : El CNI conforma su Concejo Indígena de Gobierno y elige a su vocera (31 de mayo de 2017)

Chiapas: Burglary and Information Theft from Member of Semilla Digna and CNI

(Photo@Web del CNI)

In a bulletin published on June 6th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC in its Spanish acronym, also known as Frayba) expressed concern about the robbery and burglary at Alejandra Padilla Garcia’s home, a member of Semilla Digna, an organization that forms part of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), as well as being a collaborator of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Indigenous Center for Integral Training – Unitierra Chiapas (CIDECI – Unitierra Chiapas).

The events occurred in San Cristobal de Las Casas, on May 28th, 2017 while Alejandra Padilla Garcia was in CIDECI – Unitierra Chiapas, where the General Assembly of the CNI was held for the formation of the Indigenous Council of Government and the election of its spokesperson.

According to documents from the CDHFBC, “the door of Alejandra’s house was found open, as well as that of her room, from which a laptop with important information about the work she does accompanying organizational processes in communities of Chiapas and other states of the Republic”.

In this context, the CDHFBC underscored that during the last three months, “Alejandra and other members of the CNI and the support team of CIDECI – Unitierra Chiapas have been monitored and monitored and followed by several individuals on board suspicious vehicles.”

The CDHFBC repudiated “these types of actions that undermine the security of human rights defenders, whose objective is to fracture the fabric of solidarity with indigenous and peasant communities, as well as instill fear in people who dedicate their efforts to commitment in favor of the rights of indigenous peoples.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Allanamiento y robo de información a la defensora Alejandra Padilla (Boletín del CDHFBC, de junio de 2017)

Allanan y roban domicilio de defensora de derechos en Chiapas (Desinformémonos, 7 de junio de 2017)

Allanan y roban casa de defensora (Cuarto Poder, 7 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional / Chiapas : El CNI conforma su Concejo Indígena de Gobierno y elige a su vocera (31 de mayo de 2017)

Guerrero: Xochistlahuaca Reporter Shot at in Ometepec

Marcela de Jesus Natalia (Photo @Radio Zócalo)

On the morning of June 3rd, the radio and television announcer from Guerrero (RTG), Marcela de Jesus Natalia, an indigenous Amuzga native of Xochistlahuaca and reporter with Guerrero Radio and Television (RTG in its Spanish acronym), was shot at when she left the radio station in the municipality of Ometepec. She was injured by a bullet and is in a serious condition.

Journalists from the state condemned this “new attack on journalists” and demanded that the State Attorney General’s Office find immediate results, as well as a thorough investigation and punishment of the perpetrators of the attack.

They denounced in a public letter that, “in this climate of violence that prevails in Guerrero, the ineffectiveness of the institutions leaves all the citizens of Guerrero in total defenselessness. Anything can happen in Guerrero because the crimes go unpunished, so it is urgent that the investigating authorities give results.”

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) requested the Secretary General of Guerrero to implement precautionary measures to safeguard the integrity, personal safety and life of Marcela de la Cruz Natalia and her family, as well as guarding the facilities of RTG Of Guerrero, and provide protection to those who work there.

 For more information in Spanish:

Condenan periodistas guerrerenses atentado contra locutora amuzga (Radio Fórmula, 3 de junio de 2017)

Atacan a balazos a locutora de habla ñomndaa. Está grave, informe Ssa (Sur de Acapulco, 4 de junio de 2017)

Atacan a balazos a locutora en el municipio de Ometepec, en Guerrero (Animal Político, 4 de junio de 2017)

Grave, locutora indígena que fue tiroteada ayer en Guerrero (La Jornada, 4 de junio de 2017)

Marcela de Jesús, comunicadora baleada en Ometepec, se encuentra grave: SSA de Guerrero (Desinformémonos, 4 de junio de 2016)

 For more information from SIPAZ :

Nacional/Guerrero: Siguen ataques y homicidios de periodistas y defensores de Derechos Humanos (19 de mayo de 2017)

Guerrero : asesinan al periodista Cecilio Pineda (6 de marzo de 2017)
Guerrero: Asesinaron a periodista en Taxco (26 de abril de 2016)

 

Chiapas: Las Abejas de Acteal Statement for Monthly Commemoration of Massacre

Peaceful protest of Las Abejas Civil Society outside Majomut army barracks, Chenalho, March 2017. Photo @Sipaz

On May 22nd, 19 years and five months after the Acteal massacre, Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society Organization issued a statement to recall that impunity continues and to continue to demand justice, as it has done without stopping for almost 20 years.

They also denounced the situation of violence, “more rampant than ever,” in which Mexico is today. They also remembered journalist Javier Valdez, murdered on May 15th for criticizing and telling the truth “about dirty politics and crimes committed by bad governments and organized crime.”

They pointed out the lack of resources and supplies in hospitals in Chiapas “while with the bad government of Velasco Coello, millions of pesos are spent on advertising, on welfare programs to divide communities and buy consciences and even finance the purchase of arms for paramilitary groups. There is no money for life and health but there is money for death and lies.” They warned that paramilitarism has been reactivated in the same municipality of Chenalho.

Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society Organization concluded its statement recalling that its almost 25-year struggle “is peaceful and non-violent against injustice and exploitation of the bad government of PRI, PAN, green ecologists, PRD and other political party followers.”

For more information in Spanish:

Tenemos que seguir denunciando este infierno en que han convertido a México Enrique Peña Nieto y los ricos y poderosos (Organización de la Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal, 22 de mayo de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:


Chiapas: lanzamiento de la campaña Acteal: Raíz, Memoria y Esperanza (27 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas: Conmemoración de los 19 años de la masacre de Acteal (24 de diciembre 2016)