Chiapas: denunciation of criminalization against environmental activists in San Cristóbal de Las Casas

 

@SIPAZ

On December 27^th, during a press conference that took place at the Human Rights Center Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, the board of Colonia Maya in the municipality San Cristóbal de Las Casas denounced the existence of arrest warrants against its members and demanded their immediate cancellation.

In June 2016, the construction of a housing estate caused a flooding that affected 20 families in Colonia Maya. As a reaction, various habitants started to organize themselves to defend their rights and the environmental rights.

Since then, the members of Colonia Maya’s board faced various threats and the criminalization of their movement to defend their district.

Three moths ago, the board met with representatives of Manuel Velasco’s government who proposed the construction of a rain drain in the settlement. The board responded that they could not take any decisions without the participation of the the Colonia’s assembly. The arrest warrants were released after that meeting.

In the words of the board about the criminalization: “We are in fear. Fear that justice one more will be bought. During the last days we have affirmed once more that the legal authorities in our country can be bought. We know that some of our members have received arrest warrants without committing any crime. We are being accused of kidnapping, when we only ever acted peacefully, consulting and respecting the settlement’s assembly.”

They solicited “that the hostility and the criminalization against human environmental rights defenders for the land and the territory are eradicated or cease as they are pillars of democracy and with their work they can promote and strengthen the civil participation”.

For more information in Spanish:

Cese la criminalización a defensores de la Madre Tierra (27 de diciembre de 2018, Chiapas Denuncia Publica).

Colonos de la Maya denuncian que les fueron inventados delitos (27 de diciembre de 2018, Noticias Voz e Imagen de Chiapas).

Se defienden activistas demandados (27 de diciembre de 2018, El Heraldo de Chiapas).

Criminalización por la defensa de la Madre Tierra (21 de junio de 2017, Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas).

For more information from SIPAZ :

National: 161 Defenders and 40 Journalists Murdered in Last Presidential Term of Office (December 14th, 2018)

Nacional : Se pospone entrega de concesiones de agua vía Internet por seis meses en medio de protestas. (17 de octubre de 2018).

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Chiapas: 21 Years Since the Massacre in Acteal

(@SIPAZ)

On December 21 and 22, 2018, members of the Civil Society Las Abejas de Acteal and guests commemorated the 21st anniversary of the Acteal massacre, which took place on December 22, 1997, in which 45 Tsotsil indigenous people, mainly women and children, members of Las Abejas, were murdered in Acteal, municipality of Chenalhó, by alleged paramilitaries. The massacre “was committed with fury, treachery, and premeditation when they [the victims] were in the second day of fasting and prayer for the end of the violence unleashed in the municipality”, remembered Las Abejas.

Las Abejas denounced that they have “gone through 21 years of darkness that represents the impunity nourished by the PRI and PAN rulers, including the misnamed and corrupt “Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation,” which ordered the release of the perpetrators of the Acteal Massacre, despite the fact that they were directly pointed out by the survivors and that they had confessed to killing in Acteal, for which they had sentences of up to 30 years, now they walk with impunity in Chenalhó and around Acteal. And the intellectual authors [of the massacre] are free, mocking justice and the memory of our massacred brothers and sisters”.

Las Abejas and the Fray Batolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) indicated that they are not seeking dialogue with the current government but announced that they will continue to speak up, so that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) can make a pronouncement on the merits of the case. Pedro Faro Navarro, director of Frayba, indicated that “for a long time the situation has been closed at the national level, since the Mexican State has not only refused to take legal action, but has attributed to impunity with the release of almost all of the perpetrators”. For their part, Las Abejas clarified that “we will not exchange justice for money in any way. The real objective of our petition before the IACHR is for the Mexican State to recognize its responsibility for action and its failure in the Acteal Massacre and to guarantee the non-repetition of acts like Acteal”.

For more information in Spanish:

Nuestro país ha vivido un patrón sistemático de represión, corrupción, colusión, impunidad desde los años 60’, hasta el día de hoy (Sociedad Civil Las Abejas, 22 de diciembre de 2018)

Acteal 21 años de impunidad (Frayba, 22 de diciembre de 2018)

Insiste Frayba en que CIDH se pronuncie sobre Acteal (La Jornada, 22 de diciembre de 2018)

A 21 años de la matanza de Acteal, familiares y sobrevivientes recuerdan a las 45 víctimas (Sin Embargo, 22 de diciembre de 2018)

Conmemoran 21 años de masacre de Acteal, la justicia aún pendiente(Regeneración, 22 de diciembre de 2018)

Abejas de Acteal anuncian que no buscaran diálogo con AMLO; esperan dictamen de la CIDH (AlertaChiapas, 22 de diciembre de 2018)

A once días de la conmemoración de la Masacre de Acteal, les compartimos cartel de dicho evento (Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal, 11 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Twentieth Anniversary of Acteal Massacre (January 14, 2018).

Chiapas: Las Abejas de Acteal “Roots, Memory and Hope” Tour (July 28, 2017).

Chiapas: Launch of Acteal Campaign: Roots, Memory and Hope (March 30, 2017).

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).

 

National / International: First Migrant Caravan advances in Mexico; a person dies in the second caravan trying to enter; Trump announces operation «Faithful Patriot» to close US border

Migrants Exodus (@SIPAZ)

While the first migrant Caravan that entered Mexico on October 20 continues to advance in Oaxaca, a second caravan was stopped trying to cross the border so as to continue its journey to the United States on October 28. This day, in Tecun Uman, Henry Adalid Díaz Reyes, 26 years old, originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, died after receiving a rubber bullet hit allegedly by the federal police of Mexico, trying to stop the crossing of this caravan. On the Guatemalan side, local media reported that several people were injured during a clash between the National Civil Police of Guatemala and about 2,000 migrants who forcibly broke through the metal fence through which they accessed Mexican territory.

The Secretary of the Interior in Mexico, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, said that the elements of the Federal Police that tried to stop the passage of migrants on the border with Guatemala did not carry weapons: “The Federal Police, as witnessed by the CNDH, did not carry weapons (…) The instruction was clear: unarmed police (…) It has been proven that some of the aggressors who tried to enter the country today carried firearms and the so-called Molotov cocktails “. He affirmed that Mexico has shared information with the governments of Guatemala and Honduras so that the aggressors are detained and made available to the authorities.

It should be noted that on October 29, about 200 people from San Salvador, El Salvador, left their country for the United States. They hope that on the road more people will join them and that in a few days they will be able to cross the border with Mexico.

Likewise, on October 29, the United States announced the start-up of the operation “Faithful Patriot” for the deployment of 5,200 soldiers on the border with Mexico before the arrival of these caravans. “Our message is simple: we will not allow large groups to enter the United States in an unsafe and illegal manner,” told Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, during a press conference. He indicated that the military personnel will cooperate with the more than 1,000 agents of the Customs and Border Protection service and the 2,100 members of the National Guard that have already been distributed in 26 border points, in particular in the states of Texas, Arizona and California.

Hours earlier, President Donald Trump had said on Twitter that “Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border. Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!“

Of the more than 7,000 who initially entered Mexico, some 4,000 would have voluntarily returned to their country, an official source reported in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

For more information (in Spanish):

Caravana: un segundo grupo de migrantes centroamericanos rompe la valla fronteriza entre México y Guatemala en fuerte enfrentamiento con la policía (BBC Mundo, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Caravana de migrantes: Estados Unidos anuncia el despliegue de 5.200 militares a la frontera con México (BBC Mundo, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Migrantes cruzan a México bajo promesa de pedir refugio pero se rebelan y unen a segunda caravana (Proceso, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Segunda caravana de migrantes intenta entrar a México; policía mata a uno (En el camino, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Segunda caravana intenta entrar a México, muere migrante en el intento (Chiapas Paralelo, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Muere migrante hondureño en choque con PF (La Jornada, 28 de octubre de 2018)

Hondureño de la #CaravanaMigrante muere en enfrentamiento en México (ADN Político, 28 de octubre de 2018)

Ejército, PNC y Policía Municipal tomarán control de Tecún Umán (Prensa Libre, 28 de octubre de 2018)

Durante tres horas, la Gendarmería impide el tránsito de la caravana migrante en Oaxaca (Proceso, 27 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas / National / International: Migrant Caravan about to enter Oaxaca November 3, 2018

National / International: Caravan of migrants from Honduras arrives in Mexico October 22, 2018

National / International: Mexico, migration filter? September 21, 2018

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA June 25, 2018

Chiapas: Chiapaneco Group against the extractive model pronounces against dispossession

Meeting of the Chiapaneco Group against the extractive mode, october 2018 (@Otros Mundos)

On October 27, at the end of a two-day meeting that took place in San Cristobal de las Casas, the peoples and organizations that make up the Chiapaneco Group against the extractive model declared themselves “in resistance” to this capitalist model that “seeks commercialize the energy that life gives us, which comes from rivers, sea, sun, wind, forests and volcanoes. We do not agree with the fact that large national and transnational companies come to strip us of our lands and territories with extractive projects such as oil wells, geothermal energy, hydroelectric dams, mines and wind farms, to produce energy that feeds their polluting industries and the model of capitalist life of the big cities ».

They denounced that “companies do not ask for permission from Mother Earth or even the people of Chiapas, when they want to extract the natural commons of our territories, with the complicity of the three levels of government, of the military, paramilitary and police apparatus” . They affirmed that, unlike what entrepreneurs want us to believe, “an energy that displaces peoples can not be green or clean”.

They rejected different projects that are being implemented or that could be implemented in the Costa, Sierra, Zoque, Altos, Selva zones, which “violate our rights as peoples (…). They move us, flood our lands (…). They steal our water and pollute our sources of life “, as well as generate “militarization for the control of the territory and the protection of private projects, not only through the presence of the Mexican army but also of paramilitaries and private guards. “

They finally indicated that “all these projects do not leave any economic, social or cultural development in our communities. The only path that they open for us is that of death. (…) We want to continue with strength and for this we need to be able to continue living in our communities, with our ways of life, with respect and care for our lands and territories. We want the collective rights of peoples to be respected and recognized. “

For more information (in Spanish) :

Pueblos organizados de Chiapas nos declaramos en resistencia ante el modelo energético capitalista (Grupo Chiapaneco contra el Modelo Extractivo, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Pueblos organizados detendrán el avance de proyectos extractivistas en Chiapas (Chiapas Paralelo, 28 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: FDPS Suspends Dialogue with Government until El Puntal Is Closed and Other Concessions Repealed March 1, 2017

Chiapas: nine municipalities declare their lands free of mining and dams December 26, 2015

Chiapas: displaced families from Banavil return to their home to celebrate the Day of the Dead

From October 26 and for a week approximately, families forced to leave their homes in Banavil, municipality of Tenejapa since December 4, 2011, announced that they would provisionally return to their lands “to put our flowers to our relatives who have gone ahead on the way , to remember and bring to mind the girl Antonia López Méndez and her two little sisters who are buried in the lands of her grandfather Alonso López Luna, who is still disappeared”.

They again blamed the Mexican State for not resolving their displacement situation and for not having found Alonso López Luna. “It only seeks to tire us without giving us an answer,” they complained.

They expressed solidarity with the displaced people of Chalchihuitán, Chiapas; and “with the migrant brothers who are walking through the suffering that the governments of each country are causing.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado de las familias desplazadas de Banavil (27 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Banavil Displaced Families Announce Provisional Return to their Community for Day of the Dead. (November 2, 2016)

Chiapas: Opening of Photographic Exhibition of Banavil Displaced Families (July 13, 2016)

Chiapas: Four years of impunity for those displaced from Banavil (December 26, 2015)

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Chiapas / National / International: Migrant Caravan about to enter Oaxaca

@Radio Zapatista

On October 27, it is expected that the majority of the Migrant Caravan-Exodus will cover the Arriaga-Juchitán of Zaragoza section, leaving Chiapas to enter Oaxaca. It is estimated that there are still more than 6000 people. “Community support, from civil, grassroots and religious organizations continues to be the main source of life and hope for the people on their journey. Also, some governmental bodies and international organizations continue to follow the Exodus and greater action was observed by the Municipal Councils of Mapastepec, Pijijiapan and Tonalá, providing medical care and food”, said the Human Rights Observation and Monitoring Group in Chiapas. .

In recent days, the reinforcement of immigration and police control in the border area has been confirmed. On October 26, a group of at least 150 migrants (some speak of 300, others of 450), composed of Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans, who walked from the municipality of Suchiate to Tapachula, Chiapas, to join the migrant caravan was detained by the Federal Police and personnel of the National Institute of Migration (INM). They were transferred, in trucks and vans, to the Siglo XXI migration station, located in Tapachula. At the time of the arrest, “panic spread when they were forced to get into the vans; Most people were able to flee in the bushes, but again families, children and adolescents were trapped. On this occasion, different media were witnesses and circulated videos that show the violence of the operation and the separation of children from their parents”, said the Human Rights Observation and Monitoring Group in Chiapas.

For his part, the Ambassador of Honduras in Mexico, Alden Rivera Montes, said that of those who entered the first wave so far, 500 migrants have approached him to be repatriated and that 1,900 submitted their request for refuge before the Mexican Commission of Assistance for Refugees (COMAR).

The Human Rights Observation and Monitoring Group in Chiapas reported that “persons and families who decided to return due to exhaustion, disinformation and the difficult environmental and institutional conditions of the exodus, are exposed to the absence of accompanying protocols for repatriation by town halls, consulates and institutions responsible for the attention to vulnerable groups, as is the case of children. This absence translates into long waits in spaces without guarantee of safety, food and health”.

The same 26, almost a week after the Caravan entered Mexico, the president Enrique Peña Nieto announced a program for the attention to migrants called “You are in your house” that seeks to provide medical care, education, temporary employment and an identification to those who have recently entered the South border. It raised some restrictions to access these benefits: applicants must be in Oaxaca or Chiapas and must have registered their entry or their request for refuge with the INM. The procedures will be free, said the Ministry of the Interior

“Ninety-nine percent of the members of the caravan rejected the offer because it is specific to Chiapas and Oaxaca, states in a similar condition to the countries from which we come,” the organization of Peoples Without Borders told the media.

The migrants have requested a meeting with Peña Nieto and his successor, Andrés Manuel Andrés López Obrador, in Mexico City where the caravan could arrive on November 2. From there, some migrants could choose to stay and work in Mexico, but several continue to pretend to reach the US. The president of this country, Donald Trump, has described the passage of the caravan as a “national emergency” and warned that he will mobilize 800 soldiers to the border along with two thousand elements of the National Guard to contain the Caravan.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Migrantes rechazan oferta de Peña (La Jornada, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Actualización del Éxodo Migrante (OSC, 27 de octubre de 2018)

México ofrece trabajo y atención médica a la caravana migrante para frenar su paso a EE UU (El País, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Peña Nieto trata de evitar que la Caravana de Migrantes llegue a EEUU (El Mundo, 27 de octubre de 2018)

ACCIÓN URGENTE-ÉXODO MIGRANTE (OSC, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Policía Federal y agentes del INM detienen a 150 migrantes en Chiapas; intentaban unirse a la caravana (Animal Político, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Interceptan a hondureños que querían sumarse a la caravana (Proceso, 26 de octubre de 2018)

EPN anuncia plan “Estás en tu Casa” dirigido a migrantes en México (La Jornada, 26 de octubre de 2018)

ACTUALIZACIÓN ÉXODO MIGRANTE (OSC, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Caravana de migrantes a su paso por Pijijiapan y Tonalá, Chiapas (Radio Zapatista, 26 de octubre)

ACTUALIZACIÓN DEL ÉXODO MIGRANTE(OSC, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Pueblos migrantes organizados rompen las fronteras y muros impuestos por los gobiernos (OSC, 25 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National / International: Caravan of migrants from Honduras arrives in Mexico October 22, 2018

National / International: Mexico, migration filter? September 21, 2018

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA June 25, 2018