Chiapas: End of hunger-strike

Photo @ SIPAZ

39 days after ending the hunger-strike and fast, the participants imprisoned in Prison no. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las casas decided to suspend their action in light of the peril in which their lives found themselves and the absence of response of the Chiapas government to their demands.  The sit-in of relatives in the Cathedral Plaza of the same city moved itself to the steps of the CERSS in this municipality.

The reasons of the prisoners were the following: “Due to the complications of our health situation which follow from 39 days of hunger-strike that demand will continue to demand justice, a time in which the government ignored our demands to the people.  But this is not reason to end our struggles; on the contrary we will struggle with more forced until we overthrow the bad system.  Today we announce publicly that we suspended our hunger-strike yesterday on 6 November at 8pm, due to the gravity of our health situation, before it would be that it would be difficult that we repair our health.”

Those held in said prison have insisted ont eh release of Juan Collazo Jiménez, who continues on hunger strike in Prison 6 in Motozintla until 8 November, and Enrique Gómez Hernández, who could have abandoned his fast in Prison 14 El Amate.  They added in their communiqué: “at the same time we demand that the federal government of Felipe Calderón Hinojosa intervene for the immediate release of our comrade Alberto Patishtán Gómez, political prisoner of the Voz del Amate.”  Patishtán, having been transferred to federal prison in Guasave Sinaloa, more than 2000 kilometers of distance from his family and comrades, continued his fast until 31 October despite having suffered serious ocular problems.

Beyond this, the Network against Repression denounced the present condition in which Juan Collazo finds himself after having been moved to a punishment area: “he finished his hunger strike yesterday.  This notwithstanding, it is probable that comrade Juan willc ontinue to be held in the Area of punishment.”

This same Network announced the support of national and international civil society regarding the end of the hunger strike, given that on Monday 7 November was held the global day of action for the liberation of political prisoners in Chiapas, held via many different solidarity actions.

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia de Enrique Gomez, solidario de la voz del amate (Enlace Zapatista, 9 November 2011)

Juan Collazo continúa en área de castigo en la cárcel de Motozintla y levanta la huelga de hambre (Enlace Zapatista, 9 November 2011)

Pronunciamiento la RvsR Chiapas y GT por el fin de la huelga de hambre (Enlace Zapatista, 9 November 2011)

RvsR Chiapas: Pronunciamiento sobre la situación de Juan Collazo Jiménez (Enlace Zapatista, 9 November 2011)

Suspenden huelga de hambre indígenas presos, luego de 39 días(Milenio, 7 November 2011)

Revisarán expedientes de ocho presos de la otra campaña; concluyen huelga de hambre (La Jornada, 7 November 2011)

Suspenden huelga de hambre indígenas presos en Chiapas (La Jornada, 7 November 2011)

Denuncia de los pres@s en Chiapas, anuncian el fin de la huelga de hambre (Enlace Zapatista, 7 November 2011)

Despues de 39 días de huelga y ayuno se levanta por riesgos graves de salud, presos de Chiapas (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 7 November 2011)

Castigan a Juan Collazo en el penal de Motozintla. 7 de noviembre(CGT Chiapas, 7 November 2011)

Firmas para el Comunicado internacional contra el traslado forzoso de Alberto Patishtán y de solidaridad con los demás ex-huelguistas presos polític@s indígenas en Chiapas (CGT Chiapas, 8 November 2011)

Huelga de hambre de los presos en Chiapas: recolección de firmas (No estamos todxs, 5 November 2011)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Two more prisoners join the hunger strike; concentration of family-members at sit-in (4 November 2011)

Chiapas: National and international support for Patishtán and the prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (26 October 2011)

Chiapas: New denunciation by Las Abejas (28 October 2011)

Chiapas: 20 days into hunger strike and 11 days into sit-in of relatives, 2 prisoners are released (27 October 2011)

Chiapas: 15 days of hunger strike and  days of sit-in (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: Sit-in of relatives of relatives of prisoners on hunger strike(17 October 2011)

Chiapas: MPJD arrives once again to Chiapas, there to express solidarity with Las Abejas, prisoners on strike, and Zapatistas (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: 8 days of hunger strike at CERSS no. 5 (7 October 2011)

Chiapas: Prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (4 October 2011)

Chiapas: Public day for Fasting and Prayer for Peace in the San Cristóbal prison (26 September 2011)

Chiapas: 15 days of hunger strike and 6 days of sit-in

Sit-in at the Cathedral plaza @ SIPAZ

The sit-in of relatives of prisoners on hunger strike and fast in three different prisons in Chiapas continues: the CERSS no. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casa, El Amate no. 14 in Cintalapa, and no. 6 in Motozintla.  On 13 October in a press-conference in the same sit-in, the relatives expressed their pain and suffering upon seeing that their loved ones were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, beyond the torture, humiliation, and lack of due process to which they have been subjected.  They reiterated that they would not move from their sit-in until their relatives are released, despite the threats on the part of municipal authorities to dismantle the module out of consideration for the coming Meeting of Adventure Tourism to be held in the city from 17 to 23 October.

During the press-conference, the cases of the prisoners who demand their release were read.  One example is that of Juan Díaz López, a member of Voces Inocentes, who suffers his second accusation, given that the first time the person he had supposedly killed is alive; he only had left the community.  On this occasion, Juan is accused by his own mother for the death of another women, but it seems that there are interests beyond resolving the crime.  “My father manipulates [her].  He wants to take our land, home, and coffee-plants.”

La Jornada relates his experience, part of the history expressed with these words: “His arrest took the case of a lynching.  On 17 May a group of 400 persons removed him from his home.  An armed group from Yolonchén participated.  They beat him ‘for several hours.’  They doused him with gasoline and forced him to take the herbicide Gramoxone.  They meant to hang him from a tree and they cut him twice with a knife on both wrists.  He fainted, after hearing things like ‘Where is Frayba, where you are organizing?'”

In the blog We are not all here are related the cases of the marriage of Alfredo López Jiménez y Rosa Díaz López. Alfredo was fitted with a plastic bag on his head in an attempted asphyxiation.  He was beaten and electrocuted so that he would confess that he received 600,000 pesos.  On 10 May he was taken to the Public Ministry.  There he and his wife were warned that “if [he] does not confess, you will die.”  “We were so injured and tired that we confessed,” says Alfredo, who would endure 15 days in bed without any medical attention at all.  The Ministry forced him to sign documents he did not read.  He had neither a lawyer nor a translator.

Rosa was also tortured and beaten in the stomach five years ago.  She asked that this be stopped, as she was four-months pregnant, “but they did not stop.”  They placed her in a room where they undressed her, threatening to rape her if she did not say she kidnapped Claudia, the person supposedly taken.  “How can I confess to something I didn’t do?” she replied.  One of the agents threw her to the ground, while others took hold of her, meaning to rape her.  Her son was born with cerebral palsy.  It is believed that this resulted from the assault to which she was subject during her arrest.

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia matrimonio de Chiapas tortura y acusación falsa por secuestro, No estamos todxs, 13 October 2011

Campesino tzotzil sufre por segunda vez acusación falsa, tortura y encarcelamiento, La Jornada, 13 October 2011

Carta de los presos políticos del penal No. 5 de San Cristóbal de las Casas a Javier Sicilia, Cencos, 13 October 2011

Plantón en San Cristóbal de familiares de los presos políticos en huelga de hambre. Actualizado al 13 de octubre, Enlace Zapatista, 13 Octobrer 2011

Juan Collazo, preso solidario de la Voz del Amate invita a poyar huelga de hambre que sostienen por su liberación, Enlace Zapatista, 13 October 2011

Comunicados de los Presos políticos de la OtraCampaña en Huelga de Hambre, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 12 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas y el GT No Estamos Todxs sobre l@s compañer@s en huelga de hambre, Enlace Zapatista, 11 October 2011

Palabra de los familiares de los presos en huelga de hambre en conferencia de prensa desde el Frayba, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 10 October 2011

Familiares de los pres@s polític@s de Chiapas en huelga de hambre convocan a rueda de prensa el 10 de octubre, Enlace Zapatista, 7 October 2011

Harán plantón indefinido familiares de 13 presos en San Cristóbal de las Casas, La Jornada, 10 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas, Enlace Zapatista, 8 October 2011

Plantón en catedral de San Cristóbal por la libertad de l@s pres@s en huelga de hambre / huelga de hambre de presos de la Otra Campaña en Chiapas, Zapateando, 8 October 2011

Manifiesta el movimiento de Sicilia apoyo a bases zapatistas, La Jornada, 9 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la Otra Campaña de Chiapas, 6 October 2011

Pronunciamiento del Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, 7 October 2011

Desde el Frayba conferencia de prensa de l@s familiares de l@s Pres@s en huelga de hambre y ayuno, Nosestamostodxs, 10 October 2011

Desde Europa Solidaridad con los presos en huelga de hambre de Chiapas, Enlace Zapatista, 10 October 2011

Preso solidario de la Voz del Amate, Enrique Gómez denuncia su injusto encarcelamiento, Enlace Zapatista, 11 October 2011

Audios:

Palabra de los familiares de los presos en huelga de hambre en CERSS 5, San Cristóbal, Chiapas, Radio Zapatista, 10 October 2011

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Sit-in of relatives of relatives of prisoners on hunger strike (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: MPJD arrives once again to Chiapas, there to express solidarity with Las Abejas, prisoners on strike, and Zapatistas (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: 8 days of hunger strike at CERSS no. 5 (7 October 2011)

Chiapas: Prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (4 October 2011)

Chiapas: Public day for Fasting and Prayer for Peace in the San Cristóbal prison (26 September 2011)

Mexico: Caravan for Peace concludes after journeying to Tabasco, Veracruz, and Puebla (28 September 2011)

Chiapas: Caravan to the South Day 2 (26 September 2011)

Chiapas: Day 1 of the Caravan to the South (26 September 2011)

Oaxaca receives Caravan to the South (23 September 2011)

Chiapas: Sit-in of relatives of prisoners on hunger strike and fasting

Relatives of prisoners @ SIPAZ

On 10 October, in a press-conference, the relatives of prisoners on hunger strike and fast in three different prisons in the state of Chiapas–San Cristóbal de Las Casas, “El Amate” (Cintalapa), and Motozintla–spoke of the sit-in that some 30 relatives of these same prisoners have engaged in since 8 October in the Peace Plaza in the city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

They declared in a communiqué jointly written that “we are here because we know that our relatives are innocent, that they were arrested arbitrarily, tortured, beaten, forced to blank documents.  They were beaten so that they would confess themselves as being guilty when tehy are not; they were not given access to a lawyer or a translator, knowing that they do not understand anything because they are indigenous.”  “We will not leave until we see our relatives released,” they stressed.

Different platforms and networks have pronounced themselves in support of this sit-in; among them is a group of 13 members of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity that joined the sit-in on 8 October to express its solidarity for the relatives.

For more information (in Spanish):

Palabra de los familiares de los presos en huelga de hambre en conferencia de prensa desde el Frayba, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 10 October 2011

Familiares de los pres@s polític@s de Chiapas en huelga de hambre convocan a rueda de prensa el 10 de octubre, Enlace Zapatista, 7 October 2011

Harán plantón indefinido familiares de 13 presos en San Cristóbal de las Casas, La Jornada, 10 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas, Enlace Zapatista, 8 October 2011

Plantón en catedral de San Cristóbal por la libertad de l@s pres@s en huelga de hambre / huelga de hambre de presos de la Otra Campaña en Chiapas, Zapateando, 8 October 2011

Manifiesta el movimiento de Sicilia apoyo a bases zapatistas, La Jornada, 9 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la Otra Campaña de Chiapas, 6 October 2011

Pronunciamiento del Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, 7 October 2011

Desde el Frayba conferencia de prensa de l@s familiares de l@s Pres@s en huelga de hambre y ayuno, Nosestamostodxs, 10 October 2011

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: MPJD arrives once again to Chiapas, there to express solidarity with Las Abejas, prisoners on strike, and Zapatistas (17 October 2011)

Chiapas: 8 days of hunger strike at CERSS no. 5 (7 October 2011)

Chiapas: Prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (4 October 2011)

Chiapas: Public day for Fasting and Prayer for Peace in the San Cristóbal prison (26 September 2011)

Mexico: Caravan for Peace concludes after journeying to Tabasco, Veracruz, and Puebla (28 September 2011)

Chiapas: Caravan to the South Day 2 (26 September 2011)

Chiapas: Day 1 of the Caravan to the South (26 September 2011)

Oaxaca receives Caravan to the South (23 September 2011)

Chiapas: 13 prisoners continue fast and hunger strike, 12 days on

Artisan works of prisoners @ Zapateando

The prisoners on hunger strike and fasting are now in their twelfth day.  The protest, initiated on 29 September, has been taken up by 2 other prisoners from the prisons of Amate no. 14 in Cintalapa and no. 6 in Motozintla.

Alberto Patishtán Gómez and Rosario Díaz Méndez, members of the Voz del Amate, face nearly indefinite sentences–of 60 and 45 years, respectively.  They are both accused of murders they claim they did not commit; they share a history of false charges, absent witnesses, and others who retracted their statements following legal proceedings.

Among those in solidarity with the Voz del Amate, Pedro López Jiménez and Juan Collazo Jiménez are condemned to 37 years imprisonment; Alejandro Díaz Sántiz, 30; Alfredo López Jiménez and Rosa López Días, 27; Enrique Gómez Hernández, 25; Andrés Núñez Hernández and José Díaz López, 14. Among the prisoners of Mitzitón, Juan Jiménez Pérez faces 27 años, and Manuel Heredia Jiménez, 20.

Lastly, Juan Díaz López, member of the organization Voces Inocentes, has no definitive sentence of yet.

The sole prisoner who is fasting located in the Amate prison, Enrique Gómez, declared in a public denunciation that “Not to fall into forgetting due to the negligence of the governmental authorities and penal institutions for their incompetence we now employ this resource, a means by which the government will take us into account and listen to our protest, even if these are almost the only means we are left with to demand an immediate solution, to petition the governor of the State.  For this reason we imperil our lives, for a single goal: our immediate release.”

From Europe there has also been expressed support in solidarity: “Not only would we like to say that we are with you, even if we are geographically remote; despite the distance we accompany you and support you in this struggle you have undertaken, your conditions notwithstanding; we are with you and we tell you that you are not alone!”  In this same communiqué, the signing collectives demanded responsibility: “We find responsible José Antonio Martínez Clemente, José Miguel Alarcón García, and Juan Sabines Guerrero for whatever should happen to Rosario Diaz Méndez, Pedro López Jiménez, José Diaz, Alfredo López Jiménez, Alejandro Diaz Santis, Manuel Heredia Jiménez, Juan Diaz López, Alberto Patishtán Gómez, Andrés Nuñez Hernández, Rosa López Diaz, Juan Jiménez Pérez. We demand the cessation of the blackmail directed against Rosa López Diaz, whom we know has been threatened with the removal of her child; they take photos of her and they are pressuring her to sign documents of which she knows not the content.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Juan Collazo, preso solidario de la Voz del Amate invita a poyar huelga de hambre que sostienen por su liberación, Enlace Zapatista, 13 October 2011

Comunicados de los Presos políticos de la OtraCampaña en Huelga de Hambre, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 12 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas y el GT No Estamos Todxs sobre l@s compañer@s en huelga de hambre, Enlace Zapatista, 11 October 2011

Palabra de los familiares de los presos en huelga de hambre en conferencia de prensa desde el Frayba, Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 10 October 2011

Familiares de los pres@s polític@s de Chiapas en huelga de hambre convocan a rueda de prensa el 10 de octubre, Enlace Zapatista, 7 October 2011

Harán plantón indefinido familiares de 13 presos en San Cristóbal de las Casas, La Jornada, 10 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la RvsR Chiapas, Enlace Zapatista, 8 October 2011

Plantón en catedral de San Cristóbal por la libertad de l@s pres@s en huelga de hambre / huelga de hambre de presos de la Otra Campaña en Chiapas, Zapateando, 8 October 2011

Manifiesta el movimiento de Sicilia apoyo a bases zapatistas, La Jornada, 9 October 2011

Pronunciamiento de la Otra Campaña de Chiapas, 6 October 2011

Pronunciamiento del Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, 7 October 2011

Desde el Frayba conferencia de prensa de l@s familiares de l@s Pres@s en huelga de hambre y ayuno, Nosestamostodxs, 10 October 2011

Desde Europa Solidaridad con los presos en huelga de hambre de Chiapas, Enlace Zapatista, 10 October 2011

Preso solidario de la Voz del Amate, Enrique Gómez denuncia su injusto encarcelamiento, Enlace Zapatista, 11 October 2011

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: 8 days of hunger strike at CERSS no. 5 (7 October 2011)

Chiapas: Prisoners fasting and on hunger strike (4 October 2011)

Chiapas: Public day for Fasting and Prayer for Peace in the San Cristóbal prison (26 September 2011)

Chiapas: Rosario Diaz, imprisoned for six years, and denunciation by Voz del Amate (8 September 2011)

Chiapas: Fifth anniversary of the “Voz de Amate” (8 January 2011)

– Chiapas: the case of Alberto Patishtán Gómez presented before the IACHR, and denunciation by la Voz de Amate (10 August 2010)

– Chiapas: visit to observe 2011 call for “jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum” Honor denied (30 July 2010)

Chiapas: prisoner Alberto Patishtán Gómez’s latest communiqué and its coverage by La Jornada (19 July 2010)

Chiapas: medical neglect in the case of Alberto Patishtán (25 March 2010)

Chiapas: three members of the Digna Ochoa Center for Human Rights charged with the crime of mutiny

On 22 February 2011, rights-defenders José María Martínez Cruz and Eduardo Alonso Martínez Silva, both lawyers at the Digna Ochoa Center for Human Rights, and Nataniel Hernández Núñez, director of the organization, were arrested while carrying out documentation activities of possible human-rights violations after being informed that police units had been detaining individuals who had been engaging in a highway roadblock between Tonalá and Pijijiapan.

Arrested together with these rights-defenders were 16 other people who have been released.  The members of the Digna Ochoa Center for Human Rights were transferred from the city of Tonalá to the State Center for Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced No. 14, El Amate (CERSS no. 14, El Amate), located in the  municipality of Cintalapa where they are presently being held for the crime of mutiny.  The State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) bases its case against them on declarations of witnesses present during the day of the blockade who have indicated that the accused “are those who on 21 February led a group of people who blocked highway between the municipalities of Tonalá and Pijijiapan for several hours.”

In a communiqué released from el Amate, the Digna Ochoa rights-defenders claim that “the repression to which we members of the Digna Ochoa Center for Human Rights have been subjected which holds us three members without liberty […] utilizes the justice system and institutions to silence our struggle.” In addition they denounced arbitrary detentions, physical, verbal, and psychological violence, and the lack of communication they suffered, among other violations to due process in the administration of their case.  With reference to the 13 detained from the Autonomous Council of the Coast of Chiapas, they stressed that declarations were signed under duress, without the possibility of reviewing them.

For its part, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) manifested in a bulletin its “concern for the use of legal action against human-rights defenders toward the end of judicially harassing them and discrediting their work for the defense and promotion of human rights.” The CDHFBC demanded that the state government of Chiapas “observe its obligation to put an end to all aggressions and/or other obstacles to the work of human-rights defenders in Chiapas.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Internan en El Amate a abogados defensores de DH de Chiapas (La Jornada, 26 February 2011)

Procesan a defensores de indígenas de Agua Azul (El Universal, 26 February 2011)

Denuncia de los tres abogados del Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa (Desde el Amate, 26 February 2011)

Acción Urgente del Observatorio para la Protección de Derechos Humanos (FIDH, OMCT- 27 February 2011)

Preocupación por la detención al Director del Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa y a dos de sus colaboradores, todos defensores de derechos humanos (Boletín del Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 25 February 2011)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: detentions vis-a-vis blockade of road Tonala-Pijijiapan during action of the Other Campaign (26 February 2011)

Chiapas: Judicial harassment of human-rights defender (21 June 2010)

Chiapas: Communique from the Good Government Council of Morelia regarding the 8 detainees and the situation in the Zot’z Choj zone

On May 7, 2009, the Good Government Council “Corazón del arcoíris de la esperanza” of Caracol IV “Torbellino de nuestras palabras” of Morelia released a new communiqué demanding the immediate freedom of those detained in San Sebastian Bachajón, who are presently incarcerated in the CERSS No. 14 (El Amate), and they also denounced the “campaign of counterinsurgency” being carried out by the government of Sabines in a number of municipalities in the Zot’z Choj zone.

Regarding the detainees, they denounced: “By the incompetence of Juan Sabines and of his oppressors, they have unjustly tortured our comrades while the real criminals are free in their houses and we want to publically declare the incompetence of the repressive government. (…) In addition, we who work in the Good Government Council, humbly would like to show our capability to carry out real justice”. They stated that they had in custody two people who themselves denounced those who had hired them, “the real attackers”. They added that: “These people are the real criminals who had been attacking those on the highway between Ocosingo and Palenque, and that the police patrolling the highway have only obstructed justice, however they have succeeded in violating the rights of our comrades”

To Read the complete communique (In Spanish):

http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/denuncias/1636

Chiapas: the 8 indigenous tseltales of San Sebastián Bachajón are indicted

Source: CDHFBC (In Spanish)

On May 8, the Human Rights Center Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (CDHFBC) stated that they had been notified of indictments against Alfredo Gómez Moreno, Gerónimo Gómez Saragos, Antonio Gómez Saragos, Pedro Demeza Deara, Sebastián Demeza Deara, Gerónimo Moreno Deara, Miguel Demeza Jiménez, members of the Other Campaign, and Miguel Vázquez Moreno, Support Base of the EZLN, of the ejido San Sebastián Bachajón in the municipality of Chilón.

In the morning, around 350 members of the ejido of San Sebastian Bachajón organized a protest march in the municipal capital of Ocosingo in order to demand the liberation of the 8 indigenous tseltales who are still detained in the State Center for Social Rehabilitation (CERSS) No. 4 ‘El Amate’ in Cintalapa, Chiapas.

For More Information (In Spanish):

Boletín – Violaciones al debido proceso en la defensa de indígenas tseltales, CDHFBC,07/05/2009.

Consignan en el penal de El Amate a ocho simpatizantes del EZLN y la otra campaña, La Jornada,08/05/2009.

Formal prisión a ocho indígenas tzeltales en Chiapas, Proceso,08/05/2009.