National: Mexico International Airport in Texcoco is canceled after consultation

On October 29, the elected president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who will take office on December 1, announced that he will cancel the construction of the New Mexico International Airport (NAIM) in Texcoco and that, instead, it will support the project at the current military base in Santa Lucia, about 40 kilometers north of Mexico City.

He made this decision after a national consultation in which more than one million people participated (a little more than 1% of the electoral register in the country): 29% of them voted to continue the Texcoco airport while 69% voted in favor of Santa Lucia.

Before this announcement, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced that his government will continue with the construction of NAIM in Texcoco until the last day of his term. It is estimated that the current project has an advance of 30%. “If the decision to cancel the work continues, as of December 1, the next government will have to face the payment of commitments, which will probably require the use of fiscal resources in addition to the tax paid by airport users,” he said. .

Businessmen and opposition parties to the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) have questioned the proposal of Santa Lucia and the consultation process that they consider illegal, without binding character and only a montage or a simulation to endorse a decision already taken by AMLO. They believe that it will have a negative impact on the financial markets and that it will generate heavy economic losses. According to the Airport Group of Mexico City, it will cost the country at least 120 billion pesos.

Those who did celebrate the decision were the members of the People’s Front in Defense of the Land of Atenco and the coalition Pueblos Unidos contra el Nuevo Aeropuerto who have been opposing the project in Texcoco since 2001. Before the consultation, they conducted a campaign in social networks labeled #YoPrefieroElLago, expressing that “they prefer to conserve Lake Nabor Carrillo and to avoid environmental damage, instead of continuing the NAIM, which is located in the municipalities of Atenco, Ecatepec de Morelos and Texcoco, in the State of Mexico “.

On the other hand, before the closing of the consultation, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and its Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) as well as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), rejected the construction of a new airport, whatever its location. : “Deciding where to put the new airport should not be what the government ask us, because if they had a bit of shame in front of the millions who suffer from dispossession, poverty, repression, before those who must migrate by thousands before the destruction left in the whole world, before our mother earth that can no longer bear the serious illness caused by capitalism; the question should be whether we agree that they continue or not along that road that is leading us, all of us, to death, to war, to extermination.” They affirmed that “the indigenous peoples can not say yes to their extermination, even if the bad government pretends to make a consultation, even if it falsifies votes, even if it buys them or gets them deceived (…). The attack against the territories that sustain life and against freedom, will not be in our name.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Obras del NAIM continuarán hasta hasta el 30 de noviembre, dice Peña Nieto; afores, sin riesgo (Animal Político, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Nuevo Aeropuerto de México: AMLO confirma que su gobierno cancelará la construcción del aeródromo (BBC Mundo, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Santa Lucía: en qué consiste el proyecto de AMLO para construir un nuevo aeropuerto para Ciudad de México (BBC Mundo, 29 de octubre de 2018)

El caso Santa Lucía: qué nos enseña AMLO sobre el poder (Huffington Post, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Adiós al NAIM en Texcoco: arrasa Santa Lucía en consulta sobre Aeropuerto (Aristegui Noticias, 28 de octubre de 2018)

Adiós al NAIM: La opción de construir pistas en Santa Lucía gana en la consulta convocada por López Obrador (Animal Político, 28 de octubre de 2018)

Consulta tumba el proyecto del NAIM en Texcoco; gana opción de Santa Lucía (Proceso, 28 de octubre de 2018)

Rechazan NAIM en Texcoco, en casilla de Atenco (La Jornada, 28 de octubre de 2018)

El EZLN y el CNI rechazan “aerópolis” en Texcoco o Santa Lucía (Proceso, 27 de octubre de 2018)

COMUNICADO CONJUNTO DEL CNI, EL CIG Y EL EZLN EN RECHAZO AL MEGAPROYECTO DEL NAIM Y EN APOYO Y SOLIDARIDAD CON LAS POBLACIONES MIGRANTES (CNI/EZLN, 26 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Disturbances in Indigenous Territories over the Implementation of Megaprojects: San Francisco Xochicuautla and Atenco (April 14, 2016)

National: FPDT of Atenco initiates mobilizations following announcement of new airport (September 15, 2014)

National: After 8 years of impunity in Atenco, threat to build airport continues (16 May 2014)

Atenco: repression in San Salvador Atenco, 4 years on (11 May 2010)

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

National: Sixth and last report of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto

Sixth report of Enrique Peña NIeto (@La Jornada)

On September 1, President Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN) presented his sixth and final government report in the National Palace in the presence of nearly a thousand guests and his family. In his participation he affirmed that he leaves a «prosperous and stable» country, after having fulfilled «99% of his campaign proposals». “I assumed”, he said, “266 commitments during my campaign and by the end of my administration I will have completed 99 percent of them. As confirmed by the figures, this is the six-years term of employment and growth in the minimum wage. They are figures that show confidence in the country and confidence in ourselves”, he said. Certainly the country’s inflationary and economic stability has been maintained, ans its gross domestic product (GDP) has grown at rates above 2% in recent years (half of what EPN promised at the start of the six-years term).

EPN began its presentation praising what was the Pact for Mexico (between the -at that time- strongest political parties in 2012) which allowed the approval of structural reforms (labor, education, telecommunications, federal taxes and energy). He spoke of a long list of “improvements” in terms of poverty. “The results of the social policy encourage us: more than two million Mexicans came out of extreme poverty and the percentages of the population in poverty are at their historic minimums. If this trend continues, Mexico will be able to eradicate extreme poverty before concluding the next decade”, he presumed. On the other hand, other sources affirm that poverty increased by two million individuals during the six-years term to end.

Regarding the fight against organized crime, he stressed that a preeminent role was given to the Ministry of the Interior, and the violence has been fought with intelligence systems and the entire force of the State. “The government succeeded in reducing the operational capacity of these criminal organizations. But that same weakening led to the emergence of smaller criminal gangs, without the local police being able to respond to that challenge. I am aware that we have not achieved the goal of restoring peace and security for Mexicans in all corners of the country “, he acknowledged.

According to an analysis carried out by eight journalists and coordinated by the digital newspaper Sin Embargo, EPN only complied with 49.50% of his promises. “In this failure to fulfill, not only the infrastructure works were pending but also the projects to recover the security in the Mexican geography or the construction of the national anti-corruption system. The outgoing Head of State also lost credibility and ceased to be the great character of political marketing, the one who had a word of honor, the telegenic man who managed to win the elections. The government that is about to expire achieved a historic record: the lowest percentage of approval to its political work of the last 30 years, according to all the surveys », underlined Sin Embargo.

For more information (in Spanish):

Enrique Peña Nieto rinde último informe entre lágrimas; describió un México “próspero y estable” critican expertos (Vanguardia, 3 de septiembre de 2018)

El confesionario de EPN durante su Sexto Informe de Gobierno (Hufftington Post, 3 de septiembre de 2018)

Marcado por un oscuro legado e impopular: así llega EPN a su VI y último Informe, dicen analistas (Sin Embargo, 2 de septiembre de 2018)

Peña Nieto asegura que estrategias del gobierno permitieron preservar la seguridad nacional (Proceso, 2 de septiembre de 2018)

Resumen Ejecutivo del #6toInforme de Gobierno de EPN (Aristegui Noticias, 1 de septiembre de 2018)

Informe presidencial: del ritual monárquico al documento sin Presidente (Aristegui Noticias, 1 de septiembre de 2018)

Maestros de la CNTE protestan en San Lázaro contra EPN, por el sexto y último Informe de Gobierno (Sin Embargo, 1ero de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Human Rights Organizations’ Reports Contradict Progress Noted in Government’s Fifth Report September 13, 2017

National: Fourth Report of Peña Nieto’s Government September 15, 2016

National: Several criticisms of the presentation of Peña Nieto’s Third Report of Government September 13, 2015

National: 10 points from EPN regarding security, and first reactions December 15, 2014

National: Lack of confidence and strong criticisms of the Second Governmental Report presented by EPN September 15, 2014

National: Polemical ascension of EPN December 7, 2012

National/International: WOLA presents new report: “Human-rights violations against migrants continue”

On 18 Novembrer 2015, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) published a report on the human-rights situation of migrant and refugee persons in Mexico from 2014 to present, with a focus on the changes implemented since the start of the Southern Border Program.  Compiled by nine civil organizations based in Mexico and the U.S., the report “An uncertain path: Justice for crimes and human-rights violations against migrants and refugees in Mexico” exposes the problem of security and access to justice for migrants.  Since the implementation of the Southern Border Program, the operations, arrests, and deportations of migrants in Mexico have increased significantly, and so have human-rights violations.  Migrant homes have observed a rise in the abuses and crimes committed by organized and State agents against this population, including kidnapping, robbery, extortion, and trafficking of persons.  In the case of girls and women, more sexual violence has been reported.  As a result of these measures, the number of arrests of foreigners rose 73% between July 2014 and June 2015, relative to the same period the previous year.  “If the indicator for the Southern Border Program is the arrest of persons, obviously it has been very successful, but if it is placed within the context which it was developed, that is to protect the human rights of migrants, it has failed […].  In Mexico, where there are migrants, there is violence,” observed Maureen Meyer, member of WOLA. Beyond this, the civil groups have demanded that the Mexican State “guarantee access to justice, compensation for damages incurred, humanitarian visas, and refuge for the migrant population.”

According to the report, the U.S. government has offered political and economic support for Mexico to carry out the Southern Border Program since the burgeoning number of arrivals of unaccompanied children and adolescents to the U.S. border.  This support has to do with especially with activities related to border security in southern Mexico.  In light of this situation, the civil organizations made nine recommendations to the U.S. and Mexican governments to address the problem.  Among these is one directed at the National Institute for Migration, calling on it to strengthen internal control and to prevent violations of human rights.

For more information (in Spanish):

Informe “Un camino incierto. Justicia para delitos y violaciones a los derechos humanos contra personas migrantes y refugiadas en México” (Oficina de Latinoamérica en Washington, WOLA, 18 de noviembre de 2015)

Sin desagregar por sexo denuncias de agresiones a migrantes (Cimac Noticias, 18 de noviembre de 2015)

Siguen violaciones a DH de migrantes: WOLA (El Universal, 18 de noviembre de 2015)

ONG: crecieron detenciones de migrantes, pero también abusos (La Jornada, 18 de noviembre de 2015)

“Un camino incierto: Justicia para delitos y violaciones a los derechos humanos contra personas migrantes y refugiadas en México” (Fundar, 11 de noviembre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National/international: The IACHR expresses concern before hardening of Mexican authorities toward migrants (30 June 2015)

Mexico/National: Honduran migrant dies of drowning in presence of migration agents, says La 72 (22 March 2015)

Chiapas/National: Bishops of southern Mexico pronounce themselves on the “drama of migration” (8 February 2015)

Oaxaca: Low participation in teachers’ performance evaluation

Photo @NVI noticias

On 28 November was held the performance evaluation of Oaxacan educators, a process characterized by strong militarization of the state, with 8,000 to 10,000 elements involved. The statistics regarding teachers who participated in the evaluations are not clear: according to the State Institute of Public Education in Oaxaca (IEEPO), 2,981 participated, while the Secretary for Public Education (SEP) claimed 2,600 participants. It bears noting that the higher estimate would only represent about 60% of the 4,900 initial registrations among the 6,000 who had been invited, as compared with the approximate 60,000 teachers in the state. Beyond this, the head of the SEP, Aurelio Nuño Mayer, declared that “the most important thing is that we had the participation of teachers from Oaxaca who slowly are beginning to overcome the pressure and yoke that Section 22 of the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE) had had, and instead they increasingly join the educational reform that favors the development of children in Mexico.”

In parallel terms, there was a protest march against the evaluation that incorporated around 20,000 people. Using slogans like “if evaluation is necessary, it must begin with Peña,” the dissident magisterium showed the strength it still has in the state. It should be mentioned that two confrontations between teachers and police took place, with Section 22 distancing itself from these acts, claiming them to have been the work of infiltrators. For the past six months there has been worsening persecution of the dissident teachers, incorporating actions like the deep reforms to the IEEPO, which traditionally had been managed by the CNTE, and the arrest of 4 teacher leaders from Section 22, who were transferred to a maximum-security prison in Altiplano, Mexico State. Beyond this, there still remain about thirty arrest-orders against other teachers that are still to be completed. In this way, members of Section 22 announced that they would continue with their actions in opposition to the evaluation.

It also should be noted that the body of the teacher Marjorie Xolio Meléndez, from Jalapa del Marqués and an affiliate of Section 22, has recently been found. In response, residents and teachers protested before the Municipal Palace and carried out a roadblock, demanding a forthright investigation of the feminicide and punishment of those responsible. “We demand before the authorities justice for this crime, because there is more concern for saving the head and protecting Peña Nieto and the federal police behind an evaluation, rather than the truth of the people,” declared protestors.

The performance evaluations have been held in all states of the Republic other than Chiapas, where it is expected that they will be carried out in the next few days. In this way, one can expect the implementation of special security operations to prevent the dissident teachers from inhibiting the evaluation as a means of blocking implementation of the educational reform.

For more information (in Spanish):

Asesinan a profesora en Oaxaca; maestros exigen cese a feminicidios (Proceso, 30 de noviembre de 2015)

Repudian la prueba maestros de Oaxaca (La Jornada, 29 de noviembre de 2015)

En medio de protestas, 60% de maestros de Oaxaca que se registraron fueron evaluados (Sin Embargo, 28 de noviembre de 2015)

Sección 22 reporta “infiltrados” en marcha a Ciudad Administrativa (La Jornada, 28 de noviembre de 2015)

La SEP presume buena convocatoria a la evaluación docente en Oaxaca (CNN México, 30 de noviembre de 2015)

Protestas en DF, Edomex y Chiapas en apoyo a maestros de Oaxaca (La Jornada, 28 de noviembre de 2015)

Aprehenden a 4 maestros de la CNTE y los trasladan al penal del Altiplano (Animal Político, 29 de octubre de 2015)

Cué cede educación de Oaxaca a la federación: desaparece el IEEPO; PF vigila instalaciones (Sin Embargo, 21 de julio de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Teachers in Acapulco successfully sabotage educational evaluation (26 December 2015)

Guerrero: Teacher from Acapulco dies after violent repression of a protest by the Federal Police (10 March 2015)

National: Thousands of teachers march against the educational reform (4 October 2013)

Mexico/National: Deputies approve Federal law on Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

Location of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Image: @Dinero en Imagen

On 14 December the Chamber of Deputies approved the initiative to legalize Special Economic Zones (SEZ) which had been presented to the federal Congress in September of this year. These SEZs will be regions in which investors face financial benefits, particularly in terms of “flexible labor.” In this sense, the SEZs serve foreign economic interests and would institute a special customs regime, all of this toward the end, as the government claims, of promoting development in southern Mexico by means of attracting foreign investment.

In accordance with information from the president’s office, there are plans to build infrastructure projects using an initial investment of nearly 115 billion pesos, including new gaseoducts, railroads, highways, ports, and airports. According to Chiapas Paralelo, this investment would come from public coffers but is “designed for by by private capital, in a mercantile logic […] whereby the people of Chiapas is present only as labor, leaving to the side the question of who owns the natural resources.” In this way, the projects are expected to create 115,000 jobs over the next 10 years, though analysts indicate that it will attract specialists from elsewhere in the country, leaving the most precarious jobs for locals.

The planned SEZs include the “Lázaro Cárdenas” port, incorporating municipalities straddling Michoacán and Guerrero toward the end of exploitation; the “Interoceanic Corridor of Tehuantepec,” which will affect Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Salina Cruz, and Oaxaca, and will permit commercial transit between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico; and lastly, the “Chiapas Port” which would facilitate exports to Asia. The permits to construct and administer a zone can be granted for up to 40 years.

It bears mentioning that organizations like the Indigenous and Campesino Front of Mexico (FICAM) have expressed their rejection of the SEZ initiative, given that “it is a new embestida against the peoples and communities of this country” which “seeks to legalize the plundering of lands of the people” and that “it is the complement to the energy reform, which aimed at reassuring transnational firms juridically.”

FICAM members opined that the SEZs will worsen levels of social marginalization, only “make the rich richer,” and will take advantage of cheap labor in these zones, precisely among those which experience the highest levels of poverty in the country. Lastly, they shared that “the proposal for the [SEZs] instead of being accompanied by public policies to transform the country, but only represents the presentation of the wealth of the country to grand capital on a silver platter.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Diputados aprueban ‘zonas económicas especiales’ en México (Aristegui Noticias, 14 de diciembre de 2015)

Aprueban diputados ley para crear Zonas de “Explotación” Especial (EDUCA, 15 de diciembre de 2015)

Prevé expropiar terrenos el plan de zonas económicas especiales (La Jornada, 1 de octubre de 2015)

Zonas Económicas Especiales, una iniciativa para el despojo (Chiapas Paralelo, 30 de septiembre de 2015)

Zonas Económicas de EPN legalizarán despojo de tierras; complementan la energética para dar certeza a empresas: FICAM (Revolución Tres Punto Cero, 17 de octubre de 2015)

México en el giro de tuerca mundial: Zonas Económicas Especiales (Parte I) (Subversiones, 20 de noviembre de 2015)

Otro eslabón para el despojo (La Jornada, 6 de octubre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Mining reactivation is denounced in the state (3 March 2015)

Chiapas: popular rejection of dams and mining projects in the Tapachula, Motozintla, Huixtla, and Huehuetán region (December 17, 2014)

 

Chiapas: A teacher dies during protests against the educational performance evaluation

Mobilization of teachers over the death of one of them by police.
Photo: @Quadratín Chiapas

David Gemayel Ruiz Estudillo, a teacher of 23 years of age who pertained to Section 22 of the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE), died on 8 December after having been hit by a truck during a confrontation between dissident teachers in Chiapas and police forces. Both parties held the other responsible for the death of the teacher.

Since 7 December, the teachers in opposition to the performance evaluation that has been promoted by the educational reform have declared an indefinite strike. The evaluation was programmed for 12-13 December, though at the last moment the authorities delayed it until the eighth of December, in an attempt to inhibit mobilizations for boycott. In any case, teachers attempted to blockade access to the center for exams, to which teachers had been moved after having been assembled in military installations. At the center confrontations raged with the police, leaving one teacher dead, six arrested, and several others injured. During the second day of the test, on 9 December, the teachers protested in downtown Tuxtla Gutiérrez, where they kidnapped five police and appropriate hundreds of ammunition clips, gas bombs, body armor, shields, and helmets, among other items. After negotiating with federal authorities, the arrested teachers were exchanged for the police who had been held, as well as the stolen equipment. According to sources among the teachers, it is estimated that the State response involved between 10,000 and 15,000 police.

Following the positive evaluation made by the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE) regarding the release of their arrested comrades and the boycott of the second part of the evaluation, they suspended the sit-in they had installed in the plaza and called for the reinstatement of the 50,000 teachers who had been on strike for three days. Despite this, one of the CNTE leaders, Pedro Gómez Bamaca, warned that “in Chiapas the labor reform will not pass,” and he announced his participation in the mobilization in Mexico City planned for 18 December. In this way, the CNTE communicated that it would not allow the return to work of the 2,300 teachers who did complete the exam.

The confrontations over the evaluation process in Chiapas has not been an aberration. Both the application of the exam as well as the larger educational reform have been rejected by many teachers and have involved high levels of militarization, with strong protests in Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoacán. It bears noting that David Gemayel Ruiz is the third teacher who has died in protests against the evaluation, following the death in February of Claudio Castillo Peña in Acapulco and the murder in March of Antonio Vivar Díaz in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero.

For more information (in Spanish):

Maestros de Chiapas dan “tregua” y regresan a sus centros de trabajo (Chiapas Paralelo, 10 de diciembre de 2015)

Intercambian maestros a 5 policías por los 6 profesores detenidos (Chiapas Paralelo, 9 de diciembre de 2015)

Difunden video del enfrentamiento entre policías y maestros en Chiapas (La Jornada, 9 de diciembre de 2015)

Autoridades y maestros se acusan de provocar el fallecimiento de un docente (La Jornada, 9 de noviembre de 2015)

El asesinato de David Gemayel Ruiz (La Jornada, 8 de diciembre de 2015)

Reforma educativa cobra tercera víctima: Muere maestro durante protesta en Chiapas (Educa, 9 de diciembre de 2015)

SEP inicia evaluación bajo resguardo de la SEDENA y Policía Federal (Chiapas Paralelo, 8 de diciembre de 2015)

Maestros de Chiapas inician este lunes plantón indefinido y acciones para impedir la evaluación (Chiapas Paralelo, 7 de diciembre de 2015)

Federales arriban a Chiapas, CNTE prepara acciones de resistencia (Chiapas Paralelo, 7 de diciembre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Teachers in Acapulco successfully sabotage educational evaluation (26 December 2015)

Guerrero: Teacher from Acapulco dies after violent repression of a protest by the Federal Police (10 March 2015)

National: Thousands of teachers march against the educational reform (4 October 2013)

 

Oaxaca: Creation of tool for monitoring and denunciation about territorial rights

 

At the beginning of December was made public the creation of the Observatory of Territorial Rights, an initiative that has been promoted by Services for an Alternative Education (EDUCA A.C.), “focused on the monitoring, investigation, analysis, diffusion, and denunciation of violations of popular and communal rights to territories at the hands of transnational corporations, the State, and other power-groups.”

As EDUCA’s website notes, “the Observatory has as its general objective to influence State policies and public opinion so as to guarantee respect for the rights of the peoples and communities of Oaxaca by means of the monitoring of specific cases, the systematization of information, sessions of analysis with different sectors of society, and bulletins and journalistic information.” During this year, the Observatory will monitor the projects of “Paso de la Reina,” the construction of two dams in the Paso de la Reyna community; “San José,” or the construction of a subterranean mine in San José del Progreso; and “the Doctor,” for exploratory mining work in Magdalena Teitipac.

It bears mentioning that the attacks on environmental defenders has been on the rise during the past five years at least. According to the Second Annual Report on Attacks against Environmental Defenders, as compiled by the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA), the attacks have worsened during the reign of Enrique Peña Nieto. In accordance with a proper media registry, 240 cases of attacks on environmental defenders have been observed, nearly half of which have taken place between April 2014 and May 2015, with the states of Sonora, Oaxaca, Mexico, and Guerrero being those with the highest number of incidents.

For more information (in Spanish):

Observatorio de Derechos Territoriales

Inicia Observatorio de Derechos Territoriales a partir de procesos de defensa en Oaxaca (8 de diciembre de 2015)

El Topil. Observatorio de Derechos Territoriales (Septiembre 2015)

Con EPN crecen agresiones contra defensores ambientalistas;“en el último año 109 ataques y una tendencia preocupante a la criminalización” (Revolución Tres Punto Cero, 9 de diciembre de 2015)

Oaxaca, primer lugar en agresiones a defensoras de derechos humanos (Sididh, 14 de diciembre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Detained and disappeared, anti-mining activists from San José del Progreso (12 December 2013)

Oaxaca: New death-threats directed against members of the CPUVO in San José del Progreso (7 June 2013)

Oaxaca: Civil Observation Mission to San José del Progreso (30 November 2012)

Oaxaca: access to the Cuzcatlán mine is blocked in San José el Progreso (16 May 2012)

Oaxaca: Actions, denunciations, and mobilizations in the case of San José del Progreso (3 April 2012)

Oaxaca: Murder of the spokesperson of the Coordination of the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (25 March 2012)

 

Guerrero/National: 13 months after the Ayotzinapa disappearances, relatives of the disappear continue to denounce impunity

“We are missing 43” (@Desinformémonos)

On 26 October, the 13-month anniversary of the forcible disappearance of the 43 student-teachers from Ayotzinapa, parents of the disappeared marched in Mexico City from the Angel of Independence to the Benito Juárez monument to demand the return of their sons. Among others, students from different Rural Teachers’ Colleges, teachers from the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE), public-school university students, and other representatives from civil society participated in the action. Protestors demanded that the government observe the recommendations made by the Group of Experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that has requested new investigations.

At the rally before the Juárez monument, parents of the disappeared demanded that “the federal government accept the [requested] interviews by the Group of Experts with soldiers and military commanders who were present during the events in Iguala.” Melitón Ortega, a relative of one of the disappeared youth, lamented that “the State authorities refuse to open lines of investigation that offer the chance for truth and justice.” As a parent of the disappeared, he said that “we cannot allow what happened 13 months ago to remain in impunity.”

For more information (in Spanish):

México: familiares de los 43 desaparecidos denuncian impunidad (RPP Noticias, 27 de octubre de 2015)

Padres de los 43 exigen aceptar entrevista de GIEI con militares (La Jornada, 26 de octubre de 2015)

A 13 meses de la desaparición de los normalistas, sus padres marcharán en el DF (Animal Político, 26 de octubre de 2015)

“No podemos dejar que lo ocurrido hace 13 meses quede impune”: padres de los 43 (Proceso, 26 de octubre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National: Mobilizations within and outside the country for the first anniversary of the forcible disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa (10 October 2015)

Chiapas: Actions for the one-year anniversary of the Ayotzinapa disappearances (8 October 2015)

Guerrero/National: “Fruitless” meeting between relatives of the disappeared from Ayotzinapa and EPN (8 October 2015)

Guerrero: Group of Experts on Ayotzinapa case presents its report 6 months on (13 September 2015)

Guerrero: Tlachinollan dedicates its XXI activity report to parents of the disappeared of Ayotzinapa (11 September 2015)

National/Guerrero: Nine months after the Ayotzinapa atrocity, relatives express that they will not be silenced (3 July 2015)

 

Chiapas: Conflicts between police and teachers over protest of evaluations

Conflict between teachers and police. Photo: @Revolución Tres Punto Cero.

On 18 October took place the diagnostic exam for teachers in Chiapas, being a measure adopted to evaluate these teachers, as implemented following the educational reforms pushed by the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN). According to the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INEE), this evaluation seeks to “contribute with professional development to assist in the elevation of quality of instruction for students and equity in educational outcomes,” though it has caused a great deal of polemic among various sectors of the magisterium, who understand it as a means of rationalizing selective dismissals. According to the Secretary for Education in Chiapas, Ricardo Aguilar Gordillo, “whoever does not take the test should have his or her job removed.”

In Ocozocuautla, access to the place for evaluation was blockaded by members of section 7 of the Union of Educational Workers (SNTE) and the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE), who reject the educational reform and carried out direct actions to express their opposition.

According to Revolución Tres Punto Cero, teachers from section 7 of Chiapas “were repressed violently when they were about to begin a protest that they qualified as being peaceful, which was to be joined also by section 40.” Some testimonies denounced that units of the federal police, the gendarmerie, and the state police fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas, and that injured teachers subsequently received no medical attention. The CNTE distanced itself from acts such as the burning of buses and attempts to burn a gas-pipe, affirming instead that “infiltrators committed arson […] and affected the vehicles belonging to the teachers; we have evidence that these were police infiltrators,” they noted, assuring that attacks from the police were defended against using only sticks and stones. According to Chiapas Paralelo, “authorities reported that three police were injured and one kidnapped by the teachers. The teachers in turn denounced that three of their comrades had been injured by rubber-coated bullets, four beaten by police, and two others arrested. Later, police and teachers exchanged ‘hostages.’” There were also reports of the destruction of two vehicles belonging to journalists who were covering the action.

Despite the attempt made by the CNTE to blockade access, some of the teachers succeeded in taking the exam. The Education Ministry reported that another date will be chosen for those who could not complete it last weekend.

For more information (in Spanish):

Maestros en Chiapas son reprimidos por PF y Gerdarmería; usaron gases lacrimógenos y bombas de goma (Revolución Tres Punto Cero, 18 de octubre de 2015)

Policías desalojan a maestros que bloqueaban carretera en Chiapas (Proceso, 18 de octubre de 2015)

Chocan CNTE y policía en Chiapas (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2015)

La SEP reprogramará la evaluación de maestros en Chiapas ante el boicot de la CNTE (Chiapas Paralelo, 19 de octubre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Teacher from Acapulco dies after violent repression of a protest by the Federal Police (10 March 2015)

National: Thousands of teachers march against the educational reform (4 October 2013)