Chiapas: Intellectuals Express Concern over Militarization in Zapatista Territory

Intellectuals and national and international social and political organizations expressed their concern over the renewed militarization in Zapatista territories since the change of government. Below we reproduce the contents of their statement:

To whoever is still willing to listen:

This is a message of concern for life, for dignity. Those of us who signed this letter are worried about what is happening, again, in that forgotten corner of the Mexican southeast that became the heart of hope and rebellion, Chiapas.

This is not an ideological manifesto nor a declaration of position against the political changes that are taking place in Mexico, it is a genuine concern over what it is felt is approaching looming those from below that after 25 years, of 500 years, continue to resist extermination and oblivion. We are concerned about those who for a quarter of a century have fought for their autonomy, who have placed dignity above political pragmatism, who have been an example of freedom in a world chained by fear, we are concerned about the Zapatistas.

We are concerned to learn about the growing military activity in the territories of the Zapatista communities. We see that in the midst of Mexico’s complex security situation, the path of militarization of the country is becoming even stronger. It is a warning sign that under the much-questioned strategy surrounding the National Guard, that this, as has happened many times, be a “security” force that does not distinguish between crime and resistance, between cruelty and dignified rebellion. It is contradictory that when the Mexican Government’s own data indicate that the Zapatista zone has one of the lowest crime rates, the security strategy is directed in a threatening manner in those areas that are of the few sanctuaries of freedom and security for Mexico of those below. This seems more like a war strategy than a security strategy.

Although among the signatories we are a diverse group of people that can see the administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with hope or skepticism, we are all people who dream of a different, better world. Those of us who support these words believe that a change in Mexico cannot occur under a shadow of political pragmatism, yielding to pressures that lead to authoritarianism, to dispossession and violence for the benefit of the 1%, nor to the disqualification of critical voices. that with their authenticity and consistency have earned the respect of the world.

We see an increasing process of hostility towards authentic, historical and legitimate resistances that oppose projects such as the Maya Train, the Trans-isthmus Corridor and the Morelos Integral Plan, among others. We are concerned about the recent homicides of members of the National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Council of Government. We are concerned about the possibility that this new administration, like its predecessors, liberals or conservatives, once again insults indigenous peoples on the verge of extermination.

The world is looking with eyes and heart at what is happening in Mexico and Chiapas.

Stop the war against the Zapatistas and the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico!

For more information in Spanish:

Carta contra la militarización de zonas indígenas del EZLN, La Jornada, 18 de junio de 2019

Militarización de territorio zapatista “parece estrategia de guerra”: intelectuales, Radio Formula, 18 de junio de 2019

Militarización en zona zapatista pone en riesgo a indígenas, La Jornada, 17 de junio de 2019

La “guerra” contra el Congreso Nacional Indígena (Contralínea, 17 de junio de 2019)

Chomsky denuncia militarización de territorio zapatista: «parece estrategia de guerra», Revistadefrente, 17 de junio de 2019

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces Intensification of Attacks against Indigenous Peoples since December 2018 (June 4, 2019)

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces Increased Militarization in Zapatista Territories (May 10, 2019)

Chiapas: Denuncian vigilancia militar en Chicomuselo (March 27, 2019)

Chiapas: Centro de derechos humanos denuncia riesgos ante militarización de Chilón (January 25th, 2019)

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Chiapas: Prisoners in San Cristóbal carry out fast to demand respect for their rights

On December 17th, Adrián Gómez Jiménez, Alfredo Gómez López and Juan de la Cruz Ruiz, members of the organization “The voice of the Indigenous in Resistance”, adherent to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacadonan Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), started a fast of three days to demand that their human rights are respected.

Said prisoners are imprisoned in the Center for Social Reinsertion No. 5 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, ask for better medical attention and hygiene within the prisons as well as a thorough revision of their cases. They ended their protest act December 19th in the afternoon.

More broadly, they expressed that one of their fast’s objectives was to “demand from Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of the Republic, [that] he fulfills what was promised to the people of Mexico: no more lies, violence, disappearances, unjust imprisonments (…). We are making a call to the three levels so there will be justice, liberty, rights and health”.

On the other hand, they called to the Governor of Chiapas, Rutilio Escandón Cadenas to “positions himself and exhort the judges of different prisons in Chiapas to be fair in their work”.

At the end of the press release they invited all independent organization that work on a state, national or international level to show solidarity and keep demanding “true justice in the whole world”.

For more information in Spanish:

Presos en San Cristóbal ayunan para exigir justicia, derechos y salud, Chiapas paralelo, 18 de diciembre de 2018

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Roberto Paciencia Cruz, ex injustamente preso llama a la solidaridad con Alejandro Díaz Santíz (14/09/2017)

Chiapas: Carta de Roberto Paciencia Cruz en el marco del dia internacional de los presos (24/09/2016)

Chiapas: Niegan entrada a visitas del injustamente preso, Roberto Paciencia Cruz, en el CERESO No. 5   (30 de agosto de 2016)

 

Chiapas: CDHFBC denounces arbitrary kidnapping and lack of due process for BAEZLN

 

In a bulletin published on 18 December, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) reported on the arbitrary kidnapping and lack of due process during the arrest of José Alfonso Cruz Espinosa, a support-base for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN). Since December 2012, the Good-Government Council “The Path of the Future” at La Garrucha (Caracol III, “Resistance for a New Dawn”), which administers the region to which Cruz Espinosa belongs, denounced the fabrication of charges against his person.

According to the CDHFBC, the BAEZLN was arrested on 10 November 2015 in Ocosingo by “police dressed in civilian clothes who did not identify themselves, specify the reason for arrest, or even show an arrest-order. They simply put him on a truck and transferred him to the command center of the specialized police in the center of the municipality.” After being incarcerated in the State Center for the Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced no. 16 El Encino (CERSS no. 16), he was transferred via helicopter the next day to the State Center for the Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced no. 14, El Amate.

The CDHFBC reported moreover that “at all times we were denied access to the detainee and our credentials as his counsel were also rejected. The State argued that he had already been transferred, which was untrue.” The CDHFBC added that “the charges placed against him are ecocide and looting due to the events that took place on 16 November 2012 […]. However, José Alfonso was not at the place of the incidents that took place that day.” The Center stressed as well that Cruz Espinoza was placed at the disposition of those judged for serious crimes, this despite the fact that none of the charges against him are serious. Bail was set for him at 136,122.96 pesos for both charges, being “an excessive amount that prevents bail from being posted,” as the CDHFBC noted. On 20 November, he was released with caution after bail was posted, such that the process in his case will continue.

For more information (in Spanish):

Boletín: Privación Arbitraria de la Libertad y violación a garantías judiciales a Base de Apoyo del EZLN. (CDHFBC, 18 de diciembre de 2015)

Denuncia el Frayba la arbitraria detención de Alfonso Cruz Espinosa (La Jornada, 19 de diciembre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Update regarding forced displacement of EZLN support bases belonging to the La Garrucha caracol (2 September 2014)

Chiapas: Forced displacement of EZLN support-bases belonging to La Garrucha caracol (29 August 2014)

Chiapas: Public proclamation on the Popular Citizens’ Constitutional Power in San Cristóbal

Public proclamation in San Cristóbal of the Popular Citizens’ Constitutional Power (@SIPAZ)

On 5 December, more than 15,000 people, the majority of them indigenous, as well as representatives from seven countries in Central and South America, marched and held a rally in San Cristóbal de Las Casas to proclaim the Popular Citizens’ Constitutional Power. This initiative seeks to establish the basis for a new political Constitution in Mexico, which would refound the nation and lead to a new social contract.

Raúl Vera López, former assistant bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and present bishop of Saltillo, Coahuila, led the event at which the indigenous protestors gave him a command scepter. The bishop acknowledged that the Zapatista uprising of 1994 represented the “ferment” of a new constitutional power, but that at present “it it not just our Mayan brothers and sisters who seek a new social contract, but rather all Mexicans.” He asserted that “we do not want this deviation of power whereby the authority we delegate in a government becomes perverse, placing our resources and lands in the hands of multinational corporations and their home governments and states. Instead, these must be placed at the service of all Mexicans who want peace with justice and development with dignity.”

The Council of the Popular Citizens’ Constitutional Power in Chiapas stressed that “today is an historical day that will be remembered throughout Chiapas and Mexico, because the presence of thousands of people is a clear demonstration that the people have recognized how disastrous our living conditions are, and have armed themselves with valor and dignity, taking on the responsibility of transforming this reality.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Marchan miles en Chiapas para proclamar una nueva Constitución (La Jornada, 7 de diciembre de 2015)

Tribunal Permanente de Pueblos urge a la refundación del país (Proceso, 6 de diciembre de 2015)

Presentan indígenas su constituyente ciudadana (El Universal, 7 de diciembre de 2015)

Sitio de la iniciativa: constituyenteciudadana.org

Chiapas: Four years of impunity for those displaced from Banavil

 

On 4 December, 4 years since the forcible displacement from their community, the families from Banavil, Tenejapa municipality, once again raised their voices to demand that the Chiapas state government compensate their losses, cancel the two arrest-orders against Antonio and Pedro López Girón, and carry out the ten arrest-orders against those responsible for the forcible disappearance of Alonso López Luna and of the forcible displacement they experience.

In a press-conference which involved the participation of the displaced, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) indicated that “the Mexican State is responsible for the forcible disappearance of Alonso due to its omissions and complicity with the perpetrators. According to testimony from the family, they had presented denunciations before the appropriate authorities due to death-threats, harassment, plundering, physical attacks, and denial of the right to education, without an adequate response from the governmental institutions, thus allowing the perpetrators to feel they were protected, in turn leading to further human-rights violations.” The CDHFBC indicated as well that there has been no “search and corresponding investigations that conform with the basic standards of judicial investigation, such that impunity and complicity with the attackers dominates […].” The CDHFBC added that the only person who had been arrested in the case, Alonso Guzmán López, was released in October 2013.

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia de las y los desplazados de Banavil, municipio de Tenajapa (4 de diciembre de 2015)

Boletín completo del CDHFBC, 4 de diciembre de 2015

El desplazamiento como estrategia para acabar con el zapatismo: Banavil (regeneracionradio.org, 5 de diciembre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Retorno provisional de las familias desplazadas de Banavil para Día de Muertos (9 de noviembre de 2015)

Chiapas: Death of Antonia, a displaced girl from the Banavil community, Tenejapa (8 March 2015)

Chiapas: 3 years since the forcible displacement of the families from Banavil (16 December 2014)

Chiapas: Those displaced from Banavil continue demanding justice

Chiapas: “Sowing autonomy” for 32 years

@Paisà García

On 17 November, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) observed the thirty-second anniversary since its founding. Its creation occurred after the arrival of the National Liberation Forces (FLN) to the Lacandon Jungle and following the indigenous congress of 1974, as well as within the context of a struggle over land, upheaval by indigenous and campesino social organizations, as well as the ecumenical work of the San Cristóbal de Las Casas diocese in accordance with liberation theology and the preferential option for the poor, as endorsed by Vatican Council II. It was not for another 10 years of a clandestine accumulation of strength that on 1 January 1994 the EZLN rose up in arms against the Mexican Army, demanding work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice, and peace.

Several groups released pronunciations congratulating the EZLN for its more than 32 years of struggle, such as the General Confederation of Work (CGT) Chiapas and the Network against Repression and for Solidarity (RvsR). In this way, several collectives organized events to celebrate the date, both at the national and international levels.

For more information (in Spanish):

RvsR: Feliz cumpleaños EZLN: 32 años mirando un horizonte (Enlace Zapatista, 17 de noviembre de 2015)

CGT celebra el aniversario del EZLN. 32 años sembrando autonomía. (CGT Chiapas, 17 de noviembre de 2015)

EZLN: 17 de noviembre de 1983 (Rebelion, 17 de noviembre de 2012)

Las FLN-EZLN 42 años después (Alainet, 2 de octubre de 2011)

Declaración de la Selva Lacandona (EZLN, 1993)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Death-threats and physical attacks against the BAEZLN in the Tzakukum community (13 September 2015)

Chiapas/National: EZLN announces second level of the Zapatista School (10 September 2015)

Chiapas: Risks to the lives of Zapatista support-bases (BAEZLN) (3 July 2015)

Chiapas: Denunciation of paramilitary attack on the El Rosario community, pertaining to the La Garrucha caracol (30 June 2015)

Chiapas: La Garrucha Good-Government Council (JBG) denounces two paramilitary attacks (17 May 2015)

National: Inauguration of the First World Festival of Anti-Capitalist Resistance and Rebellion (30 December 2014)

Chiapas: Update regarding forced displacement of EZLN support bases belonging to the La Garrucha caracol (2 September 2014)

Chiapas: Forced displacement of EZLN support-bases belonging to La Garrucha caracol (29 August 2014)

Chiapas: EZLN pays tribute to murdered Support-base and announces organizational changes (10 June 2014)

Chiapas: EZLN communiqué “Pain and rage” (18 May 2014)

Chiapas: 8 months of “threats and harassment” against Tojolabales forcibly displaced from Primero de Agosto

Camp of internally displaced @ChiapasDenunciaPública

On 23 October, those displaced from the Primero de Agosto community denounced the observance of 8 months of forcible displacement due to the “omission of the Mexican State.” The community denounced that the “harassment continues without pause, while the death-threats from ejidatarios belonging to the Miguel Hidalgo ejido, being members of the CIOAC-H […] continue.” Presently, the displaced communards confront the continuous firing into the air, threats of rape against women, threats of kidnapping, and of a new displacement.

They assured that, despite the “eight long months of suffering, death-threats, harassment, injustice, looting, violence, of exposure to the elements and strong rays of the sun, below the rain, under plastic tarps,” they have also observed “8 months of blazing a new path of life. These have been 8 months of sharing our suffering with the world through meetings, visits, reflections. These 8 months have helped us to organize ourselves better.” Among their six principal demands, the communards have requested “the immediate observance of the terms agreed to during the special meeting of 25 February 2015, which mandated the equitable distribution of the lands of Primero de Agosto.”

It bears mentioning that on 23 February 2015, members of the Miguel Hidalgo ejido pertaining to the Historical Independent Center of Agricultural Workers and Campesinos (CIOAC-H), “led by Luis Hernández Cruz and Antonio Vásquez Hernández,” violently and forcibly displaced all the residents of the Primero de Agosto community.

For more information (in Spanish):

8 meses de amenazas y hostigamiento a tojolabales en desplazamiento forzado (Chiapas Denuncia Pública, 28 de octubre de 2015)

Comunicado sobre el Poblado Primero de Agosto (Koman ilel, 28 de octubre de 2015)

“Pronto iremos por ustedes, tenemos listas nuestras armas y el gobierno lo sabe”, amenazas de la CIOAC-H a tojolabales desplazados. (Radio Pozol, 28 de octubre de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Displaced Tojolabal families from Primero de Agosto community denounce threats of a new displacement (10 October 2015)

Chiapas: At nearly half a year of forcible displacement, the Poblado Primero de Agosto denounces new threats (7 September 2015)

Chiapas: Peace Network denounces absence of Chiapas state government in the Primero de Agosto case (22 July 2015)

Chiapas: The Primero de Agosto community completes 4 months of forcible displacement and continues demanding its forthright return (2 July 2015)

Chiapas: The Network for Peace asks for the displaced people of Primero de Agosto to be attended to (27 May 2015)

Chiapas: Communique from forcibly displaced families from Primero de Agosto denounce threats (24 April 2015)

Chiapas: Families of the Primero de Agosto community “in precarious conditions” (21 March 2015)

Chiapas: 57 Tojolabal indigenous people forcibly displaced from their community, Primero de Agosto (8 March 2015)