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)

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Chiapas: Denunciation of paramilitary attack on the El Rosario community, pertaining to the La Garrucha caracol

(@SIPAZ)

In a communique from 25 June, Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) made known the facts of a new attack on Zapatistas on recuperated lands in the El Rosario community, which belongs to the autonomous municipality of San Manuel. The Subcomandante also includes the denunciation made by the La Garrucha Good-Government Council (JBG) regarding the events.

The “Path to the Future” JBG explains that 28 “paramilitaries” from the Chiquinibal neighborhood of the Pojkol ejido arrived on 24 June to El Rosario, 8 of them openly carrying firearms. According to the JBG, in this community there live 21 “paramilitaries” who occupy lands recovered by the EZLN in 1994. According to the JGB, there was a meeting between these paramilitaries with an engineer and Guadalupe Flores, the owner of the lands in question before the 1994 uprising. The JBG claims that this group carried out measurements of the lands, supposedly to plan the subsequent construction of a church and homes. It adds that 10 gunshots were fired behind the home of a Zapatista support-base (BAEZLN) to intimidate the population, and that the aggressors entered two other homes and destroyed yet another, robbing the belongings of its inhabitants: animals, construction materials, tools, food, and cash. The JBG concludes that the engineer and the landowner are advisors to the paramilitary group.

It should be recalled that the La Garrucha JBG had in August 2014 denounced actions taken by this same group, including the killing of a stud bull, the destruction of homes and a collective store, robbery, the defoliation with pesticides of common grazing lands, shooting of live ammunition, and the writing of “Pojkol territory” on burned-out homes. In May 2015, the JBG denounced that one of them shot at a BAEZLN girl.

The JBG affirms that these events are a provocation which form part of the government’s counter-insurgent strategy. “We say clearly that we will not remain with our arms crossed while our comrades are attacked by any of the means that the bad government uses against us. We have said clearly that we will defend our lands, because on them were we born, from them we live, and on them we will die, regardless of the costs.”

The JBG holds the federal, state, and municipal governments responsible for any acts that might follow, and it calls on the public to remain attentive.

For more information (in Spanish):

Nuevo ataque de paramilitares. Caracol Resistencia Hacia un Nuevo Amanecer. La Garrucha. (Enlace Zapatista, 25 de junio de 2015)

Denuncia EZLN un ataque de paramilitares a indígenas de Ocosingo (La Jornada, 26 de junio de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

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: La Garrucha Good-Government Council (JBG) denounces two paramilitary attacks

(@Centro de Medios Libres)

On 11 May, the La Garrucha Good-Government Council (JBG) from Caracol III publicly denounced two attacks: one in the El Rosario community, on recovered lands belonging to the autonomous municipality of San Manuel, and the other in the Nuevo Paraíso community, which pertains to the Francisco Villa autonomous municipality.  According to the JBG, there are two paramilitary groups in the region: one made up of 21 people from El Rosario, and the other comprised of 28 individuals from the Chikinival neighborhood, which pertains to the Pojkol ejido, in the Chilón municipality of Chiapas state.

The acts described in the denunciation took place on 10 May, when the Chikinival group arrived to El Rosario and began to measure the recovered lands of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), where Zapatista support-bases (BAEZLN) also live.  Two paramilitaries entered the house of one Zapatista, and another fired on the Zapatista daughter when she tried to escape the home.  The father of the child then threw a stone at the aggressor, causing him head injuries.  The next day, the family of the injured attacker came to demand 7,000 pesos from the BAEZLN as compensation.  The JBG assures that this amount will not be provided, given that the Zapatista did not seek or initiate the violence.

It bears noting that in 2014, residents of the Pojkol ejido killed a stud bull belonging to a Zapatista, destroyed homes and a cooperative, robbed possessions, fumigated land with herbicides, opened fire intermittently, and left a written note among the burned domiciles: “Pojkol territory.”

Also on 10 May 2015, 16 people from Chikinival entered the Nuevo Paraíso community, armed with two pistols and a rifle.  “They came to leave a letter in the street which blames the Zapatista support-base comrades for having provoked these conflicts,” says the JBG.  Beyond this, the JBG adds that in this case it has initiated mediation, deciding to transfer 21 hectares to put an end to the threats, though this has not yet resolved the problem.  The authorities from the Pojkol ejido claim to oppose this group from Chikinival, given its lack of respect and obedience for the ejidal authorities.

These two incidents took place the day after the close of the seminar on “Critical Thought amidst the Capitalist Hydra,” which was organized by the EZLN and held from 3 to 9 May in CIDECI-Unitierra Las Casas, where academics and activists shared their thoughts and reflections regarding the present context and alternatives to the capitalist system.

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia de la JBG El Camino del Futuro Caracol III. La Garrucha (Enlace Zapatista, 11 de mayo de 2015)

“Manuel Velasco no hace nada, porque es su paramilitar”, denuncian Zapatistas ante agresiones de grupos armados. (Pozol Colectivo, 12 de mayo de 2015)

Desplazamiento, riesgo de despojo y amenazas a Bases de Apoyo del EZLN(CDHFBC, 15 de agosto de 2014)

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: Death-threats and harassment against Zapatista support-bases in El Rosario and the Nuevo Paraíso community

On 25 February 2015, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) published a bulletin indicating the death-threats and harassment against residents from El Rosario and Nuevo Paraíso, which are communities that belong to the Good-Government Council (JBG) in La Garrucha (official municipality of Ocosingo).

According to the bulletin, “on 12 February 2015, this Human Rights Center documented in the El Rosario community the destruction of the lands of a BAEZLN and the tense situation that has been lived there for the past 3 weeks, due to incursions by armed men from Pojcol, Chilón municipality, Chiapas, who fired into the air during the night.

According to testimony, the attacking group was comprised of people from Guadalupe Victoria and El Rosario who facilitated the attacks, death-threats, and harassment targeting the BAEZLN.

On 22 February 2015, Frayba received information regarding two notes signed by a ‘representative from the Pojcol group,’ which provides warnings to the BAEZLN to ‘withdraw the Zapatista guard from this place (El Rosario), or if not, we will take Nuevo Paraíso[…].  You must avoid greater bloodshed.”

The CDHFBC reported that it had advised the Chiapas state government of the situation since July 2014, though no effective measures have been adopted to resolve the conflict.  For this reason, it demanded that “the autonomy of the Zapatista peoples be respected, particularly that of the El Rosario and Nuevo Paraíso communities; that the necessary measures be adopted to protect the life and physical integrity of those who live in the El Rosario and Nuevo Paraíso communities, thus avoiding an aggravation of conflict; the application of effective means to arrest the growth of violence against the BAEZLN; and the investigation and sanctioning of the attackers identified as the Pojcol group, which since July 2014 has harassed and attacked the BAEZLN and other residents of the region.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia el Frayba amenazas a bases zapatistas en El Rosario, Chiapas, La Jornada, 26 de febrero de 2015.

Amenazas y hostigamiento a Bases de Apoyo del EZLN en El Rosario, Frayba, 25 de febrero 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: Update regarding forced displacement of EZLN support bases belonging to the La Garrucha caracol

In a new Urgent Action published on 15 August, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) denounced the persistence of attacks against support-bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN) in communities of Ocosingo, as prosecuted by members of the Regional Organization of Coffee-Cultivators of Ocosingo (ORCAO). The events began in “recuperated” lands that are collectively worked in the San Manuel autonomous rebel Zapatista municipality (MAREZ), which pertains to the La Garrucha caracol: on 13 August, nine Zapatista families founded the Nuevo Poblado San Jacinto on said lands, which adjoin the Egipto and El Rosario communities.

The bulletin noted that on 14 August, an armed group of 18 ORCAO members for the Pojcol community (Chilón municipality) surrounded the land and began to shoot into the air for 40 minutes and warning the BAEZLN that they had 6 hours to withdraw definitively. The 9 families (40 persons in total) and the 250 BAEZLN who were supporting them “decided to withdraw to a different place.” After this, the ORCAO members destroyed the houses, robbed store merchandise and cash from the homes, among other crimes.

The bulletin details that on 14 August, the women and children of the El Rosario community who belong to ORCAO abandoned the community, leaving only the men, while witnesses claim that these men were threatening the BAEZLN with immediate displacement. The female and children BAEZLN, for their part, also decided to leave amidst the risk of a possible confrontation. The CDHFBC reported that the threats of the ORCAO against BAEZLN in El Rosario “were intensifying to the point of indicating a possible forcible displacement” in the late hours.

For this reason, the CDHFBC expressed its “concern for the imminent risk to life, security, and physical integrity to which the BAEZLN” of the El Rosario, Kexil, Egipto, and Nuevo Poblado San Jacinto communities face. The Center held the Chiapas state government responsible “for being absent during the initial denunciations, thus allowing the perpetration of increasingly flagrant violations of human rights.” It called on State and federal authorities to cease the death-threats and attacks that have served as the basis for the displacement of BAEZLN from three communities, in addition to the adoption of measures to protect the life, integrity, and security of the BAEZLN from the San Manuel autonomous municipality.

For more information (in Spanish):

Acción Urgente del Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (CDHFBC, 15 de agosto de 2014)

Denuncia Centro Frayba agresiones contra bases de apoyo zapatistas en Ocosingo (La Jornada, 16 de agosto de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

Chiapas: The La Garrucha JBG denounces harassment against Zapatista support-bases

The “Path of the Future” Good-Government Council (JBG) of the La Garrucha caracol (III) has in recent days released two denunciations regarding acts of harassment targeting Zapatista support-bases.

The first communique denounces the harassment exercised since April by the Truck Center of Ocosingo against independent truck-drivers, including one Zapatista support-base, who has been detained and his trucks confiscated.

Though the JBG has attempted to hold a meeting with representatives of the Center to come to an agreement to resolve the conflict, the other party has refused to participate.

For this reason, the JBG demands the return of the confiscated trucks and the cancellation of the arrest-orders against 8 independent truck-drivers.

The second denunciation relates the false accusation and arrest-order directed against a Zapatista support-base for cutting down a tree.  According to the JBG account, the tree was cut down with the Junta’s authorization and that of autonomous Zapatista municipalities.  Given this, the JBG is requesting the cancellation of the arrest-order and furthermore denounces indiscriminate logging of the forest by other actors who are supported by the “three levels of the bad government.”

For more information (in Spanish):

JBG El Camino del Futuro exige cancelación de ordenes de aprehensión contra ocho personas (Enlace Zapatista, 8 de noviembre de 2013)

JBG El Camino del Futuro exige cancelación de orden de aprehensión contra compañero base de apoyo (Enlace Zapatista, 8 de noviembre de 2013)

Denuncia junta de buen gobierno persecución judicial a base zapatista (La Jornada, 8 de noviembre de 2013)

Chiapas: Celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Zapatista caracoles

From 8 to 10 August, members of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) celebrated 10 years since the founding of their autonomous governments, corresponding to their form of implementing the San Andrés Accords, which were signed by the EZLN and the federal government in February 1996.  At the cultural, political, and sport events that accompanied the celebration, there were present many intellectuals and activists from Mexico and other countries.  In 2003, the EZLN announced the creation of five Good-Government Councils (JBGs) corresponding to 5 autonomous regions in the state of Chiapas, based in La Realidad (border zone), La Garrucha and Morelia (Jungle highlands), Oventic (central highlands), and Roberto Barrios (close to Palenque).  Starting on 12 August, they will share the advances and difficulties of their form of self-government with the students at the “Escuelita” (little school).

For more information (in Spanish):

Parten a los caracoles casi 1,700 alumnos que asistirán a la Escuelita zapatista (La Jornada, 12 de agosto de 2013)

La cruzada contra el hambre, plan de ataque a nuestra autonomía: zapatistas (La Jornada, 11 de agosto de 2013

EZLN agradece acompañamiento en 10 años (El Universal, 9 de agosto de 2013)

Celebran zapatistas 10 años de las juntas de buen gobierno en Chiapas (La Jornada, 9 de agosto de 2013)

Simpatizantes del EZLN celebran 10 años de Juntas del buen gobierno (CNN México, 9 de agosto de 2013)

Alistan festejos por los 10 años de Los Caracoles en Chiapas (Proceso, 8 de agosto de 2013)

Nada es igual que antes (Desinformémonos, agosto de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: EZLN communiques “Them and Us,” parts II-V (29 January 2013)