Chiapas: Death of Antonia, a displaced girl from the Banavil community, Tenejapa

Banavil community, Tenejapa, during the burial @ SIPAZ

On 23 February took place the burial of Antonia López Méndez, 11 years of age, who died on 21 February due to cerebral edema.  The family buried their child in the Banavil community, Tenejapa municipality, as accompanied by a caravan of civil and social organizations, representatives from the state and municipal governments, and State Security Police, given that “the minor is one of the 13 persons (4 families) who were forcibly displaced […] on 4 December 2011,” as the press-release from the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights notes (CDHFBC).  The bulletin continues: “After suffering more than three years of entirely undignified conditions of survival due to forcible displacement, Antonia the minor was admitted […] to emergencies at the Hospital of the Cultures […] though all attempts to save her life failed.”

It should be stressed that, according to news portal Chiapas Paralelo, more than 2,000 children in the Northern Zone and Highlands regions of Chiapas have been displaced from their communities due to violence.

For more information (in Spanish):

Sepelio en Banavil, Tenejapa (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 23 de febrero de 2015)

Un retorno provisional, con riesgos y condicionado para enterrar a Antonia López, niña tseltal desplazada (Rostros del Despojo, 2 de marzo de 2015)

Antonia, niña desplazada por la violencia en Tenejapa Chiapas, muere en el exilio (Chiapas Paralelo, 24 de febrero de 2015)

Sepelio en Banavil, Tenejapa (CGT Chiapas, 24 de febrero de 2015)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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

Chiapas: Those displaced from Banavil continue demanding justice (16 September 2014)

Chiapas: Denunciation from and announcement of action on part of the displaced from Banavil and the Aurora Ermita ejido(10 April 2014)

Chiapas: Two years after the attack in Banavil, displacement and forced disappearance live on,” CDHFBC (9 December 2013)

Chiapas: Public denunciation from those displaced from Banavil (16 September 2013)

Chiapas: The displaced of Banavil, Tenejapa in “precarious and inhumane conditions” (8 April 2013)

National: Violent displacement of protest sit-ins held by the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE)

On September 13, following a 20-day sit-in at the Zócalo of Mexico City, teachers affiliated with the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE) who were protesting the educational reform, were expelled by units of the Federal Police (PF).  The official reason for the displacement was so that the sit-in could give way to the celebration of the Independence Cry on 15 September.

The magistrate and Secretary of Governance agreed to a margin of time for teachers to voluntarily leave the Zócalo.  Once that time-window had lapsed, police entered the plaza, attacking some of the teachers who had decided to stay.  “We never left this space willingly.  It was all the result of a repression, but we also do not renounce the possibility of retaking it,” said Francisco Villalobos, secretary of Section 22.

Following the displacement, the sit-in was transferred to the Plaza of the Republic in the Monument to the Revolution, where on 15 September, the CNTE celebrated its own Independence Cry.  “To the people of Mexico, from Oaxaca for Mexico and from Mexico to the world, that this cry be a cry of resistance from the CNTE, that it be a cry of insurgency and civil disobedience against the imposition of government in our country,” declared Rubén Nuñez, secretary general of Section 22 of Oaxaca, before thousands of assembled people.

During the early morning of Saturday 14 September, teachers and students who had been camping in the historical center of Xalapa, Veracruz, were violently displaced by riot police belonging to the Secretary of Public Security (SSP).

On Monday 16, coinciding with the ceremonies for the anniversary of independence, teachers from at least 12 states protested against the educational reform and the displacements carried out in different parts of the country.

It should be mentioned that during recent days numerous marches and acts of solidarity with the teachers’ protest have been spearheaded by parents and students in different states, such as Oaxaca, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, and Veracruz.

For more information (in Spanish):

Tensión e incertidumbre en el desalojo de maestros de la CNTE (La Jornada, 13 de septiembre de 2013)

Maestros salen del Zócalo pero otros se quedan atrincherados, y con apoyo de jóvenes, planean resistir (Sin embargo, 13 de septiembre de 2013)

Desalojan de madrugada a maestros y estudiantes de la plaza Lerdo de Xalapa (Proceso, 14 de septiembre de 2013)

Maestros de la CNTE dan su “Grito de resistencia” (Terra, 16 de septiembre de 2013)

Maestros se manifiestan en 12 estados contra reforma educativa y desalojos (17 de septiembre de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

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