FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Between March 27^st and 31^st, members of SIPAZ (International Service for Peace) and PROPAZ (Swiss Program of Observation and the Promotion of Peace) met with various Embassies, the Mexican Office of the United Nations High Commisioner for Human Rights, and government agencies to present the letter that we have included below.

PROPAZ SUIZA - Chiapas / SIPAZ :

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, March 23^rd, 2006

To the Embassies in Mexico

To International Organizations

• SIPAZ (Servicio Internacional Para La Paz, International Service for Peace, a program of international observation that represents a coalition of approximately 50 organisations from North America, Latin America and Europe);
• PROPAZ (Swiss Program of Observation and Promotion of the Peace in Chiapas, Mexico which includes the organizations: Cuaresmal Action, Caritas Switzerland, HEKS) ;
• Peace Watch Switzerland;
• NOVIB-Holland;
• Justicia y Paz Francophone, Belgium;
• Pax-Christie Wallonie, Belgium;
• OXFAM GREAT BRITAIN;
• PTM-Mundubat, Spain;
• Proyecto de Acompañamiento, Quebec, Canada;
• Movimiento Internacional para la Reconciliación, Austria;
• CAREA, Germany;
• SweFOR, Sweden ;
• Chiapas Peace House, USA;
• NISGUA, USA;
• MarinInterFaith Task Force, USA;
• Racine Dominican Sisters, USA;
• Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean U.S. Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA
• Peacemakers, USA;
• The Peace Council and the International Committee for the Peace Council, USA;
• Illinois Maya Ministries, USA;
• Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ Chicago, USA;
• Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance Chicago, Illinois, USA;
• Eco-Justice Collaborative, USA;
• Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, USA.

We should like to bring to your attention a series of intimidations to activists and human rights defenders that have occurred in Chiapas, particularly in San Cristóbal de las Casas, in the past few months.

Background

The present situation facing the people of Chiapas has again taken a turn for the worse. It is marked by a major social polarization and with a permanent risk of violent explosions. An ar-med conflict continues to exist. The conflict has not been resolved in spite of the government having brought to the area a massive presence of the federal army, as well as distinct police forces. Various armed groups, which, although they were more or less contained during this six-year period were never disarmed - remain unpunished to this day. There is also a notable increase of organized delinquent groups, such as narco-traffickers, coyotes, and gangs, many of them having each time a more aggressive and intimidating presence in the state.

The political processes that are being developed in 2006 will have great importance on the future of the country as well as that of Chiapas, and thus have the tendency to aggravate the conflictive environment. This includes the federal and state electoral campaigns for President and Governor as well as the Other Campaign promoted by the EZLN at the national level and in a parallel form to the electoral campaigns. These various National projects are presently confronting one another as they are incorporated into distinct processes of articulation.

The political moment in which these processes are being carried out is very delicate. In spite of the advances achieved in the country with regards to a formal democracy, in Chiapas it is reported that groups still exist with power and interests in social destabilization with the pur-pose of maintaining or recuperating economic and political control of the state.

At the same time, in various regions of the state, old conflicts exist with varied causes (i.e. land occupation, religious/political revenge, or due to the access and control of natural resour-ces such as water or the forest) that have never been resolved at the root level of the pro-blems by any government. It is possible that many of these unresolved conflicts are being revived in the present political atmosphere in order to divide the people even more, create fear, and contribute to political and social destabilization.

In this context, international organizations, non-governmental and social organizations have suffered threats in different manners. These are situations that we consider very worrisome, since they inhibit the democratic process and place at risk the vigilance of human rights in the state.

Incidents

1) On November 20, 2005 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Gustavo Jimenez Perez, member of Alianza Civica in Chiapas, was attacked at his residence by six persons dressed in black and armed with knives. They struck him a number of times while also threatening to kill him. He suffered serious injuries. Jimenez Perez shares a residence with Gabriel Ramirez Perez, also a member of Alianza Civica, an organization that seeks to promote citizens’ well being. Although the attackers took some objects, they left others that were of greater value including cash, making it appear that it was not common delinquency.

2) On December 5, 2005 four members of the Center of Latin American Investigation and Ac-tion (CIAM), denounced having been detained in an illegal manner and treated in a menacing form for approximately 45 minutes in a temporary check point operated by mixed agents for transit, migration, and public security (BOM). The incident happened in the Highlands at the crossroads of the highway between Chamula and Zinacantan.

3) In the months of November and December on different dates, Maria Georgina Bocanegra, formerly a collaborator with Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, reported damages to her car that happened in strange manners and without explanation. At the beginning of November a door was forced open, on November 15 the window on the left side was broken, on December 6 the mirror on the left side was removed and on December 7, the tire caps were stolen.

4) On three occasions between November and January the book store, El Mono de Papel, suf-fered robbery attempts and in the last incident one of the store’s workers was struck several times.

5) On December 15, Miguél Angel García Aguirre, coordinator of the Woods of the People of the South East (MPS), and Silvia Vasquez Díaz founder of MPS and member of the Fray Barto-lomé de las Casas Human Rights Center, denounced that at 9:30 p.m. that evening, two unk-nown persons knocked on the door of their neighbors´ house and strived to obtain information about the daily life of Silvia. They then asked to rent the patio of their house for a night in or-der to wait for Silvia. Receiving a refusal to this petition, the persons left. On the morning of December 21, it was discovered that the back windshield on the vehicle owned by Silvia and Miguel parked in front of their house was shattered.

6) On January 21 of 2006 three persons entered the Laundromat owned by Marisa Kramsky, social activist in San Cristóbal de las Casas. These persons upon soliciting the delivery of their clothes without even looking at them began complaining that they were poorly washed. They threatened her as well as attempted to hit her, and ordered one of the perpetrators to fetch a pistol from their car. When Marisa Kramsky took out her cellular phone in order to ask for help, the men left.

7) On February 2, Mario M. Ruiz, collaborator of the Commission to Support Community Re-conciliation and Unity (CORECO), was harassed by unknown persons who followed him in a black van and then threatened him crudely requesting that he leave his activities

8) On February 9, at four a.m., Marina Pages was awakened by the doorbell to the hou-se/office of SIPAZ (International Service for Peace). Upon rising she recognized that they were playing loudly the Zapatista Anthem from a gray van parked in front. After a short time, the van proceeded to the residence of another member of SIPAZ. Again, someone knocked on the door several times, while another person within the van played the Zapatista Anthem.

9) On February 11, the HSBC Bank of Mexico, closed two contracts of persons (“due to being convenient for its interests”) that work in Enlace Civil AC and that receive national and interna-tional deposits to support productive projects, of education, and of health in Indigenous Zapa-tista Communities.

10) On February 14, the penal proceedings 100/2004 were reactivated with an order to arrest Mario Alvarez Rodriguez, leader of the Central Unity of Workers (CUT) for the crime of taking land - an offense of which he had been absolved by a judge of the First Instance. They also denounced the harassment and constant observation of their offices in Palenque.

11) On February 24, Damaso Villanueva Ramirez, member of the Civic Committee for Popular Defense (COCIDEP) was detained in San Cristóbal de las Casas by municipal police who took him to the Center for Social Readaptation No. 5 in San Cristóbal. The lawsuit against him was brought by the Pegaso Telephone Company, which accused him of destroying one of the cellu-lar telephone bases on October 26, 2004 to a value of $2,340,000 Mexican pesos. These de-eds occurred on the same day that Damaso was in a meeting at the Municipal Palace in San Cristóbal. On March 2 Damaso was liberated due to the judge considered there was not suffi-cient proof.

12) On February 26, Ernesto Ledesma, Director of the Center for Political Analysis and Econo-mic and Social Investigation (CAPISE) on arriving at his residence found the lock on the front door broken and that it had been forced open. Inside he found that family pictures had been moved and they had been placed on top of his bed. There was nothing robbed, which refuted the possibility of vandalism.

13) On March 14, between 9:00-11:00AM, unknown persons entered the house of David Mén-dez, a defender for the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, and his wife, Nor-ma Medina, the director of Cáritas of San Cristóbal AC. These individuals destroyed the lock and the entrance to the house and only took a laptop computer. They rummaged through the personal belongings of David, Norma, and their young children, leaving the items all over the beds, and leaving valuable items behind.

The different incidents mentioned above, clearly constitute actions meant to intimidate and are of great concern to the international organizations that have signed this call.

Recommended Actions

Inform your respective governments, the European Community and the offices of international organizations about these violations against human rights defender and social activists

Request that the Mexican Government carry out pertinent investigations and carry out the co-rresponding judicial actions to insure that these deeds do not remain in impunity.

Maintain special attention over the situation in Chiapas and take actions in order to prevent incidents of major violence.

Solicit guarantees of the Mexican Government in order for human rights activists to continue developing the promotion and defense of human rights in the framework of the Declaration on the Rights and Duties of individuals, groups and institutions to promote and protect human rights and fundamental liberties universally recognized by the United Nations Organization (ONU).