MONTES AZULES - Communiqué by the Network for Peace (September, 2007)

On Saturday the 18th of August 2007, the Federal Government of Mexico and the State Government of Chiapas, in a coordinated military and police operation, evicted 39 indigenous tseltal inhabitants (including 26 children) of the communities Nuevo San Manuel and Bueno Samaritano, both belonging to the muncipality of Ocosingo, located within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. Bueno Samaritano has existed for 12 years and the settlement of Nuevo San Manuel for at least 8 years.

According to testimonies from the displaced families, at around 8am several helicopters arrived, from which armed agents were lowered, who began to force people out of their homes in a violent manner without previous warning, presentation of any documents, or any explanations. They simply made the families climb into the helicopter without letting them take any of their belongings or disclosing where they were being taken. All of their homes, harvests, and belongings were destroyed.

At the momento, the displaced families are staying in a former brothel near a garbage dump in the outsides of the municipality of La Trinitaria. Six men have been detained in “El Amate” prison (CERESO 14), located more than four hours away, accused for attacks against state ecological property and robbery.

The health of the displaced, particularly for the children and pregnant women in the group, are at great risk given the unhealthy conditions in which they are living and a case of chickenpox.  Moreover, they do not have access to an adequate food supply since they have been left totally dependent on outside assistance.

We, the undersigned organizations, express our profound concern for these events violating the human rights recognized in international conventions, agreements, and treaties signed by the Mexican Government.

If the government defends the property rights under the Common Property of the Lacandona Jungle (Bienes Comunales de la Selva Lacandona), it does so without considering the agreement of Civil and Political Rights under Article 47: “none of the laws of the present agreement (including the right to property) should be interpreted so as to undermine the inherent right of all people to enjoy and, fully and freely use their rich and natural resources.”

Furthermore, the government has systematically neglected its obligations with its acceptance of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (OIT), particularly Article 6 (obligation to consult, through legislative and administrative means, inhabitats that may be directly affected), Article 14 (the right of property and possession of land traditionally occupied), Article 16 (prohibition of the removal of inhabitants from the land that they occupy and the obligation of consent in exceptional cases of removal and relocation).

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, also made recommendations after his mission to Mexico in 2003, in which he indicated:

“No indigenous community should be relocated outside of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve against their will. Any plan to relocate indigenous communities settled in the reserve should be agreed upon by consensus of all parties.

Indigenous communities should participate in the handling, adminstration, and control of the natural areas protected within their territories or regions, taking into account community ecological beliefs and practices.

The creation of new ecological reserves in indigenous regions should only be done with previous consultation of affected communities, and the government should respect and support their decision and the right of indigneous peoples to establish in their territories community ecological reserves.”

In his 2006 report and followup to these recommendations he also stressed: “The system of norms and agrarian tribunals are obsolete in relation to contemporary recognition of indigenous rights over their land and natural resources, and environmental policies have not taken sufficiently into account indigenous peoples, like in the case of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve.”

We demand of the federal and state government, within the framework already established by the United Nations Guiding Principles of the Internally Displaced, also accepted by Mexico.:

• the immediate garantee of the basic needs of the dispalced indigenous families, including food, medical assistance and clothing, at the same time that efforts are made to resolve the situation;
• the restitution of the rights of the displaced indigenous families and the garantee of indemnification and reparation for the damage caused;
• the dropping of charges and freeing of the detained taking into account that they were forced to occupy this land;
• that indigenous peoples settled in territories suseptable of being declared ecological reserves are informed, consulted, and a consensus is reached on the strategies for the cultural and ecological conservation of these territories;
• Finally, we demand the definitive canceling of any new removal of communities settled in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, under the consideration that a solution based on force does not resolve in any manner the strucutral causes that underly the ecological destruction in the region, but instead creates new resentments and insults of a social caracter.

• Alianza Cívica
• Centro de Derechos de la Mujer de Chiapas
• Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas
• Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada
• CIAM
• CIEPAC
• COFEMO
• Colectivo Educación para la Paz
• CORECO
• EDUPAZ
• Enlace y Comunicación
• Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste
• Melel Xojobal
• PROPAZ
• Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en México
• SERAPAZ
• SIPAZ