:: ANALYSIS

Mexico: New Governments, old Issues.

The first months of 2007 have coincided with the first months of Felipe Calderón as the president of the Republic and of Juan Sabines, as the governor of the state of Chiapas. On December 1st, Felipe Calderón was sworn in and confronted by a polarized Congress, violent struggles among the congressmen, and accompanied by a strong police-military operative. The first actions taken by his government allow us to anticipate what could be the main lines of his six year period of government regarding the most burning issues at the present time.

War against the drug traffic, in hands of the army

Regarding the struggle against crime (especially organized crime and drug trafficking), the Mexican government presented diverse initiatives, aimed at recovering the confidence in the security forces and at achieving a greater coordination between the diverse public entities involved in those tasks. Among other measures, 10,000 members of the army will be integrated into the Federal Preventive Police (PFP). On the other hand, military operations of great magnitude are being carried out against organized crime. Criticisms have not been absent regarding their real effectiveness beyond their impact on the mass media and on the possibility that it may only be a pretext to militarize the country. Moreover the multiple appearances of Calderon in military acts (even wearing the military uniform) have been questioned as an excessive rapprochement to the armed forces. During those acts he committed himself to increase the wages for the troops.

On January 19, several leaders of drug trafficking who had pending legal processes in Mexico were extradited to the United States. This decision was justified as necessary by Calderon by taking into consideration the vulnerability of the Mexican judges, who are often threatened and even murdered. The criticisms have been centered on the unconstitutional character of this measure (since the extradited ones were not provided with the due guarantees) and on the fact that it reflects the extreme weakness of the Mexican institutions. The violence associated with drug trafficking was one of the most urgent problems in the country. During the government of Vicente Fox (2000-2006) it produced an average of 1,500 annual murders⁽¹⁾.

Economic Policies

The opposition and diverse social movements speculate on the possible privatization of the public companies of the energy sector (Mexican Oils -PEMEX- and the Federal Commission of Electricity - CFE-), a possibility that has been denied by Calderón. It is necessary to remember that the benefits derived from the oil in Mexico represent 33 % of the national budget.

As for the policies against poverty, a line of continuity is foreseen although the new government has recognized errors during the government of Fox. One of the innovations will be that the welfare program “Opportunities,” emblematic of the last government, will be tied to productive projects and will promote microcompanies. The World Bank pointed out in its last report that 19 % of Mexicans are in a situation of extreme poverty, while a number of NGOs and social movements denounced that the expenses on social issues have diminished visibly in the new federal budget. The prices of diverse basic products have increased and, in January, a spectacular increase in the price of the Tortilla happened. The kilo of this basic food for Mexican families increased from about 6 Mexican pesos to 10 Mexican pesos, when the minimal daily salary is of approximately 50 Mexican pesos. Experts at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) warned that this increase affects especially the poorest families (19 million persons), whose income does not reach even 50 Mexican pesos daily and whose food is limited almost exclusively to this product.⁽²⁾.

Human rights

In relation to human rights violations, which were especially serious in 2006 during the police operatives against the social mobilizations in Oaxaca and Atenco, diverse NGOs have expressed their fear that the new President may implement a politics of ”iron hand”. Various worrisome signs exist: such as the detention of the leaders of APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) a few days after Calderón took office, Ramírez's election as Secretary of the Interior (he has been accused by human rights organisms of being directly responsible for cases of torture and illegal detentions in the police repression against  demonstrators during the summit of heads of state in Guadalajara in 2004, when he was governor of Jalisco); as well as the initiative of legal reforms so that detentions, housebreaking, telephone interventions without judicial authorization may be carried out. In the words of Calderon, "sometimes, to turn to the judicial authority makes the investigation more difficult”.

Other declarations of Calderon himself can be interpreted as being contradictive.  On the one hand, he affirms: " I do not believe in the iron hand, which has a connotation of not recognizing human rights,” and, on another, “we are determined not to tolerate challenges to the State authority.” At the end of January, Amnesty International denounced that Calderon “has not made public how he is going to fulfill his international commitments regarding human rights.” According to Amnesty, "the new government lacks a vision of human rights protection and does not tackle the structural shortcomings of the justice administration and of the public security".

On March 8^th, on International Women’s Day, the representative of the United Nations in Mexico published some concerning numbers of violence against women: at present, one woman of five suffers from violence from her partner and three out of five have suffered it at some time in their life⁽³⁾. The same day, Amnesty International made public a report in which it states that in Mexico a very concerning degree of sexual violence exists from agents of the State who abuse women sexually (especially indigenous women) within a framework of total impunity⁽⁴⁾.

Migration is another of the most urgent issues in Mexico, from a double perspective.  On the one hand, the absence of economic alternatives is forcing an increasing number of persons to leave the country in search of employment. On the other hand, Mexico receives thousands of migrants from Central America that are on their way towards the United States. Although the Catholic Church and numerous NGOs demand the protection of these persons, who are in a situation of great vulnerability, there are signs that the persecution of undocumented persons may get worse (See Focus of this report).

On March 6, the Senate of the Republic approved by unanimity the decriminalization of the crimes of defamation, calumny and slander, which, according to diverse mass media, constitutes an indisputable advance for freedom of speech. Nevertheless, in Chiapas, the so-called Law “Mordaza” (gag law) remains in force (since 2004).It penalizes the crimes of defamation and calumny with the highest punishment of jail time in the whole of Latin America and is considered to be a serious attack to the freedom of press⁽⁵⁾. Sabines, the new governor of Chiapas, committed himself to reform it during his campaign.

The opposition continues its path

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was named “legitimate president” by the National Democratic Convention, before hundreds of thousands of persons gathered for this purpose in the center of Mexico City on November 20 ratifying in this way its denial to recognize the government of Calderon. In February, AMLO declared himself "recovered" from the "blow" that supposed the assumed fraud. At present, he is making a tour to visit each one of the Mexican counties, focusing his speech on opposition to the privatization of the energy sector (especially of PEMEX), something he says he will prevent at all costs. He is already considering the next presidential elections in 2012: "It is very important to defend the patrimony of the country, because when this government finishes, we are going to receive a nation in disaster and it will be very difficult to move it forward.”

The Other Campaign, the initiative promoted by the EZLN to construct a new left wing movement (in the margin of the traditional political parties) with organizations of the whole country, concluded its trip of almost a year of duration on November 30, after having gone through the 32 federative entities of the Republic. On the other hand, the Encounter between the Zapatistas and the Peoples of the World was celebrated in Oventik, county of San Andrés Larrainzar (see the article in this Report).

The conflict in Oaxaca continues

The clashes between the popular movement and the security forces increased again on November 25, when agents of the PFP confronted members of APPO who were marching towards the historical center of Oaxaca City. This action resulted in more than 140 injured, 140 arrested and numerous cars and buildings set on fire. Various of the imprisoned persons were moved to penitentiary centers of Nayarit, which are located more than a thousand kilometers from the city of Oaxaca.

On December 4, only three days after President Felipe Calderón was sworn in, Flavio Sosa and three other leaders of the APPO were detained in the Federal District (where they were negotiating the renewal of the dialogue with the new government) for the crimes of sedition, attacks to the general routes of communication and incitement to violence. They were taken to a jail of maximum security in the state of Mexico, by request of the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, who considered the leaders of the movement "highly dangerous delinquents.”

On December 16, the PFP withdrew from the historical center of the Oaxaca City and on the following day 43 of the imprisoned persons in Nayarit were freed. In the following weeks, the APPO focused its mobilizations on demanding the liberation of the prisoners, with several sit-ins in front of the prisons, one of which was broken up violently.

On December 18, the Human Rights National Commission (public autonomous organism) published a document on the facts of violence in Oaxaca noting the following results since its beginning: 349 arrested persons, 370 injured persons and 20 deceased. In January, the Civil International Commission of Observation of the Human rights (CCIODH) presented its report⁽⁶⁾, in which it stated the existence of a governmental strategy to terrify the population as a means to prevent the consolidation of the popular mobilization. This strategy, which they denounced left serious consequences between inhabitants of Oaxaca and included serious violations of human rights, one of them being 20 extrajudicial executions. The Human Rights director for the Secretary of the Interior denied the credibility of this report and of the CCIODH itself (“It does not have the respectability of other organizations, like Amnesty International”). Later these declarations were softened, and the Secretary expressed his willingness  to analyze the report and to dialogue with the CCIODH.

In January, the dialogue between APPO and the federal government was suspended, leaving a negotiated exit to the conflict under great uncertainty. Various federal congressmen of the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) committed themselves to denounce the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity committed in the last months.

Sabines, new governor of Chiapas

In December Juan Sabines took possession of his position as the new governor of Chiapas representing the Coalition for the Good of All (which includes the left wing parties PRD, Labor Party-PT - and Convergence), although he is ex-mayor of Tuxtla Gutiérrez for the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). One of the first measures he took was the installation of a Special Commission “to attend to the requests from the diverse civil and rural groups that had been abandoned for years. Its purpose is to review the legal situation in which many persons have been deprived of their freedom in completing a penal judgment.” The main objective was to favor reconciliation, all of this, “without questioning the reasons and circumstances in which the justice of Chiapas pronounced its sentence”. The ambiguity in the writing of the communiqué caused doubts and preoccupation to many parts of the civil and social organizations in Chiapas, especially around two points: first, the possibility that it may be a strategy of political propaganda without a revision of the justice and penal system in the state; and, second, the fear that the imprisoned leaders of Peace and Justice (group accused of being paramilitary, especially active between 1995 and 2000) may be liberated.In deed, on February 15, the leaders of Peace and Justice imprisoned in the jail of El Amate, in Chiapas, asked in a public letter to be included in the amnesty, stating their "approval towards the good will (of the state government), for promoting a law of amnesty, which can benefit persons who belong to different social organizations and who are imprisoned "⁽⁷⁾.

The conflicts continue

The most violent conflict in the last few months occurred in the county of Ocosingo, when hundreds of persons (including peasants of the Lacandona Community and uniformed persons) attacked 17 families installed in the village Viejo Velasco Suárez, in the Lacandona Jungle.This aggression, in the middle of a huge confusion on the number of victims and on their possible belonging to the EZLN, had a result of 4 persons dead, among them a pregnant woman, and 4 missing persons, presumably executed. Amnesty International has criticized seriously the governmental response to this situation⁽⁸⁾. The Human Rights Center Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas emphasized that these weren't “fights among men belonging to that same village” but acts made with “premeditation and with the complicity of the government authorities by action or omission with  groups of interests in the region,” that have a “counter insurgency logic.”

Another of the relevant issues in Chiapas is the expansion of the Organization for the Defense of the Indigenous and ‘Campesino’ Rights (OPDDIC). With a social base that is growing rapidly, it is an organization close to the PRI party that negotiates productive governmental projects and the land property titles for their members. Diverse NGOs, mass media and the EZLN denounce its supposedly paramilitary character and its clandestine armed activities. The OPDDIC has published various communiqués, declaring itself in favor of the governments of Juan Sabines and Felipe Calderón, and proving to be especially belligerent and threatening against the EZLN, in what seems to constitute a struggle for the land and the territory. On the one hand, they demand from the state and federal governments to act immediately against the communities of the EZLN, whom they consider to be "invading" the lands that the Zapatistas occupied after the uprising of 1994. On the other hand, they threaten the same communities of the EZLN with forced expulsions. Moreover they have threatened with death various organizations and civil activists: among them, the Human Rights Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Frayba) and Miguel Ángel García Aguirre (of the organization Wood of the People of the Southeast).

This has not been the only new case of harassment against civil organizations in Chiapas. The Center of Economic and Political Investigations for Community Action (CIEPAC) of San Cristobal de Las Casas has also been an object of harassment and threats of death (See SIPAZ Website ) that needs to be added to the long list of actions against organizations of human rights and others that work in favor of peace in Chiapas in the last months.

1. Article of La Jornada 10/1/2007
2. Article of La Jornada 10/1/2007
3. Article of La Jornada 8/3/2007
4. Amnesty Internacional Website
5. Press communiqué CMI Chiapas
6. CCIODH Website
7. Article of La Jornada 16/2/2007
8. See Amnesty Internacional

:: ARTICLE

Oventik: The Encounter between the Zapatistas and the Peoples of the World

”We also dream about a good world, where we coexist as brothers. We don’t want more death, nor violations. We want life in order to live. That our sons and daughters may have a better example of all the steps that we have been drawing”
(Women's Table, Caracol 1, La Realidad).

From December 30, 2006 until January 2, 2007, the Encounter between the Zapatistas and the Peoples of the World was held in Oventik, Chiapas. More than 2000 persons from 47 countries of the world took part in it. More than 3000 Zapatistas from support bases, hundreds of promoters, more than 200 members of 40 Autonomous Town councils, representatives of the 5 Good Government Committees, all civil ones as well as several members of the General Command of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee also participated. In this Encounter, more than the traditional spokesmen of the EZLN, one could listen to the voices of men and women, bases of support, most of them young people that served as authorities in the zapatista autonomic structures.

It is well to remember that the Zapatista communities began to govern themselves officially some months after the armed uprising of the EZLN, when the installation of 30 Zapatista Autonomous Rebellious municipalities was announced. They decided to organize themselves according to their own forms of government and ignoring the constitutional authorities. From August 2003, 5 ‘Caracoles’ (zapatista regional autonomic structure) and their respective Good Government Committees (Junta de buen gobierno) (JBG) were formed, among other reasons, for the non-fulfillment of the federal government of the San Andrés Accords on indigenous rights and culture, signed with the EZLN in 1996. Although a constitutional reform was approved on indigenous matter in 2001, the EZLN and other organizations consider that it betrays the spirit of the agreements. Consequently, the Zapatista movement decided to build autonomy “through facts,” organizing themselves through the above-mentioned structures.

23 years after the formation of the EZLN, 13 years after the armed uprising and 3 and a half years after the installation of the Caracoles, representatives named in every region explained how they understand and how they construct the autonomy regarding aspects such as government, education, health, women rights, trade, communication, art, culture and land.

Representatives of the Caracol I, La Realidad, explained what autonomy is for the zapatistas: " ... for us, it implies that the people decide their way of fighting or of organizing themselves politically, economically and socially; it is the people who decide their way of living based on their language and on their culture... Our way of governing is different from the one of the ‘bad government’; they are a few people that decide for all, and the few that decide don’t do it for the benefit of all, but for their own benefit". The representatives of the Caracol V (Roberto Barrios) also said: "In this way the other government was initiated, a government that commands by obeying, a government of the people and for the people. ”

The persons and groups from the rest of Mexico and from the world shared in turn their experiences of struggle and organization. In order to continue constructing bridges, an Intergalactic Encounter against Neo-liberalism and for Humanity is already programmed from July 21 until July 31, 2007 in the five zapatista Caracoles. In the discussion on Autonomy, a representative of the Caracol II (Oventik) expressed. "The rebellious indigenous zapatista people, we are willing to continue forward with our struggle, our resistance and our rebellion against the neo-liberal globalization of the world, but what cheers us up more and encourages us is this encounter with you, because the unity and the globalization of the rebellion with the peoples of the world is the only hope that we have. This is the way that we want to advance and to walk together, the hope of a better world is in each one of us, in every organization, in every people and in every nation.”

:: FOCUS

Chiapas: The Route to the North

Every day the state of Chiapas serves as an exit, stopover, return or final destination for hundreds of migrants.  Here in the southern borderland of Mexico, Central Americans enter and cross the state in search of a better life in the United States.  Many are caught by the Mexican authorities and forced to return home.  Others make it further north.  In the final stage, a small percentage will succeed in crossing the U.S. border, only to find themselves in a reality very different from the “American Dream” that brought them here.

The last five years has seen the exponential growth of a more recent phenomenon – large numbers of Chiapanecos are leaving their towns and communities to seek work elsewhere in the country or in the United States.

Mexican emigration toward the North: a not so new phenomenon

An example of this is the Bracero Program that began in 1942 when the U.S. invited Mexican workers to work in the countryside, following the labour shortage in the wake of the Second World War. At the request of the farmers, the program was prolonged into the 60’s.

“Between 1942 and 1964 the Bracero Program brought over an average of more than 200,000 workers a year. The majority of labourers were concentrated in Texas, California, Arkansas, Arizona and New Mexico. The program ended in 1964 amidst controversy and consequently was never replaced with another interchange of workers. The abrupt conclusion of this program resulted in a new era of mostly illegal immigration from Mexico. This new era began slowly, thanks to Mexico’s economic growth in the 60’s. In addition, in 1965 Mexico began a program of industrialization along the border, known as the Maquiladora Program, with the specific aim of creating jobs for laid-off immigrants. However, in the early 70’s the flow of immigrants began to speed up again.”⁽¹⁾.

Migration “without papers”

Once the Bracero program was closed down, and there was no longer the possibility of working legally (albeit temporarily) in the U.S., illegal migration began to rise with ever-increasing speed. Today there is an estimated 12 million Latin American illegal immigrants in the United States, over half of which are Mexican.

The United States has tried to stem the flow of migrants by introducing stricter laws to make it difficult to enter and stay in the country, keeping a closer watch at the border, and constructing walls.  Border Patrol, the police force created in 1924, has been accused of multiple violations of human rights, including the killing of migrants.  Human Rights Watch described them in 1998: “Reports show the disturbing image of an agency that is out of control: dozens of people killed or wounded in Border Patrol shootings; violations of the U.S. Justice Department’s policies regarding the use of lethal weapons; sexual violence; beatings and abuse of those arrested; and a code of silence by which the patrolling agents refuse to testify against their colleagues, thereby giving them virtual impunity, whatever their actions may be.”⁽²⁾. Moreover, in 2005 the Minutemen Project was created, a group of armed civilian volunteers who, believing that the U.S. government was not keeping a close enough vigil on the border, took it into their own hands to keep watch along the border and warn Border Patrol of illegal aliens attempting to cross into the country.  In spite of being prohibited from making any kind of contact with migrants, they have been accused of harassing and killing several migrants.

Another action taken by the U.S. government to stem the flow of migration has been the building of walls.  For years they have existed only in urban regions (between Nogales-Arizona, and Nogales-Sonora, or between San Diego, California, and Tijuana in Baja California).  It was thought that migrants would be deterred if they were only able to cross in the most difficult, arid and sparsely populated zones.  However, the number of deaths in crossing the desert has grown exponentially (see graph).  In 2006, the construction of a new wall was approved, which will stretch 1,100 Km and cost $49,000 million.  Named by some “the wall of shame”, in reference to the Berlin Wall, it has been condemned by human rights organizations, ecologists, and the Mexican government. 

Migration laws always respond to complex interests because the U.S. economy depends to a large extent on the cheap labour provided by illegal immigrants.  The first U.S. migration law dates from 1790, and allows the naturalization of white people who have been in the country for more than two years.  It wasn’t until 1952 that race distinctions were eliminated in migration laws. In 2004, President Bush proposed a reform that would allow migrants to work legally on a temporary basis, and return to their countries on completion of contract (inspired by the Bracero program), thereby stemming illegal immigration, together with measures that would strengthen border security.  The reform finally approved in 2006 foresees the construction of the new wall, and makes it a serious offence, punishable with imprisonment, to remain in the country as an illegal immigrant.

This law provoked the mobilization of millions of Latin Americans in the United States⁽³⁾, including the strike on 1^st May 2006, and made a reality of the fictional film by Sergio Arau, A Day Without a Mexican. It is impossible to ignore the economic, political and social implications of the presence of 42 million Latin Americans in the United States, now the largest “minority” in the country (15% of the total population).

Greater vigilance on the border, a tightening of migration laws and the expulsion of illegal aliens has not put an end to migration, but has certainly made it more dangerous and expensive, due to the corruption involved.  Migrants have to cross the border at increasingly difficult and dangerous points, such as the Río Bravo/Grande or the Arizona desert.  Here is one example among thousands: “In Ciudad Juárez there are tunnels big enough to enter on a bicycle.  But all of a sudden a tap is opened and water is released.  It happened that they turned on the water when we were crossing, and we were swept into the river.  There were four of us, and one died.  He drowned in the river and we watched him drown…”⁽⁴⁾.  Extreme temperatures in the desert and the lack of water claim the lives of many others.

The growing phenomenon of Chiapan migration

Today, 165 Chiapans a day leave the state in search of a life on “the other side”.  Migration has increased rapidly.  Whilst the population of Chiapas numbers over 4 million, around 300,000 have left for the United States in the last 15 years (500,000 according to CIEPAC, Centre for Economic and Political Research for Community Action).⁽⁵⁾Money sent from the U.S. to Mexico from migrant workers has risen from $13.9 million in 2000 to almost $800 million in 2006.⁽⁶⁾.  The importance of these remittances are evident: in 2005 the income from remittances was twelve times that of corn production, four times that of coffee sales, ten times that of tourism, six times greater than public investment in drinking water systems, and 30 times the amount invested in electrification⁽⁷⁾.

“But these remittances which increase year by year have come at a high cost.  Since June 2005, an average of seven dead bodies a month have been sent back to Chiapas.”⁽⁸⁾

Historically, the greatest numbers of migrants in Chiapas have come from the coast, Socunusco and the Sierra, but lately they have been emigrating from all over the state.  More and more indigenous people are leaving their homeland, no longer able to make a living from agriculture.  In Las Margaritas, a town at the entrance to the rainforest, there are “travel agencies” with buses that take people directly to the border up north.  These are called “Tijuaneros”, after the border town that straddles California and the north of Mexico.

Another growing phenomenon is that of internal migration - people who move to international tourist resorts in the Yucatan or Quintana Roo to work in construction or the hotel industry, to Mexico City or, especially from the North of Chiapas, to the more industrialized neighbouring state of Tabasco.

Wages earned in the city are not necessarily high (around 600 pesos, or $54 a week), taken into account the cost of living.  “In the (rural) community you live off the land – you have food to eat and a place to live.  In the city everything is bought, everything is paid for,” says a woman who has moved from Tila, in the northern region of Chiapas, to Tabasco to work.  Historically, people have also migrated to find temporary jobs in the countryside, with harsh working conditions and low wages.  This is still seen as viable for indigenous communities, whose economy is centered on production for their own consumption.  Internal migration is often the first step before leaving for the United States.

The dramatic consequences of migration

Economically…

Although in the beginning remittances provide help and relief for families who have remained in the place of origin, they are neither a secure source of income, nor do they eradicate poverty or contribute to social development: “Until now these resources have not been wisely spent.  Chiapan families don’t know how to invest the money, and use it as a palliative to get out of the immediate crisis, only to fall back into debt and the hope that the next 200 dollars will arrive.”⁽⁹⁾.

Another consequence is that in towns where people were previously level in their standard of living, those who receive remittances suddenly have the means to move to a better house, or to buy a car and other luxury items.  This rise in consumption has inspired younger people to migrate.

Migrants are mostly men between the age of 15 and 40.  They leave behind a “ghost town” populated by women, children and the elderly.  In two communities in Chiapas an investigation was carried out that revealed the existence of 302 women living alone⁽¹⁰⁾.18 Their husbands had left for the United States.  Some still received money from their spouses.  Others did not, since their husbands had formed new families in the States.  Migration usually brings about the disintegration of the family.  On occasions, although not always, it has enabled women to play a greater part in local government.

Migration also affects the organization of the community.  In better-organized indigenous communities it is made clear that returned migrants have to be reintegrated, and they are offered community post so that they can remain within the collective.  Not all accept.

Culturally…

These are probably the most visible consequences.  In the town of San Juan Chamula (Altos region), for example, Californian style houses are going up alongside traditional dwellings made of wood and mud.  Changes can be seen in costume, language, food, the use of drugs, and (especially in the south of the state) the growth of gangs known as the “Maras”.

In the countryside there is growing unrest in the community.  Some are starting to find life there boring, with little fun to be had, and the diet monotonous (beans, tortillas and pozol, a drink made of corn – every day).  There are even those who want to change their name from Xun to its English variant John.

Violence is even more prevalent in the border towns, as well as all kinds of illegal trafficking (drugs, arms and people, etc).

Mexico: the northern frontier of South America

Throughout Central America, migration has become the principal survival strategy for broad sectors of the population who wish to improve their living conditions or assure better opportunities for future generations.  Several countries remain in a post-war state, even after signing national peace treaties in which the structural causes of conflict have not been resolved.⁽¹¹⁾

A flow of Central American migrants headed for the United States continues to traverse Chiapas; but Chiapas also acts as a destination in itself, especially Soconusco, which attracts farm labourers, domestic servants, workers in the service industry, sex workers and underage migrants.  These possibilities have been decreasing, and control over the southern border of Mexico has grown tighter.

For those heading north, Chiapas is just the first step.  “I can tell you that it is much harder, much more difficult and dangerous to cross Mexico than to enter into the United States.  It’s 5,000 km to cross Mexico from Chiapas to the northern border.  Crossing Mexico without papers is a terrible undertaking,”says an ex-coyote (person who smuggles people over the border).⁽¹²⁾

According to CIEPAC, Mexico is currently applying a strategy created in the United States, of using the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca, as a lid to detain and deport Central American migrants.  But at the same time, through dealings with polleros or coyotes (people-smugglers), Mexican authorities receive generous “compensations” in return for allowing the flow of human traffic.  In economic terms, people-trafficking is the second biggest illicit activity in Mexico after drug-trafficking.

For Central American migrants, the danger does not begin on the northern frontier of Mexico, but in the south.  Here is one example, that of Alma, a Honduran migrant: “Every day, every night, tens of Central American migrants prowl the streets of Tapachula waiting for the train to leave.  As the train, known as The Beast, begins to move, the migrants climb aboard with the hope of arriving at the northern border, after long days on a journey whose success depends on the routes, the operatives, and sheer luck.  Because of fear or precaution, Alma’s group decided not to board at Tapachula.  Always lying in wait for the train to pass, the 15 Hondurans travelled by night, dodging places where there were police or criminals.  At the northern border, the desert ended the lives of many migrants.  At the southern border, they were killed by people or by trains.  Alma and the others arrived at a place just beyond Huixtla, one week after leaving Honduras.  Here they met with the train again.  The group started running to climb aboard…Alma stretched out her arms but never caught hold of the hard metal.  That was when she says the train ‘pulled’ her.  As she tells the story, Alma makes a gesture in the air to illustrate the force that tried to suck her in towards her death.  She tells of how she jumped backwards, which may be why her right leg ‘only’ lost 10cm above the knee.The left disappeared almost completely.”⁽¹³⁾

Basic necessities: structural causes behind migration

Although crossing the border is becoming increasingly difficult, many choose to risk their lives to work illegally, without rights, in another country.  This is largely due to the lack of economic options in their home country or the collective perception of the countries in the North as the land of opportunity, wellbeing and opulence.

In the case of Mexico, the fall in the price of coffee in 1989 and the negative impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada), especially in the countryside, has reduced work opportunities for millions of Mexicans.  Between 2000 and 2005 alone, Mexico lost 900,000 jobs in agriculture and 700,000 in industry.⁽¹⁴⁾

Political, economic and social marginalization, and the unequal distribution of wealth within the country and at a global level (differences between North and South) affect Mexico, Central America and Latin America in equal measure.  Added to this difficult situation is a series of natural disasters (mostly hurricanes and floods that have hit Mexico and Central America in the last few decades) which has caused migrants to leave their homeland. 

Although Mexico and the United States – and in parallel the countries of Western Europe – have taken harsher physical and legal measures to reduce migration, they have been unable to stop it, but have only made the human consequences more drastic.  If the structural causes of migration are not addressed, people will continue to migrate as the only option for survival.

1. Article Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
2. See Human Rights Watch
3. Article at Wikipedia
4. See Indymedia Barcelona
5. The numbers vary because of the illegal asspect of a big part the migration.
6. Chiapas migrante, article in estesur.com
7. Article about remettences in Chiapas, La Jornada
8. Chiapas migrante, article in estesur.com
9. Chiapas migrante, article in estesur.com
10. Chiapas migrante, article in estesur.com
11. PALMA, Silvia Irene. Migración en la época de post-conflicto: vulneración de derechos de las poblaciones excluidas e impactos sobre la participación política. Project Counselling Service.
12. Someone who smuggle people over the border. The name comes form the very high price they ask and poor reliability, often they abandon the migrants before they reach their destination.
13. Article Migrantes: ¿Héroes o amenaza? - Adital.
14. Webpage Foreign Policy in Focus

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November 2006 – February 2007

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

THE SITUATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

At the beginning of December we took part in a meeting for analyzing the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, held by Amnesty International in Mexico City, and attended by organizations from all over the country.

At the end of February we sent out a communication about the death threats received by members of the Centre for Economic and Political Research for Community Action (CIEPAC).  This declaration documented 25 reports of threats and harassment against human rights defenders and activists in Chiapas from November 2005 to the present date.

CHIAPAS

Northern Zone

In November, December and February we visited several towns and communities in the north of Chiapas, interviewing people and organizations: displaced persons, leaders of various political groups, government authorities, church members, Zapatista support bases, as well as peasant and social organizations. In our most recent visits we also spent time at Choles de Tumbalá near Palenque, a Zapatista community that was displaced for three months last year after being violently expelled from their homes.

The Altos

On December 22 we took part in the commemoration of the ninth anniversary of the massacre at Acteal, Chenalhó (where 45 people died in 1997).

In February we visited Fracción Guadalupe (Pantelhó) where, since 1998, a group of displaced persons has been waiting to be relocated.

SELVA/Cañadas

In December and February we interviewed several nongovernmental, religious and social organisations in Ocosingo, Chilón, Bachajón and Yajalón. In November we spent 15 days visiting communities in Las Cañadas.

Caracoles

Following the Zapatista Red Alert, we visited 4 of 5 Caracoles.  Between 30 December 30, 2006 and January 2, we attended the Encounter between the Zapatistas and the Peoples of the World in the Caracol of Oventik (see article in this report).

On January 3 we attended the round table discussion “Building Counter-Powers” held at the CIDECI – University de la Tierra in San Cristóbal de las Casas, in which members of the Zapatista Command and intellectuals took part.

OAXACA

In November we accompanied the “Caravan for Peace and Solidarity between the towns of Chiapas and Oaxaca” held by the Chiapan organisation “Las Abejas”, in order to document the potential human rights violations that could occur along the way or during the time the members of “Las Abejas” were staying in Oaxaca.

INFORMATION

We met with visitors (including the France Latin America Episcopal Commission, and CCFD, the French Catholic Committee Against Hunger and For Development, Pax Christi, FoodFirst Information and Action Network International), delegations (eg Witness for Peace and Cloudforest), students and reporters (including one who works for Kurdish television) to help familiarize them with the situation in Chiapas and our work here.

In January we interviewed Miguel Álvarez from SERAPAZ (Services and Consultancy for Peace) in the program “Untying knots” which took place at TierrAdentro en San Cristóbal de las Casas.  The program dealt with the conflict and peace negotiations in Chiapas and Oaxaca, in which Miguel Álvarez had been directly involved.

In February we took part in a workshop on the rights to information, hosted by Maderas del Pueblo del Sureste.

On January 26 we attended a forum for analysis hosted by SERAPAZ and the Swiss Program of Observation and Promotion of Peace in Chiapas (PROPAZ), in which 70 people from Chiapas, Mexico City and Oaxaca took part.

We are continuing to participate in the seminar series “The Work of Immanuel Wallerstein: A Grammar for Understanding the Current World from a Critical Perspective” coordinated by the Immanuel Wallerstein Centre for Study, Information and Documentation.

PROMOTION OF PEACE

PEACE EDUCATION

We attended the Second Meeting for Peace Builders and Reconciliation, held by CORECO (Commission of Support for Community Unity and Reconciliation) in Montebello, Chiapas, from 21 to 23 November.

In January we began a series of workshops on the Transformation of Conflicts with DESMI (Civil Association for the Economic and Social Development of Indigenous Mexicans, working in 17 municipalities in Chiapas).

COLLABORATION

We are taking part in the monthly meetings held by Network For Peace, a space for action and reflection comprised of 16 organizations seeking to support the peace and reconciliation process in Chiapas.

We completed the “Project for Observation and Monitoring in Chiapas with respect to political and civil rights in rural communities during the election process and the Other Campaign”, undertaken in 2006, in collaboration with the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre, Civic Alliance, PROPAZ and Peace Watch (Switzerland).  On November 11 and 12 we jointly organized an analysis meeting in which 60 people from different parts of the state took part. 

In November we co-hosted with the Ik Collective a meeting for organizations working with prisoners, in which participants exchanged information and analyzed problems.  Another meeting was held in February for the same purpose.  It ended with a visit to the prison in Chiapa de Corzo.

:: New documents on our Website:

• October-November and November-December synthesis of the observation and monitoring in Chiapas with respect to political and civil rights in rural communities during the election process and the Other Campaign.
• Urgent Action: Confrontation on the outskirts of the Montes Azules Reserve leaves at least four dead (November 2006)
• OAXACA UPDATE (Mid-February 2007)
• Network For Peace’s declaration against aggressions towards CIEPAC (February 28, 2007)