:: ANALYSIS

Chiapas: Carrot and Stick?

For the first time in 16 years, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) did not celebrate the anniversary of the armed uprising that took place on January 1, 1994—at least not publicly. However, the “Caracoles” (Good Government Council Seats) did close on the anniversary, generating certain speculation and fomenting rumors around the Zapatistas’ plans for 2010, a symbolic year as it is the bicentennial of Mexican Independence (1810) and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution (1910). Within this framework the legislative members of the House of Deputies’ Commission on Indigenous Affairs claimed that a new indigenous rebellion is latent, and not only in Chiapas. The Commission argued that the absolute poverty rate has increased, reforms regarding indigenous autonomy have stagnated, and policies regarding this sector of society have been abandoned.

Office of the Good-Government Council of Morelia - © SIPAZ

Over the last few months many voices, both at the local and national levels, have expressed concern over what they see as perhaps happening this year. Politicians, corporate and social organization leaders have warned that there is a possibility of social upheaval. Such a situation could allow some to negotiate funding, social programs or different types of concessions while others may use it as a pretext to confront, repress, or fragment the opposition.

This scenario, certainly tied to a collective imagination shared by a large portion of the population, marks a change within the unresolved armed conflict in Chiapas. The theme, which had been sidelined by the media and the national political agenda, has been revived and has become the object of initiatives put forth by various political actors. Some seem to attempt addressing unresolved points within the negotiation process that was once held between the EZLN and the federal government (suspended since 1996); others seem to think it is a continuation of the counterinsurgency logic.

The Good News…

In a seeming attempt to prevent the emergence of a new rebellion in Chiapas, both the state and federal governments presented initiatives between the months of November and January. On November 24, the local Congress announced that the Zapatista Good Government Councils (JBG, Juntas de Buen Gobierno) had asked for legal recognition. The JBGs from the five Caracoles later refuted that statement, claiming that “We the Zapatistas do not need to be recognized by the bad government that is not of the people because we are already recognized by our people who have elected us, in addition to having been recognized by many peoples, both nationally and internationally. (…) All of these lies from the bad government, from its deputies and accomplices, are part of a counterinsurgent strategy intended to confuse public opinion and undermine our peoples’ resistance in the struggle to build our Autonomy.”

Photo: Good-Government Council of Oventic - © SIPAZ

On December 29, the local Congress approved the “Chiapas State Law on Indigenous Rights,” an initiative that was proposed by the state governor with the objective of “recognizing the San Andrés Accords”. It is said to have been designed to allow indigenous peoples and communities the same opportunities for development based on respect for their customs. Analysts and organizations have expressed concern regarding the propagandistic character of the initiative: on the one hand they have stated that the framework of recognition for indigenous rights remains limited “whenever they do not violate the state and federal constitutional precepts or the rights of third parties”; and on the other hand, they called into question the lack of consultation with the groups that would be affected by this law.

In January, the federal Congress relaunched the Concordance and Pacification Commission (COCOPA, Comisión de Concordancia y Pacificación), a legislative body created in 1995 to further negotiations between the federal government and the EZLN.  It had been inactive for several years. Senator Carlos Navarrete of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD, Partido Revolucionario Democratico) stated that the COCOPA will look to avoid future armed uprisings and added that it won't await the emergence of further complications before acting. Navarette claimed to find it important that the situation in Chiapas be attended to, that the government be informed about it, and that existing issues be resolved. In early January COCOPA members traveled through Chiapas allegedly to locate all of the actors that are linked either directly or indirectly to the EZLN and to present them with an invitation to recommence negotiations.

All of these initiatives bring to mind previous stages of the conflict in which the State appeared to want to address the structural causes behind the 1994 uprising, though without the participation of the Zapatistas. In any case, these moves are nonetheless to be seen as actions “for the better.” Parallel to this, unfortunately, elements that appear to respond to a strategy “for the worse” have been continuously denounced.

The Bad News...

Since early November, both roadblocks and police/military raids have been denounced in communities throughout the state. The actions were putatively taken in order to promote disarmament. On December 30, 36 artillery vehicles from the National Defense Ministry (Sedena, Secretaría de Defensa Nacional) were deployed in Chiapas. According to state sources, “this operation of deterrence [has been put into effect] to respond to any contingency or disturbance that may occur in any of the 118 municipalities; it includes patrols and flyovers in zones that are considered to be red alert spots.” The Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center (CDHFBC, Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas) delved more deeply into the issue stating that “in late 2009 the government implemented operational measures to monitor movements in rural areas, survey all modes of communication, carry out disarmament campaigns in indigenous communities, install police roadblocks in various locations throughout the state of Chiapas, and take advantage of the discourse of the current fight against organized crime by repositioning army units in communities with a history of civil resistance.” 

However, it is important to point out that tensions have subsided in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, one of the major hot spots during 2009. On December 23, after coming to an agreement with the state government on political, economic and social issues, the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization – Carranza Region (OCEZ-RC, Organización Campesina Emiliano Zapata – Región Carranza) ended the sit-in it had held for close to two months in San Cristóbal de las Casas. During negotiations, the state government reiterated that it has no power to impede the militarization of indigenous communities, given that this is a federal matter.

Photo: José Manuel (Chema) Hernández Martínez,
historical leader of OCEZ-RC - © SIPAZ

Another issue that has been reiterated throughout 2009, both in Chiapas as well as at a national level, has been the growing criminalization of human rights defenders as demonstrated by ongoing surveillance, harassment, threats and raids, among other crimes. In December, during the celebrations of International Human Rights Day, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center published a special bulletin that contained the following denunciation: “This year work in defense of human rights has been criminalized to the point that human rights defenders have been equated with organized crime and subversive networks supposedly intent on destabilizing the State in 2010.” One of the most recent examples of this tendency was the number of denunciations made since last November of several acts of harassment (including death threats) directed at Adolfo Guzmán Ordaz, a member of Enlace Comunicación y Capacitación in Comitán.

This form of criminalization is even more evident in cases where the individuals organized in defense of human rights are not members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) but instead are members of social or indigenous organizations. An extreme example of this occurred at the end of November with the murder of Mariano Abarca Roblero, a member of the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA, Red Mexicana de Afectados por la Minería) and the Civic Front of Chicomuselo , which oppose investment plans made by the Canadian mining company Blackfire. Abarca had denounced both death threats against his person as well as pressure he was receiving from the municipal president of Chicomuselo who was, according to representatives from Blackfire, receiving large profits and kickbacks from the company.

One key element in the tendency toward criminalization has been the role of the media, an aspect clearly illustrated in the following two cases.

Pilgrimage in Venustiano Carranza, December 2009 - © SIPAZ

Bolón Ajaw: Contradictory Versions

On February 6, a new conflict presented itself within the territory of Bolón Ajaw in the municipality of Tumbalá (northern Chiapas). The area has been occupied by Zapatistas since 1994 and falls under the jurisdiction of the autonomous municipality of Comandante Ramona. It lies some four kilometers from Agua Azul and contains waterfalls that have yet to be exploited for touristic purposes.

The Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center entitled one of the entries in its media synthesis “Confrontation in Chiapas spurs media campaign against indigenous communities–the Mexico City media emphasizes ‘executions’ and ‘disappearances’ on the part of the Zapatistas on front pages.” The Chiapas Attorney General’s Office (PGJE, Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado) claimed that the conflict had left one dead, five detained and 28 injured, 13 of whom were hospitalized with bullet wounds as well as injuries sustained from melee weapons and beatings. According to the PGJE, the conflict erupted in January when the Zapatistas from Bolón Ajaw requested support from sympathetic communities in Oxchuc, Alan Sacjun, Salto del Tigre and Bachajón in preventing members from the Organization in Defense of Indigenous and Campesino Rights (OPDDIC, Organización para la Defensa de los Derechos Indígenas y Campesinos) from clearing the path that connects the Agua Azul waterfalls to those of Bolón Ajaw (a course of action said to be undertaken in order to bring in tourism revenues).

Photo: Agua Azul waterfalls
© Secretary for Tourism Chiapas

Other media outlets reminded the public of prior criminal charges against OPDDIC that have been pending since February 2008; such media coverage included denunciations of attacks, injuries, threats and murder attempts against NGOs and EZLN support bases that took place in Bolón Ajaw. Still others alluded to the denunciation made by the Morelia JBG on January 23, 2010 which referred to attacks made by OPDDIC in the same area. Adherents to the Sixth Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle, grouped under the Otra Jovel, denounced the events that took place in Bolón Ajaw, stating that “the residents were attacked several years ago by other indigenous people who had been organized and armed like paramilitaries by the government.”

In a communiqué from February 11, the Morelia JBG clarified the recent events in Bolón Ajaw and found that “the employment of traps such as those used by previous governments includes the fabrication of crimes in order to justify repression.”

In regard to the conflict of February 6, the JBG stated: “[According] to the OPDDIC’s lies, we surprised [them] in the early morning, scaring the residents, when we were the ones who were thus surprised. (…) Due to their indiscriminate shooting in Bolón Ajaw, they ended up killing their own compañeros.”

On the subject of those detained, they explained, “The seven individuals said to have been kidnapped have already been returned alive and as healthy as they were when they arrived. They signed a document upon their release recognizing that they had been respected. (…) We proposed that they be released upon the condition that they promise not to return to the area and that tranquility be reestablished. This was our word, and we complied with honor and truth.”

Protest by adherents to the Other Campaign in front of the Chiapas
governmental house in the City of México
© Red MyC zapatista

The communiqué also mentioned “the message from Juan Sabines Guerrero is to create a dialogue in regards to the problem when in fact he contrarily insinuated that the army will be deployed, thus  destroying the dialogue between the EZLN and the federal government and bringing about more hostility.”

Road mural in Agua Azul - © SIPAZ

On February 12, the CDHFBC published a statement in which it claimed that “the Chiapas government is attempting to avoid its responsibility in the denounced conflict that has continued since 2007. The government is also making an effort to blame the Zapatista Support Bases for the armed attack against the Zapatista community of Bolón Ajaw.” The statement denounced that “the federal government is pressing for a military intervention against the Zapatistas and is increasing intelligence operations carried out by joint forces.” The full report, which was published later, emphasizes that the Agua Azul-Bolón Ajaw region “has become a focal point for the implementation of tourist plans and projects, a situation that has made the region into an interest to be controlled.” It is important to point out that the surrounding area has been a hot spot since at least 2008 as in the case of members of the Other Campaign from the ejido of San Sebastián Bachajón that control the entrance to the waterfalls at Agua Azul. 

Another Example: Evictions in Montes Azules

On January 22, some 120 indigenous people that have resided for the past 20 years in El Semental and Laguna San Pedro within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve were evicted by federal police, military personnel, and officials from the Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection (Profepa, Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente). The state government later claimed that the eviction was carried out in a non-violent fashion, and it promised that the families would be relocated. On January 26, the government stated that planned reforestation projects and the establishment of an eco-tourism center, would require the eviction of seven other residents.

Photo: Montes Azules (© Boca de Polen)

A January 29 communiqué from the La Garrucha JBG contradicts this version in denouncing the violent eviction of the Laguna San Pedro community. The JBG claims that the Zapatista residents were forced to board helicopters and were transported to the city of Palenque while their homes were burned along with all of their belongings.

In regards to the eviction, the Chiapas Peace Network (Red por la Paz en Chiapas) issued a communiqué which highlighted “the stigmatizing portrayals of the evicted as well as claims that are made without previous investigation or use of non-official sources. We assert that journalism that presents only the government’s version of events jeopardizes the security of displaced families as well as that of the human rights defenders that accompany them and of the residents of communities threatened with eviction.”  It further added: “As civil organizations that work in the area, we do not accept the proffered excuse of “conservation and protection of natural resources” that has been employed at several levels of government to obtain territorial as well as social, political, and economic control over one of Chiapas’ most bio-diverse regions.”

:: IN FOCUS

Parallels between Mexico’s northern and southern borders

Wall between México and the U.S.
© Grupo marxista

Much has been written over the past few decades about the northern border of Mexico. Legal and illegal migration as well as other kinds of trafficking – similarly legal and illegal – are distinct phenomena that have developed along the 3,326 kilometres of the Mexico-U.S. border.

Until recently, the southern border of Mexico has been afforded much less attention. With a length of 1,139 kilometres, of which 962 km are shared with Guatemala and 176 km with Belize, this southern border passes along the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche and Quintana Roo.

After September 11, 2001, the United States, concerned with domestic security, put pressure on the Mexican government to enhance its control of the southern border. Since then, however, problems along this border have developed, thus creating an alarming situation with which journalists, investigators, and activists have concerned themselves.

When considering the similarities between the two borders, one of the first things that stands out is the similarity between the situation experienced by Central Americans on the southern border of Mexico and that of Mexicans attempting to enter the United States via the northern border. Both are equally subject to danger and often find themselves kidnapped, robbed, victims of trafficking rings (of people as of drugs), deported or even killed.

Legal Migration: Limited options for many

The border separating Mexico and the United States is one of the busiest in the world. According to statistics, about 250 million people cross the Mexico-U.S border legally every year. Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Migracion (National Migration Institute) estimated that more than two million people crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border in 2004, of whom 400,000 were Central Americans entering without authorization.

Guatemalans can use a Forma Migratoria de Visitante Local (Local Visiting Permit) for access to Mexican territory up to 100 kilometres from the border. Additionally, the Forma Migratoria de Trabajador Fronterizo (Border Work Permit) is available for people who can show they have an offer of work. This permit is exclusively for Guatemalans and Belizeans who live near the border.

Cargo train in Sonora - © SIPAZ

By the same token Mexicans can enter the United States through the northern border with a Border Crossing Card, also known as a “laser visa.” This visa gives permission to those Mexicans who qualify for it to cross the border by land. One of the preconditions for attaining this visa is having very strong economic ties to Mexico, to ensure that the person in question will eventually return to her country of origin.

Undocumented migrants represent the vast majority of people crossing both Mexico’s northern and southern borders.  For each year between 2000 and 2009, the average number of Mexicans who entered the United States without proper documentation was calculated to be 220,000. This estimated population constitutes a bit more than half the total number of undocumented migrants in the States.

Controlling Illegal Migration in the United States and Mexico

In an effort to contain immigration, the United States began construction of a wall along its border with Mexico in 1994. Stretches of this wall now exist in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The structure features a retaining wall, high-intensity lighting, motion detectors, electric sensors, as well as night-vision equipment used by the Border Patrol. Permanent surveillance is provided with the help of all-terrain vehicles and armed helicopters. A citizen’s group called the Minutemen Project was founded in 2005 to “discourage” migration; it has a notorious reputation for “hunting migrants”.

Since the beginning of the construction of the wall, migration routes have changed. Now migrants cross at more dangerous sites, such as the Rio Bravo, or through the desert. Every year approximately 500 people die from dehydration, cold, drowning, or simple exhaustion.

 “It depends on the route they take you on. There are shorter paths– if you want to risk your life there’s a road that takes one hour, one that takes two-and-a-half-days, and one that takes one week. I knew someone from another community who passed through the desert. He didn’t make it; he died. The migra found his body, but his parents don’t want to believe that their son has died.”^a

On the other hand, thousands of Central and South Americans cross the southern border of Mexico in an attempt to reach the northern border to eventually find work in the United States. Actually crossing the border is not as difficult as what  migrants typically encounter within Mexican territory. In a way, it seems that all of southern Mexico – at least until the capital – has been transformed into a giant border zone, with constant migration checkpoints and intense surveillance.

In principle, Mexicans can travel freely within their own country and hence are free to travel to the country’s northern border. However, there are a growing number of cases of Mexicans (constituted of vulnerable groups such as women, children, and indigenous individuals) who report that they are victims of the same injustices Central Americans encounter on their journey.

A view of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, México - © SIPAZ

Just as the routes for crossing into the U.S. have changed, routes in the south have changed according to existing dangers, possibilities, and surveillance systems. In Mexico migrants usually transport themselves by train; they often attempt to board trains already in transit—that is, after they have left their stations. Those with the financial means can use either public or private transport. Still others opt for “off-roading”--that is, by using dirt roads that bypass the highways and check-points ran by various police forces and the National Institute for Migration (INM).

Many accidents and assaults befall migrants occur during their train journeys. Along off-road routes, robbery and murder often occur. On buses migrants are easy prey for the different control mechanisms that exist on commonly used roads. Whichever means of transportation they use, migrants generally find themselves basically defenseless in the face of criminal acts, abuses of power, extortion, or violations of their human rights.

Migrant Trafficking Rings: “Polleros”, “raiteros”, kidnappers and human trafficking

Many undocumented migrants hire someone to take them across the border. In northern Mexico, transporters of illegal immigrants—raiteros-- pick up migrants along the border or in border towns and, if all goes according to plan, take them to their final destination.

In the south these guides are known as polleros. The current cost of travelling with a pollero from Guatemala to the United States is estimated to be between 45,000 and 50,000 quetzals (80,000 Mexican pesos, or between 3,500 and 5,000 USD). Besides being very expensive – especially for migrants looking for work – the polleros often transport migrants under terrible conditions and thus migrants run the risk of dying from asphyxiation or dehydration. In a worst-case scenario, polleros can turn out to be criminals or attackers who, upon receiving payment, abandon the migrants in question or steal everything they own.  They may even try to kill them.

Photo: Cargo train in Sonora - © SIPAZ

In June of 2009 a Special Report on the Kidnapping of Trans-migrants was released by the Mexican National Human Rights Commission. Using statistics from across Mexico, the report estimated that 10,000 migrants were kidnapped in the first half of 2009, resulting in a profit of 25 million dollars for organized crime. In many cases it has been reported that the drug-trafficking group Los Zetas requests large sums from family-members in exchange for refraining from kidnapping loved ones.

This is what a Salvadoran migrant had to say: “We were already on the train and before we reached Ixtepec, we encountered the Zetas [...]. They got on the train and told us to get off, and they took us with them. Where they held us, there were also more than 150 other people being held. They bound our hands and feet and then asked for 3,500 dollars to let us go and pass to the other side; they gave us suitcases filled with drugs to take with us. I was malnourished because they only fed us once a day.”^a

Another aspect of the trafficking of migrants is the significance of Mexico as the country of origin, transit or final destination for victims of human trafficking used in the sex trade and/or forced labour. It has been reported that in Mexico currently more than 500,000 people are victims of sexual exploitation - among them are said to be 16,000 minors.

A study based in Tapachula, a city on Mexico’s southern border, revealed that the main victims are girls between the ages of 13 and 17 years originally from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The girls are mostly exploited in nightclubs and bars. They are not only sexually exploited, according to the study, but also used for juvenile prostitution, child pornography, slavery, forced labour, other acts reminiscent of slavery, organ trafficking, and begging.

Feminicide: A growing phenomenon

The term feminicide has emerged within this context of extreme violence directed especially at women. The term refers to the mass murder of women merely for their being women; the phenomena first came prevalent in the border city of Juarez, just opposite the U.S. city of El Paso, where approximately 1060 women have been killed. The murders began in Juarez in the 1990s; in 2009, there were 388 reported cases of women, almost all young, who were tortured, raped, or left abandoned in the desert.

Photo: Event in Oaxaca in protest
of feminicide

Statistics are alarming in Chiapas as well. According to the Women’s Collective of San Cristobal, Chiapas has the highest number of feminicides in the country, with 138 cases in the first half of 2009.  Seventy of those cases involved women who seemed to have been subjected to human trafficking. It is estimated the number of feminicides in Chiapas will exceed 300 in 2009.

Border Employment: Exploitation

During the 1970s employment in maquiladoras began to take off in the cities near the northern border of Mexico; labor in these factories is characterized centrally by exploitation. Nowadays places like Tijuana and Juarez boast vast industrial parks where foreign assembly factories operate without paying taxes and with advanced infrastructure (water, electricity, telephone, irrigation, etc.) provided by the government. At the same time, those who labor in these factories reside in neighbourhoods that are often completely lacking in basic services.

Maquiladora in Ciudad Juárez - © SIPAZ

Working conditions in the maquiladoras are often deplorable. Laborers, some eighty percent of whom are women, face a typical workday of ten hours, and have to work six days a week. These laborers are exposed to toxins without proper protection and suffer heat in summer and cold in winter. Many attempts by workers to organize for better conditions result in employees getting fired. Despite this, organizations like La Casa de Mujer Factor X promote processes of self-organization among female workers that seek to defend their human rights—in particular, those related to employment and gender.

While this phenomenon does not exist in southern Mexico, agricultural workers in the region suffer from miserable pay and working conditions. The Guatemalan Consulate in Tapachula states: “In Suchiate [Chiapas region] alone we know that there are around 60 ranches, with 100 agricultural workers for each. There are no Mexicans working on those ranches… In reality there are hundreds of miles of Guatemalan workers.”^a

The Challenges of Border Problems

Structures and organizations have been developed as a response to these difficult situations. One problem is the ongoing criminalization of organizations that try to help undocumented migrants, both in Mexico and the United States. The Mexico-based Miguel Agustin Pro-Juarez Human Rights Center published an information pamphlet called “Offering Help to Undocumented Migrants is not a Crime” in which it explained the difference between humanitarian aid (non-profit) and human trafficking (for profit).

Different organizations offer humanitarian aid to migrants along the northern border and in the United States. Border Angels and No más Muertos (No more Dead) are two of the organizations that provide basic help like placing water-containers in the Arizonan desert. They also offer jackets and blankets at help stations to assist migrants in protecting themselves against the cold nights in the desert.

Other organizations like Borderlinks focus their work on awareness raising, trying to explain to North Americans the reasons why migrants leave their countries. They also denounce the two-faced policies of the United States, as the work of undocumented migrants in the agricultural, construction, and food industries is central to the functioning of the U.S. economy. A few other organizations offer trips to the border so that people can experience a modicum of what undocumented migrants have to put up with.

Bethlehem House for Migrants in Saltillo - © SIPAZ

There are dozens of shelters for migrants in Mexico that offer them shelter, food, and water, as well as a place to rest on their journey. In Tapachula, for example, the Albergue Jesus el Buen Pastor serves as a home for ill or badly injured migrants, many of whom have suffered amputation. There, migrants are given the opportunity to work toward physically and emotionally healing themselves at a time when their dreams of working in the United States to help their families financially have been crushed due to their conditions.

Another example is the Belén Posada del Migrante de Saltillo. At the beginning the shelter provided for basic needs only, but it now also offers food, clothes, medication, and a place to sleep plus providing information about human rights.  More than anything, the center treats migrants with the dignity they deserve as human beings.

Considering the range and scope of migration-related problems, comprehensive responses are difficult to enact. The governments of Mexico and the United States limit themselves to a vision of border control and security and free trade without free movement of persons. Civil and church organizations lack the resources to do much more than provide humanitarian aid. It is evident that problems related to borders cannot be resolved at these border alone; they will instead require global changes, both in Mexico and around the world.

Notes:

^(a) Starting from the south, The global outlook for Human Rights on the southern border of Mexico from the perspective of those returning home, in transit, and travelling to a destination. >> Return: (1)-(2)-(3)

:: ARTICLE

Fifth Meeting of Builders of Peace and Reconciliation

Beyond stressing the need for peace, let us construct it!

 In November 2009, the “Fifth Meeting of Builders of Peace and Reconciliation” brought together nearly 600 people in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, and thanks to the constructive nature of the meeting, it was decided to hold a sixth Meeting—between the 9th and 12th of November 2010, in the Estrella Region of Ocosingo.

“Peace is not only for one group, but for everyone.  It is for all peoples.”  Thus began the presentation of the participants of the “Fifth Meeting of Builders of Peace and Reconciliation” that took place in the community of Taniperla, Chiapas, between the 10th and 13th of November 2009.  Arriving from 17 municipalities, nearly 600 individuals, some representing civil organizations that differed from or even actively clashed with each other, they took possession of the space that has for five years been provided by the Commission of Support for Unity and Community Reconciliation (CORECO).  Beyond an increased number of participants (from 27 persons in 2005 to 572 in 2009), the increasing presence of women, who represented a third of the participants who arrived in 2009, should also be noted.

The meeting constituted three intense days of “reflecting on and analyzing the conflicts that we live in communities as well as of seeking alternatives, constructing one heart and one path for the community to find our own strength.”  The three days were however also ones of coexistence in a spirit of solidarity, with celebrations taking place around a spectacular Mayan altar.

After having shared the struggles of building peace in the past year throughout the regions of Chiapas, the participants were divided into 10 work-tables dealing with the effects of migration, alcoholism, and drug-addiction; the rights of women and work with men; conflicts between organizations and political parties; resistance to government programs; problems of land, territory, and autonomy, as well as of the cultivation of maize, cultural traditions, and inter-religious dialogue.

During the event, Felipe Toussaint, director of CORECO, proposed an analysis of present reality, illustrating how the capitalist system crushed the Mayan vision of the universe.  In the center, where Mayan cosmology places the sky and the land—and men and women to take care of them—the capitalist system puts money, according to Toussaint.  On top of the four care-takers of the world, known as bacabes among the Mayans, capitalism maintains four pillars that allow it to forcibly sustain itself and succeed in realizing its goals of wealth accumulation through: control of politics, economics, idealogy, and an emphasis on security.  Toussaint further stressed the violence with which the capitalist system was imposed and is maintained.  With regard to the present crisis, Toussaint suggested little by way of overcoming it but instead called on those present to work toward the building of another world non-violently and with respect for differences.

Photo: Poster of welcome for the
Fifth Meeting of Peace-Builders - © SIPAZ

After this, the 600 participants joined together once again by region to come up with and commit themselves to peace initiatives for the following year.  The initiatives that were proposed can be divided into three parts, the first being dialogue and reconciliation; as one group stressed, “if there is no communication, there can be no peace.”  The participants proposed to promote dialogue in their communities “without regard to party, organization, or religion,” and to seek reconciliation among differences.  As an illustration of this, the coordinators of the meeting gave a blanket representing the four elements as a gift and planted maize so as to affirm that “being, like maize, of different colors, we all have the same heart.”

Later, the necessity for inclusion and participation of all to build a meaningful peace was reflected in several suggestions for action: “Encourage women and young people to attend these meetings;”“Share the details of the meeting with those in our communities, as many could not come;” and “Open spaces for participation in all organizations, and promote dialogue with authorities of ejidos, localities, and regions.”

In the end many promised to promote more awareness and organization in their regions—for example, awareness of governmental projects (“present small workshops, tell the people how it is that we can control the government projects that affect our lands”) or of nature-preservation (“be careful not to use pesticides,” “care for the maize and Mother Earth”).  With regard to organization, one proposal suggested that participants should “Motivate our communities to organize themselves more,” butthere was also an expressed desire to “slowly leave behind programs of  governmental support ” and deal with the problems of alcoholism and migration.

Beyond merely stressing the need for a just peace or dreaming of its realization, the meeting concerned itself with the very construction of such peace:  everyone in her or his community working every day toward that dream that we all share.  There was identified the need not only to criticize or complain but also to propose, construct, imagine—a struggle that deserves to be recognized.  This meeting demonstrated in vivo that the rejection of violence does not imply passivity but rather the construction of a peace whereby one can intervene in present reality by means of thousands of non-violent actions.

:: SIPAZ ACTIVITIES

From November 2009 to mid-February 2010

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Northern Zone

- In December, we met with a number of counterparts that work in and around Palenque.

- In January, we visited several communities and cities in the Northern Zone of Chiapas to interview a number of different regional actors: leaders of different political groups, authorities, public officials, church-members, and Zapatista support-bases.

Highlands

- We participated in the “Forum of Conscience and Hope, Constructing the Other Justice,” held by Las Abejas in Acteal on 21 December; we also attended the commemoration of the 22 December 1997 massacre the next day.

Jungle

- In December, we held meetings with several social actors from the municipality of Ocosingo (mountain-jungle) that included NGOs and churches, to assess goings-on in the area.

- In January, we visited a number of counterparts in Comitán (border jungle).

Center

- On 26 November, we were given the position of witnesses of honor in the first goodwill negotiations between the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization-Carranza Region (OCEZ-RC, an organization that demands the release of its imprisoned members and that denounces policial-military intimidation in its region) and the state government.

- On 6 December, we were present at the Pilgrimage of the Pueblo Creyente of Venustiano Carranza held to support the priest of this city who had been subjected to harassment for several months.

Caracoles

- Between November and February, we visited each Zapatista caracol at least once.

Prisoners

- On 6 January, we visited the San Cristóbal prison in commemoration of the anniversary of the “Voice of Amate,” an organizational process initiated by prisoners in 2006.  On 26 January, we returned to the prison to attend the event at which Professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, member of the Voice of Amate and adherent to the Other Campaign, received the jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum award, as presented by bishop emeritus Samuel Ruíz García and several different civil organizations.

OAXACA

In December we held meetings with counterparts in Oaxaca City.

INCIDENCE

- In January we attended a meeting with members of several organizations associated with the United Nations and other civil-society organizations that was held to present a future project regarding the internally displaced in Chiapas.

- In December, we attended an event put on by the Federal Electoral Institute at which was presented a proposed “Educational Model for Participatory Democracy.”

VARIOUS

- We were present at the assembly organized by the State Network of Civil Resistance “La Voz de Nuestro Corazón” (“The Voice of Our Heart”) on 18 and 19 December, at which we presented our latest bulletin, which in part focused on the network’s organizational process.

- On 25 November in San Cristóbal de las Casas, we attended various activities related to the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.”

- From 30 December to 2 January, we participated in the International Seminar for Reflection and Analysis, which took place in CIDECI-Unitierra in San Cristóbal de las Casas.

PEACE PROMOTION

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

In February, we started a series of workshops entitled “Mexican realities and their priestly implications” with the Intercultural Mayense Seminar.

WORK WITH RELIGIOUS ACTORS

- In December, we participated in an ecumenical meeting for prayer and reflection that was organized by the Ecumenical Group for the Analysis of Reality and the Present Situation (GEACR) of which we are members.

- In January, a series of activities took place to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Don Samuel Ruíz, bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.  We also attended the Pastoral-Theological Congress, which took place from 20 to 23 January in San Cristóbal de las Casas as well as the celebration of the Eucharist on 25 January.

ARTICULATION

- On 24 January, Don Samuel Ruíz García, bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal, presented the “jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum” award to the Diocesian Coordinator for Women (Codimuj), Las Abejas of Acteal, Ecumenical Mayense-Indian Theology, and Professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, a prisoner in the San Cristóbal prison and member of the Voice of Amate, to mark his 50th episcopal anniversary.  SIPAZ presided over the presentation of this award with other local and national organizations.

- We participated in the monthly meetings of the Peace Network, a space for reflection and action made up of 16 organizations that seek to support processes of peace and reconciliation in Chiapas.

INFORMATION

- We were visited by delegations, students, and journalists who were interested in learning about the situation in Chiapas and the work of SIPAZ.

- In January we published an Urgent Action on the harassment directed at Adolfo Guzmán Ordaz, a human-rights defender and member of the civil organization Enlace, Comunicación y Capacitación, AC.

- On 9 February, the Peace Newtork in Chiapas released a communiqué on the recent evictions in Montes Azules.

- A member of the SIPAZ team engaged in activities in Germany in January and February, including meetings and presentations in Berlin, Münster, and Marburg; an address for the symposium “Weltwärts-Towards the World” regarding organized members of the German Coordination for Human Rights in Mexico; remarks at the conference “México: Quo vadis?” organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the German Coordination for Human Rights in Mexico; as well as advocacy meetings with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.