SIPAZ ACTIVITIES (From the beginning of July to the end of October 2016)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Northern Region

• In August, we participated in an analysis meeting in Palenque, attended by just under 30 people representing seven organizational spaces an/or social organizations. The main topic was the “Boca del Cerro” hydroelectric dam project that would affect communities in Palenque, Chiapas, Tenosique, Tabasco, and the department of El Peten, Guatemala.
• In October, we participated in an event held in Susuclumil, municipality of Tila, in commemoration of the executed, disappeared, and forcibly displaced victims in the North between 1995 and 1999.

Highlands

• In July and August, we visited the displaced families of Banavil, municipality of Tenejapa, in their location of displacement in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In August, we accompanied them on a temporary return to their lands in order to harvest the corn they had planted in February.
• In August, we attended an event organized by members of the parishes of Chenalho and Zinacantan who made a pilgrimage to San Cristobal de Las Casas to protest against the structural reforms promoted by the government, and those supporting, of Enrique Peña Nieto, among other things, the liberation of Alejandro Diaz Santiz and Roberto Paciencia Cruz, adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle.
• In October, again, we accompanied the displaced families of Banavil on a provisional return so that they could celebrate Day of the Dead there.

Border Region

• In July and October, joint and bilateral meetings were held with various civil and religious actors in the area to discuss the prevailing situation in the region. In July, we also visited the community of Las Brisas, municipality of Trinitaria.
• In September, we participated in a training on the right of access to information and transparency in public budgets convened by Fundar and Mesoamerican Voices with civil and social organizations from two countries (Mexico and Guatemala)..
• In recent weeks, we have participated in several meetings to prepare an International Human Rights Observation Mission on the Guatemalan-Mexican Border (MODH in its Spanish acronym), which will take place in November and convened by the Migration and Gender Cross-Border Bureau.

“Caracoles”/EZLN

• In the term covered by this report, we visited the five Zapatista Caracoles at least once.
• From July 29^th to August 13^th, we attended parts of the activities carried out within the framework of the CompArte Festival, and the event in Morelia coinciding with the 13th anniversary of the Zapatista Caracoles (autonomous regions).
• From October 9^th to 13^th, we attended the events organized in San Cristobal de Las Casas and the Zapatista Caracol of Oventik as observers in the framework of the V National Indigenous Congress (CNI).

Prisoners

• In August and September we visited Roberto Paciencia, unjustly imprisoned in the San Cristobal de Las Casas penitentiary.
• In October, we were present at the pilgrimage and Eucharist called by the parish of Teopisca outside the State Center for Social Reintegration for the Sentenced (CERSS in its Spansih acronym) N° 5 of San Cristobal de Las Casas and denounced the “bad unjust enforcement of justice that is lived in the Mexican State”, particularly in the case of Roberto Paciencia Cruz.

Women

• In July, we presented the book “Fighting with a Woman’s Heart: the Situation and Participation of Women in Chiapas (1995-2015)” that SIPAZ published in November 2015 at Casa de La Solidaridad in Mexico City. We shared its main findings in the Rompeviento TV program.
• On October 19^th we were present at the national women’s strike that took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas, as well as in various Latin American countries, to protest against femicides and violence against women.
• In October, we attended the Assembly of representatives of the Diocesan Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ in its Spanish acronym) in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Events

• In July, we accompanied two displays of solidarity from the Believing People of the diocese of San Cristobal with the teachers , with pilgrimages that took place in Tuxtla Gutierrez.
• In July, we participated in the 20^th anniversary of the Commission for Community Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO in its Spanish acronym).
• In July, we were present at the inauguration of the photographic exhibition “20 Windows into Forced Displacement in Chiapas” in Paliacate Cultural Center in San Cristobal de Las Casas at the invitation of the displaced families of Banavil, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center and Melel Xojobal.
• In July, we accompanied the march and the Cultural Political Day held in Pijijiapan, Coastal Region of Chiapas, within the framework of the National Campaign in Defense of Mother Earth and Territory.
• In October, we attended the press conference organized as part of the liberation of Margarita Gomez Lopez and David Hernandez Gomez, indigenous Tsotsiles, arrested in April 2014, tortured and imprisoned for more than two years at the State Center for Social Reintegration of the Sentenced (CERSS N° 5), in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• We participated in the Assembly of representatives of the Believing People in their Assembly in August.
• In October, we attended the VIII Regional Forum for the Transformation of Socio-environmental Conflicts in Latin America, under the subject/topic of “Energy, Rights and Identities: Opportunities and Challenges of Multisectoral Dialogue”, which took place in Mexico City.
• In October, we were present at the press conference given by the ejidatarios of San Sebastian Bachajon, adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, in which they denounced the threats that their authorities are receiving.

GUERRERO

• In August, we attended the event and the march held in Tlapa de Comonfort in the context of the 22^nd anniversary of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center. Subsequently, we held meetings with counterparts in the state: Communication and Training Link A.C, Tlachinollan itself, Community Development Workshop (TADECO in its Spanish acronym) and the Guerrero Network of Human Rights Organizations.
• In October, in Ayutla de Los Libres, we accompanied members of Tlachinollan as part of a hearing with the judiciary in which the case of prisoner Arturo Campos Herrera, the Regional Coordination of Community Authorities Community Police (CRAC-PC), was to be reviewed. Shortly after we attended the 21^st anniversary of CRAC-PC in a community of the municipality of San Luis Acatlan. During this time period, in the Acapulco area, we had meetings with members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities against La Parota dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym) and the Collective against Torture and Impunity.
• Two years after the forced disappearance of 43 students from the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, we were present at the events organized in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In July, we met with members of the U.S. and French Embassies in Mexico City.
• In September, we had an interview with a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees working at the Southern Border of Mexico.
• In October, we met with several organizations from Mexico City that participated in the official visit of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights to Mexico this month (See Focus).

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In August, we facilitated a workshop on the analysis of the reality within the framework of the Tseltal Youth Gathering held in the community of Quiringuicharo (municipality of Pico de Oro), in which more than 200 young people participated.

NETWORKING

• We attended the bimonthly meetings of the Network for Peace, an action and reflection space composed of ten organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas.

INFORMATION FOR ACTION

• We received visits from delegations, students, journalists, and members of our coalition interested in learning about, or deepening their knowledge of, Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero, and the work of SIPAZ.
• In August, we held a series of meetings with counterparts from Holland and Spain. In Barcelona, ​​we participated in the seminar “Women, Human Rights, and the Environment, Vermut Political-Musical Women of Latin America in Resistence” where we presented the book “Fighting with the Heart of a Woman”.
• In October, we toured the United States for just over 15 days. In Arizona, we attended the Border Convergence convened by the School of the Americas Observatory. In Michigan, Illinois, and Texas, we gave presentations on the socio-political context in southern Mexico at various universities and held meetings with civil and collective organizations. In Washington DC, we met with human rights groups working on issues related to Mexico and Latin America.