ARTICLE: Against pain and fear: a cry of hope. Forum on forced disappearance

URGENT BULLETIN – Reactivation of the agrarian conflict between Chenalhó and Chalchihuitán: generalized violence and impunity

SIPAZ ACTIVITIES (from mid-May to mid-August 2017)

26/09/2017

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

In June, we visited communities and organizations in the municipality of Tila to share information and analysis on the prevailing context in the region, at a time of great tension for the main town.
Also in June, we participated as speakers in the framework of a film-debate in which the video “Justice and Resistance” was presented, which recovers part of the collective memory of the Chol peoples of northern Chiapas recalling the executed victims, the missing and the forcibly displaced in this region between 1995 and 2000.

We accompanied the activities that Las Abejas Civil Society carried out in communities of the municipality of Chenalho in the framework of its “Acteal: Roots, Memory and Hope” campaign, 20 years after the Acteal massacre and 25 after its establishment as an organization. In July, we were in Acteal and Nuevo Yibeljoj; in August in Xoyep.
In July, we were present at the activities organized in Colonia Puebla, municipality of Chenalho as part of the inauguration of the new Catholic Church.

In June, joint and bilateral meetings were held with various civil and religious players in the area to discuss the prevailing context in the region.

In July, we had a meeting with civil organizations in Ocosingo to discuss the context in this area.

In the term covered by this report, we visited four of the five Zapatista caracoles at least once.
From May 26^th to 28^th, we attended as observers the assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) to form its Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) and to appoint its spokesperson who will be an independent candidate to the presidency of the Republic in 2018. The event that took place in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
From the 24^th to the 30^th, we were present at the festival “CompArte por la Humanity – Against Capital and its Walls, all the Arts” convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym). Some activities were carried out in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and others in the Oventik caracol.

We conducted a series of interviews with women’s organizations on Gender Violence Alerts (GVAs), a theme that is reflected in the Focus of this report.

We participated in the Assembly of representatives of the Believing People in May and August.
In June, we accompanied the pilgrimage of the indigenous movement of the Zoque Believing People in Defense of Life and Earth (ZODEVITE in its Spanish acronym), which took place in Tuxtla Gutierrez, and which, according to the media, involved approximately 6,000 people, from the archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutiérrez and the diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas.
In June, we attended the Third Forum “Other Democracies – Elections, Resistances and Counter-Democracies”, which was convened by the Center for Higher Studies in Mexico and Central America, through the Observatory of Democracies: Southern Mexico and Central America (ODEMCA in its Spanish acronym).
In August, we attended the “Forum: Childhood, protagonism and rights for Lekil Kuxlejal” organized by Melel Xojobal in the framework of its 20th anniversary, a space convened “to have dialogue on the social and political behavior of children and adolescents in the fight for their rights in Mexico and Latin America and reflect on the expressions and impacts of discrimination and violence that affect their good living.”

In June, we attended the 4th meeting of women activists and human rights defenders in the state of Oaxaca, where about 70 women from different regions participated. The objective was to design a comprehensive feminist protection strategy promoted by various organizations that are part of the Mesoamerican Women’s Advocacy Initiative (IM-Defensoras). SIPAZ presented the model of protection that it is working on.
In July, we met with the Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equality Oaxaca (Consorcio) to nurture the approach published in this report.

In August, we were present at the Forum on Forced Disappearance “Against Pain and Fear: A Cry of Hope” organized in Chilpancingo (see article). In the same city, we met with the Guerrero Association against Violence towards Women and with the Community Development Workshop (TADECO in its Spanish acronym). In Tlapa de Comonfort, we attended the events planned for the XXIII Anniversary of Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, in which the annual report “Guerrero: sea of struggles, mountain of illusions” was presented.

We attend the bimonthly meetings of the Network for Peace, an area of action and reflection of ten organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas. In May, a Forum on the Internal Security Law was co-convened.
In August, a follow-up meeting was held for the “Meeting of Peoples for the exchange of experiences in the face of threats by megaprojects”, held in Chicomuselo in May, and was co-convened by the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center, Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center, International Service for Peace (SIPAZ) and the Samuel Ruiz Committee for the Promotion and Defense of Life, under a joint project of Pax Christi International.

We received visits from delegations, students, journalists and members of our coalition interested in learning about or going deeper into the Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero contexts, as well as the work of SIPAZ.
In July, we visited our counterparts in Holland as well as several parishes in Amsterdam.

In June, we attended the “Regional Forum for Socialization and Consultation of the National Business and Human Rights Program” – Southern Region in Tuxtla Gutierrez, a space convened by the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB in its Spanish acronym), in coordination with the State Commission on Human Rights Chiapas (CEDH in its Spanish acronym).

In July, we organized a joint training and reflection space with the Swedish Movement for Reconciliation (SweFOR) team on the contributions and challenges of International Accompaniment to community defenders organized in defense of their Land and Territory.