SIPAZ Activities (mid-November 2022 to mid-February 2023)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

• In November, we participated in the assembly of Believing People in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• On November 25^th, we accompanied the activities that were carried out in Chiapas within the framework of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
• In December, we attended the press conference that was held in San Cristobal de Las Casas one year after the armed attack and forced displacement of five families (34 people, of whom 24 are children and adolescents) in Nueva Palestina, municipality of Ocosingo. Likewise, we accompanied the mobilization that took place in front of the Palace of Justice of the Chiapas Highlands to deliver the statement with the demands of the victims.
• On December 21^st and 22^nd, we attended various activities as part of the commemoration of the 25^th anniversary of the Acteal Massacre, in which 45 people died. This year, it coincided with the 30^th anniversary of the formation of Las Abejas Civil Society to which the victims belonged.
• In January, we attended the event organized as part of the presentation of the agenda of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights “Women and Autonomy – Hearts of Freedom and Justice.”
• On January 25, we accompanied the pilgrimage called by the Believing People of the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, which took place in this city 12 years after the passing of J’Tatik Samuel Ruiz Garcia.
• In January, we accompanied the action that took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas as observers to demand that the Mexican State “implement all the necessary actions to locate alive” the lawyer and human rights defender Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca and the teacher and community leader Antonio Diaz, disappeared in Michoacan that month.
• In February, we accompanied the pilgrimage made by hundreds of people and members of Believing People of Simojovel to demand security and peace for their people from the authorities.
• In February, we participated in a space for analysis on security in San Cristobal de Las Casas, which was attended by various civil organizations with a presence in this city.

OAXACA

• In February, we carried out a one-week tour in Oaxaca, where we met with various partner organizations in the city of Oaxaca: Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Gender Equality (CONSORTIUM), Ges Mujer, EDUCA, Tequio Juridico and CODIGO- DH, among others.

INFORMATION and TRAINING FOR ACTION

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In January, we had a meeting with the coordinator of human rights of the United States Embassy that took place in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

NOVEMBER

• We held a two-and-a-half-day workshop on context, conflict and risk analysis with seminarians and pastoral agents from the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• As a follow-up to this, in May, we held a new workshop with 15 journalists and communicators in which training and networking proposals for greater security for the group continued to be defined.

DECEMBER

• We facilitated an analysis with 15 young women who participate in the Mujeres de Maiz (Women of Corn) collective from various municipalities in the Highlands and Northern Jungle.
• We facilitated a workshop to rework protocols with the operational team of Voces Mesoamericanas.

JANUARY

• We facilitated an analysis at a meeting in the southern zone of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas that took place in San Cristobal entitled “From the Memory of Jtatic Samuel to the Hope of our Peoples” and convened by Accion Social.
• We shared an analysis at a meeting of representatives of the community governments of the municipality of Chilon.
• We facilitated self-esteem workshops with first and second grade students from the Colegio Libre de Chiapas in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

FEBRUARY

• We facilitated an analysis with 30 members of the Mujeres de Maiz organization.
• We organized two sessions on basic elements of Positive Conflict Transformation (TPC) with the preparatory level of the Colegio Libre de Chiapas.
• We facilitated a space for analysis with the Mision de Guadalupe team in Comitan.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• In December, we attended a two-day workshop by ALUNA, a civil society organization that, from a psychosocial approach, contributes to strengthening people and organizations affected by socio-political violence so that they can continue their work in defense of rights humans in Mexico. It was addressed to organizations and players working in Chiapas.
• In December, we attended a space to strengthen the heart with women in San Cristobal de Las Casas facilitated by the Commission for Support of Community Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO).
• In February, a member of the team participated in a new session of the Diploma in Positive Conflict Transformation convened since last year by CORECO.

NETWORKING

• In December and February, we had a face-to-face meeting of our partners from the North American region of the Global Platform for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC) in Chiapas.
• In December and January, we had a face-to-face meeting of our partners that participated in the “Latin America Project, between Violence and Hope – Phase III: Accompaniment of Communities in Nonviolent Resistance against Extractivism”, coordinated by Pax Christi International.
• In November, December and January, we participated in a meeting with representatives of the pastoral areas that are part of the Follow-up Commission of the Congress of Mother Earth, a component of the social pastoral ministry of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• Since January, we started a new project with Voces Mesoamericanas and Huridocs, entitled “Strengthening the Self-protection Capacities of Organizations that Defend Human Rights and Communities in Chiapas.”
• In January and February we attended several meetings in plenary and commissions of the network for Peace in Chiapas Slamalil Kinal.
• In January, we were in an on-line meeting of the Peace and Human Rights Platform in which organizations from Mexico and the European Union participated.
• In February, we participated in a virtual meeting of all the members of the Platform for the Construction of Peace in Mexico.