San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
November 20, 2018

Dear Friends of SIPAZ,

Internally displaced child from Chenalhó © SIPAZ

Greetings from San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico. Thank you for your interest in our work, which would not be possible without you. Over the years, you have supported SIPAZ’s mission to diminish and prevent socio-political violence, to transform conflicts, and to promote respect for human rights in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero. We are grateful for your support and commitment to peace with dignity in southern Mexico and beyond.

A little bit about myself. My name Is Kiernan Wright, I am from the state of Ohio in the United States. Before coming to Chiapas to join SIPAZ, I worked in Quito, Ecuador, assisting migrants and refugees from Colombia, Venezuela, and various countries in the Middle East and Africa.

One of the focuses of our work here in Southern Mexico is internally displaced people and addressing the conflicts that lead to displacement. Internally displaced people are individuals who have been forced to flee their homes, but who remain in their country’s borders. In Chiapas alone, there are thousands of people who meet this definition. The neoliberal “free trade” model in place in Mexico since the 1980s uproots and displaces populations to make way for megaprojects (in energy, infrastructure for corporations, and mining and other extractive industries), in an onslaught by multinationals and the government against local communities.

From my work in Ecuador, I see many similarities between international forced migration and internally displaced persons. These groups share many economic and psychosocial difficulties. Although not as well known as refugee populations, there are tens of millions of internally displaced people globally, who for various reasons are unable to return safely to their homes. On a trip to the state of Guerrero SIPAZ visited a camp of displaced people.  They had fled their homes after numerous individuals were killed by an armed group when the community refused to sell timber from their forests. In Chalchihuitán, a municipality in Chiapas, displaced people  live in structures made of wood and plastic because of a conflict over land which turned violent.

Centoamerican migrant Caravan © SIPAZ

SIPAZ addresses conflicts in Chiapas that lead to displacement in a number of ways. We accompany displaced persons, raise awareness domestically and internationally through our publications, and advocate for more adequate and timely responses by the Mexican government in order to fulfill their legal responsibility to their citizens. The majority of internally displaced persons in Chiapas are indigenous, which can complicate displacement due to racism, language barriers, and cultural differences. SIPAZ helps empower indigenous and poor rural communities that are organizing for their rights.

While the focus of our work continues to be on conflicts within Mexico, we have also accompanied and published information about the migrant caravans that are passing through Mexico on their way to the United States. We work to expose the structural roots of injustice that drives the northward migration and that fuels the ongoing conflicts in Mexico.

SIPAZ is working with other civil organizations to advocate for and accompany persons displaced by violence within Mexico, as well as Central American migrants on their way to the United States. Concretely, here’s how you can help us continue to visit, accompany, and share news, analysis, and tools for non-violent resistance and conflict transformation in communities, organizations, and social movements working to construct a culture of peace rooted in justice.

* Using Paypal via our website,

* or by sending us a check to:

SIPAZ, INC.
P.O. BOX 20067
STANFORD, CA 94309, USA
E-mail: info_sz@sipaz.org

Please note that we are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization; EIN 20-0371876

Thank you very much for your generosity!!

In peace,

Kiernan Wright
SIPAZ