INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Highlands

• On March 8, as part of International Women’s Day we accompanied a pilgrimage organized by women in the county town of Chenalhó. On the same day we met with the board of directors of the Civil Society of Las Abejas de Acteal.
• In March we received community leaders from Santa Martha, municipality of Chenalhó, who came to share their version of the conflict with the municipality of Aldama.
• In April we visited the displaced families of Colonia Puebla, municipality of Chenalhó, who are currently sheltered in San Cristóbal de Las Casas to continue advocating for their rights in the context of changing government authorities.

Northern Jungle

• In April we attended and observed the election of the new municipal government of Oxchuc through traditional methods, which took place by a show of hands.

Border Region

• In March we participated in an analysis meeting with various civil and religious actors in the area to discuss the prevailing political context in the region.

Caracoles/EZLN/CNI

• In the period covered by this report, we visited 4 of the 5 Zapatista Caracoles at least once.

Women

• In February we attended the quarterly Assembly of the Diocesan Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ) that took place in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• On March 7, we were present at the press conference of the Popular Campaign Against Violence Toward Women and Feminicide in Chiapas, in which its members announced their evaluation and position two years and three months after the Declaration of Gender Violence Alert (AVG) in 23 municipalities in the state.
• On March 8 we accompanied a march that was organized for International Women’s Day, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

Prisoners

• In March, April, and May, we visited prisoners in the San Cristóbal de Las Casas prison who are members of the organizations “Solidarios de la Voz del Amate” and “La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia“, both adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). We were also present at public events convened by the Network “We are not all here” (No estamos todxs) to make visible the hunger strike undertaken by 13 prisoners in the state so that their cases can be reviewed in these same months.

Events

• In February we participated in the Assembly of Believing Peoples (Pueblo Creyente) of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• In March, we attended a press conference organized by the National Front for the Struggle for Socialism (FNLS), in which they denounced threats and harassment against one of their members, within the framework of a day of demonstrations held in different parts of the country for the forced disappearances of Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez, two militants of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) who disappeared in 2007, in Oaxaca.
• In March, on the day of their 30^th anniversary, we attended an event in which the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center presented the report “Frente a la violencia, la espiral de luchas y resistencias” (Facing violence, the spiral of struggles and resistances).
• Also in March, commemorating the 30 year anniversary of the Fray Bartolomé Human Rights Center (Frayba) and the 10 year anniversary of Voces Mesoamericanas, we attended in San Cristóbal de Las Casas the event “For the Life and Memory of our Peoples: Festival of the Word.” We facilitated a space on the theme of solidarity.
• On April 10, as part of Emiliano Zapata’s 100th anniversary, we were present as observers at the rally that culminated in a march in which approximately 3,000 members of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Government Council (CIG) participated in San Cristóbal de las Casas.

OAXACA

• In May we made a week-long visit to Oaxaca where we met with several partner organizations in Oaxaca City: Unitierra, Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Gender Equality (Consorcio), Tequio Jurídico, EDUCA, BARCA-DH, and International Peace Brigades (PBI). We also met with members of Espacio Cruz of San Juan Chilateca, and with Rosalinda Dionicio Sánchez, originally from the community of San José del Progreso, and spokesperson for the Coordinadora de Pueblos Unidos del Valle de Ocotlán (COPUVO), an anti-mining organization. Finally, together with Consorcio, we visited Pablo López Alavéz, defender of the Zapotec forests, imprisoned in CERESO No. 2 of Villa de Etla.

GUERRERO

• In April we went on a one-week tour in Guerrero. In Chilpancingo, we met with Marina Reyna Aguillar of the Guerrero Association Against Violence Against Women. (AGCVIM), as well as members of the Taller de Desarrollo Comunitario (TADECO), and Fundar. In Acapulco, together with members of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, we visited prisoners from the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota (Cecop) in the Las Cruces prison. Together with members of the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI), we interviewed relatives of Victor Ayala Tapia, who disappeared in 2010 in the community of Papanoa, municipality of Tecpan de Galena, Costa Grande de Guerrero. In Chichihualco, together with members of the “José María Morelos y Pavón” Regional Center for Human Rights, we visited victims of forced internal displacement (DFI) in the municipalities of Zitlala and Leonardo Bravo, in the mountain region of Guerrero.

INFORMATION and TRAINING TOWARDS ACTION

PRONOUNCEMENTS AND URGENT ACTIONS

• In April, the “Alternative Report of Civil Society Organizations in Mexico” presented to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland.

VISITS, DELEGATIONS and TOURS

• We received visits from delegations, students, journalists, and members of our coalition interested in learning more about the situation in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero, as well as the work of SIPAZ. In March, we coordinated a week-long Global Exchange delegation (USA).
• Between April and May, we toured Europe. In Holland, we met with members of the parish of Hoog Karspel and presented our work during Missionary Week in Utrecht. In Berlin, Germany, we participated in some public events held as part of the commemoration of the end of the Second World War. We also had meetings with organizations such as Peace Brigades International (PBI), CAREA, and Bread for the World.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In Mexico City in April, we met with members of the U.S. embassy. We also had a meeting with Alejandro Encinas, Subsecretary of Human Rights in the Ministry of the Interior, and with Aarón Mastache Mondragón, who is in charge of the Federal Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists.

PEACE EDUCATION

• In February, as part of the Mother Earth Pastoral Accompaniment Network, we co-facilitated a two-day workshop with representatives from several parishes in the Tsotsil area of the Diocese of San Cristobal on basic security and defense strategies.
• In March, we facilitated a workshop with a group of young peacemakers convened by the Withaker Foundation. The theme was negotiation.
• In March, we facilitated a space for analysis of reality with leaders of evangelical churches in the highlands of Chiapas at the invitation of the Mayan Intercultural Seminary (SIM).
• In March, we proposed a space for information on our work, socio-environmental conflicts, and organizing in defense of land and territory in a public event convened by Bandera de Paz, in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
• In March, we facilitated a space for analysis and security with the operative team of Citizens for Territorial Action in the Jovel Valley Basin.
• In April, as part of the Mother Earth Pastoral Accompaniment Network, we co-facilitated a space for reflection and planning after jointly mapping out the mega-projects and environmental activists in Chiapas.
• In April, we facilitated a workshop with a group of young peacebuilders convened by the Withaker Foundation. The theme of the workshop was mediation.

 INTERNAL TRAINING

• In March, we participated in a workshop on physical and psychosocial security convened in Chiapas by Internews and the Foundation for Press Freedom of Colombia (FLIP).
• In April, as a follow-up to the process begun in 2018, we participated in a digital security workshop facilitated by the Sursiendo collective.
• Also in April, we participated in a follow-up space to the training process “Empowerment for women human rights defenders from a psycho-social approach” that Aluna Psychosocial Accompaniment convened in Chiapas in 2018 in collaboration with the National Network of Human Rights Defenders in Mexico.

ARTICULATION

• We attended the bimonthly meetings of the Network for Peace, a space for action and reflection made up of 10 organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas.
• In March, we participated in a meeting of partners of the organization Mensen met een Missie (MM) from the Netherlands.
• In March, we co-convened and co-organized the meeting of International Accompaniment Organizations that on this occasion took place in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, where analyses and work experiences were shared from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.
• In April, we began participating in webinars on migration that Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) organizes every two months.