INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Northern Zone

• In December, we visited several villages and communities in the zone below Tila to interview different actors in the region: leaders of different political groups and members of churches as well as of campesino and social organizations. We also held some interviews in Palenque.

Highlands

• On 22 December, we attended the XIV anniversary of the Acteal massacre, a day on which was held the “Day for Memory, Resistance, and Life.“

Jungle

• In November, we attended the vigil of the remains of two indigenous persons who were disappeared during the Viejo Velasco massacre, in the Ocosingo municipality, in November 2006.

Border

• At the end of January, we met with several civil organizations in Comitán to discuss the prevailing situation in the Border Jungle zone.

Caracoles

• Between November and February, we visited each of the Zapatista Caracoles at least once.

Human-rights defenders

• In December, we visited Margarita Martínez and Adolfo Guzmán, human-rights defenders who have received several death-threats and aggressions since 2009, and who were the object of a new death-threat in October 2011—this despite having been awarded precautionary measures by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR).
• We continue our process of international accompaniment with the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC). On 1 December, we accompanied them in observation of a meeting on IACHR precautionary measures in their case and that of the rights-defenders Margarita Martínez Martínez and Adolfo Guzmán Ordaz, whom the CDHFBC has decided to defend.
• On 8 and 9 December, we attended the Regional Forum for the Defense of Human Rights, held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

Prisoners

• On 8 January, we attended the celebration carried out in the San Cristóbal de Las Casas prison, in observation of the sixth anniversary of “La Voz del Amate,” a prisoners’ organization that adheres to the Other Campaign.

Women

• On 24 and 25 November, we participated in several activities carried out in observation of the International Day against Violence against Women.
• In December, we attended the Round Table “Bringing together the Seeds of Women’s Struggles: Women confronting Violence” as organized by the CIAM (Center for Investigation and Action of the Latin American Woman) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• At the end of January, we attended a press conference organized by the Group of Women of San Cristóbal de Las Casas (COLEM) in which was denounced violence against women in general and specifically in the case of Kathya Montserrat Lopez Banda, whose daughter was abducted by the family of her former husband.

GUERRERO

• In December, we were present in the act of recognition of responsibility on the part of the Mexican State for the violation of the human rights of Valentina Rosendo, an indigenous woman from Guerrero who was raped by soldiers in 2002. The act that was held in Mexico City formed part of the compliance with a sentence dictated by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR).

OAXACA

• At the end of November, we were present in Oaxaca City in commemoration of the repression of 25 November 2006. We held many interviews with our counterparts there (BARCA-DH, Educa, Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equality Oaxaca A.C.-whose offices had been searched at the beginning of that same month—as well as CODIGO-DH, Limeddh, PBI Oaxaca, OIDHO). We also attended the National Workshop for Dialogue and Reflection regarding the impacts of transnational firms in indigenous regions of Mexico as organized by the National Indigenous Congress, held in San Mateo del Mar, Tehuantepec isthmus. We met with human-rights defenders Bettina Cruz Velázquez and Maribel González, whom were accompanying the “shared land owners” (comuneros) who oppose the Wind Corridor of the Isthmus (CEI), the reason for which they have received death-threats. At the governmental level, we interviewed the Commissioner for human rights of the Oaxaca state-government.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In November, we attended the presentation in San Cristóbal de Las Casas of the 2011 Global Report on Human Development, published by the United Nations Development Program (UNEP) in Mexico.
• In January, we held meetings with our counterpart Mensen me een Missie (MM, People with a Mission) as well as Amnesty International-Holland section in the Netherlands. In Brussels, Belgium, we participated in a debate organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation entitled “How to improve cooperation between the European Union and the Inter-American System on Human Rights?” We also participated in an audience of the European Parliament regarding the Inter-American Mechanism on Human Rights.

PEACE PROMOTION

WORK WITH RELIGIOUS ACTORS

• During a week in November, we went on a trip to El Salvador with youth from the Las Abejas Civil Society from Chenalhó, members of a pastoral group from Chenalhó, and members (youth and clergy) from the Mayense Intercultural Seminar, in an initiative that sought to promote ecumenical closeness and better mutual understanding among these actors.
• On 24 November, we accompanied the pilgrimage of approximately 8,000 Catholics from the 54 parishes of the San Cristóbal de Las Casas diocese during which they pronounced themselves in favor of the defense of the land, territory, and natural resources.
• In December, we participated in an ecumenical space for prayer and reflection as organized by the Ecumenical Group for Analysis of Reality and Context (GEARC) of which we form a part.
• – On 24 January, we co-facilitated together with other civil organizations an ecumenical space in observation of the one-year anniversary of the death of the bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Don Samuel Ruiz García.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In December and January, we facilitated spaces for the deepening of some different aspects of the positive transformation of conflicts in the Mayense Intercultural Seminar (SIM).
• In December and January, we carried out workshops with the team from the Commission for Support for Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO).

ARTICULATION

• We participated in the bimonthly meetings of the Peace Network, a space for action and reflection comprised of 10 organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas. We participated in several activities linked to the carrying out of an observation mission regarding the Sustainable Rural Cities (CRS).
• From 21 to 23 November, we participated in the seventh Meeting of Builders of Peace and Reconciliation called for by the Commission for Support for Communal Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO) that this year was held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• In November, we held a meeting with the executive secretary of the German Coordination for human rights in Mexico, as well as another with the coordinator of PROPAZ Switzerland.
• On 13 December, we were present at the anniversary of SERAPAZ (Services and Assessment for Peace) carried out in Mexico City, during which a call was made for the Forum “Voices of Hope.” We participated by presenting a report during the presentation of the book “Movements, State and Social Conflict-Reflections on the Positive Transformation of conflicts in Mexico.”
• On 25 January, the “Jtatic Samuel Jcanan Lum” award was given to 3 organizations and social processes in Chiapas for their work and commitment to the defense of human rights and reconciliation. Another was given posthumously to Felipe Toussaint Loera, ex-General Vicar of the San Cristóbal diocese, a close collaborator to Don Samuel Ruiz García, and founder of CORECO. We co-organized this award together with other local and national organizations.
• Between 30 December and 2 January, we attended several sessions of the Second International Seminar for Reflection and Analysis: “Planet Earth: anti-systemic movements…” held at CIDECI-Unitierra, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, which was attended by intellectuals and social activists from Mexico and other parts of the world who shared their reflections and experiences regarding the different social struggles that have been experienced in recent years throughout the globe.

INFORMATION

• We received visits by delegations, students, journalists, and members of our coalition interested in knowing and learning about the situation in Chiapas and SIPAZ’s work.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• In November and December, we held two meetings for Planning-Monitoring and Evaluation (PME).
• In December, we opened a space of training regarding human security, a key theme for GPPAC (Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict), an international platform to which we belong, with clear relevance for the present situation in Mexico.
• In January, we had another internal training space on the European Union – its form of functioning, how it works on human rights issues and how it maintains its relations with Mexico.