SIPAZ Activities (mid-August to November, 2018)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Civil Observation Mission

• In September, we participated in the Civil Observation Mission that visited communities in the municipalities of Arriaga, Tonala and Pijijiapan one year after the earthquake on September 7^th, 2017. Among the activities carried out by the Mission, was a meeting with the governor elect for Chiapas, Rutilio Escandon Cadenas, in which he was told about the serious damages suffered by the people affected on the Chiapas Coast, which were aggravated by the ineffective action of the different levels of government.
• In September, in the framework of their integration into our team, two new members participated for a week in the Civil Observation Brigades (Bricos in its Spanish acronym) that the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights coordinates in the community of Acteal, municipality of Chenalho.
• For three days in October, we participated in the joint mission that took place between several national and international human rights organizations to accompany the first migrant caravan crossing Chiapas and ensure that their human rights were not violated.

Northern Jungle

• In September, we made a week-long visit to the lower area of ​​Tila and Palenque to meet with community leaders, as well as with social and civil society organizations in the region.
• On October 19^th, we were in the presentation and delivery of the Internal Reglation of Bachajon Ejido (RIE in its Spanish acronym), a document that is the fruit of two years of work “from the common interest for the care of Mother Earth and for the control of territory” in which several human rights centers collaborated, and which was registered before the National Agrarian Registry (RAN in its Spanish acronym).

Highlands

• At the end of August, we met with the board of Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society in the community of the same name, municipality of Chenalho, to talk about various problems that have affected their organization and the area in which they have a presence.
• Also at the end of August, we visited the displaced people of the municipality of Chalchihuitan, who have been in this situation since October 2017, and who remain in a critical situation.
• In October, representatives of the displaced persons of Colonia Puebla visited our offices to denounce new threats, which is why they reinstated a protest in front of Tuxtla Gutierrez’s government building until their demands are seen to.
• In November, we were at a meeting of analysis and definition of actions after the massive displacement of the inhabitants of the Chabajeval community, municipality of El Bosque.

Border

• At the beginning of September, we attended the First Forum Against Hydroelectric Dams in the Border Zone in which around 800 participants rejected the completion of the Santo Domingo Hydroelectric Project for the Generation of Renewable Energy that is planned to be built in the municipality of Maravilla Tenejapa.
• On November 10, in the municipality of Chicomuselo, SIPAZ accompanied the pilgrimage against militarization and violence, which was convened by the parish and the Samuel Ruiz García Committee for the Promotion and Defense of Life.

Caracoles/EZLN/CNI

• In the term covered by this report, we visited four of the five Zapatista Caracoles at least once.
• In October, we were present at the open public section of the Second Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) that was held in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas with the objective of “seeing each other, consulting, and taking new steps to build the new world we need.”
• In November, we were at the first Zapatista film festival entitled “Impossible Cinema – Puy ta Cuxlejaltic” (Caracol of our Life), which was held in Oventik Caracol.

Women

• We were present at the Assemblies of the Diocesan Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ in its Spanish acronym) in San Cristobal de Las Casas in August and October; both had the participation of approximately one hundred representatives.
• In September, we accompanied as observers the march that took place in San Cristobal de Las Casas in the framework of the Global Day of Action for a legal and safe abortion, whose members, part of the “Green Tide” movement, received threats to prevent it.

Events

• In September, we were present at the event in which the book “Reconstruction of the Social Fabric: A Commitment to Peace” – from the Center for Social Research and Action (CIAS in its Spanish acronym) “Jesuits for Peace”- was presented in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In October, we attended the “Analysis Mexico and Chiapas Post-electoral Forum” convened by several university centers and which was attended by the Electoral Institute and Citizen Participation (IEPC in its Spanish acronym) and the Electoral Court of the Federal Judicial Branch (TEPJF in its Spanish acronym) also in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

OAXACA

• In October, we made a one-week visit to Oaxaca where we met with several partner organizations in the City of Oaxaca: Unitierra, Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and for Gender Equity, Legal Thesis, EDUCA, BARCA-DH, Peace Brigades Internationals (PBI) and Witness for Peace. We also met with members of the Cruz de San Juan Chilateca Space. On October 11th and 12th, in the City of Oaxaca, we were observers in the People’s Trial #Oaxaca Vs. Mining, against national and international extractive companies, as well as the Mexican State, for 22 cases of violations of the rights of the peoples originating from the 322 concessions granted to 41 mining projects in the state.

GUERRERO

• In October, we made a week-long trip to Guerrero where we met with the Guerrero Association against violence against women, the Community Development Workshop (TADECO in its Spanish acronym) and the Human Rights Commission of the state of Guerrero (CODEHUM) in its Spanish acronym, in Chilpancingo; as well as with the Collective against Torture and Impunity (CCTI in its Spanish acronym) in Acapulco. On October 5^th, together with members of the Service and Counsel for Peace (Serapaz in its Spanish acronym) and the Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, we visited 16 of the 18 prisoners in Las Cruces prison in Acapulco from the Council of Ejidos Communities Opposing the Parota Dam (Cecop in its Spanish acronym) and the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – Community Police (CRAC PC in its Spanish acronym), held there since January 7^th. A press conference was held outside the prison at the end of the visit. On October 6^th, we were at the 24^th anniversary of Tlachinollan, the framework in which it presented its annual report “Montaña: Spring of Resistance, Whirlwind of Hope” after a mass celebrated in the cathedral of Tlapa de Comonfort. We also spent two days in Ayutla de los Libres where we met with the team of Tlachinollan in this municipality, with the council appointed through customary law and with two groups of displaced people from the Sierra de Petatlan who have been relocated to this municipality.

INFORMATON AND TRAINING FOR ACTION

PUBLICATIONS

• In this period, we signed the following pronouncements and Urgent Actions:
  • Network for Peace/Chicomuselo (Network for Peace, November 10^th, 2018)
  • REPORT | Human Rights Council of the UN Confirms Human Rights Crisis in Mexico (#ColectivoEPUmx, November 7, 2018)
  • Pronouncement of the Organizations and Communities that Promoted the Visit of the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to Chiapas, in 2017. Within the Framework of the Delivery of its Report (OSC in Chiapas, October 15^th, 2018)
  • Saint Romero of America, Prophet and Martyr of Truth (OSC in Mexico, October 13^th, 2018)
  • Full report “Third Universal Periodic Review of Mexico by Mexican Civil Society Organizations” (CSO, August 2018, publicly presented in September 2018)

VISITS, DELEGATIONS and TOURS

• We received the visit of delegations, students, journalists and members of our coalition interested in knowing or deepening their knowledge of the situation of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, and the work of SIPAZ.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In October, in Mexico City, we had meetings with members of the Embassy of Canada, the Netherlands and the Representation of the European Union in Mexico.
• In October, we participated together with several civil and social organizations in a meeting in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, with Jan Jarab, representative in Mexico of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, where several problems that affect the state were examined.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In August, we gave a presentation of the context with the new collaborators of the German Welthaus program at the beginning of a year of volunteering in different organizations in Chiapas.
• In November, we facilitated a two-day meeting of six organizations of the Alliance for the Construction of Peace and Good Living in Mexico in the framework of the design of a joint project.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• We continue working on digital security issues with the Sursiendo collective.
• In September, we participated in a three-day digital security workshop convened by the Internews organization.

NETWORKING

• We attended the bimonthly meetings of the Network for Peace, a space for action and reflection composed of ten organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas and of the Network of Accompaniment to Mother Earth (RAMAT in its Spanish acronym), among other networking spaces to which we belong.