SIPAZ Activities (mid-November, 2020 to mid-February, 2021)

INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Civil observation missions

• In December, we participated in a Civil Observation Mission (COM), made up of 14 member organizations of the All Rights for All Network (Red TDT), as well as three international organizations that visited communities in the Highlands, North and Coast regions of Chiapas, to document human rights violations.
• In January, we accompanied one of the Observation Missions that visited Nuevo San Gregorio, where there is an agrarian conflict that affects lands recovered by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

Gender

• On November 25^th, within the framework of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we participated in a virtual conference called to present the report “Violence against Women in the Context of a Pandemic”, as well as in face-to-face activities convened in San Cristobal de Las Casas and Pijijiapan.
• In January, we accompanied the march-rally organized in San Cristobal de Las Casas to demand justice for the murder of Mariana de Lourdes Sanchez, a student at the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Chiapas (UNACH), who was later found dead after filing a complaint for sexual violence.

Prisoners

• We maintain communication by telephone with members of the organizations “Supporters of the Voice of Amate” and “The Voice of Indigenous People in Resistance”, both groups adhering to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), in the San Cristobal de Las Casas prison.

Indigenous Peoples

• In November, we attended the Virtual Discussion “Deferred rights: self-determination and autonomy in the 4T”, convened, among others, by the Ibero-American University of Puebla.

Defenders of Human Rights and Freedom of Expression

• In January, we participated in the online event where the human rights organization Cerezo Committee, Mexico, presented a report in which it revealed that 14 human rights defenders were victims of extrajudicial executions in Mexico during 2020.
• In February we attended the virtual space in which the report “Situation of the Defense of Human Rights and Free Expression in Mexico since the Pandemic” was presented. It was convened by the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), in conjunction with other organizations.

Land and Territory

• In November, we participated in the online space in which the “Mariano Abarca” Second Prize for Environmental Defense in Chiapas 2020 was awarded to the organization June 20^th Popular Front in Defense of Soconusco (FPDS).
• In January, we attended the virtual event “Maya Train: a Death Project”, organized by Periferies.

Militarization

• In January, we attended the press conference in which representatives of the Tzeltal Mayan people of the municipality of Chilon, together with the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) and the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (Centro Prodh), announced that they had filed a claim for an injunction against the construction of a National Guard Headquarters in their territory, because they were not previously consulted.

Migration

• In November, we attended the virtual presentation of the “Report of the Findings of the Human Rights Observation Mission on the Southern Border of Mexico”, the objective of which is to update the information on the living conditions of the migrant population subject to international protection in the area.
• In January, we attended the online event “Caravans and Other Migrant Struggles in Mesoamerica” organized by Ibero, Mexico City.
• In February, we visited several partners in Comitan, in the Border Zone.

Impunity

• In November, we attended the online press conference in which it was announced that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) approved the Report related to the case of the Viejo Velasco Massacre.
• In December, we were present at the celebrations organized for the XXIII anniversary of the Acteal Massacre in Chenalho.

Human Rights

• In January, we participated in the virtual event in which the Network for the Rights of the Child in Mexico (REDIM), presented its 2020 annual report entitled “The year of the Syndemic and the Abandonment of Childhood in Mexico”, in the which it is notable that violence against children has multiplied during the lockdown.
• In February, we attended the online event “Torture and Health Crisis: Urgent Actions to Comply with International Commitments and Guarantee Personal Integrity in Times of COVID-19”, which was convened by Ibero Puebla.

Events

• In November, we participated in the Assembly of Believing People in San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In November, we were present at the celebration organized for the 25th anniversary of the ordination of Father Jose Luis Vargas Castellanos in San Juan Cancuc.
• In January, we attended the Eucharistic ceremony organized on the occasion of the 10^th anniversary of the passing of jTatik Samuel Ruiz. Through a statement, Believing People of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas lamented the systematic violence and inequalities experienced by individuals and peoples, especially during this pandemic. We were in several online events organized in the framework of this anniversary (see Article).

OAXACA

• In December, we participated in the online discussion “Against Fear, Hope” during the launch of the book “Rethinking the Pandemic”, prepared by Unitierra.
• In February, we had a virtual meeting with Marcos Leyva, director of Alternative Education Services (EDUCA) to update analysis and coordinate actions.

GUERRERO

• In November, we were at the virtual press conference “Position on the Arrest of Captain Jose Martinez Crespo”, in which mothers and fathers of the 43 disappeared students from the Ayotzinapa Normal Rural School in 2014, demanded that a formal prison ruling be issued and the officer be prosecuted.
• In December, we attended the online presentation of the XXVI Report of La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, entitled “Like a Night without Stars”, regarding the activities of the center in the period September 2019 – August 2020.
• In January, we held a meeting with Teodomira Rosales Sierra, director of the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon Human Rights Center, with whom we discussed the situation in Guerrero and sought to coordinate actions.

INFORMATION AND TRAINING FOR ACTION

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In December, we attended the virtual webinar ““Protecting Human Rights Defenders: the Commitment of the European Union”, organized by the delegation of the European Union in Mexico with the aim of highlighting the situation of human rights defenders in the country through direct testimonies.
• Also in December, we met with the fourth visitor of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in San Cristobal de Las Casas to address various problems in the state of Chiapas.
• In February, we had an online meeting with the political secretary of the Swedish Embassy.
• In February, we participated in a virtual space together with other organizations, which focused on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and in which representatives of the Belgian Embassy and the representation of the European Union participated.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In November, we facilitated a space for reality analysis convened by the field of Indian theology of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas in Huixtan, which counted with the participation of more than 200 people.
• In November, we gave a virtual presentation with students from two universities in Mexico City who are participating in a peace professorship.
• In December, we facilitated two days of planning, monitoring and evaluation with the operational team of the Commission for Reconciliation and Community Unity (CORECO).
• In January, we participated in an analysis space with the Mesoamerican Voices work team in the framework of its strategic planning for 2021.

INTERNAL TRAINING

• In November, we were with the operational team of the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR), in a space for analysis of the conflict in the Highlands of Chiapas and for reflection on the role that international accompaniment organizations can play.

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.
• In December, SIPAZ participated in the Panel: “Building Peace in Times of COVID: Latin America Facing the Crisis”, within the framework of PeaceCon 2020, coordinated by the Alliance for Peacebuilding (AFP) of the United States and which brought together more than 2,000 participants from 120 countries.
• In December, we held the annual meeting of the GPPAC North American region, which we coordinated.
• In December, we participated with a presentation on the lessons learned from the dialogue process in Chiapas in an effort to build conditions for negotiation in the armed conflict in the Philippines.
• In January, we had a face-to-face meeting of the partners that participated in the “Latin America Project, Between Violence and Hope – Phase III: Accompaniment of Communities in Non-violent Resistance to Extractivism”, coordinated by Pax Christi International.
• In January, we were in a space for planning activities for 2021 with representatives of the pastoral areas that are part of the Monitoring Commission of the Congress of Mother Earth, a component of the social pastoral of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.
• In February, we met virtually or in person with members of the International Peace Brigades (PBI) and the Swedish Fellowship for Reconciliation (SweFOR) observation projects with a presence in Mexico, to better coordinate our actions.