SIPAZ Activities (September – November 2001)

VISITS AND CONTACTS

• Urgent Actions regarding the murder of Digna Ochoa and threats against human rights defenders in Mexico.
• Accompaniment of displaced families from the civil society organization Las Abejas (the Bees) on their return to their communities of origin.
• Visit of the Political Secretary of the British Embassy during the Chiapas state/county elections; followup visit accompanied by Great Britain’s Assistant Secretary for Latin America.
• Meetings in Mexico City with advisors, NGOs, embassies, and the Under-secretary for Human Rights and Democracy of the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
• Tour by the International Outreach Coordinator through five European countries; interviews and meetings with official organizations (lnternational Labor Organization, Working Group on Indigenous Peoples of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, European Parliament, foreign ministries of France and Germany), solidarity organizations, churches, media, and members of the SIPAZ coalition.
• Tour by a member of the SIPAZ Chiapas team in Germany and Switzerland; participation in the international assemblies of Pax Christi International and Peace Brigades International, both member organizations of the SIPAZ coalition.

INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

• Meetings with religious leaders in the county of Chenalho and with the Pluralistic Ecumenical Group. Visits to several communities in the area.
• Second stage of the Peacebuilding Exchange Project in the Chiapas highlands, in collaboration with CEPAD (Council of Evangelical Churches) and the Peace Commissions of Nicaragua; two-week visit to Nicaragua by representatives of Catholic and Presbyterian churches in Chenalho.
• Participation in a television program on religious intolerance in Chiapas.

PEACE EDUCATION

• Workshop on “Reconciliation” with students of the Bible School of Holistic Formation.
• Workshop by Capacitar (US-based member group of SIPAZ) with health promoters in Chenalho and members of organizations and churches from San Cristobal de las Casas.
• Organizing of the “Conference on Communal Experiences of Reconciliation and Peace” (November 16-18 in San Cristobal de las Casas.)