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http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/02/24/index.php?section=politica&article=019n1pol

LONG LIVE THE BAZ OF SAN MARCOS AVILÉS!

LONG LIVE THE EZLN!

We send you embraces from El Barrio, New York

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

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Political party militants and police demand that Zapatistas pay predial tax

They are at imminent risk of expulsion from the Chilón ejido, warns the Frayba centre

We will not pay; the government does not respond to complaints made: EZLN support base

Hermann Bellinghausen

La Jornada
Sunday February 24, 2013

San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, February 23. The Zapatista families of the ejido San Marcos Avilés, in the municipality of Chilón, are at imminent risk of displacement by the inhabitants of the same ejido who are affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) and Mexican Green Ecology Party (PVEM). The Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) today issued an Urgent Action to demand guarantees for the threatened indigenous from the federal and state governments.

On Tuesday 19, ejidal authorities and police from the community aggressively delivered a letter to the support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), demanding the payment of the predial tax. The Zapatista civilians explained their reasons for not participating in any area of the state and federal governments: We have suffered very much as a result of all these aggressions from groups of (political) party members, and the government has done nothing. Now is not the time to pay, because we are in resistance and we demand respect for our right to our lands. If we do not receive anything from the government, we are not going to pay taxes.

The ejido authorities replied that they had to pay because it was an order from the municipal president and (the secretariat) of Finance. Otherwise they would be evicted. We will arrest you ourselves and take you to the authorities. We are going to cut off the light and water, they said.

On the 20th the party supporters met to agree actions against the bases of the EZLN. According to testimony gathered by Frayba, they drafted a memorandum of agreement in which they agreed to seek the way to displace them, as well as addressing the municipal and state governments to seek strategies for the eviction of the Zapatistas from the community.

On the 21st the party supporters left San Marcos Avilés very early in order to fulfil the agreement and speak with the municipal president and the Agrarian Procurator in Ocosingo, so as to enable the eviction, also sending letters to the municipal, state and federal governments.

The bases of the EZLN reported that the ejido authorities informed them of this. That night, around 9 o’clock, the officialist (ie government-supporting) ejidatarios threatened the Zapatistas, saying that the municipal president of Chilón had given the eviction order and that on Monday 25 they would request intervention by the state government in Tuxtla Gutierrez .

The Frayba centre makes clear its concerns about the imminent risk to the life, integrity and personal safety of the Zapatista bases of San Marcos Avilés, based on the death threats and acts of intimidation which have increased in recent weeks.

To this they add forced displacement and the dispossession of their lands and livelihood since April 9, 2010, a situation that has led to a food crisis and a constant threat to their process of autonomy.

The Frayba centre emphasizes the responsibility of the government of Chiapas, which through deliberate omission has not acted to ensure the integrity and personal safety of the Zapatista bases and their access to their lands, despite several interventions sent by the organization itself to the Mexican government demanding the necessary measures to ensure the integrity and personal safety of the threatened indigenous, along with their right to the fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought, and their right to their dispossessed lands and to the autonomous process which they are building under the right to the free determination of peoples.

It should be remembered that on September 9, 2010, the Good Government Junta from Oventic denounced the forced displacement of 170 Zapatista men, women and children from the ejido, following the building by the Zapatistas, in August of that year, of the first autonomous school in the ejido.

On that day, 30 people from the ejido, led by Lorenzo Ruiz Gómez and Vicente Ruiz López, entered violently, with sticks, machetes and guns, into the homes of the Zapatistas and attempted to rape two women, who managed to escape. So as not to respond to this aggression, the Zapatista families took refuge in the woods. After 33 days of displacement, the 27 families returned to their community on October 12. For more than two years they have remained in a precarious situation, deprived of their lands and under constant threats, which now could be fulfilled.

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New Risk of forced displacement of BAEZLN in San Marcos Avilés

Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

February 22, 2013

Urgent Action No. 1

Risk of forced displacement of BAEZLN in San Marcos Avilés

According to information documented by this Human Rights Centre, there exists an imminent risk in San Marcos Avilés ejido, municipality of Chilón, that for the second time a forced displacement of the support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN) may be carried out by inhabitants of the same ejido who are affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and the Green Party of Mexico (PVEM).

On February 19, 2013, 11 people from the community ejido authorities and the police of the community arrived and aggressively delivered a letter to the BAEZLN demanding payment of local tax.

The BAEZLN stated the arguments and reasons which they have had since the start of the armed uprising in 1994 not to participate in any area of the state and federal government saying:

[…] We have suffered much from all these aggressions by groups of party supporters and the government has done nothing. Now is not the time to pay, because we are in resistance and we demand respect for our right to our land; if we do not receive anything from the government, we will not pay taxes.

The response from the ejidal authorities was that:

[…] You have to pay because it is an order from the Municipal President and an order from the Treasury. If you do not pay, you will be displaced. We ourselves will arrest you and take you to the authorities. We are going to cut your light and water […]

Following this, on 20 February 2013, the party supporters met to agree actions against the BAEZLN, at this meeting, according to witnesses, they made an act of agreement whereby they decided to seek ways to displace them, as well as communicating and having discussions with the municipal and state governments to seek strategies for the eviction of the “Zapatistas” within the community.

On February 21, 2013, the party supporters left the community of San Marcos Avilés very early, in order to fulfil the act of agreement signed the previous day. In order to do so, they sought to speak to the Municipal President and the Agrarian Prosecutor in Ocosingo to activate the eviction, also sending letters to the municipal, state and federal governments.

For this, according to the testimony of the BAEZLN, the same authorities mentioned previously told them that they sought to talk to the Municipal President of Chilón and the Agrarian Prosecutor in Ocosingo with the aim of asking for an order to evict the BAEZLN. The same day, February 21, at around 21:00, the inhabitants of the ejido threatened the BAEZLN, saying that the Mayor of Chilón had ordered the eviction and that, on Monday 25 February, the authorities of the ejido would seek the intervention of the state government in Tuxtla Gutierrez. This information was received by the BAEZLN without knowing whether it was true, or if it was a threat from the party supporters of the ejido.

This Centre for Human Rights expresses its concerns about the imminent risk to life, personal integrity and security faced by the BAEZLN, inhabitants of the ejido San Marcos Avilés, stemming from the death threats and harassment which have increased during recent weeks; in addition to their forced displacement and dispossession from their lands, which are their means of subsistence, and which they have not been able to work since April 9, 2010, a situation that has led to a food crisis and constant threats against their process of autonomy.

We point out the responsibility of the government of Chiapas who, by deliberate omission, have not acted to ensure the integrity and personal security of the BAEZLN and their access to the land despite various interventions submitted by the Centre for Human Rights;

Therefore we demand that the Mexican government to take the necessary measures to:

protect and guarantee the life, integrity and personal security of the BAEZLN
Respect and guarantee the right to fundamental freedom of expression and thought in the San Marcos Avilés
Respect and guarantee the right to work the land belonging to the BAEZLN
Respect and guarantee the process of building autonomy, under the right to the self-determination of peoples, established under the Convention (No. 169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as in the San Andres Accords.
Investigation and punishment of those responsible for the forced displacement, dispossession, threats and harassment of the BAEZLN.

Background:

On 9 September 2010, this Human Rights Centre received a denuncia from the Good Government Junta Central Heart of the Zapatistas before the World, from Caracol 2 Resistance and Rebellion for Humanity, based in Oventic, San Andrés Sakamch´en de Los Pobres, Chiapas, in relation to the threats, harassment and forced displacement suffered by 170 men, women and children of the BAEZLN from the ejido San Marcos Avilés, Chilón municipality, Chiapas; this followed the building by the BAEZLN, in the month of August 2010, of the first autonomous school in the ejido, for the start of the planned activities of the Zapatista Rebel Autonomous Education System.

That day, 30 people from the ejido San Marcos Avilés, all of whom were affiliated with the PRI, PRD and PVEM, and who were headed by Mr. Lorenzo Ruiz Gómez and Vicente Ruiz López, entered violently, with sticks, machetes and guns, into the homes of members of the BAEZLN, and tried to rape two women who escaped. In order not to respond to this aggression, the BAEZLN left their homes seeking refuge in the woods and mountains. After 33 days of forced displacement without food or any form of protection, on October 12, 2010, 27 BAEZLN families (women, men, boys and girls, in total 170 individuals) returned to their community. They are currently still living in a precarious situation where they remain displaced from their subsistence lands, and under constant threats to their personal safety and integrity.

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Write to:

Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto

Presidente de la República

Residencia Oficial de los Pinos

Casa Miguel Alemán

Col. San Miguel Chapultepec,

C.P. 11850, México DF

Tel: (52.55) 2789.1100 Fax: (52.55) 5277.2376

Lic. Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong

Secretario de Gobernación

Bucareli 99, 1er. Piso, Col. Juárez,

Del. Cuauhtémoc,

C.P. 06600 México D.F.

Fax: (52 55) 50933414;

Correo: secretario@segob.gob.mx

Lic. Manuel Velasco Coello

Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Chiapas

Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas, 1er Piso
Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México

Fax: +52 961 61 88088 – + 52 961 6188056

Extensión 21120. 21122;

Correo: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx

Dr. Noé Castañón León

Secretario General de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas

Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas, 2do Piso

Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México

Conmutador: + 52 (961) 61 2-90-47, 61 8-74-60

Extensión: 20003;

Correo: secretario@secgobierno.chiapas.gob.mx

Lic. Raciel López Salazar

Procuraduría General de Justicia de Chiapas

Libramiento Norte Y Rosa Del Oriente, No. 2010, Col. El Bosque

C.P. 29049 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas

Conmutador: 01 (961) 6-17-23-00. Teléfono: + 52 (961) 61 6-53-74, 61 6-53-76, 61 6-57-24,

61 6-34-50

Correo: raciel.lopez@pgje.chiapas.gob.mx

Lic. Leonardo Rafael Guirao Aguilar

Presidente Municipal

Domicilio Conocido S/N, Presidencia Municipal C.P. 29943

Chilón, Chiapas, México

Teléfonos: (01 919) 6710115, 6710230, 6710116, 6710030, Fax: 6710034

Correo: presidenciachilon@hotmail.com

Dr. Emilio Álvarez Icaza

Secretario Ejecutivo de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos
1889 F Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20006

USA

Fax 1-202-458-3992

Correo: cidhdenuncias@oas.org

Javier Hernández Valencia

Representante de la Oficina en México del Alto Comisionado

de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos

Alejandro Dumas No 165

Col. Polanco.

Del. Miguel Hidalgo

C.P 11560, México D.F.

Tel: (52-55) 5061-6350

Fax: (52-55) 5061-6358

Correo: quejasoacnudhmexico@ohchr.org; oacnudh@ohchr.org

Send a copy to:

Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, A.C.

Calle Brasil 14, Barrio Méxicanos,

29240 San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México

Tel: 967 6787395, 967 6787396, Fax: 967 6783548

Correo: accionesurgentes@frayba.org.mx

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Solidarity Brings Freedom and Justice for Zapatista Francisco Sántiz López

Originally published by NACLA 11^th February 2013https://nacla.org/news/2013/2/11/solidarity-brings-freedom-and-justice-zapatista-francisco-s%C3%A1ntiz-l%C3%B3pez

After 417 days of wrongful imprisonment, the Zapatista is freed.

Thanks to all the people and organizations throughout the world who campaigned for his liberation.

Joyful celebrations have taken place all over the world as supporters and Zapatistas rejoiced in Francisco Sántiz López’s liberation after 417 days of unjust imprisonment for crimes he never committed. The order for his release states that the evidence of his innocence was not taken into account, confirming that, as the Oventic Good Government Junta has repeatedly made clear, “his only crime was that of being a Zapatista.” Upon his release on January 25, 2013, the Tzeltal, Francisco, stated: “We are going to continue in the struggle of the EZLN, to follow the path, and we are going to win.”

Background

In the eleventh of Subcomandante Marcos’s recent communiqués, released on January 24, he listed the names of several persecuted individuals. One of these was “Francisco Sántiz López, indigenous Zapatista, unjustly imprisoned by ‘law enforcement’” On January 23, in La Jornada, Hermann Bellinghausen wrote of Francisco, “he remains in prison for no reason, his case frozen, more like a political hostage than a prisoner.”

Francisco is from the community of Banavil, Tenejapa, in the highland region in the north of Chiapas. He is a campesino who also runs a stall in the local market and is married with eight children and 12 grandchildren. He has been part of a committed support base of the Zapatistas for over twenty years, even before the uprising of January 1 1994, and is described by the Oventic Junta as “an honest person who fulfills his community and organizational responsibilities.”

On December 4, 2011, local police arrested and charged Francisco Sántiz López with “leading” a violent confrontation that had taken place that day in Banavil that resulted in two deaths. Although many witnesses were able to testify that he was not present in Banavil when the attack took place—but instead miles away running his fruit and vegetable stall in the municipal headquarters of Tenejapa, where he was arrested—Francisco was imprisoned in CERSS No. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, where he was confined for 417 days in total.

The incident in question involved an armed attack by a group of PRI supporters against four Tzeltal families, who were not Zapatistas, although they were described as sympathetic to the organization. During the violence, one of the attackers was killed, and one of the victims, Alonso Lόpez Luna, was disappeared; only his arm has ever been found, and his case has never been investigated. The four indigenous families were displaced and remain in inadequate living conditions, far from their rural home on the outskirts of the city of San Cristóbal, while their attackers occupy their lands.

On March 22, 2012, a judge exonerated Francisco of the unproven charges of murder and aggravated assault, and he was released. However, just as he was leaving the prison he was rearrested, this time on a federal charge, for the crime of “being in possession of a Firearm for the Exclusive Use of the Army, Navy and Air Force.” Despite the fact that there is no evidence that Francisco was in possession of a firearm at any time, he was returned to the prison.

The Campaign for Francisco’s Release

Locally, nationally, and internationally, Francisco Sántiz López’s supporters have disseminated information, written letters, circulated petitions, produced videos, and participated in actions, rallies, forums, gatherings, and artistic displays to work for his liberation.

Many of the actions in support of Francisco also focused on another famous iconic and innocent prisoner, the Tzotzil “Professor” Alberto Patishtán Gómez, who has been imprisoned unjustly since July 2000, and who, in 2002, was sentenced to 60 years of incarceration. He has since become well-known and highly respected for his human rights work on behalf of his fellow prisoners—setting up prisoner organizations, such as the Voice of El Amate, within the prisons and for leading the prisoners on hunger strikes to demand their rights and freedoms.

“Breaking Down the Prison Walls”

Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio initiated this global solidarity campaign to bring down the prison walls and liberate these two prisoners. The campaign had four phases: the First and Second Weeks of Global Struggle, in April and June 2012; the “Public Letter Demanding the Immediate Liberation of Francisco Sántiz López and Alberto Patishtán Gómez,” in June; and finally, “for Nine Months: Nine Days of Global Action to Bring Down the Prison Walls” in August and September 2012. With great energy, momentum continued to build throughout the campaign as they organized more and more actions and events. Videos released included messages from the Landless Peoples Movement (MST) from Brazil and the Shack Dwellers Movement from South Africa (Abahlali baseMjondolo).

Movimiento launched the campaign with these words: “We have witnessed with much pain all the attempts to dehumanize Alberto Patishtán Gómez and Francisco Sántiz López, from the false accusations to the legal inconsistencies of the bad government via its three levels and its rulers from every post. They seek to erase the faces of our compañeros to make them invisible. They seek to erase the words of our compañeros to silence them. They seek to eliminate their physical freedom so that they cannot fight any more. Because it is easier to bury beneath prison walls a human body that lacks a face, makes no sound, has no life.

“But we continue listening to them from afar, and their dignified cries, their indispensable lives, call us to walk alongside them to obtain their freedom. They call on us to unite our forces in order to knock down the walls that surround them.

“As an organization of predominantly Mexican immigrants, we have experienced first-hand the inhumane reality of the border and social walls imposed upon us by those from above. We have lived and challenged the many injustices that are like bricks in these walls; we have also lived and seen them crumble. Once all of us unite, combine our forces, and organize, we can accomplish this. For this reason, we view international solidarity as deeply important. United and together, we shall win.”

Declarations of Support—“Their Struggle is Our Struggle”

During the second week of global action the renowned thinker, university professor John Holloway, wrote a letter in support of the campaign for the political prisoners: “To Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio, the Other Campaign, New York. How impressive! Wave after wave of protest for the liberation of Alberto Patishtán and Francisco Santiz López, letter after letter arriving from every part of the world.

“A result, of course, of the organization and determination of the organizers of the weeks of struggle for their liberation. But it is something much more than that. We recognize ourselves in Alberto and Francisco, we recognize that they are suffering for us. Their struggle is our struggle. Their struggle is the struggle of all of us who still dream that there can be a future for humanity, a life of dignity. Their imprisonment is simply another manifestation of the fact that capitalism has no room for humanity. The present system is a constant aggression, a machine of destruction that seeks to destroy all that does not bow to the logic of money, all that stands opposed to the logic of profit. But it cannot succeed because there are people like Alberto and Francisco who say No, that they will not accept it and ……millions and millions and millions more who will not accept.”

A letter from Raul Zibechi, the highly respected writer, thinker, and analyst from Uruguay, presented another very powerful statement: “Those from above are criminalizing the place occupied by the people who are the color of the earth. That is the justice of the State and the bad government. A ‘justice’ that imprisons the children of Pachamama and those who defend and care for her, but rewards with freedom those who destroy her in order to turn her into a commodity.

“The international campaign to free Patishtán and Sántiz López is revealing the true reasons behind their imprisonment. When those from below stand up, when the poor of the world speak out and organize, they are systematically labeled “terrorists” and “violent” and are turned into the targets of defamation campaigns, with all the machinery of repression thrown upon them.

“When those from above steal public resources, when bankers appropriate the money and labor of all others, they are rewarded with positions in the bad governments and utilize state money to save their dirty businesses.

“These are not errors or abnormalities, but rather the true notion of justice held by the State: To protect those from above and condemn those from below. In this world two forms of justice exist: One for the governments and one for the people. The former is implemented by rich, white men who are protected by armed guards, and who hide in palaces to make decisions. The latter is community justice that is decided in assemblies of common people–the people who are the color of the earth–whereby everyone can debate because neither lawyers nor experts are required to distinguish between good and bad.

“They are two justices for two opposed worlds. One day our justice shall judge those from above; and on that day, they shall be condemned to live off their work, to care for the common good. They shall be condemned to live as we, the 99% of humanity, do.

“That day, which is not far off, we will remember our brothers, Patishtán and Sántiz López, as two of the many midwives who made the birth of a new world possible.”

The renowned social struggler from Peru, Hugo Blanco, commented: “In Mexico, jail is not meant for narco-traffickers, but rather, for indigenous people, such as Alberto Patishtán Gómez and Francisco Sántiz López, who have done nothing wrong.

“What crime did these two men commit? Thinking that Mexico should be a place for all Mexicans–one in which everyone works and lives peacefully, without exploiting or being exploited, and enjoys the fruits that the land gives us. A country where everyone may be educated, where everyone may attend to their health, where there are no millionaires and no beggars. A country where everyone is concerned about each other, as they are in indigenous communities; a country that is formed by communities of communities, both in the countryside and in the cities; where there is no one who rules and no one who obeys–where all may decide; a country where everyone may be in deep solidarity, where it is not necessary to step on another’s head in order to move up.

“This is what they had in mind, and they understood that they must not resign themselves to only think as such, but that it is necessary to collaborate with other people in order to build this country of solidarity which would exist in a world of solidarity.”

And the much-loved writer and activist from Oaxaca, Gustavo Esteva, wrote: “The prison of these two compañeros must weigh on us as if it were our own prison. As in truth it is. While they remain prisoners, we are all prisoners, imprisoned by this abominable system from whose bars we have failed to free ourselves . . . . We have to break the chains that still bind our hands and our feet and keep us from the conquest of our autonomy in every corner of the world where we live. Only through these autonomies, entrenched in every area and linked in solidarity everywhere, will we be able to leave our prison.”

The Echo Campaign

At the same time as the final phase of “Breaking Down the Prison Walls,” the quite extraordinary Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio also convened the campaign “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas,” which ran from July to November 2012. Francisco’s release was one of the two main demands of this campaign, along with an end to attacks on the autonomous Zapatista communities.

Amazingly, groups and individuals from 25 countries participated in the “Prison Walls” campaign and from 29 countries in the “Echo” campaign, with documents being translated into eleven different languages.

The Legal Position

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) filed an amparo & indirecto—an appeal for legal protection—in the federal court in favor of Francisco on October 25, 2012, on account of “the grave violations of due process” committed against him and requesting his immediate release.

The Human Rights Centre stated clearly, not for the first time, that they were convinced that this case “is an example in which the Mexican State utilizes the justice system for criminalizing Zapatista support bases, as a consequence of their exercise of the right to self-determination and autonomy, based on the San Andrés Accord . . . . Convention 169 of the ILO and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

On December 4, 2012, Francisco completed one year in prison. La Jornada reported that Alberto Patishtán said, “the compañero Francisco Santiz asked me to say: ‘I will not tire of asking for justice.’ He is an important example of the crimes that are ‘imposed’ on the innocent who are in Mexican prisons.”

The requested amparo for the protection of federal justice was granted to Francisco on January 3, 2012. On January 10 Frayba wrote: “This Human Rights Centre believes that the federal government has no good reasons to continue to deprive Francisco Sántiz López, support base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, of his freedom.”

As a result of the legal protection granted, a judge was ordered to determine Francisco’s legal status. On January 25, 2013, Frayba reported that an order had been issued that the case had to be resolved within 24 hours. That same evening, the political prisoner was released. “They know I am innocent,” he said to the press on his release into the waiting arms of his family “and they invented my crime.” He went straight to Oventic to thank the Junta for all the help and support they had given him.

Significance

Francisco’s freedom was made possible by the massive national and international organizing campaigns applying pressure and raising awareness of his plight, as well as the challenge to the legality of his imprisonment—namely the lack of evidence. However, it was a triumph for worldwide solidarity, not for the law.

While his release must give hope to the families, friends, and supporters of Alberto Patishtán Gomez, who hopefully will soon also be freed, and indeed to the other political prisoners in Chiapas and throughout the world, the unjust imprisonment of Francisco Sántiz López and the fabrication of crimes against him have to be seen as another part of the government’s strategy of low-intensity warfare, which, alongside incessant direct aggressions, attempts to destroy the resistance of the Zapatista communities. “His only crime” as the Junta said, “is struggling for his people, telling the truth, struggling for true democracy, liberty, and justice.”

In the words of the Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio’s Echo campaign, “the unjust incarceration of Francisco is not an isolated case but one that forms part of the continuous war by the Mexican State against the Zapatista communities, a war that through harassment, attacks, and arbitrary detentions seeks to undermine and annihilate the resistance and process of autonomy that the Zapatista support bases are bringing to a head in Chiapas.”

His freedom comes at a time of great hope and expectations, following the Zapatista “resurgence” on December 21, 2012, the day of the ending of the cycle of the 13th Baktun of the Maya calendar and the beginning of the “new era” of the 14th cycle. It also comes at a time when the new PRI government of Enrique Peña Nieto is embarking on a whole new strategy of counterinsurgency, based on propaganda, misinformation, and deception. Those who care for democracy, liberty, justice, and that other possible world for which we struggle, must not relax their vigilance.

The final words belong to Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio: “His strength and courage have been an inspiration to us . . . . and a very powerful reason to keep fighting. The walls that enclosed our brother Francisco could not do so against memory. With time, every wall crumbles, but the memory of a people who struggle together for their dignity will never end.

“Today, we, the Mexican migrants of Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, are celebrating, knowing that this was not a triumph of the rule of law, which does not exist in Mexico, but a triumph of our Zapatista sisters and brothers and our compañer@s of good heart in different corners of the world. We embrace you all and celebrate with you. In the spirit of ‘Breaking down the prison walls,’ and giving ‘a Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas,’ we struggled together and achieved the release of our brother Francisco.”

Further information about Francisco Sántiz López:https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/francisco/

Video message from the Zapatistas about Francisco Sántiz López:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXuVyJ5YdfA

Video about the International Campaign: “Breaking down the prison walls”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj0lUahDzTs

Video message from the MST (Landless Workers Movement), Brazil:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hUSCv-GPqU

Video messages from the Shack Dwellers Movement, South Africa:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96hJz2t2XVA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMmwS4ju1PU

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After 13 Months in Prison, the Tzeltal Accused of Homicide is freed for Lack of Evidence

** “They know that I am innocent, that they made up my crime,” the Zapatista says as he leaves

** Sántiz López denounces that a PGR public servant confirmed to him that he was forced to apprehend him

By: Hermann Bellinghausen,

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, January 25, 2013

Francisco Sántiz López, support base of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN, its initials in Spanish), was released from the San Cristóbal prison this afternoon, due to the absence of evidence for the charges that kept him in prison for 13 and a half months.

The father of eight and grandfather of 12, Tzeltal campesino and businessman, who has been an active member of the Zapatista support base for more than 20 years, declared, upon taking his first steps on the other side of the bars: “We are going to continue the struggle there in the EZLN, to follow the path, we are going to win.”

The demand for his freedom had generated an international solidarity movement in close to 30 countries, which was expressed throughout 2012 in public places and in front of Mexican consulates and embassies in the five continents. In these mobilizations the freedom of Alberto Patishtán Gómez, adherent to the Other Campaign, who has been in prison since 2000, was also demanded.

“They know that I am innocent, that they made up my crime,” Sántiz López declared to the press who were waiting for him outside the State Center for Social Re-insertion of the Sentenced Number 5. “First they accused me of murder, and I got out on bail but I [had to] stay for carrying weapons.”

It’s appropriate to remember that the original motive for his incarceration was the quickly contradicted accusation that he participated in violent acts in Banavil community (Tenejapa), when a PRI group attacked families sympathizing with the EZLN on December 4, 2011. One of the attackers and one of those attacked lost their lives in the acts. The remains of the man attacked have not been located, except for an arm. As a result of those acts, as of this date six indigenous families are still displaced.

Three months later, a judge exonerated Sántiz López, but a new accusation on the part of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), for allegedly carrying a prohibited weapon, held him in the San Cristóbal prison until today. At six o’clock this afternoon, surrounded by twenty sympathizers who embraced and applauded him, carrying a bouquet of flowers in his hands under the drizzle and fog, Sántiz López stated: “In Banavil the director of indigenous representation cleared me of the accusations.”

From the beginning, none of the charges against him could be substantiated, while numerous witnesses existed who said he was not at the scene of the crime and was not carrying any weapon when he was detained in the municipal headquarters of Tenejapa the same day.

Today he relates that last January 16 there was an escape of two prisoners from this prison, and they carried out searches. “One of the PGR agents” approached me and said: “You are here? I told him ‘there is no crime’ and he told me ‘I was forced, they obliged me, we are going to talk Francisco, hold on we are going to talk very well, I am going to report which one of us obliged me to make your accusations.’ The PGR told me clearly; it is the public minister (prosecution) together with the Tenejapa judge, Alonso Méndez Guzmán.”

The liberation of the civilian Zapatista was precipitated yesterday when Magistrate Leonel Jesús Hidalgo ordered the resolution of his legal situation in 24 hours, “considering that all the existing evidence in favor of Sántiz López which indicates that he was not a participant in the acts that they impute to him has not been taken into account.”

For his part, the professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez, in the name of the prisoners of the Other Campaign, announced that this morning they made a pilgrimage and a religious ceremony to join the mobilization of the Believing People in the city of San Cristóbal, on the second anniversary of the death of Bishop Samuel Ruiz García.

Patishtán denounced the new prison director, Wenceslao Urbina Gutiérrez, and the accountant Flaviano Clemente Avendaño, for denying him the medication that he needs to be given since he had his operation for a brain tumor at the end of 2012. He also denounced that now the custodians harass and intimidate the family members of the Other Campaign prisoners, and take away the food that they bring to the prisoners.

Lastly, he demanded his freedom and that of the rest of the members of the Voice of El Amate and those in Solidarity with the Voice of El Amate.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Saturday, January 26, 2013

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/01/26/politica/019n1pol

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Celebrations in El Barrio, New York following the release of Francisco Sántiz López

Compañeras and compañeros:

Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York would like to share with everyone the great news about the release of Francisco Sántiz López, who has endured a wrongful conviction imposed by the repressive bad government of Mexico just because he is Zapatista.

Since December 4, 2011 he has had to suffer unjust imprisonment by the forces of the vindictive bad government of Mexico. His arrest and the time he spent behind bars was absolutely unjust and racist, as Francisco Sántiz López never committed any crime.

His strength and courage has been an inspiration to Movement for Justice in El Barrio and a very powerful reason to keep fighting.

The walls that enclosed our brother Francis could not confine memory. In time, every wall collapses, but the memory of a people struggling with all their being to unite their dignity will never end.

Today, we, the Mexican migrants of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, are celebrating, knowing that this was not a triumph of the rule of law, which does not exist in Mexico, but a triumph of our Zapatista sisters and brothers and our compañer@s of good heart in different corners of the world. We embrace you all and celebrate with you. In the spirit of “Breaking down the prison walls”, and giving “a Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”, together we struggled and achieved the release of our brother Francisco.

Long live the EZLN!

From El Barrio, New York.

With love and solidarity,

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

The Other Campaign New York

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Celebrations of the anniversary of the founding of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation

In San Cristóbal they commemorate the birth of the EZLN: November 17, 983

On this day the latest phase of the Campaign Worldwide Echo in support of the Zapatistas culminates.

Photo: December 31, 2007, the EZLN militants salute the flag on the anniversary of the uprising on 1 January 1994 –

Victor Camacho

Hermann Bellinghausen

La Jornada

Saturday November 17, 2012, p. 17

This Saturday, November 17, marks the 29th anniversary of the founding of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN); it also marks the completion of the new phase of the Campaign Worldwide Echo in support of the Zapatistas, which at this time was joined by groups and social organizations from 24 countries and many localities. During the last week protest actions were held at Mexican consulates and embassies in London, Amsterdam, New York, Bilbao and Florence, among others.

In recent months a group of intellectuals from Latin America has come to support this campaign for the Zapatistas in Chiapas with messages and analysis, and this has unwittingly become a public dialogue about Zapatismo today. The most persistent have been Raul Zibechi, Hugo Blanco, Sylvia Marcos and Gustavo Esteva.

Also this Saturday, the Festival of Remembrance will be held in San Cristobal de las Casas, to commemorate the beginning of the political-military organization of the EZLN, which happened on November 17, 1983 in the Lacandon jungle, a date which, since the public appearance of the EZLN in January 1994, has become memorable in many parts of the world.

The therapist and feminist Sylvia Marcos said for the anniversary: “I try to imagine the profound creative process that those extraordinary beings went through, those who first committed to meet with the struggles for justice already existing in the Chiapas jungle. No, they did not get the chance to “teach them” how to make the revolution. Neither did they teach them how to seize power by force of arms. They managed to put their previous training aside, the strict frameworks of the theories and practices of struggle which they had learned before arriving. Here with the unsubmissive and rebellious Maya, it was necessary to learn other ways.”

As a result of that mutual opening between indigenous and guerrillas, and their subsequent meeting with civil society, “the search for justice became more complex, it became peaceful, expressed through Mayan symbols, and Mayan expressions translated into Spanish” (by Subcomandante Marcos), she adds. The author asks several questions, which she describes as crucial: “Why is there so much fear, on the part of the powers, both governmental and de facto? Why this concentration on aggression, this excess of violence?”

Given the fact that the paramilitaries (in Chiapas) are armed with the consent of the three levels of government, Sylvia Marcos asks: “What is the danger from the proposal, the resistance and the survival of the Zapatistas for the prevailing capitalist order? Is it because they show positively that other forms of life, in justice and dignity, are possible? That the satisfactions of life and the joy of being need not be governed by consumerism and commodification? That we can “live well”, as they say in the Andean communities of South America, with other ways of organization, government and campesino production, in which the best way of living is not the accumulation of material goods, but community solidarity and sharing what there is?”

The Uruguayan writer, journalist and analyst Raul Zibechi trusts that the attacks on the Zapatista communities will not succeed in uprooting the seed, due the strength of the communities which have sustained for decades their project of life, despite repression, death, hunger and isolation.

The thinker Gustavo Esteva in his turn said: “As we celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, we must not forget the extraordinary actions of those who created it. It is important, in particular, to highlight a central legacy of Zapatismo: it was from the beginning an intercultural creation which was built through interaction. The Zapatistas have created a community which is always learning and which is continually transformed by linking with others.

At this anniversary celebration, honouring especially the memory of those who lost their lives in this undertaking, we need to emphasize that the Zapatista communities today need our solidarity. At the same time as they are consolidating their achievements, the bad governments are intensifying their actions to undermine their successes, to dismantle their institutions, to block their path. They are increasingly using paramilitary groups which carry out direct attacks, supported by local groups of campesinos, indigenous and non-indigenous, who try to seize the assets of the Zapatista communities and even their land. The repressive actions of the bad governments are passed off as inter-community conflicts,” concludes Esteva.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/11/17/index.php?section=politica&article=017n1pol

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STATEMENT ABOUT THE BAZ OF THE COMMUNITIES OF COMANDANTE ABEL AND UNIÓN HIDALGO

Compañeras and compañeros:

We have received the new public denouncement which was sent by the Good Government Council, “New seed that will produce”, of Caracol V: that speaks for all, Roberto Barrios, Chiapas, Mexico.

This denouncement fills us with rage and anger and with the desire to keep on struggling to put an end to the systematic repression which is being implemented by the bad government in its war against the resistance of the Zapatistas, and at the same time, the resistance of all those from below.

Once again, we would like to offer our small words, in these very hard times, so as to echo the denouncement made by our Zapatista sisters and brothers. We, from this corner of the world, here on the “other side,” also denounce the conditions and the aggressions which the support bases of Comandante Abel and Unión Hidalgo are enduring. From threats to displacements, these conditions have been both a constant nightmare and a strategy of the forces of those from above.

It makes us angry to know that the aggressors are continuing to unjustly occupy the lands of our compas, and that more “coyotes” and police keep arriving to reinforce these invaders. The bad government, the main tool of global capital, promotes this network of misery in order to continue advancing with its colonial plans and projects. As our compas from the Good Government Council explain:

“It can be clearly seen that between the police and the paramilitaries there is one single force and that this has only one aim which results in their belligerent criminal actions; the main objective of the police is that which they are ordered to do by their bosses, Felipe Calderón, Juan Sabines, Artemio Gómez Sánchez, Mayor of Sabanilla, and Limber Gutiérrez Gómez, Mayor of Tila: to prepare and train the invaders well and to feel quite safe to perform their acts of making threats, robbery, intimidation and harassment.”

The government and its people have their strategies, their violence, their terror. But we state here that we also have an option in the face of so much repression: we have the option to organize ourselves and to fight for justice, dignity, and autonomy.

Already innumerable dignified hearts of different languages and different colors are doing this. Through the campaign “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” we have achieved the construction of a campaign of those dignified hearts beating in more than 24 countries on this planet. Since we are in the middle of the second stage, “From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression”, we invite everyone who, with us, feels anger and rage in their chests, to join this campaign and organize protests to further increase the pressure on the bad government of Mexico. Our demand is justice for the Zapatista communities under siege, and freedom for the Zapatista political prisoner Francisco Sántiz López.

Together we will make sure that this option becomes a permanent reality.

Enough of all this repression!
The Zapatista communities live!

From El Barrio, New York …

Movement for Justice in El Barrio  The Other Campaign New York

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International Campaign:
“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”

RED ALERT:
The Government of Mexico wages war
against the Zapatista communities!

The State of Mexico is currently employing, financing, and sending armed attack groups to carry out violent assaults on the following Zapatista communities. Located in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, the indigenous communities of Zapatista Support Base members (BAZ) form the backbone of the Zapatista Movement, an autonomous organization of thousands of indigenous peoples that fights for justice, dignity, and democracy:

1. Comandante Abel (BAZ): Since September 6^th and until the present, the paramilitary group “Peace and Justice” has been carrying out an armed invasion into Zapatista territory in the Comandante Abel ejido (BAZ). As a result, the entire community was violently displaced and several people were missing for some time while they sought refuge from the violence. Many remain severely ill. The Zapatistas’ land remains occupied by the aggressors, who are currently building their own houses as a way to perpetuate the occupation.

2. Unión Hidalgo (BAZ): Since August, this Zapatista community was displaced by the violent aggressions of “Peace and Justice.” With the use of firearms, the aggressors have managed to occupy and expand their invasion throughout a significant section of the community. The situation is made worse because many compas are ill.

3. BAZ of the ejido Guadalupe los Altos: Six BAZ compañeros were arrested under absurd charges made by the ejidal authorities of Guadalupe los Altos, together with the local organization CIOAC HISTORIC: Five of these Zapatista compañeros were arrested on the 30^th September, and the last compañero on 4^th October.

4. Moisés Gandhi (BAZ): Throughout the month of August, the Zapatista Support Base members of this community have suffered violent attacks and threats of forced displacement by the Regional Coffee Growers Organization of Ocosingo (Orcao).

5. Jechvó: In October, groups of PRI militants started harassing the Zapatista Bases of Support of Jechvó, Zinacantan, violently denying them access to their own water source.

6. San Marcos Avilés (BAZ): In their video-message (on YouTube: ”Mensaje de l@s Zapatistas de San Marcos Avilés”) that now has over 34,000 views, this Zapatista community of Tzeltal indigenous people explain the constant nightmare that they’re living in at the hands of an armed attack group backed by political party members, for having opened their own autonomous school “Emiliano Zapata” in 2010. From forced displacement, destruction and theft of property and food, to sexual assault, these compas have suffered numerous forms of violence and repression.

Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: International Solidarity Campaign:

Join the worldwide campaign! Write to laotranuevayork@yahoo.com to join this organizing network comprised of numerous organizations, collectives, and individuals from around the world who are already a part of the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas.”
Form a Committee of the True Word (organizing cell of the campaign)with your friends, family members, co-workers, etc., to be a part of this campaign.
Circulate information regarding the urgent situation of the Zapatista communities.
Add SAN MARCOS AVILÉS as a friend on Facebook.

web: sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com
e-mail: laotranuevayork@yahoo.com

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International Campaign:
“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”

RED ALERT!!!

FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ:
INNOCENT
Zapatista Political Prisoner

Together with the attacks on the Zapatista communities, the Mexican State continues to attack the Zapatista movement by arbitrarily imprisoning its members.

Francisco Sántiz López, Zapatista Support Base member and indigenous Tzeltal, has been imprisoned since December 2011 for crimes that he did not commit. His only offense, as has been stated over and over again, is that of being a Zapatista Support Base member. For this single reason, he is being held as a hostage of the Mexican State.
On March 22 of this year, Francisco, as he was about to be released, was hit with another accusation of another false crime. For this reason, he remains at the moment a political prisoner, despite the fact that witnesses have corroborated the fact that Francisco Sántiz López was not at the scene of the crime.

Thousands of people from around the world are demanding: FREEDOM FOR FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ!

In addition to Francisco, six BAZ compañeros were arrested under absurd charges made by the ejidal authorities of Guadalupe los Altos, together with the local organization CIOAC HISTORIC: Five of these Zapatista compañeros were arrested on the 30^th September, and the last compañero on 4^th October.

The current injustly imprisoned Zapatista compas are: Cesar Aguilar Jiménez, Armando Aguilar Santis, Genaro Aguilar Santis, Delmar Aguilar Santis, Misael Aguilar Vásquez and Hipólito Aguilar Vásquez.

Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
International Solidarity Campaign:

Join the worldwide campaign! Write to laotranuevayork@yahoo.com to join this organizing network comprised of numerous organizations, collectives, and individuals from around the world who are already a part of the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas.”
Form a Committee of the True Word (organizing cell of the campaign)with your friends, family members, co-workers, etc., to be a part of this campaign.
Circulate information regarding the urgent situation of the Zapatista communities and the case of Francisco Sántiz López, the Zapatista political prisoner.
Add SAN MARCOS AVILÉS as a friend on Facebook.

web: sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com
e-mail: laotranuevayork@yahoo.com

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The Government Continues to Inhibit Resistance Movements among Indigenous Communities

** It reactivates armed groups like Paz y Justicia; the attacks in Chiapas continue: Frayba

** The government does not recognize those displaced due to the conflict and the counterinsurgency, it indicates

By: Hermann Bellinghausen

In Chiapas, those people internally displaced by the armed conflict and the counterinsurgency are not recognized as such by the government. In addition, sustained militarization in the state is part of “the scenarios of the strategy for the Security and Prosperity Alliance of North America (Aspan, its initials in Spanish), through the Merida Initiative,” and includes “permanent and itinerant checkpoints that violate the right of freedom of movement, with a particular presence in the border zone and in Zapatista territory,” the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) maintains in an evaluation of the conflict.

Communities within the EZLN’s zones of influence (“the objective to be destroyed”) continue to be militarized. To this is added the implementation of government social projects which, “together with agencies like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN, have been complicit in the counterinsurgency in this last six-year term,” says the study, which appeared in the new edition of Yorail Maya, Frayba’s regular publication.

The government “seeks to inhibit the resistance movements with social programmes aimed at dividing the communities, immobilizing the peoples through military occupation and the actions of the authorities in complicity with organizations of a paramilitary character and of groups linked to the government of Juan Sabines Guerrero, for the purpose of striking the communities in resistance.” Concerning the reactivation of the armed groups, it identifies “a pattern of direct confrontation from pro-government organizations with a paramilitary history, such as Paz y Justicia, which attacks the communities in the La Dignidad autonomous municipality.”

Over the course of the years, the authorities have denied both the concept of displacement as a consequence of the war and the existence of these displaced. Consequently, it was a “contradictory and utilitarian” action that, on the governor’s initiative, the Congress would approve, on February 14, a Law for the Prevention of and Attention to Internal Displacement within the state, with the support of the UNDP, with the intention of addressing this historically unsettled problem, which has left an open wound, irreparable losses and impunity.”

Nevertheless, testimonies received by the Frayba point out that the UNDP and Unesco “have caused community division, due to the continuance of a counterinsurgency policy driven by the federal and state governments to confront and exclude both the internally displaced and the returned-displaced.” That is how the authorities respond to the demands [of the displaced] for “attention under the guiding principles for displacement of the United Nations.”

In the Census for Attention to the Displaced, the UNDP and the Chiapas government calculate that there are 24 to 30,000 people in that situation. This census, Frayba clarifies, “was created by the government with groups close to it, those looking for land with a history of exclusion and marginalization diametrically different from those who suffered forced displacement due to the State’s counterinsurgency.” The institutions involved “seek to misrepresent the crimes against humanity committed in Los Altos and the jungles of Chiapas”, and leave them unpunished.

Among others, it mentions 170 Zapatistas from San Marcos Avilés, 87 from Comandante Abel and several families from Unión Hidalgo who are not recognized as displaced. In addition, there are four families from Banavil, 36 people from Viejo Velasco Suárez –where there was a massacre in 2006–, four families from Busiljá and a minor, kidnapped by paramilitaries despite the precautionary measures requested by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Frayba emphasizes that these displaced people were never recognised as such, and concludes: “Internal displacement is not an isolated event, but rather a manifestation of the military and counterinsurgency strategy applied in Chiapas, which directly violates the territory of indigenous peoples.”

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/11/14/politica/023n1pol

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“This land has already been allocated to those who actually work it and live on it “: Zapatista supporters

4^th November

Chiapas, Mexico. “The bad government should be ashamed of claiming that their police protect and safeguard the social order and keep the peace, when, right in front of them, thefts, threats, paramilitary actions, gunshots, evictions, dispossession of the lands and crops of our compañeros are all committed”, declared members of the Good Government Junta (JBG), “New Seed that is going to produce”, from the Northern Zone of Chiapas.

“We ask them what do they want to achieve with all these acts? Say what you want, speak clearly as we have, better to say that you want to kill, displace, assassinate, rob. Such a shame that in Mexico there is a bad government that instead of having intelligence in its head has shit for brains”, the Zapatistas continued.

In recent days, support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN ) from Comandante Abel and Unión Hidalgo communities were evicted from their land and dispossessed of their crops, by paramilitaries from the municipio of Sabanilla, openly protected by the State’s Public Security forces.

This land – a field of approximately 11 hectares sown with maize – was occupied by the paramilitaries on 6^th September, they have “already handed everyone a piece of land. The invaders stole and harvested everything, left nothing and are now sowing beans” the Zapatista JBG denounced.

On September 8^th, about 150 aggressors began firing bullets, until the situation was no longer bearable, so many people fled to the autonomous Zapatista community of San Marcos, which extends from Sabanilla towards Tabasco. Despite the danger, 22 men and five women who have no young children decided to remain to protect their land, animals, property and, above all, their life.

On 12^th September, the JBG described the gravity of the situation through a communiqué: women and children had been displaced, and there were a total of 14 people missing from the new community of Comandante Abel and the nearby community of Unión Hidalgo.

The new community Comandante Abel is located on land which was recuperated by the EZLN in 1994. Until a few months ago, the population that lived there was living in the community of San Patricio, peacefully resisting multiple paramilitary attacks. Exactly one year ago, they were displaced because their lands were invaded by paramilitaries from Ostilucum, a nearby community. The community managed to return, but lost their crops. The threats of a new invasion and possible massacre increased, and the families of EZLN support bases made the decision to move to their previous land plot, known as “Lámpara”. In spite of this, the threats continued, and on 6^th September paramilitaries from Unión Hidalgo invaded the lands of the new community of Comandante Abel, letting off shots at the families, who fled to the mountain.

The attacks continued: on 16^th October, paramilitaries fired shots until 3 am, the last of these happened [only] 150 metres away from the house of a support base. That night the gunfire started again, and the next day 15 public safety officers arrived at the scene.

On 24^th October, reinforcements for the invaders arrived from Unión Hidalgo, who are now occupying the land taken from the support bases; and on the 25^th, on the occupied land, “the paramilitaries, in three groups, carried out military-style movements bearing heavy weapons” and sent a commission to the police camp.

Every day the police patrol the area from Sabanilla to San Patricio, and during the evenings and nights, from San Patricio to the place occupied by the paramilitaries and to Unión Hidalgo. The invaders and police are virtually working as one. “It can be clearly seen that they are a single force” and that one single leadership “drives their actions”. In a communiqué the JBG argues that the goal is that the police, “commanded” by President Felipe Calderón and Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero, “train the invaders”. Also they belie the official statement, made on the 9^th October, in which it states that groups from Unión Hidalgo and San Patricio requested the presence of the police, and that the rights of the members of the EZLN have been respected.

The reinforcing of the police, rather than removing the invaders from the Zapatistas’ land, “promotes violence in order to impose their own regularization of the land”, even though this land “has already been allocated to those who work it and live on it”, states the JBG.

Since 2000, the support base families have rejected the government’s welfare programmes. It was then that the threats from PRI supporters linked to the paramilitary group “Paz y Justicia” in their community started. A year ago the threats worsened. “They announced through loudspeakers that if they were not given the lands of Comandante Abel, they said we would be the ones to suffer, and they told us they were going to massacre us,” they denounced from Chiapas.

For over 18 years, the Mexican government has waged a “low intensity” war against the Zapatista communities. Counterinsurgency plans, developed with the help of the United States after the armed uprising of the EZLN, created a framework that is still in operation today.

The message given by the Good Government Juntas in their communiqués is clear: the State supports the paramilitary groups, and, through manipulation, lies and promises of land and resources, encourages certain groups to take hostile and aggressive positions against those who resist and oppose being co-opted. In this way, welfare projects, implemented above all in areas where the people are in resistance, use counterinsurgency tactics called ‘soft line strategies’ to appease hunger, create dependency and discourage resistance

Article printed from Desinformémonos: http://desinformemonos.org

URL to article: http://desinformemonos.org/2012/11/esta-tierra-ya-esta-entregada-a-quienes-realmente-la-viven-y-la-trabajan-bases-de-apoyo-zapatistas/

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Caracol V which speaks for all, Roberto Barrios, Chiapas, Mexico

29 October 2012

To national and International civil society organizations

To members of the Other Campaign

To the Sixth International

To alternative media

To independent human rights organizations

To national and international media

Compañeras and compañeros

Brothers and sisters from Mexico and the world

[From the] Council of Good Government, New Seed Which Will Grow, in the Northern Zone of Chiapas, Mexico. We publish this fourth denunciation of threats, enforced displacement, theft and intimidation by public security forces suffered by our communities, including the Comandante Abel and Unión Hidalgo villages and by men, women and children of Zapatista supporting communities.

1. The lands of our compañeros occupied by paramilitaries from Union Hidalgo on the 6 September have already been shared out among the invaders, who started to measure them on the 25 September, and finished the work on 21 October, in order to hand out a part to each.

– As mentioned in previous denunciations, 11 hectares of maize belonging to the compañeros were taken over in their entirety by the invaders who stole everything they could harvest, leaving nothing; they have now taken everything from the 11 hectares and are re-sowing it with beans.

– On October 24 at 8 o´clock at night the invaders who were occupying the lands recovered by our compañeros were reinforced with others from Union Hidalgo

2. This conflict continues to affect our Zapatista compañeros who live in Union Hidalgo who remain guarding their houses and belongings to prevent their families being evicted to other communities in the face of the severe threats made to them by the paramilitaries from the area, as reported in our second denunciation on 11 September.

In the early hours 16 October, at 1am, paramilitaries from the Union Hidalgo community let off five shots in one go with heavy calibre weapons, repeating this action every 15 minutes until 3 in the morning. In total they fired on 13 occasions; the last of these being at a distance of 150 metres from the house of Zapatista compañero. At 10 o’clock on the night of the same day they let off two rounds at once, continuing this until midnight. In order to continue the threats and intimidation, 15 police arrived in Union Hidalgo on 17 October.

On October 25 at 5.30 in the afternoon the paramilitaries, armed with heavy calibre weapons, carried out military style manoeuvres in three groups of 6 people in the invaded area. This included sending a commission of 4 people from the occupiers forces towards the police encampments. Later on, at 6 in the evening the police also moved towards the river close to where the invaders had taken up position. At 8 at night, the police let off three shots in the place they had stationed themselves.

The public security police undertake daily patrols during the day from Sabanilla to San Patricio, and in the afternoons and nights move from San Patricio towards the area occupied by the invaders, and to Union Hidalgo. When the invaders move around, the police do the same: it can be clearly seen that the police and the paramilitaries are a single force and are under a single command, which directs them to carry out warlike and criminal actions. The principal objective of the police is to follow the orders of their bosses, Felipe Calderon, Juan Sabines, Artemio Gomez Sanchez (the municipal president of Sabanilla) and Limber Gutierrez Gomez, the municipal president of Tila, to prepare and train the invaders so that they feel free to make threats, to rob, intimidate and harass.

The bad government says, in its proclamation dated 9 October 2012, that the communities of San Patricio and Union Hidalgo were in common agreement in asking for the state government to establish a police presence, with the aim of bringing order and peaceful coexistence to the inhabitants of the area. They also indicated that they would respect the rights of the EZLN supporters.

What need does this paramilitary group have of the police when they themselves have invaded the lands of the Zapatista compañeros?

What need does this paramilitary group have when they themselves have driven out women and children with the continual shots that they let off?

What need of a police presence does this paramilitary group have in a place where they are driving out, invading, robbing and sacking the belongings of our compañeros right in front of their eyes?

What need of a police presence is there in a place where the paramilitaries, in the very company of the police, carry out acts of intimidation, threats and warlike provocations?

What type of danger does this paramilitary group face that the bad government needs to provide a police presence and listen to the [paramilitaries’] requests?

What type of aggressions, robbery, threats and intimidation are the Zapatista supporters carrying out that the paramilitaries respond by “providing them with security”?

What need of the police does a paramilitary group have, when it is armed and ready to carry out evictions, threats or intimidatory acts against a group of men, women and children who live by working and cultivating their lands in order to sustain their families and children, which they do without responding to the aggression of these violent and criminal actions, including robbery, enforced displacement and evictions?

The bad government should hold its head in shame to claim that its police are there to safeguard order and social peace, when right in front of them robbery, threats, movement of paramilitaries and the firing of heavy calibre weapons is carried out. This is the kind of thing that mentally ill, drunk or drugged-up people might say. What they should state clearly is that the police have been sent to protect the paramilitaries, so the latter can evict, pillage and steal the harvest of our Zapatista compañeros.

History makes no mistake: the bad government has always sent its police and paramilitaries to rob, kill, disappear, evict and despoil poor and innocent people who struggle to live. We have kept this history in the heart of our peoples, that they did just this in 1995, 1996 and 1997, in the municipalities of Sabanilla, in the lowland zone of Tila, carrying out robberies, assassinations, disappearances, evictions, and the burning out of innocent families from their homes. And until now none of those responsible has been punished, on the contrary the bad government has protected them, that is to say no justice has been done, in just the same way as what happened at Acteal and El Bosque municipality in Chiapas, at Atenco, in Oaxaca, and further back, in the 1968 [massacre] of students, and with many other killings in our country.

The bad government of Felipe Calderon and Juan Sabines have done nothing to resolve the conflict or the crimes committed by paramilitary groups. On the contrary, they send police reinforcements for the invaders instead of removing that group from the lands recovered by our compañeros, promoting violence in order to impose their project.

We have said before, and continue to maintain, that we are not going to allow the lands recovered in 1994 to be taken from us. The claim that they will be legalised in our favour is rubbish, and it’s not what we are demanding. This land has already been allocated to those who work it and live on it. On 29 April we, the Council of Good Government went in good faith to the community, bringing together the two sides, that is the Zapatista supporters and the officialistas, without taking account of political affiliation, without cheating and without using funds to buy the authorities or representatives behind the backs of the community in order to screw the people. We went and met with the authorities as well as members of the community, taking into account those who have lived and worked on the land for many years to support their families and children.

We proposed that the villages of San Patricio and Los Angeles remain with the oficialistas, so that they can live and work it to support their families and children, because we know that they have a total right to it because of the time they have lived and worked it. To our own Zapatistas, we proposed they remain in the La Lampara area. This was accepted by both the officialista and autonomous sides, and even though we had to bear the costs of relocation, we did it with good will and in the good faith we have as Zapatistas, to avoid confrontations that arise through ideological differences, and so that each group can live in harmony, enjoying its agrarian rights and leading their lives and organizing themselves in the way that each group sees fit. A agreement was made to separate the two sides of the community, signed and sealed by both parties, autonomous and oficialistas.

In constructing our autonomy and in the exercise of our own self-government, we decline to recognise the term land regularization, which the bad government uses as an instrument to manipulate the people who can be fooled with the ruse that with legal papers they will live in peace and be the masters of their own lands and will live better Later on, this is used to justify legal despoilment, because the lands have become a good that can be bought and sold through legal paperwork.

We ask ourselves: what remains of the rights of the Indian peoples, the first inhabitants of Mexican lands, the right to self-government and to free self-determination, as set out in international agreements and the San Andres Accords?

For this reason we say that the bad governments should recall their criminal gangs, or if not we will eject them ourselves. If anyone gets killed the government will be guilty and responsible for the spilled blood: it will add another charge to the more than 70,000 dead, killed on the orders of the government at national level.

We sustain our case with our [previous] three denunciations: if you have not read them you can do so now.

You should know that this is not the first time that they have sent paramilitary assassins to invade, with the support of the government. The first time was the 10 September 2011 when they took all our compañeros’ belongings. The most recent time was the 6 September 2012 when they stole the whole harvest. It isn’t just that our Zapatista compañeros continue working just to feed the mouths and backsides of the paramilitaries along with their wives, and along with those who have robbed the economy of the Mexican people and who go on enjoying life with their wives and children on the backs of poor people who work with sweat on their brows to survive even while you [the government] get fat like farm pigs who have no mothers.

We ask you [the government]: what do you want to achieve through these acts? Say what you want, speak clearly as we have, better to say that you want to kill, despoil, assassinate, rob. Such a shame that in Mexico there is a bad government that instead of having intelligence in its head has shit for brains.

Compañeros and Compañeras, Brothers and Sisters, we ask you to be aware of this very difficult situation that our people in resistance are living.

Yours

To rule by obeying

This document has the seal of the Council of Good Government, New Seed Which Will Grow, and is signed by its representatives in turn:

Paulina López Trujillo, José Martínez Flores, Angélica López Mondejos and

Juventino Jiménez Pérez

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Frayba asks for legal protection for EZLN Support Base, due to Procedural “Violations,”

** It demands the liberation of Francisco Santiz and accuses the State of criminalizing the exercise of autonomy

By: Hermann Bellinghausen

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) filed an amparo indirecto, an appeal for legal protection, in the federal court in favour of Francisco Sántiz López, base of support of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), a prisoner in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. This, on account of “the grave violations of due process” committed against him.

Those violations are: lack of an adequate defence and access to justice, by not having a translator or legal defender who knew his language and culture to assist him in his statement to the General Prosecutor of the Republic; taking into account evidence at the margin of legal and constitutional requirements, and on the other hand ignoring the testimonies of the arresting authorities, which corroborate Santiz López’ declaration to personnel at the General Prosecutor of Justice for the State of Chiapas at the time of his detention, that he was in the municipal headquarters of Tenejapa last December, and not in Banavil, where the acts of which he is accused occurred.

Because of these irregularities, Frayba have made an appeal for legal protection for Santiz’ immediate release. The civil agency notes that, in the context of the international campaign “Worldwide Echo (Eco Mundial) in support of the Zapatistas”, which has united actions in more than 20 countries, it is apposite to send letters to Minister Juan Silva Meza, president of the Federal Judiciary Council, and to Jesús Hidalgo Leonel, magistrate of the first unitary tribunal of the twentieth circuit in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, asking for his release.

The appeal for legal protection against the writ of formal prison was presented on October 25, and was admitted that same day in the first unitary tribunal of the twentieth circuit, with the number 30/ 2012. Now, social organizations and individuals are asking the magistrates “that the appeal for legal protection (amparo indirecto) be analyzed and followed up, taking into consideration the context and details of the case.”

The international campaign, which will culminate on November 17, demands: “an end to the harassment of the EZLN’s support bases, and freedom for Francisco, unjustly accused of the federal crime of carrying a weapon for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force.”

The letter directed to the magistrate Silva Meza and Hidalgo Leonel repeats that: “irregularities in the investigation were evidenced from the date of his detention,” and they insist on his innocence. It was achieved that his case file “was studied at a reconciliation board, on whose recommendation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Indigenous Justice in Chiapas stopped the criminal action for the crimes of homicide and bodily injuries.”

The Tzeltal trader and farmer remains a prisoner, because a proceeding for the federal crime of allegedly carrying a prohibited weapon was imposed on him. According to Frayba, “this case has been characterized since the preliminary investigations by the lack of clarification of the events that occurred on December 4 in the Banavil ejido, Tenejapa municipality, where members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party attacked with firearms four families that are allied to the EZLN.”

The civil groups state that they are convinced that this case “is an example in which the Mexican State utilizes the justice system for criminalizing Zapatista support bases, as a consequence of their exercise of the right to self determination and autonomy, based on the San Andrés Accords and its constitutional references,” as well as international benchmarks: Convention 169 of the ILO and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Alonso López Luna, one of those attacked, also disappeared in the events at Banavil. It is alleged that PRI members murdered him, but it has not been investigated.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Friday, November 2, 2012

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/11/02/politica/016n1pol

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San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas

November 1, 2012

Informative note

Actions for the freedom of Francisco Sántiz López, BAEZLN

Support the international campaign “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) has filed an amparo indirecto, anappeal for legal protection, at a federal court on behalf of Francisco Sántiz López (Francisco), Support Base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN), in view of the serious violations to the right of due process which have been committed against him.

In this appeal for legal protection we produce the documented information about the human rights violations committed against Francisco, mainly:

The lack of an adequate defence and access to justice, not having a translator, or a legal defender who knew his language and culture, to assist him in his statement before the General Prosecutor of the Republic.

Violations of due process, having taken into account evidence[i] outside legal and constitutional requirements.

Violations of the principle of presumption of innocence, by failing to take into account the testimonies of the apprehending authorities. These authorities corroborate the statement of Francisco, before the General Prosecutor of Justice for the State of Chiapas (PGJE), that at the time of his detention Francisco was in the municipal headquarters of Tenejapa[ii].

Because of these [human rights] violations Frayba have requested, in their appeal for legal protection, the immediate release of Francisco, and consider it apposite to send letters requesting the freedom for Francisco as part of the international Campaign “Worldwide Echo in support of the Zapatistas”. We ask you to to send letters to the Minister Juan Silva Meza, president of the Council of the Federal Judiciary, and to Jesús Hidalgo Leonel, Magistrate of the First Unitary Tribunal of the Twentieth Circuit, requesting freedom for Francisco. We attach (below) example letters and the addresses of the magistrates. Please send a copy toaccionesurgentes@frayba.org.mx

The campaign “Worldwide Echo in support of the Zapatistas” has linkedactions in more than 20 countries demanding an end to the harassment of support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN) and the freedom of Francisco. We invite all organizations, communities and individuals to join the actions to be performed until 17 November 2012.

For more information:

www.sanmarcosaviles.wordpress.com

or www.solidaridadchiapas.wordpress.com

Background

Francisco is an indigenous Tzeltal, and a BAEZLN, who has been deprived of his liberty in the State Centre for the Social Reintegration of the Sentenced No. 5, (CERSS No 5), San Cristobal de Las Casas, since December 4, 2011, wrongly accused by the state of the federal crime of carrying a firearm for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

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Letter to the President of the Council of the Federal Judiciary

C. Ministro Juan N. Silva Meza

Presidente del Consejo de la Judicatura Federal.

Insurgentes Sur 2417, San Ángel. Álvaro Obregón.

C.P. 01000, México,D.F.
presidenciacjf@correo.cjf.gob.mx

P R E S E N T

We, the signatories to this document, have closely followed the criminal proceedings as well as the actions seeking the release of Francisco Sántiz López, Tzeltal indigenous support base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, from the municipality of Tenejapa, Chiapas, who is currently detained at the National Centre for the Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced No. 5, (CERSS No. 5), in the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

Since the date of his arrest on December 4, 2011, it has been shown that there are irregularities within the investigation, and by insisting in that he is innocent, it was achieved that his record was studied at a Reconciliation Board, on whose recommendation the Public Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Indigenous Justice in the State of Chiapas withdrew the prosecution brought against Francisco Sántiz López, on charges of murder and aggravated assault.

Francisco Sántiz López is currently being pursued for criminal prosecution, under federal jurisdiction, for the crime of possession of a weapon for the exclusive use of the army, navy and air force. A trial, that from the time they started the preliminary investigations, has been characterized by a lack of clarification of the events that occurred on December 4, 2011, in the ejido Banavil, Tenejapa municipality, where a group of members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) attacked with firearms four families allied to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

We know that on October 25, 2012, an Amparo Indirecto was presented against the order of imprisonment for the crime of possession of a firearm for the exclusive use of the army, navy and air force; this was admitted that same day in the First Unitary Tribunal of the Twentieth Circuit, with the number 30/2012.

Based on the above, we are writing to you to respectfully request that this Amparo Indirecto be analyzed carefully and followed up, taking into consideration the context and details of the case.

We believe that the case of Francisco is an example of the Mexican state using the system for the prosecution and delivery of justice to criminalize the support bases of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, as a consequence of their exercise of the right to self-determination and autonomy, based on the Agreement of San Andrés and national reference points established in Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic in relation to Article 1, as well as international benchmarks, these being ILO Convention no 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We, the undersigned, for the purpose of receiving any kind of notifications give as our address the residence located at Calle Brasil número 14, Colonia Barrio de Mexicanos, in the city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México.

That is all for now, we greet you, repeating our request along with our highest consideration.

Sincerely

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Letter to the Magistrate of the First Unitary Tribunal of the Twentieth Circuit

Magistrado Jesús Hidalgo Leonel

Primer Tribunal Unitario del Vigésimo Circuito

Palacio de Justicia Federal Edificio C, Boulevard Ángel Albino Corzo No. 2641,

Colonia las Palmas C.P. 29040, 1er. Piso, Ala B Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas

leonel.jesus.hidalgo@correo.cjf.gob.mx

P R E S E N T

Since the date of his arrest on December 4, 2011, it has been shown that there are irregularities within the investigation, and by insisting that he is innocent, it was achieved that his record was studied at a Reconciliation Board, on whose recommendation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Indigenous Justice in the State of Chiapas withdrew the prosecution brought against Francisco Sántiz López, on charges of murder and aggravated assault.

Francisco Sántiz López is currently being pursued for criminal prosecution, under federal jurisdiction, for the crime of possession of a weapon for the exclusive use of the army, navy and air force. A trial, that from the time they started the preliminary investigations has been characterized by a lack of clarification of the events that occurred on December 4, 2011, in the ejido Banavil, Tenejapa municipality, where a group of members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) attacked with firearms four families allied to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.

We know that on October 25, 2012, an Amparo Indirecto was presented against the order of imprisonment for the crime of possession of a firearm for the exclusive use of the army, navy and air force; this was admitted that same day in the First Unit Court of the Twentieth Circuit, with the number 30/2012.

Based on the above, we are writing to you to respectfully request that this Amparo Indirecto be analyzed carefully and followed up, granting his immediate release.

That is all for now, we greet you, repeating our request along with our highest consideration.

Sincerely

[i] The weapon Francisco is accused of carrying, a 22 mm pistol, was handed over, along with 5 rifles, by residents of Banavil, (who according to the family of the deceased Alonso López Luna, participated in the attacks and the disappearance from that day of the person named previously) to the Specialist Judge for Indigenous Reconciliation, Alonso Méndez Guzmán, in a plastic bag, showing that there was no chain of custody for this item, and thus that the necessary measures were not taken for its protection and preservation, to determine traces of the crime.

[ii] Contrary to the declarations of the charge, three witnesses who falsely reported that he had been detained in the ejido of Banavil and who “assured” the weapon concerned, at the time of his arrest.

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“Officialist” paramilitaries dispossess Zapatista Support Bases, Denounces Junta

** When the aggressors mobilize, the Chiapas police do too, they insist

By: Hermann Bellinghausen

The Good Government Junta ‘New Seed that is going to Produce’, in the Northern Zone of Chiapas, denounced the total dispossession of lands and crops from the support bases of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) in the communities of Comandante Abel and Unión Hidalgo, perpetrated by paramilitaries from Sabanilla municipality, with the open protection of public security (state police), which hides the training in combat of civilians from San Patricio, Unión Hidalgo and other villages.

“Our compañeros’ land, which was occupied by paramilitaries from Unión Hidalgo on September 6”, ended up being distributed on October 21. They harvested and stole 11 hectares of corn, and returned to the bean field. Reinforcements arrived on October 24 from Unión Hidalgo. The conflict continues to affect the Zapatistas in the community, who “stayed to care for their houses and belongings because of the displacement of their families due to the threats,” adds the Junta, which already denounced this on September 11.

In the very early hours of October 16, the paramilitaries fired shots with firearms until 3 o’clock in the morning; the latter “150 metres (less than 500 yards) from a compañero’s house.”

That night the shots returned, and the next day, “to continue the threats and harassment, 15 (agents) arrived from public security.” On the 25^th, on the invaded land, “the paramilitaries made military-style movements in three groups with high calibre weapons,” and sent a commission to the police encampment. Afterwards the agents carried out movements close to the invaders, and fired three shots at 8 o’clock at night.

The police patrol during the day from Sabanilla to San Patricio, and in the afternoons and evenings from San Patricio to the place occupied by paramilitaries and to Unión Hidalgo.

When the invaders mobilize, the police do too; “one sees clearly that they are just one force” and only one command “directs their actions.” The Junta maintains that the objective is that, “ordered” by President Felipe Calderón and Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero, the police “train the invaders”.

And it contradicts the government version of October 9, which maintained that the groups in San Patricio and Unión Hidalgo, in an alleged common agreement, asked for a police presence, and that they “have respected the rights of the members of the EZLN.”

The autonomous authority asks: “What need does this paramilitary group have for police, when they are the ones who invade our compañeros’ land, and have displaced women and children?”

They evict, destroy, steal and loot in the presence of police, who also carry out “actions of intimidation and warlike provocations,” it says.

The Junta states: “the bad government ought to be ashamed saying that its police are for keeping order and peace” when “robberies, threats, paramilitary movements and shots exist” right in front of them. The government “should say clearly that it sent the police so (that) its paramilitaries could evict our compañeros,” and “it has done nothing to resolve the conflict.”

On the contrary, it sent police reinforcements and, instead of removing the invaders from the Zapatistas’ land, “they promote violence to impose their regularization project,” despite the fact that this “land is already in the hands of those who really live on it and work it.”

The Junta recalls that on April 29 it went to San Patricio. “We got the two parties together, without a trap, without economic budgets for buying authorities or representatives behind the community’s back so that they reach an agreement to screw their community.” Meeting with authorities and community members, and considering those that worked those lands for many years, the Zapatistas proposed: “that the lands of San Patricio and Los Ángeles remain with the ‘officialists’, and that the Zapatista bases (remain) on the La Lámpara plot.” The parties accepted this.

“Although the relocation cost us, we did it to avoid confrontation,” in a way that “an official act of separation of the members of the farming nucleus was made, signed and sealed by the autonomous ones (the Zapatistas) and the ‘officialists’.”

The Zapatistas argue: “in the construction of our autonomy, we know that the word ‘regularization’ of lands,” is an “instrument” of the government “for manipulating the people who it lets deceive themselves with legal papers,” which later “will be used to justify a legal theft.”

They ask: “Where is the right of the Indian peoples, the first inhabitants of these lands, to exercise their self-government and self-determination, as laid down in international conventions and the San Andrés Accords?”

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Thursday, November 1, 2012

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International Campaign:

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”

Comunicado integro (Entire communiqué in Spanish)

Numerous Groups of the #YoSoy132 Movement Issue Public Support
for the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” Campaign

Compañeras and compañeros:

Receive warm greetings and embraces on behalf of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York. We are writing to share with you the latest news on our worldwide campaign:

Day after day new voices join our efforts to express their rage at the acts of repression meted out against the Zapatista communities by the bad government of Mexico—motivated by the realization that our struggles, though distinct, are rooted in the same soil and confront the same enemy.

That said, we wish to announce that various groups, and assemblies of Yo Soy 132 have received the call issued by our Zapatista compas, and have thereby joined the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” Campaign. In this way, these national and international collectives of Yo Soy 132 have taken on our dignified demands of freedom for Francisco Sántiz López and justice for the Zapatista Support Bases who are presently under siege by forces of the repressive government of Mexico.

In the words of the Yo Soy 132 collective from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua:

“The Zapatistas are not alone, we are with them; the struggle for a better México belongs to everyone… We have become tired of the current situation of our indigenous brothers and sisters of Mexico, and for this reason, we have decided to stand in solidarity and raise our voice in their support… With this we also say “enough of so much injustice!” that the Government has created since the Zapatista uprising; we know that once we disturb the government, we must struggle constantly to resist.”

Solidarity is our principal tool to continue building our organizing networks based on mutual support, and to continue the work of bringing down the border walls, at the local, national, and global levels, which those from above impose upon us to keep us divided. It is, in sum, clear that we shall continue building internally and externally to support the Zapatista resistance.

That being said, compas, the following is the list of the cells, groups, and assemblies of Yo Soy 132 that have joined the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” Campaign:

Yo Soy 132 of Campeche, assemblies of: San Fco. de Campeche, Cd. del Carmen, Escárcega and Camino Real.

Yo Soy 132 Chihuahua, Chihuahua

Yo Soy 132 Wuppertal, Germany

Yo Soy 132 Barcelona, Spain

Yo Soy 132 Chile

Yo Soy 132 – Montreal, Canada

Yo Soy 132 – Munich, Germany

Yo Soy 132 – London, England

Yo Soy 132 – Chicago, USA

Indigenous Languages Circulation Group of #Yo Soy 132

From El Barrio, New York…

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

The Other Campaign New York

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PRI harassment of Zapatista Support Bases returns in Jechvó

** Just like in 2004, they are violently denied a water supply

** The aggressors arbitrarily detained a member of the affected community

By: Hermann Bellinghausen, Envoy

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, October 17, 2012

Groups of PRI members in Zinacantán municipality, who not so long ago were PRD members, are again harassing the Zapatista community of Jechvó, denying them thejr water supply with violent acts, like they did in 2004, and jailing an autonomous representative. The Good Government Junta Central Heart of the Zapatistas before the World, for the Caracol of Oventic, said: “These are the same people who attacked our compañero and compañera support bases on April 10, 2004, when they went to give some water to our compañeros in the community of Jechvó, because the party members had deprived them of their right to using spring water.”

Remembering the ambush that almost cost the life of several indigenous who were marching that afternoon: “Several compañeros were injured in this attack, with rockets, stones, clubs and firearms, for the crime of giving water to our compañeros. The different authorities didn’t do anything about it. Those people who are looking for a problem over the water,” it is not because they are short it. “There is no reason for what they are doing,” adds the Junta.

Mariano Gómez Pérez, Zapatista base (civilian) from the community, solicited the intervention of the autonomous judge and the Junta, after the “officialists” threatened to cut off their water on September 30. “The autonomous judge sent a letter inviting the PRI agent and some former Zapatistas to deal with the issue on October 7. The letter arrived in the hands of the PRI agent on October 5. Instead of accepting the invitation, the agent and his community planned to detain a compañero and thus cause a provocation”.

They break the silence faced with violations

Gómez remained imprisoned the entire day in reprisal for his notification to the autonomous judge, and later “was taken out of the jail and taken before the authorities and an assembly of more than 100 people,” where they accused him of “other fabricated crimes.” They drove him to the Zinacantán municipal judge, and he (the municipal judge) advised the PRI members not to accept the invitation from the Zapatista judge, and openly “favoured” them.

“Faced with so many injustices, human rights violations and inhumane attitudes” from community and municipal authorities “and the bad state and federal governments,” the Junta warned: “We will not remain silent nor with our arms folded. We will defend what is ours, what belongs to us, our resources and our territories.”

Moreover: “What is indeed clear is the nightmare for the supposed Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero and the supposed president of the Republic, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, of having their hands stained with (the) blood of lots of innocent compañeros; of carrying in their thoughts all the horrors that they have committed. Sabines Guerrero and Calderón Hinojosa are surnames that stain the history of our country, along with many other previous surnames.”

It recapitulates how, since 2003, the Zapatista bases “started to be deprived of their right to water” in Jechvó, Elambó Bajo, Elambó Alto, San Isidro Chaktoj, Jechch’entik and other communities, “by people affiliated with the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) with the objective of making them surrender”. The Junta for the region bought a natural spring and constructed a tank, “which people from the parties, backed up by the official authorities, now (want).” The aggressors are “the same people,” but now they are returning as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, its initials in Spanish).

“Although in lots of propaganda they try to hide their unjust actions, and in the communications media they publish that the government is in favour of justice, democracy, respect and development, and that ‘they are actions and not words’, meanwhile attacks, threats, evictions, unjust incarcerations, violation of rights and persecution are what exist in our towns, yes indeed these are actions and not words,” the Zapatista Junta says. “No matter how much you try to hide rotting flesh, you cannot stop it smelling. And however beautiful its covering may be, you won’t stop it rotting”. The Junta concludes by demanding that the rights of the Zapatista bases be respected.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Thursday, October 18, 2012

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/10/18/politica/020n1pol

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STATEMENT ABOUT THE BAZ OF EJIDO GUADALUPE LOS ALTOS

From Movement for Justice in El Barrio, the Other Campaign New York

Sisters and brothers:

The recent public denunciation from the Good Government Junta “Towards Hope” of La Realidad Trinidad is deeply disturbing while, at the same time, indicative.

These words of our Zapatista sisters and brothers arrived on the evening before the second stage of the “Worldwide Echo”, when dignified rebel hearts from more than 22 countries were preparing to undertake protest actions against the bad government of Mexico, the main “mastermind” – explains the Junta – of this prolonged violence.

With these acts of provocation, in search of even more violence and aggression, the bad government and its local coyotes reveal the depth of their cruel shared stupidity.

From this denunciation we learn, and we repeat, the following facts:

1. As we write these words, six compañeros BAZ have spent weeks in prison on absurd charges made by the ejidal authorities of Guadalupe los Altos, together with the local organization CIOAC HISTORIC: Five of these compañeros were detained on September 30, the last on 4 October.

2. After several attempts in good faith on the part of the Good Government Junta “Towards Hope” to resolve the situation peacefully, the ejidal authorities and leading members of the group CIOAC HISTORIC continue to deprive of their liberty and, at the same time, violate the human rights of our prisoner compañeros: Cesar Aguilar Jiménez, Armando Aguilar Santis, Genaro Aguilar Santis, Delmar Aguilar Santis, Misael Aguilar Vásquez, y Hipólito Aguilar Vásquez.

3. This unjust imprisonment – along with the physical attacks faced by other BAZ communities – is part of the plan of “divide and conquer”, with which the three levels of bad government of Mexico, through provocations and conflicts between communities, continue writing and articulating repression against the Zapatista movement.

This also reveals the true nature of the counterinsurgency war of the bad government, and reminds us that what perhaps may seem like isolated or hostile acts should in reality be seen as a matrix of continual violence directed against the Zapatista resistance and their progress in the construction of autonomy based on dignity, justice, self-determination, and indigenous knowledge. Power always looks after itself.

From El Barrio, New York, we strongly denounce all past, present, and future acts of aggression, violence, provocation and repression against the EZLN support base communities (BAZ). Since the second stage of the International Campaign “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” begins today, we commit ourselves once more to continue to struggle through concrete forms of solidarity to stop this repression and support our Zapatista compañer@s. We invite all other dignified rebel hearts who have been, and will be, born in our Mother Earth, to add their voices and strength to continue building this mirror of dignity for ourselves, others, and everyone, which is called “solidarity.”

The rage that burns our veins is the force that is given to us to keep fighting. We share a piece of ours with every one of you.

Long live Indigenous Resistance!

Long live the EZLN!

RESPECTFULLY:

MOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE IN EL BARRIO

THE OTHER CAMPAIGN NEW YORK

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Denuncia issued: 6 Zapatista Support Bases remain in prison

** Their families are threatened with expulsion if they do not pay “co-operation” money

** The Good Government Junta “Towards Hope” demands the release of the detainees

Members of the Junta de Buen Gobierno in La Garrucha

Photo: Víctor Camacho

By: Hermann Bellinghausen,

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, October12, 2012

The Good Government Junta “Towards Hope” of the Jungle Border region, with its headquarters in La Realidad Trinidad, denounced that six Zapatista support bases from the Tojolabal community of Guadalupe Los Altos (Las Margaritas municipality) remain imprisoned after 12 days for being Zapatistas, and their captors threaten to expel their families. The autonomous government holds responsible for these attacks the leaders of the CIOAC “Historic”: the former PRD deputies Luis Hernández Cruz and José Antonio Vásquez Hernández.

Repeated provocations are made against the EZLN’s support bases by the authorities and inhabitants of Guadalupe Los Altos ejido, who also belong to “the official PRD and PAN parties,” the Junta points out. The Zapatista bases have been harassed for years, and some have been imprisoned a few times. The first time was in April 2000, and the second in April 2010. In both cases, for refusing to participate in actions that did not seem right to them or which were not involved with the ejido.

On December 20, 2011, the officialists [political party members] took plots of land away from two ejido members. The community decided to relocate an official school on one of these plots. The Zapatistas disagreed once again, “they do not get involved in anything that has to do with the bad government and besides, they have their own autonomous school.” One part of the community “analyzed that it would be unfair for our compañeros to participate.” But the following day they invaded their land. They found the brother of the owner of the land and his wife there; they tied him to a tree. On December 23, they detained three more.

Now the officialists have again argued that the autonomous (Zapatistas) must participate in the government’s public works (school, roads). They even “charge” them for the days that the community “lost” through taking care of them as prisoners; including the proceedings against them in the official municipal headquarters. Faced with a new cooperation (fee) “for something in which they are not involved,” the Zapatistas refused. Five were imprisoned last September 30, and one more on October 4. Authorities and CIOAC members are keeping César Aguilar Jiménez, Armando, Genaro and Delmar Aguilar Santis, Misael and Hipólito Aguilar Vásquez deprived of their freedom.

The La Realidad Junta points out that: “in co-operations for the benefit of the community, our compañeros have been involved”, when they are not projects from the “bad government.” They have [committed] no crime, it maintains, “but they provoke us for being Zapatistas in resistance, since this is what the three levels of government teach them and ask them to execute.”

The rebel authorities maintain that they have sought a peaceful solution “by all means.” On October 2, the Junta sent an official letter to the community and its authorities, demanding the release of those detained, “which they ignored.” Instead, “they demanded the presence of the Junta, and, on October 4, it [the Junta] went to the community” and investigated “what was the crime” of their compañeros. The captors exhibited an official record “that they had already elaborated, which said that it was because of an accumulation of co-operations [to an amount] of 430 pesos for each of our compañeros,” but “refused to tell us what they were for.” What the CIOAC members did say to the Junta was that: “our compañeros will be evicted if they don’t comply.” The threat, the Zapatistas warn, if carried out “would lead to new problems.” The officialists insisted that if they do not sign their agreements, the detainees would not be released, “so we can think about where we are going to relocate them, because if we don’t they will continue in jail like any criminals.”

The Junta regrets that “these brothers” do not understand that the government “is taking advantage of their innocence to create problems among the indigenous, and it controls and influences them with its insignificant projects in exchange for committing these acts of injustice and provocation. Unfortunately they don’t realize what these acts can unleash.” And it adds: “We do not want problems. They are not our enemies. We are clear that right will win in the end, and it is not through fear that we do not come to free our compañeros. We understand that is not the way, fighting and beating each other. We do not in any way want to violate human rights, like they do.”

The Junta expresses concern for the health of the detainees. Given the unhealthy conditions of their confinement, four of them “are in very poor health.” And it admits: “We are clear that in that community there are brothers who realize that what they are doing is not just, but through pressure and threats from those that organize these unlawful acts they are made accomplices.”

The ejidal authorities involved are Ranulfo Hernández Aguilar, Ruperto Vásquez Santis, Gerardo Aguilar Jiménez, Ciro Vásquez Rodríguez, Margarito Aguilar López and Lucio Vásquez Aguilar, as well as Carmelino Rodríguez Aguilar and Alejandro Vásquez López, who organize these acts.

The Junta demands the immediate release of its compañeros “so that we do not see ourselves obliged to take other more serious measures. Those people know that our compañeros are not alone, we are going to defend them at all costs.”

Comunicado íntegro de la JBG Hacia La Esperanza

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Saturday, October 13, 2012

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/10/13/politica/016n1pol

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PROTEST AT THE MEXICAN EMBASSY IN LONDON

WORLDWIDE DECLARATION DELIVERED

Today, being the first day of the second phase, “From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression”, of the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” campaign, and also the Day of Indigenous Resistance, a protest was organised at the Mexican Embassy in London, England, by activists from Bristol and Dorset, against the attacks by the bad government of Mexico against the Zapatista communities. News had just broken of a new attack on the community of Guadalupe los Altos, and the imprisonment of 6 Zapatistas.

The following document was delivered to the Embassy:

THE WORLDWIDE DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF THE ZAPATISTAS

The UK Zapatista Solidarity Network, representing groups, individuals and collectives from throughout the United Kingdom, hereby send this message to accompany our presentation of the ‘Worldwide Declaration in support of the Zapatistas of Chiapas, Mexico’ to the Embassy of Mexico in London, England.

We are delivering the Declaration today, Friday 12^th October, 2012, because it is the Day of Indigenous Resistance, and marks the 520^th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas, and the start of the colonial endeavour to destroy the indigenous peoples of these lands. This date also marks the beginning of the second phase of the ‘Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas’ campaign.

The Declaration has been signed by 112 organisations and 162 individuals from 24 different countries, all of whom are shocked and appalled at the blatant acts of violence, abuse, intimidation, harassment and attrition currently being directed against the Zapatista support base communities in Chiapas, Mexico, in violation of theirinalienable right to autonomy as indigenous peoples, as enshrined in the internationally recognized ILO Convention No. 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both of which the government of Mexico has signed.

Since this Declaration was issued in July 2012, there has been an alarming escalation in acts of aggression against Zapatista communities, and 83 members of two villages remain displaced more than five weeks after being attacked by paramilitary groups with firearms, openly supported by the local authorities and police force.

We wish to reiterate our horror and dismay that a government which seeks to portray itself as a model of liberty and justice could openly support such hostilities against its own indigenous people.

WORLDWIDE DECLARATION DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR THE ZAPATISTA COMMUNITIES AND FREEDOM FOR FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ

We view with profound concern, and demand an immediate end to, the continued acts of intimidation and aggression and the human rights abuses being committed against members of the Zapatista support base community in San Marcos Avilés, official municipality of Chilón, Chiapas, Mexico. We also call for the immediate liberation of the Zapatista political prisoner Francisco Sántiz López, who has been jailed since December 2011 in a flagrant abuse of justice.

Responding to the numerous denouncements and calls issued by the Zapatista Good Government Junta of Oventic and the community of San Marcos Avilés, we manifest in this declaration our solidarity with our brothers and sisters there, as well as with Francisco Sántiz López.

We are aware of the very serious new threats being made against the community of San Marcos Avilés by representatives of political parties in the area. Of particular concern are the open and blatant threats of displacement, physical violence, and the on-going climate of hostility promoted by these individuals. We consider such reprehensible aggression to be extremely serious in light of the events of September 2010, when vigilantes from the Green Ecological Party of Mexico (PVEM), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), led by Lorenzo Ruiz Gómez and Vicente Ruiz López, attacked Zapatista support bases, displacing 170 people and destroying their property and crops.

In relation to the case of Francisco Sántiz López, a Zapatista support base from the Banavil ejido of Tenejapa, who was originally detained in December 2011 under false charges of having orchestrated a conflict in Banavil, we affirm the evidence collected by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre and recounted by several witnesses, that he indeed was not present at the location where the events took place on 4th December 2011. His false imprisonment and the continued refusal of local authorities to examine this evidence are, in our view, further indication that the judicial system in Chiapas is wielded as tool of political repression against those who struggle for justice.

In respect to current events in San Marcos Avilés, we demand:

· An immediate end to all death threats, verbal and physical harassment, and threats against the property and well-being of the Zapatista Support Base members by elements of the political parties in the San Marcos Avilés ejido

· Protection for the life and safety of the Zapatista support base members of San Marcos Avilés

· Respect for the Zapatista Support Base community’s inalienable right to autonomy as indigenous peoples, as enshrined in the internationally recognized ILO Convention No. 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both of which the government of Mexico has signed

In respect of the case of Zapatista support base Francisco Sántiz López, we demand his immediate and unconditional release, as well as a swift investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators of violence in Banavil, Tenejapa Municipality, Chiapas.

To our brothers and sisters suffering injustice and violence in Chiapas, we remind you that your struggle is not carried out in silence, nor is it invisible. Indeed, countless individuals, organizations, and communities from around the world remain vigilant regarding your situation and have joined an international campaign in solidarity with your struggle. For our part, from cities across the world we send you a warm embrace, to let you know that we know who you are and what you are fighting for, and to say that we will do whatever we can to support you. We will all continue to make an echo of your just demands, an echo that resonates with the collective heartbeat of the earth.

Signed:

To view the full list of signatures, please click here: https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/worldwide-declaration/

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OVER 300 DAYS IN PRISON: FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ, ZAPATISTA POLITICAL PRISONER, IS INNOCENT!

Originally published by Upside Down World

“His only crime is struggling for his people, telling the truth, and fighting for true democracy, liberty and justice…” says the Good Government Junta (JBG)[i] of Oventic of their compañero Francisco Sántiz Lόpez, who has been unjustly imprisoned in the state penitentiary in San Cristόbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, since 4^th December 2011. On 29^th September 2012, a week before his 57^th birthday, Francisco completed 300 days behind bars for a crime it has been proven he did not commit.

Though all the current news of attacks, threats and sieges faced by the Zapatista communities in rebellion have tended to overshadow Francisco’s story, it is a story that deserves to be told and understood widely. It reflects the recent history of indigenous peoples, their struggle for democracy, liberty and justice, and the unceasing attempts during the last 520 years to wipe them, and all they represent, from the face of the earth. The dignified struggle of Francisco and all the Zapatistas echoes that story to the world.

“Although the bad governments and political parties never tire of saying that there is no injustice or violation of human rights,” comments the Junta, “we wonder what kind of freedom, justice, peace and respect they are talking about, when their prisons are full of innocent people, when our communities and towns are filled with threats, abuse, assaults, harassments, displacements and devastation wrought by paramilitaries and people from different political parties…”

Francisco Sántiz Lόpez

Francisco is an indigenous Tzeltal[ii] campesino from the ejido[iii] of Banavil, in the municipality of Tenejapa in the Highland region in the north of Chiapas. By all accounts he is well respected locally, and is someone community members turn to for advice and support. He has been a Zapatista support base (BAZ) for more than twenty years, since before the uprising of 1994. He is, says the Junta, “an honest person who always fulfils his responsibilities in his community and organisation”. He lives in Banavil with his wife and family, and makes his living by running a fruit and vegetable stall in the municipal capital of Tenejapa. His letters reveal him to be a deeply committed and spiritual person, deriving comfort and inspiration from his faith.

Banavil

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) explains the background, “since 2009 there have been acts of harassment by the PRI[iv] group towards families sympathetic to the EZLN, due to their opposition to the arbitrary actions committed by PRI-affiliated caciques[v]. Examples of these actions are: the looting of lands, illegal logging, the imposition of arbitrary taxes and co-operative work, threats and abuse, physical assault, and denial of the right to education…all of which have been denounced by the victims before the appropriate authorities, who have failed to take any action. There has been noinvestigation….or punishment of those responsible and the authorities do not intervene to resolve the situation or guarantee legal or social security in the Banavil ejido”.

This situation of tension and intimidation is not unique to the Tenejapa area; indeed it must be set in the context of similar activities promoted, under the protection and with the encouragement of the three levels of government, by armed political party members, organised in paramilitary style groups, throughout the area of Zapatista influence.

The attack

The simmering situation in the ejido Banavil came to a head in the early morning of 4^thDecember 2011, when 50 PRI supporters, with firearms, clubs and machetes, made a fierce and prolonged attack on four families “sympathetic to the EZLN”. They surrounded and broke into the house of Alonso Lόpez Luna, who was beaten and taken away. Only his arm has been found. Alonso’s son, Lorenzo Lόpez Girόn, was shot twice while trying to defend his father, and at least six other people were injured. During the confrontation, one of its two main instigators, Pedro Méndez Lόpez of the PRI, was killed.

As a direct result of this assault, the four aggrieved families were, and remain, displaced; they are, according to Frayba, in “a critical situation” with “inhuman housing conditions”and some of the PRI members who attacked them are occupying their lands.

Despite the fact that the true culprits have been widely identified, by the victims, the Junta and even by Frayba, no investigation has been carried out into the disappearance of Alonso Lόpez Luna, the shooting of his son, or the destruction of the homes and the displacement of the four families, even though the culprits have been widely identified. However, two people were arrested, charged and detained, on the very day of the attack, for the murder of the PRI leader, Pedro Méndez Lόpez: these were the seriously wounded Lorenzo Lόpez Girόn, and the Zapatista support base Francisco Sántiz Lόpez, who many witnesses affirm was elsewhere at the time of the incident.

On 4^th December, 2011, Francisco was, as usual, working at his market stall selling fruit and vegetables in the town of Tenejapa – a considerable distance from Banavil. The displaced family of the missing Alonso have said clearly, “At the time of the attack, compañero Francisco was at his fruit stall at the county headquarters. Some of us went there to ask for his help”. In addition, they add, “we were not the ones who attacked the party members, they came to our homes and attacked us”.

It was at his market stall that Francisco was arrested. He was accused of homicide, and of“leading a confrontation”. No reason was ever given for his being arrested. There was no weapon in his possession, and, as Frayba point out, there is no evidence of any kind putting him in possession of a firearm or other weapon at any time, despite the accusations against him.

The JBG of Oventic have made clear that there are twelve witnesses willing and able to testify that Francisco was not involved in the confrontation. Since this time, Francisco has been held in the penitentiary the State Centre for the Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced (CERSS) No 5, while “the caciques, who are organising attacks of every kind, are living freely in their homes”.

A new charge

On 22 March, 2012, Francisco and Lorenzo were told that they had been cleared of the charges and were to be released. Just as they were leaving the prison, Francisco was stopped and rearrested, this time on a federal charge: that of carrying a weapon reserved for the exclusive use of the Mexican army and armed forces. The JBG responded: “as we know well, those who carry firearms for the exclusive use of the army are not the Zapatistas, they are the paramilitaries from the different communities”.

This crime is equivalent to that of murder and aggravated assault in terms of sentencing, and conveniently enabled the state government to make a statement to La Jornada [vi] that Francisco’s imprisonment was now outside their control. The newspaper commented that Francisco was being kept as “a virtual political hostage, and possible currency for exchange”. “Independent lawyers, human rights organisations and autonomous Zapatista authorities have confirmed…Francisco’s innocence, and place responsibility on the government for keeping …him imprisoned for political reasons and to cover up for the presence of paramilitary groups…in Tenejapa”.

Lorenzo was able to return home. When he left prison, despite having been detained for over 3 months, the two bullets were still in his body. He had received no medical treatment apart from painkillers, had difficulty walking, and was in great pain.

The criminalisation of autonomy and the repression of justice

In August 2012, Frayba issued a bulletin[vii] of denouncement detailing the violations of due process against Francisco Sántiz Lόpez, and their fears that a judicial sentence will be issued against him. “During the arrest and prosecution of Francisco the following human rights have been violated: personal liberty, presumption of innocence, judicial guarantees, a fair trial, and the protection of the law…..this is evidence of his persecution for the political work he has been performing in the Highlands of Chiapas…”

In this document Frayba issue a stunning condemnation: “the Mexican state is using the system of law enforcement and justice administration to criminalise the support bases of the EZLN, because they are disturbed by their progress in the right to self-determination through Zapatista autonomy, founded in the San Andrés Accords and the international benchmarks: ILO 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”.

This continued imprisonment of an innocent man, they believe, amounts to political persecution and the suppression of justice. They continue to say that in the detention order the judge neither acknowledged the statements of the witnesses, nor of the local authorities, which confirmed “that the arrest took place in the county seat of Tenejapa, which means, therefore, that Francisco was not in Banavil at the time of the attacks”.There is, they add, absolutely no evidence that Francisco “was carrying the weapon referred to”.

The last Zapatista prisoner before Francisco was Patricio Domínguez Vázquez, from the community of ejido Monte Redondo, Comalapa, who was freed without charge on the 6^thJune 2011, following worldwide actions in his support. Before Patricio, Miguel Hernández Pérez, Diego Martínez Santis y Miguel Méndez Santis, from Pozo in the official municipality of C’ancuc, were imprisoned for over 3 months in 2010, before also being released without charge.

As the Movement for Justice in El Barrio (MJB) tellingly point out to us all: “We know that it is no coincidence that in Mexico, as well as here in the United States, the jails and prisons are filled almost exclusively with those from below – indigenous, migrants, black, poor, Latino, women and men, and all marginalized groups – since only the true criminals could benefit from this misery: the multinational corporations and their political lackeys. Those from above believe that people who struggle must be crushed and encaged.”

Support for Francisco and for all the Zapatistas

Francisco has become an emblematic figure, representing the struggle of all those who the system is attempting to crush. Are we prepared to look on while this occurs and do nothing? How many more times must this happen?

People around the world have been enraged at the case of Francisco, and at the concerted efforts by the three levels of the bad government in Mexico to demoralise, terrify and coerce the Zapatistas to abandon their struggle for autonomy. To co-ordinate these voices, the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” campaign,convoked by the Movement for Justice in El Barrio, the Other Campaign New York, was launched at the end of July 2012 with an urgent call for action.[viii]

As well as the liberation of Francisco, the Echo Campaign also “aims to raise awareness about the dire situation faced by the besieged BAZ communities of Comandante Abel[ix], Unión Hidalgo, San Marcos Avilés, and Moisés Gandhi”. These communities are currently being attacked, or threatened with attack, by paramilitary-style groups who operate with complete impunity under the protection of the government security forces. The groups, which are made up of indigenous members of local political parties, operate at will, destroying the homes and possessions of the BAZ and stealing their land, crops and livestock. Their aim is to dispossess them of their land and territory and take it over for their own use, build their own houses, and indeed, destroy the entire Zapatista organisation, as part of the government’s 19 year campaign of counterinsurgency against the movement.

Of Francisco, the Echo campaign states: “our compañero Francisco Sántiz López has been imprisoned for crimes that he did not commit. His only offence, as has been stated over and over again, is that of being a Zapatista Support Base member. For this reason, he is being held as a hostage of the Mexican State.”

Asked about the progress of the campaign so far, Teresa Lopez, of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, responded:
“Since the launch of the Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas campaign, many Committees of the True Word have formed throughout the world. In fact, many people organising actions have never been active in the struggle before. This shows that support for Francisco and the Zapatistas, in general, is increasing. This growth of organized support will ensure that we achieve the freedom and justice for Francisco that we all seek.”

Why does the Mexican state so badly want to destroy the Zapatistas?

“There is no doubt,” says the Junta, “that the manufacture of crimes against Francisco….was planned, organised and run from the three levels of bad government. They are trying at all costs to prevent the construction of the autonomy of the indigenous peoples in Zapatista territory….and to annihilate our organisation and the dignity of our people.”

To do this, they are intending to steal the Zapatistas’ lands, the basis of everything, and by continual day and night harassment to provoke a reaction from them.

The well- known Mexican activist and intellectual, Gustavo Esteva, explains the situation very well in his message to the Echo Campaign:

“We are in World War IV. It is not a war between countries. It is a war of those from above against those from below. Because we, those from below, are now walking in rebellion… because we are no longer willing to let them continue to destroy our Mother Earth, and to continue to kill and imprison us they have unleashed a continuous war against us, from outside and inside, making it more and more difficult for us to live. They want to turn the whole world into a prison.

“Both Francisco Sántiz López and San Marcos Avilés are frontlines in this great war that escalates daily in the Zapatista communities. It is urgent to show ourselves on the side of our compañeros…. The threat is immediate…..It is the time for resistance. And to resist is to struggle in common, together, in the embrace of solidarity.”

As for the Zapatistas themselves, they have no intention of giving up:

“We want to make clear to the three levels of bad government and the people they have paid, controlled and manipulated, that whatever it costs us, no matter what happens, we will continue, because reason and justice are on our side”.

“It is,” says Hugo Blanco, the renowned Peruvian political activist, in his message to the Echo Campaign, entitled: ‘to those who search for a free world’, “in the direct interests of humanity to defend the island of freedom that is the Zapatista area.”

For more information:

Video-message from the JBG of Oventic about Francisco:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXuVyJ5YdfA&feature=player_embedded

Information on Francisco:

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/francisco/

The Echo Campaign:

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com

For what you can do:

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/what-you-can-do/

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/materials/

[i] Junta (JBG), Council of Zapatista rotating authorities who “govern by obeying” https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/communique/

[ii] Mayan language-speaking indigenous group

[iii] Ejido, communal landholding

[iv] Political party

[v] Chiefs

[vi] Mexican daily newspaper https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/press

[vii] https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/francisco/

[viii] https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/1st-call-to-action/

[ix] https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/about-the-community-of-comandante-abel/

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A judge recognizes his innocence, but Sántiz remains in prison

Companions and visitors sing mañanitas to the Zapatista

Hermann Bellinghausen

La Jornada

Monday October 8, 2012

Los Llanos, Chiapas, October 7. Francisco Sántiz López has been a prisoner for all of this year, accused of charges which the judge ruled to be unfounded. If he is still detained in this state prison number five, it is clearly to send a message. Is it because he is a base of support of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation? Or is it just because the PRI caciques (chiefs) of Banavil and Tenejapa are so powerful that they can overwhelm the state and federal courts with bribes and grossly fabricated evidence?

There seems to be no other explanation for the fact that this man of 54, a fruit vendor in the municipal seat of Tenejapa, where he lives with his family, and a Zapatista support base (but not a miliciano, it is pointed out) since 1992, remains in the State Centre for the Social Reintegration of the Convicted (CERSS) on charges for which he was acquitted six months ago (and therefore he is not convicted).

Not that Francisco Sántiz is an obscure or unknown prisoner. He has supporters who are convinced of his innocence in over 20 countries ranging from South Africa to Japan, from the extreme south of Argentina to the heights of Norway. As they see it, with his baseball cap and his rhythmic silence, he is a famous man. Outside the prison he is not alone. Nor is he alone inside: he is part of the occupation of the organized prisoners from the other campaign, struggling like he is to be released, because that would be justice. They are also well-known, at least in the world of international solidarity, but not as renowned as Francisco, who along with Alberto Patishtán (who was in this occupation a few days ago) is recognized as emblematic of the struggle for justice and against discrimination. Both highlight how, in Chiapas, innocent indigenous end up as prisoners.

Sántiz López was charged in December with taking part in violent acts recorded in the community of Banavil, where two people were killed. Six Tzeltal families were expelled and today are still taking refuge in San Cristobal de las Casas.

The Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba), which has taken the case, recently said that the detention order from the first federal judge in Chiapas did not give value to the testimony of witnesses or authorities which say that the arrest took place in the county seat, and that Francisco was not in Banavil at the time of the attacks. Nor has it been proved that he had used a gun.

Currently, explains Frayba, Francisco is charged with the crime of possession of a firearm for use by the army and armed forces, while the charges of murder and aggravated assault were withdrawn on March 22, to remove the criminal action from the [jurisdiction of] the public prosecutors (Ministerio Público).

So, Sántiz López was notified of his release, and when he was leaving the prison a hurried new indictment based on evidence provided by the same caciques who had testified falsely in December and had been responsible for the two murders in Banavil. This charge provided the opportunity to take Francisco, just as he set foot on the street, and return him to his cell, or rather to the occupation among his compañeros, who today, with his Sunday visitors, sang, accompanied by guitar, traditional songs (Las Mañanitas) for his birthday.

One arm is not enough evidence

The weapons which prove the new charge belong to the caciques Alonso López Ramirez and Agustín Méndez Luna (former mayor of Tenejapa), and his followers. These would be the same people who attacked those who today are the displaced of Banavil. The state government has already compensated the aggressors for the accidental death of one of their own. An arm belonging to the dead man from the families of the displaced was found on the mountain; the rest of his body has disappeared, but nobody has investigated this crime. An arm is not sufficient evidence of a crime (corpus delicti), the judge told the relatives. Unlike his fellow prisoners, Francisco speaks little but is convinced that they cut him into pieces.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/10/08/index.php?section=politica&article=022n1pol

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Groups from the PRI and PVEM Invade Zapatista communities and Stir Up Agrarian Conflicts

** EZLN sympathizers have not gone through the process of titling their lands because they are in resistance

** Paramilitary attacks are added to displacements by political parties

** The Good Government Junta in Oventic has suffered attacks

Photo: Víctor Camacho

By: Hermann Bellinghausen,

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, October 4, 2012

The rise of paramilitaries in Chiapas is accompanied by a substratum of alleged agrarian conflicts, most of them unfounded but fuelled by politicians from the parties and government officials, and directed against lands recuperated by the support bases of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN, its initials in Spanish), the majority occupied and worked by rebel communities for 10 or 15 years now. In particular groups from the PRI, and recently the PVEM, using it as electoral spoils, invade or threaten to invade, plots of land and even Zapatista villages, taking advantage of the fact that they, by remaining in resistance, do not process any agrarian titling with the State, because they follow their revolutionary laws through the Good Government Juntas (Juntas).

An analysis, which has been seen by La Jornada, documents these “conflicts” and identifies the invader or aggressor groups: PRI, PVEM, PRD, PAN, or rather organizations like Paz y Justicia (and its derivatives: Uciaf and Opddic), Orcao, Cioac or Aric. In one very recent denunciation, Las Abejas confirmed the reactivation of “Máscara Roja” (Red Mask) in Chenalhó, who have been identified as the perpetrators of the Acteal Massacre in 1997. Other Campaign communities (Jotolá, Mitzitón, San Sebastián Bachajón) are also attacked through religious “conflicts” (Ejército de Dios) or ejidal differences.

This is the scenario inherited by the PVEM-PRI alliance, headed by Manuel Velasco Coello, which shortly will govern the state. Most of the paramilitary groups, agrarian invaders and municipal governments involved belong to their ranks.

In an analysis, the investigator Arturo Lomelí identifies the principal places (not the only ones) where offences and unsolved crimes have taken place in recent years, especially from 2010 to 2012. He points out in there that, starting in 1994, between 250,000 and 750,000 hectares (there is no conclusive data) [1] were occupied in Ocosingo, Chilón, Sitalá, Yajalón, Tila, Tumbalá, Sabanilla, Salto de Agua, Palenque, Altamirano, Las Margaritas and Comitán, among other municipalities. Under the protection of the Zapatista rebellion, OCEZ, Cioac, ARIC, CNPA, OPEZ, Xinich, Orcao and Tsoblej, side by side with the Zapatistas, “recuperated” and founded new communities. In 2000, when leaders of these organizations were incorporated into the state or municipal government, “they were given the task of regularizing (legalizing) the plots of land, and as the Zapatistas did not enter into those negotiations, the organizations claimed their plots of land.” These organizations are the electoral base of the parties –Lomelí maintains– and the dynamics of betrayal initiated by Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía were maintained under Juan Sabines Guerrero.

The conflicts involve the five Juntas. The Junta of Morelia has been very busy. Primero de Enero community (Lucio Cabañas autonomous municipality) was invaded in August 2011 by Orcao members, who had already obtained lands thanks to the Zapatista Uprising. As in other cases, after 2000 they abandoned their agreement to “recuperate” and reached agreement with the government in return for programs and more of the Zapatistas’ land. Orcao has also advanced against Los Mártires (Lucio Cabañas).

Other communities and plots of Zapatista land under siege are Bolón Ajaw and Santa Rosalía. In Agua Clara (Comandanta Ramona autonomous municipality) “dangerous criminals operate, advised by the ex military Carlos Jiménez López.” In 2010, residents of Nueva Virginia, Jalisco and Getzemaní, members of the Cioac and the PRD “entered onto Campo Alegre recuperated land where the autonomous municipalities of Lucio Cabañas, Comandanta Ramona and 17 de Noviembre are working,” according to the same Junta. In addition, 33 Zapatista families were dispossessed of their rights in Aldama, and the attacks against the support bases in Olga Isabel and K’an Akil persist; they have even been shot at by “paramilitaries of Opddic,” who also have attacked the new 21 de Abril community.

The La Garrucha Junta denounced that the Puerto Arturo and San José Las Flores neighborhoods seek to take away 178 hectares of recuperated land from Nuevo Purísima (Francisco Gómez autonomous municipality) in Ocosingo. They also denounced aggressions and detentions of Zapatistas by paramilitaries in Peña Limonar, as well as plunder in Laguna San Pedro, violence in Casa Blanca and harassment in Toniná. Groups from Las Conchitas and P’ojcol (Chilón), as well as Guadalupe Victoria, who are “paramilitaries,” according to the Junta, members of Orcao and of political parties, violently occupied recuperated lands in Nuevo Paraíso (Francisco Villa autonomous municipality).

In the Northern Zone, the situation is alarming, according to reports from the Junta of Roberto Barrios. Last year, Zapatistas in San Patricio (La Dignidad autonomous municipality) were displaced from their lands by villagers from Ostealukum, El Paraíso, El Calvario and Rancho Guadalupe (Sabanilla). The autonomous Zapatistas then founded Comandante Abel, but this September they were expelled, with support from the police and the state government, as well as from Unión Hidalgo. A few years ago, in Choles de Tumbalá (El Trabajo autonomous municipality), there were houses burned and persecution by members of Xinich-Official.

The Junta of La Realidad documented how in the Monte Redondo ejido (Frontera Comalapa), EZLN support bases of Tierra y Libertad autonomous municipality were plundered of milpas and coffee fields by people from the PVEM, PRD and PRI political parties, who even sold plots of land to third parties. Other aggressions come from the PAN organization, known as Aciac, against Che Guevara community, and in Espíritu Santo by people from the PRD, Cioac and PRI. And in Veracruz (community), there were attacks on the warehouse belonging to San Pedro de Michoacán autonomous municipality.

Lastly, the Oventic Junta confronts a grave conflict in San Marcos Avilés (Chilón), where its bases have been attacked, expelled or robbed by “Greens,” and both PRD and PRI members. In El Pozo, Cruztón and Ts’uluwits (San Juan Apóstol Cancuc autonomous municipality), as well as in Zinacantán, the PRI and PRD members have not stopped harassing the Zapatistas.

____________

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Saturday, October 6, 2012

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/10/06/politica/017n1pol

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

FROM SOUTH AFRICA: VIDEO MESSAGE IN SUPPORT OF THE ZAPATISTAS

In a powerful new video message, Zodwa and Mnikelo, members of South Africa’s largest grassroots movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (the Shack Dwellers Movement), send heart-felt messages of hope and solidarity to the numerous Zapatista communities currently facing severe government-backed repression, to the Zapatista political prisoner Francisco Sántiz López, to the women Zapatista, and to the women of the world. Deeply familiar with the destructive and painful impact of repression, since its founding in 2005, the Shack Dwellers Movement has itself endured constant attacks, including forced displacement, arbitrary arrests, destruction of property, and even deaths, orchestrated by forces of the local government. Reflecting on these experiences, our compas from South Africa affirm that since the primary goal of all repression is to break our bonds as movements and communities, we must stay united and firm in our commitments and see our struggles as one.

On behalf of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, it is with great pleasure that we share this video-message with you. We ask that you please share and circulate this message as widely as possible. Thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMmwS4ju1PU&feature=youtu.be

*************

STATEMENT BY MOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE IN EL BARRIO CONCERNING
THE ZAPATISTA COMMUNITIES OF COMANDANTE ABEL AND UNION HIDALGO

Compañeras and compañeros:

We, the women, men, Mexican immigrants of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, add our humble word to openly and fully denounce the violent invasion and acts of aggression that the bad government – through its paramilitary coyote groups – is carrying out against the Zapatista Support Bases of Comandante Abel and Unión Hidalgo.

The violence began on September 6^th and persists to the present day. Among the revolting aggressions committed include the forced displacement of both communities and the ensuing illnesses that they are now suffering.

In accordance with the wise words of the Junta de Buen Gobierno “Nueva Semilla Que Va a Producir” (Good Government Council – New Seed that Will Produce), these aggressive attacks are ordered by the bad government of Mexico and form part of its “plan of counter-insurgency to weaken our people’s resistance.”

For over 18 years, they have been trying to extinguish the Zapatista Movement and, thereby, advance their projects of destruction, war, hunger, and death.

What can we do in light of this threat?

We must organize. We must grow stronger by combining our forces.

The task of organizing is absolutely urgent. We must organize everywhere. We must walk behind our compas, not only to follow their footprints, but to ensure that the liberation and autonomy that they are building may be ours as well. We must fight back from our respective corners of the world, under their leadership, as compañer@s in the struggle that we are.

We shall continue to construct strong support networks to back the Zapatista communities, today and always, and to take strategic action against the bad government. We shall disseminate the true word of our compas.

Let us, today and tomorrow, echo their “ENOUGH!” which awoke in us rage and courage.

Pressure, words, and protest are our tools in this struggle. Now is the time to use them against our shared enemy.

ENOUGH OF THE LIES!
ENOUGH OF THE REPRESION!
LONG LIVE THE ZAPATISTAS!

sincerely,

Movement for Justice in El Barrio
The Other Campaign New York

*************

WORLDWIDE CALL TO ACTION FOR THE ZAPATISTAS OF COMANDANTE ABEL, UNIÓN HIDALGO, GUADALUPE LOS ALTOS, SAN MARCOS AVILÉS, MOISÉS GANDHI, JECHVÓ, AND FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ

WORLDWIDE ECHO IN SUPPORT OF THE ZAPATISTAS

From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression

October 12th until November 17th
To our sisters and brothers of Comandante Abel:

To our sisters and brothers of Unión Hidalgo:

To our BAZ sisters and brothers of Guadalupe los Altos:

To our sisters and brothers of Moisés Gandhi:

To our sisters and brothers of San Marcos Avilés:

To our sisters and brothers of Jechvó:

To our sisters and brothers, the family members and allies of Francisco Sántiz López:

To our Zapatista sisters and brothers:

To the Committees of the True Word in Mexico and the World:

To our compañer@s of The Other Campaign:

To our compañer@s of the Zezta Internazional:

To our compañer@s, adherents to the International Campaign in Defense of El Barrio and all our allies from around the world:

To Civil Society in Mexico and in the world:

The following is an urgent call to action from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, to carry out the:

Second Phase:

From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas”

Sisters and brothers:

To all our compañer@s, we send warm greetings and embraces on behalf of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York.

In response to the global demand for justice inspired by the recent acts of provocation and hostility, which are each time more savage, against the Zapatista Support Base Communities (BAZ) at the hands of the bad government and its armed death packs, it is with anguished and troubled hearts that we write these words, which are for your immediate consideration:

The appalling increase in acts of repression against the Zapatista Support Base communities of Comandante Abel, Unión Hidalgo, the BAZ of Guadalupe los Altos, Moisés Gandhi, and Jechvó, in addition to the ongoing terror and threats of displacement endured by the San Marcos Avilés community, has been alarmingly violent. As a direct consequence of the invasions and violence of the attack groups “Peace and Justice” and the Regional Coffee Growers Organization of Ocosingo (Orcao), which operate in paramilitary fashion and as coyotes of the bad government, there are displaced BAZ populations, destruction and theft of food and personal belongings, and profound suffering. Recently, as part of the bad government’s long-term “divide and conquer” strategy, in the ejido Guadalupe los Altos, authorities and leaders of the ejido Guadalupe los Altos and the organization CIOAC HISTORICA unjustly arrested six compañeros BAZ. Manipulated by the bad government, these leaders and authorities seek to promote conflict between BAZ and non-BAZ, to try to weaken the Zapatista resistance.

As such, our compas from the Juntas de Buen Gobierno (Good Government Councils) and the affected communities have issued numerous denouncements and have urgently called for the mobilization of global solidarity actions targeting all levels of the bad government of Mexico.

In light of this, and given the continued threat of forced displacement hanging over San Marcos Avilés, it is incumbent upon us to add and bring together all of our hands and voices to prevent another act of aggression from happening against our compas from San Marcos Avilés.

If those from above believe that they can continue waging their violent war against our Zapatista sisters and brothers without repercussions, they are deeply mistaken. This time around, the dignified peoples of the world will have their say.

Before the growing global demand for justice and an end to the current and possible attacks, we are writing to you to propose that we join forces once more to carry out the Second Phase: “From Truth to Action, Stopping the Repression.” This new phase is different from its predecessor – which sought to raise awareness in our communities about the dire situation that our Zapatista support base compas, and the Zapatista political prisoner, Francisco Sántiz López, are facing – in that it will be a period of direct action and protest from October 12 to November 17. As you will understand, these dates were chosen for their great significance in the history of indigenous struggles throughout the world: the Day of Indigenous Resistance and the anniversary of the Birth of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

During this second phase, we call on all dignified and rebel hearts to join in the struggle in solidarity with our Zapatista compañer@s. We invite you to organize protests against the bad government of Mexico in all its local and international offices, if and when possible. In places where this is not possible, we propose that you continue walking the true word, spreading information about these urgent situations and our solidarity campaign, by organizing informative events and constant activities.

If you would like to join our efforts and accept our proposal, please let us know as soon as possible by sending an e-mail to:

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/1st-call-to-action/

For further background and to keep up-to-date with the phases and developments in this campaign, we invite everyone to read the first call to action, released on July 25, which is available here:

SECOND CALL TO ACTION

“FROM TRUTH TO ACTION, STOPPING THE REPRESSION”

First and foremost, we would like to thank all the people who are continuing to give light and life to this worldwide campaign, which for more than two months now we have been creating and shaping together. Thank you for sharing this path with us and for continuing to walk alongside us.

Since its beginning at the end of July, when the first call to action was released, the“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas” International Campaign has been a meeting point for thousands of people of good heart who have responded to the call of the Zapatistas for support and solidarity.

In addition, in many countries, solidarity cells called “Committees of the True Word” have been organized around this meeting point, and are continuing to build support networks and raise public awareness about the repression currently being faced by the Zapatista support base communities and the Zapatista political prisoner Sántiz López.

More of these “Committees” continue to be set up every day, as more groups and people of good conscience join the campaign.

Together, we have all started the work of, to borrow a phrase from the wise Old Antonio, “walking the true word,” by organizing in our respective communities, ejidos, towns, neighborhoods, and countries to sow the words of San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López like seeds which will grow, in their turn, into a struggle to support them.

More and more people are finding each other every day, seeking and meeting in the darkness and obscurity of lies and indifference, which those from above have constructed in order to keep us divided. Fumbling in the dark, we continue to meet each other, and searching, day after day, for a way to break through into the light. As our ancestors say, our collective words contain the essence of life on this planet: memory – and, once spoken and shared, our words become fire.

We remember that this darkness was both born in and gave rise to, that time the EZLN describe as “the long night of those 500 years.” While the political, economic, cultural, and social systems of those from above continue to move our lives and Mother Earth closer towards total extinction, the resistances of those from below continue to build other exits to escape this obscurity.

To prevent us from joining hands and rising from this darkness, those from above have committed to douse out all the lights radiating from dignified people. This is why they are deploying their strategies of violence and destruction, and are attacking, imprisoning, repressing, assaulting, violating, robbing, silencing, and lying to us.

This is also why those from above, the creators of this long night, have chosen as their main target the indigenous peoples of the world, who have made significant contributions to the struggle against the darkness.

Faced with this threat of planetary extinction, we must mobilize urgently to defend each and every light that illuminates our path towards the construction of another possible world. And as the True Word was and is the first form of light, it is vital that we defend those words which Old Antonio tells us were the first three in every language:“democracy, freedom, justice.”

It is no coincidence that these three words cannot be found in the governments, jails, schools, mass media, or the other institutions serving the privileges of those from above. Nor is it a coincidence that these same three words are alive, in many different ways, among the dignified people from below, especially the indigenous people of Mexico and the world. While those from above continue to attack and destroy these lights, we will continue to defend and create more lights, more solutions, more worlds.

Even though those from above are using the lies which give the night its darkness to keep us divided, in our hearts we carry that which makes the light shine…This is called truth.

In order to actively support the defense of the light that shines from the Zapatistas, an exemplary indigenous movement, whose struggle has always been for and with both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples alike, we call on and invite everyone once again to join this campaign, and to carry out its second phase, which will consist of a month of strategic and direct actions.

Beginning on October 12, the Day of Indigenous Resistance, and lasting untilNovember 17, the Anniversary of the Birth of the EZLN, we invite everyone to organize actions – according to our own ways and abilities – in our respective communities and countries during this period, so as to echo the call of the indigenous Zapatista communities of Comandante Abel, Unión Hidalgo, the BAZ of Guadalupe los Altos, San Marcos Avilés, Moisés Gandhi, Jechvó, and the indigenous Zapatista political prisoner Francisco Sántiz López.

During these days of action, compas, let us unite, honor, remember, and support all the Zapatista communities and in particular, the following ones, as they are presently under siege:

· Comandante Abel: Beginning on September 6th and 7th, and until the present, the paramilitary group “Peace and Justice” has carried out an armed invasion into Zapatista territory in the Comandante Abel ejido (BAZ). As a result, the entire community was violently displaced and several people were missing for some time while they sought refuge from the violence. Many remain severely ill. The Zapatistas’ land remains occupied by the aggressors, who are currently constructing their own houses as a way to perpetuate the occupation.

· Unión Hidalgo: Similarly, this Zapatista community was displaced by the violent aggressions of “Peace and Justice.” With the use of firearms, the aggressors have managed to occupy and expand their invasion throughout a significant section of the community. The situation is made worse because many compas are ill.

· BAZ of the ejido Guadalupe los Altos: Six BAZ compañeros were arrested under absurd charges made by the ejidal authorities of Guadalupe los Altos together with the local organization CIOAC HISTORIC: Five of these Zapatista compañeros were arrested on the 30th September, and the last compañero on 4th October. They are: Cesar Aguilar Jiménez, Armando Aguilar Santis, Genaro Aguilar Santis, Misael Aguilar Vásquez and Hipólito Aguilar Vásquez.

· Moisés Gandhi: Throughout the month of August, the Zapatista Support Base members of this community have suffered violent attacks and threats of forced displacement by the group of “coyotes” called the Regional Coffee Growers Organization of Ocosingo (Orcao).

· Jechvó: In October, groups of PRI militants started harassing the Zapatista Bases of Support of Jechvó, Zinacantan, violently denying them access to their own water source.

· As our compas from San Marcos Avilés detail in their video-message, available below, they have lived in a constant nightmare at the hands of a local attack group, with backing from political party members, for having opened their own autonomous school “Emiliano Zapata” in 2010. From forced displacement to sexual assault, these compas have suffered numerous forms of violence and repression solely for wanting to live with dignity and freedom as indigenous peoples.
Their video-message, which has already had over 36,000 views, can be watched here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-8CBt3Vkg
At the same time, our compañero Francisco Sántiz López, a Zapatisa Support Base member and indigenous Tzeltal, has been imprisoned since December 2011 for crimes that he did not commit. His only offense, as has been stated over and over again, is that of being a Zapatista Support Base member. For this reason, he is being held as a hostage of the Mexican State.

For more background, please consult the video-message from the Zapatistas about Francisco Sántiz López here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXuVyJ5YdfA&feature=plcp

For those who wish to learn more about the background and progress of this campaign, we invite you to visit the campaign website which contains extensive information about the besieged BAZ communities, such as Comandante Abel, San Marcos Avilés, and the BAZ of Guadalupe los Altos, here:

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/
We hope that the videos and website continue to be useful tools in this struggle, which is already spoken in 10 languages and is seen in dozens of countries the world over. Hopefully it will continue to grow, reaching new places and peoples.

In closing, if you accept this proposal and will participate in the Second Phase, we ask that you please let us know as soon as possible by sending an email to:

From our brown and dignified hearts, from this Barrio of migrants, we send you our warmest greetings and embraces.

FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR THE ZAPATISTA COMMUNITIES
AND FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ!

LONG LIVE THE ZAPATISTAS!

LONG LIVE THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES!

With love and solidarity,
Movement for Justice in Barrio

The Other Campaign New York

*********

IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF SAN MARCOS AVILÉS AND FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”

Sisters and brothers:

Please receive warm greetings and hugs from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York. We would like to share with you this important news report on the progress of our campaign “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz Lopez”.

To summarize, the first phase, “Walking the True Word”, is being extended until 11 October due to the overwhelming interest generated by it. Immediately after, in recognition of the Day of Indigenous Resistance, October 12, the second stage, that of worldwide action, will begin. Lasting over a month, this second phase will end on November 17, in honour of the historic birth of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), which was formed on that day in 1983.

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, THE FIRST PHASE IS BEING EXTENDED

First of all, we would like to thank everyone who has called for the First Phase, “Walking the True Word”, of the campaign to be extended. Because of this, this phase is being extended and will continue for the entire month of September and until 11 October, to give us all even more time to disseminate information on the situation of San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz Lopez, and to invite others to join this campaign in time for the start of the second phase.

It has been a month now since we started this struggle, and already many “Committees of the True Word” have been born in many parts of our planet, with their main responsibility to carry and sow the names and faces of “San Marcos Avilés” and “Francisco Sántiz Lopez” as seeds of dignity and rebellion.

Day after day, solidarity actions and activities are being carried out in communities, neighborhoods, towns, and villages in many corners of the world. In order to disseminate the histories and realities which our Zapatista compas are suffering, dignified people from many countries have been working on getting the word out and building networks of support and solidarity to contribute positively to the defense of the EZLN Support Base community of San Marcos Avilés and the struggle to free Francisco Sántiz Lopez.

We can see that, in this way, we are consolidating our forces and exposing the lies coming out of the mouth of the bad government of Mexico, in order to take concrete action in defense of that other possible world which the Zapatista communities have been building through their project of autonomy.

As mentioned above, the second phase of our international campaign, “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz Lopez”, will take place from October 12 to November 17. These dates were chosen for their historical significance. They are symbols of our various struggles and a compass pointing towards a dignified future. The peoples of the world, in spite of the more than 500 years of oppression they have experienced, not only still live, but are key players in the struggles for a better, dignified and rebel world. In their resistance and struggle for autonomy, the EZLN are planting seeds and building alternatives to this unjust system which is imposed on us from above. For this reason, they are beacons and examples for us all. With this in mind, let us hope we can all carry on organizing more activities and reaching out to more people to continue to increase the pressure and demand for justice and freedom for our Zapatista brothers and sisters.

To finish, here once more is the link to the video message from San Marcos Avilés, which is at the same time a call and a tool for worldwide solidarity:

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

Please carry on circulating it.

Well, compas, our hearts are full of emotion, courage, and hope. All the collective efforts we are making together, united, truly touch our hearts and are having an important impact.

We will continue to fight, continue to grow…

With love and solidarity,

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

The Other Campaign New York

*************

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for
San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”

SYLVIA MARCOS TO ZAPATISTA WOMEN:

“THE WOMEN OF MEXICO JOIN YOUR STRONG AND DETERMINED STRUGGLE”

In a moving and crucial letter, Dr Sylvia Marcos adds her voice and the voices of all Mexican women to the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López” Campaign, demanding in burning words an end to the aggression against the Zapatista project and the immediate release of Sántiz López.

The great Mexican thinker, academic, and feminist—known worldwide for her numerous articles and books on gender, Mesoamerican religions, and indigenous knowledge in Mexico—addresses directly the women of the Zapatista movement in the following statement. She writes that the dignified women of Mexico are on their side, as they see “in the Zapatista women the model of being a woman who defends her rights without forgetting to support the collective rights of her people.”

Author of the recently published book Women, Indigenous, Rebels, Zapatistas, Dr Marcos expresses her hope that the “cry” emanating from around the world manages to stop “the aggressions against the autonomous education project and against all the ways of life of the Zapatista organization,” as “autonomous education forms the new beings who will make this other world a reality.”

These words serve as an important reminder that what the Zapatista project offers extends beyond the jungles of Chiapas; it holds significance for the entire world. Leading the construction of this project are the indigenous zapatista women.

On behalf of all the women who lead Movement for Justice in El Barrio, it is with great pride that we share the full letter from Dr Sylvia Marcos.

Long Live the Zapatista Women! Long Live the Women of the World!

Message from Dr. Sylvia Marcos for the Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López

Dear compañeros,

I am totally outraged by the situation of violence and repression that exists in the Zapatista community of San Marcos Avilés, and by the situation facing the compañero political prisoner Francisco Sántiz Lόpez.

Here’s my message for the Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López.

Compañeras women and men of the world,

The Zapatista women, brave and rebel compañeras, are defending the legacy of Zapatista autonomous education; and from here, the women of Mexico join their strong and determined struggle.

They can count on our support as they continue building the world we all long for.

We can glimpse the daily and painful struggles which are facing our Zapatista compañeras and we join together with them.

We demand an end to the acts of aggression from the enemies of this educational, social and political Zapatista project which gives hope, especially to women, who see in the Zapatista women the model of being a woman who defends her rights without forgetting to support the collective rights of her people.

You must know, Zapatistas compañeras, that your project is the hope and the light on the road to the construction of an “other” world, where it can become a reality that “we are equal because we are different”, as you yourselves have said.

We support them and we hope that the cry emanating from around the world will stop the aggressions against the autonomous education project and against all the ways of life of the Zapatista organization. In San Marcos Avilés, Zapatista support base, a way of life is being put in action which makes possible today the worlds to come which we all wish for: Worlds where justice, dignity and peace and gender harmony can be experienced and made possible. Autonomous education forms the new beings who will make this other world a reality.

And the unjustly imprisoned Zapatista compañero Francisco Sántiz Lόpez must be freed.

Sylvia Marcos

*************

NEW URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE ZAPATISTAS OF SAN MARCOS AVILÉS

Please circulate widely

Compañer@s of the world,

Receive strong embraces from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York.

By way of the following, we share with you and make public a new and extremely urgent video message from the Zapatista community in resistance of San Marcos Avilés.

In this message, our sisters and brothers of this community of Chiapas recount with words and faces full of emotion and rage the history of the nightmare that they are currently living. This nightmare began after the opening of the community’s autonomous school in 2010. They passionately denounce the constant acts of aggression and terror carried out by attack groups of the dominant political parties in the region. These groups seek to squash the Zapatista movement and its struggle for justice, dignity, and autonomy.

Additionally, in the video message, our Zapatista comrades from San Marcos Avilés send special messages to the world – particularly to women, political prisoners, and all dignified communities. They issue an urgent call for national and international support and solidarity with their community, in light of the alarming escalation of threats and hostility.

Shortly after the production of this video message, particularly in the past few days, more threats against the Zapatista support base members have taken place in San Marcos Avilés. The culprits remain an attack group of political party members, who have stated that they will kidnap authorities of the Zapatista community, and in this way, forcefully displace the support base members from the ejido. They have also made threats against those who denounce these acts of aggression and harassment, claiming that they will incarcerate them. It is feared that another widescale displacement of the community, similar to the one that took place in 2010, will occur.

We share with you the link to this video-message, which we hope will be circulated widely:

Long live the EZLN!

Long live the Zapatistas!

With love and solidarity

Movement for Justice in El Barrio
The Other Campaign New York

************

TZELTALS FEAR THE DISPLACEMENT OF ZAPATISTA SUPPORT BASES IN THE CARACOL OF OVENTIC

** They identify members of the PRI and PVEM as promoters of the threats

By: Hermann Bellinghausen

According to a report from the Tzeltal community of San Marcos Avilés, belonging to the Zapatista Caracol of Oventic, a new displacement of the Zapatista support bases from the area is being planned. This could happen “within the next few days” at the hands of “local party members,” from the attack group that has tormented the rebel support bases of San Marcos Avilés since 2010. The “party members” are meeting in “extraordinary assemblies to discuss these matters,” they add.

These people have themselves made public their violent plan for the displacement. The threatened community reports “that these party members are trying to get more people in the Pantelhó, Corralito and La Providencia communities to help them carry out the displacement. They have boasted that they feel very capable of doing it, since the candidate Leonardo Guirao Aguilar (PVEM, or Green Party) won the recent election in Chilón municipality; his party won at the state level and the PRI at the federal level.”

The indigenous identify as the promoters of these threats Lorenzo Ruiz Gómez and Manuel Díaz Ruiz (PVEM) and PRI members Vicente Ruiz López, José Cruz Hernández, Carmelino Hernández Hernández, Ernesto López Núñez, Manuel Vázquez Gómez, Aristeo and Alejandro Núñez Ruiz.

Besides the “announcement” of the plan for displacement by the attack groups mentioned, “a worrying increase in insults, destruction of flora and crops, and thefts has recently been seen in the community” civil organisations report. “Due to the aggressive acts, there will not be sufficient food this year”, for the Zapatista families of San Marcos Avilés. In past weeks, the situation of threats and aggressions has intensified so much, “that a repetition of what occurred in August 2010, or worse, is feared. The lives of the San Marcos Avilés Zapatista support bases are at serious risk.” The persecuted indigenous in resistance, some 200 people, purchased the land 12 years ago and have the title deeds to prove it. “As throughout Zapatista territory, however, this does not stop the governments from giving the land to others in return for driving out what those from above most fear: the threat of a good example”, a call for international solidarity by Other Campaign organizations, which have shown repeated concern for the fate of this community, pointed out days ago. Soon, a civil caravan will tour some of the flashpoints in the geography of resistance and counterinsurgency.

““Particularly in the past few days, more threats against the Zapatista support base members have taken place in San Marcos Avilés. The culprits remain an attack group of political party members, who have stated that they will kidnap authorities of the Zapatista community, and in this way, forcefully displace the support base members from the ejido”. They threaten those who denounce the acts of aggression with prison if they persist. The organizations emphasize: “as a result of this a complete forced displacement of the community is feared, at the level of the one in 2010.”

The start of San Marcos Avilés’ misfortune was the establishment of the Emiliano Zapata School, part of the Zapatista Autonomous Education System, in August of that year (2010). The pro-government people unleashed an already latent hostility, and within a few weeks the Zapatista families had to take refuge in the mountains for 33 days. On their return, they found their houses and planted crops ransacked and destroyed. Two years later, spurred by the electoral victory for governor of their co-believer Manuel Velasco Coello, the attack groups seem ready to consummate the widely announced attacks and dispossessions, in the face of the passivity of the state government.

____________________________________________________

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

En español: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/08/07/politica/018n2pol

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VERY URGENT!!!!!

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López”

URGENT REPORT:

IMMINENT DISPLACEMENT PLANNED,

GROWING TERROR IN SAN MARCOS AVILÉS

August 6, 2012

Compañer@s:

Greetings to you all from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, the Other Campaign New York.

In view of the seriousness of the latest acts of hostility and aggression in the community of San Marcos Avilés, the Zapatista support bases (BAZ) have urged us to share this report with you:

FIRST: We report that, at this very moment, a NEW FULL DISPLACEMENT of the BAZ community of San Marcos Avilés is being planned, to be carried out within the next few days by local party supporters, members of the ‘attack group’ that has plagued the BAZ of San Marcos since 2010. The party supporters are meeting in extraordinary closed assemblies to discuss these matters.

With arrogance and hatred, they have made public this violent plan of displacement. At the same time, according to information sent from San Marcos Avilés, it is reported that these party supporters are trying to get more people from the communities of Panteló, Corralito, and La Providencia to help them carry out the displacement. Furthermore, they have boasted that they feel very capable of doing this, as the candidate Leonardo Guirao Aguilar (PVEM) won the recent local elections in the Municipality of Chilón, and the PRI won at the federal level.

Here we publish the names of the members of this ‘attack group’, according to the reports, and their respective political affiliations:

· Lorenzo Ruiz Gómez of the PVEM; Vicente Ruiz López of the PRI; José Cruz Hernández of the PRI; Manuel Díaz Ruiz of the PVEM; Carmelino Hernández Hernández of the PRI; Ernesto López Núñez, Ejidal Commissioner, of the PRI; Manuel Vázquez Gómez, Security Board, of the PRI; Aristeo Núñez Ruiz of the PRI; Alejandro Núñez Ruiz of the PRI.

Recently, in addition to the announcement of the plan for displacement, there has been a worrying increase in abuse, destruction of flowers and crops, and theft in the community. As a result of these acts of aggression, the BAZ do not have enough food for this year.

These reports confirm once again what we have always known, that these attacks are part of the plan of extermination which has been carried out since 1994 against the indigenous Zapatista population. Today it is more urgent than ever to disseminate the truth about the situation in San Marcos Avilés, the repression from the bad government, and the dignified resistance of all the Zapatistas.

SECOND: We report that many people from around the world have already joined our worldwide campaign, forming “Committees of the True Word” in their respective communities. A direct result of this is that we now have content on the San Marcos Avilés website in NINE LANGUAGES! : Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, German, Bulgarian, Japanese, Italian, and Greek.

We will continue updating this site with information and translations as regularly as possible. The site is available here:

http://sanmarcosaviles.wordpress.com/ in Spanish

https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/ in English

In addition, the video message from the Zapatistas of San Marcos Avilés has already had more than 20 thousand views. We thank you all for having shared this among your social networks and contacts. We have to keep spreading the word!

You can see the video message here:

Well, compas, that is all for now. We will keep you informed.

LONG LIVE THE BAZ OF SAN MARCOS AVILÉS!

LONG LIVE THE EZLN!

We send combative embraces from El Barrio, New York.

Movement for Justice in El Barrio

The Other Campaign New York

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INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE ZAPATISTA SUPPORT BASES OF SAN MARCOS AVILES

Article published on Upside Down World, Thursday, 02 August 2012 http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3793-international-call-for-solidarity-with-zapatista-support-bases-of-san-marcos-aviles

“It is not only the task of the independent/alternative media to circulate the truth, but rather it is the responsibility of us all to do so”

“Our compas from San Marcos Avilés are suffering this violence because they are indigenous, because they are Zapatistas, and because they have opened their own autonomous school.”

Terror hangs in the air of San Marcos Avilés. This small indigenous Tzeltal-speaking community lies in the highland region of the state of Chiapas, in the Mexican South-east. Its population are like shadows; hunger, disease, threats, harassment and violence stalk their days, fear, shouts, gunshots and loud music fill their nights.

Now the women, men and children have sent out an urgent call to the world for support, a call that echoes in our very heartbeat and demands our solidarity, “as if it were said in the very language of our being”.

This urgent message comes from over 200 Zapatista support bases (BAZ) in San Marcos Avilés, who are trying to live according to their own indigenous ways and struggling for freedom, justice, democracy and a dignified life for all, but who are faced with men with high calibre firearms who intend to eradicate all that the Zapatistas represent and believe in.

Background

The nightmare of terror began in August 2010, when the BAZ constructed a small wooden building to house their new autonomous school, ‘Emiliano Zapata’. Zapatista Autonomous Rebel Education is, along with their systems of health and collective work, one of the most well-known achievements of the organisation, and of crucial importance as the BAZ work towards the construction of their own autonomy. Not only can the children learn according to their own culture and traditions, wear their customary clothing, speak their own languages and eat their traditional foods, but they can also learn the truth about their own history and situation. Learning is a shared experience, enjoyed together, without any form of competition or judgement.

“We attach great importance to the autonomous school”, say the BAZ of San Marcos Avilés. “We want a good education for our children, good learning, a good example. We see that the government has its schools, but it is not good education, nor do they teach our children well; they do not provide good learning, and what they teach has nothing to do with us. So we opened our school …”

The attacks on the BAZ began immediately after the construction of the school. Members of the Mexican political parties the PRI, PRD and PVEM, in armed “attack groups”, encouraged by the three levels of government, began to threaten and harass the community, attempting to rape their women, steal their land and possessions, and plunder their crops and livestock.

Within two months the attacks had reached such a level of violence that 170 BAZ, many of them women and children, were forcibly displaced from the community and had to take refuge on the mountain. Here they lived under pieces of plastic sheeting, sleeping on the ground in the mud without any basic necessities, “we had no tortillas to eat; we had no pozol to drink”, through 33 days of wet, cold and hunger. During this period two of the women gave birth.

“I speak for all my fellow women: we are suffering a lot with our children. They do not take us into account, they see us like animals, like dogs. So I was told when I had my son in the mountains. That’s what really hurts in my heart. We hope to move the hearts of our fellow women when they see this video”.

When groups from neighbouring communities and the local Human Rights Centre assembled to escort the BAZ back to their homes, the BAZ found that their dwellings, belongings, plantations of corn, beans, bananas, sugar cane and coffee, and their few chickens and cattle, had been destroyed, plundered or stolen. Since that time the Zapatistas of San Marcos Avilés have lived in a state of trauma and terror, enduring constant threats, attacks, violations and insults. The state of mind of the women, unable to provide for their children, is one of especially profound concern.

Statement from the Good Government Council (JBG) of Oventic

“We denounce,” they wrote in July, 2011, “the events now occurring in this community. …..Our compañeros and compañeras, the Zapatista support bases of San Marcos Avilés, are living in a very difficult situation, in their own community, caused by people affiliated to different political parties and by the authorities of the same community……they are facing death threats, harassment, loss of their cultivated lands, and evictions from their own community, purely because they started to set up an autonomous education system for their people.

“The aggressors also put our coffee fields up for sale, at a price of 14,000 pesos per hectare, in order to get money to buy more firearms….. The amount of land our compañeros have now been deprived of is 31¼ hectares and 8,500 coffee trees; all of this is now in the possession of the aggressors from the political parties.

“In this situation of aggression, threats and theft of their land faced by our compas …..they have endured many injustices made against them and have shown great patience in not responding with violence. And neither have we….responded violently in word or deed to these attacks and threats, because the Zapatistas are people of reason and principles and we do not want to fight our own indigenous brothers and sisters. But the bad governors of our State and our country seek at all costs that among the indigenous we see our brothers and sisters as enemies and kill each other.

“The bad government has done absolutely nothing to resolve and prevent the serious problems which could happen in this community; what the state and municipal governments have done is to support and back the attackers so they can continue provoking, threatening and stripping our Zapatista support bases of their belongings. There are no signs of this aggressive and arrogant attitude of the bad governors and their people coming to an end.

“All the aggressions, persecutions and provocations are committed by those people affiliated to the different political parties, and by the paramilitaries supported, advised and paid by the municipal, state and federal governments who are the masterminds of these human rights violations.

“Our support base compas of the community of San Marcos Aviles …….have the right be in their own community and to work the land which belongs to them…….They should not think that they will stop the struggle of the Zapatistas for the construction of our autonomy and for national liberation with provocation, threats, assaults and persecution, because whatever the cost, and whatever happens, we will continue to go forward, as is our right…..And we demand that they [the BAZ] be respected and that their stolen belongings be returned to them”.

What are the issues here?

The words of the newly released Call to Action leave no room for doubt:

“We stress here that these attacks are not isolated incidents, but rather are integral components of the prolonged war of extermination that the bad government of Mexico, together with capitalist interests, has carried out for the past 18 years to wipe out the Zapatista movement and all it has given to the world.

“The objectives of this war have been and remain to continue the colonial project and destroy at any cost indigenous autonomy and resistance, and take over their ancestral lands, and in this way, exploit for the exclusive benefit of those from above the natural resources with which our Mother Earth provides us.

“Repression, violence, and death are meted out by the bad government of Mexico to those who resist this, who defend their lands, their identities, their cultures, and autonomy – their very existence.

“Our compas from San Marcos Avilés are suffering this violence because they are indigenous, because they are Zapatistas, and because they have opened their own autonomous school.”

There is also the issue of land, the most basic and essential resource, vital to people’s sense of history and identity, home of their ancestors, source of their culture, and means of their survival. In this case, the BAZ of San Marcos Avilés bought the land twelve years ago and have the title deeds to prove it. As throughout Zapatista territory, however, this does not stop the governments from giving the land to others in return for driving out what the powerful most fear: the threat of a good example.

“We want there to be happiness in our lives and in the lives of our children. We want to have corn that is no longer stolen. We want tranquillity to be able to grow our pumpkins on our land. We want to find peace again in our hearts, and we want to eat with love what we have”.

The current crisis

In recent weeks, the situation of threats and aggressions has intensified to the point where a repetition of the events of 2010, or worse, is feared at any time. The lives of the BAZ of San Marcos Avilés are seriously at risk, along with their dignified struggle for a better world.

Their urgent call for solidarity has been taken up by one of the most effective, experienced, admired and inspiring campaigning organisations struggling for justice at a grassroots level, the Movement for Justice in el Barrio (MJB), of the Other Campaign New York.

“Particularly in the past few days, more threats against the Zapatista support base members have taken place in San Marcos Avilés. The culprits remain an attack group of political party members, who have stated that they will kidnap authorities of the Zapatista community, and in this way, forcefully displace the support base members from the ejido. They have also made threats against those who denounce these acts of aggression and harassment, claiming that they will incarcerate them. It is feared that another wide-scale displacement of the community, similar to the one that took place in 2010, will occur”.

The MJB first released a powerfully moving and shocking video, in Tzeltal with Spanish and English subtitles, in which the compas of San Marcos Avilés tell their own story.

“They think we are worthless. They treat us badly, like animals. They do what they want with us. That is still happening now. When we sow our maize, we cannot take it home. They come to steal our beans, cane … bananas, they steal everything. All we do is sow and work and there is nothing….

“We cannot enjoy the fruits of our labour with our children, because…members of the political parties PRI, PRD, and PAN are eating it ….on the orders of bad government.

“The parties do not want the Zapatista organization in the ejido San Marcos. According to them, we set a bad example. They showed they want the organization to disappear. We will continue our struggle, there is no choice, because we are not committing any crime … because we have the right to struggle to be taken into account. Freedom, justice and peace is what we are asking for. But we are not afraid because we know quite clearly what we are looking for and how we want to live”.

This story evoked a response from all corners of the world. The MJB followed it up on July 27^th, 2012, with the launch of a worldwide campaign: “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López”

The campaign will be in two phases. The first, an intense period of education, of which this article is part, is to be followed by a phase of direct action.

The call also symbolically includes all Zapatista support bases, especially those from other communities which are also under attack. For this reason the MJB also calls for freedom and justice for the Zapatista prisoner of conscience Francisco Sántiz López, who has been imprisoned since October 2011 for crimes it has been proved he did not commit. Francisco comes from the community of Banavil, Tenejapa. In the video message, the BAZ of San Marcos Avilés call for the liberation of all political prisoners.

In true Zapatista fashion, the MJB call on the people of the world to set up Committees of the True Word, in whatever ways they can, in order to inform, educate and help raise awareness of the current situation of crisis in San Marcos Avilés. The Movement also undertakes to “share all reports we receive with the community of San Marcos, so that they know they are not alone”.

“We believe that the true word and knowledge are very important for the struggles of those from below—it is not only the task of the independent/alternative media to circulate truth, but rather it is the responsibility of us all to do so…..Education and knowledge are also tools and weapons in the struggle for justice, dignity, and democracy—they are nothing less than the forms in which we will construct this new world we seek.”

And in the words of the Baz of San Marcos, “perhaps one day, together, we may attain what we are fighting for – that there be a dignified justice”.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

– Watch the videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-8CBt3Vkg

Show it to everyone you know. Organise a screening.

– Inform yourselves. Look at the website https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

Circulate the Call for Action to all your contacts

– Set up a Committee of the True Word

Let the MJB know you have done so on

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/07/498489.html

ORGANISE!

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URGENT: COMMUNITY IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO, THREATENED WITH IMMINENT ATTACK, EVICTION AND DEATH.

The zapatista supporters find their houses ransacked on their return.

Human rights organisations have warned that the population of nearly 200 Zapatista supporters in the indigenous community of San Marcos Aviles are at very serious risk of violent assault and displacement. The threats made against them have increased sharply since the Mexican elections in July.

The aggressors are government supporters organised in paramilitary style groups who are heavily armed with shotguns, rifles and pistols, and are specifically threatening the women and children. They have already stolen the land, crops and livestock of the community, leaving them without a food supply. Observers report that the situation is one of siege, and that the families are heavily traumatised.

In 2010, 170 men women and children were forced to take refuge in the open on the mountainside during the rainy season for 33 days. The current situation is one where it is feared another such tragedy may occur at any time. The aggressors are threatening to kidnap the community authorities and forcibly displace the rest of the population. Anyone denouncing this harassment, they say, will be locked away.

In the face of this alarming situation, an urgent call for support has been released.

For further information, please see: https://sanmarcosavilesen.wordpress.com/

For a powerful and moving video message, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-8CBt3Vkg

https://london.indymedia.org/articles/12640

**********

INTERNATIONAL CALL TO ACTION:

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López”

July 27, 2012
To our sisters and brothers, the family members and allies of San Marcos Avilés:

To our sisters and brothers, the family members and allies of Francisco Sántiz López:

To our Zapatista sisters and brothers:

To our compañer@s of The Other Campaign:

To our compañer@s of the Zezta Internazional:

To our compañer@s, adherents of the International Campaign in Defense of El Barrio and all our allies from around the world:

To the Civil Society in Mexico and in the world:

The following is an urgent call to action from Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York, to carry out the:

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López”

SISTERS AND BROTHERS:

From the brown heart of El Barrio, New York, receive affectionate greetings and an urgent proposal of struggle on behalf of Movement for Justice in El Barrio, The Other Campaign New York.

The following is a new and urgent convocation to carry out the:

“Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas:
Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López”

First Phase: Walking the True Word
August 2012

To all those who fight for justice, dignity, freedom, and democracy, and against the oppression, violence, hatred, scorn, poverty, and terror that are the world of those from above…

To those who work to build another world, another communication, another politics, another knowledge, another culture, another history, another future…

To those who search for and create our path by looking from below and to the left… who learn about life by listening to the wise words of the ancestors…

To those who dream of freedom in all its resplendent colours…

To those who reject the injustices that, in every country, are imposed and called “economy” and “government”…

To those who find inspiration, hope, resonance and reflection in the Zapatistas…

Today, with urgency, we are called upon to mobilize, with our whole being, solidarity and support for our Zapatista sisters and brothers of the community in resistance of San Marcos Avilés and for the Zapatista political prisoner Francisco Sántiz López: Responding to the numerous denouncements and calls issued by the Good Government Council of Oventic and the community of San Marcos Avilés, we stand in solidarity with them and add our echo to their dignified “ENOUGH!” against the recent attacks that the Zapatista support base members, the essence of the Zapatista Movement, are facing.

Particularly, this convocation seeks to anticipate and prevent further violence againstSan Marcos Avilés at the hands of local political party members who have, during the past few days, made renewed threats. These individuals are the “strong arm” of the region’s dominant political parties. They have of late revealed their plan to displace our sisters and brothers of the Zapatista support base. According to recent threats, these enemies of the people intend to kidnap Zapatista community authorities and, in turn, violently displace other Zapatistas from their community. They have stated, additionally, that they will incarcerate anyone who continues to denounce these unjust aggressions.

We stress here that these attacks are not isolated incidents, but rather are integral components of the prolonged war of extermination that the bad government of Mexico, together with capitalist interests, has carried out for the past 18 years to wipe out the Zapatista movement and all it has given to the world.

The objectives of this war have been and remain to continue the colonial project and destroy at any cost indigenous autonomy and resistance, and take over their ancestral lands, and in this way, exploit for the exclusive benefit of those from above the natural resources with which our Mother Earth provides us.

Repression, violence, and death are meted out by the bad government of Mexico to those who resist this, who defend their lands, their identities, their cultures, and autonomy – their very existence.

The Zapatista ejido and community of San Marcos Avilés, which is made up of Tzeltal indigenous people, has endured an unending nightmare of terror since 2010, when the community’s autonomous school, “Emiliano Zapata,” was constructed as part of the Zapatista Rebel Education System—constituting a major step forward in the community’s advance towards autonomy. During the past two years, this community has suffered various forms of extreme violence, including death threats, harassment, plunder, sexual aggression (including attempted rapes), forced displacement, and others, at the hands of members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and the Green Ecological Party (PVEM) of Mexico, and their armed attack groups.

Similarly, our compañero Francisco Sántiz López, also an indigenous Tzeltal-speaker and Zapatista from Chiapas, has remained unjustly imprisoned since December 4, 2011, for false crimes that he never committed. His only “crime” is that of being a member of the Zapatista support base. Today he remains a hostage of the bad government of Mexico in its war against all Zapatistas.

It is clear that the violence exercised against both San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López stems from that same source.

Community members of San Marcos Avilés have reported that the threats against them have spiked at an alarming rate during the past few days.

In light of these acts of violence and aggression, we would like to propose the following plan of solidarity and struggle, as part of the “Worldwide Echo in Support of the Zapatistas: Freedom and Justice for San Marcos Avilés and Sántiz López.”

This campaign is distinguished for its “two-pronged” strategy, and will consist of two interrelated phases.

FIRST PHASE:
Walking the True Word: Promotion and Circulation
Timeframe: Entire month of August

The first phase, which is called “Walking the True Word,” will span the entire month of August and has as its principal objective the dissemination of information within our respective communities, neighborhoods, ejidos, networks, and countries regarding the current situation of absolute injustice occurring in San Marcos Avilés and the case of the unjust imprisonment of Francisco Sántiz López.

To this end, we propose that around the world, from the smallest community to the largest metropolis, we concentrate our organizing efforts and resources on raising consciousness in our communities and networks by forming Committees of the True Word as a way to effectively disseminate critical information regarding the current situation of San Marcos Avilés and the unjust incarceration of Francisco Sántiz López.

· These “Committees of the True Word” will serve as seeds that will sprout roots in distinct and common lands to grow consciousness, knowledge, and more than anything, rage and inspiration to take concrete action in support of our sisters and brothers of San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López.
· Each committee will seek to disseminate and promote widely the current situation ofSan Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López, as they are both are Zapatista support base members. Of particular priority is reaching out to people who are unfamiliar with the history of the Zapatistas. Everyone should know this history of profound pain, hope, and inspiration.
· It is not necessary to belong to an organization or collective. In this campaign, we can all form a committee on our own and be supportive. Committees can be formed with friends, co-workers, neighbors, or relatives.
· If you are already a member of an organization, association, collective, labor union, group, team, club, etc., you can form your own committee with your fellow members.
· During this first phase, to be clear, the Committees of the True Word can organize a wide range of activities to accomplish our goal. Among the numerous options include: public forums, distributing informative fliers and pamphlets, teach-ins, publishing articles, reflections, and denouncements, translations, social media initiatives, artistic works, etc. The possibilities are endless.
· We invite all those from below to come together to support our Zapatista sisters and brothers of San Marcos Avilés and our brother Francisco Sántiz López who are all fighting for our shared liberation.
· Form your Committee of the True Word now!

As soon as you have formed your committee, please let us know what activities you intend to carry out and the location of the committee via email at:

laotranuevayork@yahoo.com.

We believe that the true word and knowledge are very important for the struggles of those from below—it is not only the task of the independent/alternative media to circulate truth, but rather it is the responsibility of us all to do so.

Moreover, we believe that this phase of consciousness-raising is particularly important, especially in light of the fact that our compas from San Marcos Avilés are suffering this violence for being indigenous, for being Zapatistas, and for having opened their autonomous school. Education and knowledge are also tools and weapons in the struggle for justice, dignity, and democracy—they are nothing less than the forms in which we will construct this new world we seek.

As such, in this campaign, education on San Marcos Avilés and Francisco Sántiz López will serve as another way in which we rebel against this system of injustice and oppression, which oppresses at the level of knowledge as well. We shall make use of what those from above seek to repress in order to achieve what we are fighting for: “a dignified justice.”

To facilitate the expansion of this phase, we would like to offer a few small tools:

1. As some of you may know, we have produced a new and moving video message from the compas of San Marcos Avilés, which is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-8CBt3Vkg
Please contact us if you wish to obtain a high quality version of the video suitable for public screenings.
2. We also put together a new website in English and Spanish with web pages with content in French, Italian, German and Japanese and with updates, reports, and important information, and other educational materials on San Marcos Avilés andFrancisco Sántiz López. The website is available here:

laotranuevayork@yahoo.com.

Following the lead of the community of San Marcos Avilés and the Good Government Council, the goal of this phase is to imbue with knowledge the hearts of as many people as possible, and to bring awareness to the world regarding the constant government-backed violence and the resistance of the dignified people.

Immediately after this intensive educational phase, there will be a phase of direct action.

Alongside our Zapatista sisters and brothers of San Marcos Avilés and of the Good Government Council of Oventic, we echo their just demands:

· AN END TO THE WAR AGAINST THE ZAPATISTAS OF SAN MARCOS AVILÉS.
· IMMEDIATE FREEDOM FOR OUR ZAPATISTA COMPAÑERO FRANCISCO SÁNTIZ LÓPEZ.

The gravity of these two situations cannot be ignored. As part of the global struggle for justice, dignity, and democracy, we must respond with open hearts.

· If you accept our proposal and will participate in this campaign, please let us know as soon as possible via email at

Likewise, please write and send us chronicles of each activity that is carried out via your Committee of the True Word. We will circulate all report backs on the activities realized as part of this campaign, so as to expand the scope and reach of our struggle. We will also share these reports with the community of San Marcos Avilés and the Good Government Council, so that they stay updated and know that they are not alone. These chronicles and report backs can be sent to the same e-mail: