Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
© SIPAZ
LATEST:Pressured by Trump, Mexico takes measures to curb migration to the United States
FOCUS:Between deforestation and poor reforestation Mexico, a country of authorized ecological destruction
ARTICLE:Earthquakes Community Reconstruction as an Alternative Route
SIPAZ ACTIVITIES:From mid-May to mid-August 2019
IN THIS ISSUE :
REPORT
VOL.XXIVNº 3SEP2019
3 9 14 16
2Report
SIPAZ is an international observation program created in 1995, after the Zapatista uprising in 1994 to monitor the conflict in Chiapas, Mexico.
International Service for Peace (Servicio Internacional para la Paz or SIPAZ) is a response from the international community to the request of Mexican human rights organizations and religious leaders in Mexico, asking for a permanent international presence in Chiapas. In February 1995, a delegation of various international peace organizations came to Chiapas. They decided to create an organization encompassing a coalition of faith based and nonviolence based organizations in the United States, Europe and Latin America that shared a common concern regarding the situation in Chiapas.
Today SIPAZ supports the search for nonviolent solutions and aids in the construction of a culture of peace and dialogue between the actors involved in the conflict in Chiapas as well as, increasingly, in other areas in Mexico (Oaxaca and Guerrero). SIPAZ also serves as a bridge for communication and exchange between other organizations and networks that work to construct a just and lasting peace at a local, national, regional and international level n
The SIPAZ International Team in Chiapas :
• Maintains an international presence and accompanies processes that are working towards the construction of a culture of peace in Mexico.
• Provides trustworthy communication that integrates the voices of local actors and mobilizes the local, national and international community in the search for alternative solutions to the causes of violence in Mexico.
• Joins together with organizations, movements and networks in order to share and strengthen the processes that are leading towards building a just peace.
• Maintains contact and dialogue with the many different actors that are present in the conflict.
SIPAZ recognizes and respects the principles of non-intervention and sovereignty of the Mexican State and its citizens upon whom must depend the negotiation and initiative that are necessary in order to achieve an eventual solution to the conflict.
The coalition members of SIPAZ represent many years of experience in interna-tional non-governmental peacemaking and conflict resolution. Building on that experience, SIPAZ seeks to play a facilitative role enhancing the context in which Mexicans are working to solve largely Mexican problems n
Calle Magisterio #59, Colonia 14 de Septiembre CP 29210, San Cristóbal de Las Casas Chiapas, Mexico
(+52.967) 631 60 55
International Coalition
Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes (YMCA) (Argentina)Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (North Carolina, USA)Benedictine Sisters of Erie (Pennsylvania, USA)Capacitar (California, USA)CAREA (Berlin, Germany)Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America (N. Carolina, USA)Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s InstitutesPeace and Justice Committee (Washington DC, USA)Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (La Habana, Cuba)Christian Peacemaker Teams (Illinois, USA)Church of the Brethren (Washington DC, USA)Dominican Sisters of San Rafael (California, USA)Episcopal Peace Fellowship (Washington, DC, USA)Fellowship of Reconciliation/EEUU (New York, USA)FOR Austria (Austria)Franciscan Friars, Santa Barbara Province (California, USA)Franciscan National Justice, Peace and Ecology Council(Washington DC, USA)Global Exchange (California, USA)IF/ When (California, USA)Illinois Maya Ministry, United Church of Christ (Illinois, USA)Iniciativa Ecuménica «Oscar Romero» (CIPFE, Montevideo, Uruguay)International Committee for the Peace Council (Wisconsin, USA)International Fellowship of Reconciliation (Alkmaar, Holland)Jubelee Economics Ministries (USA)
JustaPaz (Bogotá, Colombia)Kentucky Interfaith Taskforce on Central America (USA)Leadership Conference of Women Religious (Washington, DC, USA)Loretto Community Latin America / Caribean Committee (Colorado, USA)Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas (California, USA)META Peace Team (Michigan, USA)Movimento Ecuménico de Derechos Humanos (Buenos Aires, Argentina)National Benedictines for Peace (Pennsylvania, USA)Pax Christi (Pennsylvania, USA)Pax Christi International (Bruselas, Belgium)Peace Brigades International (London, England)Peaceworkers (California, USA)Presbytery of Chicago (Illinois, USA)Racine Dominican Sisters (USA)Resource Center for Nonviolence (California, USA)Servicio Paz y Justicia de América Latina (Montevideo, Uruguay)Sojourners (Washington, DC, USA)Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends(Florida, USA)SweFOR (Sweden)Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (Massachusetts, USA)Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) (USA)Western Dominican Province (Arizona, USA)Witness for Peace (Washington DC, USA)
@sipazchiapas
sipaz.chiapas
SIPAZ Board of Directors
Gustavo Cabrera - PresidentServicio Paz y Justicia en América Latina, Costa Rica
Richard Stahler-Sholk - TreasurerUSA
Rev. Denise Griebler - SecretaryMayan Ministries, USA
Sandra ErikssonSwedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR), Sweden
Martín Nates YepesJustaPaz, Colombia
Elizabeth Saenz AckermanLegal RepresentativeUSA
Jenny NemesColombia
Paula Bidle MooreIllinois, USA
September 20193
LATEST
In June, US President Donald Trump threatened to apply a 5% tax on Mexican prod-ucts if Mexico did not stop irregular immigration x
An agreement was reached in which Mexico agreed to take “strong mea-sures” to contain the flow of migrants, something that began the day before the agreement when it was announced that the border with Guatemala will be reinforced with the deployment of 6,000 members of the newly cre-ated National Guard. The agreement also explicitly states that Mexico will take “decisive measures to dismantle human trafficking and smuggling or-ganizations, as well as their illegal fi-nancial and transportation networks.” It notes that, “those who cross the southern border of the United States to seek asylum will be quickly returned to Mexico, where they can wait for the ad-judication of their applications” while “Mexico will authorize the entry of all
those people [and] offer employment, health, and education according to its principles.” Finally, the United States affirmed the comprehensive devel-opment plan for the region driven by Mexico in coordination with El Sal-vador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The agreement states that, in the event that the measures adopted do not have the expected results, others will be taken.
In addition to the deployment on the Southern Border, 15,000 troops were mobilized on the Northern Bor-der, Luis Cresencio Sandoval the sec-retary of National Defense revealed. He said that “considering that migra-tion is not a crime, it is an administra-tive offense, so we stop them and charge them” referring to the National Insti-tute of Migration (INM in its Span-
ish acronym). Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) confirmed that the National Guard does carry out arrests of migrants as an aid to the INM. He stated that, “the instruction that every-one has is to respect the human rights of migrants.”
Civil organizations have ques-tioned the “double discourse” of AM-LO’s government, which went from a humanitarian strategy (with an open door policy at the beginning of the six-year term of office) to a militarist one. He was accused of having let “the administration of Donald Trump ex-tend its border to southern Mexico.” They indicated that increased sur-veillance will not stop migration but will lead to riskier migration routes. Likewise, they were concerned about the tendency to criminalize migrant advocacy organizations. An example of this happened in June, when Iri-
Pressured by Trump, Mexico takes measures to curb migration to the United StatesPressured by Trump, Mexico takes measures to curb migration to the United States
Accompaniment from SIPAZ to Migrant Caravans
© SIPAZ - Archive
4Report
LATEST
neo Mujica, director of Pueblos Sin Fronteras (Peoples Without Borders) and human rights defender Cristobal Sanchez, were allegedly arrested for bringing foreigners without documen-tation into Mexico and profiting from it. In February, the Minister for the In-terior, Olga Sanchez Cordero, accused Pueblos Sin Fronteras of “recruiting” Central American migrants to partic-ipate in the caravans that have crossed Mexico to the United States since 2018. Mujica and Sanchez were released a week later but the General Prosecu-tor’s Office of the Republic (FGR in its Spanish acronym) stated that it would appeal this judicial decision.
Another problem is the satura-tion of the migratory centers that are exceeded in their capacity by up to 400% with “overcrowded conditions, without sanitation or adequate food or sufficient access to health services.” Hu-man Rights Watch reported that “those asylum seekers from Central Ameri-ca, Cuba, and Africa - including 4,780 children - face ‘potentially dangerous and unsustainable conditions’ after US authorities send them back to Mexico.” The visiting National Human Rights Commission, Edgar Corzo, said that, “what happens to migrants who are
taken to migratory centers are depriva-tions of liberty, where minimum condi-tions for survival and decent treatment are not guaranteed.”
Other pending human rights issues
In June, the president of the Nation-al Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym), Luis Raul Gonzalez Perez, regretted that AMLO had not found the time to personally receive CNDH’s 2018 annual report, as is customary. He stated that “we are be-ginning to accumulate facts, acts, and omissions that, seen as a whole, would lead us to assume that ensuring the va-lidity of human rights is not being as-sumed as a premise and limit of all pub-lic action, nor are pertinent measures being adopted to address the situation.” The 2018 report highlights several ar-eas of concern. As for security and jus-tice, it underlines “the need to address the crisis that Mexico is experiencing in the area of violence and insecurity, un-der a comprehensive approach, based on a strategy that prioritizes prevention and is not limited to the rethinking of an eminently reactive body, such as the National Guard, as well as the increase in crimes to which pretrial detention would be applicable.” Among causes of concern, it also mentions the health sector, femicides, disappearances, at-tacks against journalists and human rights defenders, among others.
In June, work began on the Nation-al Human Rights Program 2019-2024
(PNDH in its Spanish acronym), which is expected to be published in Decem-ber. The Minister for the Interior, Olga Sanchez Cordero, stressed that the “painful human rights crisis was inher-ited by the current government” and af-firmed that “the reality, however diffi-cult it may be, will not be disguised”, in particular because of the omnipresent element of impunity.
On June 21, the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI in its Span-ish acronym) began “free, prior and informed consultation with indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and commu-nities,” to “receive opinions, proposals and ideas on the principles and criteria that will underpin the Constitutional Reform Initiative and the correspond-ing regulatory laws on the rights of in-digenous and Afro-Mexican peoples.” Fifty-four regional forums and one national forum were held. From the beginning, the process was criticized by different civil organizations and individuals who questioned the haste with which it was carried out. The Committee for the Integral Defense of Human Rights Gobixha A.C - Codigo DH in Oaxaca, for example, stressed that, despite the breadth of the issues to be addressed, “three phases were concentrated in one day: informative, deliberative, and consultative.” Oth-er voices declared that rather than a consultation, the process was a way to legitimize something which was decided beforehand. The INPI report-ed that, based on the forums where it is estimated more than 27,000 repre-
© SIPAZ
Adelfo Regino Montes, General Director of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, Consultation with indigenous and Afro-Mexican
peoples and communities in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, July 2019 © SIPAZ
September 20195
LATEST
sentatives participated, it will draft a proposal to reform the Magna Carta in September.
EZLN “break the siege”
In May, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Fray-ba) warned that “attacks on peoples, communities, and organizations are intensified as part of a strategy to con-tain civil and peaceful resistance in defense of territory” two years after the foundation the Constituent As-sembly of the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acro-nym) of the National Indigenous Con-gress (CNI in its Spanish acronym). It referred to six indigenous defenders who have been killed so far in 2019, in addition to mentioning the CNI’s com-plaints about situations of “disposses-sion, forced displacement, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, threats, harassment, criminalization, and attempts to execute.” It denounced that, “this logic of war against the peoples that build autonomy is repro-duced in the increase of militarization of Zapatista territories, (...) a siege that deepens with the presence of the Na-tional Guard in the region.”
In August, Subcommander Moises, spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym), announced that
the EZLN decided to “break the siege” forming new Caracoles and more au-tonomous Zapatista rebel municipal-ities in Chiapas. He also reported on the creation of Autonomous Resis-tance and Zapatista Rebellion Centers (CRAREZ in its Spanish acronym). He called for multiple events to be held with different sectors and themes. Before this announcement, AMLO de-clared “Welcome. Because this means working for the benefit of communities and peoples.”
Some days before, Subcommander Galeano presented an analysis of the current moment. He stated among other things that, “it rains everywhere and on everyone. At least down here. Perhaps some are just beginning to feel the cold drops stinging their body; but for others, and not just for native peoples, it rains wet: dispossession, robbery, threats, persecution, jail, dis-appearance, rape, blows, death ... and, yes, sometimes alms.” He stressed that, “up there they declare that everything is going well” but “down here (...) every-thing is going wrong, and (...) it will get worse.”
Chiapas: Increasing polarization in Chilon as possible change in election method, from political parties to a system of customary methods, approaches
In June, the media reported that agents from the municipal govern-ment of Chilon began collecting sig-natures in a document entitled “Total rejection of elections through custom-ary methods; yes to ballots for political parties.” Communities reported that municipal agents threatened villagers
© SIPAZ - Archive
Press conference of environmentalists in the face of the criminalization of their process, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, July 2019
© SIPAZ
6Report
LATEST
that they would lose social programs if the indigenous traditional system of holding elections were passed. A video circulated on Facebook also showed an assembly in Chilon in which the participants rejected this system, and declared themselves in favor of gov-ernment support and the proposed super highway between Palenque and San Cristobal de Las Casas. Also in June, an escalation of attacks by mu-nicipal authorities of Chilon and Sitala against members of the Jesuit Mission in Bachajon was denounced. The Jesu-it Mission is accompanying the indige-nous movements that seek to exercise their right to self-determination in both municipalities.
Since November 2017, a petition was submitted to the Electoral and Cit-izen Participation Institute (IEPC in its Spanish acronym) in order to move from the system of political parties to one of customary methods. In May of this year, the National Institute of An-thropology and History (INAH in its Spanish acronym) canceled the begin-ning of a cultural study to confirm the indigenous origin of both municipali-ties and thus their right to choose their
authorities as they see fit. In August, actors in favor of traditional methods denounced “the nefarious attitude of the local government of this municipal-ity, (...), before the scheduled visit for the Cultural Study of anthropologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).” They detailed that in this same framework both they and the anthropologists were threatened, persecuted, and attacked, despite try-ing to avoid confrontations by chang-ing the venue of the initially planned events.
For its part, a group of citizens of Chilon and Bachajon that opposes elections through customary meth-ods, held the INAH officials and the IEPC responsible for any violent event that may occur. They also pointed to the members of the Movement in De-fense of Life and Territory (MODEVITE in its Spanish acronym) and the parish priest of Chilon for seeking to “practi-cally impose this form of election”.
Denunciations and actions against megaprojects and actors organized in defense of Mother Earth
In May, the Social Pastoral division of the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas warned about the “vulnerabil-ity and greater impoverishment of our peoples due to megaprojects and new government programs”, in addition to “now applying simulated consultations with people who will not be directly af-fected.” It emphasized that, “we do not see a true transformation in favor of life or towards the growth and develop-ment of the population.”
In June, the Tabasco ecologist Jose Luis Alvarez Flores was found mur-dered in Palenque. Since 2012, Alvarez Flores was in charge of the Saragua-to Environmental Management Unit (UMA in its Spanish acronym), and at various times he made accusations re-garding the illegal extraction of sand and stone material from the Usumac-inta River. He requested protective measures from the government but never received them. Offering context to the situation, EDUCA recalled that “the Usumacinta River is the largest in Mexico and if the Mayan Train proj-ect is completed, it would be the main source of stone material extraction.”
In August, the Movement in De-fense of Life and Territory (MODEVITE in its Spanish acronym) convened a Mega Pilgrimage to “highlight the inept political changes of the current govern-ment.” More than 1,000 people from at least 11 municipalities responded to the call. They stated that, “we join together to demonstrate with one voice against national and transnational megaprojects, and a government that continues to favor [their] imposition.” They rejected “the unilateral decisions of the municipal, state, and federal gov-ernment for not considering our par-ticipation”; as well as “the imposition of militarization through the National Guard that is being used as a means of intimidation and social repression.”
Representatives of the displaced peoples from Ejido Pueblo, municipality of Chenalhó© SIPAZ
September 20197
LATEST“Generalized” violence continues to generate forced displacement.
In May, three years after their forced displacement, 53 families from Puebla Ejido, municipality of Chenal-ho, organized activities to denounce that they continue to live without the possibility of return. Although they recognize that the state government fulfilled some commitments, there has been no progress towards justice, which is why the impossibility of re-turning remains. Diego Cadenas Gor-dillo, Director of the Kuuntik Human Rights Center, also warned that, “there is a price on the heads of representatives and lawyers.”
In June, authorities from Aldama and Chenalho signed a non-aggres-sion pact that they hope will end an agrarian conflict over 60 hectares of territory, between the two municipal-ities. It has caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of displaced families in the last two years, and has recently in-tensified. The journalist Elio Enriquez said that, “as long as the inhabitants of both villages (...) remain armed, hopes that there will be no aggressions are few. (…) As long as there is impunity and those responsible for the more than 20 murders are not punished, the resi-dents will not calm down.”
In June, Frayba reported that 28 families were displaced from San Pedro Hidalgo, San Andres Duraz-nal municipality. In July, it also de-nounced that in the municipality of Salto de Agua, a group of people vio-lently entered the San Jose El Bascan community and caused the forced displacement of 36 Mayan people be-longing to the Ikoltyañtyel Lak Lumal organization, part of the CNI. Finally in August, Frayba reported that four families of the Las Abejas de Acteal Civil Society were attacked and forci-bly displaced from the Miguel Utrilla Colony, Los Chorros, municipality of Chenalho. It warned that these new displacements occur “in a regional context of spirals of generalized vio-lence, with more than 7,000 victims of forced displacement, where the actions
of state and federal governments are de-ficient.”
OAXACA: claims against megaprojects
In May, the federal and state gov-ernments inaugurated the South Wind Energy Farm, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, built with investments from the Japanese company Mitsub-ishi. The Secretary of Energy, Rocio Nahle, leading the event, highlighted the importance of this construction and acknowledged that it generated social problems and rejection among the inhabitants of the Isthmus. Civ-il organizations documented several failures in the consultation conduct-ed in 2014 and 2015, including the fact that permits had already been granted and investments were underway when it started. Despite this, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN in its Spanish acronym) rejected several appeals that had been filed against the project. Fifteen days later, a group of owners of land leased by Mitsubishi took over the electrical substation “for an indefinite period” to demand com-pliance with several agreements.
In June, the decree of the Interoce-anic Corridor of the Isthmus of Te-huantepec was issued. It will permit the start of the project that includes a freight train and the extension of the highway between Salina Cruz (Oaxa-ca) and Coatzacoalcos (Veracruz), in
addition to a tax-free zone to attract investments to the area. This project has generated opposition from sev-eral players. Shortly before, the Re-gional Meeting “The Isthmus is Ours” was held, with the participation of 21 municipalities in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. Its participants again denounced that the consultations on this program in March and May were a “means” of legitimizing the imposi-tion of a project that mainly benefits foreign companies, not the indigenous communities in the area. In July, Mixe defenders filed an injunction against the project, stating that “it is intend-ed to be carried out without observing the regulations and protocol guidelines that have been established to safeguard the rights of indigenous peoples.”
In August, communities of the Cha-tino and Mixteco villages of the Sier-ra Sur and Costa regions pronounced “the new threat of the construction of a new Hydroelectric Project in the Rio Verde, backed by the company GENER-ACION ENERSI S.A.” They also pointed out that the Rio Verde “is currently pro-tected by the injunction (...) against the declaration of reserve areas - decrees published at the end of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto-, which was granted by a federal judge and no in-frastructure project can be built.” They denounced that, “on the arrival of the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, SEMARNAT and CONAGUA filed an appeal for review (...). We do
Regional Meeting “The Isthmus is ours”, Salina
Cruz, June 2019 © SIPAZ
8Report
LATESTnot understand why Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (...) says that he is with the poor and the indigenous, but in his administration he haggles the rights of the people and favors the companies.”
GUERRERO: “The recounting of pain”
In August, the La Montaña Tlachi-nollan Human Rights Center celebrat-ed its 25th anniversary. The report of the organization entitled “Mountain you are full of hope” “gives an account of the deterioration of the living condi-tions of the people of Guerrero, because of the violence and the weakness of our institutions, which both business inter-ests and organized crime have taken advantage of. There are a number of red alerts which our state authorities have not been able to address, (...) have overwhelmed our weak rule of law.” In the first five months of 2019, 748 people were killed, which is equivalent to an average of five homicides per day.
Murders and threats are part of the reality faced daily by human rights defenders and journalists. In May, Bertoldo Morales Hilario and Isaias Xantenco Ahuejote, members of the Regional Coordinator of Commu-nity Authorities-Founding Peoples (CRAC-PF in its Spanish acronym), municipality of Chilapa de Alvarez, were kidnapped and killed. Both were also promoters of the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero - Emilia-no Zapata (CIPOG-EZ in its Spanish acronym), part of the National Indig-enous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym). The CRAC-PF pointed out as alleged perpetrators a group linked to the criminal gang Los Ardillos. The
CNI recalled that, “this cunning crime adds to the recent murder of (...) Lucio Bartolo Faustino and Modesto Verales Sebastian, councilor and delegate of the CNI-CIG, so we denounce the terror policy of the paramilitary narco groups, with the blatant help of the three levels of bad government.”
In June, the newspaper El Sur re-ported that “the president, the sec-retary, and the treasurer of the Com-missariat of the Communal Assets of Cacahuatepec make infamous and slanderous charges against the general director of this newspaper, Juan Angu-lo Osorio and the director of the of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, Abel Barrera Hernández,” ac-cusing them - among other things - of making a living from the “generation of violence ”, through the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposing La Parota Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym). El Sur denounced that this is an “attack on freedom of expression that affects everyone who works in this newspaper.”
A few days earlier, the 16 members of the CECOP and the CRAC-PC, who had been arrested in January 2018, after violent events near Acapulco, where six civil-ians and five community po-lice died, were declared inno-cent. Tlachi-nollan’s lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, stressed that the court expressed “its concerns about these extremely
insufficient investigations, where there was torture, evidence was illegally ex-tracted, where they were also in the Prosecutor’s Office for many days and the defense was not allowed to enter to talk to them.” He called for a route of reconciliation and pacification that “is not only of the parties, but must also come from the State”, recognizing that there are many old disputes in the area.
Among the few advances, in August, four members of the Popular Move-ment of Teloloapan were released after being imprisoned for more than ten years, accused of kidnapping. They said they would continue to demand the freedom of all political prisoners. The leader of the Francisco Villa Popu-lar Defense Front, Clemencia Guevara Tejedor, said that the president’s po-sition to marginalize social organiza-tions has left activists vulnerable and denounced that in Guerrero there are still 60 political prisoners n
Abel Barrera Hernández, director of the Tlachinollan
Mountain Human Rights Cente© SIPAZ
In North America:Donations can be sent bycheck or money order to:SIPAZ, INC. / P.O. BOX 6754MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55406, USA E-mail: [email protected]
In Europe:To the SIPAZ account in HollandName of Bank: ING BankIn the name of ‘Servicio Internacional para la Paz’BIC: INGBNL2AIBAN: NL75INGB0004602969
To give online:
Go to:
www.sipaz.org
COLLABORATE ECONOMICALLY WITH SIPAZ
Your donations make it possible for SIPAZ to continue offering international
observation and presence in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guerrero.
We need your help!
September 20199
FOCUS
Currently, 30 to 35% of Mexican territory is covered with forests and jungles. Despite having great natural wealth, Mexico suffers from one of the highest deforestation rates on the planet. A great variety of plants and animals, as well as many indigenous and rural communities, are at risk due to the accelerated destruction of their ecosystems. Frequent neglect, corruption, and govern-ment complicity have allowed this problem to progress and deepen x
Mexico: a great, overexploited natural wealth
A ccording to the Food and Agriculture Orga-nization of the United Nations (FAO), Mexico is considered to be one of the five countries in the world considered as mega-diverse. To-gether these five countries are home to 60 to
70% of the total biodiversity of the planet.Until the mid-1970s, forests and jungles in Mexico were
considered property of the State, that should contribute to the social and economic development of the country. The government created semi state-owned companies and granted concessions for 25 years and sometimes up to 60 years, to wood and paper companies. At the end of that de-cade in various regions of the country, local communities
organized and achieved a significant change: forest re-sources began to be managed by communities and ejidos (communal lands), thus leading to the creation of Commu-nity Forest Enterprises (CFE).
Today, according to the INEGI, 80% of the country’s for-ests and jungles are under community control (ejidos and agrarian communities), made up of around 8,500 CFEs. The CFEs, thanks to the legal sale of wood, have generat-ed permanent jobs and have allocated part of the profits to public projects, such as schools, clinics, and infrastructure for drinking water. Unlike companies, communities are generally more aware of the importance of conserving their natural resources beyond immediate gain. Currently be-tween 13 and 15 million peasants and indigenous people in Mexico live in communities that are located in forests and jungles. Some 2,400 ejidos and communities are looking for
Between deforestation and poor reforestation Mexico, a country of authorized ecological destruction
Between deforestation and poor reforestation Mexico, a country of authorized ecological destruction
10Report
FOCUS
ways to have a rational exploitation of these ecosystems and at the same time conserve the enormous biological wealth they host, through Good Community Forest Management (GCFM).
Despite having successful cases of community man-agement of forests (Sierra Norte in Oaxaca or “Tierra y Lib-ertad” in the municipality of Villaflores, managed by the authorities of La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas), and having created their own surveillance systems with forest guards, the rates of deforestation suffered by Mexi-co and the retreat of their forests are more than cause for concern. The deterioration of forests, illegal logging, fires, pests, and climate change are finishing off forests and eco-systems in Mexico.
In several areas, the extraction of timber is far superior than that of the ability of the forests to regenerate. Overex-ploitation has different sources among which clandestine logging and private logging stand out. The extraction of fire-wood is usually considered free access and there are rarely internal rules that limit the use of wood for it. The consump-tion of firewood remains high and constitutes around 7% of the total primary energy consumed in the country (FAO).
Mexico: a world leader in deforestation
Globally, Mexico ranks fifth in deforestation, although some measurements place it in third place, next to Haiti and El Salvador. According to an analysis of the Center for Social Studies and Public Opinion (CESOP in its Spanish acronym) of the Chamber of Deputies, between 90 to 95% of the Mexican territory is deforested. A great variety of flo-ra and fauna species that depend on Mexican forests is at risk of extinction. According to data from the Geography Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico
(UNAM in its Spanish acronym), 500,000 hectares of forests and jungles are lost every year.
According to the National Forest Program 2013-2018, de-forestation occurs mainly in Michoacan, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Mexico State, Hidalgo, Veracruz, and Guerrero. Deforesta-tion is caused primarily by human action, the conversion of forest into areas for agriculture and livestock, as well as the high demand for wood. This phenomenon is related to the increase in population density. Deforestation has also been increasing due to agricultural revolutions that have led to the development of methods and techniques with greater intensification of land use.
Deforestation: alarming environmental impacts
The FAO’s report “The State of the World’s Forests” in 2018 states that deforestation is the second most important cause of climate change after the burning of fossil fuels and accounts for almost 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
Deforestation leads to a multitude of negative environ-mental impacts. The loss of trees, which retain soil with their roots, means that after heavy rains water erodes the soil into rivers, causing landslides and floods. The sediment in rivers is increased which drowns fish eggs, causing a decrease in hatching rates. When the suspended particles reach the ocean, they cloud the water, affecting coral reefs and costal fishing. Tree felling has an adverse impact on the fixation of carbon dioxide (CO2) as well. Deforested re-gions tend to have more soil erosion and often degrade to non-productive land. Specialists also agree that deforesta-tion amplifies the damage caused by meteorological phe-nomena such as hurricanes.
Illegal logging: a silent crime
According to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), at least 70% of the wood sold in the coun-try has an illegal origin, in a context of widespread impuni-ty. On a legal level, illegal logging is not classified as a fed-eral crime. Nevertheless, the federal norm establishes that a penalty of one to nine years in prison, and 300 to 3,000 days of fine, will be imposed on those who disassemble or destroy natural vegetation, cut, uproot, tear down or cut trees, or change the use of forests. However, according to open data from the former Attorney General’s Office (PGR in its Spanish acronym), from 2000 to 2018, very few inves-tigations were opened for breach of said rule (53 in Oaxaca and 50 in Chiapas). In the federal Congress, legislators have presented various initiatives to criminalize illegal logging. Despite this, even when they were approved in the Senate, most of the initiatives were frozen in the Chamber of Dep-uties.
Leticia Merino Perez, from the Institute for Social Re-search (IIS in its Spanish acronym) of the National Auton-omous University of Mexico (UNAM) denounced that, “the
© PROFEPA
September 201911
FOCUSseizures of the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA in its Spanish acronym) reach only 30,000 cubic meters of wood, compared to 14 million cubic meters that are illegally extracted.” Illegal production and trade are a product of improper regulation and its discre-tionary application, and by corruption and lack of super-vision in commercial channels. It should be stressed that illegal logging is a multi-billion dollar business, its colossal annual profits reaching between 10 and 15 billion dollars globally, according to the “Justice for Forests” report of the World Bank.
Cesar Suarez Ortiz, Bachelor of Political Science and Public Administration from UNAM, explains that one of the main actors that has positioned itself as responsible for ille-gal logging in Mexico is organized crime. Organized crime groups have diversified their sources of income to other activities beyond drug trafficking, one of them being the sale of wood. The production and sale of drugs fell to sec-ond place to give rise to the increase in the illegal markets of natural resources, among others.
Illegal logging is a respond to a national demand of 20 million cubic meters of wood per year, while less than seven million are produced in the country. This means that Mex-ico also has to import wood, part of it illegal. The Environ-mental Investigation Agency (EIA) revealed, for example, the existence of a criminal network of illegal timber traf-ficking, extracted from the tropical forests of the Amazon in Peru, whose main buyers are Mexico, China, and the Unit-ed States. The investigation titled “The Moment of Truth” explains that illegal timber is stolen from unauthorized areas, including forests and protected areas, territories of native communities, and private property. The government of Peru, says the EIA issues false permits or includes geo-graphically referenced trees that do not really exist or their location is so remote that their extraction is not viable. So with false permits, “trees come into existence on paper and therefore ‘legitimate’ transport authorizations can be is-sued.” Bribes and a black market for seemingly legal doc-uments allow merchants to launder illegal timber. The ex-porters of these products then argue that they bought them “in good faith,” despite the fact that multiple investigations have shown - even with undercover videos - that this is not the case.
The EIA emphasizes that “as long as a Forestry Law is not approved and applied that prohibits the entry of illegal timber and requires Mexican importers to carry out due dili-gence to verify the legal origin of the products they import, the flow of illegal timber will continue to cause negative effects on the environment and communities that depend on forests.”
Who are the lumberjacks in Mexico?
Beyond large-scale traffic, Hector Narave Flores, a pro-fessor and researcher at the Faculty of Biology at Veracruz University, explains that it is in “municipalities with a high level of marginalization where people need economic alter-
natives where, unfortunately, wood remains the alternative for some families.” According to a group of lumberjacks interviewed by the newspaper El Sol de Cordoba, they say that in exchange for 240 pesos - more than twice the current minimum wage - they will work for several hours to accu-mulate as much wood as possible. Four laborers can be paid with the sale of only one of the trunks they deliver.
“People who are dedicated to logging are still poor, so what is understood is that they are employees of people who profit from misery and those who profit are intermediaries who buy the product at the price that is next to nothing so that people are cutting daily, but they only earn enough to eat,” said one federal worker from the state of Veracruz anonymously.
He states that the industries that profit from wood are already identified by PROFEPA and it is used for the man-ufacture of pallets and boxes to transport vegetables. “Trees that have been growing for 80 years become a product that is used only once and is going to be thrown away,”.
Ecocide, between impunity and restorative sanctions
Although at the macro level the smuggling of trees is practically “untouchable” at the micro level, sanctions are occasionally seen. For the first time, in August 2019, the State Prosecutor’s Office of Chiapas reached a repara-tory agreement against two lumberjacks accused of eco-cide in the Tonala area. They will have to plant 3,000 ceiba trees and clear the riverbed of the Zanatenco River for six months. They must submit a report on the progress of the agreement every two months, and in case of breach, they will be imprisoned and fined.
It is the first time that a restaurative agreement has been reached for the crime of ecocide. “We have understood that by depriving a person of liberty many times we do not succeed in reintegrating them into society, what we want is to re-so-cialize people who commit a crime. Let us not forget that at the end of the day, with the current criminal system, we are
© WWF
12Report
FOCUS
privileging restorative justice where it not only serves to pun-ish people who commit a crime but can also benefit society,” said Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca, attorney general of the state of Chiapas. In Chiapas, 23,000 hectares of protected natu-ral reserves have been recovered that could be reforested through restorative justice agreements.
Government reforestation programs: limitations
During the previous six years, several million-dollar reforestation programs were launched without success at stopping the rapid deforestation. On the contrary, they were denounced for mismanagement, irregularities, and financial anomalies. Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) started, for example, the ProArbol program in 2007, which was in-tended to collaborate with the United Nations Environment Program’s plan to plant one billion trees. Two years later, an investigation conducted by Greenpeace Mexico revealed that only 10% of the sown species had survived, due to be-ing planted in inappropriate areas for growth. More than half of what was planted was not trees, but cacti. According to Greenpeace calculations, 2,430 million pesos were lost during the first two years of the program. The program was not canceled, rather Calderon ordered it to be improved, however losses and mismanagement continued. Before the avalanche of criticism, the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR in its Spanish acronym) ended up admitting that ProArbol planted fewer trees than agreed and that it was a “virtual” reforestation. Its director, Jose Cibrian Tova, resigned without receiving any sanctions.
During the six-year term of office of Enrique Peña Nie-to (2006-2012), almost two billion pesos went towards re-forestation. For the most part they went to the pockets of agroindustrial investors, sellers of agrochemicals, or corpo-rations that hold global ownership of seeds. The subsidies that reached the people were used in a clientelist and par-tisan way, and with a welfare approach aimed at maintain-
ing poverty at tolerable limits. This goal was certainly not achieved, said Raul Benet, independent adviser on envi-ronment and territory and Biologist for the UNAM Faculty of Sciences. He considers that the result of these assistance programs has been the general abandonment of the coun-tryside, the strengthening of a subsistence economy based on subsidies, and a pressing and growing poverty. These programs have directly caused the loss of millions of hect-ares of forests and jungles, the contamination of soils and aquifers, the serious deterioration of ecosystems and the consequent loss of biodiversity, he says. They have also con-tributed significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Greenpeace also explains that reforestation and com-mercial plantations do not necessarily help to stop defor-estation, since it is barely possible to recover a third of the forest area that is lost and, of the trees planted, a minimum part, less than half, survive
The new Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) program
The Sembrando Vida program presented by the gov-ernment of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador aims to break drastically with the previous programs. The stated objec-tives imply “contributing to the social well-being of agrarian subjects in their rural locations and promoting their effective participation in integral rural development, productive res-toration of the countryside, cultivating corn, cocoa, vegeta-bles, and fruit trees in one million hectares of 19 states in the country.” The possible beneficiaries have to be owners or holders of 2.5 hectares available for the program, receiving a support of 5,000 pesos per month, of which 500 will go to a savings bank. The project has started in the states of Vera-cruz, Tabasco, Chiapas, and Campeche with inconclusive results.
Both Subcommander Galeano of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym) and the Mexican Network of Forest Peasant Organizations (Red Mocaf) agree in their rejection of the program for its various negative impacts. “The delivery of support to ejidatarios in-dividually can generate division, destroy the social fabric and aggravate the situation of violence and insecurity against community leaders, defenders of the land and the environ-ment,” said Gustavo Sanchez, director of the Mocaf Net-work. He uncovered historical problems in land tenure in the country, in addition to generating family disputes over who is the “legal” owner of land.
Paradoxically, the program has caused more intentional and illegal logging. “If a farmer has two and a half hectares, but only one is deforested, what he does is cut the other hect-are and a half so that they complete the quota requested by the government,” said Rene Gomez, president of the orga-nization Bosques y Gobernanza (Forests and Governance), in Ocosingo, Chiapas. The technicians and authorities re-sponsible for Sembrando Vida are instructed not to include
© SIPAZ
September 201913
FOCUS
plots that have been established by destroying jungle or forest in the program, but at least in some cases they were included in the program since the program lacks a moni-toring system.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the trees that are sown today through Sembrando Vida are not intended to be kept untouched, but can be cut as soon as they reach the size indicated for sale. The Otros Mundos organization in Chiapas denounced that, “these programs, created from an outside view of the forest and the countryside, do not adapt to the reality of the people or even seek their welfare. Rather, they are programs that seek to maintain an extractive system, so that the production of goods and the accumulation of cap-ital by a few corporate networks can continue to be justified at all costs. At the same time, these programs leave the cam-pesinos and native peoples in a situation of wage slavery on their own lands, chained through contracts and criminalized when they decide to treat the land as their grandparents and grandmothers used to do, and regain control over it.”
Looking Ahead...
The policies and programs that have been implemented as a respond to the situation of forest resource management have been insufficient. Experts in the field consider that forestry policy requires progress in the clear definition of property rights, respecting the conditions of community property; identification and promotion of successful com-munity forest management schemes and models; resources to increase technical capabilities and strengthen the so-cial capital of producers; strengthen market and financing schemes to promote community development; and design a regulatory framework of incentives for producers to make a comprehensive and diversified management of their natu-ral resources in favor of sustainable development and con-servation.
“It is necessary to redirect efforts to a policy focused on the integral development of forest regions, to put aside the wel-fare approach focused on the distribution of subsidies,” the Mexican Civil Council for Sustainable Forestry states n
© Nature Conservancy
© Gobierno de México
14Report
ARTICLE
“Clearly the need is so great that it is up to the State to ensure
that families have their homes, so that they can recover their
wealth.”Nathaniel Hernandez, Director
of the Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center
The night of September 7, 2017 represents a trau-matic moment in the lives of tens of thousands of people, when a magni-
tude 8.2 earthquake shook the coastal areas of Chiapas and Oaxaca, leaving 102 people dead, thousands homeless, and the region in chaos. In the midst of this horror and anguish, however, something emerged that in the next
two years became the driving force be-hind the long but dignified process of reconstruction: community solidarity.
The night’s impacts are still visible and, in many places, palpable. While the most obvious signs of destruction have been removed, for a complete re-build many materials and resources are still lacking, as well as coordina-tion.
A Civilian Observation Mission that took place in Oaxaca a few days after the earthquake highlighted that “the urgent, basic needs of the people affected by the earthquake have not been met.” In addition, the mission criticized a “lack of government coordi-nation regarding the distribution of hu-manitarian aid and the discretionary use of scarce resources that have arrived in the area.” This pattern was reiterat-
ed repeatedly during the process of care for the victims, who are in various stages of the rebuilding process.
These inequalities originate from mistakes made from the beginning of the response. There were failures not only in the distribution of humanitari-an aid, but also in the census of victims and the allocation of funds. Various civil and social organizations report-ed that some families with damaged assets were not included in the cen-sus and therefore were not taken into account regarding the reconstruction funds. In other cases, damaged as-sets were incorrectly counted, unfair-ly limiting support to these families. Other families simply did not receive the promised monetary aid, while un-affected people received money from these funds. In this context, in June
EarthquakesCommunity Reconstruction
as an Alternative Route
EarthquakesCommunity Reconstruction
as an Alternative Route
Community reconstruction on the Coast© SweFOR
September 201915
ARTICLEof 2018, the All Rights for All Network “detected that in the face of irregular-ities reported by victims, federal and state authorities have not properly co-ordinated nor assumed their responsi-bilities.
All of these circumstances created a situation in which families whose property was damaged were forced into debt or sold valuables to contin-ue rebuilding, or had to live in unsafe homes after the earthquake.
In the absence of an adequate re-sponse from the authorities, civil pro-cesses were formed to deal with the crisis and promote community recon-struction. In the days following the earthquake, community reconstruc-tion included the collective rescue of trapped people, distribution of basic necessities, and the accommodation of affected people in places of refuge. After the initial response, unity and reciprocal support became a continu-ous process for some communities.
One example of this is the recon-struction process organized by the Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center in the municipalities of Arriaga, Tonalá, and Pijijiapan in Chiapas. Like many organizations and individuals, they reacted in light of the crisis by orga-nizing the delivery of humanitarian aid and coordinating medical and psy-chosocial care brigades.
“We also promoted cultural activi-ties and recreation, as a way to get to the themes of stress and fear, with the help of medical attention brigades. Com-bining all the activities and actions fo-cused on improving the situation inside (of survivors), because in this moment there was not only fear. There was ter-ror, tension; there were economic com-plications. There was not enough food, because there was no work, etcetera. Several things happened,” explained Nathaniel Hernandez, director of Dig-na Ochoa, in an interview with SIPAZ.
As the beginning of the rebuilding process, Digna Ochoa toured the af-fected communities to conduct their own census as well as an evaluation of the damages. “Once we knew the magnitude of the material damage, we could determine what the approach
was going to be to start material re-construction, as well as social. An essential part of the project is the par-ticipation of the community which, in part, is ensured by a reconstruction committee made up of villagers. It is a measure to “know firsthand the needs of each family in the communities and to establish a more intensive channel of communication.” Another element is complete transparency about all the funds in the accounts of the Human Rights Center and the specific costs for the reconstruction of houses. Final-ly, the proposal was that the families in the communities, where resources were going to be allocated, would sup-port and collaborate in the process of physical work. This led to the recovery of approximately 150 homes with 38 more that have yet to be completed.
In March of this year, the govern-ment of Andrés Manuel López Obra-dor (AMLO) announced that recon-struction from the earthquake will begin, with a budget of 10 billion pesos for 2019, of which 2.7 billion pesos will be allocated in a first stage in Chiapas and 4.7 billion pesos in Oaxaca. Al-though civil organizations observe new movement, the proposal main-tains the main error of the previous government- using the same census
and thus excluding those who were not counted the first time “and they continue waiting for the response of the current government to access public funds.” The influence of non-govern-mental organizations in these cases is limited, because “it is an issue in which there are no longer funds available.” In order not to leave the affected families without any form of support, Digna Ochoa continues to share information about the reconstruction plan with them as well as “sharing with the au-thorities the censuses we have taken, so that they can be considered”.
Taking into account the context of serious mistakes made by the author-ities, and the affected population be-ing forced to “accept aid that did not fit their reality” while suffering ongoing trauma from the earthquake, commu-nity reconstruction is more than an al-ternative route. It is a course of action which respects the victims and their needs. It is a way of using and reinforc-ing existing social cohesion. Above all, it is a ray of hope in a process that often seems endless in its injustice n
School without fixing in Pijijiapán© Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center
16Report
SIPAZ ACTIVITIES From mid-May to mid-August 2019
INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENTCHIAPASCivil Observation Missions - From May 29 to 31, we participated in
the “Civil Observation Mission to the Humanitarian Crisis of Migrants and Ref-ugees in the Mexican Southeast”. The
mission covered various points of con-
trol and migration installations on the
coast and southern border of Chiapas
“in order to strengthen the documen-tation and accompaniment that local organizations have carried regarding the Central American exoduses of recent months.” - In June, we participated in a civil ob-
servation mission to monitor the central
corridor (Comitan, Frontera Comalapa,
and other cities in the mountains of
Chiapas), an alternative migrant route to
that of the Coast, for entry into Mexico.
Highlands - In May, together with members of our
Board of Directors, we met with mem-
bers of the Movement in Defense of Life
and Territory (MODEVITE in its Spanish
acronym) in Cancuc, who ratified their
opposition to the construction of the
super highway between San Cristobal de
Las Casas and Palenque, considering that
such a project would not at all benefit
the affected communities.
- In July, we visited the displaced peo-
ples of Colonia Puebla, municipality of
Chenalho, where they are staying in San
Cristobal de Las Casas.
- In August, we accompanied the pilgrim-
age organized by Las Abejas Civil Society
in San Cristobal de Las Casas and accom-
panied by Pueblo Creyente (Believing
Peoples) and several organizations from
Chiapas and Mexico. This comes 12 years
after a decision of the Supreme Court of
Justice of the Nation which resulted in
the release of “20 paramilitary prison-ers, material perpetrators of the Acteal massacre” as “political strategy to avoid investigation around the main intellec-tual authors of said massacre.”Northern Jungle - In June, we met with several civil, so-
cial, and ecclesiastical organizations
in the municipalities of Palenque and
Chilon.
- In August, we participated in a space
of risk analysis and defense strategies,
in the context of threats received by the
Center for Indigenous Rights (CEDIAC
AC in its Spanish acronym) and the Jesuit
Mission of Bachajon in its accompani-
ment to the movements of indigenous
peoples who seek to exercise their right
to self-determination through the con-
stitutional path to community govern-
ments in Chilón and Sitala.
Border region - In May, we participated in an analysis
meeting with various civil and religious
actors in the area to discuss the prevail-
ing context in the region.
Gender - In May and August, we were present at
the quarterly Assembly of the Diocesan
Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ in
its Spanish acronym) that took place in
San Cristobal de Las Casas.
- In June, in the midst of multiple
threats, we accompanied an organized
march in San Cristobal de Las Casas by
the LGBTQ+ community.
- In June, we attended the Forum “Love, Care, and Rights of People regarding their Biocultural Heritage” convened by
the Center for Women’s Rights of Chi-
apas in San Cristobal de las Casas.
Prisoners - Since May at least once a month we
have visited prisoners who are members
of the organizations “Solidarios de la Voz del Amate” and “La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia”, both groups adhering to
the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon
Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym),
in the San Cristobal de Las Casas prison.
We were also present at public events
convened by the Network “No Estamos Todxs” to highlight the situation of the
prisoners. In June, we accompanied ac-
tivists and relatives in a 12-hour fast in
front of the prison located in San Cris-
tobal, in solidarity with prisoners on
hunger strike, as well as to demand their
release.
Events - In May and August, we participated in
the Assembly of Pueblo Creyente (Be-
lieving Peoples) of the diocese of San
Cristobal de Las Casas.
- In June, we were present as observers
in the symbolic takeover of the military
garrison in San Cristobal by dozens of
members of civil groups, women of Las
Abejas Civil Society and members of
the diocese of San Cristobal de Las Ca-
sas, who accompanied the Tzeltal sisters
Ana, Beatriz, and Celia Gonzalez Perez
to demand justice for those who were
victims of torture and rape by soldiers in
the municipality of Altamirano 25 years
ago.
- In July, we were present as observers at
the forum held in San Cristobal de Las
Casas in the framework of the Free, Prior,
and Informed Consultation Process for
the Constitutional and Legal Reform on
the Rights of Indigenous and Afro-Mex-
ican Peoples.
OAXACA - In June, we attended the Regional
Meeting “The Isthmus is Ours” which
included the participation of 21 munici-
palities in the states of Oaxaca and Vera-
cruz, an event attended by 350 commu-
nity authorities, teachers in Section 22
of the National Coordinator of the Ed-
ucation Workers (CNTE in its Spanish ac-
ronym), and human rights organizations.
- In August, we made a one-week visit to
Oaxaca where we met with several part-
ner organizations in the City of Oaxaca:
Unitierra, Consortium for Parliamentary
Dialogue and for Gender Equality, Te-
quio Juridico, EDUCA, BARCA-DH, Ser
Mixe, and the Ixtepecano Committee in
defense of the territory. We were also
present at the alternative Guelaguet-
za held in San Martin de los Cansecos,
Oaxaca, which was convened by sever-
al Zapotec communities of the Central
Valleys, members of the “No to Mining, for a Future for All.”
INFORMATION AND TRAINING FOR ACTIONPUBLIC RELATIONS - In May, we met with Fernando Perez
Robles of the Human Rights Directorate,
and Cesar Argueta, advisor to the state
government delegations, to address sev-
eral concerns regarding various cases of
forced displacement in Chiapas.
- In July, we met with members of the
Embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway,
and Sweden in San Cristobal de Las Ca-
sas.
- We met twice with state and municipal
authorities, in our accompaniment of
displaced people from the community
of Banavil, Tenejapa, who continue to
seek progress in solving their case.
PEACE EDUCATION - In May, we facilitated an analysis of re-
ality with the Network of Chiapas Wom-
en against Violence and for the Right
to Live in Peace in San Cristobal de Las
Casas.
- In June, we facilitated a workshop
at the Analysis Meeting convened by
Services and Assessment for Peace
(SERAPAZ in its Spanish acronym) in
Ocosingo, which was attended by more
than 50 people from the highlands and
jungle regions of Chiapas.
- In July, as part of the Mother Earth
Support Network (RAMAT in its Spanish
acronym), we facilitated a day and a half
on biblical foundations of creation care,
with participants coming from the dif-
ferent areas of the diocese of San Cris-
tobal de Las Casas.
NETWORKING - We attend the bimonthly meetings of
the Network for Peace, a space for ac-
tion and reflection composed of ten or-
ganizations that seek to support peace
and reconciliation processes in Chiapas.
- In April, for Mennonite Central Com-
mittee’s bimonthly webinar which it
organizes with its partners in Mexico, SI-
PAZ gave a presentation titled “The chal-lenge of human rights in Mexico and the participation of Catholic and evangelical churches in its achievement. ” n
