INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Highlands

• On 4 September, we accompanied the pilgrimage of the Believing People in the Tsotil zone that took place in the city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Professor Alberto Patishtán Gómez.

Northern Zone

• At the end of October and beginning of November, we visited several communities in the zone below Tila to conduct interviews with different actors of the region: directors of different political groups, members of churches, as well as campesino and social organizations. We also held interviews in Palenque.

Central Zone

• In October, we met with members of the parish of San Bartolomé Apóstol in Venustiano Carranza.

Jungle

• In August, we met with our Directive Council and various counterparts who work in the Mountain Jungle zone.

Frontier Zone

• On 15 September we were present at the Second Forum “For the Defense of Our Mother Earth and Territory, Yes to Life, No to Mining Devastation” which was carried out in the Santa María ejido, Chicomuselo municipality.

Caracoles

• Between mid-August and mid-November, we visited 4 of the 5 Zapatista caracoles at least once.

Events

• In August, we participated in a speech regarding “Reconcilaition” in the V International Colloqium “Journeys for Peace, Mimetic Theory, and Social Construction,” organized by the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City.
• In September, we were present at some of the activities promoted by the Platform for Peace with Justice and Dignity in Chiapas in observance of the National and International Day named “Ten days for peace and human rights.”
• Also in September, we attended some of the activities organized by civil society held in parallel form to the sixth Annual Reunion of the Work Group of Governors regarding Climate and Forests by which were questioned the supposed benefits of the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
• In October, we were present at the Forum “Europe/Mexico: THEY WILL NOT PASS! Experiences of struggle against megaprojects in defense of territory” held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

Prisoners

• In October, we visited the prisoners of the Voz del Amate and those in solidarity with the Voz del Amate, organizational processes that adhere to the Other Campaign within the prison of San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• At the end of October, we visited Alberto Patishtán, a prisoner who has been held now for 12 years and a member of the “Voz del Amate,” at the time when he was present at the Hospital Vida Mejor in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, following an operation for a brain tumor.

Women

• We attended an assembly organized by the Diocene Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ) carried out in San Cristóbal de Las Casas from 18 to 20 October, in observance of its twentieth anniversary.

Civil Mission of Observation

• From 18 to 20 September, we participated in the Caravan for Solidarity and Documentation which visited the communities Comandante Abel New Community, San Marcos, and Zaquitel Ojo de Agua, all of them pertaining to the autonomous municipality of La Dignidad, offical municipality of Sabanilla, in the northern zone of Chiapas. These two latter communities are places where Zapatista support-bases found refuge after the violent acts that previously had affected the Comandante Abel community.

GUERRERO

• In October, we carried out a one-week journey to Guerrero. We visited the Collective against Torture and Impunity (CCTI) in Acapulco as well as the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (CECOP). We also met with members of the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights as well as with the Commission of Defense for Human Rights in Guerrero (Coddehum). Finally, we visited one of the headquarters of the Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities-Communal Police (CRAC-PC), and the Radio Ñomdaa project in the Xochistlahuaca municipality.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• At the end of September, we attended the Regional Forum Workshop of “presentation of the law for the prevention and attention to internal displacement in the state of Chiapas,” as organized by the Joint Program for a Culture of Peace and the state-government.

PEACE PROMOTION

WORK WITH RELIGIOUS ACTORS

• In September, we participated in an ecumenical space for prayer and reflection organized by the Ecumenical Group for the Analysis of Reality and Context (GEARC) of which we form a part.
• In mid-November, we were invited by the Ocosingo parish to participate in a space of analysis of approximately 250 ecclesiastical officials in the Altamirano region which includes approximately 20 communities.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In September and November, we facilitated spaces of training regarding human rights from the perspective of the positive transformation of conflicts in the Intercultural Mayense Seminar (SIM). In October, we carried out a workshop regarding “Peace Builders: management of risk and fear” in a course organized by this seminar.
• In September, we carried out workshops with women and mixed-gender groups in several communiites in the zone below Tila. The opening of these spaces comprises part of our project “Tying together gender and peace work.”
• In October, we attended the Eighth Meeting of Builders of Peace and Reconciliation organized by the Commission of Support for Unity and Reconciliation (CORECO), which was held in the Tierra Blanca community, La Independencia municipality, in the frontier zone of the state. In this way, we facilitated a work-day regarding the question of active non-violence. More than 150 persons participated, hailing from all over the state.

ARTICULATION

• We attended bimonthly meetings of the Peace Network, a space of action and reflection comprised of 9 organizations that seek processes of peace and reconciliation in Chiapas.
• On 23 and 24 August, we participated in a meeting with our MM counterparts (“People with a Mission,” Netherlands) in Mexico.
• In these months, we participated in meetings of members of the Global Alliance for the Prevention of Armed Conflict in North America (GPPAC, of which we form a part) to prepare for the Forum “Violence, security, human rights, and peace” that was carried out from 8 to 9 November in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. On 10 November, we were also present at a meeting of our GPPAC counterparts with the participation of the members of this platform in the United States, Mexico, and the general coordination in the Netherlands.

INFORMATION

• We received the visit of delegations, students, journalists, and members of our coalition who are interested in learning more about the context in Chiapas and the work of SIPAZ.