INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Northern Zone

• At the end of May, we visited several communities from the zone below Tila so as to hold interviews with different actors in the region: leaders of different political groups, governmental representatives, and church-members, as well as with campesino and social organizations. We also held interviews in Yajalón and Palenque. We returned to visit some counterparts of ours in Palenque and Tila at the end of July.
• On 15 August, we attended the press-conference called for by the National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS) that coincided with the suspension of the sit-in it had been maintaining in San Cristóbal de Las Casas for 42 days together with those displaced from ranchería Las Conchitas, municipality of Salto de Agua.

Highlands

• In June, we visited Margarita Martínez, a human-rights defender who has been threatened and attacked several times for more than a year.
• From December to present, we have maintained a process of international accompaniment with the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights.
• On 12 August, we attended a press-conference held by the Las Abejas Civil Society in Chenalhó on the second anniversary of the decision by the Supreme Court of Justice in the Nation (SCJN) to release prisoners who had been incarcerated for the 1997 massacre in Acteal.

Jungle

• In May, we had a meeting with members of the Center for Indigenous Rights AC (CEDIAC) to reflect jointly regarding the context in the Chilón-Bachajón zone.
• On 25 July we were present at the press-conference held in observation of the release of four prisoners of the San Sebastián Bachajón ejido, municipality of Chilón.

Center

• In May, we held a meeting with Father Jesús Landín, parishioner in Venustiano Carranza.
• In July, we attended a press-conference regarding the present situation of those affected by the plugging of the Grijalva River – an event that occurred in November 2007, who have been relocated to the Sustainable Rural City of Nuevo San Juan Grijalva.

Coast

• At the end of July, we attended a press-conference carried out by the Digna Ochoa Center for Human Rights of Tonalá together with other human-rights centers for the launching of the “National and International Campaign against judicial harassment and the criminalization of human-rights defenders in Mexico.” We were present in an assembly organized by the same Center at the beginning of July to see how to continue this process.

Caracoles

• Between May and August, we visited 4 of the Zapatista caracoles at least once.

Prisoners

• In July, we visited Alberto Patishtán, prisoner in the San Cristóbal de Las Casas prison and member of the “Voz del Amate,” a prisoners’ organization of adherents to the Other Campaign, as well as other prisoners who are “in Solidarity with the Voz del Amate.”

OAXACA

• At the beginning of August, we visited the state for several days, holding a series of interviews with several civil and social organizations in Oaxaca de Juárez so as to update our analysis of that which is happening in the state. We attended the fasting called for to demand justice in the murder of José Jiménez Colmenares, a case that was had in the context of the social conflict of 2006-2007 in Oaxaca, which continues to be in impunity.

GUERRERO

• At the beginning of July, we attended the seventeenth anniversary of the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights held in Tlapa de Comonfort, an event at which was had a “Forum in Defense of Territory.” After the event, we held a series of meetings in Chilpancingo with civil and social organizations.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• In June, by means of our participation in the GPPAC Network (see also Peace Promotion) and together with Services and Assessment for Peace (SERAPAZ), we held a series of activities in Washington (including interviews with the State Department, members of Congress, and counterparts).
• In July, we held interviews with members of the embassies of Holland and Germany. Previously we had met with several counterparts in Mexico City to share information and analysis regarding the national context.
• On 9 August, International Day of Indigenous Peoples, we attended a presentation of the documentary “Indigenous identity and democracy in Mexico” in an event organized by the Joint Program for a culture of peace of the United Nations Development Program.

OTHERS

• On 25 May, we attended the press-conference at which the National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS), in coordination with the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared “Until we Find Them,” announced the “National Day Against Forgetting and Impunity: No more forced disappearances,” held from 25 to 30 May in different parts of Mexico, among them Chiapas.
• On 12 and 13 August, we attended the Fourth National Meeting of Human-Rights Defenders carried out in Mexico City.
• On 14 August, we were present as observers in the march “Steps towards Peace” called for by the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity held in Mexico City.

PEACE PROMOTION

WORK WITH RELIGIOUS ACTORS

• In June, we participated in an ecumenical space of prayer and reflection called for by the Ecumenical Group for the Analysis of Reality (GEACR) of which we form a part.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In May, in observation of our trip to the zone below Tila (the Northern Zone), we opened spaces of reflection in the communities we visited.
• In May and July, we facilitated spaces of profundization regarding different aspects of the positive transformation of conflicts in the Intercultural Mayense Seminary (SIM).
• In June and July, we held workshops with the team of the Commission of Support for Unity and Reconciliation.
• In June, we held a workshop with children and adolescents before a speech on “Good Treatment” that we also presented at the Communities of Infants in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

ARTICULATION

• We participated in the bi-monthly meetings of the Peace Network, a space of action and reflection comprised of 10 organizations that seek to support processes of peace and reconciliation in Chiapas.
• On 27 May, we attended the Forum on Human Security in Mexico City, which is one of the themes that will be promoted by the Global Alliance for the Prevention of Armed Conflict in North America (GPPAC, of which we form a part).
• In June, we participated in meetings with members of GPPAC North America (from Canada and the United States) as well as attended the International Conference “Building Infrastructures for Change: Innovations in Conflict Resolution held in Cleveland, Ohio.
• In June, we held a meeting with our counterpart MM (“People with a Mission”) in the Netherlands.
• On 10 and 11 August, there was held an assembly of the persons, collectives, and communities that have received the first and second awards of the “Jtatic Samuel Jcanan Lum Recognition” in 2010 and 2011, so as to exchange experiences and strengthen ourselves mutually. We organized this award together with other local and national organizations.
• We participated in the preparation and realization of an “Open Space of information and analysis regarding the Front of war on the southern border of Mexico, the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, and other imitative” carried out on 13 August towards the end of sharing information, analyzing, and reflecting on the present situation in Chiapas and the eventual escalation of hostilities on the War Front on the southern border of Mexico, the present situation of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity, and other peace-initiatives.

INFORMATION

• We received the visits of delegations, students, journalists, and members of our coalition who were interested in knowing more about the situation in Chiapas and SIPAZ’s work.
• We held interviews with the French delegation of Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT France) during its visit to Chiapas in mid-July.
• We continued our process of investigating the theme “Tying together gender work and peace work,” which has led us to hold meetings with several women’s groups and organizations in Chiapas and Guerrero.