INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT

CHIAPAS

Northern Zone

• SIPAZ visited some of the communities in the region below Tila at the beginning of August.

Highlands

• SIPAZ met with representatives of parishes in Chenalhó, Pantelhó, and San Andrés to carry out a joint analysis of the prevailing context in these municipalities in early June.
• On 22 June, SIPAZ attended the celebration to commemorate the Acteal massacre.
• SIPAZ visited Acteal once again at the end of June with a group from the United States to talk with the Directive Table of Las Abejas as well as with the coffee-cooperative Maya Vinic. In mid-July SIPAZ visited Acteal again.

Northern Jungle

• In June, two members of the team participated for 15 days in the Civil Observation Brigade organized by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Righs Center in Bolón Ajaw.
• In June, SIPAZ attended a meeting held by the traditional tseltal judges of the Bachajón Mission to better understand their work and reflections on the various problems seen in their zone of intervention.
• In June, SIPAZ had an interview with the president of ARIC-ID (Rural Association of Collective Interest-Independent) to discuss its work.

Central Zone

• In May, SIPAZ interviewed Father Jesús Landín of the Venustiano Carranza parish. In June, we visited Venustiano Carranza and Cruztón.

Border Jungle

• At the beginning of August, SIPAZ participated, together with other members of the Peace Network, in a meeting with civil and social organizations from the area to develop our understanding of the situation in the zone.

Caracoles

• Between May and August, SIPAZ visited all the Zapatista caracoles at least once.

Prisoners

• At the beginning of August, SIPAZ visited Professor Alberto Patishtán, member of La Voz del Amate and adherent to the Other Campaign, who is at the moment imprisoned in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.

OAXACA

• In June, SIPAZ visited Oaxaca for a week. We interviewed several of our counterparts in Oaxaca City as well as the organization Center of Communal Support Working Together AC (CACTUS) in Huajuapan de León, to discuss both the situation in the Triqui region after the aggression visited on an observation-mission to San Juan Copalá in April and the pre-electoral context in the state.

GUERRERO

• In July, SIPAZ visited Guerrero for a week. We attended the sixteenth anniversary of the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights in Tlapa de Comonfort. We met with several human-rights organizations in Chilpancingo (the Guerrero Network of Human Rights Organisms, the Workshop for Communal Development [TADECO], the Guerrero Institute for Human Rights, and the Peace Brigades International [PBI] team). SIPAZ also visited the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (CECOP) near Acapulco as well as two headquarters of the Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities (CRAC) in San Luis Acatlan and Espino Blanco.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• On 13 July, we participated together with other civil organizations in Chiapas in a meeting with representatives from the embassies of Belgium (which currently holds the presidency of the EU), Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, and the US in the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights to discuss the situation of human-rights defenders in the state.

VARIOUS

• On 16 July, SIPAZ attended as observers the meeting of the State Network “Voice of Our Heart” in resistance to high-electricity tariffs, held at CIDECI-Unitierra.

PEACE PROMOTION

WORK WITH RELIGIOUS ACTORS

• In June, SIPAZ participated in an ecumenical space of prayer and reflection organized by the Ecumenical Group for Analysis of Reality (GEACR) of which SIPAZ is a part. The priority this year is analysis of conflicts with religious hues.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

• In May, SIPAZ carried out a workshop with the team of the Commission of Support for Unity and Reconciliation.

ARTICULATION

• SIPAZ participated in bi-monthly meetings of the Peace Network, a space for action and reflection made up of 11 organizations that seek to support peace and reconciliation processes in Chiapas. In May, we participated in a joint workshop on security. Several pronouncements made by the Network were released during the time covered by this report:
  – Oaxaca: the Peace Network’s Communiqué on the Caravan to San Juan Copala (9 June 2010)
  – Chiapas: The Peace Network expresses its concern for the possible detention of human-rights defender (19 July 2010)
• From 20 to 22 May, SIPAZ participated in the Assembly of the Diocesan Coordination of Women (CODIMUJ) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• On 12 and 13 June, SIPAZ attended as observers the “Meeting of relatives, collectives, friends, and organizations of political prisoners,” held at CIDECI-Unitierra in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• On 25 and 26 June, SIPAZ attended the Meeting of women working with women, held at CIESAS and CIDECI-Unitierra in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
• On 27 July, the call for the “jTatic Samuel jCanan Lum” Honor 2011 was launched at a public event that the actors recognized in January 2010 carried out together with the facilitating organizations, including SIPAZ.

INFORMATION

• We received visits by delegations, students, and journalists interested in learning about the context of Chiapas and the work of SIPAZ.
• In May, SIPAZ attended the presentation of the annual report of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights and, in June, that of Amnesty International’s 2010 report.
• We initiated a process of investigation on the topic of “Tying together gender and peace work” that has led SIPAZ to engage in meetings with women’s groups and organizations in Chiapas and Guerrero.