Melbourne-Australia, October 25,  2024

Attention:
MR. ERNESTO CÉSPEDES OROPEZA 
AMBASSADOR OF MEXICO IN AUSTRALIA

Mr. Ambassador:

We, the undersigned and participants of the Solidarity Gathering with Grassroots Movements and Organisations & First Nations people, celebrated with in-person and virtual attendance between the 17th and the 20th of October 2024.

We are writing to you so that, through your channels, deliver to the government of Mexico, our utmost energetic protest against the actions that are being carried out in Chiapas which place at risk the integrity, common goods, security and lives of people from Zapatista Support Bases, who live in the community named “October 6th”, from the Caracol Nuevo Jerusalem (official municipality of Ocosingo). 

Disgracefully, the aggressions towards the Zapatista Support Bases are not new; they have a long history of 30 years since January 1st, 1994, in the form of counterinsurgency, low-intensity war and prolonged war of attrition. However, now (2024), it is a type of ‘narcowar’ not recognised and in many cases even denied by the different levels of the Mexican government. Already within the government establishment of the new president of the country, there have been attacks led by armed people towards the Zapatista communities October 6th, attempting to appropriate the territorial land on which they have been working for the last 30 years. The statemen of denouncing from Moisés on behalf of the CCRI-CG of the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army) has been clear and conclusive: 

Since the 5th of September, as human rights organisations have well documented, the different authorities of the Mexican state are aware of the situation faced by the October 6th’s community, so far without having taken any measures to address this situation, which is not surprising having considered claims made by the aggressors of having the approval of the municipal authorities of Ocosingo and the Chiapas State Government and of the PVEM and Morena parties respectively. Meanwhile, the aggressors also claim that they have received pressure from the organised crime syndicate to evict Zapatistas.

We also want to denounce and repudiate the murder of the Tzotzil Jesuit priest Marcelo Perez, who was killed in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on October 20, 2024. He was a long term activist, denouncing the violence of the drug cartel and fought to return peace, truth and justice to the indigenous and peasant peoples of Chiapas.

It is urgent that on behalf of the government which you represent, the respective authorities carry out the actions which different people, groups, organisations, networks, movements, human rights organisations and internationalists have claimed in unison as urgent: These are:

1. Carry out the urgent and necessary actions to guarantee and protect the life, integrity, common goods and personal safety of the families from Zapatista Support Bases, preventing the escalation of violence even further. 
2. Investigate efficiently, promptly and appropriately to identify and punish with the full justice those responsible for the attacks and the Murder of Jesuit Priest Marcelo Perez. Dismantle and disarm the armed and illegal organised crime group or groups operating in the area.
3. Guarantee and respect the autonomy and self-determination of the Zapatista National Liberation Army and its Support Bases, and in particular, of the Collective Assembly of Zapatista Autonomous Governments of New Jerusalem.

We will be waiting for your prompt response,

Sincerely,

Collective Signatures:

The Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET) Melbourne, Australia
(Red de Solidaridad con los Pueblos Latinoamericanos/Abya Yala)
Comité Al Faro Zapatista (Planeta Tierra)
Meli Newen Mapu (Organización Solidaria con el Pueblo Nación Mapuche) Estocolmo, Suecia
Trawunche Madrid (Coordinación de Apoyo al Pueblo Mapuche) Madrid, España
MASIL (Mapuche Aboriginal Struggles for Indigenous Land) Melbourne, Australia
Latin American House, Australia
Latin-American Women Program, 3CR Community Radio, Melbourne, Australia
Liberación – Chile
Movimiento de DDHH para la vida plena de los pueblos – América Latina
Inquietando desde el Margen – CHILE.
Socorro Rojo Nuestra América
Rebelión Popular (Argentina)
Cabildo desde los Derechos Humanos de Quilpué-Chile
Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Quilpué-Chile
Colectivo 31 de Julio, Región Valparaíso-Chile
Radio Cordón Marga Marga
Agrupación de Familiares de Ejecutados Políticos de Valparaíso
Revista Atreverse-Bolivia
Consejo Americano de Pueblos Indígenas – CAPI-Perú
Wage Peace
Venezuela Solidarity campaign-Australia
Chile Solidarity Campaign
Mapuche Australia Solidarity
Earthworker Construction Cooperative-Australia
Degrowth Network-Australia

Personal Signatures:

Sandra Gonzalez de la Vega Gonzalez
Alma Gonzalez
Francisco Gonzalez de la Vega
Lucho Riquelme
Anna Cameron
Andrea Heinrich
Marisol Salinas
Xochitl Leyva Solano (Comité Al Faro Zapatista)
Axel Köhler (Comité Al Faro Zapatista)
Lola Cubells (Comité Al Faro Zapatista, País Valenciano)
Dr. Alex Chamán Portugal. Docente en universidades públicas de Bolivia y Director de la Revista Atreverse.
Jorge Alonso (Comité Al Faro Zapatista, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México)
Marcelo Chimbolema artista kichwa del Ecuador
Hugo Tacuri Huamani, Perú Vicepresidente del Consejo Americano de Pueblos Indígenas – CAPI-Perú
Zelda Grimshaw
Jannett Carrillo Arismendy
Juan Sebastián Diaz Pachón
Victoria Anais Pena
David Shires
Joe Montero
Nick Paztalatzis
Maximiliano Riquelme-Salinas
Agustina Laino
Vee Rodrigues
Juan Camilo Riano Rodríguez
Lorenzo Rivera
Marta Conde
Anthony Gleeson
Yannic Kuna
Shannon Howie
Brendan Tannahill
Alexandra Beckett
Nicolas Lentini
Tonie Field
Tanya Goncalves
Lumi Riquelme-Salinas
Miguel Rosas
Felipe Pérez
María Fernanda Valdés
Eric Hornung

..Still more arriving…