** The grave deterioration of his health is one of the reasons for the measure

** They attempt against my dignity by violating my customs, accuses the indigenous

By: Hermann Bellinghausen
Periódico La Jornada

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, May 25, 2012

The Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) announced the granting of urgent precautionary measures (MC 77/12) in favour of the prisoner of conscience Alberto Patishtán Gómez, faced with grave danger to his life and health because of the worsening of his untreated glaucoma. This occurs while the humiliations and mistreatment increase against the Tzotzil professor, who now reports that he was shaved in the prison at Guasave, Sinaloa, where he has been since October.

The IAHRC asked the government of Mexico to instruct the competent authorities “to carry out the medical examinations that permit an evaluation of the beneficiary’s health and to offer him adequate treatment.”

For its part, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) denounced that “the unjustified transfer of Patishtán was with the intention of discriminating, punishing and repressing the Tzotzil political prisoner, who has been characterized as a defender of human rights in the prisons of Chiapas,” and called on the authorities “to guarantee access to justice, since the delays and obstructions imposed, in the name of the law, put his life at risk while he is in the custody of the Mexican State.” It remembered that: “despite the reforms to article one of the Constitution, this [action] does not fulfill its obligation to respect, protect and guarantee the human rights recognized in the Constitution and in the international instruments that it has signed and ratified.”

Patishtán, an adherent to the Other Campaign, expressed in a letter: “With profound regret, touching my head with my hand I realize that the authorities that talk of respect for human rights are nothing more than political demagoguery to deceive.” Authorities at the Federal Centre for Social Re-adaptation in Guasave “have acted against my will and attacked my dignity not only as an indigenous man and a human being, but against my uses and customs, for centuries, as an indigenous man, we have worn our hair normal for our protection working in the field and elsewhere, and today I have seen my reflection on a metal sheet that is used as a mirror and I have not been able to avoid a tear upon thinking that soon my family will see me totally without hair. That is one more act of contempt that I now encounter as a reprisal for that struggle that I have been maintaining for my freedom. How many more, señores rulers, will have to withstand these vexations? This is not the justice for which I have asked so often. Once again I demand  immediate freedom for those of us in the Voice of El Amate (la Voz del Amate) and those in Solidarity with the Voice of El Amate, and respect for our customs.”

Before that, Frayba condemned “the recent actions by the federal government, which violate the prisoner’s access to justice and defence.” After proving that his “unjustified transfer” from Chiapas to Sinaloa “was ordered by the (Chiapas) Secretary of Government, Noé Castañón León,” the Center promoted an amparo, which was favourably granted with an order for his immediate return to the prison in San Cristóbal.

Nevertheless, the federal government “continued placing obstacles in the way of his return and freedom” by promoting an “appeal for review” of the amparo. This delaying action was admitted on April 19 by the first collegiate tribunal of the twentieth circuit, in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, giving way to the petition de Rafael Pérez Lozada, Unit Director of said circuit, who “officially published that the case was sent to the second collegiate tribunal in Cancún, Quintana Roo, ‘in order to aid the work of this tribunal, said jurisdictional organ will pronounce the corresponding ruling.’” That, according to Frayba, “represents delay and obstruction of access to justice from the federal government, in complicity with the government of Chiapas, in prejudice of Patishtán, who in June will complete 12 years of unjust seclusion.”

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Saturday, May 26, 2012

En español:http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/05/26/politica/015n1pol

English translation by the Chiapas Support Committee for the:
International Zapatista Translation Service, a collaboration of the:
Chiapas Support Committee, California
Wellington Zapatista Support Group
UK Zapatista Solidarity Network