solidaridad
Signatures for the freedom of the political prisoners of Bachajón!
Sign the letter to demand the freedom of the 5 peasants detained in Bachajón, Chiapas, Mexico, for defending their natural resources. This letter will be sent to:
- President of Mexico: Lic. Felipe Calderón.
- Governor of the state of Chiapas: Lic. Juan Sabines.
- General Secretary of Governance of the state of Chiapas: Dr. Noé Castañón León.
- President of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of the State of Chiapas: Dr. Juan Gabriel Coutiño Gómez.
Español http://www.europazapatista.org/Firmas-por-la-Libertad-de-Presos.html
Francés http://www.europazapatista.org/Signatures-pour-la-liberation-des.html
Inglés http://www.europazapatista.org/Signatures-for-the-freedom-of-the.html
Italiano http://www.europazapatista.org/Firme-per-la-liberta-dei.html
The past February the 3rd, 117 indigenous tseltal peasants (ejidatarios) from San Sebastián Bachajón, municipality of Chilón, in Chiapas, Mexico, were detained in an arbitrary manner.
The detained people, which are adherent to ‘La Otra Campaña’ said that, among the several irregularities in their legal process, they were not provided with a defendant lawyer or qualified translation to their mother language. Also, they were threatened by the local police and harassed by the Public Ministry personnel.
The detention of the peasants occurred near to the entry to ‘Cascadas de Agua Azul’ while they were on a meeting discussing their response to the local government about the offering of a dialogue round-table between the involved parts. The local police performed massive detentions, and went after the people who looked for safe in the houses of the neighbourhood.
The next day, February the 4th, the interrogation and the discharge of evidence started, the sodium rodizonate test was performed to the detainees, they were forced to give samples of urine to perform toxicological tests, and the peasants referred that during all the process they were not assisted by a lawyer or a qualified translator according their own culture and language.
Their testimonials refer that during their declarations at the Ministry of Justice, they were threatened by the police and harassed by the employees of the State Ministry.
According to sources, in February the 5th at approximately 02:00 hours, the local Ministry of Justice of the State of Chiapas freed 107 peasants and, at 20:00 hours, ten people were consigned –among them one underage boy- to the Penal Court ‘Playas de Catazajá’, and then sent to the state prison Centro Estatal para la Reinserción Social de Sentenciados No. 17 (CERSS No. 17) in the municipality of Playas de Catazajá, Chiapas, being accused of qualified homicide, attempt of homicide, attacks to the peace and to the corporal integrity and attacks to the State patrimony, all included in the penal file No 39/2011.
A few days later, 5 prisoners were freed, but 5 other peasants from ejido de San Sebastián Bachajón remained imprisoned.
Being conscious of the violation of the Human Rights of the peasants of San Sebastián Bachajón -adherents to ‘La Otra Campaña’- in their struggle for the preservation of their rights to territory and the right to be informed and consulted, we demand to the authorities of this country as well as to the Ministry of Justice the following:
1. The immediate freedom of Jerónimo Guzmán Méndez, Domingo Pérez Álvaro, Domingo García Gómez, Juan Aguilar Guzmán y Mariano Demeza Silvano.
2. A serious, exhaustive, and based-on-truth investigation of all the events that occurred in February the 2nd, and a sanction to the personnel in charge of the administration of justice in the state of Chiapas, who incurred in violations of the Human Rights.
3. The respect to the right to territory of the indigenous peoples, right which the peasants of San Sebastián Bachajón are vigorously working for.
4. The cease of the harassment and the aggressions towards the indigenous communities, grass-root social workers, and human rights defenders.
5. The respect to the human rights of persons and peoples.
Montréal, Canada: two events for the freedom of the 5 political prisoners from San Sebastián Bachajón
Inspired by the call to action sent out by the dignified people of Movement for Justice en El Barrio, Montréal held two events that called for the liberation of the political prisoners still being detained for defending their land in San Sebastián Bachajón, Chiapas. First, on the 28th of March, we hosted an event with Juan and Maria from the Movement for Justice in El Barrio. At this event they presented us with two videos, one of their struggle in New York and then they screened the first video message from San Sebastián Bachajón made in collaboration with Movement for Justice in El Barrio. There were people there to listen with their hearts and see with their eyes the words of the people in San Sebastián Bachajón and inform themselves about their struggle for their land and against the bad government and its police forces. The people in the audience asked questions about the situation in Chiapas, particularly in Bachajón. Maria read out a message from women in Chiapas written for all women in struggle throughout the world, and the entire audience joined in the call in support of the women in struggle. At the end of the event, we gathered the names and contacts of people interested in coming together to watch the second video message from San Sebastián Bachajón and talk together about how we could continue to support the struggle of the people of Bachajón here in Canada.
In the morning of the 30 of March, we held a protest in front of the Mexican Consulate in Montréal. We made lots of noise with a megaphone, explaining to all passers why we were there, and explaining to them the situation in San Sebastián Bachajón. In making the call for the liberation of the 5 prisoners, we caught the attention of the police and the consulate. The police let us continue after speaking with us a bit and asking who the person responsible for the action was (nobody! everybody!) and the man they sent from the consulate took notes of our explanation of why we were there protesting. We passed out flyers with information to those passing in the streets, and many people asked us why we were protesting. The protest was successful in garnering attention for the prisoners and we think with we could hold another protest to put more pressure on the consulate here to call for the liberation of the prisoners in Bachajón, because defending their land is not a crime.
In the next days we are going to hold a meeting here in Montréal to see the second video message together and decide how we can continue to put pressure on the bad government of Mexico until they liberate the prisoners of Bachajón, who are being held under false charges. We are very inspired by the struggle of the people of Bachajón and we were touched by the voices and faces of the women and men in struggle for their land and waterfalls, and standing up for their dignity. Here in Montréal we recognize that an injustice to one is an injustice to all, and because of this we are going to continue the call for the liberation of the prisoners and for autonomous control of their territory by the people fo San Sebastián Bachajón.
Thank you for sharing your struggle, your words and your dreams with us.
May the struggle continue!
Long live the people in struggle!
