** There have been demonstrations in Europe, Africa, Latin America and the US; many outside  Mexican offices

By: Hermann Bellinghausen

The spread of acts for the freedom of Francisco Santiz López and Alberto Patishtán Gómez, indigenous prisoners in Chiapas, has carried the second worldwide week named ‘Bringing Down the Prison Walls’ to dozens of electronic portals and innumerable Twitter and Facebook accounts, through images that show actions and protests in public places in various state entities, as well as in dozens of cities in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Unites States and Canada, many outside Mexican embassies and consulates.

Meanwhile, the Undersecretary for Legal and Human Rights Issues in the Interior Ministry fixed his position with respect to the demands for the freedom of the two Chiapas political prisoners that have been presented at the diplomatic delegations of Mexico in different countries: “As for granting immediate freedom to Francisco Santiz López, it is advised that this agency does not have the authority to issue this request.” With respect to the disappearance of Alonso López Luna in Banavil last December, during an attack by armed PRI members, the violent acts of which Santiz López, a Zapatista support base, is accused, the agency simply gives notice that there is an investigation underway “for alleged homicide” of the disappeared. It is signed by Carlos Garduño Salinas, assistant director general for Investigation and Attention to Interior Cases.

It is important to remember that last May 28, the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity permitted Professor Martín Ramírez, representative of the people of El Bosque, to expound on Patishtán’s case in front of the four presidential candidates at the Chapultepec Castle, although no one expressed any commitment in that regard.

This week dozens of images were published wherein people are seen, including large groups, holding signs and pictures of the two indigenous Chiapans and demanding their immediate freedom, in Togo, Holland, Canada, Belgium and Portugal; and from cities like Valencia, Carcasonne, Paris, Seoul, Chicago, Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Turin, Río de Janeiro or Cochabamba.

In its edition this Monday, the electronic weekly Desinformémonos, for example, also gathers solidarity images, the same in Merida as in Los Mochis, Valle de Chalco, Cholula, Unión Hidalgo, the beaches of Huatulco, Cuernavaca, Toluca and the Federal District. Only in Chiapas are public events taking place demanding justice for Santiz and Patishtán in Tapachula, the Home of Mercy, a migrant shelter in Arriaga, the coastal mangrove swamps, San Andrés Larráinzar, El Bosque, Oventic and Acteal. Other demonstrations favorable to this demand have been registered in Totonacapan, Cherán, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Jalapa and Querétaro.

In New York, the groups Women Occupying Wall Street (WOW) and Anti-Racism Allies, both part of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, joined the second Week of Worldwide Struggle for the Freedom of Patishtán and Santiz López.

Nevertheless, neither federal authorities nor Chiapas state authorities have shown a greater  disposition, except for the declarative, to respond to this demand, which is based on the proven innocence of both prisoners.

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

En español:http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/06/12/politica/019n1pol

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