Ocosingo, Chiapas, Mexico.
February 15, 2021
To the people of Mexico
To the organizations in defense of Human Rights
To the media
To the National Indigenous Congress and its Indigenous Governing Council
To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
We, compañeros1 in resistance JOSÉ ESPINOZA GÓMEZ, JOSÉ ALFREDO ESPIOZA PÉREZ, JUAN ESPINOZA PÉREZ, MARIO ESPINOZA PÉREZ, CARLOS HERNANDEZ MÉNDEZ, JUAN RAMON GUTIÉRREZ ESPINOZA AND MIGUEL ESPINOZA HERNÁNDEZ, from the Jolmuc’ulha and Taquinton rancherías2 belonging to the Peña Limonar ejido, municipality of Ocosingo, Chiapas, and members of the National Indigenous Congress (Congreso Nacional Indigena-CNI). We energetically denounce the arbitrary and unjust detention of our compañeros Fernando Espinoza Pérez and Baldemar Espinoza Pérez, unjustly imprisoned in the 16th cereso3 of Ocosingo, taken to this instance by ejidal authorities, derived from the events that occurred on February 10 of this year, when our aforementioned compañeros along with Miguel Espinoza Hernández left the El Tumbo ejido, municipality of Ocosingo, towards the city of Palenque in a Nissan van loaded with 25 packages of organic coffee for sale, at the height of the Peña Limonar cruise ship a group of fifty people blocked their passage carrying firearms, sticks and machetes, led by Manuel López Gutiérrez, Juan Gutiérrez Cruz, Narciso Gutiérrez Pérez and Pedro Hernández Jiménez, president of the commissariat, surveillance council, secretary of the commissariat and municipal auxiliary agent, using a board with nails that they crossed on the road forced to stop the vehicle in which they were traveling, with luxury of violence and abuse of authority they were handcuffed, making excessive use of force they were transferred to the ejido peña limonar, where they were violently assaulted by rural police, said authorities abusing their power they took their coffee, money and belongings, later they were referred to the Ocosingo municipal prison where they are currently in vulnerable conditions.
This act of human rights violation, is not an isolated event, it is the consequence of a constant and uninterrupted low intensity war against the communities in resistance that has been operated since 1994, since this aggression is part of a series of human rights violations, unjust detentions, armed attacks on our homes, illegal logging, theft of wood, armed incursions on our workers, with the action and protection of the ejidal authorities, who for more than ten years have disrupted peace and community collective life, such actions evidently reflect an exacerbation of the conflicts and hostilities towards the Zapatista communities and the National Indigenous Congress, which point to the dispossession of our territory.
Faced with this scenario of violence, we demonstrate and hold responsible the three levels of the bad governments for the physical and psychological integrity of our fellow prisoners, as well as that of their families and those who make up the organization.
We demand the immediate release of our compañeros, reparation for the damage caused, as well as those responsible for such abuses and injustices committed be investigated and punished.
STOP HARRASHMENT AND AGGRESSION IN INDIGENOUS TERRITORIES!
THE LAND IS FOR THOSE THAT WORK IT!
NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US!
Footnotes:
1Compañero (male) and compañera (female) and compañeroa (gender non-binary) have no exact translation in English. They lie somewhere between “comrade” and “companion.” In a political context, the term generally refers to someone who belongs to a particular organization or movement. For the CNI, CIG, and EZLN, “compa” is often used for short and refers to someone in the movement.
2 Rancherias: facilities dedicated to the production of livestock for milk or meat
3 CERESO: Centros de Readaptación Social (Social Readaptation Centers) Equivalent to Jails.