Turtle Island – United States of America
July 2022
To the Mexican General Consulates in the United States,
We, the everyday people from below, the children, mothers, and elders, Native and Indigenous, Afro-descendents, working and living in the U.S., as internally displaced, as migrants, as third generation Mexicans and as peoples of the global south, communities of color, the persecuted, the criminalized, the defenders of Mother Earth and humanity raise our voice through this letter to say Ya Basta! Enough Is Enough! Stop the Paramilitary Aggressions Against and the Criminalization of the Familias Bases de Apoyo del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (BAEZLN). We are all witness to your government’s silence and negligence as a wave of repression mounts against those who resist the destruction of their ancestral territories. This inaction amounts to a campaign of complicity in the ongoing violation of human rights–not only in Chiapas, but across the many geographies that comprise Mexico. The Whole World is Watching.
To the families of the Bases of Support of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN),
We want to express our respect and admiration for your resistance and rebellion against the intensification of low-intensity warfare and the counterinsurgency being waged against your communities across your geography.
To our compañeros/as/oas of the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas and the Brigadas Civiles de Observación (BriCos),
You are not alone, No Están Solxs! Your dignified work in documenting the ongoing aggressions against the BAEZLN communities waged by organized crime, militarization, megaprojects, and the criminalization of social movements is imperative in the struggle for peace and justice.
These combined efforts demonstrate a collective resilience that encourages us not to get tired, not to give up, and not to sell out. We reaffirm our commitment to the Zapatista struggle; the collectives and individuals of Turtle Island want to add our voices in vehemently denouncing the threats and intimidations against the Zapatista communities.
This past week, as the IACHR Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was in Chiapas, Mexico touring the Tzotzil communities of Aldama to evaluate the enforcement of precautionary measures in favor of Tzotzil communities, the attacks against Zapatista communities across the state of Chiapas continued.
Unfortunately, compañerxs, these violations against the communities continue to pile up and day after day, we find ourselves not denouncing one aggression, but rather adding to a litany of aggressions perpetrated against the autonomous BAEZLN (Zapatista Bases of Support) families whose struggle for life and dignity is threatened daily and with total impunity.
Therefore, today, and last week, and on into the future we join our comrades in Slumil K’Ajxemk’Op–Europe from below–in denouncing the threats against national and international observers of the Civil Observation Brigades (BriCO), the obstruction of the human rights defense work of the Frayba Human Rights Center by armed groups in the region, and the constant violence and acts of aggression, which go uninvestigated and unpunished under the federal and state administrations of Lopez Obrador and Rutilio Escandón, respectively.
As of the beginning of this month, the attacks continue on the population of Zapatista indigenous communities of Nuevo Poblado San Gregorio (Nuevo San Gregorio), a territory recuperated and collectively cared for since 1994 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). In response to the grave violations of human rights (fencing off water sources, starving cattle, demolishing the collective fish farm), Frayba set up camps of Civil Observation Brigades to document the dangerous conditions in which the Zapatistas survive day by day.
A recent communication from Frayba affirms that to the last day, the presence of the observers WAS AN EFFECTIVE DETERRENT for physical aggressions against the community. However, due to consistent death threats, and in the face of increasing challenges to safely accessing the community, Frayba made the decision to pull the BriCo observers from the encampment.
In addition to this, just this past Thursday, July 14th, in another part of Chiapas, members of the Muculum Bachajón ejido, accompanied by Chilón municipal police and Civil Protection agents, burned the houses and displaced six Zapatista families from their homes in the community of “El Esfuerzo” in the Comandanta Ramona Autonomous Municipality.
The intentional abandonment and complicity of the Mexican State in allowing these conflicts to escalate in recent years endangers the life, integrity, and security of the Indigenous Zapatista communities like Nuevo Poblado San Gregorio (Nuevo San Gregorio), La Resistencia, Emiliano Zapata, the region of Moisés Gandhi, and now “El Esfuerzo.” While the actors and circumstances of each region are distinct, the factors that allow for this violence and territorial dispossession in all cases have several common threads.
In response to the urgent call to action by the Frayba Human Rights Center we demand that the Mexican State respect the defense of human rights in accordance with the international agreements it has signed and ratified!
We condemn the complicity of all levels of government in these ongoing agressions and demand thorough investigations into, and punishment of the perpetrators of these crimes and human rights violations!
We demand the immediate end to the aggressions against the peace and autonomy of the community of Nuevo San Gregorio, the armed attacks against the region of Moisés Gandhi, and the communities of La Resistencia and Emiliano Zapata and El Esfuerzo!
We demand the safeguarding of life and integrity for those who exercise their right to self-determination and autonomy within the framework of the San Andres Accords, ILO Convention 169, and the UN and OAS Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We call on our compañeros/as/oas of the national and international community in solidarity with the Zapatistas to demonstrate for life and against death threats and aggressions by armed groups!
#PazEnNuevoSanGregorio
#AlertaZapatista
#TodxsConLxsZapatistas
#NosotrxsConLxsZapatistas
Signed:
Sexta Grietas Del Norte
Raíces Sin Fronteras
Chiapas Support Committee Oakland
Schools for Chiapas
Majdouline El hichou
Ann Fiedler
Julia McClure
Peter Brown aka Pedro CAFE
Joni K. Craig
Douglas Allen
Spencer Miller
Luna
Universidad de la Tierra en Puebla
Brian Dymit
Taller Ahuehuete
Bjarke Fredskild Pedersen
Colectiva Audio-visual Moi Non Plus
Aurora Dry
Dimitar Dimitrov
Decolonizing the Way
Andrew Wood
Mil Hart
Jo Friedman
Conor Jansen
Emiliano Salazar
Joe Parker
Lewis Gabanski
Carol Thompson
Ernesto Gutiérrez
Jennifer Stanley
Anna Dolim
Susan Willis
Brendan Chan
Victoria Carranza
Bruce I. Waxman
Arianna
Charles Smith
pia bäckström
Rainer Ackermann
Justin Vavak
ben rall
Carl V
Bruno Renero-Hannan
Chris Nellis
North Star IWW
LeftRoots
Susan Beattie
Maria Beatriz Lopes Cerqueira
Julian Rodriguez
Michael Woliansky
Rett Anger
Ingrid houghton
ashley edgette Casa Mariposa
Patrick b
David Keith Wardrop
connor mickley
Christina Mendoza
Luis A. Lopez
Matilda Stricherz
Tomás Sánchez Marín
Darlene Ceremello
Jennifer Jones
Eric David Garcia
John Schmiedl
Brian Sylvester
Coalition for Justice
Eli Tizcareño
William Oates
Shaun Phillips
Anastasie Lenoir
Immigrant & Refugee Justice (IRJ), a task force of the WNY Peace Center
Jorge Torres
Carey Graham
Gary Doran
Aldo Abraham Covarrubias Mera
Denis Connelly
Kevin Hernandez
Hans Mayr
Sebastián Granda Henao
Marina Vitelli, individual
Francisco Eduardo Lemos de Matos
Gabriel Kummer de Souza
Cristhian Teófilo da Silva, LAEPI, UnB
Tadhg Ó Nualláin
Julie Schneyer
M W
Brian Vaughan
Kathleen Hughart
Albert Ponce Ph.D.
Bijan Esnaashari
Nathalie Zerbe
Henry Nelson
Jeremiah Cooper
Tiffany Konyen
Henry Brown
Nicolas Bickford
Julia McClure
Broome Tioga Greens
Jennifer Wilson
Maura Furfey
Bob Flagg
Gerry Milliken
Calvin Moss FNB
David Jones
Itza Orozco
Carolyn Hansen
Emmanuel Martinoli
Alex Haas
Carolyn O’Gorman
Roger Nelson
Kristen Leigh
Jason Bechtel
Shawn Voshell
Marina Papadimitriou
green tea
Joel Carlberg Torsell
Chris Farmer
Andrew Miller
Juan Guzmán
Joachim Nilsson
Jesús Montero
Harry Wills
Joan Smith
Tom Arcaro
Los Angeles Movement Advancing Socialism
Zootown Zapatista Solidarity Coalition
We ask that you find your nearest Mexican Consulate in the U.S. here to hand deliver this statement. Submit it electronically to the following heads of State:
– Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Presidente Constitucional de México. Palacio Nacional-Plaza de la Constitución s/n. – 2° Piso. Col. Centro. Delegación Cuauhtémoc. Cd. de México CP: 06066. Fax. (+52) 55 5093-4800, 55 5093-5300 Exts. 4103/4882.800-080-1127 Atención Ciudadana. Correo: amlo@presidencia.gob.mx y gobmx@funcionpublica.gob.mx Twitter: @lopezobrador_
– Lic. Adan Augusto López Hernández. Secretario de Gobernación de México.Bucareli 99, Edificio Cobian. 1er. piso. Col. Juárez. Delegación Cuauhtémoc. Ciudad de México. C.P.06600. Fax: (+52) 55 5093 34 14. Correo: secretario@segob.gob.mx
– Lic. Alejandro de Jesús Encinas Rodríguez. Subsecretaría de Derechos Humanos, Población y Migración. Bucareli 99, Edificio Cobian. 1er. piso. Col. Juárez. Delegación Cuauhtémoc. C.P. 06600. Ciudad de México. Fax: (+52) 55 5128-0000 Ext. 33077Correo: ajencinas@segob.gob.mx y projasm@segob.gob.mx Twitter: @A_Encinas_R
– Lic. Rosario Piedra Ibarra. Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos. Edificio “Héctor Fix Zamudio”, Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1922, 6°piso. Col. Tlacopac San Ángel.Delegación Álvaro Obregón. Ciudad de México. C.P. 01040. Fax: (+52) 0155 36 68 07 67. Correo: correo@cndh.org.mx Twitter: @CNDH.
– Lic. Rutilio Escandón Cadenas. Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Chiapas. Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas, 1er Piso Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P.29009. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México. Fax: +52 961 61 88088, + 52 961 6188056; Extensión 21120. 21122. Correo: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx Twitter: @RutilioEscandon
– Lic. Victoria Cecilia Flores Pérez. Secretaria General de Gobierno en Chiapas. Palacio De Gobierno, 2o. Piso, Centro C.P. 29000 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. Conmutador: (961) 61 8 7460 Ext. 20003. Correo: secretariaparticular.sgg@gmail.com
– Lic. Juan José Zepeda Bermúdez. Presidente de la Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos. Avenida 1 Sur Oriente S/N, Edificio Plaza, 3er y 4to piso, Barrio San Roque C.P. 29000 TuxtlaGutiérrez,Chiapas. Conmutador: (961) 602 89 80; 961-60289-81 Ext. 206; Lada sin costo 01800-55-282-42Fax:(961) 60 2 57 84. Correo: presidencia@cedh-chiapas.org
– Dr. Alejandro Gertz Manero. Fiscal General de la República. Av. Insurgentes 20 de la Glorieta de Insurgentes, Col. Roma Norte, Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06700, Ciudad de México. Correo: atencionfgr@fgr.org.mx– Dr. Olaf Gómez Hernández. Fiscal General del estado de Chiapas. Libramiento Norte y Rosa del Oriente número 2010 colonia El Bosque, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, C.P. 29049, (961) 61-72-300, Ext. 17258. Twiter: @FGEChiapas Correo: staff_secretarial@fge.chiapas.gob.mx