October 20, 2009
The Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group is one of many groups across the world which support the Zapatistas in their struggle. Our main purpose is to raise awareness of the Zapatista struggle and to give practical help wherever possible.
We aim to do this by organising talks, film showings, benefit gigs, street stalls and direct actions as well as publishing articles. We import Zapatista produce such as coffee, clothing and jewellery for sale with the money going directly back to the communities.
In Spring 2004 the Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group and the Glasgow Zapatista Solidarity Group twinned with the '16 de Febrero' Zapatista autonomous municipality. The municipality is in a poor, rural community and has asked us to raise funds to help build a health clinic in their area.
The EdinChiapas group is part of the 'UK Zapatista Network'.
Eviction and destruction of the indigenous community of Laguna San Pedro
February 2010
Zapatistas denounce the eviction and destruction of an indigenous community and accuse the government of aiming to set up ecotourism centres.
‘Reforestation’ is the pretext used by the authorities to perform the operation against the EZLN support bases.
San Cristobal de las Casas, Jan 30. The Good Government Council (JBG) ‘the way ahead’ (el camino del futuro), based in the Caracol of La Garrucha, on Friday denounced the eviction and destruction of the indigenous community of Laguna San Pedro, in the autonomous municipality of Ricardo Flores Magon, which took place on 22nd January. The government's explicit intention is to "reforest" the area and establish private ecotourism centres in the Montes Azules, within the area of the biosphere reserve.
While they were burning the houses of the indigenous people, the JBG relates, the Zapatistas were forced to board official helicopters to be transferred to the city of Palenque, where they endured "hunger and cold" in a hostel until they received attention from independent civil organizations.
As has happened before, the raid was preceded by an opportune "application" on behalf of the Lacandon authorities based in Lacanjá Chansayab, the legal owners of six hundred thousand hectares of the forest, who are habitually pressing for the expulsion of the inhabitants of Montes Azules.
Before the eviction, forces sent by “the bad federal and state (PRD) Government of Juan Sabines Guerrero, and the municipal president of Ocosingo, (PAN), Carlos Leonel Solórzano, conducted an operation using federal police, accompanied by officials of the Federal Procurator of the Environment (Profepa)” who with four helicopters flew over the village of Laguna San Pedro “to terrify the population”, said the JBG.
Chiapas Anti-Mining Organizer Murdered
December 2009
Mariano Abarca Led a Growing Movement to Kick Canadian Mining Companies Out of Mexican Communities
Mariano Abarca Roblero, one of Mexico's most prominent anti-mining organizers, was shot to death on the evening of November 27, 2009, in front of his house in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. He left behind a wife and four children. Another man was wounded in the shooting.
The incident comes just days after Abarca filed charges against two Blackfire employees, Ciro Roblero Perez and Luis Antonio Flores Villatoro, for threatening to shoot him if he didn't stop organizing against Canadian mining company Blackfire's barium mine in Chicomuselo. According to a formal complaint filed by a government employee who works in the Chicomuselo municipal building, Roblero Perez arrived at the municipal building to say that he had gone to look for Abarca to "fuck him up in a hail of bullets." He also reportedly said that Abarca and other people were on a list of people Blackfire management wants to hurt. Blackfire public relations manager Luis Antonio Flores Villatoro was mentioned in the government employee's complaint as one of the people responsible for the list.
Ejido* authorities from the Nueva Morelia ejido in Chicomuselo county took the complaint seriously and helped Abarca launch an investigation. The day before the murder, Roblero Perez and Flores Villatoro were summoned to testify regarding the alleged death threats, but they failed to appear.
"political pressure from the movement" frees OCEZ prisoners
November 2009
The Chiapas government arrested Jose Manuel "Don Chema" Hernandez Martinez on September 30, 2009. It sent him to federal maximum security prison in Nayarit.
On October 24, the Chiapas state government detained and allegedly tortured Rocelio de la Cruz Gonzáles and José Manuel de la Torre Hernández.
All three men are leaders of the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization - Carranza Region (OCEZ).
On November 24, the three men enjoyed their first day of freedom since their controversial arrests. They celebrated their freedom as any community organizer would: they got back to work. The political prisoners held a press conference and then joined their compañeros in a protest encampment.
Film Screening Edinburgh - Acteal 'A Massacre Foretold'
November 2009
A MASSACRE FORETOLD
(documentary film, 58 mins, 2007, Nick Higgins)
(documentary film, 58 mins, 2007, Nick Higgins)
This documentary by Scottish film-maker Nick Higgins reveals the truth behind the 1997 massacre in the village of Acteal in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. 45 indigenous women, children and men were murdered by paramilitaries with the aid of state forces. Those killed were from a pacifist organisation called Las Abejas, who sympathise with the aims of the Zapatistas.
FPDT STATEMENT ON ATENCO HUNGER STRIKERS
October 2009
Brothers and sisters of Mexico and the world:
We’re sending you all the information we have as of now. On Thursday, October 15, 2009, our comrade Ignacio del Valle told us in a brief phone call that he and other comrades are on hunger strike in the maximum security prison where he has been kidnapped by the Mexican state.
This extreme measure is being taken to demand an end to the subhuman prison conditions to which our political prisoners are subjected in that dungeon: physical attacks, degradation, threats, humiliation, unjustifiable punishment, suspension of phone calls, suspension of visits, destruction of mail, theft of art and design materials and other measures characteristic of fascist regimes. The comrade has not been allowed to re-establish communications with his family members or lawyers.
We hold Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Enrique Peña Nieto, and the prison warden responsible for the physical integrity, health and life of our political prisoners Felipe Álvarez, Héctor Galindo and Ignacio del Valle.
THE LAND IS NOT FOR SALE, LOVE IT AND DEFEND IT!
ZAPATA LIVES, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
PEOPLES’ FRONT IN DEFENSE OF THE LAND
ATENCO PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE
October 2009
At least 12 inmates held in maximum-security prison El Altiplano, including Ignacio del Valle, leader of the People's Front in Defence of the Land(FPDT) from San Salvador Atenco, started a hunger strike last Friday to protest against mistreatment and violations of individual rights at this federal prison, located in the town of Almoloya de Juarez.
Although officials of the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) claimed that the protest had ended on Saturday, activists denounced yesterday that the fast that started on the 15th October continues because their restrictions have been increased in recent weeks.
Monica Hurtado, head of the Human Rights Association of the State of Mexico, said relatives of Ignacio del Valle, sentenced to 112 years in prison, were told that he is one of the inmates who remains on hunger strike. The activist has requested that the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) follows up the complaints made by the people of Atenco.
Autonomous Authorities in La Garrucha denounce paramilitary attack on San Manuel
October 2009
The Junta de Buen Gobierno of La Garrucha Caracol has issued a statement denouncing the attack on San Manuel by the Aric paramilitary groups which led to the kidnap and torture of eight Zapatistas.
The autonomous authorities stated that on the 26th August members of their community were attacked by 150 people armed with sticks and machetes. Following this on the 1st September eight Zapatistas were kidnapped and held for 26 hours. The communique states that during this time they were brutally tortured. It also explains that the attackers were assisted and armed by members OPDICC, a paramilitary group with links to the army and government.
The statement goes on to denounce the police and government for complicity in these abuses explaining 35 police officers along with police helicopters were present during the 1st September attack.
See www.edinchiapas.org.uk/node/253 for more details.
SAN MANUEL ZAPATISTAS KIDNAPPED AND TORTURED BY PARAMILITARIES September 2009
October 2009
An attack by Aric-Official and Aric-UU left 1 member of Aric-UU dead, 8 Zapatistas injured, 8 Aric members injured and 7 Zapatistas taken prisoner. Those Zapatistas prisoners were taken to Santo Tomás ejido and tortured for 36 hours until government officials and human rights defenders arrived. One man is in such serious condition that the Good Government Junta in La Garrucha told La Jornada's reporter they don't know whether he will live. The prisoners were placed in deep mud holes during pouring rain, stuck with machetes, tied to orange bushes, had tubes placed in their throats, doused with cold water, made to sign declarations while blindfolded, forced to run without shoes and psychologically tortured by threats to cut off their testicles. One man had rope burns around his neck where they placed a noose and said they were going to hang him.
ZAPATISTA SOLIDARITY CALENDAR 2010 - AVAILABLE NOW!
September 2009
Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group and KIPTIK proudly present The Zapatista Solidarity Calendar 2010.
With high quality images from our twinned autonomous municipality '16 de Febrero' and other Zapatista communities, the 2010 calendar is essential for activists and supporters alike. All funds raised from the sale of the calendar will be shared between KIPTIK, who support water, health, media and art projects in Zapatista communities, and Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group's support of autonomous health clinics in the Chiapas highlands region.
Any groups, collectives or shops that would like to distribute these calendars are welcome to contact us, and they are available for a mere £6 to individuals, or £7 to shops. Stocks are limited so get in there fast!
SOLIDARITY APPEAL - FROM MEXICO TO SCOTLAND
August 2009
Ruben Valencia Nunez from Oaxaca, southern Mexico spoke in Glasgow and Edinburgh in late July as part of a European tour campaigning against the criminalisation of social movements in Mexico. He urged solidarity with the people of Oaxaca who are resisting many megaprojects such as mines and dams. Several projects are run by European companies, including by Scottish Power's owners, Spanish company Iberdrola.
Ruben is an organiser on the APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) council, a founder of VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty) and is active with the University of the Land, based on self-education, and the CASOTA (Oaxacan House of Solidarity and Self-Sustaining Work) social centre. He has protested against Dams, motorways and the other projects being imposed on the local people.
Ruben was the victim of an assassination attempt in January, in Oaxaca City. Five men in a car, who looked like plain clothes police officers, shouted insults about APPO. They followed Ruben to a cafe and attacked him with a knife on the head and neck. Ruben had to be rushed to hospital where he required many stitches, and only narrowly escaped death.
Ruben's talks – organised by Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group and the newly reformed Glasgow Chiapas Solidarity Group - described the recent history of heroic resistance and brutal repression in Oaxaca, stressing the struggle is alive today, and needs our solidarity:
Get Involved
We invite you to join our email list (sign up here) and to attend our regular organising meetings.
Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group,
c/o 17 West Montgomery Place
Edinburgh
EH7 5HA
Scotland
Email: edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk
The EdinChiapas group is part of the 'UK Zapatista Network': ukzapatistas.wordpress.com
