English translation of Urgent Action with model letter and addresses to write to

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas,
03 of February 2010.
AU-02

URGENT ACTION

Forced displacement of indigenous communities in Montes Azules, Chiapas, perpetrated by the federal and state governments

Imminent threat of further displacement of indigenous communities in Montes Azules

On 21 and 22 January 2010, there were two communities operating in Laguna Sigh or The Stallion and Laguna San Pedro San Pedro or guanylate in the municipality of Ocosingo latter Support Base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN ) who were evicted from the Montes Azules Biosphere.

According to government sources, the operation was coordinated action between elements of the Special Police of the Attorney General of the State of Chiapas, Secretary of Citizen Security and Safety, Attorney General’s Office, Federal Office for Environmental Protection Commission National Protected Natural Areas, and representatives of State Human Rights.

According to testimonies of displaced families in the community Laguna Sigh, on Thursday, January 21, 2010 around 11am helicopters arrived ( between 3 and 5), with approximately 60 policemen, dressed in black uniforms and camouflage. The police pulled out of her house violently Ms Maria Cortes Perez (hereinafter Mary) and Magdalena Garcia Cortes (the Magdalene) and concentrated in the center of town and then uploaded them to the helicopter and moved forcefully them to the municipality of Palenque.  The eviction took place without notice, without showing any official document, without any explanation and without allowing any membership charge.

The next day, Friday, 22 January 2010, around 10 am down 4 helicopters to Laguna San Pedro, BAEZLN community was surrounded with an estimated 250 police: telling people that the operation was a federal and intimacy and milestones leading them to the helicopter to 12 people among children, women and men.

Displaced families were moved  to the city of Palenque, where some people were taken to Mr Mark Minor Flores, Attorney General of the Forest District Office.  According to the testimony of one of those evicted, when questioned was asked “where was his small piece of land for planting drugs.”  At the end of the coach were asked to sign a document without knowing the contents of the letter, no translator was provided, nor counsel.  They were then transferred to the shelter of the System for Integral Family Development of the State of Chiapas (DIF regional), not so far been given an alternative to relocation.

The event of forced displacement in the region – witnesses report that all the houses and belongings in those villages were burned.

On 26 January 2010 in a news conference, state and federal environmental authorities reported that a schema driving tour of the Mayan route certified sites include nature tourism strategy for development and conservation of the Lacandon jungle, as well was released in the near future that will leave the communities of Nuevo San Gregorio, Nuevo Salvador Allende, Nuevo San Pedro, October 6, Village Laguna Sigh, Ojo de Agua and San Jacinto Progress Lacanjá.

Background:

For several years, federal and state governments have publicly announced the execution of evictions and displaced arbitrarily, violating human rights of Indigenous Peoples who for decades have been settled in the region of Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, this as part of the official strategy of dispossession, exclusion and discrimination on the grounds of “conservation” for investment by national and international interests in the tourist area of research.

Rights violated:
In the forced eviction following were violated human rights enshrined in international instruments signed and ratified by the Mexican State:

- Personal Freedom (Right to): Laguna Sigh or The Stallion Mary and Magdalene, were taken from their home, concentrated in the center of town and moved into the regional DIF; In Laguna San Pedro, people were flown by helicopter to Palenque and without presenting any order, making available to the Attorney General of the Forest District Office,

- Personal integrity (right to): Mary and Magdalene, were violently taken from their home and increased the force in the helicopter, so families were BAEZLN force increased in the helicopter and transferred to the city of Palenque, in addition to make inroads with menacing and intimidating;

- Personal safety (Right to): Without showing any warrant of eviction state and federal agents raided acting equally well against Mary Magdalene and families BAEZLN;

- Adequate Housing (Right to): All persons are entitled to an “adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including (…) housing and the continuous improvement of living conditions.” With the forced eviction of people were denied this right;

- Land-area (Right to): The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in its Art 47.dispone that “nothing in this Covenant (including the right to property) should be interpreted as impairing the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize fully and freely their natural wealth and resources.

Besides federal and state governments systematically ignored its obligations arising from the signing and ratification: the Convention (No.169) of the ILO and violate their rights particularly in its article 6: “… governments should (. ..) consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions …; Article 14 shall be recognized by the peoples concerned the right of ownership and possession over the lands they traditionally occupy; of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Article 10, “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.  There shall be no transfer without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples concerned, or without an agreement on a just and fair compensation and, where possible, the option of return. “

For all the foregoing false that forced evictions and land-use planning policy initiated in the Blue Mountains area, is respectful of human rights, on the contrary, hiding behind them, the Mexican state is promoting the theft, legal uncertainty and seriously affects the ability of indigenous families to carve out a dignified life project.

On the facts stated above Human Rights Committee Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada, and Counseling Service for Peace (SERAPAZ) and the Human Rights Center Fray Bartolome de Las Casas (Frayba) we call to send letters to the Mexican Government requiring:

1 .- To compensate and repair the damage caused to families by the forced eviction of communities Sigh or The Stallion Laguna and Laguna San Pedro or San Pedro guanylate.

2 .- That the Mexican government fulfills its obligations as provided in Article 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

3 .- It will refrain from further acts of eviction run in Montes Azules, considering the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous peoples of the United Nations.

4 .- Modify its policy of regularization in the indigenous regions of Chiapas, particularly in the Montes Azules, so to seek justice and equality in rights and conflicting interests among communities and organizations, striving at all times adherence to the norms international human rights.

Sincerely,

Name

Organization
________________________________________ ________________________________________

We request the dispatch of urgent actions:

Lic. Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
President of the Republic
Official Residence of Los Pinos
Casa Miguel German
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec,
CP 11850, Mexico DF
Tel: (52.55) 2789.1100 Fax: (52.55) 5277.2376
Email: felipe.calderon @ presidencia.gob.mx

Mr. Fernando Francisco Gomez Mont
Secretary of the Interior
Bucareli 99, 1er. Piso, Col. Juárez,
Del. Cuauhtemoc
CP 06600 Mexico DF
Fax: (52.55) 50933414
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx, contacto@segob.gob.mx

Lic. Juan José Sabines Guerrero
Governor of the State of Chiapas
Palace of Government of Chiapas
Central and East First Avenue, Colonia Centro, CP 29,009
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
Fax: +52 961 61 8808 8? + 52 961 6188 056
Email: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx

Dr. Noe Castanon Leon
Secretary General of the State Government of Chiapas
Palacio de Gobierno, Colonia Centro, CP 29000
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
Switchboard: + 52 (961) 61 2-90-47, 61 8-74-60
Email: secretario@secgobierno.chiapas.gob.mx

Mr. Raciel Lopez Salazar
Attorney General of Chiapas
Libramiento North East and Rose, No. 2010, Col. El Bosque
Chiapas CP 29,049 Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
Switchboard: 01 (961) 6-17-23-00. Phone: + 52 (961) 61 6-53-74, 61 6-53-76, 61 6-57-24,
61 6-34-50 61 6-34-50
Email: raciel.lopez @ pgje.chiapas.gob.mx

Mr. Raul Placencia Villanueva
President of the National Human Rights Commission
Peripheral South # 3469, Col. San Jeronimo Lidice, Delegación
Magdalena Contreras, Mexico City
CP 10200
Tel +52 (55) 56818125, 54907400
Email: trasparencia@cndh.org.mx

Send a copy to:
Human Rights Center Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, AC.
Calle Brasil 14, Barrio Méxicanos, 29,240 San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
Tel: 967 6787395, 967 6787396, Fax: 967 6783548
Email: accionurgente@frayba.org.mx

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

SAMPLE LETTER:

Name and address to whom you send the Urgent Action.
Place, date

Mr. (title role)

Through this I express my  concern over acts of  forced displacement of indigenous communities in Montes Azules, Chiapas, perpetrated by officials of the federal and state governments.

In this situation I think it is false that forced evictions and land-use planning policy initiated in the Blue Mountains area, is respectful of human rights, on the contrary, hiding behind them, the Mexican state is promoting the theft, legal uncertainty and seriously affects the ability of indigenous families to carve out a dignified life project.

For several years, federal and state governments have publicly announced the execution of evictions and displaced arbitrarily, violating human rights of Indigenous Peoples who for decades have been settled in the region of Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, this as part of the official strategy of dispossession, exclusion and discrimination on the grounds? conservation? para la for investment by national and international interests in the tourist area of research.

In this context, I  am concerned that the Mexican government announced that in the near future will leave the communities of Nuevo San Gregorio, Nuevo Salvador Allende, Nuevo San Pedro, October 6, Village Laguna Sigh, Ojo de Agua and San Jacinto Progress Lacanjá.

Besides federal and state governments systematically ignored its obligations arising from the signing and ratification: the Convention (No.169) of the ILO and violate their rights particularly in its Article 6?   Governments should consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions

Given the facts narrated above require (IMOS)

1 .- To compensate and repair the damage caused to families by the forced eviction of communities Sigh or The Stallion Laguna and Laguna San Pedro or San Pedro guanylate.

2 .- That the Mexican government fulfills its obligations as provided in Article 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

3 .- It will refrain from further acts of eviction run in Montes Azules, considering the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous peoples of the United Nations.

4 .- Modify its policy of regularization in the indigenous regions of Chiapas, particularly in the Montes Azules, so to seek justice and equality in rights and conflicting interests among communities and organizations, striving at all times adherence to the norms international human rights.

Sincerely,

Name
Organization

– –

http://www.frayba.org.mx

Below follows the Urgent Action issued by Frayba, with model letters and addresses to write to.

---

Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz.
Comité de Derechos Humanos Fray Pedro Lorenzo de La Nada.
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas.

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas,
a 03 de febrero de 2010.
AU-02

ACCIÓN URGENTE

Desplazamiento forzado a comunidades indígenas en Montes Azules, Chiapas, perpetradas por los gobiernos federal y estatal
Amenaza inminente de nuevos desplazamientos a comunidades indígenas asentadas en Montes Azules

Los días 21 y 22 de enero de 2010, se realizaron dos operativos en las comunidades Laguna El Suspiro o El Semental y Laguna San Pedro o San Pedro Guanil en el municipio de Ocosingo, esta última Base de Apoyo del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (BAEZLN), quienes fueron desalojadas de la Biósfera de Montes Azules.

De acuerdo a fuentes gubernamentales el operativo se dio en acción coordinada entre elementos de la Policía Especializada de la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de Chiapas, Secretaria de Seguridad y  Protección Ciudadana, Procuraduría General de la República, Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente, Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, y representantes de Derechos Humanos del estado.

Según los testimonios de las familias desplazadas de la comunidad Laguna El Suspiro, el día jueves 21 de enero de 2010 alrededor de las 11 de la mañana llegaron varios helicópteros (refieren entre 3 y 5), de los cuales bajaron aproximadamente 60 policías, vestidos con uniformes de color negro y otros camuflajeados. Los policías sacaron de su casa de manera violenta a las Sras. María Cortes Pérez (en adelante María) y Magdalena García Cortes (en adelante Magdalena), concentrándolas en el centro de la población para después subirlas forzosamente al helicóptero y trasladarlas en la cabecera municipal de Palenque. El desalojo se realizó sin previo aviso, sin mostrarles ningún documento oficial, sin ninguna explicación y sin permitirles cargar pertenencia alguna.

El día siguiente, viernes 22 de enero de 2010, alrededor de las 10 de la mañana bajaron 4 helicópteros a la Laguna San Pedro, la comunidad BAEZLN fue rodeada con un número aproximado de 250 policías: diciendo a la población que el operativo era por una orden federal e intimándoles y llevándolas a jalones hasta el helicóptero a 12 personas entre niños, niñas, mujeres y hombres.

Las familias desplazadas refieren que fueron trasladadas a la ciudad de Palenque en donde algunas de las personas fueron llevadas ante el Sr. Marcos Minor Flores, Ministerio Público de la Fiscalía de Distrito Selva. Según testimonio de una de las personas desalojadas, al ser interrogada le preguntaron ?donde tenía la tierrita con siembra de droga?. Al término de la diligencia les hicieron firmar un documento sin conocer el contenido del escrito, no se les proporcionó traductor, ni abogado defensor. Después fueron trasladadas al albergue del Sistema para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia del Estado de Chiapas (DIF regional), sin que hasta el momento se les haya dado una alternativa de reubicación.

Del evento de desplazamiento forzado testigos de la región informan que todas las casas y pertenencias en dichos poblados fueron quemadas.

El día 26 de enero de 2010 en conferencia de prensa, autoridades ambientales estatales y federales informaron que impulsan un esquema de circuitos turísticos de la ruta maya que incluirá sitios certificados como turismo de naturaleza para una estrategia de desarrollo y conservación de la selva Lacandona, además se dio a conocer que en próximas fechas serán desalojas las comunidades Nuevo San Gregorio, Nuevo Salvador Allende, Nuevo San Pedro, 6 de Octubre, Poblado Laguna El Suspiro, Ojo de Agua el Progreso y San Jacinto Lacanjá.

Antecedentes:
Desde hace varios años los gobiernos federal y estatal han anunciando públicamente la ejecución de desalojos y han desplazado de manera arbitraria, violando derechos humanos a los Pueblos Indígenas que desde hace varias décadas han estado asentados en la región de la Biosfera Montes Azules, esto como parte de la estrategia oficial de despojo, exclusión y discriminación, bajo el argumento de ?conservación? para la inversión de intereses nacionales e internacionales en la esfera turística y de investigación.

Derechos violados:
En el desalojo forzado se violaron los siguientes derechos humanos contemplados en instrumentos internacionales firmados y ratificados por el Estado mexicano:

-    Libertad personal (Derecho a la): en Laguna Suspiro o El Semental María y Magdalena, fueron sacadas de su casa, concentradas en el centro del poblado y trasladadas en el DIF regional; En Laguna San Pedro, las personas fueron trasladadas en helicóptero a la ciudad de Palenque y, sin presentarle alguna orden, puesta a disposición del Ministerio Público de la Fiscalía de Distrito Selva,
-    Integridad personal (Derecho a la): María y Magdalena, fueron sacadas de manera violenta de su casa y subidas a la fuerza al helicóptero; así las familias BAEZLN fueron subidas a la fuerza en el helicóptero y trasladas a la ciudad de Palenque, además de incursionar con actitud amenazante e intimidatoria;
-    Seguridad personal (Derecho a la): Sin mostrar ninguna orden de desalojo los agentes estatales y federales incursionaron actuando indistintamente, así en contra de María, Magdalena y las familias BAEZLN;
-    Vivienda adecuada (Derecho a la): Todas las personas tienen derecho a un ?nivel de vida adecuado para sí y su familia, incluso (…) vivienda adecuados, y a una mejora continua de las condiciones de existencia.?  Con el desalojo forzoso a las personas se les negó este derecho;
-    Tierra-territorio (Derecho a la): El Pacto de Derechos Civiles y Políticos, en su Art. 47.dispone que: ?ninguna disposición del presente Pacto (incluyendo el derecho a la propiedad) deberá interpretarse en menoscabo del derecho inherente de todos los pueblos a disfrutar y utilizar plena y libremente sus riquezas y recursos naturales?.

Además los gobiernos federal y estatal omiten de manera sistemática sus obligaciones generadas a partir de la firma y ratificación: del  Convenio (No.169) de la OIT y violan sus derechos particularmente en su Art. 6 ?? los gobiernos deberán (?) consultar a los pueblos interesados, mediante procedimientos apropiados y en particular a través de sus instituciones representativas?; Art. 14  Deberá reconocerse a los pueblos interesados el derecho de propiedad y de posesión sobre las tierras que tradicionalmente ocupan; de la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en su Art. 10 ?Los pueblos indígenas no serán desplazados por la fuerza de sus tierras o territorios. No se procederá a ningún traslado sin el consentimiento libre, previo e informado de los pueblos indígenas interesados, ni sin un acuerdo previo sobre una indemnización justa y equitativa y, siempre que sea posible, la opción del regreso.?

Por todo lo anterior resulta falso que el desalojo forzoso y la política de reordenamiento territorial emprendido en la zona de Montes Azules, sea respetuoso de los derechos humanos, por el contrario, escudándose en ellos, el Estado mexicano promueve el despojo, la incertidumbre jurídica y afecta seriamente la posibilidad de las familias indígenas a poder forjarse un proyecto de vida digna.

Por los hechos antes narrados El Comité de Derechos Humanos Fray Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada, Servicio y Asesoría para la Paz (SERAPAZ) y el  Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (Frayba)  hacemos un llamado para enviar cartas al Gobierno mexicano, exigiendo:

1.- Indemnizar y reparar el daño ocasionado a las familias por el desalojo forzoso de las comunidades Laguna Suspiro o El Semental y Laguna San Pedro o San Pedro Guanil.
2.- Que el gobierno mexicano cumpla con sus obligaciones de lo establecido en el artículo 11.1 del Pacto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales.
3.- Se abstenga de ejecutar nuevos actos de desalojo en Montes Azules, considerando las recomendaciones del Relator Especial sobre la Situación de Los Derechos Humanos y Las Libertades Fundamentales de Los Indígenas de Naciones Unidas.
4.- Modificar su política de regularización en las regiones indígenas de Chiapas, particularmente en las de Montes Azules, de tal manera que procure justicia e igualdad frente a derechos e intereses enfrentados entre comunidades y organizaciones, procurando en todo momento el apego a la normatividad internacional en materia de derechos humanos.
________________________________________

Pedimos el envío de sus acciones urgentes a:

Lic. Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de la República
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos
Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec,
C.P. 11850, México DF
Tel: (52.55) 2789.1100 Fax: (52.55 ) 5277.2376
Correo: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx

Lic. Fernando Francisco Gómez Mont
Secretario de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, 1er. Piso, Col. Juárez,
Del. Cuauhtémoc,
C.P. 06600 México D.F.
Fax: (52.55) 50933414
Correo:  secretario@segob.gob.mx, contacto@segob.gob.mx

Lic. Juan José Sabines Guerrero
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Chiapas
Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas
Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México
Fax: +52 961 61 88088 ? + 52 961 6188056
Correo: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx

Dr. Noé Castañón León
Secretario General de Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas
Palacio de Gobierno, 2o. piso, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29000
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México
Conmutador: + 52 (961) 61 2-90-47, 61 8-74-60
Correo:secretario@secgobierno.chiapas.gob.mx

Lic. Raciel López Salazar
Procuraduría General de Justicia de Chiapas
Libramiento Norte Y Rosa Del Oriente, No. 2010, Col. El Bosque
C.P. 29049 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas
Conmutador: 01 (961) 6-17-23-00. Teléfono: + 52 (961) 61 6-53-74, 61 6-53-76, 61 6-57-24,
61 6-34-50
Correo: raciel.lopez@pgje.chiapas.gob.mx

Lic. Raúl Placencia Villanueva
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico sur #3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lídice, Delegación
Magdalena Contreras, Mexico D.F.
C.P. 10200
Tel +52 (55)56818125, 54907400
Correo: trasparencia@cndh.org.mx

Enviar copia a:
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, AC.
Calle Brasil 14, Barrio Méxicanos, 29240 San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México
Tel: 967 6787395, 967 6787396, Fax: 967 6783548
Correo: accionurgente@frayba.org.mx

---

CARTA MODELO:

Nombre y dirección a quien mandas la
Acción Urgente.
Lugar, fecha

Sr. (titulo función)

Por medio de la presente quiero (emos) manifestar mi (nuestra) preocupación por los actos Desplazamiento forzado a comunidades indígenas en Montes Azules, Chiapas, perpetradas por funcionarios de los gobiernos federal y estatal.

Ante esta situación considero (amos) que resulta falso que el desalojo forzoso y la política de reordenamiento territorial emprendido en la zona de Montes Azules, sea respetuoso de los derechos humanos, por el contrario, escudándose en ellos, el Estado mexicano promueve el despojo, la incertidumbre jurídica y afecta seriamente la posibilidad de las familias indígenas a poder forjarse un proyecto de vida digna.

Desde hace varios años los gobiernos federal y estatal han anunciando públicamente la ejecución de desalojos y han desplazado de manera arbitraria, violando derechos humanos a los Pueblos Indígenas que desde hace varias décadas han estado asentados en la región de la Biosfera Montes Azules, esto como parte de la estrategia oficial de despojo, exclusión y discriminación, bajo el argumento de ?conservación? para la inversión de intereses nacionales e internacionales en la esfera turística y de investigación.

En este contexto me (nos) preocupa que el Estado mexicano anunció que en próximas fechas serán desalojas las comunidades Nuevo San Gregorio, Nuevo Salvador Allende, Nuevo San Pedro, 6 de Octubre, Poblado Laguna El Suspiro, Ojo de Agua el Progreso y San Jacinto Lacanjá.

Además los gobiernos federal y estatal omiten de manera sistemática sus obligaciones generadas a partir de la firma y ratificación: del  Convenio (No.169) de la OIT y violan sus derechos particularmente en su Art. 6 ?? los gobiernos deberán (?) consultar a los pueblos interesados, mediante procedimientos apropiados y en particular a través de sus instituciones representativas

Ante los hechos, anteriormente narrados exijo (imos):

1.- Indemnizar y reparar el daño ocasionado a las familias por el desalojo forzoso de las comunidades Laguna Suspiro o El Semental y Laguna San Pedro o San Pedro Guanil.

2.- Que el gobierno mexicano cumpla con sus obligaciones de lo establecido en el artículo 11.1 del Pacto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales.
3.- Se abstenga de ejecutar nuevos actos de desalojo en Montes Azules, considerando las recomendaciones del Relator Especial sobre la Situación de Los Derechos Humanos y Las Libertades Fundamentales de Los Indígenas de Naciones Unidas.

4.- Modificar su política de regularización en las regiones indígenas de Chiapas, particularmente en las de Montes Azules, de tal manera que procure justicia e igualdad frente a derechos e intereses enfrentados entre comunidades y organizaciones, procurando en todo momento el apego a la normatividad internacional en materia de derechos humanos.

Atentamente,

Nombre
Organización

More Zapatista Communities Face Eviction

According to La Jornada eleven more communities are targetted for eviction.

These are Nuevo San Gregorio, Nuevo Salvador Allende, Nuevo San Pedro, 6 de Octubre, Poblado Laguna El Suspiro, Ojo de Agua el Progreso, San Jacinto Lacanjá, Nueva Galilea, Benito Juárez, Ojo de Agua La Pimienta and Chuncerro

On 22 January, some 120 indigenous people who had lived for 20 years in the villages of El Suspiro and Laguna San Pedro, in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in the Lacandon jungle, were evicted by federal police, units of the Mexican army, and personnel from the office of Federal Prosecution for Environmental Protection (Profepa).

Lacandon authorities, legal owners of 600,000 hectares of the jungle, had requested that the state government provide resources to provide for the reforestation of such places as Yaqui, Ojos Azules, and El Suspiro.  On 26 January the government publicly announced that the reforestation of these areas together with the establishment of an ecotourist centre in Montes Azules would require the eviction of another 7 villages.  With respect to the evictions of 22 January, a source from the state government claimed that the evictions ‘were peaceful,’ and that ‘there exists an agreement whereby the families that left will be resettled elsewhere outside the jungle.’

In contrast with this version of events, the Good-Government Council (JBG) of La Garrucha on 29 January denounced the violent dispossession of the community of Laguna San Pedro in a communiqué.  According to the JBG, the residents Zapatistas were forced to board helicopters to the city of Palenque while their houses and possessions were burned.  It is estimated that incurred damages cost $585,111.  In its public announcement, the JBG asks:  ‘How is it possible that the bad government evict indigenous people in Chiapas as in México generally while it takes land for the construction of ecotourist sites for people of other countries?’

Gruppe B.A.S.T.A. from Germany have sent the following letter:

They say they have relocated the indigenous people who lived in Laguna San Pedro, Zapatista autonomous municipality Ricardo Flores Magon, Montes Azules, Chiapas. They say that the inervention of January 22nd was necessary to save the ecosystem from its inhabitants. They say that the operations were peaceful. They say that these lands await promising ecotourism projects.

What they do not say was that the order was to burn the houses. That the families were driven out of their homes, torn from their earth, stripped of their tools, their jobs and their livelihood, ignoring their legal rights. That hundreds of armed federal troops and helicopters were present, along with jounalists who would not give a serious account of what they witnessed. That part of the population, forced by the horror of the events, would be taken to Palenque.

Sr Felipe Calderon, are these ‘responsible and appropriate’ ways to speed up the achievement of your government’s objective to make Mexico ‘one of the best destinations for investment in the world?’  Is this the cost of the ‘conducive and friendly’ conditions you promised foreign investors? In whose hands are the projects which are devastating the selva?

We demand the immediate return of the lands seized from these communities.

Zapatista Communities Evicted For ‘Ecotourism’ Centres

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.

Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada Sunday 31 January 2010, p. 7, originally
published in Spanish.

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.

They state that state and federal police, army troops, government
officials, cameramen and journalists participated in the action. Once
arrived, the officials "talked with the men and women while the police
took the opportunity to burn the houses of the Zapatista support bases".

How is it possible that "the bad government speaks of dialogue while their
police and army burned the belongings of the compas," questions the JBG
from the Caracol of 'Resistance towards a new dawn' (Resistencia hacia un
nuevo amanecer). "How is it possible that the bad government evicts
indigenous people of Chiapas and Mexico while occupying their land for the
construction of ecotourism centres for the use of people from other
nations."

It should be mentioned that, after the eviction, the state government
announced that in coming days they were going to evict the population of
six more villages, including 6 de Octubre, another Zapatista community, as
well as Nuevo San Gregorio, Rancheria Corozal and Salvador Allende, among
others. They will join el Suspiro, Buen Samaratino, Nuevo Salvador Allende
and the aforementioned Laguna San Pedro, which the government call San
Pedro Guanil.

The former PAN governor of Yucatan, Patricio Patron Laviada, head of
Profepa, visited Chiapas in recent days and agreed to these actions with
the Secretary of Government of the state, Noe Castanon Leon, who on
Tuesday, 26th published the agreement to "reforest" and establish an
ecotourism centre within the Montes Azules biosphere reserve, presumably
to be undertaken by settlers from Nueva Palestina, secondary members of
the so-called "Lacandon community" and unpunished perpetrators of the
massacre at Viejo Velasco Suarez in 2006, also in Montes Azules.

The "ecotourism development" is part of the investment projects of the
businessman Moises Saba, who died weeks ago in a helicopter crash outside
Mexico City. Another project of his was the production of biodiesel on a
thousand hectares of rainforest. It appears that his projects are going
ahead, at least through the agency of the state and federal government.
According to Castanon Leon, they will promote the "sustainable uses" of
natural resources with projects of "community development" (for the
Lacandon and their partners), "environmental education and tourist
circuits of the Mayan route (la ruta maya)".

The JBG accuses the government of "lying and cheating, while Indian homes
burn," while the newspapers talk about the relocation of the Zapatistas of
Laguna San Pedro, they have their homes destroyed, their cooperative store
looted, and suffered the loss of their fruit trees, corn, beans, clothing
and tools of work. The material damage amounted to 585 thousand pesos, in
addition to the loss of their land, which, as the Zapatistas usually say,
is priceless.

Almost Two Months After the Anti-Mining Leader’s Assassination in Chiapas, Blackfire Exploration Ltd. is Under the Microscope

Special to The Narco News Bulletin. By Gianni Proiettis Mariano. Abarca Lives, and the Struggle Continues

January 23, 2010

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, CHIAPAS, MEXICO. JANUARY 20, 2010 – It is about 8pm on Friday, November 27. In Chicomuselo, a town of about 5,000 souls located about 200 km southeast of San Cristobal de las Casas near the border with Guatemala, the sun has just set. Fifty-year-old Don Mariano Abarca Roblero, father of four and leader of the struggle against the mining industry in the state, is inside his car and talking with an acquaintance, Orlando Velasquez, who is outside the car, leaning against the window. A man gets off a motorcycle, moves towards the car, and shoots at Mariano. He hits him in the neck, chest, and heart. He kills him with a calculated coldness. On of the shots passes through Abarca’s body and wounds Orlando Velasquez in the thigh.

Today, almost two months after this abhorrent crime against a defender of his land and his people, there are those who suspect that Velasquez might have been in league with the murderers and cite as proof the fact that his wound was light and purely accidental. He also never appeared with the family during Don Mariano’s funeral service, and he even paid off a debt he had of over a million pesos just a few days after the murder. And, as Mariano’s brother Uriel points out, other people participated in the execution that Friday, in addition to the two hitmen who are currently in prison.

The history of Mariano Abarca Roblero, the history of his struggle against the plundering and devastation of two Chicomuselo ejidos* by the Canadian mining company Blackfire and the history of his death were recounted by Kristin Bricker in Narco News on December 1, 2009, (Chiapas Anti-mining Leader Murdered), just three days after his death.

Today, on January 20, 2010, the consequences of Mariano’s assassination are becoming apparent. Details about the incident and those responsible are coming out, and three people have already been imprisoned for directly participating in the murder. The intellectual authors are being investigated. It has not been ruled out that some Blackfire official could have been involved. The constant threats, including physical violence, that Mariano allegedly received from company employees and contractors for months arouse suspicions against the company.

At the moment, Blackfire’s activities in Chiapas the extraction of barite from lands in the Grecia and Nuevo Morelia ejidos are temporarily suspended due to an order from the State Environmental Ministry. However, it is subject to future review by the federal Ministry of Economics.

Another consequence of Mariano Abarca’s homicide is the indignation and ability to respond that is growing amongst the environmental and anti-globalization sectors and movements in defense of Mother Earth. This growth is occurring alongside increased access to correct information. Like Chico Mendes and many other defenders of life, people, and nature, Mariano Abarca should have been protected, not harassed, by the State, his memory should be preserved, his loss indemnified, and his biography taught in schools like the hero he really was.

On January 19 in the headquarters of Otros Mundos in San Cristobal de las Casas, the Canadian Embassy’s political counselor, Karim Amegan, met with Mariano Abarca’s brother, Uriel Abarca Roblero, and Mariano’s son Jose Luis, a young man who appears determined to carry on his father’s struggle.

Upon leaving the meeting, the Canadian counselor gave no comment, diplomatically hiding behind the argument that he had only been sent by the embassy as an observer in order to collect testimonies, formal complaints, and opinions. It is obvious that with all of the accusations and complaints that the Canadian government receives from Mexico against mining companies, it has decided to collect as much information as possible about the issue. Especially now that there is a murder and an important company is involved. It seems as though things haven’t changed much since B. Traven wrote La Rosa Blanca.

Don Uriel Abarca and his nephew Jose Luis turn out to be more accessible. Gustavo Castro, the coordinator of the non-profit Otros Mundos, is very welcoming and a prodigious source of information about barite’s industrial uses, Blackfire’s activities, and the activities of other mining companies in Chiapas.

Narco News: Don Uriel, it seems as though Juan Sabines’ administration is currently, perhaps due to strong national and international pressure, interested in clearing up your brother’s murder and bringing [those responsible] to justice. However, up until this past August it seems as though Sabines dedicated his energies to legally harassing your brother. When they detained him, what did they accuse him of?

Uriel Abarca: They held my brother for ten days under arraigo (pre-charge detention) but they couldn’t make a charge stick. The accusation was for attacking public roadways, but they couldn’t prove it, because it was related to a protest encampment that didn’t even block free transit. They also accused him of inciting people to violence, but they couldn’t prove that either because in reality he led a group that protested to protect the environment, and that isn’t a crime. So the State Attorney General’s Office had to desist and they had to free him from where he was being held under arraigo in [the city of] Chiapa de Corzo.

Don Uriel Abarca Roblero remembers that he was able to talk with his brother while he was in arraigo, and he told Mariano that their family had offered to post bail to get him out. Mariano rejected the offer because he knew he was innocent.  He felt sure that they would have to let him out.

Thanks to pressure from many national and international organizations in support of Mariano, the state government had to back down and free him on August 27, after ten days. The government realized that it was embarrassing to hold someone prisoner just for defending the environment.

Narco News: Was it after his release and after the Second Conference of the Mexican Network of Peoples Affected by Mining (REMA) in Chicomuselo on August 30-31 that the threats started up again?

Uriel Abarca: One month later, on September 28, I remember it was raining that day, I called him to ask how things were going, and he told me that they were bad, that people from Blackfire had directly threatened to kill him, and he told me that he wanted to file a legal complaint against the people who had threatened him. I told him that he was right, that he should denounce [what was going on]. He did it, accusing by name Antonio Flores and Ciro Roblero of threatening him.

Ten days before Mariano’s death there was an official forum about mining in Tuxtla, and the governor declared Chiapas a no-mining state. On that occasion the mining companies that operate in Chiapas felt that power that they had always had was being taken away: they saw the government increase the conditions it placed upon them and above all the taxes they had to pay for [mining] concessions, which increased in one blow from 1% to 4%. The mining companies, Blackfire included, were infuriated and understood that these problems were caused by my brother’s struggle. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Mariano and the movement that he organized in Chicomuselo, things would be the same as they always were: corrupt.

My brother had to die for Blackfire to suspend its operations, and in fact, it’s only a temporary suspension ordered by the State Environmental Ministry. The final decision is in the hands of the federal Ministry of Economics, and the permanent suspension of Blackfire’s right to operate in Chiapas is far from a sure thing.

Narco News: What were Mariano’s specific complaints?

Uriel Abarca: My brother decried the damage to the environment and to people’s health. The use of dynamite to extract barite causes constant pollution due to the mineral’s residues that oxidize and pollute rivers and soils, causing the death of fish, cattle, and other animals. Moreover, the detonations of dynamite have caused the complete disappearance of many small streams. Not only that, before the mineral is extracted, the brush is uprooted, leaving barren surfaces that are then completely useless for farming. It is an utterly devastating activity.

Narco News: Apart from the little employment that mining provided, in what other way did the zone’s inhabitants benefit?

Uriel Abarca: They didn’t benefit. The only person who benefited economically was the mayor, Julio Cesar Velasquez, who periodically received checks from Blackfire. He is also subject to investigation for my brother’s death, but he legally benefits because he is a government official.

Narco News: Do you think that the three people that have been detained for the homicide of your brother are the true culprits?

Uriel Abarca: Two of them were detained as the people who actually carried out the murder, but they didn’t act alone. There were other people who participated in the execution that night and there has to be more than one intellectual author. We are led to believe that some official from the mining company had something to do with the decision to eliminate my brother. I say this because of the corrupt manner in which the company already operated. They did’t stop at corrupting, dividing, and poisoning a village. To do all this they had to conspire with local people. We can’t say for sure that it was the Canadians who ordered my brother’s death, we don’t have proof, but the company’s behavior makes us suspect its direct participation in the homicide.

It was the murder that caused the suspension of the company’s activities. They killed my brother on November 27, and Blackfire suspended its operations on December 6.

Those who were directly affected by the mine’s closure are the mayor and Mr. Walter Leon Montoya, the owner of the transport company that transported the mineral. He directly threatened my brother and is in prison along with the hitmen.

* An ejido is legally recognized in Mexico as commonly held land.

Recognition to Alberto Patishtán, Prisoner of Conscience in Chiapas

A Tzotzil teacher is considered an example of a human spirit that keeps its integrity, after nine years of unjust imprisonment.

Hermann Bellinghausen, sent
Posted: 26/01/2010 13:07

San Cristobal de las Casas, Chis. Teacher Alberto Patishtán Gómez prisoner, member of La Voz del Amate and follower of The Other Campaign, received today at the prison in San Cristobal  recognition “jTatic jdoe Samuel Lum”, awarded by Bishop Emeritus Samuel Ruiz Garcia and various civilian agencies.  The Tzotzil teacher “has undergone three prisons in Chiapas in 9 years of unjust imprisonment.”

The award, called through various civilian agencies of the state, gave Patishtán “as an example of how a human can maintain a whole spirit, sharing their virtues with love and simplicity with other persons deprived of their liberty.”

They also received the distinction three indigenous Catholic organizations: Civil Society Acteal Bees, Diocesan Coordinator of Women (CODIMUJ) and Indian Theology Ecumenical Mayense. They were recognized “for their daily work and community service in defence of his people, to love, nurture and defend the oppressed and fight for their liberation.”

Creditors to the distinction made themselves known within the framework of the 50th anniversary of episcopal Ruiz Garcia, who arrived here in 1960. The organizers are civil organizations chaired founded or inspired by the work of Bishop Ruiz Garcia, in the areas of human rights, solidarity and peace. “

The founding organizations were the Centre for Human Rights Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, the Committee of Support for Community Reconciliation and Unity (Coreco), Economic and Social Development of Indigenous Mexicans (Desmi), Institute for Intercultural Studies and Research (Inesin) Services and Consulting for Peace (Serapaz), International Christian Service of Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America (SICSAL) and the International Service for Peace (Sipaz).

Acteal Bees, “now under severe pressure to abandon their pacific civil resistance, for their steadfastness and perseverance in the peaceful struggle of the indigenous people” received the distinction because, “despite the release of 35 convicted of the slaughter of Acteal, maintain and deepen their organizing and their fight against impunity “.

A CODIMUJ was recognized “for having trained a large number of women, promoting their liberation process, the fight for their rights and their empowerment” since the year 80. CODIMUJ represents “a historic struggle of the indigenous and peasant women.

India Mayense Ecumenical Theology, “in the midst of great difficulties has sustained its deepening reflection on the roots of tradition and spirituality of the Maya people, highlighted the” serious and comprehensive service to indigenous people, encouraging the peaceful struggle, autonomy and community resistance.

Report from Mexico

La jornada today reports that 57 members of oppdic, armed with guns and
machetes, have invaded some fields belonging to zapa community Bolon Ajaw,
and, if i understand correctly, are occupying them, having built houses on
the land. The Morelia JBG has issued a denuncia about this.

This is near agua azul waterfalls, and also near san sebastian bachajon,
the other campaign affiliated community whose members have been
imprisoned.

Also a few days ago amnesty international issued a report denouncing the
murder and ill treatment of human rights observors in mexico this was also
in the la jornada.

Finally there is publicity for an upcoming demo in mex city in support of
the sacked electricians, think the demo is 29 jan.

M

A Flower In The Hands Of The People

Gustavo Esteva explains what lies at the heart of indigenous politics in Mexico.

Autonomy, said Don Gregorio, an old Yaqui Indian, is not something we ought to ask for or that anyone can give us. It is something we have, despite everything. Its other name is dignity.

We are practising autonomy more than ever in our communities. While its momentum comes from the past, it acquired new vitality and meaning with the uprising of the indigenous Zapatista rebels in 1994 when they asserted their right to dignity, humanity, life, democracy. Now it has spread everywhere.

We reclaim our own definitions of the good life, which we had conceded to the market and the state when the myth of development captured people’s imagination.

Capital’s appetite is larger than ever, but it lacks the stomach to digest us all. The fatal swell of global forces now scratches from the payroll the few ‘marginal people’ who had managed to put themselves on it, and slams shut the doors of the global market to their products. We are now expendable. This growing irrelevance creates a lot of discomfort but it also creates opportunities. We don’t get harassed so much. We can better resist the logic of capital and consumer society in which whoever is not a prisoner of addiction is a prisoner of envy. Greater self-sufficiency and direct bartering will allow us to keep the economy from being the centre of our lives. We ‘marginal’ people are placing the economy on our own margins.

Ruling by obeying
Autonomy also includes our own way of regulating community life. In Mazateco the word for person, shu, means ‘a walking flower’. The shu-tashá, a flower walking in the hands of the people, is the supreme authority for the Mazatecos, one of the many indigenous peoples of Oaxaca, the state in southern Mexico where I live. No-one would dare to defy it. This authority deals with marital problems and conflicts between communities. It has no power of the kind exercised by officials or rich people, rather only the authority bestowed by the community. It rules by obeying, as the Zapatistas put it, in search of the common good rooted in harmony.

In thousands of indigenous communities, whoever commits a transgression needs comfort, not punishment. The point is to compensate the victim and re-establish harmony. Whoever kills someone must support the family of the victim for the rest of their life. There are no lawyers, judges or prisoners. The killer is free. To flee from their grave responsibility would be worse than death or jail.

One of our best traditions is how we change tradition in a traditional way. Each generation inherits the customs that govern our community life, but each changes them autonomously, adapting them to the times and learning from others. By refusing to break with the past, to escape to the future as the ‘moderns’ would have it, we maintain our historical continuity.

Even those who built the poor barrios in big cities managed to keep intact the social fabric woven by the community spirit brought from the countryside. They have not allowed the rampant individualism that surrounds them to defeat them entirely.

In 1994, the Zapatistas’ cry ‘Enough is enough!’ was an instant inspiration, their dignity contagious. Millions of us started moving, linked in broad coalitions of the discontented. They did not offer new promises, doctrines or ideologies. Only hope. And hope is the essence of popular movements. If we don’t use it to fuel our political potential, that potential will be stifled by fear or paralysis. Our common ‘no’, which unites all of us who do not want something, is open to multiple ‘yeses’ which reflect our plurality. Instead of the abstract and manipulative doctrines, the ‘yeses’ of functionaries and political parties, we affirmed those that flow from our differentiated autonomy.

The Zapatistas’ cry of ‘Enough! ‘ directed at the new forms of colonization and militarism  affirmed what we are and helped us hold off the invading insanity. That’s how we blocked a McDonald’s in the historic centre of Oaxaca, the extension of the Mexico City airport, the shrimp farms in Tonameca or Unión Hidalgo…

Step by step we undermine and block projects or policies that threaten us. On 31 January 2003 in Mexico City, ‘The Countryside Can’t Face Any More’ held the most important peasant demonstration in decades. A movement built from the grassroots brought together hundreds of organizations and obliged the Government to begin to review all aspects of policy that affects rural areas, including the hare-brained opening of the agricultural market under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Nobody would attribute the dismantling of the authoritarian regime the PRI ruling party  we suffered under for 70 years solely to the Zapatistas, but they were a decisive factor. They changed the political correlation of forces. The insurrection of civil society in support of the Zapatistas but in favour of a peaceful resolution stopped the armed confrontation and made them champions of nonviolence. In the month following the uprising, the political opposition wrung more concessions from the oppressive regime than they had in the previous 50 years. Thus began the political transition we are in the midst of, still inspired by Zapatista initiatives.

We walk at a slower pace
The old regime is dead but another has not taken its place. The political classes would like to reduce the transition to the simple transfer of state power from one political party to another and the perfection of the representative system, in order to consolidate a neoliberal republic tied like a caboose to the US engine. Meanwhile we are rebuilding everything from below. Against the spirit of old-style vanguards, we walk at a slower pace. What counts isn’t to arrive sooner or first, but to arrive all together and on time. What they call ‘democracy’ can only be where the people are. Instead of representation, we want presentation, presence. And that can only exist in political bodies where we can all take part, in our own communities.

Political activists and market boosters take turns trying to co-opt us. They pressure us to participate in broader political initiatives, in elections, in struggles to occupy the seats of power, or at least to have a piece of them. They recognize the value of what we do, but say that we won’t get anywhere this way. They consider our struggle to be sterile and they warn us that we’ll just keep wearing ourselves down under police repression and mercantile colonization, until global forces wipe us from the map or turn us into their servants…

Some within our own ranks share that concern. They observe that in our own communities we might win, but on the outside we lose battles as threats and repression escalate, while the schools and the media conquer the hearts of our young people. These people form political groupings, accept positions in the Government or candidacies in the parties  both conceded in order to seduce us  and they hector us to take part in elections. (Our absence could be dangerous, they say; they see the risk of the triumph of the despotic and the far-Right.) Others seek to complement the representative regime with popular initiatives, call for votes and referendums, to make government more participatory.

We don’t close our ears to those voices, but we continue learning from experience. Every time some of our people win political office, even as the result of a collective struggle, they get lost in the logic of the governmental and party system. We don’t understand the obsession with political office which is accentuated among our friends on the Left, who are still convinced that if they win office it will help the common good. Thanks to the challenge posed by the Zapatistas in Chiapas, in the neighbouring state of Oaxaca we won legal recognition for our political autonomy in 1995 and 1998. Since then, graffiti appears regularly in our towns: ‘No political parties allowed, least of all the PRI’. Parties split us, they dissolve our communal bonds, our way of living in community, they divide us and subordinate us to forces beyond our control.

In Mexico we have had a reasonably effective formal democracy for only a few years. But here, as in the countries that have been working on this for many years, what they call democracy is a regime in which a minority reproduces itself in order to control and dominate everyone else. A minority of the people decide which party will take office and a tiny minority write the laws and make all the important decisions.

Surrounding the state
The nation-state is a conglomerate of economic and professional corporations. Each one promotes its products and services and takes care of its own interests. Periodically, the parties bring together all the stockholders, businesspeople, union leaders, professional associations, churches, corporations to elect a board. Democratic process is conspicuously absent inside the parties. Electoral victories are determined by marketing techniques in a media circus. Once legitimized by the vote, the winners barely take note of people’s opinions. That’s what leads to disenchantment with the ballot box, which attracts fewer and fewer voters.

We follow with interest the debate on the supposed death of the nation-state, whose central function to administer the economy is evaporating as all economies lose their national character. Macro-national or ‘global’ structures imitate the design of the nation- state to compensate for its progressive weakening. We are concerned that this process tends to encourage the use of force, while uncertainty and disorder deepen. But that won’t turn us from our path, which does not lead to reforms that prolong the agony of those outdated structures of domination and control.

We don’t live on Mars. The newly elected, Left-wing presidents of Brazil and Ecuador, Lula and Gutiérrez, are not the same as George Bush or Mexico’s Vincent Fox. The transition we are in is still happening within the framework of the nation-state and the globalized economy. Like the Zapatistas, however, we trust in the exercise of our autonomy and our coalitions. Thus we will build a political force, not a political party, capable of blocking policies and actions of the state or the market. To accelerate the transition we’ll promote ’shadow laws’ that protect our autonomies from state or market intrusions and slowly reduce the political centre to nothing but administrative functions.

Instead of losing our roots, as globalization encourages, we have opened up to broad coalitions of the discontented across national borders, while always asserting ourselves in our own places. That’s how we have moved from resistance to liberation.

We find it comforting to find a similar spirit in other places. The Congress of Ecuarunari, the largest organization in the indigenous peoples’ network CONAIE, broke off its alliance with the Ecuadorian Government and demanded that the members of the Pachakutik movement who held public office resign from the leadership of the movement. Humberto Cholango, Ecuarunari’s new president, pointed out: ‘We have always been autonomous from all governments, and of course from the current one that has swindled the people by imposing neoliberal policies… The principles of the indigenous movement are more important than any post of minister or undersecretary, and that fact can’t be revoked.’

At the Latin American conference on ‘Indigenous Movements: Resistance and Alternatives’ held in Mexico City at the end of May 2003, the participants repeated this message over and over again: ‘On the road to self-determination,’ said the Mapuche, José Naín, ‘we do not wish to be inside the state, rather we wish to surround the state.’ The indigenous movement, underlined the Aymara, Felipe Quispe, must have two arms: one framed within the state and the other outside it. ‘They say that democracy is not perfect but it is the best system,’ commented Félix Patzi from Bolivia. ‘We say that the communal system isn’t perfect either, but it is better than democracy… In the communal system political leadership, the administration of justice and decision-making do not lie within an individual or a group, rather in the collectivity. The vested authority is an expression of community decision-making. The system is based on truth, trust and commitment. What is said is what is done.

Against doctrine
As we walk along our way, we keep in mind the fact that even the most valiant and enlightened initiatives of the past crashed and sank by giving in to that human-eating idol, the future. Innumerable initiatives and processes that no-one can control produce society at large or the world at large, the global order dreamed up by conventional or alternative globalizers. It seems to us to be as insane as it is ridiculous to propose that some ideological or doctrinaire vision of that at large should be a pre-requisite for us to get moving, that every political initiative must define beforehand its final goal or the abstract future condition of the world. Those who live with their feet on the ground don’t hang themselves with abstract ‘at larges’ or final finalities. More likely, they see in the distance a brilliant, diffuse and unreachable rainbow. The regime that will succeed the nation-state will not be the fruit of preconception or social engineering, but of sociological and political imagination wielded through transformative actions.

As the Zapatistas say, to change the world is very difficult, if not impossible. But we can build a new world, a world in which many worlds will fit. It’s not another unrealizable utopia or a new universal doctrine. It is a feasible way forward that rests on hope and common sense, the sense that we have in community. That’s what we are doing. Here and in many parts of the world.

Morelia is one of the Zapatista communities battered most severely by military and paramilitary forces. The restrictions the people of Morelia face are overwhelming. One night I asked Dona Trinidad, a lucid and vigorous old woman, how they could survive under such insufferable conditions. She told me with the bare hint of a smile, ‘Look, they kill more than before. But now we have hope. That changes everything. What was truly insufferable was living without that.’

I was left speechless. But inspired.

Gustavo Esteva is a grassroots activist and deprofessionalized intellectual from Oaxaca, Mexico. He has been a public official and a university professor, but for the past 20 years he has workedwith Indian groups, peasants and urban marginals.

CHIAPAS NEWS JANUARY 2010

Fears, rumour, lies and repression

In the last months of 2009, the fierce repression of communities and targeted individuals by the state and federal forces, the army and paramilitary groups has increased and extended. These actions are now not only targeting Zapatista communities, Other Campaign adherents and human rights defenders, but now also campesino groups not involved with the Other Campaign. False rumours and press releases appeared predicting an uprising in 2010 and describing finds of stores of arms.

In Venustiano Carranza municipality a ‘subversive network’ was supposedly identified, focussed on the parish priest, Jesus Landin. Three leaders of the campesino group OCEZ-RC (Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organisation – Carranza Region) were imprisoned, one of them, Jose Manuel Hernandez Martinez, known as Chema, also being accused of being the leader of the EPR (Popular Revolutionary Army) in Chiapas. Diego Cadenas of Frayba, already a victim of attack, was also included in this allegation. Members of OCEZ-RC occupied the UN offices in San Cristobal, and set up a protest camp outside the cathedral.

The prisoners have now been released, and the protests ended. Juan Sabines Guerrero, PRD governor of Chiapas, who has become a master of disinformation (see later), stated that in Chiapas “there is rule of law, but this does not mean that the State is an oppressor, on the contrary, this government is eager to defuse the situation. I do not hold political prisoners, currently no one can call themselves a political prisoner in Chiapas; we want to be sure that no-one is being persecuted, that there is the social responsibility necessary to build a climate of lasting social peace.” (!!!)

Luis Hernandez Navarro wrote in La Jornada: “The federal and Chiapas governments have launched a major offensive of disinformation against rebels, human rights groups and dissident social movements in the state.
The current government communication strategy falls within the arena of netwar. According to analysts at the RAND, ‘Netwar refers to information-related conflict, at a high level, between nations or societies. It means trying to alter, damage or modify what a target population knows or thinks it knows about itself and the world around them’. This is precisely what the Mexican government has done over recent weeks in the southern state. The list of provocations is enormous: arrest and murder of social opposition, promotion of a whispering campaign by announcing a new armed uprising, the attempt to defame the Zapatistas by falsely reporting a request for financial support from the councils of good government to Congress, the release of paramilitaries responsible for the massacre of Acteal, and the increased military presence. All this mounted on a media campaign to hide the facts, despite the evidence.”

Fears and expectations of 2010

From TIME magazine, 2009: “Forget 2012. As far as many Mexicans are concerned, the ancient Maya were being generous: the sky’s actually going to fall next year. Why? Because it’s 2010, Mexico’s bicentennial, and Mexican history has an eerie way of repeating itself. Mexico’s 1910 centennial, after all, saw the start of the bloody, decade-long Mexican Revolution, which killed more than a million people. And that cataclysm was precisely a century after the start of Mexico’s bloody, decade-long War of Independence in 1810. As a result, there’s been no shortage of talk lately about possible unrest, especially in the form of armed rebel groups, erupting south of the border in 2010…. The country is reeling from the worst criminal violence in its history and one of its hardest economic slumps. ‘We are very near a social crisis,’ Jose Narro, the director of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, said recently. ‘The conditions are there.’

Mexican insurrections often do coincide with important dates. Most recently, Zapatista guerrillas in the poor southern state of Chiapas started a revolt on Jan. 1, 1994, the day the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect. A big fear now is that Mexico’s drug cartels, responsible for almost 15,000 killings this decade, are lending their resources and firepower to emerging guerrilla groups. If so, their plan may be to sow bicentennial terror and turn Mexicans against President Felipe Calderon’s drug-war offensive…. Authorities say they have seized arsenals of large guns and grenades, allegedly being sent from the Zetas a vicious drug gang, to Jose Manuel Hernandez, a purported leader of the rebel group called the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). The EPR in recent years has claimed responsibility for attacks on Mexican oil infrastructure, including the bombing of six pipelines in 2007.

At the same time, political observers like Denise Maerker, a prominent columnist for the Mexico City daily El Universal, fear that provincial governments in places like Chiapas, where the weapons were found, are using 2010 fears as a pretext for cracking down on social activists. ‘They’re drawing questionable links between advocates for the poor and armed groups,’ says Maerker, who adds there’s little evidence that Hernandez is an EPR boss. “

John Ross commented “in Chiapas, mass psychosis that the Zapatistas would rise again on January 1st has reigned for months”. The Mexican Army moved into Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, with 26 armoured tanks and 600 additional soldiers, to “dissuade” any possible confrontations. However, on January 2^nd, many relieved Mexican newspapers reported: “Dawn rose in the mainly indigenous highland region of Chiapas in complete calm. No concentrations of people, pronouncements or meetings were reported, neither was any activity reported anywhere in the indigenous zone.”

Ongoing repression

Fierce repression continues, often by paramilitary groups. ‘The Army of God’ continues to threaten, attack and injure, while continuing people trafficking with impunity. It has been reported to be linked with the notorious Zetas.

Torture of compas in Zinacantan was denounced by the JBG of Oventic in November. Two support bases were detained for 16 hours without food and water by PRD supporters, who threatened nearby communities. One person was beaten and tied up for 40 hours.

Harrassment of community La Lagunita II: This community’s water supply was cut off, stones were thrown, and several people were injured. This was also the subject of a denouncement from the JBG of Oventic.

Anti-mining activist murdered Mariano Abarco Roblero, an active campaigner against the activities of Canadian-based mining corporation Blackfire Exploration, was gunned down on November 28^th. The three men arrested for his killing are all linked to the mining operation in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. Since 1995 foreign, mainly Canadian, but also US-based, mining companies, have bought one million 62,778 hectares of land in Chiapas.

More attacks on human rights defenders: On Dec. 14, 2009, Adolfo Guzmán Ordaz, who works with the organization ‘Enlace Comunicación y Capacitación’ in the city of Comitán de Dominguez, received a death threat at his home that read: “stop or you are going to die.” In the early morning of Nov. 8, 2009 his house was raided by state police wearing civilian clothing and balaclavas and carrying firearms.

Arson Attempt at Kinal Antsetik Centre – On September 26, an unidentified person sprinkled gasoline around the Kinal Antsetik (Land of Women, in Tseltal) installations and lit a fire. The location includes a capacity-building centre and a workshop for indigenous women and the facilities of Jolom Mayaetik (Maya Weavers), a weaving cooperative.

New tactics of counter-insurgency – Juan Sabines and disinformation

‘Is it true the Zapatistas have surrendered?’ Spreading false information: In November 2009, La Jornada published an article, written by Angeles Mariscal, claiming that the Zapatista Juntas of Good Government had requested legal recognition by state and federal authorities, quoting a PAN official saying “state legislators visited the five Juntas to better understand their needs.”  The five Juntas immediately published letters disavowing the article and accusing politicians and others of trying to profit from lies.  “We don’t need recognition from the bad government which doesn’t represent the people; we are already recognized by our own communities who elect us“.  Zapatista authorities have had no formal contact with state or federal officials since the negotiation of the San Andres Accords in 1996. (Please see the earlier reference to LH Navarro’s article)

‘Buying Consciences’ In a press release issued on 28^th December the governor of Chiapas, Juan Sabines Guerrero, announced ‘historic investment for the indigenous peoples of Chiapas in 2010’ including 21 roads, 43 electric supplies, 4000 classrooms, 10,000 ecological toilets, all under the scheme ‘Par y Paso’, and a highway between Frailesco and the Sierra and Tuxtla. At the same time he declared that he had decided to ‘suspend’ work on the road between San Cristobal and Palenque, due to ‘unfounded fears’ that people would lose their land. At this point he reached the heights of disinfomation, claiming to be operating according to the principle of ‘the people command and the government obeys’, and promoting the people’s right to self-determination, listening to what the people wanted and working by consensus. Then on the 7^th January he followed up with dispensing 1500 ‘Housing Bonds’ worth 90,000 pesos each, (around £4,500) to poor families in the regions of Chamula and Ocosingo.

The return of Cocopa – a new Cocopa Arrives in Chiapas after 15 years

The Mexican Congress has appointed a new Commission of Harmony and Pacification’, as laid out the 1995 law of the same name. Its legal mandate is to mediate between the federal government and the EZLN in a process of dialogue and negotiation to reach peace agreements. The new Cocopa is currently lodged in San Cristobal, trying to make contact with the EZLN. The government failed to implement the first agreement reached with the EZLN, known as the San Andres Accords on Indigenous Rights and Culture. The matter had been consigned to oblivion, but now, it seems, they want to ‘re-activate the dialogue’ after 15 years. There has been no response, comment, or acknowledgement from the EZLN.

Zapatista silence

The Zapatistas have been in silence since the 8^th of March 2009. That silence has only been reinforced by statements from ‘the support team to the Sixth Commission of the EZLN’ who denied any direct connection between the EZLN and a national assembly of adherents to the Other Campaign” convened in Mexico City on 26^th December.

November 17 was the 26th anniversary of the founding of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Traditionally, this day is celebrated with festivities in all 5 caracoles. This year, no communiqué was issued and there were no celebrations in the caracoles.

January 1 marked the 16th Anniversary of the 1994 Zapatista Uprising. The five caracoles were closed to both nationals and internationals from December 29 to January 2.  They re-opened on January 3.  The Zapatistas offered no public explanation of the closures, ‘for the holiday’.

There is a general feeling that ‘something bad’ is going to happen soon. All supporters are asked to remain vigilant, and to keep a close watch on the situation.

Other recent activities

Acteal ‘Forum of Conscience and Hope, building the Other Justice’

On the 21^st December, the day before the annual mass, pilgrimage and activities in memory of the Acteal Massacre, which took place on 22^nd December 1997, a meeting called by Las Abejas discussed the building of ‘otra justicia’ “to recover our memory, our traditional ways of doing justice, whose aim is not the application of punishment, but the recovery of communal harmony”. The commemoration of the 12^th anniversary of the massacre held an extra significance this year, following the liberation of 29 of the paramilitaries imprisoned for commiting multiple murder. The director of Las Abejas said that the survivors were distressed and concerned at the failure of justice, but that “there could be reconciliation and forgiveness if the freed indigenous were prepared to admit responsibility and ask for public pardon, showing that their hearts had changed”. Acteal was officially declared a “Sitio de Conciencia”. (Place of conscience/awareness)

Seminar of Reflection and Analysis in memory of Andres Aubry On December 30th and 31^st 2009 and January 1^st and 2^nd 2010, this well-attended international event took place at Cideci in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. The 4-day gathering coincided with the publication of a book from the gathering 2 years ago in which the EZLN and leading anti-capitalist and anti-systemic thinkers participated. It had been clearly timed to coincide with the 16th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising, and the movement was central to many of the speakers’ contributions. The extraordinary women’s rights activist, Corinne Kumar, in a speech described by Hermann Bellinghausen as ‘shining, luminous’ said that she had come to Chiapas on a pilgrimage, and that she had no doubt that zapatismo is “the most important social and political movement of our times”.

Land Occupations Following local tradition, in the first week of 2010, landless indigenous peoples took back four pieces of land in Chiapas: three in the municipality of Chilon, and one in that of Teopisca. The latter, rancho La Granada, has now been occupied by state police, and its new occupants evicted. Other groups are now trying to follow the example, and tension is rising.

La Jornada Ramona Vive This indigenous women’s health promotion event was held in memory of Comandanta Ramona, on the fourth anniversary of her death, on the 6^th and 7^th January at Cideci, and on the 8^th and 9^th in the community of Mitziton. National and international adherents of the Other Campaign offered general and specialised health and dental care to the large number of women who attended. For some of the women in Mitziton, it was the first medical attention they had received in their lives.

Death of Ricardo Robles (Ronco): Ricardo Robles Oyarzun, tireless promoter and defender of Indian rights, died on 9^th January 2010. He was an adviser to the Zapatistas during the dialogues in San Andres Larrainzar, Chiapas in the 1990s. He wrote recently “The Zapatistas are no longer the only candle still burning. Although governments, and the powers behind them, seek to cover their crimes with silence, darkness and oblivion, the dead continue their work, caring for their struggles, not dying with them. Their protests, their dreams, their beliefs, walk onwards in truth.”

Indigenous have 20 years shorter life expectancy: A report released by the United Nations on 14 January states that life expectancy among indigenous peoples is on average twenty years less than that of non-indigenous. There are around 370 million indigenous peoples, representing 5% of the world population, but they are nearer 40% of the 900 million living in conditions of extreme poverty. “They live with poverty, illiteracy, economic and political exclusion, often without government recognition. They suffer violence, destruction of their culture, theft of their lands, forced displacement, and ‘alarming’ lack of water or sanitation”.

Frustrated With Government Lies, Mexican Electricians Declare Wildcat Actions

Two Workers Detained and Later Released Following Other Campaign Mobilizations

Following President Felipe Calderon’s executive order that shut down state-owned Luz y Fuerza and put its 44,000 workers out of a job, Mexico’s other state-owned electricity company, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), began to remove equipment from Luz y Fuerza facilities. When Calderon shut down Luz y Fuerza, he put its infrastructure and territory under the CFE’s control.  However, former Luz y Fuerza workers, who consider their sudden firing to be illegal and immoral and continue to fight for work, were outraged that the CFE was “plundering” expensive equipment from their former workplace.  Workers set up protest barricades in front of their former workplaces in order to block the CFE’s trucks from hauling out more equipment.  Representatives from the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) visited the barricades, informed the workers that they were engaging in unsanctioned protest activity, and requested that the workers remove them. Workers at many barricades refused the union’s request, and the union refused to recognize and support the wildcat barricades.

One such barricade was the one located in Lechería.  Former Luz y Fuerza workers established that barricade on December 7 when a caravan of CFE trucks tried to haul away a turbine from the power plant.  The barricade cut off access to the power plant to prevent CFE workers and the contractors and police that accompanied them from removing more equipment. Anywhere between five and twenty workers staffed the barricade at any given time.

The workers at the Lechería barricade report frequent harassment from Federal Police.  Heavily armed Federal Police first showed up at the barricade on December 15, reportedly to “intimidate” the workers in the barricades.  On the night of January 7, approximately 30 Federal Police reportedly arrived to forcibly disassemble the barricade.  The police removed materials that blocked the entrance and forced open the plant doors.  According to the workers, they carried out a turbine, four jets, and a pick-up truck filled with tools and spare parts.  The Federal Police then entered the workers’ plantón (protest encampment) located near the barricade and stole a laptop computer that belonged to the workers.  Raul Navarrete, a former Luz y Fuerza worker who helped staff the barricade, told Narco News that the computer contained videos, photos, and texts that documented the workers’ protest activities since they were first laid off.  At the time of publication, the police refuse to hand over the laptop.

It is worth pointing out that the Federal Police receive training and equipment from the United States through the Merida Initiative under the auspices of combating drug trafficking.

The situation at the Lechería barricade took a turn for the worse on January 8.  On that day, a man in a truck showed up at the plantón and reportedly offered to help the workers re-install the barricade by dumping gravel in front of the plant.  Before the driver was able to dump the gravel, Federal Police arrested him and workers Enrique Mejía García and Sergio David Rodríguez Martínez.  Both workers are adherents to the Zapatistas’ Other Campaign and participated in the protest encampment.

The two workers were charged with attempted sabotage and attempted “crimes against the nation’s consumption and wealth.”  The men’s lawyers argued that the government had no basis for the charges because the alleged crime was never carried out.

Crimes against the nation’s consumption and wealth is a serious crime and made the men inelegible for bail.

Because the two detainees are adherents to the Zapatista’s Other Campaign, fellow adherents mobilized in Mexico City and joined former Luz y Fuerza workers outside the jails where the two men were being held.  The round-the-clock protest encampments outside the jails—in which around 50 people participated at any given time—were effective.  The government dropped the charges against the men and released them on the night of January 13.

The men were reportedly released without any sort of conditions or negotiations.  This is good news for their former co-workers, who are already meeting to discuss how to continue their wildcat actions.

Narco News spoke with former Luz y Fuerza worker Raul Navarrete about his experience in the wildcat barricade outside the Lechería power plant.

Narco News: What was your position in Luz y Fuerza?

Navarrete: I was a Class A operator in a power plant in Iztapalapa [in southern Mexico City].

Narco News: How did the wildcat barricade come about?

Navarrete: This barricade was organized by workers from Lechería.  They decided to come and camp out in protest on December 7. They made the decision when the CFE and the Federal Police began to take valuable equipment from the jet repair workshop in the Lechería power plant.  [The former workers] came out despite the fact that the SME offered absolutely no support.  So the workers, who are SME members, got together and set up the protest encampment.  More compañeros who also worked in that plant in Lechería started to come out.  And that’s how they started to organize themselves.

Later, compañeros from the J. Luque [thermo-electric] plant set up an encampment in front of that plant, and compañeros from the union’s school also came out.  In J. Luque there’s a warehouse that has cables and transformers.  They also got worried and set up a protest encampment.

There’s also protest encampments in Tacuba, Necaxa, Pachuca, Toluca, and Cuernavaca.  Compañeros from our encampment visited the others to see how they were doing and share experiences.

Narco News: Why were the CFE and the Federal Police taking away the equipment?

Navarrete: We don’t know.  More than anything else they were taking out the turbines, which are used to generate electricity.  This worried us because if we went back to work, we wouldn’t have any equipment to work with.  The workshop is for repairing jet turbines that are worth millions of dollars.  If they take them away, we won’t have anything to work with.

Narco News: And the protest encampment didn’t receive support from the SME?

Navarrete: No.  When they set up the encampment, [representatives] from the [SME] Local in Lechería came out and told them to go away.  They told them they couldn’t be there. The workers didn’t pay any attention to them and they stayed so that they wouldn’t keep taking out equipment.

Narco News: What are the encampment’s demands?

Navarrete: An end to the plundering of the [Luz y Fuerza] buildings.

Narco News: How many workers in the Lechería protest encampment are adherents to the Zapatistas’ Other Campaign?

Navarrete: Two—Sergio and Enrique.  They’re both in jail.

Narco News: It’s said that those in the protest encampments disagree with the SME.

Navarrete: Exactly. They’ve differentiated themselves from the SME.  Of course, they also respect the SME’s ideas and politics, but their vision was to come and form a protest encampment.  And not just be there, but inform people, hold political and cultural events so that the residents were informed about what’s been going on.  And a lot of people were coming out.  The workers in the encampment gave them information about the situation.

We didn’t agree with the SME—or rather, the SME leadership.  They didn’t let us camp out in protest—it wasn’t permitted. They won’t support us, so we started looking for our own resources, and for support from the people.

Narco News: What do you think of the latest SME proposal that the 18,000 Luz y Fuerza workers who haven’t accepted their severance packages be rehired by the CFE and represented by the SME, presumably with a contract that starts at zero?  Their original demand was a reversal of Calderon’s executive order and the re-opening of Luz y Fuerza.

Navarrete: We clearly understand that they won’t give back Luz y Fuerza.  Maybe they’ll give us a source of work.  Some source of income.  But this is secondary.  More than anything else, we’re against how all this was carried out—the real reasons for why Luz y Fuerza was shut down [Narco News note: There is evidence that the shutdown of Luz y Fuerza has facilitated the privatization of its fiber optic network, and SME members are acutely aware of this fact.]  And above all, this blow to Luz y Fuerza workers was a blow to the working class, to unions.  An injustice was committed against the 44,000 Luz y Fuerza workers—and not just them.  Many more people have been affected. [Most Luz y Fuerza workers were breadwinners.]

In my point of view, from the beginning the process hasn’t been clear.  The government says it’ll give us work, but that’s not going to happen.  So above all, we’re doing this to defend our rights.  Now it’s not so much about giving us back Luz y Fuerza .  It’s about defending our rights as workers and as human beings.

We want the government to tell the truth.  They’ve been demonizing us from the beginning—saying we’re drunks, drug addicts, crazies, thiefs, that we don’t work.  Then they say that they’re going to hire us back [with the CFE]. Well, if we’re bad people and drunks and lazy bums, why would they rehire us?

Narco News: Do you think they will rehire you?

Navarrete: Look, I’ve got some friends who accepted their severance packages. Three months have passed, and the government hasn’t rehired them.  [The government promised to do its best to rehire the workers who promptly accepted their severance packages.]  A lot of people who accepted their severance packages did so for precisely that reason—so they’d be rehired.  They were desperate.  And now they realize that the government was manipulating them, that it wasn’t telling the truth.

I haven’t accepted my severance package because I don’t agree with how this went down.  Moreover, my severance package doesn’t cover all that I’m entitled to. [This criticism is common amongst former Luz y Fuerza workers, that their severance packages were poorly calculated and are less than the amount to which they are legally entitled.] The government said it was going to give us two-and-a-half years of our salary.  It sounded like a ton of money, but it’s not true.

I have a cousin that worked at Luz y Fuerza for thirteen years.  They calculated his severance package using a much lower salary than what he was actually getting paid.  He accepted his severance package out of necessity.  He has a family; he has children.

The government told so many lies, and people believed them.  People think the government is giving us a very good severance package, and that we’re just fighting for the sake of fighting because we can’t get a job like everyone else.  In my case, I’m a computer engineer.  I’m still young and I can look for another job.  But there’s people who have spent there whole lives in Luz y Fuerza—they were educated there, as people and as workers.  They’re 45, 50 years old.  Where are they going to find work?