New attacks on Support Bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
- Six families from the town of “El Esfuerzo”, Comandanta Ramona Autonomous Municipality.
- The Federal and State Governments of Chiapas are oblivious in the face of permanent violence and dispossession against autonomous territories.
San Cristóbal de las Casas
Ejidatarios of Muculum Bachajón directed by the president of the ejidal commission, and along with municipal police and Civil Protection agents, burned houses and displaced 6 Zapatista National Liberation Army (BAEZLN) support base families in the community of El Esfuerzo, belonging to the autonomous municipality of Comandanta Ramona, denounced the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba). In an urgent action, it reported that it has documented “the risk to the life and personal integrity” of the 6 Zapatista families.
“It is evident the negligence and complicity of the Mexican State in placing the life, security and personal integrity of the autonomous population at high risk, which constitutes serious human rights violations,” he added.
It explained that on Thursday, the 14th, at approximately 8:00 a.m., ejidatarios of Muculum Bachajón, directed by the president of the ejidal commissariat, together with municipal police and Civil Protection agents, arrived at the town of San José Tenojí, municipality of Chilón, where they held a meeting.”
Frayba stated that “around 1:50 p.m. they violently entered the town of El Esfuerzo, displacing 6 BAEZL families, in addition to setting fire to the houses and their property.”
It stated that the 6 families left their place of residence to “protect their lives and moved to the community of Xixintonil.” The ejidatarios stood guard until Friday, July 15, and at night they fired high caliber firearms,” he said.
The organization (Frayba) said that “there is a risk of losing 20 hectares of corn and beans that have not yet been harvested. El Esfuerzo has 54 hectares recovered in 1994 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN)”.
He said that “the facts put at serious risk the Autonomy and self-determination of the Peoples and indicate a serious violation of the right to security, life and personal integrity of the Zapatista families. The Mexican State, in accordance with articles 1 and 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights, has the obligation to respect the rights and liberties recognized therein and to guarantee their free and full exercise to all persons, without any type of discrimination”.
Frayba demanded that “the rights of the autonomous territories be respected in the face of what today is a permanent and deepened impunity”, at the same time he made, “a call to civil society, national and international, to speak out in defense of the land and territory, for the security and personal integrity of the Zapatista peoples, now of the people of El Esfuerzo. We demand that the Mexican State immediately cease aggressions against the Zapatista communities.
This article was published in La Jornada on July 17th 2022 https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2022/07/16/estados/ejidatarios-queman-casas-y-desplazan-a-familias-zapatistas/and summarizes the report of Frayba https://frayba.org.mx/desplazamiento-zapatistas-el-esfuerzo. English interpretation by Schools for Chiapas.
We call on any of our supporters, and anyone who stands for life and the defense of indigenous land and territory, and the defense of the Zapatista peoples, to call upon officials of the Mexican state to stop the violence against Zapatista communities! Sign the urgent action on the Frayba page! Or express your outrage to these officials!
Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico
Email: amlo@presidencia.gob.mx y gobmx@funcionpublica.gob.mx
Twitter: @lopezobrador_
Lic. Alejandro de Jesús Encinas Rodríguez. Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration.
Email: ajencinas@segob.gob.mx y projasm@segob.gob.mx
Twitter: @A_Encinas_R
?? President of the National Commission on Human Rights
Email: correo@cndh.org.mx Twitter: @CNDH.
Lic. Rutilio Escandón Cadenas. Constitutional Governor of the State of Chiapas.
Email: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx
Twitter: @RutilioEscandon
Dr. Olaf Gómez Hernández. Attorney General of the state of Chiapas.
E-mail: staff_secretarial@fge.chiapas.gob .mx
Twitter: @FGEChiapas