In a statement released by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba), the systematic torture and unjustified imprisonment of dozens of people was condemned.
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. The attendees at the Meeting of Torture Survivors and Family Members, united for justice and reparation of damages, demanded that the three levels of government “do justice for the people who are still unjustly imprisoned.”
They particularly demanded the release of José Diaz Gómez, a Zapatista support base, Yonny Ronay Chacón González, Juan Hernández Gómez, Jorge López Montoya, Raymundo Sánchez García, Antonio Altunar and Oswaldo Sánchez González.
Most of the human rights violations in the state fall on the indigenous population. Although there is no precise data (there is a “black figure”, either due to omission or fear of reporting), it is estimated that between 2010 and 2021, the Chiapas State Human Rights Commission received 266 complaints of torture against members of indigenous communities; all of them point to elements of the municipal, state and federal police.
For its part, INEGI published in 2021 that there were 4,600 people deprived of their liberty in the state. Of these, 55.4 percent claimed to be detained without an arrest warrant. In this context, there are many fabricated culprits, without justification, who are victims of torture by authorities.
In a statement released by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba), survivors demanded that “we be fully compensated for the damages that have been caused to all of us who have been victims and have survived torture.”
They explained that on August 3rd and 4th they participated in San Cristóbal in the Meeting of Survivors of Torture and Family Members “to analyze the current situation of torture in the state, which continues to be a constant practice carried out by government authorities, in order to intimidate the most vulnerable population, the defenders of human rights, land, territory and justice.”
They added that during the meeting “we reflected that torture is used to repress people with limited resources. We reached an agreement to join forces to be able to carry out actions and demand that the authorities at the three levels of government enforce our fundamental rights as human beings and as indigenous peoples.”
“We also shared our experiences and saw how torture causes permanent physical, psychological, moral and economic damage, not only to the victims who suffer directly, but also to our families who fight for justice and reparation of the damage,” they said.
Torture, they reiterated, “is a method that continues to be used in a widespread and systematic manner, which damages and destroys people’s life plans, and we insist that it also directly impacts the entire family, depriving them not only of freedom, but of peace and tranquility.”
At the end of the meeting, they invited “families and those who have survived torture to join the fight, because together we will learn to defend our rights, promoting forums, workshops, meetings and pilgrimages. We seek the eradication of this practice that profoundly violates the humanity of people and their human rights.”
Original article by Elio Henriquez in La Jornada, August 5th, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.