April 26, 2025
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
Urgent Action: 01
- Security and Military Forces disappear 2 Zapatista Support Bases.
- New attack on autonomy.
After 55 hours of disappearance by Security Forces and soldiers, compañeros José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez were handed over to the San Cristóbal de Las Casas Control Court and Trial Court.
The crime for which they are being detained is unknown; we will continue to document the situation.
We appreciate the solidarity; public pressure made their return alive possible.
The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center A.C., (Frayba) received urgent information from the Assembly of Zapatista Autonomous Government Collectives (ACGAZ), Caracol 02 Oventic, Chiapas, as follows:
April 24, 2025, around 15:30 hours, in the community of San Pedro Cotzilnam, official municipality of Aldama Chiapas, Autonomous Region Vicente Guerrero. In a strong joint operation with around 39 vehicles of the National Guard, Mexican Army, Pakal Immediate Reaction Forces, the Ministerial Intelligence Investigation Agency, State Preventive Police, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of the Federal Government, accompanied by 2 vehicles with armed civilians, They violently broke into the houses and detained the Tsotsil compañeros José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz Sántiz, 45 years old, and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez, 21 years old. The convoy then continued on to the municipality of San Andrés Larráinzar.
At the time of sending this communication, the families and Frayba do not know their whereabouts, which could constitute a forced disappearance. In addition, during the operation a vehicle, a motorcycle, a cell phone, cash, merchandise and work equipment were stolen.
The above occurs in the context of serious surveillance and harassment by these police and military bodies, which we recently documented in the context of the Rebel and Revel Art Encounter 1 convened by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in the Caracol de Jacinto Canek in Tenejapa and the CIDECI in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, where there were patrols and checkpoints at intermediate points, interrogating and intimidating those attending the gather, it should be noted that in these places security patrols are not very common.
Since the beginning of this year, different communities, social and human rights organizations in Chiapas have denounced serious human rights violations committed by members of the police and military operations in which the inhabitants have been violated, their homes have been robbed, including arbitrary detentions.
We demand that the federal and local governments the live presentation of the comrades José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez, Zapatista Bases of Support.
To national and international solidarity we ask for expressions of support and demand that the Mexican State present them alive.
Sign the Urgent Action to demand that the Federal and Local Governments present alive the comrades José Baldemar Sántiz Sántiz Sántiz and Andrés Manuel Sántiz Gómez, Zapatista Bases of Support.
We urge you to sign this action to demand the immediate release of the two Zapatista support bases!
Military and police harrassment and surveillance during the Zapatista Encounter (Rebel and Revel) Art
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México
21 de abril de 2025
Boletín No. 1
Checkpoints and patrols by the State Police, National Guard, and Mexican Army, on intermediate routes to Caracol 7 Jacinto Canek;
EZLN denounces presence of the National Guard and Pakal Immediate Reaction Forces on the outskirts of Cideci-Unitierra.
The (Rebel and Revel) Art: Encounter of art, rebellion and resistance towards the day after” organized by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took place from April 13 to 19, 2025 in the Zapatista Caracol of Jacinto Canek in Tenejapa, and in CIDECI-Unitierra in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, for this reason hundreds of attendees came to the event where more than 1000 artists from 28 countries presented their work. [1]
In the context of a security strategy of the new state administration, characterized as military and police, and supported by the federal government, a plan of action for the festival was launched, plagued by violations to free transit, as well as actions of intimidation and harassment during the transportation of the participants. We found the presence of security forces of the state of Chiapas and the Armed Forces on the routes and in the vicinity of the Rebel – Revel Arte venues, an unusual situation in the territory.
- We were able to document checkpoints of the Chiapas State Police on the highway from San Cristóbal de Las Casas to Tenejapa where they questioned several attendees about what they were doing, where they were going and how long they would be there, and also on the San Cristóbal de Las Casas-San Juan Chamula highway, right on one of the routes to get to Cideci-Unitierra.
- State Police presence on the road to Tenejapa, 5 kilometers and 300 meters from the turnoff to the Caracol de Jacinto Canek.
- Patrols of the National Guard and Mexican Army were seen on the road between Chamula and Tenejapa, on the way to the Caracol de Jacinto Canek, with a total of 5 pickup trucks.
- On Saturday, April 19, 2025 at approximately 18:50 hrs. Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés denounced in the Rebel and Revel Arte gathering that there were patrols by the National Guard and the Pakal Immediate Reaction Forces (FRIP) outside the CIDECI-Unitierra installations in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
These acts of intimidation and surveillance by the federal and state governments are part of a security strategy in Chiapas where they are remaking pacts with criminality, appropriating narratives of peace, while at the same time, with messages of zero corruption and impunity, strengthening a police and military state through special groups such as the FRIP, which despite having recently begun operations, already has complaints of human rights violations and arbitrary detentions committed against the civilian population, and accusations of its command for collusion with organized crime.
We therefore denounce all intimidation and harassment against the EZLN and its Bases of Support, as well as against the people who, individually, collectively and as organizations, participated in “El (Rebel and Revel) Arte: Encuentro de arte, rebeldía y resistencia hacia el día después,” which was nourished by the most human expressions from where the fragments of possibility to fight and build are also constructed, beyond the racist, patriarchal, and oppressive systems that dispossess the peoples of the world .
Original text published by Frayba on April 21st, 2025.
Translations by Schools for Chiapas.
Footnotes
- ] https://frayba.org.mx/hostigamiento-vigilancia-rebel-revel See below for translation)