- ANALYSIS : Mexico - Elections and fear that history may be repeated - #IAm132 and mobilizations within the electoral context - IN FOCUS: Mexico in terms of gender - SIPAZ Activities (From mid-May to mid-August 2012)
ReportInternational Service for Peace August 2012 Vol XVII, # 3
The presidential elections of 1 July 2012 have provoked strong criticisms, both in terms of the pre-electoral process and election day itself. According to the vote count by the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), the candidate of the “Commitment to Mexico” coalition made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Green Ecological Party of Mexico (PVEM), Enrique Peña Nieto, received 38.21% of the vote. Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), from the “Progressive Movement” alliance comprised of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the Labor Party (PT), and the Citizens’ Movement (MC), received 31.59% of the vote, an outcome much lower than had been expected before the election. In third place came the National Action Party (PAN) candidate, Josefina Vázquez Mota, with 25.41%, while Gabriel Quadri de la Torre, candidate for the New Alliance Party (PANAL), gained just 2.29% x
IN THIS ISSUE
1. ANALYSISMexico - Elections and fear that history may be repeated
- #IAm132 and mobilizations within the electoral context
8. IN FOCUSMexico in terms of gender
12. SIPAZ ACTIVITIESFrom mid-May to mid-August 2012
ANALYSISMexicoMexico
Elections and fear that history may be repeatedElections and fear that history may be repeated
Quadri and Vázquez Mota publicly accepted their defeat even before the announcement of the Program of Preliminary Electoral Results (PREP). In their speeches pronounced minutes later, President Felipe Calderón and Peña Nieto announced the victory of the PRI. AMLO, for his part, made no public statement until some days afterward, when he declared that he would challenge the election results due to evidence of irregularities and violations of the electoral laws during the pre-electoral process as well as on voting day. Meanwhile, information began to circulate that, before the elections, the PRI in Mexico state had given out Soriana supermarket shopping cards and Monex credit cards in exchange for votes for Peña Nieto. The PRI denies this accusation. Even during the electoral campaign, a part of civil society had manifested its rejection of the PRI-Green candidate and/or the manner in which the electoral process was conducted (see sidebar). Due to the challenges to the electoral result, which will be evaluated by the Electoral Tribunal
of the Judiciary Power of the Federation (TEPJF), that institution will rule on either validating the triumph of Peña Nieto or annulling the election.
In contrast to the previous presidential election, on this occasion the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) has not made
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Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes (YMCA) (Argentina)Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (North Carolina, USA)Benedictine Sisters of Erie (Pennsylvania, USA)Capacitar (California, USA)CAREA (Berlin, Germany)Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America (N. Carolina, USA)Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s InstitutesPeace and Justice Committee (Washington DC, USA)Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (La Habana, Cuba)Christian Peacemaker Teams (Illinois, USA)Church of the Brethren (Washington DC, USA)Dominican Sisters of San Rafael (California, USA)Episcopal Peace Fellowship (Washington, DC, USA)Fellowship of Reconciliation/EEUU (New York, USA)FOR Austria (Austria)Franciscan Friars, Santa Barbara Province (California, USA)Franciscan National Justice, Peace and Ecology Council(Washington DC, USA)Global Exchange (California, USA)IF/ When (California, USA)Illinois Mayan Ministries (Illinois, EE USA UU)Iniciativa Ecuménica «Oscar Romero» (CIPFE, Montevideo, Uruguay)International Committee for the Peace Council (Wisconsin, USA)International Fellowship of Reconciliation (Alkmaar, Holland)Jubelee Economics Ministries (USA)JustaPaz (Bogotá, Colombia)Kentucky Interfaith Taskforce on Central America (USA)Leadership Conference of Women Religious (Washington, DC, USA)Loretto Community Latin America / Caribean Committee (Colorado, USA)Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas (California, USA)Michigan Faith and Resistance Peace Team (Michigan, USA)Movimento Ecuménico de Derechos Humanos (Buenos Aires, Argentina)National Benedictines for Peace (Pennsylvania, USA)Pax Christi (Pennsylvania, USA)Pax Christi International (Bruselas, Belgium)Peace Brigades International (Londres, England)Peaceworkers (California, USA)Presbytery of Chicago (Illinois, USA)Racine Dominican Sisters (USA)Resource Center for Nonviolence (California, USA)Servicio Paz y Justicia de América Latina (Montevideo, Uruguay)Sojourners (Washington, DC, USA)Southeastern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends(Florida, USA)SweFOR (Sweden)Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (Massachusetts, USA)Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) (USA)Western Dominican Province (Arizona, USA)Witness for Peace (Washington DC, USA)
S!Paz - International Service for Peace
Luisa Palmer, PresidentUSA
Gustavo Cabrera, TreasurerService for Peace and Justice in Latin America, Costa Rica
Rev. Denise Griebler, SecretaryMayan Ministries, USA
Aron LindblomThe Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR)
Marina Pagés, Coordinator of SIPAZChiapas, Mexico
Jet Nauta, SIPAZ’s Member TeamChiapas, Mexico
Richard Stahler-SholkEstados Unidos
Martha Inés RomeroCoordinadora para América Latina y el Caribe del Secretariado Internacional de Pax Christi, Colombia
SIPAZ is an international observation program created in 1995, after the Zapatista uprising in 1994 to monitor the conflict in Chiapas, Mexico. International S er vice for Peace (S er vicio Internacional para la Paz or SIPAZ) is a response
from the international community to the request of Mexican human rights organizations and religious leaders in Mexico, asking for a permanent international presence in Chiapas. In February 1995, a delegation of various international peace organizations came to Chiapas. They decided to create an organization encompassing a coalition of faith based and nonviolence based organizations in the United States, Europe and Latin America that shared a common concern regarding the situation in Chiapas.
Today SIPAZ supports the search for nonviolent solutions and aids in the construction of a culture of peace and dialogue between the actors involved in the conflict in Chiapas as well as, increasingly, in other areas in Mexico (Oaxaca and Guerrero). SIPAZ also serves as a bridge for communication and exchange between other organizations and networks that work to construct a just and lasting peace at a local, national, regional and international level n
• Maintains an international presence and accompanies processes that are working towards the construction of a culture of peace in Mexico.
• Provides trustworthy communication that integrates the voices of local actors and mobilizes the local, national and international community in the search for alternative solutions to the causes of violence in Mexico.
• Joins together with organizations, movements and networks in order to share and strengthen the processes that are leading towards building a just peace.
• Maintains contact and dialogue with the many different actors that are present in the conflict
SIPAZ recognizes and respects the principles of non-intervention and sovereignty of the Mexican State and its citizens upon whom must depend the negotiation and initiative that are necessary in order to achieve an eventual solution to the conflict.
The coalition members of SIPAZ represent many years of experience in international non-governmental peacemaking and conflict resolution. Building on that experience, SIPAZ seeks to play a facilitative role enhancing the context in which Mexicans are working to solve largely Mexican problems n
SIPAZ in Chiapas:Ave. Chilón #8, San Cristóbal de las Casas29220 Chiapas, MéxicoTel. & Fax: (+52.967) 631 60 55, Email: [email protected]
for Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists that was approved by Congress at the end of April. In mid-August, the Supreme Court in several sessions reviewed various cases that involved members of the Armed Forces in crimes or human rights violations committed against civilians. In what were considered historic rulings, the highest tribunal of the country determined that the soldiers involved must be judged before civilian courts.
Chiapas: change or continuity?In Chiapas on 1 July there were also elections
for governor, 122 mayorships, and deputies for the local Congress, in addition to the federal elections. The candidate for the Chiapas Unites Us coalition (PRI-Green-PANAL), Manuel Velasco Coello, won the gubernatorial elections with a clear majority (70.57% of the total vote), giving the Green Ecological Party of Mexico its first governorship. The PRI-Green alliance also won two senatorial offices, 12 offices of federal deputies, 24 seats in the local Congress, and 90 of 122
a pronouncement regarding the electoral process. Nevertheless, the still-unresolved conflict in Chiapas was once again mentioned in national media at the beginning of August, due to the presentation of a book by Luis H. Álvarez (PAN), ex-president of the Commission for Concordance and Pacification (COCOPA) and peace commissioner during the Fox administration (2000-2006). President Felipe Calderón participated in this event, speaking of the “worst mistakes defended by EZLN,” a posture that subsequently was criticized by COCOPA which questioned the president due to his “lack of political and social sensibility […] [that] could be interpreted as an aggression, a disrespect, and a profound lack of knowledge of the historical struggle of Mexican indigenous people.” He added that the “repeated interest in speaking and theorizing about Zapatismo is out of place, in contrast with the absence and lack of interest showed in this regard during the six years of his governance.” In August was the ninth anniversary of the foundation of the Caracoles of Good-Government Councils, which were established by the EZLN after their definitive break with the institutions of the Mexican State, so as to strengthen their autonomy by advancing the autonomous systems of health and education and conflict-resolution outside the framework of the State’s justice institutions.
After more than two and a half years of negotiations among the different factions in the Congress and the federal government, on 8 August the Executive proclaimed a political reform that will change parts of the political system. Among the eight points added to the Constitution, the reforms include the introduction of citizen-sponsored candidacy to public office, the presentation of legal initiatives in the Congress by the citizenry, and popular consultation on major issues affecting society. These changes also introduce elements that seek to strengthen the federal Executive. The Congress rejected Calderón’s proposal for a second round in the presidential elections. Given the lack of faith the Mexican populace has in the political class, it remains to be seen if society will make use of the new mechanisms of participation in institutional politics. Also remaining to be seen is the reaction of the political class in light of the emergence of other
actors in the institutional context, which until now has been monopolized by political parties.
In human rights, a regression and two important advances
At least in terms of appearance, in the last months of the Calderón administration, several advances in terms of human rights seem to have been achieved. However in the case of the General Law of Victims, one of the principal successes of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPJD) in its dialogue with the federal Legislative and Executive, its implementation was delayed. Despite having been approved by both chambers of the Congress of the Union and declared as law by the Senate of the Republic, President Felipe Calderón imposed a constitutional challenge that was submitted to the Supreme Court. Clearly there are deep divisions between the federal government and the Congress, since the Executive is proposing to raise the issue to the constitutional level, so that no authority from any of the branches of government can evade its responsibilities. The president is also trying to have the perpetrator pay for the damages incurred by the victims, rather than have the State assume responsibility. Members of different non-governmental organizations indicated that with this demand, the president leaves the victims of his strategy of “war against organized crime” without protection.
In terms of advances identified by civil human rights organizations, on 22 June Calderón ratified and promulgated the Law
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municipalities. Velasco Coello indicated in his declarations during the electoral campaign that he would continue the policies of the present governor Juan Sabines of collaboration by the Chiapas state government with the United Nations regarding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and would continue with the cultivation of agrofuels and the construction of Sustainable Rural Cities, among other points. Nevertheless, considering that the PRI’s Peña Nieto will be the next president of the Republic, Manuel Velasco’s victory through the PRI-PVEM alliance signifies for Chiapas the return of the PRI to power at the state and federal levels. For this reason, it remains to be seen if this will imply significant changes from the policies of Manuel Velasco’s predecessors, or if these policies will merely be intensified.
These elections brought about several incidents that made Chiapas one of the most conflictive states at the national level. However, the head of the State Institute for Citizen Participation (IEPC) minimized the electoral incidents. But workers at this same organization denounced several irregularities to the press. Members of the #IAm132 student movement have also reported several of these irregularities, beginning even before election day.
Margarita Martínez leaves Chiapas due to death threats and disappearance
Human rights defender Margarita Martínez Martínez and her familiy decided to flee the state of Chiapas due to new death threats and the disappearance they suffered on 30 June. In a joint bulletin published subsequently that was released by the family of Martínez Martínez and several human rights organizations, they explained that this decision is due to the fact that “the Mexican State has been incapable of protecting Margarita Martínez, given that despite having precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), she and her family have received several death threats.”
In observance of the International Day against Torture, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) presented
ANALYSIS
Banner “The Ikoots of San Mateo del Mar reject the wind project”
On 11 May 2012, at a campaign event for the PRI presidential candidate at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City, there were protests over human rights violations committed under Peña Nieto’s administration in San Salvador Atenco,
when he was governor of Mexico state in 2006. When the PRI machine characterized the protestors as “outside agitators” having nothing to do with the university, 131 students showed their student IDs in a video, affirming their participation in the protest. Support for the students on social networks gave birth to the #IAm132 movement, which is comprised mostly of young students from various universities in the country, public and private. They have defined their movement as non-partisan, but they have above all focused their criticism on the alleged alliance between Peña Nieto and Televisa, one of the two principal Mexican television conglomerates, given the favorable coverage it gave to the PRI candidate in its transmissions. #IAm132 organized several marches before the election, in addition to a debate among the presidential candidates that was made public via free media. Peña Nieto refused to attend this debate, considering it not to be impartial.
The day after the election, there were marches and rallies throughout much of the Republic that were organized among others by the #IAm132 movement. On 14 and 15 July in San Salvador Atenco, a “National Convention against Imposition” was held. Organized by the #IAm132 movement and the People’s Front for Defense of the Land (FPDT), among other organizations, more than 2,600 people from nearly 500 organizations in 28 states of the Republic discussed different proposals to “prevent Enrique Peña Nieto from assuming the presidency” in December.
In Oaxaca following election day, and in observance of the protest marches agreed to at the National Convention on 22 July, several protestors were arrested in the city of Oaxaca. Human rights organizations say, based on testimony they obtained, that during their detention these dissidents were tortured physically and psychologically, as well as beaten. Some youth were subjected to electric shock, death threats, and threat of rape; beyond this, there was sexual harassment and theft of their belongings. It should be noted that the events occurred two months before the “National Convention against Imposition” scheduled to be held in Oaxaca on 22 and 23 September.
Mobilizations have continued, and at the end of July, the #IAm132 movement released a manifesto in which it notes that “during this recent election day, profoundly antidemocratic practices prevailed, including State violence, the buying and coercion of voters, media manipulation, the nefarious use of polls and other illicit means that altered the essence of free suffrage that is informed, reasoned, and critical […]. We warn that in case the imposition [of Peña Nieto] comes to pass, the old political regime that practices State violence, repression, authoritarianism, generalized corruption, cover-ups, secrecy in public decision-making processes, coercion of voters, and other anti-democratic practices will be re-established […]. In light of this threat, we call for the union and organization of social forces toward the common goal of transforming the present state of Mexican society.” n
#IAm132 and mobilizations within the electoral context#IAm132 and mobilizations within the electoral context
Following the favorable legal appeal and multiple mobilizations at the local, national, and international levels, on 26 July Alberto Patishtán Gómez was transferred from the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (CEFERESO) in Guasave, Sinaloa, to the State Center for the Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced (CERSS) No. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. Patishtán Gómez, member of the “Voz del Amate,” an organization of prisoners who are adherents to the Other Campaign of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), had been forcibly transferred to Guasave in October 2011, when several prisoners of the CERSS No. 5 were on hunger strike to demand the review of their cases and their release. Meanwhile, the mobilizations continue to demand his liberation and that of Francisco Sántiz López, a Zapatista support base member from Banavil (Tenejapa municipality), who has been detained since December 2011, a circumstance that also has been denounced on numerous occasions by the Good Government Council of Oventik, who consider the charges to be fabricated.
Oaxaca: Public apology from the state government for violations in the conflict of 2006/2007
On 14 June, 6 years passed since the beginning of the social conflict in Oaxaca, when the state government attempted to displace a sit-in of the teachers from Section 22 of the National Educational Workers’ Union (SNTE), which led to the founding of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). On this anniversary, the Oaxacan governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo led a public event recognizing the responsibility of the state government for the rights violations committed against the social movement. The state governor affirmed that all the government’s institutions have the obligation of recognizing and fully attending to the victims of rights violations committed in 2006 and 2007. The Gobixha Committee for Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights AC (CODIGO-DH) and FUNDAR Center for Analysis and Investigation declared that “this public act of recognition of responsibility on the part of the State of Oaxaca contributes to restoring the dignity of the victims and to their reintegration into society, as well as to a process of rebuilding
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Another question covered by the media has been the temporary departure of Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra from the country last May, in light of the situation of death threats that he had received for his work at a migrant shelter in Ixtepec. The priest returned to his activities as director of the shelter on 12 July, though the situation has not changed substantially in the time that he was out of the country.
Guerrero: the left wins, but impunity remains
On 1 July in Guerrero there were elections for president of the Republic, mayorships, local deputies, senators, and federal deputies. The candidates of the left for senator and federal deputies, as well as for mayorships and local deputies, won in almost all cases: all federal deputies, the two senatorial positions, 21 of 28 local districts, and 45 of 81 mayorships.
Beyond this, there continues to be a failure on the part of the federal and state governments to observe the sentences of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) on several cases in Guerrero. During the hearing
the social fabric that will only be possible if it is based on truth and justice.”
Nevertheless, violent acts continue that are linked to the defense of land and territory. On 16 June, two members of the Coordination of United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (CPUVO) were injured in an armed attack that took place in the community of San José del Progreso. The CPUVO blamed the managers of the Cuzcatlán mining company, which operates in the municipality, as well as local authorities, for the aggression against the opponents to the mine. For their part, at the beginning of August communities of the Ikoots people in the Tehuantepec Isthmus declared their rebellion against the construction of a wind-energy park by the Spanish firm Mareña Renovable in the zone. As part of the conflict, the residents of San Dionisio del Mar had taken over the municipal palace last January. For this action, as was made public at the beginning of the month, they were threatened by the governor in a meeting they held last May. In light of the lack of attention of the State, the authorities from San Mateo del Mar reported that they would not participate in the elections on 1 July.
ANALYSIS
Banner “With the budget or without it, La Parota will not be built. Candidates, do not excite yourselves over La Parota; the people have already said no CECOP”
Banner “With the budget or without it, La Parota will not be built. Candidates, do not excite yourselves over La Parota; the people have already said no CECOP”
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organized by the IACHR in June to review the extent of observance of the sentence in the case of Rosendo Radilla (2009), Tita Radilla Martínez, daughter of the social activist who was arrested at a checkpoint in 1974 and remains disappeared to this day, expressed her dissatisfaction. On 16 July, national and international human rights organizations noted that two years had passed now since the IACHR handed down its sentences in favor of the indigenous women Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú, who were raped by soldiers in 2002, and “to date grave shortcomings persist in compliance with the rulings.”
On 9 August, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, lawyer for the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights, who had gone into self-imposed exile for some months after being threatened for his work as a human rights defender, returned to Mexico to resume his work. In a meeting with governor Aguirre Rivero, the state leader offered Rosales guarantees of protection, without further clarification.
Lastly, there is finally good news for the community and ejido members who opposed the construction of the La Parota dam. In July the cancellation of this hydroelectric project,planned to be located near Acapulco, was ratified. According to the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights, this decision “confirms once again that in the legal struggle undertaken by the opponents to the project, it is the community and, ejido members and neighbors, united in the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota (CECOP), who have legal victory and social legitimacy. Therefore, hopefully the recent decision can lead to the signing of the Cacahuatepec Accords, which to date have been postponed by the state Executive. These Accords could bring peace back to the region.” n
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“I want justice not just for Itzel, but also for all other women who have been killed in the country and in Chiapas. I demand justice because losing a daughter is a pain that cannot be imagined.” Roberto Méndez, father of Itzel Méndez – student, victim of feminicide x
During the 52nd session of the committee of experts of the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) held on 17 July 2012, there was an evaluation of the observance of this convention on the part of the Mexican State. Some 50 Mexican civil organizations presented 18 “shadow reports” that contrasted with the official report released by the government. The number of reports was an indication of the dissatisfaction of civil society with regard to the protection of the rights of women, and the failure of the Mexican State to respect international standards so as to promote greater gender equality. In their shadow reports to CEDAW, the civil organizations emphasized that the situation of violence in the country has repercussions on the physical integrity of women. They affirmed that the federal government’s strategy of combat against organized crime has caused high levels of violence against women, worsening the levels of impunity, institutional violence, and discrimination against them. According to
“Not submissive, nor devout, free woman, beautiful, mad,” graffiti in San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Mexico in terms of genderMexico in terms of gender
Consorcio Oaxaca, the organizations saw it as an accomplishment that the “Mexican State was strongly challenged for the constant human rights violations against women and for not clearly reporting on their actions against gender discrimination.”
According to a report from Amnesty International (AI), also published in July, violence against women in Mexico has not ceased but rather has increased considerably in recent years. This report also affirms that the governmental institutions in Mexico have failed both in their obligation to protect women from increasing violence and discrimination, and in their failure to legally prosecute those responsible. With regard to rape, the AI report mentions that in 2009 14,829 complaints were filed for this crime in all of Mexico, and that of these only 2,795 led to convictions in court. Worse, it stresses that “studies carried out at the national level suggest that only 15 percent of such crimes are reported.”
Gender-sensitive legislation: progress or bureaucracy?Beyond the UN’s CEDAW, since 1994 in Belém do Pará, Brazil, the
concept of “violence for reasons of gender” was included in the agenda of the Organization of American States (OAS) through the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Sanction, and Eradicate Violence against Women.
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CDHFBC mentions that “many of the prosecutorial officials are unfamiliar with these laws, while others claim to know of them, though they fail to apply them in their juridical arguments. In the judicial branch of Chiapas the same pattern is seen, since judges and magistrates do not hand down sentences sensitive to gender perspectives.” In more general terms, the 2012 Amnesty International report stresses that “the application of said laws adopted in
28 states is often vague, and it leaves doubts regarding the concrete responsibilities of each authority. According to CONAVIM, many state penal codes continue to be lacking.” Similarly, the CDHFBC observes that these laws are often little more than declaratory statements.
Lack of access to justice for the women of Chiapas
The Center for Women’s Rights of Chiapas (CDMCh) and the Group of Women of San Cristóbal de Las Casas (COLEM) presented a shadow report before the CEDAW committee entitled “The situation of discrimination and
lack of access to justice for the women of Chiapas, Mexico.” The document deals with the question of access to justice among women in Chiapas, particularly for indigenous and rural women, emphasizing the problems of violence, feminicide, and access to land. The report stresses that “it is of concern that the institutions of justice that exist in Chiapas do not have multidisciplinary teams to investigate these crimes; there are no protocols of action in accordance with international standards; or databases with
IN FOCUS
Public presentation of the report on CEDAW in San Cristóbal de las Casas
The Mexican government has signed on to this convention, and so is obliged to develop legislation to comply with it. As a consequence, in 2007 the federal government released the General Law for Access of Women to a Life Free of Violence. Amnesty International considers that the adoption of this law “signifies progress for the creation of a national juridical framework that would recognize and address various forms of violence against women.”
This law also obligates state and municipal governments to take budgetary and administrative measures to guarantee the right of women to a life free of violence. However, according to the 2009 Annual Report of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC), the law has limitations, given that it lacks elements such as “the design and instrumentation of public policies that avoid the commission of crimes against women, rehabilitation by means of providing specialized and free juridical, medical, and psychological services; and the investigation and sanctioning of negligent acts by authorities that lead to impunity for the violation of the human rights of victims.”
Later in 2009, the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women (CONAVIM) was created to foment reforms at the state level. In March 2009 for example, the Law for Access to a Life Free of Violence for Women was passed in the state of Chiapas, which according to the CDHFBC lacks practical mechanisms of application. The
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that “in the last few years we have seen not only an increase in the number of homicides of women, but also a continuous and habitual absence of effective investigations for justice.”
Several states have introduced the category of feminicide into their penal codes. Nonetheless, according to social activist groups, in Chiapas the number of feminicides continues to increase. On 14 July, organized civil society groups concerned with the defense of women’s rights in San Cristóbal de Las Casas held a performance in the Peace Plaza in this city, denouncing the 32 feminicides carried out in Chiapas so far this year. One of the cases that was denounced is that of the Tzotzil youth Itzel Méndez, 17 years of age, whose body was found on 14 April in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, with signs of rape and beating. Martha Figueroa Mier, women’s defense lawyer at the Mercedes Olivera Feminist Collective, noted that “in 2011, the State Attorney General’s Office reported more than 100 murders of women in Chiapas. We have requested that the Office establish protocols of protection for women.”
Regarding the number of cases of feminicides in Chiapas, these data vary according to different sources. According to representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and associations from the tourist sector of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, “in the year 2011 there were two cases of murders of women.” The shadow report for the CEDAW committee put together by the CDMCh and COLEM, on the other hand, stresses that with regard to gender violence and feminicide, “Chiapas finds itself in a very critical stage. So far this year, an extraordinary number of disappeared or murdered women for reasons of gender have been recorded. In several cases, extreme violence has been used, including torture and mutilations.” The statistics of the women’s human rights defenders contrast notably with the statistics put forth by
precise information regarding murdered and disappeared women. The hierarchical,unequal relations based on ethnic and social origins are factors that also transcend the task of prosecution and administration of justice. In some cases, it is the lack of sensitivity and training of officials that revictimizes the victims and survivors, generating more violence and discrimination and inhibiting the filing of complaints.”
In Chiapas, there continues to exist a situation of structural violence toward women due to their lack of access to education and health services as well as employment opportunities. Multiple situations of familial violence are also seen. It requires a great deal of courage and patience to file a legal complaint of a case of violence, given that several examples show that this action can cause repercussions that threaten familial and communal integrity as well as individual physical security. Furthermore, in rural communities, traditions do not favor women, since in the words of Dr. Mercedes Olivera in 2011, it is expected that women put up with violence as an inherent part of life. In her process of field research, for example, a woman from Chalchihuitán expressed that “If the husband is drunk and he beats his wife, his father will scold him, but the woman’s mother will also tell her she should learn to deal with the husband, as this is what is expected of us as women.”
Feminicide: “the extreme form of gender violence”Despite the advances that have been seen in legislative terms
regarding the penalization of violence against women, governing institutions have not been able adequately to protect women; indeed, the number of feminicides has increased in the last three years. Rupert Knox, investigator for AI, declared during the July presentation of the report
Poster for the protest in the Itzel case, May 2012
State institutions. The differences have to do with on the one hand the absence of specification of the municipalities included in the data, and on the other with the failure to classify murders of women for reasons of gender as feminicides.
Human rights defenders threatened despite being under protective orders
In their shadow report for the CEDAW, the organization Mesoamerican Initiative of Female Human Rights Defenders declared that “between December 2010 and December 2011, eleven female human rights defenders were murdered, the majority of them from the states of Chihuahua and Guerrero.” A case of violence in Chiapas that continues in impunity is that of the human rights defender Margarita Guadalupe Martínez Martínez. In February 2010, Margarita Martínez was a victim of kidnapping, torture, and death threats aimed at having her drop her criminal complaint of aggressive invasion of her home by police in November 2008. During the subsequent years, Margarita and her family received several death threats despite being under court-ordered protection. Following new death threats received on 30 June, Margarita and her relatives decided to seek refuge elsewhere, leaving the state for an indefinite period of time. It should be recalled that at the time of receiving the most recent death threats, the human rights defender was in the midst of preparing to participate in the 52nd session of the CEDAW.
In other news, in Oaxaca in April, the human rights defender Alba Cruz, from the organization Gobixta Committee of Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights (Código DH), received a death threat to her cell phone. The defender has had protective custody awarded by the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for some years now, since she had previously received intimidating messages as well. Another Oaxacan defender who has been a victim of intimidating action, despite also having protective measures from the IACHR, is Bettina Cruz Velázquez, member of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory. In February of this year, the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) arrested her, accusing her of kidnapping workers from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). Many social and civil organizations pronounced themselves in favor of her immediate release, alleging that the true motive for the arrest was the criminalization of the work of human rights defenders. Bettina Cruz is under court-ordered protection since she was assaulted by state police while she was informing indigenous communities of their rights to the land.
Murders for reasons of gender among the gay and lesbian community
Another type of gender-related violence that has been seen on several occasions in Guerrero in recent years has been the murder of members of the lesbian and gay communities. Despite the fact that, for example, gay marriage has been approved in Mexico City, this serious form of violence continues to exist against these people. On 4 May, a trans person was killed in Acapulco, with the killers unidentified. Precisely one year previously, on 4 May 2011, one of the leaders of the lesbian and gay community in Chilpancingo, Quetzalcóatl Leija Herrera, was murdered. In a May 2012 press conference, José Lavoisiere Luquín Jiménez, another leader of this community, reported that so far this year three homosexuals have been killed: one in Chilpancingo, another in Acapulco, and yet another in Coyuca
11August 2012
de Benítez. At the same time, he warns that there is an underreporting of two homicides for every recorded murder: “that is to say, there are nine cases, but these are not registered with the authorities due to the homophobia of relatives or the fear that someone will do something to them.”
Little hope for women under Peña Nieto, rights defenders fear
Following the federal elections on 1 July in which Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was elected as the next president of Mexico, several women’s rights activists have expressed their concern regarding feminicide and gender violence. In a press conference to report on the Mexican State’s presentation before the committee of experts of CEDAW, María de la Luz Estrada, coordinator of the National Observatory on Feminicide, recalled that as governor of Mexico state (2005-2011), “Peña Nieto refused to have investigations carried out by the National System to Prevent, Sanction, and Eradicate Violence against Women.”
In the same conference, Gloria Ramírez, from the Mexican Academy on Human Rights, mentioned that Peña Nieto also bears responsibility for the women in the case of San Salvador Atenco. In May 2006, in that community in the state of Mexico, 26 women were sexually assaulted by the police after having been detained at a protest. The July 2012 Amnesty International report reports that the case of Atenco “is emblematic,” given that despite the gravity, impunity persists in the majority of these cases. The women who have suffered aggressions, despite the gravity of these humiliating and dehumanizing acts, have been denied access to justice both at the state and federal levels. For this reason, the cases have been taken to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
With organized women, more hope for the futureAccording to the shadow report of CDMHCh and COLEM, the currently
existing political and legal system in Chiapas “does not guarantee access to justice to women on equal terms with men but instead totally ignores their particular necessities as a general rule.” The CEDAW committee made a series of recommendations for the Mexican State to improve the situation in the country regarding the defense of women’s rights. Among the CEDAW recommendatons, for example, is to undertake actions to encourage the filing of complaints in cases of violence against women, to accelerate detentions related to violence against women, and to adopt adequate means to prevent, investigate, bring to trial, and sanction violence against female human rights defenders and journalists.
As underscored by the organization Women’s Communication and Information (CIMAC), the number of shadow reports that were prepared for the CEDAW session, besides indicating the gravity of the situation lived by women in the country, is also a reflection of increased organizational capacity of women to respond. And in spite of all that remains to be improved with regard to the situation of women in Mexico, the struggles they carry forward and the small and large victories they have achieved should not be forgotten. Peace Brigades International (PBI) mentions in a book on rights defenders it published in January 2012 that among the most recent successes have been the IACHR sentences in the cases of Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo, indigenous women who were raped by soldiers in 2002: “Each one of these sentences is the fruit of the joint work of many people, but it has been these women who with their courage and persistence in confronting pressures, death threats, and even physical assaults, have kept these processes alive.” Additionally, beyond the legal and juridical context, there are an increasing number of women who are emboldened to overcome fear and shame, simply to “speak up” both in the familial context and in public and communal spaces. This is the essential first step toward the realization of many necessary societal changes n
12 Report
From mid-May to mid-August 2012SIPAZ ACTIVITIES
Servicio Internacional Para La PazInternational Service for Peace PO Box 3584Chico, CA 95927 USA
INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND ACCOMPANIMENT
CHIAPAS
Human rights defenders
In June we visited Margarita Martínez and Adolfo Guzmán, human rights defenders who have been the targets of several death threats and assaults since 2009.
Highlands
On 12 August, we accompanied as observers the march organized by “Las Abejas”, Chenalhó municipality, in observance of the call for a “Day against impunity”.
North
In August, we accompanied as observers a march by residents of Tila organized so that the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) rule in favor of their demand that the 130 hectares which state authorities expropriated from them be returned to them.
Jungle
In June, the report of the Civil Mission for Observation and Solidarity, which visited the communities in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in May was presented. We participated both in the Mission and in the drafting of the report.
Caracoles
Between mid-May and mid-August, we visited all the Zapatista Caracoles at least once.
Events
- On 13 June, we attended the National Forum on Human Rights and Citizen Security, organized by the PRODH Center in Mexico City.
- On 15 June, we attended a panel on the “Practice of
journalism and popular communication under threat”.
- In June, we attended the Forum organized to create “a Chiapas platform of (...) organization and action from the perspective of non-violence, in defense of victims, and for the construction of peace in light of the generalized increase in various types of violence.” In July, we were also present at the meeting for analysis organized by this platform after the elections.
- On 1 July, we observed some voting precincts in San
Cristóbal.
- In August, we participated in the “Meeting for Alternatives to Environmental Impacts and Climate Change” organized by the Mexican Movement of Alternatives to Environmental Impacts and Climate Change (MOVIAC-Chiapas) which was held in Acteal.
Prisoners
On 19 June, we were present in El Bosque, where, along with other other places inside and outside of Mexico, there were actions in solidarity for the release of Alberto Patishtán, 12 years after the beginning of his imprisonment.
Women
- In mid-May, we accompanied the march against feminicide and violence against women held in San Cristóbal.
- In August, we attended the press conference where the report entitled “The situation of discrimination and lack of access to justice for women in Chiapas and Mexico” was made public.
GUERRERO
In June, we traveled to Guerrero to participate in the XVIII Anniversary of the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights, which coincided with the Forum “From the heart of the struggle.”
PUBLIC RELATIONS
In June, we held a meeting with the First Secretary for Political Affairs and Human Rights of the German embassy in Mexico.
PROMOTION OF PEACE
WORK WITH RELIGIOUS ACTORS
- In June, we participated in an ecumenical space for
prayer and reflection called for by the Ecumenical Group for the Analysis of Reality and the Context (GEARC).
- At the end of July, at the invitation of the Believing People, we participated in a space of analysis from the Estrella Region in the Lacandona Jungle.
EDUCATION FOR PEACE
- In May and June, we facilitated training sessions on different aspects of the positive transformation of conflicts in the Mayense Intercultural Seminar (SIM). In July, we participated in a panel during a camp for youth from Mexico and Puerto Rico, coordinated by the SIM.
- In July, we conducted workshops with women and men and women in several communities in the zone below Tila.
- In August, we organized, jointly with the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights and Pax Christi International, a workshop on Active non-violence.
ARTICULATION
- We attended bimonthly meetings of the Peace Network. On 18 and 19 May, we participated in the Forum “Exclusion... Neoliberal inclusion: Examinations of the Rural Sustainable Cities” held in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
INFORMATIONWe received visits by delegations, students, journalists, and members of our coalition interested in knowing and learning about the situation in Chiapas and SIPAZ’s work n
