Prisoners Collective la Voz del Amate goes on another hunger strike: Urgent need for solidarity
Written by la voz del amate
Friday, 14 March 2008
To the local, national, and international news media To the Other Campaign of the EZLN To the Sixth International of the EZLN To the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center To the general public:
Brothers and sisters, we send you our greetings in this message and also ask for your valuable help in denouncing the abuse and harassment that motivated our hunger strike. One of the government functionaries in this prison, Dr. Joaquin Farrera in the Medical Area, has insulted and made fun of our movement, going so far as to insult our comrade María Delia Pérez Arismendi, who is praying and fasting, using vulgar terms and obscene words in dealing with her, thereby totally breaking with professional ethics and forcing her to sign documents. We reject the intervention of the State Human Rights Commission because of the role it has played as judge and jury in our deteriorated situation and because of its collusion with the prosecution.
Respectfully yours, LA VOZ DEL AMATE political prisoners, adherents to The Other Campaign of the EZLN Cereso No. 14 “El Amate” Cintalapa of Figueroa, Chiapas, February 27, 2008
To the local, national, and international news media To the Other Campaign of the EZLN To the Sixth International of the EZLN To the general public:
With our undying affection, from a small corner of this monumental edifice called “El Amate” Rehabilitation Center (Cereso), we, the political prisoners of “La Voz del Amate” call on all people of conscience and dignity to join our struggle and take up the spirit of indigenous Mexico anew––the intelligence that astonished the European world, that was created with the soul of the Cundalini and saw the eagle and the serpent dress the Great Tenochtitlan in grandeur. Our beautiful past was lost and stunted by an unlimited colonialism that condemned us to disappear for the sake of ambitious national and international business interests, with the ensuing plunder of our rights and passage of legal reforms aimed at setting up a State dictatorship and thus accomplishing the cruel, willful delivery of our resources to the hands of foreign businessmen. Such is the case today with Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission even after so much blood has been shed in defense of our national patrimony. Of course it’s clear that the egos and me-first rulers will never open their hearts to listen to those they govern. And now we feel the shadow and the iron boot of the businessman whose souls are burdened down by the way they have locked us up and handed down sentences of many long years, which really amount to death sentences. All the while that they’re micro-revolutionizing in the discovery of new crimes, they ignore the public demands of our people. Demonstrations are defined as social riots provoked by law-breakers. It’s clear that there’s never been the slightest intention to listen to our people, who may be seen by you as poor and ignorant. Our political position is condemned by those things they call political parties, which are bent on kidnapping our dignity and setting up their own power bases so they can serve themselves to what is ours in our land where there’s nothing left for us as a people. The famous politicians that studied in the United States and Europe never paid any attention to the San Andrés Accords, but instead brushed aside more than 38 indigenous groups with our own languages living throughout the country. All we want is true peace and self-determination for our people. If you only knew how happy it makes us to be with our own brothers and sisters. To Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero, we ask you to find your dignity and stop failing the people. These bars will never hush our truth Political Prisoners of La Voz del Amate.
To all concerned:
Following up on the denunciations received by the prisoners on hunger strike in the Amate prison in Cintalapa, Chiapas, we send the following call for Urgent Action, in which we ask you to show your solidarity by sending letters to the authorities suggested at the end of the document.
The trials of most of these prisoners have been followed and attended to by the Human Rights Center for several years.
The Center is extremely concerned over the step taken by the prisoners and their determination in the face of the refusal of various authorities to respond to their demands.
For more information about these cases, see the following links:
We thank you for your interest and are here to provide further information.
Área de Comunicación Social del Frayba Tel: 01 967 (678 7395 y 678 7396) www.frayba.org.mx
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, AC BRASIL 14, BARRIO MEXICANOS, CP 29240. SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LAS CASAS, CHIAPAS, MÉXICO. TELEFAX + 52 (967) 678 3548, 678 3551, 678 7395, 678 7396 - APARTADO POSTAL 178 www.frayba.org.mx San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas February 28, 2008 AU 03 Urgent Action 14 indigenous prisoners declare a hunger strike • The hunger strike will continue until the Mexican State restores their human rights that have been violated. • Strikers are demanding that the Ministry of Justice desist in the penal action against them. • They are refusing to eat anything at all or to receive medical attention. Their physical and psychological conditions are deteriorating.
The facts This Human Rights Center is aware that 14 Tsotsil and Tseltal indigenous prisoners who define themselves as political prisoners in the Social Rehabiliation Center # 14 (Cereso 14) in Cintalapa, Chiapas, demand that the State Ministry of Justice desist in their penal action against them. They have declared an “indefinite hunger strike” until the Mexican State restores the rights that were violated at the time they were arrested and criminal proceedings were initiated. They are: Zacario Hernández Hernández, Mateo Hernández Bautista, Alberto Patishtan Gómez, José Luis López Sánchez, Julio César Pérez Ruiz, José Pérez Pérez, Marcelino Díaz González, Ramón Guardaz Cruz, Juan Gómez Díaz, Jorge López López, Antonio Díaz Ruiz, Antonio Gómez Díaz, Miguel Gómez Gómez, and Domingo Cruz Gómez. We believe that their lives, personal integrity, and state of health are in grave, immediate danger.
For the last five years, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center has consistently followed the legal situation of Mr. Zacario Hernández Hernández, a Tsotsil political prisoner in Cereso # 14, “El Amate,” who is unjustly accused in the case known as “Tres Cruces” and who began an indefinite hunger strike on February 12, 2008. He has said that he will not suspend it until the authorities of the state of Chiapas restore his rights as defined in the American Convention; these rights were violated due to the lack of legal guarantees and protection during his trials.
This action was taken by Mr. Zacario Hernández Hernández in order to demand that the state government of Chiapas release him immediately by dropping the case pursued by the Ministry of Justice and that the criminal case 38 and 39/2003 before the Third Judge of the Criminal Court of the Judicial District of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, also be dropped against his co-defendants Mariano Heredia Mocojol (or Gómez), Enrique Hernández Hernández,.
In support of the demands of these prisoners, on February 19, 2008, the Believers of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, called a pilgrimage that was attended by hundreds of people in support of Zacario Hernández Hernández and all the indigenous people unjustly imprisoned in Chiapas. In response to this peaceful demonstration, the state government promised to find a solution for the case of Mr. Zacario Hernández Hernández and his comrades (from Tres Cruces), In keeping with this promise, the Chief Magistrate of the State Supreme Court, Sonia Siman Morales, agreed to a meeting on Monday February 25, at 1:00 p.m. in the offices of the Government Palace in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, but this meeting was canceled 30 minutes ahead of time without establishing a new date and time.
Afterwards, on February 25, 12 more Tsotsil and Tseltal indigenous prisoners also declared an “indefinite hunger strike” at Cereso # 14, “El Amate.” The 12 inmates define themselves as political prisoners because they all have prefabricated charges and are accused by false witnesses of common crimes, when in reality they are being charged because of their political activism in their regions.
Of these 12 inmates, 8 belong to the political prisoners organization “La Voz de El Amate,” adherent to The Other Campaign of the EZLN; the organization is made up of a total of 10 people, whose names are as follows: Alberto Patishtan Gómez, José Luis López Sánchez, Julio César Pérez Ruiz, José Pérez Pérez, Marcelino Díaz González, Ramón Guardaz Cruz, Juan Gómez Díaz, and Jorge López López. The other 4 prisoners on hunger strike define themselves as “Zapatista political prisoners.” They have stated that they were falsely accused by “mestizos” in the region because they are known Zapatistas. Their names are: Antonio Díaz Ruiz, Antonio Gómez Díaz, Miguel Gómez Gómez, and Domingo Cruz Gómez.
Likewise, it has come to Frayba’s attention that on February 26, Mr. Mateo Hernández Bautista joined in the indefinite hunger strike. He is a Tsotsil indigenous man from the “Rincón Chamula” community who defines himself as a militant in the Central Independiente Obrera y Campesina (CIOAC).
Thus, there are now 14 people on hunger strike in Cereso # 14, “El Amate,” in Cintalapa, Chiapas.
The indigenous political prisoners in Cereso 14, “El Amate,” have resorted to this measure as a mechanism for making a public denunciation, accusing the Mexican State of the violation of their human rights, which has resulted in the loss of their personal freedom and their future life expectations for the time spent in the detention center.
These indigenous prisoners have declared that they are willing to die. They are neither accepting any food offered by the staff of the detention center nor accepting the revision of their vital signs by the medical staff at Cereso # 14.
For this reason, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center requests: • That the government of the State of Chiaipas adopt, without delay, the necessary measures for attending to the requests of the Tsotsil and Tseltal indigenous prisoners in “El Amate” who have declared an “indefinite hunger strike”. • That the State Ministry of Justice desist in this penal action immediately because there is an imminent risk to the lives and state of health of the striking prisoners. • That reparations be made for the moral and economic damage arising from all the years they have been unjustly deprived of their freedom. ___________________________________ SEND YOUR COMMUNICATIONS TO: Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa Presidente de la República Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México (55) 27891100 (55) 52772376 Correo-electrónico: 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 Correo-electrónico: Fax: +52 961 61 88088 – + 52 961 6188056 Lic. Sonia Siman Morales Presidente de la Magistratura Superior del Estado de Chiapas y Consejera Presidente del Consejo de la Magistratura del Poder Judicial del Estado de Chiapas Palacio de Justicia Libramiento Norte Oriente no. 2100. Fracc. El Bosque. C.P. 29047. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas Conmutador (01-961) 61 7-87-00 o a los siguientes números: 01 (961) 61 65 350 o al 01 (961) 65 354 Lic. Amador Rodríguez Lozano Ministro de Justicia del Estado de Chiapas Libramiento norte oriente y Rosa de Oriente #2010, Col. El Bosque, C.P. 29049 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México Fax: + 52 (961) 6-17-23-00 Correo-electrónico: PLEASE SEND A COPY TO: Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas A.C. Brasil No. 14 Barrio Mexicanos, CP. 29240, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México TELEFAX: +52 (967) 678 35 48, 678 35 51, 678 73 96 Correo electrónico:
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