The UK Zapatista Solidarity Network, including KIPTIK, has issued a
statement expressing "full support" for
the prisoners: " We are well aware that the Mexican government is
persecuting people who are involved in the struggle for social justice
by falsely accusing them of crimes which they did not commit."

Indymedia Chiapas estimates that around 100 prisoners in Chiapas have
been deprived of their liberty for political reasons.

The prisoners on hunger-strike include Zapatistas, supporters of The
Other Campaign and activists in other groups. Zacario Hernandez
Hernandez, a catechista or laypreacher from San Juan Chamula, was the
first prisoner to start his hunger-strike, on 12th February. Since then
he has only drunk water and honey, and is now described as being very
weak.

On 25th February fellow prisoners in Cintalapa, organised in the group
"The Voice of Amate", joined the hunger strike, and on 4th March the
protest spread to another prison, in the major town of San Cristobal.
The prisoners in Amate, adherents to The Other Campaign, have maintained
a permanent organised vigil protest within the jail for over two years,
and this continues, despite harassment by the guards.

Days later, on 9th March, the movement grew further as 11 prisoners in a
third prison, in Catazaja, declared themselves on hunger strike. These
prisoners all come from the community of Busilja, where they had been
attacked and driven off their land by supporters of the
paramilitary-type group OPPDIC, who were also involved in their
imprisonment on false charges.

The 11 - some zapatistas, others members of the PRD, all from the
Tzeltal indigenous group - are asking that the Chiapas State government
of Juan Sabines listen to them. ?Our struggle is fought with our whole
heart. If we die, it will be the fault of murderers, extortionists, or
abductors; it will be because of lack of justice?.

Esther MacDonald, of the UK Zapatista Solidarity Network, stated: "The
situation is desperate. The prisoners have launched an indefinite hunger
strike, declaring that they are prepared to die to win their liberty. We
have to do whatever we can to show our solidarity. We urge people to
write to the Mexican Ambassador to the UK, demanding that the
authorities act to free the hunger-strikers, who have been unjustly
imprisoned."

Protest to

The Ambassador Juan José Bremer de Martino,
The Mexican Embassy, 16 St. George Street, London W1S 1FD

Tel: 020 7499 8586

E mail via
 http://portal.sre.gob.mx/reinounidoeng/
 http://portal.sre.gob.mx/reinounidoeng/index.php?option=contact&Itemid=6
Or e mail the Ambassador via the assistants to the
Ambassador :





Below is the statement issued by the UK Zapatista Solidarity Network:

.
FROM THE UK ZAPATISTA SOLIDARITY NETWORK


To the prisoners on hunger strike in Chiapas, Mexico, in the following
prisons:

- the Centro de Readaptación Social number 14 (Cereso 14, "El Amate" )
in Cintalapa ;

- the Centro de Readaptación Social número 5 (Cereso 5) in San Cristóbal
de Las Casas,

- and in the prison Licenciado José Patrocinio González Garrido (Cereso
17) in the municipality of Playas de Catazajá.

The UK Zapatista Solidarity Network expresses our full support for all
the prisoners in Chiapas, Mexico who have gone on hunger strike to
obtain justice.

We are well aware that the Mexican government is persecuting people who
are involved in the struggle for social justice by falsely accusing them
of crimes which they did not commit. And we are well aware that this
repression is doubly used against indigenous people, who have for over
500 years been struggling for justice. We are informed of the unjust
accusations against señor Zacario Hernández Hernández, and against the
other prisoners.

We demand immediate freedom for all the prisoners unjustly accused, and
a halt to the persecution of the social movements.

Here in the United Kingdom we are working to inform people of the
reality of the situation in Mexico. On 10th December 2007 demonstrators
came from many parts of Britain to demonstrate at the Mexican Embassy
and Consulate in London against the growing attacks on the Zapatista
communities in resistance and against the growing state violence against
social movements throughout Mexico since President Calderon gained power
in 2006. To show our solidarity we blockaded the entrances to both
Mexican government buildings. We delivered a letter for the Mexican
Ambassador, detailing the human rights abuses his government were
carrying out in Chiapas. We know that similar protests have been taking
place throughout Europe and the world.

We would like to assure you that the prisoners in hunger strike in
Chiapas do not stand alone. We are doing all we can to publicise your
struggle, and we are urging citizens in our country to write to the
Mexican Ambassador to the UK and to the President of Mexico, to demand
justice for the prisoners.

Many of us have visited Chiapas, and have seen with our own eyes the
sacrifices the indigenous people are making to create a just society.
Your struggle is an inspiration to us. We believe that through prison
walls and across oceans, international solidarity can grow to bring
nearer the day when States and Governments will no longer have the power
to repress and imprison those who resist, and the people of the world
can live together in freedom, justice and democracy.


From the UK Zapatista Solidarity Network

 http://ukzapatistas.wordpress.com