ZAPATISTA VILLAGERS FACING IMMINENT VIOLENT EVICTION

The Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group issues an urgent appeal:

As we write indigenous peasants in Nuevo San Isidro and Nuevo San Rafael in Chiapas, Mexico are facing the threat of imminent violent eviction and possible massacre. On 12th April armed men accompanied by government officials entered the two communities. They menaced the inhabitants with guns and machetes, and vowed to return on Saturday 19th April to forcibly evict the villagers, who live deep in the resource-rich jungle area of Montes Azules, much coveted by transnational corporations.

In Nuevo San Isidro the paramilitary-style invaders stated they would kill the villagers if they did not leave their land. International observers in Chiapas fear another massacre like that of Acteal in 1997. The Chiapas-based Network of Community Defenders has issued an urgent international appeal - it is vital to send letters, e mails and faxes to Mexican government authorities and embassies, publicise the critical situation and undertake all possible solidarity activity.

In the Zapatista village of Nuevo San Rafael Marisela explained how the women responded to the incursion and the threats. “All of the women armed themselves with machetes and sticks. If they come in here, we have to rise up. We are going to live here. This is where we are going to be and no one is going to force us out of here. So, if they want to kick us out of here they’ll have to kill us!”

For more info and what you can do, please read on.

------------------------------------------------------------

ZAPATISTA VILLAGERS FACING IMMINENT VIOLENT EVICTION

Indigenous villagers in Nuevo San Rafael and Nuevo San Isidro in Chiapas, are threatened with imminent violent eviction and possible massacre.

Following is

1) What you can do.

2) Upcoming activity in Edinburgh

3) More info on why the indigenous people are being threatened.

4) Sources of further information and updates


1) WHAT YOU CAN DO

Write, phone, fax, e mail to:

MEXICAN EMBASSY IN LONDON
Senora Almaroza Moreno Razo, Mexican Embassy, 42 Hertford St., London W1 7JR
 mexuk@easynet.co.uk
tel 0207 499 8586

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO

President Fox
Tel 0052 55 52 77 23 76
Vicente Fox, Quesada Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos, Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850, MEXICO
FAX: 00 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794
 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or  radio@presidencia.gob.mx
or go to www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo@ to send a message. If you have access to a fax machine and are able to get through, the fax method, being less impersonal, is probably more effective.


GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF CHIAPAS, MEXICO
Lic. Pablo Salazar:
Tel 0052 961 612 0917
 secpart@prodigy.net.mx

LCC. Berenice Moreno Ocaña
Jefa de la Unidad de Información, Análisis y Difusión.
Coordinación de Relaciones Internacionales
 becerratoledo@yahoo.com.mx

SEMARNAT
Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources
Lic. Victor Lichtinger
Titular de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
 vlichtinger@semarnat.gob.mx

Salvador Rey López
Secretario Particular del C. Titular del Ramo
 srey@semarnat.gob.mx

Lic. José Esteban Bautista Díaz
Coordinador Administrativo del C. Titular del Ramo
 bautista@semarnat.gob.mx

Lic. Roberto López Izquierdo
Secretario Técnico del C. Titular del Ramo
 rizquierdo@semarnat.gob.mx

Norberto Martínez Hernández
Enlace Informático del C. Secretario
 nmartinez@semarnat.gob.mx

Bertha Larios Alzua
Secretaria Privada Del Secretario de Estado
 blarios@semarnat.gob.mx

Delegaciones Federales de Semarnat CHIAPAS:

Ing. Ramón Francisco Aguirre Herrera
Delegado Federal
 delegacion@chiapas.semarnat.gob.mx

Lic. José L. Palacios Ruíz
Unidad Jurídica
 juridico@chiapas.semarnat.gob.mx

PROFEPA

José Campillo García
Procurador Federal de Protección al Ambiente
 procurador@correo.profepa.gob.mx

Secretaría de Seguridad Pública
Libramiento Sur Oriente Km. 9,
Tramo Tuxtla - Chiapa De Corzo
Fax: 0052 61 4-40-24, 61 4-06-23 and 61 4-06-24.

MEXICAN EMBASSIES IN GERMANY, SWITZERLAND AND CANADA

Mexikanische Botschaft in Deutschland
Klingelhöferstr. 3
10785 Berlin
Germany
Botschafter: Jorge Eduardo Navarrete
 mail@embamexale.de

Mexikanische Botschaft in der Schweiz
Bernastr. 57
3005 Bern
Switzerland
 embamex1@swissonline.ch

Her Exellency Maria Teresa Garcia Segovia Ambassador for Mexico,
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ont. K1P 1A4 Canada
FAX 00 1 613 235 9123
 info@embamexcan.com





Sample Letter

President Vicente Fox
Dear Sir
I am writing to you to express my concern for the Montes Azules Biosphere and the Mexican government's plan to relocate indigenous communities which live inside and around the reserve. Given the recent declarations confirming the relocation of the community Arroyo San Pablo on December 19th 2002, and the threats of violent eviction issued to the inhabitants of Nuevo San Rafael and Nuevo San Isidro, in the presence of government officials, on 12 April 2003, I think it is especially important that you take urgent steps to:
1) Demilitarize all Natural Protected Areas (ANPs) and indigenous communities, especially Montes Azules. Employing the Army, or any other security force like the Federal Preventive Police (PPP), in environmental "protection" does not address the underlying causes of the current social and environmental crisis.
2) Guarantee that communities located within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, or adjacent Reserves, will not be relocated without their consent. Local communities and Indigenous Peoples play an integral role in the conservation and development of natural resources. Relocating these communities by force, or allowing them to be continually harassed by paramilitary groups, will only exacerbate the deteriorating human rights and environmental crisis in the region.
3) Respect Indigenous Peoples Right to Self-Determination and Development. The future of Montes Azules, and other mega-diverse regions like it, depends on the active participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the creation of Biosphere Reserves that respect and fortify both biological and cultural diversity. I look forward to seeing your immediate response to this issue.
Sincerely

------------------

Sample letter in Spanish

DENUNCIA MONTES AZULES

Al Gobierno de México
Al Gobierno de Chiapas
A las autoridades Semarnat y Profepa
A la sociedad civil de México y del mundo

Con mucha preocupación observamos desde Europa los acontecimientos que ocurren ahorita en la región Montes Azules, Chiapas, México.
Nosotros como organizaciones sociales, grupos de derechos humanos y
colectivos de solidaridad declaramos lo siguiente:

1. Rechazamos enérgicamente cada forma de desalojo que se lleva a cabo en contra de la voluntad de las comunidades afectadas, en este caso Nuevo San Rafael y Nuevo San Isidro.

2. Obviamente autoridades regionales y los gobiernos de México y Chiapas abusan a grupos indígenas para lograr el acceso a la biodiversidad de la reserva Montes Azules. Los poderosos quieren que el publico piense que hay presuntos «conflictos internos» entre los indígenas que viven en la zona.
Pero el problema más grande es la avidez.

3. Otra vez los habitantes de la région son las víctimas de los intereses
económicos de las grandes empresas mexicanas e internacionales.

4. Rogamos al gobierno mexicano y al gobierno chiapaneco que respeten y cuiden los derechos humanos e indígenas. Sólo una solucion negociada y pacífica, y la voluntad de los gobiernos federales y estatales, pueden
resolver el conflicto en Montes Azules.

5. Vamos a manifestar nuestra protesta contra esta injusticia en nuestras ciudades y países. Vamos a informar a la prensa, a las agencias de viaje a las empresas que cooperan con empresas mexicanas sobre el papel real de las autoridades mexicanas.

6. Exigimos el cumplimiento de los Acuerdos de San Andrés y de la
convención 169 de la OIT (Organización Internacional del Trabajo).

7. Nos solidarizamos con las demandas de tierra y libertad de las bases de apoyo del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional que son justas y
democráticas.

Saludos

------------------------


Please note that no matter what happens on 19 April, and no matter whether or not you are able to ascertain the latest situation, it is very worthwhile writing, as the many indigenous communities in Montes Azules will still be under threat for the foreseeable future.


2) UPCOMING EVENTS IN EDINBURGH

Emergency meeting of the Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group - 7pm Sunday 27th April at ACE, 17 W Montgomery Place, Edinburgh. An international observer who has spent several months in Montes Azules will be present. We urgently need to discuss how to give solidarity to the beleagured Zapatista communities in Montes Azules. Tel 0131 557 6242.

MAY DAY Film screening
ZAPATISTA!
A film by Big Noise 54 mins
An accessible and well made film about the Zapatistas
8pm thursday 1st May
At Nicol Edwards pub, Niddry St., Old Town, Edinburgh
(access to Niddry St. from High St, near the Bridges, or from the Cowgate, near Bannermans pub)
Free, followed by questions and discussion
Drinks available from the pub.


3) MORE INFORMATION ON RECENT EVENTS - AND WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

The background to this situation is a long-standing threat by the Mexican government to evict indigenous communities, including 110 Zapatista villages and hamlets, from Montes Azules. The ostensible reason is to conserve the Biosphere Reserve in the Lacandona jungle. The real motive is to exploit the rich resources of the zone by big business.

Montes Azules is rich in timber, water and petroleum and has sparked the interest of pharmaceutical researchers with its vast array of plant and animal species. Investigations conducted by Global Exchange and other organisations has revealed the work of international interests behind the move to evict the Zapatista and other communities from Montes Azules. A recent article appearing in El Universal illustrated the role of Conservation International , an American-based "environmental" organisation, in promoting the expulsion of the communities in Montes Azules.

In the article, Conservation International explicitly blamed the Zapatistas and the timidity of the Mexican and Chiapas governments (and their reluctance to act in removing the communities) for the destruction of the rainforest. A recent delegation led by Global Exchange concluded that the small Indigenous settlements established within the limits of the reserve were not responsible destroying the forest. Conservation International is also closely linked to Grupo Pulsar, a Mexican-based biotechnology giant with several bioprospecting stations in the region, and other big business interests.

Montes Azules is central to the Plan Puebla Panama, a plan by the USA, Mexican and Central American governments to "develop" the whole region of southern Mexico and Central America, building new roads, ports and railways, plundering resources, driving peasants off the land and using cheap labour in "maquiladora" sweatshop factories. In its turn the Plan Puebla Panama is part of the aim to create a Free Trade Area for all of the Americas.


LATEST EVENTS IN DETAIL

On the morning of the 10th of April, 2003, three Lacandones men, accompanied by 18 members of the Mexican Navy, arrived at the community of Nuevo San Rafael to notify the community members that they should leave Montes Azules immediately, or face a forced eviction on the 12th of April. (Using familiar "divide and rule" counter-insurgency tactics, the Mexican government has bought off particular indigenous groups such as the Lacandones, and is using them against the other indigenous groups.)

The community members of Nuevo San Rafael notified the offices of the Network of Community Defenders, who in turn quickly organised a delegation of human rights observers. The delegation of observers, which included several Chiapas-based nongovernmental organisations as well as a representative of Amnesty International, arrived in Nuevo San Rafael on Saturday 12th April.

That afternoon armed members of the Lacandones indigenous group, accompanied by government officials, entered the indigenous communities of Nuevo San Rafael (also known as Ignacio Allende) and Nuevo San Isidro. The Lacandones acted in a overtly threatening manner, and stated that unless the communities left their homes and land, they would return on Saturday 19th April and carry out an eviction by force. In Nuevo San Isidro, where no international observers were present, the Lacandones threatened to kill the villagers if they did not leave.

All this was observed by the government officials present, who did nothing to dissuade the Lacandones from their violent threats. When human rights observers present at Nuevo San Rafael asked the officials to intervene to help reach a peaceful negotiated settlement, goverment official Hector Trujillo Gomez stated that they did not have any solution to the conflict and that they were only there at the request of the Lacandones.

The Lacandones - 40-strong and armed with machetes and guns - stole video cameras belonging to the human rights observers at Nuevo San Rafael and stated that the human rights observers would not be allowed to return to Montes Azules without permission from the Lacandones.

In the Zapatista village of Nuevo San Rafael a spokesperson insists : "We are not going to leave, because we do not have any alternative...we have to resist, if necessary we will die defending our land."


THE ZAPATISTA COMMUNITIES IN RESISTANCE

Throughout eastern Chiapas the Zapatistas are developing their own self-manged communities, independent from the state. Following the 1994 uprising the people seized large areas of land from big landowners.

Now there are 38 Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities, over 1000 villages and small towns, the cells of the living revolution.

Despite heavy pressure, these communities in resistance fight on, defending their community controlled land and maize fields. Zapatista communities have expelled the government teachers, to instead create their own autonomous education. Indigenous culture and languages are promoted. Local youths learn to be “education promoters”.

In the Zapatista health service, “health promoters” study courses like herbal medicine, then return to their communities to share their knowledge.

Women have got organised. “Men used to tell women they had no rights. Now we know that we all have rights.”

The Zapatista slogan is “mandar obedeciendo”, to govern by obeying. At the root of a system of grass-roots democracy are village meetings : “All decisions here are made at the General Assembly where every man and woman over 16 votes.”

It is this creation of a new different world that is under attack - through solidarity with the Zapatistas we are also defending and fighting for the possibility of real change everywhere.

Description of the Zapatista communities in resistance at
www.variant.org.uk
(issue no 16)

4) MORE INFO

UPDATES OF INFORMATION ON THE EVICTION THREATS FROM
www.chiapas.indymedia.org (English and Spanish)
www.montesazules.org (Spanish)

Zapatista Solidarity in Britain -
www.chiapaslink.ukgateway.net

Contact
Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group
c/o ACE, 17 W. Montgomery Place
Edinburgh EH7 5HA Scotland
Tel: 0131 557 6242
E-mail:  edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk