Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Article about twinned community "16th of february"

Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity | 25.02.2005 22:04 | Zapatista | World

The decision of becoming a Zapatista Autonomous Municipality in Rebelion was taken by the Zapatista supporters in the are in 2003.

Inauguration of the Autonomous Municipality Council Hall of Dieciséis de Febrero, in Simojovel.



By HERMANN BELLINGHAUSEN (La Jornada)

Dieciséis de Febrero (16th of February), Chiapas, February 16th 2005. On the ninth anniversary of the San Andres Accords (agreement signed by the EZLN and the Mexican Government that never was implemented), the Autonomous Municipality in rebellion that took its name from the date the agreement was signed, 16th of February, opened officially its new Council Hall and openly declares its existence in the Simojovel area.



“This name will never be forgotten. We live it, we grow it”, said the president of the Autonomous committee before 1500 people in the square of the Tzotzil community of Las Limas, between the Chiapan’s Highlands and the North area, that attended the celebration.

“It was a common decision of the Zapatistas supporters from the area of San Marcos to the area of Tierra y Libertas, that we formed this Municipality in 2003 and in a general meeting we elected our authorities that will rule by obeying”.



33 people were elected to form the Autonomous Council. From the president to the security people, one by one they agreed to carry out their tasks. This will be a tough job carried out consciously.



“We voted to select the name. A name of a very important date for the indigenous people in Mexico”, continues the autonomous council president. “Then, on the 28th of May 2003 the Zapatistas supporters, the local and regional authorities and the Indigenous Clandestine Revolutionary Committee of the EZLN had a meeting in which the responsibilities for the autonomous representatives were distributed.” In August of the same year the Good Government Assemblies (Juntas del Buen Govierno-JBG) were formed and this municipality became part of the one in Oventic.



The event was honoured with the presence and the words of the members of the Autonomous Councils in Rebellion from San Andrés Sakamch'en de los Pobres, San Juan de la Libertad y Magdalena de la Paz, all part of the Caracol Resistance and Rebellious for Humanity.



With the economic support from the JBG, peasants of these three rebellious municipalities worked together to build up the Autonomous Municipality Council Hall and Library in 16th of February.



“Nobody will ever stop us. His is another step forwards in the path to Democracy, Freedom and Justice” said the Autonomous president from Magdalena de la Paz. “I hope our children one day understand the importance of our Autonomous governments”.

The president of the autonomous municipality of San Andrés, holding his black staff, wearing a hat with ribbons and his distinguished bearing said: “I would recommend to you, authorities on this municipality. Do not loose your hearts, keep on carrying out our compromise. We are not after some spare change, the money, we are here for the love to our people. And you, Zapatista supporters, I would recommend the same, keep on carrying out this struggle, keep organising yourselves, do not leave alone your authorities in this offices. Only together and agreeing we could move forward”.



Six members of the Zapatista militia in uniform, with their balaclavas and unarmed arrived carrying the Mexican flag in order to honour it. Other five members of the militia that carried the black and red flag of the EZLN followed them. The education promoter of the community of Las Limas directed the National Hymn and the Cumbia band Mágicos Locos played the Zapatista Hymn sung by everyone present.





The president of this young rebellious municipality, dressed in white and wearing a palm leaf hat and a red bandanna mentioned that for the two years that the local authorities started to work, they did not have a permanent meeting place. “The meetings took place under a wooden area, that is why it came out the idea of building a Municipal Council Hall”. He continued “it is 11 years of struggle, but the Autonomous Municipality 16th of February is very new. We have a small library, an area to reforest, two autonomous schools, a group of craftswomen working with fabrics and other of men and women working with amber. Furthermore, we are planning the development of a health microclinic and other productive projects that help us in resisting the bad government.”



The prisoner number seven



Due to the regional history of Simojovel, it had a big significance this Catholic ceremony officiated by the priest Joel Padrón who give his grace to the new autonomous premises before the inauguration. Padrón was the parish priest of Simojovel for many years and after the Zapatista uprising (1994) the ecclesiastical hierarchy transferred him to the parish church in El Bosque (neighbouring town).





He is well known because of his compromise with the indigenous people in the area. In the 80’s and 90’s he received many threats and accusations from the Mexican government and the local landowners. In 1990 he was imprisoned for several months by the local governor Patrocinio González Garrido in Cerro Hueco Prison.



Taking into consideration the age of the majority of the indigenous people present at this celebration it is possible that most of them were baptised or married by Padrón who nowadays if the peace vicar in the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas. He was invited specially by the Zapatistas supporters as they have good memories of him. Today, during the mass –something not very common in the Zapatista political events- in Tzotzil and in Castilian and accompanied by the music of a band formed by two trumpeters, two trombonist, two saxophonists and two drummers, Padrón said that the 16th of February “is not a name of the past but of the future”.



After this he showed a copy of his book about the period he spend in jail. He donated a copy to the autonomous council that reads the dedication “to this autonomous municipality, that I greet for having make the San Andrés accords reality for the people and history that nobody will be able to stop. With deep thankfulness and admiration: Joel Padrón".



While the party and the dance started the autonomous authorities went in the new Municipal Council Hall (a building of wood, with concrete floor and metal roof in which is possible to find the sheriff court, the office of the council and the meeting room). Here not only the San Andrés accords are implemented, those that were never recognised by the Mexican government, but also it is commemorated an achievement of the people and the shame of the power.

Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity
- e-mail: edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.edinchiapas.org.uk/

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech