Our friend, Cristobal Santiz Jimenez, is a community leader in the Tzotzil Chiapas village of Magdalena Aldama, Chiapas. He was arrested on March 14, 2020, and imprisoned on false charges, according to the Fray Bartolome de Las Casa Human Rights Center and our friend Alejandro Alarcon Zapata.
Cristobal is still in prison, and may be there indefinitely: All court business is halted because of COVID-19. His wife and family have run out of money.
I am asking your help to make a gift. To secure his freedom. To provide food for his family. To provide legal assistance. To keep him safe in prison.
Any amount is appreciated.
Defense Fund for Cristobal Santiz Jimenez, Make Your Gift Via PayPal Send to Alejandro Alarcon Zapata alejandroalarconzapata@gmail.com I am sorry. We are not set up as a charitable fund and this is not tax-deductible. You would give, as we have, out of the goodness of your heart.
We just visited Cristobal and his wife Rosita on March 2, during our 2020 Chiapas Textile Study Tour. We have visited them for four years. They talked about the on-going boundary dispute that has turned into an armed conflict by neighboring Santa Marta, Chenalho. They were scared then, and more so now. Aldama is a smaller village, more vulnerable.
Here is the back-story sent to me by Alejandro, who is our point-person and trusted information source.
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San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. as of March 14, 2020
Urgent Action No. 03
Incommunication, criminalization and arbitrary deprivation of liberty of community defender Cristóbal Sántiz Jiménez
The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, A.C. (Frayba), documented the facts of human rights violations perpetrated against Mr. Cristóbal Sántiz Jiménez, (hereinafter Cristóbal) with the following facts: The arrest was made when he left his job today at 6:50 hrs . After 5 hours of being incommunicado, we confirm that the arrest was carried out by the State Attorney General’s Office, who transferred him to Tuxtla Gutiérrez and it was at 12:20 p.m. when the family was informed of the arrest of Mr. Cristóbal and his transfer to State Center for Social Reintegration of Sentences, N.14, el Amate, based in Cintalapa de Figueroa, Chiapas.
Cristóbal Santís Jiménez, peasant, belonging to the Tsotsil peoples, is representative of the Permanent Commission of Communards and Displaced Persons of Aldama. Member of the families that were attacked with high-caliber weapons by a paramilitary group from Santa Martha, Chenalhó and stripped of their land. He is a community defender, representative of the Permanent Commission of Communards and Displaced Persons of Aldama since the conflict arose due to widespread violence and forced displacement by the paramilitary group of Santa Martha, Chenalhó. In addition, Mr. Cristóbal has held traditional positions in his native town of Aldama, as a Traditional Regidor. Mr. Cristóbal has been working as a watchman for 21 years at the 133 Industrial Training Center in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.
As a spokesman for the displaced communities, he has denounced the omissions of the Mexican State due to the escalation of violence in the upper Chiapas region. He was present during the signing of the Peace Accords, which was preceded by Governor Rutilio Escandón and Undersecretary Lic. Alejandro Encinas, immediately afterwards he participated during the so-called Banderazo de Paz. He has repeatedly faced threats from both the Mexican State that demanded his silence in exchange for his freedom; as well as death threats by the armed paramilitary group of Santa Martha, Chenalhó.
El Frayba requested precautionary measures number 284/18 before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to protect the life, safety and integrity of Mr. Cristóbal Santis Jiménez and his family.
For this reason, this Center for Human Rights considers that the State Attorney General’s Office is perpetrating serious human rights violations, such as criminalization, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, placing Mr. Cristóbal at a high risk to his integrity and security. personal.
This Center for Human Rights requests the immediate intervention of the federal and state government to implement pertinent actions for the prompt release of Mr. Cristóbal.
We request from national to international civil society to send your appeal to:
Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Constitutional President of Mexico Official Residence of the Pines. Miguel Alemán House. Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850 Mexico City.
Fax: (+52) 55 5093 4901
Twitter: @lopezobrador_
Lic. Olga Sánchez Cordero. Secretary of the Interior of Mexico Bucareli 99, 1st. floor. Col. Juárez. Cuacthemoc delegation
C.P. 06600 Mexico City.
Fax: (+52) 55 5093 34 14;
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx Twitter: @M_OlgaSCordero
Lic. Rosario Piedra Ibarra. President of the National Human Rights Commission,
Héctor Fix Zamudio Building, Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1922, 6th floor. Col. Tlacopac San Ángel. Álvaro Obregón Delegation. C.P. 01040; Mexico City.
Fax: (+52) 0155 36 68 07 67
Mail: Correo@cndh.org.mx
Twitter: @CNDH
Lic. Rutilio Escandón Cadenas. Constitutional Governor of the State of Chiapas Government Palace of the State of Chiapas, 1st Floor Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico
Fax: +52 961 61 88088 – + 52 961 6188056; Extension 21120. 21122;
Mail: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx Twitter: @JuntoscnRutilio
Lic. Ismael Brito Mazariegos. Secretary General of the Government in Chiapas Palacio De Gobierno, 2o. Floor, Centro C.P. 29000 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. Switch: (961) 61 8 74 60 Ext. 20003
Mail: secretariaparticular.sgg@gmail.com
Lic. Juan José Zepeda Bermúdez. President of the State Commission on Human Rights Fax: (961) 60 2 57 84
Mail: presidencia@cedh-chiapas.org
And more from Alejandro ….
Cristóbal Sántiz Jiménez is a community defender of human rights, representative and spokesman for Tsotsil communities in forced displacement of Aldama, cultural promoter and traditional authority. His arrest occurs in the context of criminalization and threats to his life, liberty, security and integrity due to the constant denunciations of the omission of the Mexican State in the escalation of violence in the Altos de Chiapas region. Members of the Specialized Police of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Chiapas, detained him on March 14, 2020, when he was leaving his job, kept him incommunicado for 5 hours and is currently incarcerated in the State Center for Social Reintegration of Sentenced Persons. , No.14, el Amate, based in Cintalapa de Figueroa, Chiapas, Mexico.
A journalist, Cristóbal’s friend, asked to AMLO for his liberation, check this link [AMLO is Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador]
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158611152441178&id=630961177
Thank you for doing what you can!
Gratitude: Oaxaca Thanks All Who Give Support
We are not yet “out of the woods!” There is still so much more to repair in Oaxaca state*as a result of the September 7, 2017, earthquake that registered 8.2 on the Richter Scale. The quake was centered just off-shore from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Oaxaca state, where most of the damage occurred in and around the town of Juchitan de Zaragoza.
Click here for regional map
Coastal villages, like where life is as it was thousands of years ago, have no fresh water, contaminated wells from broken septic systems, fissures in earthen floors, and crumbled dwellings. The prognosis: Broken lives. Broken homes. Broken hopes. Years to recover.
The weaving and fishing village of San Mateo del Mar is one such village where anthropologist Denise Lechner and pediatrician Anja Widman are working to repair the world.
This is where I have directed the funds that have come to me by check from people who have responded to this blog and Call for Help!
I want to take this moment to thank you.
Countless more of you have made donations directly to Denise’s PayPal account and I’m sending personal Thank You’s on her behalf. Others have helped through the Francisco Toledo Foundation. There is also a way to make a wire transfer to the Alfredo Harp Helu Foundation that will make a 50% match.
Thousands of aftershocks result in sleepless nights.
In the last ten days, there have been shock waves registering 6.1 to 4.1 several times a day, throughout the region. I imagine people are suffering from PTSD. Let alone the need for mental health, the public health risks are huge.
Map of Quake Region. You can see the fragility of the coast town of San Mateo del Mar, where I have visited. Dysentery and infection especially threaten the lives of children who are less resistant to disease.
Yes, there is much to do to repair our world. We know that Puebla State and Estado de Mexico are also damaged, and the death toll has risen in Mexico City.
And, then there is our Puerto Rico, USA Territory disaster, where federal help is scant and the situation is dire, and another Twitter War points to 45’s lack of moral compass.
Where ever you choose to give, please be generous and continue to be generous. Our friends need your help.
Sending sincerest thanks, Norma
P.S. DO NOT CANCEL YOUR TRIP to Oaxaca City, Puerto Escondido or Huatulco. These areas were not affected by the September 7 earthquake. I am returning to Oaxaca via Mexico City at the end of November. I intend to be in Mexico City for several days. I will not succumb to fear!
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Posted in Cultural Commentary
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