The Frayba Human Rights Center responds to AMLO

From the Editors

After President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) explained in his morning press conference that attacks against Zapatista communities are not widespread [1], the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) asserted that the denial of this violence deepens the impunity promoted by municipal, state and federal actors who pay for dispossession, exploitation and social marginalization, in addition to exacerbating the human rights crisis.

It denounced the systematic attacks against the political project of autonomy of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), led by corporatist armed groups, which have perpetrated, from 2019 to date more, than 110 armed attacks against the communities that belong to the region of Moisés Gandhi.

In a document, it said the attacks have included burning of schools and coffee warehouses, armed assaults, torture, kidnappings and serious injuries.

The Frayba indicated that it has asked state and federal authorities to guarantee the life and integrity of the communities, but they have been ignored.

At the same time, it added, the armed group responsible for these attacks, the Regional Organization of Ocosingo Coffee Growers, acts with total impunity.

It also regretted the statements against civil and human rights organizations in Chiapas. They violate our work in the midst of a deep violence that has worsened in recent years in the state, and that continues to grow, consolidating as a structural element in the territories of the peoples of Los Altos, the Coast, the serious violence on the southern, northern and jungle border.

This, it continued, has had an impact on the peoples, in the midst of a diversification and opacity of armed groups, organized crime groups and the successors of paramilitarism that use violence for social, political, economic and territorial control, marked by the continuity of generalized violence and the counterinsurgency strategy.

In turn, the National Network All Rights for All joined the public statements opposing the accusations against human rights organizations. A change in that presidential discourse is key to guaranteeing the protection of defenders, it stressed.

[1] A translated report of AMLO’s press conference is below.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Saturday, June 24, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/06/24/politica/004n3pol and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee

AMLO rejects that aggressions against the EZLN come from the government

Emir Olivares Alonso, Envoy
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that although aggressions against the Zapatista communities are not widespread, his government works to achieve peace and tranquility. Despite the differences he said he had with the Zapatista movement, he acknowledged the contributions of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) to the country.

The president emphasized that as supreme commander of the armed forces he will never give the order to massacre or torture people and violate human rights, so there is no repression.

He added that differences persist in the communities, because they know the history well. They know that when a movement arises to claim the rights of indigenous peoples, the authoritarian State promotes the creation of groups to confront those who fought for the vindication of indigenous peoples, and that does not disappear overnight.

During his conference yesterday, which was held in the Seventh Military Region located in the capital of Chiapas, he said: we are going to help in everything we can to achieve peace, because we may or may not agree with the Zapatista movement, but there is no doubt that at its time it was a light, a ray of hope, it was a wake-up call to turn to see the dispossessed, the poor; you can’t begrudge them that, and the rest is something else.

Regarding the denunciations that human rights organizations have made about attacks on Zapatista support base communities – the most recent raised over three days (from June 19 to 22) with shots and burning plots of land by members of the Regional Organization of Ocosingo Coffee Growers (Orcao) in the Moisés Gandhi region, municipality of Lucio Cabañas, the president said that little by little peace has been restored in those places through social programs of his government, such as Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life).

–Who is attacking the Zapatista communities? –he le asked.

–No, no, in general there have not been aggressions. There are some cases, but it is not such an action, deliberate, an onslaught. There are problems with former adversaries that were created, even within the same organization, but it is not a widespread, serious issue either, and we do not want it.

He assured that his administration is attending to the conflicts in Frontera Comalapa, Chenalhó and other parts of the state.

But in general, there is peace, there is tranquility in Chiapas. And a very illustrative example is that of Ocosingo. We see that we don’t have many problems there, as far as confrontations in the communities. [the Moisés Gandhi region and Nuevo San Gregorio are all in Ocosingo municipality! Their Zapatista Caracol is on land bordering the cityh of Ocosingo!] There are issues that we regret very much, sometimes there is confrontation of groups, but we are attending to them. There is the National Guard and we are looking for dialogue, for agreements to be reached, for there to be no repression and we are moving forward.

They kept silent

He pointed out that at the time the Zapatistas called not to vote for the movement that he has led and that paid off for the benefit of the mafia of power, because in the regions with the presence of adherent communities, the PRI triumphed in the electoral processes. “They kept silent when there was a narco-state and now they accuse us of everything.”

López Obrador pointed out that there are leaders of human rights organizations who do not see us favorably. That’s clear! Let’s not forget that when we were fighting for change, these organizations opposed us, called not to vote. And it was legitimate for them to think that the only alternative was the armed way, that by peaceful means they were not going to be able. And they considered that we were false; they came to question us very strongly. So, they haven’t changed on that.

He even made this comparison: It’s like the case of the reactionaries, the conservatives, they don’t want to accept that there is a new reality. That’s why sometimes the extremes touch each other. They don’t want to accept that there is already a change. That’s why there are these complaints (of aggressions).

He stressed that as a result of the Zapatista movement, having a social organization in Chiapas became a “way of life,” to the extent that there were as many as rice, the vast majority with financing that did not reach the people, including from the United States government.

He criticized that while he demanded that the king of Spain apologize for the abuses during the Colonial Era, some Zapatista leaders who made a tour of that country questioned who he was to demand and ask for an apology. “But now, as the song goes, what happened, happened.” [1]

(With information from Alonso Urrutia)

[1] AMLO’s entire response seems like he’s talking to the political class in Chiapas.

Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada, Saturday, June 24, 2023, https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/06/24/politica/004n1pol and Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee