150 Organisations Petition Calderón for Sántiz and Patishtán’s Freedom
** “Leaving them prisoners for crimes they did not commit is being an accomplice,” the letter emphasizes
** Personalities like Zibechi, Holloway, Esteva, López y Rivas and Blanco subscribe to the request
By: Hermann Bellinghausen, Envoy
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, July 25, 2012
In a letter directed to President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, 150 organizations, the majority national, demand “the immediate and unconditional freedom” of Francisco Sántiz López and Alberto Patishtán Gómez, “political prisoners falsely accused of crimes that they never committed.”
In their summons, campesino and indigenous organizations, human rights centers, collectives and solidarity groups point out: “Considering that you occupy the post of President of the Republic, it corresponds to you directly to resolve these cases of flagrante injustice in prejudice of Patishtán Gómez and Sántiz López’ human rights. To continue depriving them of their freedom would mean being accomplices of the violations committed against them.”
They warn that in recent months the resonance of the demand for their freedom has increased on a national and international scale. “Thousands of people, organizations, and groupings from numerous states of Mexico and countries of the world have mobilized to demand the liberation of our compañeros. Thousands more will be added until they are free. We are all indignant. All the world is watching the progress of these two cases with concern.”
More than 200 personas from some 15 countries also sign, like the analyst Raúl Zibechi, the thinkers Gustavo Esteva and John Holloway, the journalist John Gibler, the photographer Heriberto Rodríguez, the Peruvian campesino leader Hugo Blanco and the anthropologist Gilberto López y Rivas.
They point out to President Calderón that since December 4, 2011, Sántiz López, a Zapatista support base, has been incarcerated “because of false accusations of having led a confrontation in Banavil community, Tenejapa. Although various witnesses have declared in his favor, the authorities in charge of imparting justice have refused to take those key testimonies into account.” Said witnesses “confirm that the accused was not present where the acts took place. Even the Zapatista Good Government Junta of Oventic and the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center have pointed to the impunity that those really responsible for the murder and attacks that occurred in Banavil enjoy.”
With respect to Patishtán, from El Bosque, they remember that he was incarcerated in 2000 “for crimes that he did not commit.” Two years later he was sentenced to 60 years. “His incarceration is a consequence of having struggled to positively change the life of his municipality. When he was detained, he was struggling for conditions of social justice in his community and he was denouncing the corruption of public servants. He was a teacher in a public primary school, he collaborated with and promoted local development, and he stood out for his role as an organizer of collectives in the region and for his union participation for labor rights, for which he is characterized as a political prisoner.”
The declaration warns the president that in his years of prison, Patishtán “stands out for his efforts to offer basic education to his prisoner compañeros and to continue walking along the path of dignity, truth and justice.” As “punishment,” the Government Secretary of Chiapas, Noé Castañón León, “requested his move to a federal prison.” Today he is in permanent isolation in Guasave, Sinaloa. “Despite the multiple violations of his human rights, including constant torture, denial of medical treatment and degradation of his being indigenous, Patishtán continues strong and demands, like us, that you free him immediately.”
