Worldwide pronouncement in solidarity with our compañer@s of San Sebastián Bachajón in their dignified strugg le for their land and territory

We reject, denounce and strongly condemn the repressive actions committed by the three levels of government, their state forces and local lackeys against our compañer@s, adherents to the Sixth, from the ejido San Sebastián Bachajón, Chiapas, Mexico.

21st March is a date of great significance for the organized indigenous peoples of Mexico. March 21, 2015 is the sixteenth anniversary of the Zapatista “consulta”, when 5,000 representatives of the EZLN travelled throughout Mexico inviting citizens to vote on four questions concerning the San Andres Accords on indigenous rights and culture. This consulta is just one example of the ways in which the Zapatistas have taught us about true democracy. But, for the Tseltal peoples of Bachajón, the situation has been very different; their rights as indigenous peoples to self-determination and full consultation have been violated again and again, and the only consultations that those from above and their lackeys have offered them have been mere simulations and deceptions.

March 21, 2015 is also the first anniversary of the murder of Juan Carlos Gómez Silvano, regional coordinator of the organization in the community of Virgen de Dolores. It is surely no coincidence that on that day, at 8 am, more than 600 members of the public forces burned down the San Sebastián regional headquarters, with the participation of the ejidal Commissioner Alejandro Moreno Gomez and the Security Adviser Samuel Díaz Guzmán. In this way, our compañer@s were also violently evicted from their recuperated lands, and the bad government has violated once again those same San Andrés Accords.

We remember well that on January 9, 2015, more than 900 members of state and federal police violently evicted the compañer@s guarding and protecting the land that belongs to them and which they had recovered peacefully on December 21, 2014, for the benefit of the people of Bachajón. The ejidatarios adherents remain firm in their resistance, so, to continue and strengthen their struggle, on 29th January they began to build the regional headquarters of San Sebastián on these lands to be a place for work, workshops and sharings.

These lands legally and rightfully belong to the indigenous Tzeltal ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón, and are judicially protected under an amparo. However, the three levels of government have chosen once again to evict the ejidatarios using aggression and repression, in total violation of the rights of the indigenous inhabitants.

It is well known that the government and big companies want to deprive the indigenous peoples of their territory in order to build a luxury tourism development. As indicated earlier, the right of the Tzeltal people of San Sebastián Bachajón to free, prior and informed consent about the megaproject has been ignored, and this area of ​​their ancestral land has been appropriated without the permission or consent of the ejido. This means that the acts of dispossession of 9 January and 21 March were illegal and clear violations of the human rights of the communities.

The rights of indigenous peoples to build their autonomy and to the use and enjoyment of their territory are laid down in national and international treaties that Mexico has signed: the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization, Article 2 of the Constitution of the United States of Mexico, and the aforementioned San Andrés Accords. We demand an immediate end to the violation of these rights. We also demand full guarantees and respect for all the rights of the indigenous peoples of the ejido San Sebastián Bachajón, especially their rights to life, liberty and personal integrity.

We are also outraged that two compañeros from the free media have been attacked by the government-supporting group of the ejidal commissioner of San Sebastián Bachajón, Alejandro Moreno Gómez. We will remain alert and vigilant and follow developments in the ejido closely, remaining alert for any acts of aggression. We hold the three levels of government and the current ejidal authorities responsible for the security and integrity of the ejidatarios, and for any acts of violence, harassment or intimidation that may occur.

We offer all our solidarity to our compañeras and compañeros who struggle for the benefit of their peoples and to defend their lands and territories, their natural resources and our mother earth. We call on all people of good heart to undertake actions of solidarity and fellowship to accompany the dignified struggle of the people of Bachajón, according to their own ways, times and geographies.

Juan Vázquez Guzmán Lives, the Bachajón Struggle continues!

Juan Carlos Gómez Silvano Lives, the Bachajón Struggle continues!

No to the dispossession of indigenous territories!

Signatures:

Groups and Collectives:

Agencia Prensa India (API), Mexico

ASSI (Acción Social Sindical Internacionalista)

Associació Solidaria Cafè Rebeldía-Infoespai, Barcelona, Catalonia

Associazione Ya Basta! Milano, Italy

Caracol mundo-eco de latido en solidaridad, Austria

Caracol Solidario, Besançon, France

Caracol Zaragoza, Spanish State

Casa Nicaragua, Lieja, Belgium

Centro de Documentación sobre Zapatismo -CEDOZ- Spanish State

Centro de derechos humanos de los pueblos del Sur de Veracruz "Bety Cariño" AC, Mexico

CGT – Spanish State

Colectivo Contra la Tortura y la Impunidad A.C.

Colectivo Educación para la Paz y los Derechos Humanos A.C

Colectivo Votán Zapata, Coyoacan, Mexico

Manchester Zapatista Collective, UK

Comitato Chiapas "Maribel" – Bergamo, Italy

Chiapas Support Committee, Oakland, CA, US

Committee of the True Word for South-West England, UK

Comité Tierra y Libertad de Lille, France

Coordinadora Valle del Chalko, Edo. De Méx., Mexico

CSPCL (Comité de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Chiapas en Lucha), Paris, France

Decolonial Food For Thought, Los Angeles, US

Digne Rage Collectif, France

Dorset Chiapas Solidarity Group, UK

Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group, Scotland

Espoir Chiapas, France

Grupo CafeZ, Lieja, Belgium

Gruppe B.A.S.T.A., Münster, Germany

KIPTIK, Bristol, UK

La Adhesiva, Barcelona, Catalonia

La Asamblea Veracruzana de Iniciativas y Defensa Ambiental (LAVIDA) Xalapa. Veracruz, Mexico

La plataforma vasca de solidaridad con Txiapas, Basque Country

LA Sexta en Surponiente-DF,Mexico

Les trois passants, Paris, France

London Mexico Solidarity Group, UK

MASA (MesoAmerica Solidarity Action), Liverpool, UK

Movement for Justice in El Barrio, New York, US

Mujeres y la Sexta,Mexico

Mut Vitz 13, Marseilles, France

Nodo Solidale (Italy and Mexico)

Oye Latino on Wellington Access Radio, New Zealand

Plataforma de Solidaridad con Chiapas y Guatemala de Madrid, Spanish State

Proceso de articulación de la sierra de santa Marta, sur de Veracruz, Mexico

Red de mujeres de la tierra unidas por un futuro y un mundo mejor AC

Red Global por la Paz en México, Tokyo

Resistencias Enlazando Dignidad-Movimiento y Corazón Zapatista, Mexico

Servicio paz y Justicia (SERPAJ), Morelos, Mexico

Shades of Silence, US

Somos los Otros NY, US

TXIAPASEKIN, Plataforma Vasca de Solidaridad con Chiapas, Basque Country

Wellington Zapatista Support Group, New Zealand

UK Zapatista Solidarity Network

UK Zapatista Translation Service

UK Zap Sol

Zapatista Solidarity Group – Essex, UK

Zapatista Teaching and Learning Collective, UK

Individuals:

Alberto Arellano Mariano, Mexico

Pietro Ameglio, Servicio paz y Justicia (SERPAJ), Morelos, Mexico

Abraham Antonio Alonso Reyes, Mexico, D.F

Cynthia Astudillo

Hugo Blanco, Peru

Raquel Carrillo, Tijuana, Mexico

Marlene Castañeda, Mexico, D.F.

Enriqueta G. Chávez López, Mexico

Paulin Chávez Rojas, Mexico

Susana M. Clares Fuente, Mexico

Jessica Davies, UK

Rosalba Dávila Ortiz, Puebla, Mexico

Gerson de Lima Oliveira, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Rosa de Santiago Fernández, Colima, Col., Mexico

Jair De Zouza Faria, Río de Janeiro, Brazil

Francisco José Díaz Marcilla, Lisboa, Portugal

Joandy Diego, Colorado, US

Juliette Doman, MASA (MesoAmerica Solidarity Action), Liverpool, UK

Rogelio Estrada Serafín, Chihuahua, Chih., Mexico

Gustavo Esteva, Mexico

Michael Farley, MASA (MesoAmerica Solidarity Action), Liverpool, UK

Ángela Fernández, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

Iris S. Fiala, Austria

Davey Flynn, UK

Myriam Fracchia, Servicio paz y Justicia (SERPAJ), Morelos, Mexico

Aranza Galván Abrego, Celaya, Gto., Mexico

Milton Gómez Membrila, Colima, Col., Mexico

Víctor Manuel Gutiérrez Torres, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

Jorge Herrera, New Zealand

Malú Huacuja del Toro, Mexican writer

James Jackson, MASA (MesoAmerica Solidarity Action), Liverpool, UK

Karla Jiménez Cano, Puebla, Pue., Mexico

Sensei Gregory C. Lewis, US

Ricardo Lagunes Gasca, Mexico, D.F.

Ninón Llano Guibarra, La Paz, Bolivia

Tomas Alberto Madrigal, multi-medios Karani

Vianey Magallón Martínez, Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico

Gabriel Magallón Reyes, Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, Mexico

José Manuel Martín, Zamora, Mich., Mexico

Juan Carlos Marmolejo Álvarez, Coahuayana, Michoacán, Mexico

Gerardo Medina Reyes, Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico

Hector Mejia, Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico

Alejandro Mendoza

Erik Montero Espinosa, Mexico, D.F.

Zeb Moon, Colombia

Verónica Munier, Mexico

Violeta Neponuceno Valencia, Tlapa, Gro., Mexico

Óscar Ojeda, Mexico, D.F

Alin Palacios Fonseca, Guanajuato, Mexico

Eleanor Parry, MASA (MesoAmerica Solidarity Action), Liverpool, UK

Hilda Pérez Alejandre, Querétaro, Qro., Mexico

Alexandra Pita González, Colima, Mexico

Guillermo Popoca Boone, Mexico

Susana Ramírez, Zamora, Mich., Mexico

María de Jesús Ramírez Magallón, Mexico

María Isabel Ramírez Magallón, Mexico

Mónica Cecilia R. Andrade. Puebla, Mexico

José Ramírez Magallón, Mexico

María Refugio Magallón Mejía, Mexico

Rita Robles, Mexico, D.F.

Víctor Romo de Vivar Gayol, Zamora, Mich., Mexico

Gabriela Ruiz Manzur, Copenhagen, Denmark

Haydeé Sánchez, Mexico, DF.

Teresa Santos Durán, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Zeus Tepeyolotl Martinez, Mexico, D.F.

Ana Torres, Mexico, D.F.

Miriam Elizabeth Toscano Dolores, Colima, Col., Mexico

Ana Valadez Ortega

Carolina Valdés, Colima, Col., Mexico

Abraham Eduardo Vallejo Moreno, Colima, Col., Mexico

Irene Vázquez Magallón, Puebla, Pue., Mexico

Alejandra Vázquez Mendoza, Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico

Norma Vázquez Torres, Colima, Col., Mexico

Rosa Villanueva Ramírez, Washington, US

Luisa Villanueva Villalobos, Los Angeles, Ca., US

Julie Webb-Pullman, Gaza City, Palestine

Lourdes Zepeda, Colima, Col., Mexico

Raul Zibechi, Uruguay