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  1. TopTop #1
    Moon
    Guest

    Save Prisoners' Lives

    Saying that he is “willing to die,” Zacario Hernández Hernández began a hunger strike on February 12, 2008. Zacario is a catechist from San Juan Chamula municipality and a member of Pueblo Creyente (Believing People), a Catholic organization in the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. In 2003, Zacario and 3 other Tzotziles from Chamula were accused of murder, arrested and have been confined in the state’s El Amate prison ever since. One of the four, Mariano Heredia Gómez, was just released because of his poor health and age. He is 88! Mariano is now at home cared for by his family, but under restrictions. The Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) has followed their case, known as the Tres Cruces case and implied that Zacario was accused of crimes because he was affecting the interests of the political bosses in Chamula by practicing the Catholic religion as a catechist. On February 19, approximately ten thousand Catholics belonging to Pueblo Creyente marched through the streets of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Singing, carrying banners and accompanied by their priests and bishops, they demanded the release of Zacario Hernández Hernández and the three others imprisoned in the Tres Cruces case. Pueblo Creyente stated “they have suffered a judicial process full of falsities, injustices and corruption.” The marchers also demanded the release of the two Zapatistas from Tila, imprisoned in Tacoalpa, Tabasco.
    On February 25, twelve more indigenous prisoners joined the protest, eight of them belonging to the Voice of El Amate, which is adhered as an organization to the Other Campaign. On February 26, Mateo Hernández Bautista, a member of the Central Independiente Obrera y Campesina (CIOAC), joined the hunger strike, bringing the total number of participants to fourteen.
    On March 4, 9 prisoners in the Center for Social Readaptation 5 (Cereso, its acronym in Spanish), located in San Cristóbal de las Casas municipality, joined the hunger strike. They call themselves the Voice of Los Llanos and say they are “political prisoners,” as do those on the hunger strike in El Amate. All claim they signed confessions under torture.
    On March 9, eleven more indigenous prisoners in Playas de Catazajá. He has received no medical attention and his condition is grave. The other Busiljá prisoners were detained and tortured in July 2006. They were accused of kidnapping and extortion, which crimes they say were fabricated by the Opddic members headed by Pedro Chulín Jiménez. “Our struggle is with all our heart has to give. If we have to die, it will not be because of murderers, extortionists or kidnappers but because of the miscarriage of justice,” say the hunger-strikers from Busiljá.

    The courage and desperation of these indigenous prisoners is dramatizing the fact that violation of human rights and principles of justice are common everyday practice for the poor and indigenous in Chiapas. There is no justice.
    There is a support network inside El Amate and from organizations and individuals adhered to the Other Campaign in Chiapas, as well as on the outside from Frayba, Pueblo Creyente, the CIOAC and the MOCRI-CNPA. Supporters are visiting as often as permitted and checking on the health of the hunger strikers. The Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas is in contact with the governor about the situation. It’s a little different at the San Cristóbal prison (Los Llanos). Information is harder to come by. The Voice of Los Llanos is, however, able to send out messages and has sent messages to the APPO folks in Oaxaca, the residents of San Salvador Atenco and the prisoners at Playas de Catazajá who just joined the hunger strike.
    Meanwhile, it has been one month since Zacario Hernández Hernández began his hunger strike in El Amate. His situation is becoming critical. There are now 37 prisoners in three Chiapas prisons participating in the hunger strike and ten more fasting in solidarity. The Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center wrote Chiapas governor Juan Sabines on March 13, asking for a resolution to the what it termed the “penitentiary crisis.”
    The governor’s apparent response was published by certain Chiapas media the next day: “No one has reason to call themselves a ‘political prisoner.’” The governor went on to say that he was reviewing 360 requests for release from ‘political prisoners,’ and that he would have a response in no more than thirty days. It seems that the Governor overlooked the fact that some of the hunger-strikers could die during the next 30 days, while others could sustain irreversible damage to vital organs.
    Not surprisingly, the participating organizations responded to the government by saying that they didn’t have another month to wait, and calling its response “a joke.” Pueblo Creyente responded with a march to the El Amate prison on Sunday, March 15 and a “concentration” there on March 17, demanding release of the political prisoners.
    Zacario Hernández Hernández was granted his freedom on March 17! 36 others remain on the hunger strike and the clock is ticking.

    You can email Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero in English or Spanish at
    [email protected]
    Here's the letter i sent:
    Estimado Gobernador Sabines:
    Espero que usted y todos que Usted ama son bien y feliz en su país muy hermoso en esto, el día alto santo de cristiandad. Salve por favor los vives de los presos siguientes que han hecho nadie cualquier dańo, liberandolos esta semana: Mateo Hernández Bautista, Pablo Gutiérrez Hernández; y todos los otros presos que llevan a cabo una huelga de hambre porque ellos han sido encarcelados para su trabajo político pacífico, por ejemplo presos indígenos en Cereso, los miembros de La Voz del Amate, los miembros del preso de Pueblo Creyente , los presos cuyas confesiones fueron conseguidas por el tormento, Tzotziles inocuo, las personas encarceladas para ser Zapatistas, los presos implicados en el caso de Tres Cruces, los miembros de La Voz de Los Llanos, los miembros del preso del Independiente Obrera Y Campesina Central.
    Por favor acte ahora; muchos, de otro modo, estarán muertos o permanentemente enfermos del hambre en 30 días.
    Sinceramente,

    Esteemed Governor Sabines:
    I hope you and all you love are well and happy in your very beautiful country on this, the high holy day of Christianity.
    Please save the lives of the following prisoners, who have done no one any harm,
    by freeing them this week: Mateo Hernández Bautista, Pablo Gutiérrez Hernández;
    and all the other prisoners who are carrying out a hunger strike because they have been
    imprisoned for their peaceable political work, e.g. the indigenous prisoners
    in Cereso, the members of the Voice of Amate, the prisoner members of Pueblo Creyente,
    the prisoners whose confessions were procured by torture, harmless Tzotziles,
    people imprisoned for being Zapatistas, the prisoners involved in the Tres Cruces case,
    the members of the Voice of Los Llanos, and the prisoner members of Central Independiente Obrera Y Campesina.
    Please act now; otherwise, many will be dead or permanently ill from starvation in 30 days.
    Sincerely,
    Last edited by Moon; 03-23-2008 at 07:00 PM. Reason: accidentally deleted part of original text
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  2. TopTop #2
    Lenny
    Guest

    Re: Save Prisoners' Lives

    You should know that their religious issues have no weight and are considered as an aside issue. Mexico removed the church from the government matters during the 1930s. It was a very bloody divorce. Focus on the criminal charges and good luck. I sent mine but it is worth....

    PS: and thanks.
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  3. TopTop #3
    Moon
    Guest

    Re: Save Prisoners' Lives

    The email address i had when i posted this bounced; you can email the Chiapas Minister of Justice at
    [email protected]
    The email for President Felipe Calderón is:
    felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
    And, finally, the email for the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco is: [email protected]
    The reference to Believing People (Pueblo Creyente) is to identify the prisoners,
    since i don't have a complete list of the 36 names of most endangered prisoners.
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