Individuals, collectives, organizations, peoples, communities and adherents of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle raise our voices and give our word to demand the freedom of our compañero, Support Base of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (BAEZLN), José Díaz Gómez, who is a hostage of the Mexican State under the misgovernment of Rutilio Escandón Cadenas, who keeps him imprisoned unjustly and arbitrarily in the CERSS 17 of Playas de Catazajá, Chiapas, Mexico.
After one year and nine months, José Díaz remains deprived of his freedom under the precautionary measure of official preventive detention (imprisonment without sentence) for a fabricated crime. The torture conditions in which José is being held are alarming. The overcrowding and unsanitary conditions cause physical and psycho-emotional illness to our BAEZLN compañero, as we have seen in our visits. The cruelty of the prison system is excessive, the lack of medical attention puts José’s health and life at risk; his integrity and safety are in danger as he lives in a small cell with 18 people. The conditions of overcrowding increase the risk of violence due to abuse and conflict. All of this constitutes a clear violation of the right to health and the right to live in dignified and humane conditions of detention. We also denounce the economic extortion suffered by prisoners and their families in the inhumane business that is prison.
José Díaz, who is currently detained in CERSS 17, is at a decisive moment regarding his freedom. The closing hearing will be held on August 6th and then the sentence will be passed. From the testimonies collected, we confirm that José Díaz was arrested for a crime he did not commit. His trial has been intentionally postponed in order to punish him and his organization.
The oral trial hearing that opened on June 4th, 2024 has been a simulation of justice, with lack of minimum conditions for the presentation of evidence, the absence of witnesses and the lack of an interpreter of the Ch’ol language. Previously, the defense has changed multiple times and three times a change of the precautionary measure so that José can carry out his process in freedom has been denied. Therefore, we consider that his trial is flawed. We demand that the judge rectify the path, declaring his freedom through an acquittal ruling, since there is no decisive evidence to incriminate him, thus adjusting to the principles of innocence.
The proximity of the judicial decision on the case of José Díaz underlines the urgency of intervention to ensure that his rights are respected by protecting the detained person, as well as guaranteeing his freedom. In addition, it is crucial that those responsible for the false accusation and any rights violations that occurred during the criminal process are thoroughly investigated and punished.
Arbitrary detention and false accusation not only violate the right of the person to personal freedom, but also undermine the collective, the community, and the global community in which we believe that another world is possible. The systematic violation of human rights is the modus operandi of the Factory of the Guilty to simulate the administration of justice in numbers, at the cost of brutality and criminalization towards people and peoples who organize and fight for the defense of land and territory. Meanwhile, criminal groups are expanding in Chiapas and the rest of the country, terrorizing entire populations, causing death, disappearances, displacement and forced recruitment, even with the presence of the Army and the National Guard, without any retaliation, with the overlap of all levels of government and the complicit presidential denialism. We denounce that the repression as a strategy of the Comprehensive War of Attrition undertaken for decades against the Zapatista autonomous communities is currently maintained and intensified by the self-appointed government of the Fourth Transformation.
At the national and international level, we will be observing the actions of the Judicial Branch of the State of Chiapas and the Judge of the Trial Court of Catazajá, for the case of José Díaz, and for the criminalization that occurs in the state of Chiapas against defenders, as well as the serious violence unleashed with impunity by criminal groups. At the same time, we call on national and international solidarity to speak out and act in creative ways to demand the freedom of our comrade, especially from July 29th to August 6th. We will continue to demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of José Díaz Gómez, by all possible means until we achieve it.
We also demand:
• The suspension of the four arrest warrants against EZLN support bases for the same charge that José was arrested for, robbery carried out with violence.
• Freedom for the defenders of the territory of San Juan CancucChipas; Agustín Pérez Domínguez, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Martín Pérez Domínguez, Agustín Pérez Velasco and Manuel Sántiz Cruz.
• Immediate and unconditional freedom for María Cruz Paz Zamora, imprisoned in Michoacán and criminalized for defending territory.
• The cessation of the criminalization and attacks on the members of the National Indigenous Congress.
• Stop the harassment against the Otomí community residing in CDMX, of compañero Diego García Bautista and the Union of Peoples and the subdivision against the garbage dump and in defense of water in Puebla.
• FREEDOM NOW FOR JOSÉ DÍAZ!
• Stop the War against the Zapatista communities!
• Stop the War against the people!
• Long live autonomy!
Original statement from Frayba, July 29th, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.