URGENT ACTION for MONTES AZULES
Wednesday 16 Apr 2003
autor(a): Canada/Central America/Mexico Urgent Action N Summary Please take the time to write to the Mexican federal and state authorities to urge them to solve this situation in a peaceful manner.

Mexico Urgent Action
Montes Azules
The Canada - Central America/Mexico Urgent Action Network
A letter from you can make a difference for social justice and the defense of human rights in Central America and Mexico.
Our ability to respond to human rights violations depends on the commitment of hundreds of people across Canada who belong to the Urgent Action Network. These people contribute by writing and sending letters and faxes, urging national and international authorities to respond immediately to the most recent incidents of human rights abuse. Contact the Social Justice Committee if you want to become a member, or to get more information.
For more background information, see the urgent actions # 1009 (April 4th) and #987 (March 25th, 2002) on the SJC's website: www.s-j-c.net

The human rights observers have made it known to the government authorities that a peaceful, negotiated resolution to this situation is required. The Network of Community Defenders is requesting international solidarity in the form of written letters to the federal and state authorities in support of a peaceful and negotiated settlement to this land dispute. Had the human rights observers not been present at this most recent confrontation, the outcome may have been much worse.
Investigations conducted by Global Exchange and other organisations has revealed the work of international interests behind the move to evacuate the Zapatista and other communities from Montes Azules. A recent article appearing in El Universal illustrated the role of Conservation International (CI), an American-based "environmental" organisation, in promoting the expulsion of the communities in Montes Azules. In the article, CI explicitly blamed the Zapatistas and the timidity of the Mexican and Chiapas governments (and their reluctance to act in removing the communities) for the destruction of the rainforest. A recent delegation led by Global Exchange concluded that the small Indigenous settlements established within the limits of the reserve were not responsible destroying the forest.
Conservation International has also collaborated closely with the Lancandones, providing them with satellite and photographic intelligence, in the quest to remove the communities in question. The organisation is also closely linked to Grupo Pulsar, a Mexican-based biotechnology giant with several bioprospecting stations in the region.
It is the opinion of the Social Justice Committee that the stage is being set by the Mexican authorities to portray this situation as an "intertribal" conflict, much as it has in the past with regards to violations of human rights in Indigenous communities. Although the authorities have been urged by several quarters to resolve the situation peacefully, and a negotiation table has been established, no serious attempt to do so has yet occurred. Observers fear that another massacre may be imminent.
Recommended Actions
Please take the time to write to the Mexican federal and state authorities to urge them to solve this situation in a peaceful manner. You can also send a fax to President Fox through the Global Exchange website at www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/mexico. Expediency is of the utmost importance at this time.
Sample Letter (from Global Exchange website)

President Vicente Fox
Lic. Victor Lichtinger
Lic. Pablo Salazar
I am writing to you to express my concern for the Montes Azules Biosphere and the Mexican government's plan to relocate indigenous
communities which live inside and around the reserve. Given the recent declarations confirming the of relocation of the community Arroyo San Pablo on December 19th, I think it is especially important that you take urgent steps to:
1) Demilitarize all Natural Protected Areas (ANPs) and indigenous communities, especially Montes Azules. Employing the Army, or any other security force like the Federal Preventive Police (PPP), in environmental "protection" does not address the underlying causes of the current social and environmental crisis.
2) Guarantee that communities located within the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, or adjacent Reserves, will not be relocated without their consent. Local communities and Indigenous Peoples play an integral role in the conservation and development of natural resources. Relocating
these communities by force, or allowing them to be continually harassed by paramilitary groups, will only exacerbate the deteriorating human rights and environmental crisis in the region.
3) Respect Indigenous Peoples Right to Self-Determination and Development. The future of Montes Azules, and other mega-diverse regions like it, depends on the active participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the creation of Biosphere Reserves that respect and
fortify both biological and cultural diversity.
I look forward to seeing your immediate response to this issue.
Sincerely,



Addresses

Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F.,
C.P. 11850, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794
 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or  radio@presidencia.gob.mx or go to www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo@ to send a message. If you have access to a fax machine and are able to get through, the fax method, being less impersonal, is probably more effective. If you live in Ottawa or in a city where there is a Mexican consulate, they will almost certainly be willing to forward a fax to President Fox's office on your behalf.
Lic. Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía
Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas
Palacio de Gobierno,

Tuxtla Gutiérrez Chiapas, MEXICO

FAX: 011 52 961 20917
 salazarp@prodigy.net.mx
Please send copies of your letters to President Fox to the following government officials:
Lic. Victor Lichtinger (Minister of the Environment)
Secretario de SEMARNAT
Lateral de Anillo Periférico No. 4209
Jardines de la Montaña,
delegación Tlalpan
C.P. 14210, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
 vlichtinger@semarnat.gob.mx
Lic. José Ignacio Campillo García
Procurador Federal de Protección al Ambiente
Periférico Sur No. 5000
Col. Insurgentes, Cuicuilco Delegación Coyoacán
C.P. 04530, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
 jcampillo@correo.profepa.gob.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta,

Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia

FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 or 327 3195
 afranco@sre.gob.mx or  macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Exellency Maria Teresa Garcia Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500,
Ottawa, Ont. K1P 1A4
FAX 613 235 9123  info@embamexcan.com
FOR CANADA:
Hon. Bill Graham Minister of Foreign Affairs
FAX: 613 996 9607 , Graham.b@parl.gc.ca


The Social Justice Committee
1857 deMaisonneuve ouest Suite 320
Montreal Quebec H3H 1J9
Tel: 1-514-933-6797 Fax: 1-514-933-9517 Email:  sjc@web.ca

Sra Almarosa Moreno Razo
Mexican Embassy
42 Hertford St
London W1j 7JR
 mexuk@easynet.co.uk