Zapatista teacher dead, 15 seriously wounded in deadly Chiapas ambush

Zapatista teacher dead, 15 seriously wounded in deadly Chiapas ambush

May 7, 2014

Jose Luis Solís López, a teacher in the Zapatista’s “Little School” (La Escuelita) was targeted and murdered, and at least 15 Zapatistas seriously injured, in an ambush in which the leaderships of the paramilitary group called CIOAC-Histórica, the Green Ecological Party, the National Action Party [PAN] and the Revolutionary Institutional Party [PRI] are all implicated in directing on Friday, May 2, 2014. The same attackers damaged or destroyed both the autonomous Mayan school and the local health clinic at the Zapatista caracol of La Realidad.

Four things you can do to respond to this deadly attack on the Zapatistas

1. Get the facts. Almost all of the mainstream media are grossly distorting the facts about this violent ambush; however the Zapatistas have published a detailed description in Spanish of the attack (click here to see the document) and Sub Commander Insurgent Marcos has written en emotionally charged description of the events (click here to read Marcos in English). In addition, mediators from the independent human rights organization Fray Bartolome de las Casas AC have published an eye-witness account (click here to read) which supports the Zapatista version of events. There’s also a detailed Spanish language article in the Mexican daily La Jornada…and here’s an English translation of that same article. We will share additional information as it becomes available.

Some key points to know and remember about the ambush in La Realidad include:

•Unarmed Zapatistas were ambushed on the evening of May 2, 2014 near the caracol of La Realidad. Mainstream media are falsely reporting the incident as a “confrontation” between Zapatistas and others while publishing 20 year old photos of armed Zapatistas. This was not a confrontation; it was a unilateral attack against unarmed bases of support of the EZLN.

•Those directly responsible for the attack are members of the organization CIOAC-H. The most recent Zapatista communication states that “The paramilitaries (…) are paid, organized, directed, and trained by the three levels of bad government in order to divide and provoke us (…).”

•Immediately preceding this ambush, the Zapatistas and local community members began a peaceful mediation process, supervised by the Chiapas-based human rights organization Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, designed to address increasing aggressions against the Zapatistas (including the cutting off of their water supply and the retention of a vehicle delivering medical supplies).

•Zapatista Good Governance Council in La Realidad has turned this issue over to the General Command of the EZLN so that it is “investigated and justice is done.”

More:
http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/2014/05/zapatista-teacher-dead/

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Eternal Revolution: A Slain Zapatista Teacher's Words Live On

Indigenous Rights I Dispatch from Chiapas I May 22nd, 2014



The targeted assassination of a Zapatista teacher known as Galeano in Chiapas, Mexico has shocked and angered people around the world; we at Schools for Chiapas are equally horrified and are seeking to turn our outrage into action by publishing in English an actual educational evaluation made earlier this year by the fallen teacher Jose Luis Solís López (also known simply as Galeano).

Below you will find and English translation of the transcription of a presentation given by Jose Luis Solís López (known as Galeano), the Zapatista promoter/teacher who was killed on May 1, 2014. This document was originally recorded as part of a Zapatista evaluation session of La Escuelita (The Little School) and was published in Feb. 2014 in Spanish in the first volume of the new Mexican journal Rebeldia Zapatista. While defending the local elementary school, Galeano was targeted and assassinated on May 2 in an ambush just outside of the Zapatista Caracol of La Realidad, one of the five seats of the Zapatista Good Government Councils (JBG). The leadership of several anti-Zapatista organizations, including CIOAC-Histórica, the Green Ecological Party, the National Action Party [PAN], and the Revolutionary Institutional Party [PRI] are all implicated in planning the attack. Click here for more detailed information about this attack.

To honor our slain compañero, Galeano, this brave educator who was murdered while trying to defend the community's school, we publish our own English translation of his presentation in full. Click here to read the original Spanish.


Galeano : "We are a team of teachers participating at various levels in The Little School for Freedom according to the Zapatistas, like in the video conferences. We are all affiliated to the "Mother of the Caracols. Sea of our Dreams" caracol, located in the Frontier Jungle region. I come from the village of Nueva Victoria, in the municipality of San Pedro de Michoacán.

Cont'd

This article was originally published at Schools for Chiapas.

More:
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/galeanos-words.html#.U4wFU2cU_mI