La Jornada: Hermann Bellinghausen
The Brother Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center unveiled a list of organizations and groups who, since last March 20, have argued for the release of the Tzotzil [Maya sub-group] teacher Alberto Patishtán Gómez. About 200 organizations nationwide, including the 75 members in 22 states, the National Network of Civil Agencies All Rights for All. Internationally, Germany alone has about thirty groups, Spain has more than twenty, Switzerland has seventeen, and France has eleven.
The international campaign has exceeded the target set for 4,686 letters on behalf of Patishtán's release: a letter for each day [thirteen years] the teacher has spent in prison. Last Friday, in fact, the issue was a Trending Topic on Twitter; and 5,986 letters were received addressed to the judges of the First Appellate Court in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and to Judge Juan Silva Meza, President of the Council of the Federal Judiciary.
This Friday, activists demonstrated outside the Mexican Embassy in Madrid, and British groups delivered a letter to the Mexican Embassy in London. A few days ago something similar happened at the Mexican Consulate in New York. Dozens of groups from other countries (Austria, Brazil, Belgium, United Kingdom, Chile, Colombia, United States, Greece, Argentina, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand and The Netherlands) have also spoken out in recent weeks.
Moreover, there have also been statements not only in the municipality of El Bosque, but by the political parties (PRI, PRD, PAN), the churches, cooperative societies and producer groups, the current Town Council [of El Bosque, Patishtán's home] (and the current Mayor, Juan Manuel Cortés Rodas), a previous Town Council, various neighborhoods and communal authorities [communal lands granted to the indigenous people by the Spanish Crown] and ejido [lands to be worked communally granted by the Mexican government at the end of the Mexican Revolution]. And finally, in various cities throughout Chiapas, all member organizations of the Network for Peace. Spanish original
For more, see also Mexico Voices posts:
- We Will Not Ask for Presidential Pardon - Patishtán's Attorney;
- Chiapas Governor Promises to "Arrange" Patishtan's Release;
- Mexican Citizens Petition Appeals Court for Patishtán's Release;
- Lack of Change in Provision of Justice in Mexico - excellent case summary and implications for Mexico's Justice System;
- Alberto Patishtán's Struggle for Freedom and 'Fair and Equal' Due Process;
- Mexico Massacre at Simojovel and Alberto Patishtán: A Story of Impunity and Injustice.