Indigenous Prisoner Organizing Group Marks Two-Year Anniversary in Chiapas

Communique from Indigenous prisoner in struggle, Adrián Gómez Jiménez, marking the two-year anniversary of the founding of the prisoner organizing group, La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia.

 

To the Public

To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion

To the National Indigenous Congress

To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation

To the Network Against Repression and For Solidarity

To the Human Rights Defenders and Non-Governmental Organizations

To the Independent Organizations

To the Alternative and Mass Media

To the Indigenous People of Mexico and the World

To the Civil Society of Mexico and the World

Prisoner in struggle, Adrián Gómez Jiménez, member of the organization, La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia, adherent of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), currently imprisoned in CERSS No. 5 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

Before anything else, I want to thank the working group, No Estamos Todxs, for supporting the organization, La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia. The organization has developed fighting for the freedom of prisoners, some of whom today are free. I also want to give thanks to the CGT, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center, SIPAZ, SWEFOR, and other groups that have supported this organization which sprouted and developed its roots on July 6, 2018.

The organization was born with the mission to struggle against the injustices that prisoners suffer. As members of the organization, we ourselves had been victims of torture carried out by the prosecutor’s office and other agencies of the judicial system. The judicial system destroys the lives of innocent prisoners, and unfortunately, we have lived this experience first-hand.

Thanks to this organization, we have brought to light the injustices, anomalies and irregularities in my legal case, along with the violations of my legal due process rights which I experienced over 15 years ago. These were violations of my rights as a human being.

Up to this moment, I continue suffering injustice. As of today, I have served sixteen years and six months in prison. I have three years and four months left on my sentence. The judge, M. Guadalupe Flores Rocha, has denied me my freedom for time served. These judges are almost all corrupt. I have seen people imprisoned, who have a long way to go to make amends, but who are freed because they negotiate their freedom. We poor people will always have our rights trampled on.

Up to the present moment, I continue fighting for my freedom. Prison organizing scares the bad governments. The directors of the prisons too. Today, I continue in an indefinite protest encampment inside the prison demanding true justice. Today I celebrate another year of struggle.

As a side note, I want to emphasize that the director of this prison, José Juan Trujillo Cruz, has denied me access to a tarp. Our tarp has already been destroyed by the constant rain and hail that falls here.

For me, it has been a true honor to struggle against the injustices that are lived inside the vicious and gruesome prisons of the state of Chiapas.

From CERSS No. 5, I send a fraternal embrace to those who have been attentive to our struggle. Many thanks to the media and the journalists.

Uniting the voices and forces of the Mexican people, true justice will triumph.

Respectfully,

Adrián Gómez Jiménez

July 6, 2020