Statement in solidarity with political prisoners on hunger strike in Chiapas
Statement from the Network for Solidarity and against Repression (Chiapas) and
Grupo de Trabajo No Estamos Todxs in solidarity with Rosa, Alfredo and all the political prisoners
San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas
November 3, 2011
The compañer@s who belong to the organizations La Voz del Amate, Solidarios de la Voz del Amate and Voces Inocentes, have today completed 36 days on hunger strike and fast.
We are highly concerned about the state of health of the strikers, and of compañero Alberto Patishtán, who is being held at the Guasave prison in Sinaloa, and who so far has been unable to communicate personally with anyone, and therefore we do not know the condition of his health.
Moreover, on November 1st, compañer@s Alfredo and Rosa received the tragic news that their son Nathaniel Lopez Lopez, died on October 26thof this year.
We recall that thecompañera Rosa was arrested in the Central Park of San Cristobal de Las Casas on May 10th, 2007, by police officers dressed in civilian clothes. They immediately put her into a van and blindfolded her eyes. She was taken to an unknown place, but knew she was in a forest by the noise of the leaves, there she was brutally beaten. Rosa was subsequently taken to a house, where she was physically tortured, suffered sexual violence and was threatened with rape. Among the beatings many were in her stomach.
At the time of her arrest Rosa was about four months pregnant. Five months later, in October 2007, deprived of her freedom in the CERSS No. 5 in San Cristobal, Rosa gave birth to a son, Nathaniel, who was born with cerebral palsy and paralysed, a condition probably caused by the different forms of torture she suffered during her detention. At the age of 4 years, Nathaniel died in outrageous conditions, since he was denied medical attention.
Alfredo Lopez Jimenez, father of Nathaniel and husband of Rosa Lopez Diaz, said in his complaint: “My son died because of medical negligence, all care was denied to my family, because they are poor and illiterate they discriminate against them”.
In this situation, Alfredo, through the spokesman of the strikers, Pedro Lopez Jimenez, made a public statement in which he said that from the 2ndNovember (yesterday) he would go on a thirst strike for ten hours a day from 7am to 4pm, and that this strike would last three days.
The health consequences of lack of food and fluids are very serious and can lead to a person’s death. The situation of Alfredo is further complicated because, after 36 days of hunger strike, some organs are likely to be affected. Not ingesting any food and not taking any water for 10 hours a day can cause severe dehydration and severely affect the kidneys.
We are aware of the pain of our compañer@s due to the loss of their child and to being in such an unjust situation, and through this statement we send them our solidarity and love at this very difficult time.
Even so, both Alfredo and Rosa, like everyone on this hunger strike and fast, remain firm in their determination and will not cease in their efforts to get their freedom.
Therefore we demand the immediate release of all the prisoners of La Voz del Amate, Solidarios de la Voz del Amate, as well as the compañeroof Voces Inocentes.
Immediate release of the compañer@s on hunger strike!
Immediate release of Professor Alberto Gomez Patishtán!
*Grupo de Trabajo No Estamos Todxs*
*Red Contra La Represión y por la Solidaridad (Chiapas)*
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