Indigenous peoples of Mexico win Alberto Patishtán Gomez’s release from prisons, 2000-2013

Alberto Patishtán Gomez was an indigenous Tzotzil teacher of basic education from the town of El Bosque in the Chiapas state of Mexico. The Mexican federal police arrested Patishtán in 2000 for murders that he did not commit. He spent the next thirteen years in the Mexican justice system as he campaigned for the release of himself and other indigenous political prisoners being wrongfully held by the Mexican government. All the while, his friends and supporters organized multiple organizations that demanded his release from outside of prison.

The Mexican state of Chiapas, where Patishtán was from, was also known as the birthplace of the far-left political and militant Zapatista group. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) aimed to gain indigenous control over resources, especially land. Patishtán Gomez was not affiliated with the Zapatistas, although he was a known supporter of their goals. The strong Zapatista influence in the area had routinely made the area a target for federal counterinsurgency, including a strike in Acteal that killed 45 people on 22 December 1997. 

Patishtán was better known as an active community organizer. He was a part of the National Union of Education Workers, he led the Society of Social Solidarity, and he was a coordinator of a communally owned agricultural land. The municipal mayor, Manuel Gómez Ruiz, had started to take issue with Patishtán because he was a primary organizer of campaigns against Mayor Gómez, including a document advocating for Mayor Gómez’s removal.

The crime that Mayor Gómez accused Patishtán of committing happened on 12 June 2000. Witnesses reported that hooded figures ambushed and killed seven police officers in Las Lagunas de Las Limas, Simojovel. It is unclear who was actually behind the attack. The Zapatistas declared the following day that, likely, government actors (either army or police) conducted the ambush. They claimed that the killing of the police officers, and the attribution of the incident to Zapatistas, was intended to justify raids on Zapatista communities, which happened soon after the killings of the police officers. On 19 June 2000, the army and federal police arrested Patishtán without a warrant.

Despite evidence proving that he had been in a community meeting at the time of the killings, federal police held Patishtán for a month with no explanation. On 10 July 2000, federal police then raided two Zapatista bases and arrested everyone at them, although the police soon after released all arrestees from these raids), and charged Patishtán alone for the ambush of the police officers. Immediately following the federal police’s arrest of Patishtán, community members mobilized. People protested in the streets, and also occupied the City Hall of El Bosque. Governor Roberto Albores Guillén of Chiapas had promised that Patishtán would be freed, but he did not intervene when Patishtán was sentenced. While arrested, Patishtán wrote a letter expressing his disapproval of the corruption and abuses that the mayor and local authorities were committing. 

As the trials began, the Mexico Office of the General Prosecutor continually denied Patishtán a lawyer throughout proceedings. After many months of trials, ten people testified that Patishtán attended a meeting of local teachers at the time of the killings, and it became clear that Patishtán was innocent. The only witness accusing Patishtán of being guilty was the mayor’s son, who later admitted his accusations were false. Despite this evidence, the General Prosecutor sentenced Patishtán to 60 years in prison on 18 March 2002. 

Patishtán started his journey of imprisonment at the Cerro Hueco prison. Once in prison, he immediately began to take note of the conditions in the prison. He particularly noticed how many indigenous prisoners did not know how to defend themselves, or have the money for lawyers. He also noticed that many did not speak Spanish or have access to legal interpreters. When Patishtán arrived at Cerro Hueco, the organization of La Voz de Cerro Hueco had already formed. This organization was leading nonviolent actions–particularly hunger strikes–to try to push for the freedom of the many indigenous political prisoners incarcerated there. As he spent time in prison, Patishtán became familiar with the other prisoners, and joined La Voz de Cerro Hueco himself. The organization’s actions focused on the release of the participating political prisoners, so Patishtán’s own participation in the campaign for his release began as he started to participate in these actions.

On 1 July 2004, Patishtán and some of his comrades were transferred by the regional government to CERESO (Social Rehabilitation Center) No. 14, also known as El Amate. When they first arrived, the prisoners were kept in very poor conditions, sometimes not allowed food for days at a time. The prisoners rebelled by throwing out doors, cameras, and locks. These acts ended with a sit-in at the prison’s balcony that began in July 2004, and lasted 5 months until November of that year. As they occupied the space, the prisoners had to endure a great amount of violence from the jailers, but they won a system in Amate that was less strict than it was when they came in. After initially using these more confrontational tactics, this group of prisoners took inspiration from La Voz de Cerro Hueco, and founded La Voz del Amate on 5 January 2006. Around the same time, political prisoners at the Los Llanos prison also founded La Voz de los Llanos. These groups frequently joined together for actions such as hunger strikes, as they shared the goal of freeing all indigenous political prisoners. As these organizations got their start, the Zapatistas also launched the “Other Campaign” in January 2006. The campaign kicked off with a Zapatista leader traveling around Mexico and holding rallies. The Other Campaign aimed to pressure the Mexican government to recognize and protect Indigenous rights, particularly by including clauses on these protections in the Mexican constitution. As the Other Campaign started, Patishtán and his comrades with La Voz became adherents of the campaign. They also began adhering to the Zapatistas’ Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, which focused on a vision of indigenous people gaining more recognition and protections in Mexico.

One of the first large actions that La Voz del Amate participated in was a hunger strike that began on 12 February 2008. Patishtán joined this hunger strike on 25 February 2008. Soon after, members of La Voz de los Llanos, as well as prisoners from CERESO No. 5 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, also joined in. The hunger strike sought to pressure the governor of Chiapas to release all political prisoners. These political prisoners included members of the EZLN, as well as Catholic groups close to the diocese of San Cristóbal. (A diocese is a district under the watch of a Bishop in Catholicism.) As they fasted, the Pueblo Creyente (Believing People) of the diocese of San Cristóbal organized a pilgrimage calling for the immediate release of these prisoners, in which thousands of people participated. Additionally, on 24 March, friends and family of striking detainees staged a sit-in at the entry to the Chiapas state government offices in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. The protestors demanded that all the detainees should be free and maintained that they would not move from the sit-in until all the prisoners were freed.

The hunger strike lasted 41 days. As a result, the government of Chiapas, where all of these prisons were located, agreed that 360 case files would be reviewed by an Interinstitutional Working Group. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba) contributed reflections on why the prisoners should be released as well. As a result of the strike, the panel, and the contribution from Frayba, the governor of Chiapas released 137 prisoners from prisons across the state of Chiapas on 31 March 2008. This included all the members of La Voz del Amate, except for Patishtán. The state government explained that his case was federal and not state-level, despite the fact that Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero of Chiapas had promised to intervene in Patishtán’s imprisonment and ensure his freedom. 

On 7 April 2008, the Governor of Chiapas, Juan José Sabines Guerrero, promised to evaluate the possibility of releasing sixteen more indigenous political prisoners, who participated in the  hunger strike in March. However, the governor did not keep his word. Instead, at 2:30am on 27 May 2008, a police group specialized in prison transfers entered the CERESO No. 14 prison, beat Patishtán, and transferred him to the maximum-security prison in the nearby town of Copainalá. Immediately after these transfers, the Center for Political Analysis and Social and Economic Research (CAPISE) made a call for a global campaign to denounce the Chiapas State Government and free all political prisoners. Their proposals for strategy included spreading leaflets and pasting posters all across Chiapas. 

After spending time in the Copainalá prison, in April 2009, Patishtán was transferred to the No. 5 prison in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. It was there that he began the organization Solidarios con La Voz del Amate. The goal of this group was to stand in solidarity with La Voz del Amate, organizing hunger strikes and other actions with them. Solidarios was also demanding the freedom of the many indigenous political prisoners in San Cristóbal, and fighting for the human rights of their members. In addition to founding this group, Patishtan also began to teach some of his comrades Spanish, and led them in prayer as well. 

Around this time, Patishtán developed a tumor behind his eye, which began to affect his vision. After he made complaints to the prison director, he was transferred to a hospital where they could monitor his condition. Although this served him for a short time, he began to feel isolated in the hospital, and asked to be returned to San Cristóbal. He was supported in this by his friends, family, and other activists outside of prisons.

Patishtan expressed his concerns about the quality of his treatments in a public complaint made on 5 July 2010 and addressed to the public, media, adherents of the Other Campaign, and non-governmental human rights organizations. In the communication, Patishtan requests of Chiapas Governor Guerrero that he be moved back to the prison No. 5 of San Cristobal. Patishtan expresses that, despite being in the hospital, his conditions are not improving, and asks simply to be moved back to prison, while simultaneously calling to be released. At the end of the letter, Patishtan invites all organizations and adherents of the Other Campaign to be made aware of his case, and to continue demanding freedom and justice for all indigenous political prisoners throughout the country.

As Patishtán focused on letter writing as a strategy, other activists gathered in front of the Council of the Federal Judiciary in Mexico City on 30 June 2010, demanding Patishtán’s freedom and return to San Cristóbal. The General Secretary granted organizers a meeting with the general secretary, and then Patishtán was granted two telephone calls, one to the Judiciary, and one to his son. He was soon returned to San Cristóbal. 

After he was back in San Cristóbal, on 4 August 2010, Patishtán was taken to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human-Rights Center (Frayba) denounced the Mexican State for violating due process and personal liberty. Days before this on 2 August 2010, La Voz del Amate had also released a report on the subject of human rights at CERESO No. 5 in San Cristóbal. The report detailed how after they denounced the human rights violations of the prison, Director Palacios Torres of CERESO No. 5 agreed to work with them on 30 July, but he then  rescinded his offer and denied the entry of a group of organizations that had gone to visit Patishtan. In a press release signed by each of these groups after the incident, they all expressed concern over Director Palacios Torres’ failure to follow a promise made by the governor’s office, and they called for the release of Professor Patishtán Gomez. Moreover, La Voz del Amate called on the governor to remove Palacios Torres from his position as director of the CERESO No. 5 prison in San Cristóbal. 

The organizations that the Governor had approved to visit Patishtán (Frayba, the Commission to Support Communal Unity and Reconciliation (Coreco), Services and Assessment for Peace (SERAPAZ), Social-Economic Development of Indigenous Mexicans (Desmi), the International Service for Peace (SIPAZ), and the Institute of Intercultural Studies and Investigations (INESIN)) went there on 26 January 2010 to observe Patishtan receive the 2011 JTatic Samuel JCanan Lum Honor for “his service, care, and love for his people.” Within the next few months, David Montero Montero replaced Director Palacios at CERESO No. 5, and from 9 to10 June 2011 Voice of Amate and the Solidarios de la voz del Amate held a single-day hunger strike to demand that the governor intervene and correct the abuses made by Montero.

Soon after the one-day hunger strike, solidarios de la voz del Amate held another hunger strike for their freedom beginning in September 2011. On 20 October 2011, Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero had Patishtán transferred to the federal maximum security prison CEFERESO (Federal Social Readaptation Center) No. 8 in Guasave, Sinaloa. Patishtan described in a letter that, in the CEFERESO No. 8, prisoners were subject to solitary confinement all days of the week. Prison authorities only let prisoners out of their cells for three hours each week. This sparked another wave of activism by groups such as the Movement of El Bosque for the Freedom of Alberto Patishtán (from his hometown) to try to get him back to the state of Chiapas. 

Human rights organizations, such as Frayba, held press conferences, such as one on 12 March 2012 during which representatives spoke alongside family members of Patishtán about how difficult it was to see him at the maximum security prison. Alongside these conferences, different organizations led mobilizations such as one on 17 March, led by Patishtán’s friends in El Bosque, where more than 1,000 people came together to demand Patishtán’s freedom and his return to Chiapas.

As the campaign for Patishtan’s freedom grew, 200 people representing over 50 organizations from around the world attended a forum held from 12 to 13 May 2012 . A leader among these groups was the Movement of El Bosque for the Freedom of Alberto Patishtán. At the forum, groups strategized about what next steps to take in organizing for Patishtán’s release, and The Chiapas Support Committee also put together a letter demanding freedom for Patishtán and Francisco Santiz Lopez. At the Community Forum on Mexico, many citizens signed the letter, and the Chiapas Support committee mailed the letter to Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón. Moreover, they announced the start of a week of action called “Bringing Down the Walls of the Jails” that would begin on 15 May 2012. The goal of the week was to advocate for the release of Patishtán and Lopez, which inspired both national and international campaigning. A rally was held in the El Bosque town center on 19 May, with members of Patishtan’s family and old friends speaking and advocating for his return to Chiapas and his freedom. 

The week was so successful that the organizers then organized the second and third weeks of the campaign in June 2012. Solidarity organizations hosted letter-writing campaigns targeting Mexican embassies and governmental offices in South Africa, Brazil, England, Scotland, New Zealand, Argentina, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and the United States. Patishtan himself even wrote a letter to President Felipe Calderón requesting that the President order his release. 

Activists also held more direct actions in Mexico during these weeks. On 19 June in Patishtán’s hometown of El Bosque, relatives and friends of Patishtán held a march that attracted over 400 people. The same day, the human rights organizations of Frayba and the Movement for Peace and Justice held a press conference during which  Patishtán’s son and an old comrade of his spoke. Several human rights groups held another similar press conference the next day in San Cristóbal de Las Casas emphasizing the injustice of holding Patishtan in a maximum security prison. After months of these protests, on 26 July 2012, the prison system processed the court order to have Patishtan transferred back to Chiapas, and Patishtan was returned to CERESO No. 5 prison in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. 

On 4 September 2012, more than 3,000 indigenous members of Believing People from the San Cristóbal de Las Casas diocese made a pilgrimage through the city to advocate for Patishtán’s release. They ended the pilgrimage at Cathedral Plaza in San Cristobal de las Casas, called on federal and state authorities and demanded in the name of God to end injustices against indigenous people and free Patishtán.

In 2012, Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice in the Nation received the “recognition of innocence” proposed by the Strategic Defence of Human Rights team, who were serving as Patishtán’s defense. On 5 March 2013, they voted against doing a full review of the case, and announced that the First Appellate Court of the Twentieth Circuit in Tutla Gutiérrez, Chiapas would determine whether Patishtán was innocent. This Court had already previously ruled against the release of Patishtán.

On 18 April 2013, the new Governor Manuel Velasco Coello of Chiapas visited Patishtan and the Solidarios de la Voz del Amate in CERESO No. 5, and again promised to free all of them except for Patishtán.

Amnesty International wrote a petition to the Tutla Gutiérrez court on 20 March 2013, soon before the final hearing of Patishtán’s case. The petition received over 27,000 signatures from individuals across the globe. Amnesty International highlighted serious inconsistencies in witness accusations, that Patishtán did not have access to an adequate defense during his trial, and that this issue represented a broader injustice impacting many other indigenous political prisoners in Mexico. In addition to the petition by Amnesty International, some of Patishtán’s other supporters organized efforts to write 4,686 letters that they sent to the court in Tutla Gutiérrez. These letters documented the 4,686 days that the Mexican government held Patishtán in prison until 19 April 2013, which was also Patishtán’s 42nd birthday. 

Also on 19 April 2013, an estimated 8,000 people carried out a pilgrimage in the Chiapas state capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. The pilgrimage was organized by the group Believing People, a Tzotzil religious group from San Cristóbal. Members of the Movement of El Bosque for the Freedom of Alberto Patishtán, the Chiapas Support Committee, as well as teachers from the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE) in Chiapas also contributed to organizing the pilgrimage. 

As these pilgrimages happened, a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of teachers in Mexico demanded a repeal of educational reforms. In the list of demands and the accompanying demonstrations by the teachers, they consistently insisted on the freedom of Patishtán, who was a teacher like them. In addition, the People’s Movement for the Freedom of Patishtán in El Bosque in collaboration with Koman Ilel created  a documentary called, “Vivir o morir por la Verdad y la Justicia,” which translates to “Live or die for Truth and Justice.” The documentary detailed Patishtan’s life, his activism, and his experiences with the Mexican justice system. 

The Committee for the Freedom of Patishtan also organized some larger rallies, such as the 60 Voices for the Freedom of Patishtán rally on 26 June 2013. The Committee invited sixty speakers to this rally at which human rights lawyers, celebrities, public intellectuals, and even the governor of Chiapas spoke. The speakers and attendees of the rally tried to put more pressure on the federal judiciary to make the decision to free Patishtan.

On 19 July 2013, teachers, social organizations, and the organization Believing People led another global action. For this action, El Bosque community members and Believing People (el Pueblo Creyente) made a pilgrimage around CERESO No. 5 in San Cristobal de Las Casas as allies protested outside Mexican embassies in New York City, Barcelona, ​​Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and several cities in Mexico, including in Veracruz, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Each of these protests advocated for the immediate and unconditional release of Patishtan by the Mexican government. 

On 21 August, an estimated 1,500 people from the Las Abejas Civil Society, the Movement of El Bosque for the Freedom of Alberto Patishtán, the Committee for the Freedom of Alberto Patishtán from Mexico City, and other national and international organizations engaged in a pilgrimage in Tuxtla Gutiérrez to the First Appellate Court to demand that they rule to release Patishtán. Simultaneously, allied groups in Mexico City led a solidarity march with the same demand. The National Indigenous Congress also met and included the immediate freedom of Patishtan at the very top of its list of demands. Starting on 21 August, Patishtán fasted until his trial began on 5 September.

Despite all this activism, on 12 September 2013, the First Appellate Court of the Twentieth Circuit in Tutla Gutiérrez denied Patishtán a “recognition of innocence,” ensuring his continued incarceration.

After the traditional routes to freedom did not work, on 23 October 2013, the Mexican senate modified the federal penal code to expand the President's ability to grant pardons. The new penal code specified that convicted people could be pardoned if they had been the subject of human rights violations. On 29 October 2013, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced that he would use this new rule to grant Patishtán a pardon, and Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong confirmed on 31 October 2013 that Peña Nieto ordered the immediate release of Patishtán, citing human rights violations throughout the legal process.

On 31 October, Ministry of the Interior Jorge Márquez went to the hospital at which Patishtán was being kept (again because of a tumor), and delivered the pardon. Patishtán then returned home with his children to El Bosque. There, Patishtán’s many friends, family members, and students, who had all been campaigning for his release for years, welcomed him home. In an interview afterwards, Patishtán stated that he would continue his fight to free other indigenous political prisoners as a free man.