(Photo@Voces Feministas)

On April 28, nurses at the Dr. Rafael Pascacio Gamboa Women’s Hospital announced at a press conference that they are preparing for the second stage of the hunger strike that “will be huge”, following the breach of a draft of agreements where the government party was committed to the reinstatement of 15 workers, salary payments and benefits, as well as supply of medicines and supplies in the 1200 clinics and hospitals of the state. They began the same the day, May 1st, a symbolic date being International Workers’ Day.

They denounced that “the state government promised to pay between the 20th and 21st of this month an initial amount of 200,000,000 pesos that were deviated from the Housing Fund of the Institute of Security and Social Services of State Workers (Fovissste) and from the Savings Fund for retirement, but did not comply”; and that the commitment to provide supplies and medicines to hospitals of the entity was “another government lie.” They affirmed that there was also incomplete compliance in the agreement to reinstall the 15 workers who were dismissed for demanding rights. The spokeswoman for the movement, Maria de Jesus Espinoza de los Santos, said that up to 30 workers from the State Health Secretariat could join the fast if the breach of commitments continues.

For its part, the Chiapas government, through the Ministry of Health, has stated that “the agreements made have been fulfilled”: “the workers who were dismissed have already been reinstated in their work activities since Thursday, April 12th last, in addition to that as previously reported, at no time was the payment of their salaries stopped, as well as the bonds to which they are entitled.” It indicated that in terms of labor benefits, the regularization of these payments had begun and that the supply of medicines is increasing gradually.

The Secretary General of Government, Juan Carlos Gomez Aranda, and the Secretary of Finance, Humberto Pedrero Moreno, made a respectful call to the nurses and their representatives who restarted their hunger strike to “favor dialogue without risking their health unnecessarily, given that the agreements signed since last April 12th are being fully implemented.”

For more information in Spanish:

30 enfermeras se sumarían a huelga de hambre en Chiapas por incumplimiento a demandas (26 de abril de 2017)

Enfermeras emplazan a otra huelga de hambre por incumplimiento de acuerdos (MVS Noticias, 26 de abril de 2017)

Desmiente gobierno de Chiapas incumplimiento de acuerdos con enfermeras en huelga de hambre (26 de abril de 2017)

Enfermeras de Chiapas regresarán a huelga de hambre por incumplimiento del gobierno (Regeneración, 28 de abril de 2017)

Enfermeras de Chiapas reanudan huelga de hambre (Proceso, 1ero de mayo de 2017)

Gobierno de Chiapas dice que cumple acuerdos con enfermeras (La Jornada, 2 de mayo de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Chiapas : Enfermeras levantan huelga de hambre tras llegar a acuerdos (17 de abril de 2017)

Chiapas : Siguen en huelga de hambre ocho enfermeras en Tuxtla Gutiérrez (11 de abril de 2017)

Chiapas : Cinco enfermeras inician huelga de hambre en Tuxtla Gutiérrez (3 de abril de 2017)