Press conference – Crises of healthe and violence against women (Photo: @Sipaz)

On May 23rd, a press conference was convened by the People’s Campaign against Violence against Women and Femicide in Chiapas, in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas.

Members of the convening group explained that they were present at the third regular meeting of the Inter-institutional and Multidisciplinary Group (GIM in its Spanish acronym), held in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez on May 18th and 19th, to follow up the Declaration of an Alert on Gender Violence (AVG in its Spanish acronym) against women in the state. They explained that three working groups were held: one to coordinate and implement the AVG in localities declared on alert (some of the municipal mayors were present); a health group with officials of the state health secretariat and a justice group where representatives of district attorneys and specialists for the state of Chiapas were present. The meetings were coordinated by Maria de los Angeles Aguilar on behalf of the National Commission for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women (CONAVIM in its Spanish acronym) and on behalf of the Chiapas government, Pedro Villafuerte, Undersecretary of Political Operation of the General Secretariat of Government, was present.

The campaign noted “some urgent comments to address as the increase in violence against women and femicide in different regions of the state continues to indicate the lack of capacity of institutions in the state to react and address the urgent measure of the Alert.” It denounced the “inability of state government institutions to address the AVG”, the “absence of progress and setbacks in AVG implementation”, the “lack of accountability and transparency”, and the “lack of political will and absence of governability.”

Maria de Jesus Espinosa de los Santos, spokeswoman for the protest movement of the Rafael Pascacio Gamboa Women’s Hospital in Tuxtla Gutierrez was present at the same press conference. She noted the seriousness of the “health crisis in the state” and called on society to stand in solidarity with the nurses who were on hunger strike as of May 23rd.

Maria de Jesus Espinosa de los Santos: spokesperson for the protest movement at the Women’s Hospital (Photo: @Sipaz)

At the end of the conference they called for a mobilization in Tuxtla Gutierrez on May 26th “to demand that the state government comply with the obligation to guarantee the right to health and life, given the imminent health risk at the beginning of the season of heat and rain, such omission may lead to a significant increase in infant, maternal and deaths in the general population.”

For more information in Spanish:

Incumple gobierno de Chiapas Declaratoria de Alerta de Violencia de Género (Campaña Popular contra la Violencia hacia las Mujeres y el Feminicidio en Chiapas, a 23 de mayo de 2017)

Convocatoria a Marcha Estatal por el Derecho a la Salud en Chiapas (Campaña Popular contra la Violencia hacia las Mujeres y el Feminicidio en Chiapas, a 10 de mayo de 2017)

Garantizar la vida de las mujeres (Chiapas Denuncia Pública)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : Campaña Popular contra la Violencia hacia las Mujeres cuestiona falta de avances de Alerta de Violencia de Género

Chiapas : Enfermeras retoman huelga de hambre y denuncian incumplimiento de acuerdos por parte del gobierno del estado

Chiapas : Enfermeras levantan huelga de hambre tras llegar a acuerdos

Chiapas : Siguen en huelga de hambre ocho enfermeras en Tuxtla Gutiérrez