Samuel Ruiz Garcia is bishop of the diocese of Chiapas. He is currently a member of the Episcopal Commission of Indigenous Peoples of the Mexican Episcopalian Conference. He participated in the Council of the Vatican II (1962-1965) and in the General Conference of the Latin American Episcopacy in Colombia. He was also a member of the Department of Missions of the CELAM in 1968 and served as president for two consecutive terms. From 1980 to 1990, his diocese was a haven for more than 46,000 Guatemalan refugees during a systematic campaign of defamation, harassment, and mistreatment by the government. He is founder and president of the Center for Human Rights. Bishop Garcia was also named the only mediator between the Zapatista Liberation Army and the Mexican government and was later the founder and president of the National Commission on Mediation. He took on the causes of justice and the defense of the poor, often at the risk of his own life. He has received death threats, harassment and defamation from high social and political circles. Bishop Garcia is the recipient of numerous awards and has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.