Statement
Indigenous Peoples Rights International
6th of July of 2021
#AltoAlFuego
To the Mexican State and the international community.
In view of the numerous cases of intimidation, murders and repeated acts of violence against indigenous peoples and communities in Mexico, Indigenous Peoples Rights International[1] states the following:
First: Historically, indigenous peoples have stood firm in the defence of their territories; however, in recent years, there have been episodes of violence that have claimed several lives while leaving those responsible unpunished. In the last year, we have documented 14 fatalities of indigenous peoples in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Sonora in retaliation for their fight to defend their Rights.
Yesterday morning, around 10:00 a.m., in the municipal seat of Simojovel, Simón Pedro Pérez López was shot and killed. He was a human rights defender, pacifist, catechist and a member of the civil society organisation Las Abejas de Acteal (The Bees of Acteal), of which he was President of the Board of Directors in 2020. Through his involvement in the promotion and defence of the rights of indigenous peoples, he had stood by communities that have been denouncing violence, calling for its ending and demanding justice.
In Chiapas, a particularly serious situation has been reported since last year. In the municipality of Aldama, in the middle of the central highlands of Chiapas, there is a territorial dispute dating back to 1970 between neighbouring ejidos of Manuel Utrilla in Chenalhó and Aldama over 60 hectares. The Tsotsil communities who live in this territory have reported that they are victims of ongoing harassment that puts their lives at risk. As stated in the documentation submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights[2] there is an armed group that permanently threatens the communities by shooting the civilian population with firearms. In 2020, the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre documented, 56 armed aggressions against 12 communities in Aldama over a period of 17 days. So far, 3.499 people have been reported to have been intermittently displaced by force, 23 people have been shot and wounded and seven people have been killed, one of them this year.
In Oaxaca, on the 28th of March, Jaime Jiménez Ruiz, former municipal agent of the Paso de la Reyna community, who was a member of the Consejo de Pueblos Unidos del Río Verde (Council of United Peoples of the Río Verde – COPUDEVER), was shot dead. Previously, Fidel Heras Cruz, President of the Ejidal Commissariat and defender of the territory, was also murdered on the 23th of January. Likewise, on the night of the 14th to the 15th of March of 2021, Raymundo Robles Riaño —substitute of the municipal agent— Noé Robles Cruz and Gerardo Mendoza Reyes were shot dead, also in the Paso de la Reyna community. In other words, in a period of three months, five indigenous defenders have been murdered in a community of barely 500 inhabitants, a community whose inhabitants have been defending their territory for more than a decade against the construction of the "Paso de la Reina" multi-purpose hydroelectric dam and the Río Verde hydroelectric project.
In Michoacán, in the municipality of Zitácuaro, five communities have decided to exercise their right to autonomy in the face of the uncontrolled advance of organised crime in their communities. In the context of this struggle, five people have been murdered since December last year. María Eufemia Reyes Esquivel was murdered on the 4th of December of 2020. On the 17th of January of 2021, Vicente Guzmán Reyes, Ambrosio Guzmán Reyes and José Luis Chávez Mondragón were murdered while carrying out their duties as part of the community patrol. To date, the state government has not visited the scene to document the murders and issue the corresponding death certificates. For the Michoacán state government, these deaths have not even been registered, much less investigated. The murder of the young Manuel Carmona Esquivel on the 17th of February has added to such ignominious scenario. All these deaths are linked to the defence of the territory that these communities have undertaken against the territorial control that organised crime wants to maintain in the territory.
On the 27th of May, in southern Sonora, in Yaqui territory, the spokesman of the Yaqui tribe, Tomás Rojo Valencia, was disappeared. Days later, on the 21st of June, the Sonora State Attorney General's Office announced in a public statement that his body had been found dead. In addition to this terrible event, Luis Urbano Domínguez was murdered on the 12th of June. Indigenous Peoples Rights International obtained information from various sources in the region, who report that more than 20 indigenous Yaqui people were disappeared. The Yaqui people have been one of the great references in the struggles of indigenous peoples in Mexico for the defence of their collective rights as indigenous peoples, and, for several years now, they have been facing increasing violence.
Second: We condemn and express our concern about acts that violate the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples and leaders.
Third: We emphasise that the consequences of such violence against indigenous communities have a strong collective impact, not only on the families of those who have been killed, but also on the communities as a whole. The defence of their rights depends on their cohesion as peoples, on their assemblies and community decision-making bodies. The way in which violence has erupted in their territories is severely damaging the social fabric and the life that depends on it.
Fourth: We urge civil society as a whole to raise awareness of the need to take action and to shed light on the terrible situation in the communities, and to join forces, in their own ways and means, so that the dignified voices of indigenous peoples who demand justice and respect for their collective rights without impunity can be heard.
Fifth: We, the organisations that make up Indigenous Peoples Rights International's Global Initiative in Mexico, point out the inaction of the Mexican State at its different levels of government and remind the Mexican State of its obligation to investigate the murders and to provide justice, truth and measures of non-repetition for the survivors, their families and community. Furthermore, we urge for the necessary and culturally appropriate security measures to protect the life and personal integrity of the communities and to prevent threats, harassment, intimidation or any kind of violence against them.
Sixth: Finally, we demand that the Mexican state bring the highest international standards into line with national legislation for the full exercise of the right to self-determination of the peoples and establish a new relationship of respect for the legal definitions of the communities stemming from their own normative systems.
Sincerely
Global Initiative for Indigenous Peoples' Rights in Mexico
“Indigenous Peoples Rights International”
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas
Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan
Colectivo Emancipaciones
Colectivo Masehual Siuamej Mosenyolchikauanij, (Mujeres que se apoyan), CONAMI, Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas de las Américas (ECMIA),
Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria
Indignación, Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos,
Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario
Contact details:
Citlalli Hernández Saad.
Telephone: 5519390511
Email:
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[1] The Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) is a legally registered, non-profit, global Indigenous Peoples organization that works to protect the IP rights defenders, and unite and amplify the call for justice for the victims of criminalisation and impunity
[2] Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Resolution 35/2021. Precautionary Measure No. 284-18. Tsotsil indigenous families from 12 identified communities in Aldama, Chiapas, regarding Mexico. 23 April 2021. Available at http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/mc/2021/res_35-21_mc_284-18_mx_es.pdf
