The Indigenous Community of Santa María Ostula
To the People of Mexico and the World
The Indigenous community of Santa María Ostula announces that the general assembly of villagers which was celebrated in an extraordinary manner on November 30th, agreed to initiate decisive action because of the lack of will on part of the Mexican State at all levels to release the commander of a our community police, Cemerí Verdía Zepeda, unjustly imprisoned since July 19th of this year; and to resolve the serious problem of the community and region of the Costa-Sierra of Michoacán, since the Knights Templar cartel continues its actions with complicity of corrupt government officials. In contrast, the deputy in the region, the municipal ex mayor is free after having been detained and subjected to prosecution for having organized the attacks intended to deprive the life of our comrade Cemeí Verdía.
For this reason, from the first day of December our community took the federal highway number 200 and a group of 250 members of the community gathered in Morelia to demand the immediate liberty to Cemeí Verdía and compliance to our list of demands.
From now we announce that our actions will be escalated without a satisfactory response to our demands for justice, so we call the communities, organizations, and honest people of Michoacán, Mexico and the world to support our cause of peace and justice summarized in the following demands:
- The immediate and unconditional liberty of our commander Cemeí Verdía Zepeda and the withdrawal of false charges against him, a well as the cancelation of the arrest orders against others of our community police and groups of auto defense in the region.
- Demilitarization of the Costa-Sierra Region of Michoacán, the punishment of the members of the military and police forces that assassinated the child Hidelberto Reyes García, wounded and beaten different members of our community and destroyed the well-being of the community of Ostula, as well as the reparations of the damage caused to the well-being of the community members of Ostula and the return of the following items: four communication radios, the seal and identifications of the supervisory board, a gun with registry and 4 sets of keys.
- Arrest of the bosses of the Knights Templar Cartel in the Region, Federico Gonzales Medina, alias “Lico” and Mario Alvarez López, Alias “El Chacal”, and the dismantling of the Cartel with its political and economic structure.
- Respect and granting of the guarantees of freedom to the members and operation of the community police of the municipalities of Aquila, Coahuayana, Chinicuila, and Coalcomán.
- Presentation of life of the six missing community members and punishment of the masterminds of the murder of 34 community members of Ostula over the last four years.
- Stop the misinformation and the creation of shock groups in the Nahua village.
In addition, we submit the following demands
- The live appearance of the 43 young students of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, and justice for the three young assassinated
- Freedom to all of the political prisoners of the country and the world
- the cancellation of the freeway project that aims to be built in Xochicuautla, municipality of Lerma, in the state of Mexico.
- An end to the war of extermination against the original peoples.
- Removal of paramilitary groups and the shock troops against Indigenous peoples
- We demand the respect of the base communities of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and effective punishment to the assassins of comrade Galeano.
Sincerely,
Indigenous community of Santa María Ostula
“We fight for life and peace, not for power and less for death”
“Never again a Mexico without us”
Poorly translated from the original here: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2015/12/03/la-comunidad-indigena-de-santa-maria-ostula-comunica-la-realizacion-de-acciones-contundentes-ante-la-falta-de-voluntad-por-parte-del-estado-mexicano-en-todos-sus-niveles-para-liberar-al-companero-ceme/
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