To the national and international civil society
To the compañeras and compañeros of the communities in struggle in Mexico and the world
To the alternative media
To the national and international press
To all of the honest people of Mexico and the world
At around 8:00 pm, May 2, 2017, during a traditional festival in our community, a government funded armed group shot bullets into the air amidst a group of community members enjoying the festival. The intention was to disrupt the celebration with the pretext of taking the municipal agency building. This group of “municipal police” is the armed wing of the constitutional authority, imposed by the current municipal president of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Gloria Sánchez López. They have kept the community divided and continue with aggressions against the communal authority and the community police. During this shooting, José Santiago Gutiérrez (aka Ta gueme) was injured, and died during his transportation to the hospital in the city of Juchitán.
As the communal authority and community police, we distance ourselves from the tragic death of José Santiago Gutiérrez, an ex-compañero of struggle and inhabitant of our community, who had sold himself out to the state.
We name responsible the municipal, state and federal government for maintaining an offensive of destabilization against the community. They want to blame us for their intrusion inside our territory; an offensive that seeks to dissipate our struggle in defense of our territory, impose their constitutional authority and like that authorize the free access of wind farm companies that have been responsible for our contemporary situation of continued harassment and violence.
We demand an exhaustive investigation by the competent authorities regarding this situation ad punishment to those responsible for the violent action against our community and our autonomy.
Sincerely,
The Community Authorities and the Community Police of Álvaro Obregón, Oaxaca
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