Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca May 28th, 2010
At roughly three o´clock in the afternoon, Tuesday May 27th, over 35 people were ambushed by paramilitary forces outside of the town La Sabana while taking part in the International Caravan for Peace in the Triqui región. At the time of this writing two participants in the caravan, Alberta “Bety” Cariño of Oaxaca and Juri Jaakkola of Finland, are confirmed to be dead. A third compañera, Mónica Citlali Santiago Ortiz of Oaxaca was hospitalized after recieving a gunshot wound to the back; she has been released. In addition, two journalists from the Mexican magazine Contralinea are still unaccounted for.
The caravan, which included three vehicles, contained representatives from various groups including: Section 22 of the Oaxaca Teacher´s Union, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty (VOCAL), the Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS), Peace Brigades International, as well various individuals acting as human rights observers from the countries of Germany, Belgium, Italy and Finland. The caravan hoped to reach the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala in order to act as human rights observers, bring food and wáter, and to accompany the teachers of the municipality as they attempted to return to their classes.
The three vehicles arrived at a pile of rocks on the highway. As the vehicles attempted to turn around an unknown amount of gunman with rifles opened fire on the caravan from both sides of the highway. The vehicles made very little progress before their tires were shot out, which forced the passengers to flee the vehicles and to escape the scene of the ambush on foot. One member of VOCAL, Rubén Valencia Núñez, was captured and threatened with death by the gunmen. A short while later an ambulance arrived but was also fired upon. At the time of this writing police and state authorities have yet to enter the area, except briefly to recover the dead, and blames the same paramilitary group for the government´s inability to access the scene of the crime.
Popular opinion and recent history lays the blame for the ambush squarely at the feet of the Union for the Well-being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT), which has laid seige to the town of San Juan Copala since December, preventing the residents of the municipality from attending health clinics, going to school, or even entering the town with outside goods. Rufino Juárez Hernández, head of UBISORT, stated days before the caravan that shoot-outs were a usual occurance in the Triqui región, and that his organization should not be held accountable if the International Caravan for Peace were to stumble upon one.
Trouble is not unknown to the town of San Juan Copala, which declared itself to be an autonomous municipality on January 1st, 2007. The state government declared that it would not accept San Juan Copala as an autonomous municipality because it did not have the suffecient economic means to operate. Since that date the situation has constantly deteoriated for the residents of San Juan Copala as the municpal police from the town and its surroundings have been replaced by agents of UBISORT. The Unified Movement for the Triqui Independence (MULTI), which has been in constant rebellion against UBISORT and the state government since January 1st, 2007, requested the help of the caravan to try and regain some control and normalacy over their lives and village.
The anger and grief manifested itself the following day in the city of Oaxaca, as members of the various organizations took to the streets with numerous marches and blockades. In addition representatives from the various groups met with officials in the state justice builiding located within the city. Further marches, protests and demonstrations are expected along with the governments inaction towards the prosecution of those responsible for the ambush.
Eric DeBruin
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