Álvaro Obregón, Oaxaca: Police Assassinate Member of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples in Defense of Land and Territory

This communique comes from the Community Assembly of Álvaro Obregón and the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples in Defense of Land and Territory who have been struggling against the implementation of wind-farm megaprojects in their territory for years now. These struggles have developed into more integral forms of self-organization, autonomy and self-defense with the formation of community assemblies, community police and the rejection of political parties in their territories.

The state and businesses interests have continually responded to this territorial defense and self-organization with violence. The original in Spanish was published by the Centro de Medios Libres and can be found here.

Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca
July 22, 2018

To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Media
To the Social Organizations
To the Human Rights Organizations

THE ASSEMBLY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN DEFENSE OF LAND AND TERRITORY AND THE COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY OF ÁLVARO OBREGÓN DENOUNCE THE ASSASINATION OF COMPAÑERO ROLANDO CRISPÍN LÓPEZ AT THE HANDS OF THE MUNICIPAL POLICE OF JUCHITÁN DE ZARAGOZA, OAXACA

Today, July 22nd, 2018, around 8:00 am, in the community of Álvaro Obregón of the municipality of Juchitán de Zaragoza, our compañero ROLANDO CRISPÍN LÓPEZ was assassinated. He formed part of the community police of this town. When the compañero ended his shift as guard of the municipal agency, he went to the store to buy some things on the street of Benito Juárez. Almost immediately, a hooded man arrived in a red motorcycle taxi who, in a cunning and cowardly manner, shot our compañero repeatedly, assassinating him from the back and wounding an 8-year-old girl who was walking in the street. Witnesses say the perpetrator ran, boarded the red motorcycle taxi and took off, leaving the body of our compañero on the sidewalk of the street.

Several neighbors of the community were able to identify the aggressor, whose nickname is “escarda” and whose real name is Alejandro Matus Chávez. He is an active member of the municipal police, working in the service of the municipality of Juchitán de Zaragoza.

Background:

Since 2012, the community of Álvaro Obregón has been struggling to defend their territory against the wind farm company Mareña Renovables. In February of 2013, the community police of Álvaro Obregón was organized with the objective to care for the territory, defending it against the aggressions of the wind farm company and the authorities. From that day forward, the compañero, as well as the other members of the community police, have suffered aggressions that have put their lives at risk. These aggressions have come from those who want to occupy the inlet Santa Teresa to develop the Moreña Renovables wind farm project, and dispossess those who with dignity defend the territory against the project.

Our struggle is for life, and the life of our compañero is worth more than all the money used in all of the megaprojects of death that are sought to be built in our territories.

We demand justice before this assassination. While we make this demand, we also work to build our own community justice. We know in the end, this will be the only way in which to solve this conflict that we do not desire nor want in our lives and in our communities.

For this, we hold responsible the three levels of government for the violence that is being carried out in the communities to dispossess the Indigenous peoples of their territory.

We hold responsible the state and federal government for their incapacity to provide security to the defenders of human rights.

We demand punishment to those responsible for the assassination of compañero ROLANDO CRISPÍN LÓPEZ, defender of territory and community police member!!

We demand justice for our compañero cowardly assassinated for defending the rights of the Indigenous peoples!!

THE LAND, SEA AND WIND ARE NOR FOR SALE, THEY ARE LOVED AND DEFENDED!

COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY OF ÁLVARO OBREGÓN

ASSEMBLY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE ISTMO IN DEFENSE OF LAND AND TERRTITORY