Community Radio Journalist and Anarchist killed by Police in Oaxaca

From Indymedia Mexico

Salvador Olmo García, a 27-year old vendor, community journalist, activist, defender of lands, vocalist and pioneer of the anarko-punk movement in Huajuapan, was found seriously injured this Sunday morning in the Las Huertas neighborhood of the city.

Around 4:40 this morning, rescue workers of the National Emergency Commission (CNE) were alerted by local police agents that that there was a seriously wounded person at an unnumbered building on Naranjos Street, so Ambulance 06 of District 020 was immediately dispatched to the spot.

When the paramedics arrived, they saw someone lying by the side of the road. They immediately gave him first aid and put him on a stretcher.

When they noted that he had serious wounds on his arms, legs, head and torso, they decided to take him to the Emergency Room at the Pilar Sánchez Villavicencio General Hospital of Huajuapan, so he could get the necessary medical care.

After trying for several minutes to save his life, however, the medics reported that Chava, as he was known by his family and friends, had breathed his last due to the presence and accumulation of outdoor or pulmonary air in the chest cavity (pneumothorax), a fracture of the right arm and a broken nose.

After the death of Salvador, who was also a reporter for the Tuun Ñuu Savi community radio, fellow broadcasters accused local police agents of being both the perpetrators and the masterminds of this crime. They said that Chava had previously been arrested and then run over by an official police vehicle.

The reporters also demanded a speedy investigation to determine exactly what happened and punishment for the responsible parties. They warned that if these demands are not met, alternative measures will be taken to see that justice is done for this and other acts that they consider fascist and oppressive by uniformed policemen.

Salvador Olmo García had been struggling for 15 years in defense of Mixteca lands and communities and against the exploitation of natural resources and the granting of concessions to foreign mining companies by government authorities.

After this terrible attack, dozens of friends, acquaintances and family members gathered at the Tuun Ñuu Savi radio station to show their support and demand that the responsible parties be punished.

“Members of the Huajuapan society, we hope you understand what they did to our comrade. We don’t want to incite violence, but we are outraged about this attack and we want justice. Chava always struggled for equality. He was a productive, supportive person in the society, and as an anarchist, always protected others around him.”

“He was a good man with the soul of a child, with his black t-shirts, dreadlocks and boots. This was the only space he found where he could freely grow and develop,” said one of the activists who was a close comrade of Salvador’s.

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