Indigenous Tepehuana and Wixárika Denounce Criminalization in Jalisco

Communique from the Indigenous Tepehuana and Wixárika community of San Lorenzo Azqueltán denouncing the criminalization of community members for their struggle in defense of territory and autonomy.

To the National Indigenous Congress

To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation

To the National and International Sixth

To the Human Rights organizations

To the Media

From the Bolaños Canyon, in the community of San Lorenzo Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico, we denounce the criminalization of 17 brothers and sisters, community members of our autonomous Indigenous Tepehuana and Wixárika community.

They accuse us of theft and have summoned us to appear before the second control judge in the eleventh judicial district in Colotlán, Jalisco. The “crime” we have carried out is enacting decisions made in our community assembly. What we see is an escalation of institutional violence, an offensive carried out by governments and caciques against those of us who defend the land.

What they truly pursue isn’t justice, but to stop the struggle that we have maintained for more than 10 years. They want to break our determination for autonomy, to weaken our resistance. They are persecuting a people who decide to exercise their self-determination naming their own authorities, both agrarian and traditional, and defending the territory that others want. That is really what makes them uncomfortable. Our autonomy is a shout of freedom that they cannot quiet. Our dignity pains them. It bothers them that we demand the recognition of our culture and territory, while they surround us with an atmosphere of aggression extending throughout our community.

This criminalization is a direct attack against community members who have fulfilled their responsibilities in our traditional and agrarian institutions. That is to say, the criminalization is against our struggle, seeking to silence the resistance that they haven’t otherwise been able to quiet.

We denounce the complicity of those who, in place of serving justice, bow to the interests of the powerful. In Azqueltán, and in many other corners of this country, repression against Indigenous peoples has become state policy, protected by courts and judges. They persecute us because we defend what belongs to us and because our struggle doesn’t fit into their molds.

To the media and human rights organizations, we ask that you don’t abandon us; that you are attentive to whatever might happen from these unfounded accusations. We know that the government, the judges, and the powerful, they want to annihilate our word, our struggle, and our resistance.

The land is not for sale, it’s loved and defended!

We will not sell, surrender, or give up!

Stop the persecution against community members of Azqueltán.

Sincerely,

Autonomous Indigenous Tepehuana and Wixárika Community of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco

October 2024