Mexico: Attack on Tlayole Community Radio Station

From Cholollan Radio
Translation submitted to It’s Going Down

To the media
To the Attorney General of the State of Puebla
To the Commission of Human Rights of the State of Puebla
To the National Commission of Human Rights
To the organized peoples
To the public opinion in general

We strongly condemn the attack carried out against Indigenous communicators of radio Tlayole (the voice of corn), on the evening of Thursday, November 24, 2016.

We demand clarification of the acts and punishment of those responsible for the beatings perpetrated against Rigoberto Nieto González and Leonor Ribera Juárez who were transmitting live at the time.  We demand the same for the attack against Gerardo Rivera Juárez who came to the facility to attempt to stop the beating, but was injured by the impact of a bullet to his chest.

The attackers destroyed the equipment of the radio after having only been carrying out its work of community communication for fifteen days.  Radio Tlayole was born in the community of La Cumbre, in the municipality of Tlacotepec de Porfirio Díaz, in the Sierra Negra de Puebla, where they are attempting to construct a hydroelectric dam to produce energy for mining.

One of the attackers was detained and is directly related to the municipal president of Tlacotepec: Marcelo Trujillo Lezama.

The region of the Sierra Negra is currently being encroached upon by hydroelectric and mining projects that are being promoted and implemented by Compañia Hidroeléctrica de Puebla y Proyectos Hidroeléctricas de Puebla (affiliates of the Grupo Ferrominero Mexicano), local bosses, and political parties.  These groups are carrying out harassment and direct violence against defenders of human rights and Indigenous communicators.

We reiterate our demand for the clarification of the acts and punishment of those responsible for the brutal aggression committed against the members of the Radio Tlayole.

All our solidarity to Radio Tlayole, The Voice of Corn

To communicate is a right, not a crime!
No to the megaprojects of death!
Air, land, and freedom!
Justice!

Sincerely,

Asociación de Comunicadores Populares e Indígenas de Puebla A.C.
Radio Comunitaria de Tlaxcalancingo; Cholollan
Radio Comunitaria Zacatepec
Agrupación por una Organización Comunitaria Integral A.C.
Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala