Mexico: Member of Indigenous Organization CODEDI Assassinated in Oaxaca

This communique comes from the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI) in the Southern Sierra of Oaxaca, and addresses the latest assassination and ongoing repression against the Indigenous organization.

To the Social Organizations

To the Section XXII

To the Media

To the Collectives, Artistic Groups and People in General

With the rage that fills our hearts, we make public the assassination of compañero Noel Castillo Aguilar at 44 years of age. He was a member of CODEDI. His assassination took place today, October 25^th, 2018, at approximately 1:00 pm, at the intersection leading to Barra de la Cruz, in the municipality of Santiago Astata.

The compañero was headed home when he was intercepted and assassinated with bullets. This crime is clearly a political act as he was a member of the local group of CODEDI, in legitimate struggle in defense of their beaches and territory in the region.

It is important to mention that this assassination is the second attempt against the group of this community, as last year another one of the representatives was assassinated. Furthermore, it is the third attack against compañeros belonging to the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights thus far in 2018. We reiterate that those responsible for this and for all the homicides, attacks and violence that we have been subjected to, are those of the government of the State of Oaxaca led by Alejandro Murat Hinojosa for their complicity in obstructing the investigations and encouraging the attacks against us through the powerful mechanism of impunity.

We again demand immediate solutions and the clarification of the assassinations of our compañeros, to which we now add compañero Noel. We call on the authorities to present advances, as until now, there doesn’t exist any work in the investigation files that are currently open.

We appeal to the solidarity organizations, collectives and peoples to join the demand for justice and the end of violence against the people organized in the Southern Sierra of Oaxaca, the country and the entire world.

Justice for our assassinated compañeros!

Cease the violence against CODEDI!

The struggle continues!