One Year After the Assassination of Salvador Olmos (Chava), Friends and Family Demand Justice

It was the morning of June 26th, 2016, and the state of Oaxaca was amidst a climate of tension due to the recent events in Nochixtlan. There, federal and state police had assassinated at least eight civilians in an attempt to evict the road blockade maintained on the highway. In the city of Huajuapan de León, the community radio Tu-un Ñuu Savi solicited help from their radio listeners and collaborators, as it was on alert for a possible attack.

Salvador Olmos (Chava), a collaborator of the radio, responded to the call from the radio around one in the morning. In route to the radio station, he painted on the recently inaugurated monument for Juarez that said: “We want public work, not a remodeling of the façade”.

Minutes later he was detained by patrol car 004 of the municipal police and brought to the detention center. There, the lower judge classified the judicial situation of Salvador as a crime—in place of an administrative offense as is usual in these cases—, for which he ordered Chava’s transfer to the local district attorney’s office to make his statement.

The decision of the judge constituted the first of many irregularities and contradictions in the case of Salvador Olmos.

Chava was transferred to the district attorney’s office, which was closed. After which, the police decided to retain Salvador for more than three hours in the patrol car, holding him incommunicado. This of course constitutes another irregularity, as well as an illegal deprivation of his freedom.

It is still uncertain what happened during those three hours, although some versions indicate that Salvador was beaten during his transfer and illegal detention in the patrol car. However, Chava managed to escape from police custody. The police called for back up from another patrol car, the one that ran over Salvador and caused his death.

The policeman that drove the patrol car that ran over Olmos was not the designated driver for that vehicle, what constituted more negligence of the police structure that lead to the assassination of Salvador.

It is important to note that along with being a collaborator of the community radio, Chava was part of the anarko-punk movement of Huajuapan, and worked with different communities in defense of territory.

Salvador, like other people and collectives of Huajuapan, had protested against the construction of the monument—where he carried out the graffiti—because the bidding and construction had been full of irregularities. The then municipal president, Luis de Guadalupe Ramírez Martínez, had been accused of corruption and the diversion of funds. Also it was argued that the city needed other types of works, for example, better infrastructure for drinking water, in place of ostentatious decorative monuments.

Since that event, compañerxs, friends, family members and groups in solidarity have protested the assassination of Salvador and have carried out diverse political-cultural activities to demand justice and keep alive his memory.

On Saturday June 24th of this year, a mobilization took place marching toward the municipal palace to demand the clarification of the facts and to reclaim justice a year after his assassination.

In a parallel manner, a tour took place of punk and hardcore band titled, “He who struggles never dies”, in memory of Salvador Olmos and all of those fallen and assassinated by the police. Chava was the singer of the punk group “Anonimos”.

All of these actions have been fundamental to the legal process that remains open. The strategy of the state and municipal authorities has been to mark the events as an accident. At first, it was classified as manslaughter, but after the action and social pressure from diverse groups, in the second hearing for the case, the judge changed the charge to intentional homicide.

A year after the illegal process began, the only accused is the driver of the patrol car that supposedly ran over and caused the death of Chava. This policeman is incarcerated in the prison of Etla, Oaxaca. The police defense has argued that the policeman is responsible for the manslaughter charges, but never had the intention to run him over.

The family members and friends of Salvador continue demanding that the facts are clarified and true justice is made. However, for that to happen, it is necessary that the responsibility of the police, judges, police command and others involved are thoroughly investigated in this case, more than just trying to blame the driver who ran over Chava.

It is not the first time that municipal police have been involved in cases of arbitrary detentions, torture and assassination. It is thus essential that justice is made for Salvador Olmos and the impunity with which the security bodies of the state act in this country is done away with.