Week of Solidarity with Loma de Bácum and for the Freedom of Fidencio Aldama

Call out for a week of solidarity with the Indigenous Yaqui community of Loma de Bácum and for the freedom of political prisoner Fidencio Aldama, October 21-27, 2021.

Since 2015, the Yaqui people of Loma de Bácum, Sonora, have been resisting the Gasoducto Sonora pipeline project that Sempra Energy is trying to build inside their territory. They began a legal and political struggle against the megaproject knowing that if it was allowed to go through, it would put their land and lives at risk.

On October 21, 2016, while the community was gathered in an assembly organized according to their customs and traditions, an armed group entered Loma de Bácum in an attempt to overthrow the traditional Yaqui authorities and impose new authorities who favored the pipeline. This attack left one person dead. On October 27, 2016, Fidencio Aldama Pérez, a member of Loma de Bácum’s Traditional Guard who has stood in opposition to the pipeline from the beginning, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death. After a trial plagued with irregularities and human rights and due process violations, and without any evidence against him, Fidencio Aldama Pérez was sentenced in 2018 to fifteen years and six months along with a fine of 75,000 pesos. In 2019, the appeal filed by his lawyers was denied.

On July 14 of this year, masked and heavily armed men kidnapped ten people from the Yaqui Tribe. The relatives of the disappeared, along with other members of the tribe, mobilized to denounce the kidnapping and to search for their compañeros. On September 19, after a lack of effort by the state prosecutor’s office to search for the men, the discovery of five of their bodies was announced. However, family members are waiting for an independent review of the remains due to distrust in the prosecutor’s office and the narco-state.

The constant attacks against the Yaqui Tribe in Loma de Bácum have been brutal. Businesses, organized crime, and the government have all worked together in a campaign against the land and life of the community.

In response to the ongoing hostilities, and to mark the five-year anniversary of the attack on Bácum and the arrest of Fidencio Aldama, WE CALL FOR:

A week of solidarity with the Yaqui Tribe of Loma de Bácum, for those disappeared to be returned alive, and for the freedom of Fidencio Aldama. From October 21-27, we invite collectives, organizations, and individuals to raise their voice with propaganda in the streets, wheatpasting, social media hashtags #FIDENCIOALDAMALIBERTAD, #SOLIDARIDADCONBÁCUM, #PRESENTACIÓNCONVIDAYA, and any other public displays of solidarity that you can think of. We will support the Yaqui community of Loma de Bácum and show them that they are not alone. Solidarity in action is fundamental in a country plagued by the daily war perpetrated by the narco-government and corporate power. Let’s show our solidarity with the families of the disappeared. Let’s demand the immediate freedom of Fidencio Aldama, who is imprisoned for struggling and defending Yaqui life and territory. For more information or to send us a report back of your actions you can contact us here: [email protected]. We also encourage those who cannot participate to donate, since financial support is always needed. You can donate at https://fidencioaldama.org/en/donate/.

Today, we tell the government of Sonora that five years after the ferocious—and ongoing—attacks, we will not forget. We will struggle and raise our voices to break the silence of this war against the Yaqui Tribe. We will weave together solidarity. We will not stop until we find all of the disappeared and secure the freedom of our compañero Fidencio Aldama Pérez.

WE WILL NOT BEG FOR FREEDOM-WE WILL TAKE IT!

Fidencio Aldama Support Group