Around 500 inhabitants of the Loma Santa Cruz and San Antonio de Valle communities, municipality of San Juan Mazatlán, in the Mixe zone of Oaxaca, were forcibly displaced from their territories due to the armed residents of a neighboring community, “in coordination with criminal groups ”, have perpetrated acts of violence in the area since last November.
In a communication bulletin sent to local authorities, they demanded that the state government resolve these conflicts so that they can safely return to their communities.
They denounced that the residents were victims of kidnappings, robbery, damage to private property, among others, and pointed out several alleged perpetrators.
The document is signed by Maximino Quirino, a municipal agent of Loma de Santa Cruz, and Federico Ignacio Martínez, representative of the rural nucleus of San Antonio del Valle. They detailed that on November 9 and 10, residents of the capital of Mazatlán, along with “a criminal group”, armed with firearms and machetes exercised extreme violence in the two communities, where they caused destruction, attacks, robberies, and the kidnapping of at least nine people, so the attacked inhabitants had to take refuge in rivers, mountains and in areas of the municipality of Santo Domingo Petapa.
Faced with these events, a complaint was filed with the local prosecutor’s office and with the Human Rights Ombudsman of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) and the State Secretariat of Government was informed, without to date they have responded to resolve the conflict.
The community representatives added that on December 8, residents of their regions “were ambushed by people from San Juan Mazatlán, along with a group of hitmen who carried high-caliber weapons and deprived some of the companions of their freedom, with the purpose of appropriating the lands of Loma Santa Cruz ”.
Faced with the risks to lose the life and integrity of the residents of Loma Santa Cruz and San Antonio de Valle, the delegates demanded that the State Government and Public Security Secretariats, the local prosecutor’s office and the Human Rights investigate the facts, issue measures of protection for the attacked and displaced people, and retake the work tables to find a solution to the conflict.
Source: La Jornada
