According to reports by several human rights organizations, Lauro Juárez, aged 50 and a member of the social organization Union of Poor Campesinos – Popular Revolutionary Front (UCP-FPR, Unión de Campesinos Pobres-Frente Popular Revolucionario), was last seen on 30 December near the site of a protest he was taking part in along the highway which connects Oaxaca City to Puerto Escondido .
Lauro Juárez, a recently elected Chatino indigenous community leader from the municipality of Santa María Temaxcaltepec, Juquila, Oaxaca is a social justice activist for political and human rights and a defender of the natural resources of the region.
On December 29, due to fear of reprisals by the police and groups of armed men, the organizers called off the protest, which had begun on December 26.
According to a report by Amnesty International, Lauro Juárez, who stayed behind while the majority of the protestors had already begun leaving, was last seen in the early hours of 30 December sleeping in a house near the site of the protest.His suitcase was later found there, however he and his bedding had disappeared.Both the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office and the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights have denounced his disappearance.
The National Association of Human Rights Defenders (ANDDH, La Asociación Nacional de Defensores de Derechos Humanos) has also denounced the six disappearances linked to social organizations that have taken place in the last eight months in Oaxaca.
For more information:
Urgent Action – Lauro Juárez (m), Chatino indigenous community leader (AI 08/01/2008)
Alleged disappearance of Mr. Lauro Juárez in Juquila, Oaxaca(OMCT, 11/01/2008) [in Spanish]
Press Release – Disappearance of Lauro Juárez (ANDDH, 17/01/2008) [in Spanish]
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