The leader of the Organization for the Future of the Mixteco People (OFPM), Álvaro Ramírez, who had been detained by Ministerial Investigative Police (PIM) on Sunday, June 6, was liberated on Saturday, June 12. He had been accused of the murder of Andrés Feliciano Modesta as well as the attempted murder of Policarpo Patriarca Agustín, but without evidence of his involvement in the crimes, he was acquitted six days after his incarceration in the prison of Ayutla de los Libres. For the OFPM, it is clear that the Mexican state is persecuting the indigenous organization, and thus trying to stop their work to defend human rights. In fact, after his liberation Álvaro Ramírez denounced the Guerrerense Governor, Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo for forming a pact to stop the OFPM – in alliance with the cacique, Policarpio Patriarca Agustín of Ayutla de los Libres. In a joint press release on June 14, the Guerrerense Network of Civil Society Organizations and the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña, also noted the work of repression against the OFPM by the government of Torreblanca.
For more information (in Spanish):
– Torreblanca, aliado de caciques: OFPM (La Jornada, 15 de junio)
– En Guerrero, dejan en libertad al líder indígena mixteco Álvaro Ramírez (La Jornada, 14 de junio)
– La libertad del dirigente mixteco Álvaro Ramírez evidencia la persecución que sigue enfrentando la OFPM (Boletin de prensa Red Guerrerense de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos / Tlachinollan: 14 de junio)
For more information from SIPAZ (In English):
Guerrero – Briefs : Police detain a leader of the OFPM/ Anniversary of El Charco (June 19, 2010)
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