On November 10 in the city of Acapulco, facilities of the newspaper El Sur de Acapulco were attacked by a group of armed individuals who entered the offices. The attackers fired their weapons several times while 12 people were working. Nobody was injured. The Mexican representative of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (OACNUDH) condemned the attack and requested that Mexican authorities investigate what happened in order to capture, prosecute, and punish those responsible. The events happened amid a context in which El Sur has been covering violence in Guerrero – particularly a series of murders that occurred in recent weeks. In a November 11 announcement, civil society and social organizations, including the Workshop for Community Development (TADECO) and the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI) among others, condemned the attack and emphasized that it was not and isolated incident. Relating the attack to the coverage of the murder of Deputy Armando Chavarría last year: “we can’t forget what happened almost a year ago, [the] director [of El Sur] Juan Angulo was forced by police to appear before the State Attorney for an article he wrote about the murder of local deputy, Armando Chavarría.” The organizations demanded effective and committed investigations from the government.
For more information (in Spanish):
Condena la ONU ataque a El Sur; demanda garantizar la libertad de expresión en el país (La Jornada, 12 November)
Alerta LE: Ataque armado al periódico El Sur de Guerrero (CENCOS, 11 November)
ONU-DH deplora el ataque contra el periódico El Sur de Guerrero (CENCOS, 11 November)
Pronunciamiento de OSC sobre ataque contra periódico El Sur (11 November)
Land conflict in Jicayán de Tovar
Ejidal authorities of the Jicayán de Tovar agrarian community, in the municipality of Tlachistlahuaca, denounced violent acts of aggression committed by their neighbors from El Jicaral, in the municipality of Coicoyán de las Flores of the Oaxaca state, on November 1 and 8. At a press conference in the zócalo of Chilpancingo, the Secretary Commissariat of Communal Wellness for Jicayán, Alberto Tenorio Velázquez said “On Sunday the Oaxacans crossed the point that divides the territories and reached the vicinity of the community. They were shooting firearms, but did not hit anyone because the people fled to their homes.” Members of TADECO explained: “Let’s remember that the base of this conflict has its origin in the territorial invasions suffered by Jicayán de Tovar at the hands of El Jicaral, Oaxaca, since 2006 with negligent complicity of state authorities in Oaxaca and Guerrero, who have lacked seriousness in working to solve the agrarian issues that generated this conflict.” Authorities and neighbors of Jicayán de Tovar and the Popular Indigenous Council of Guerrero – Emiliano Zapata, in a press release on November 9, called on the state and federal authorities with jurisdiction over land disputes to, “once and for all address the many conflicts between agrarian communities in the state of Guerrero as well as at the national level.”
For more information (in Spanish):
Irrumpen a balazos oaxaqueños en Jicayán por el conflicto agrario en Tlacoachistlahuaca, denuncian (El Sur de Acapulco, 15 November)
Boletín de prensa de autoridades y vecinos de Jicayán de Tovar (9 Noviember)
Demonstration against La Parota
On November 11 at the port of Acapulco, more than 500 campesinos opposed to the La Parota hydroelectric dam project demonstrated in front of the Federal Electrical Commission (CFE) to again voice their rejection of the imposition of the dam megaproject. The CFE revived the plan after they requested federal resources from Congress amounting to 4.200 million pesos for their 2011 proposal to construct the dam. A commission brought forward a document in which they demanded compliance with the para-statal suspension ordered by the United Agrarian Tribunal (TUA). The demonstrators stated “We have come to say to the CFE that CECOP [Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota] is alive and will continue the defense of the territory while this plan to impose La Parota persists.”
For more information:
Con presupuesto o sin él, La Parota no pasará (CENCOS, 12 November)
Viola CFE suspensión del proyecto La Parota: comuneros (La Jornada, 12 November)
Community Police denounce mining exploration
On November 5, presented in the House of Justice of San Luis Acatlan, representatives of Hochschild Mining-Mexico reported hat they have authorization from INEGI to conduct low-flying magnetometer recognition, “for their own benefit,” over community territory to search for minerals that can be exploited. The Community Police-Regional Coordinator of Communal Authorities (PC-CRAC) asked civil society to stay alert to what could be a new onslaught against their territory.
For more information:
Forced eviction of 350 families in Puerto Marqués
On November 10 at 9:00 a.m., 350 families were evicted from the upper and lower Colonia Ampliación Puerto Marqués in the municipality of Acapulco. The evictions were carried out by more than 500 warrantless state police officers with firefighters and ambulances as reinforcements.
For more information (in Spanish):
Boletín de prensa de Tadeco (10 Noveiember 2010)
Desalojo de Puerto Marqués fue ordenado por un juez: Soberanis (La Jornada de Guerrero, 12 November)
Presentan desalojados de Puerto Marqués queja en la Coddehum (La Jornada de Guerrero, 13 November)
sipazen.wordpress.com 