Members of the CPUVO @ Noticias
On 16 June, Bertín Vásquez Ruiz y Andrés Guadalupe Vásquez Ruiz, membes of the Coordination fo the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (CPUVO), were injured in an attack using firearms in the community of San José del Progreso. Virgilio Sánchez Vásquez, present representative of the CPUVO, blamed those associated with the Cuzcatlán mining firm that operates in the municipality and local authorities for the attack against those oppose the mine. In a press-conference carried out in front of the Palace of Governance in Oaxaca de Juárez on 17 June, members of the CPUVO reported that in light of the lack of satisfactory response, they will jointly initiate a series of mobilizations to demand justice for their dead, together with other social organizations. For its part, the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territory indicated in a communiqué that “From January to June 2012, there have been 3 attacks against CPUVO members in San José del Progreso, resulting in the deaths of 2 human-rights defenders: Bernardo Méndez Vásquez (18 January 2012) and Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez (15 March 2012), in addition to several persons injured by gunfire: Abigail Vásquez Sánchez, Rosalinda Dionisio Canseco, and Andrés Vásquez Sánchez.” The Collective demands an immediate and impartial investigation on the part of the State Attorney General’s Office and, like the CPUVO, the resignation of the authorities in the municipality, given that they are considered responsible for having committed irregularities and human-rights violations.
For more information (in Spanish):
Comunicado del Colectivo Oaxaqueño en Defensa de los Territorios(18/06/2012)
Noticias: Regresa violencia a San José del Progreso (18/06/2012)
Oaxaca en pie de lucha: Sicarios de la minera hieren a dos habitantes en San José el Progreso (17/06/2012)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Oaxaca: access to the Cuzcatlán mine is blocked in San José el Progreso (16 May 2012)
Oaxaca: Actions, denunciations, and mobilizations in the case of San José del Progreso (3 April 2012)
Oaxaca: Murder of the spokesperson of the Coordination of the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (25 March 2012)
Oaxaca: Two opponents of mining in San José del Progreso are fired on (8 February 2012)
Mexico: “Mined land, the defense of the rights of communities and of the environment” (14 December 2011)
Oaxaca: Coordination of United People of the Ocotlán Valley close entrance to silver mine in San José del Progreso (14 March 2011)
Oaxaca: Civil Mission of Observation “Water is Life; Let us Defend its Existence” (8 September 2010)
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