State police in Magdalena Ocotlán @ Educa
On 22 October, opponents of the mineral extraction overseen by the Cuzcatlán firm were attacked in Magdalena Ocotlán. The police has arrested two people who were carrying firearms and had threatened members of the Coordination of the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (CPUVO) with death. The CPUVO struggles against mining in San José del Progreso.
On the morning of the 22nd, workers from the Cuzcatlán firm began excavation work in Magdalena Ocotlán to introduce an aqueduct that would increase the amount of treated water from the mine located in San José del Progreso. This labor was carried out under the watch of 100 police from the Auxiliary Banking and Commercial Police (PABIC). To this location arrived 140 residents of the Magdalena Ocotlán and San José del Progreso municipalities to demand permits for this type of work. In light of the lack of information provided by the state and federal governments, protestors demanded the suspension of work and the departure of the police. It was within this context that the police arrested two persons who were carrying a pistol and a knife and had threatened Ángel Vásquez and Leovigildo Vásquez Sánchez, members of the CPUVO, with death. Furthermore, Ignacio Jesús Pérez was injured in an attack by the inspector of the directory of regional security when he asked to speak with the person responsible for the carrying out of this work.
In an Urgent Action released on 22 October, Services for an Alternative Education A.C. (Educa) demanded the suspension of the excavation work. Also, the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territory pronounced itself in this way. The Defense Institute for the Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca also published an alert so that municipal and state authorities undertake actions to avoid human-rights violations. It should be remembered that the conflict between CPUVO members and the group surrounding the mayor of San José del Progreso, Alberto Mauro Sánchez, who favors mining, has resulted in the death of Bernardo Méndez Vásquez and Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, both of them opponents of the mine, in January and March of last year, respectively. Neither of these crimes have been investigated or resolved in a manner respectful of justice.
For more information (in Spanish):
Acción Urgente (AU) de Educa y AU de Flor y Canto A.C. (para firmar en linea)
Piden a Cué frenar obra hidráulica de la minera Cuzcatlán (Proceso, 23 de octubre de 2012)
News Oaxaca: Violencia latente entre San José del Progreso y Magdalena Ocotlán (24/10/2012)
Oaxaca adiario: Fortuna Silver, millonaria mientras San José lucha (23/10/2012)
gatoencerrado.net : Fortuna Silver alcanza producción record de plata: más de un millón de onzas en el último trimestre
For more information (in Spanish):
Oaxaca: Arrest of two presumed murderers of Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez (19 October 2012)
Oaxaca: Opponents to mining in San José del Progreso are attacked (25 June 2012)
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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