Tensions in the Tehuantepec Isthmus continue, given the positions presented by local authorities and wind-energy companies on the one hand, and those opposed to the wind-energy parks on the other. The Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ) denounced that “on 21 July at approximately 3pm, the state police invaded the APPI camp […] where some comrades decided to retreat in light of the presence of two police patrol cars, so as not to fall into the trap of provocation, given that the police were carrying large firearms. Later, in Colony 17 July at 9:10pm, the state police together with landlords, some of them with covered faces, serving the Fenosa Natural Gas Company as coordinated by the landowner Francisco López Chente (‘Chicu Chente’) attacked and shot three APPI sympathizers who were located in this colony.”
In the communique, the APPJ claims that the aggression may have been a result of a protest it carried out before the offices of the Public Ministry in Juchitán on 17 July to demand the resignation of José Matus Cruz, regional subprocurator of the State Attorney General for the Isthmus. In a communique released after the protest, the APPJ denounced that he had “coordinated a series of harassments and persecutions together with the State Police, fabricating crimes against us.” The APPI noted that after the action before the Public Ministry, unknown armed persons in vehicles approached the home of Mariano López Gómez, APPJ member, and that at the same time others intimidated the family of Carmen Ruiz Martínez, also a member of the APPJ, in front of her house. The APPJ demands “the expulsion of the transnational wind-energy companies FENOSA NATURAL GAS S.A. OF C.V. and ZAPOTEC ENERGY S.A. OF C.V. from the communal Juchiteco territory, due to its fomenting of corruption, violating the land rights of the people, and rendering violent the communal life in Juchitán.” It should be noted that in previous days, the APPJ and Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) had demanded that the state government guarantee the protection and physical integrity of López Gómez, who, among other things, has received death threats lately.
For more information (in Spanish):
APPJ: COMUNICADO URGENTE : AGREDEN A BALAZOS A TRES SIMPATIZANTES DE LA APPJ. (22/07/2013)
APPJ: FUERA JOSÉ MATUS CRUZ, LIBERTAD A NUESTROS DETENIDOS, CANCELACIÓN DE ORDENES DE APREHENSIÓN, FUERA LAS EMPRESAS EÓLICAS DE NUESTRAS TIERRAS COMUNALES. (18/07/2013)
La Jornada: Demandan acciones cautelares para opositores a parques eólicos en Oaxaca (19/07/2013)
Proceso: Con sicarios se busca imponer proyecto eólico en Oaxaca, denuncian (22/07/2013)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Oaxaca: Denunciation of wave of attacks against journalists and activists (21 July 2013)
Oaxaca: Meeting of Peoples in Resistance for the Defense of Territory in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (17 May 2013)
Oaxaca: Confrontation over supposed “approval” of wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (8 January 2013)
Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)
Oaxaca: confrontations between PRI militants and opponents to wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (7 December 2012)
Oaxaca: Threats from shock-groups in San Dionisio del Mar (26 October 2012)
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