Oaxaca: Camp on communal lands of Juchitán once again destroyed

Photo @ APPJ

The Popular Assembly of the Juchitán People (APPJ) has denounced that during the early morning of 28 January, “hitmen” from the Fenosa Natural Gas company burned down the resistance camp in opposition to the Bii Hioxho wind-energy park for the second time, located on the communal lands of Juchitán de Zaragoza in the Tehuantepec Isthmus. According to the APPJ, these acts were performed “on the orders of Óscar Toral, Héctor Guillén, and Ricardo Morales,” all involved in the construction project. The first attack took place on 15 October 2013.

In other news, the priest Alejandro Solalinde, a mediator among the APPJ, the Energy Ministry (Sener), Fenosa Natural Gas, and the Oaxaca state government, has warned that there could be a “bloodbath” resulting from the “aloofness” carried out by the firm and official authorities, given that the APPJ Zapotec indigenous people will defend their lands with their lives, given that even the state government representative, Javier Jiménez, has requested that agrarian conflict not be brought up in the negotiations. Solalinde noted that Javier Jiménez, whom the APPJ does not recognize as a mediator, has a “conflict of interest” because he was an official under Ulises Ruiz, while he also “legalized the change in the status of communal lands to being private property, even though he had no jurisdiction to do so […]. Fenosa Gas has now called itself the owner of the land and with this has justified all that it has done, without consultation.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Incendian por segunda vez campamento de opositores a eólica en Juchitán, Oaxaca (La Jornada, 29 de enero de 2014)

AU Exigimos seguridad para la APPJ ante la quema de su campamento en Juchitán (Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha – Código DH, 29 de enero de 2014)

Nota y comunicado de la Asamblea Popular del Pueblo Juchiteco – APPJ(Kaos en la Red, 29 de enero de 2014)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Closing off of communal paths and police operation over construction of wind-energy park (9 December 2013)

Oaxaca: New threats of displacement from Playa Vicente (25 October 2013)

Oaxaca: Death by gunfire of opponent to wind-energy projected promoted by multinational Fenosa Natural Gas (20 August 2013)

Oaxaca: “The Isthmus at the Crossroads” Seminar (20 August 2013)

Oaxaca: Attacks on those opposed to the wind-energy park in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (4 August 2013)

Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)