Oaxaca: Violent Attacks in San Mateo del Mar Leave 15 Dead

@Unotv

On June 21st and 22nd, two attacks occurred in the municipality of San Mateo del Mar on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which resulted in 15 deaths and several injuries. There were also reports of people being tortured and burned.

On June 21st, after a call by the municipal agencies of San Mateo del Mar to an analysis and information assembly between the community authorities in Huazantlan del Rio, people from the Union of Ikoots Agencies and Communities traveling to the meeting “found burning tires everywhere” at a Coronavirus checkpoint “that impeded the passage and in the middle of the flames, men with their faces covered began to fire their firearms, immediately injuring several people who were in the trucks.” In a statement published the same day by the Ikoots Union of Agencies and Communities, the complicity of the municipal president and a businessman from San Mateo del Mar was noted, and an urgent call was made to have a public security presence. In this instance, at least four people were reported injured.

On the morning of June 22nd, a new violent clash was reported between members of the San Mateo del Mar city council, headed by the municipal president, and people from the Ikoots Union of Agencies and Communities. It took place after elements of the National Guard and State Police entered to escort the inhabitants of San Mateo del Mar to Huazantlan del Rio to carry out the community assembly, which was not possible. In that moment, violence broke out, leaving a balance of 15 deaths.

It should be remembered that there was an attack in May of this year in the same municipality and that San Mateo del Mar, where a regulatory system of customary law prevails, and it has remained in political conflict since last year because five of the eight municipal agencies consider that there were irregularities in the election of the municipal president.

For more information in Spanish:

Crece masacre en San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca; suman 15 muertos. (El Universal Oaxaca, 22 de junio)

Tras tercer atentado en San Mateo del Mar escala la violencia en municipio ikoots(Educa Oaxaca, 22 de junio)

Escala violencia en san Mateo del Mar; agresión en filtro sanitario deja al menos 4 heridos. (El Universal, 21 de junio)

Enfrentamiento deja al menos 15 muertos en San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca (El sol de México, 22 de junio)

 For more information from SIPAZ

Oaxaca: Violence in San Mateo del Mar Leaves One Dead (May 7, 2020)

Oaxaca: Threats from shock groups in San Dionisio del Mar; alternative plan for wind-energy in the Tehuantepec Isthmus (October 26, 2012)

Oaxaca: Ikoots community denounces incursion by private firm and “rigged” assembly in San Dionisio del Mar; invitation to a Meeting for Resistance (September 18, 2012)