Police stop the caravan of the displaced from San Juan Copala

Approximately 200 police officers, belonging to the state Department of Public Security, blocked the path of the caravan of displaced Triquis who are trying to return to the cultural and ceremonial center of San Juan Copala. The police positioned themselves at kilometer 7, in the municipality of Tlaxiaco, to keep the children, women and men from entering the Triqui region.

In the group are traveling 71 Triqui women, 24 children and 26 men. As well, there are 47 members of non-governmental organizations, international observers, human rights defenders and members of an alternative media outlet.

Members of the caravan state that a stretch of the highway was dynamited near the village of Santa Catarina in order to block their path.

They say that the police operation is being headed by Víctor Raúl Martínez, coordinator of the advisers to Governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo.

These events occur 24 hours after the displaced were to sign a peace agreement, in the presence of the governor of Oaxaca. However, in meetings held through Thursday morning, members of the Union for the Social Well-Being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT) and the Triqui Movement for Unification and Struggle (MULT) made clear their disagreement with the displaced returning to Copala this week. Given the impossibility of arriving at an agreement, Governor Gabino Cué has said that he cannot guarantee the safety of the displaced.

Translated by Scott Campbell.

Photos by Editorial Huasipungo Tierra Roja

4 Comments

  1. Friday, January 27 at 12pm

    Mexico City March

    Leaving from the camp near the Cathedral at 12 noon and will make stops at the Ministry of the Interior, Casa Oaxaca and Human Rights Commission.

  2. Friday, January 27 at 12:05pm

    Communities, sympathizers and activists in of the MASJC are mobilizing to support the people displaced from San Juan Copala. Triquis are blocking Federal Highway 182 at Agua Fría Copala in their support.

  3. Friday January 27. 8:00 pm. All day the Caravan was stopped 7 kilometers outside Tlaxiaco. A report sent out from Mexico City said “they’re repressing”, but it seems that this may have referred to a brief confrontation. Talks with the government went on until after 7:00 pm although we won’t know the results until representatives of the displaced Triquis make a statement. At night, news came that the highway was no longer blocked. It is assumed that the comrades spent the night in Yosoyuxi. There were reports of communications with the Caravan being blocked.

    Saturday January 28. 1:10 am. In the corporate news media there are articles saying that the displaced Triquis have agreed to put off their entrance into Copala until the Assembly makes a decision this Sunday regarding their return, but as of now the representatives of the displaced Triquis have not confirmed this. It would be a big change in their position expressed at the beginning of the Caravan, when they said they couldn’t accept the decision of an assembly controlled by the killers of their people. It’s especially worrisome that the Cue government and the main news media are falling back on the old tactic of blaming “outside agitators” for trying to “break the peace agreements”. An article by Noticias Net that came out in the early morning hours today, January 28, says: “Atenco agitators identified in triqui caravaon. The Governor and the Minister of the Interior denounce Ignacio del Valle, leader in San Salvador Atenco, and David Venegas, “El Alebrije”.
    http://www.noticiasnet.mx/portal/principal/81625-aplazan-su-llegada-copala-desplazados

Comments are closed.