June 19, 2020
To the people of Mexico
To the networks of resistance and rebellion
To the National and International Sixth
To the media
To organizations in defense of territory and mother earth.
Through this communique, the National Indigenous Congress, the Indigenous Governing Council, bring to light the recent events:
In April 2019, the lands of the Ejido San Nicolas Totolapan, located in a place known as “El Cofre”, were invaded by members of the supposed Ejido of Héroes of 1910 from Mexico City. These lands are a fundamental part of the ejido [1] zone and they are part of a strip that they plan to reduce through PROCEDE/PROCECOM, today renamed FANAR by the bad government, which is nothing other than an updated instrument of dispossession.
A year after the invasion and the simulation of a judicial process that did nothing but mask the politics of dispossession, peasants and ejidatarios [ejido members] of San Nicolas Totolapan organized to reclaim their territory and return it to its use as agricultural fields.
Since then, the land has been plowed, which has led to constant confrontations with those who intend to displace the people of San Nicolas Tololapan.
Today, Friday, June 19th 2020, around midday, while our compañeros[2] were planting oats, the invaders returned, led by the businessman Andrés Arreola. In the presence of police from the Civilian Security Force of Mexico City, the compañeros of Totolapan presented documents proving that the territory belongs to their people, and they continued to work on the land.
Moments later, an armed man approached the businessman Andrés Arreola with a high caliber weapon and assassinated him in the presence of the police. The compañeros of Totolapan tried to detain the man. Moments later shots were heard.
Given the severity of the events and the riskiness of the situation, the compañeros retreated.
We denounce these acts of violence that occurred within a context of actions by unauthorized loggers and invaders, who are none other than the visible manifestation of a politics of dispossession attacking the country’s agrarian and indigenous peoples and communities. This has resulted in a profound devastation of one of the lungs of Mexico City.
We make a call to be attentive to the safety and physical integrity of our organized compañeros from the town of San Nicolas Totolapan. Let’s remember that the bad governments operate through hitmen to impose dispossession, and later they use their laws to suppress and imprison those who oppose it.
Attentively
On June 19th 2020
For the Integral Reconstitution of Our Peoples
Never Again a Mexico without Us
National Indigenous Congress
Indigenous Governing Council
Notes
[1] Communally held land. The ejido system was an important aspect of land distribution programs in the wake of the Mexican Revolution. Until the Mexican Constitution was changed in 1992, ejidos could not be divided or sold.
[2] Compañero (male) and compañera (female) and compañeroa (gender non-binary) have no exact translation in English. They lie somewhere between “comrade” and “companion.” In a political context, the term generally refers to someone who belongs to a particular organization or movement. For the CNI, CIG, and EZLN, “compa” is often used for short and refers to someone in the movement.
Original communique: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/2020/06/19/comunicado-del-cni-cig-ante-los-hechos-ocurridos-en-el-ejido-de-san-nicolas-totolapan-cdmx/