June 25, 2020
To the National Indigenous Congress
To the national and international collectives of the Sixth
To the CIG support networks
To the human rights organizations
To the media
Last Saturday, June 20, by instructions of the general assembly, the community members of San Lorenzo Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, went to the location of Sabino Quemado, which is a property for common use for our community, where we have been putting up a fence that protects against the attempted privatization of a supposed small property, work that we completed on Wednesday, June 24.
However, we denounce the harassment carried out by elements of the municipal police while we were working last Sunday, June 22 at 11:00 am, who arrived at the scene and threatened to arrest the authorities of our community in order to ensure that we did not carry out our work, and who brought “the order of a judge”, which they never showed us.
Since it is not the first time that the municipal police exclusively serves the interests of caciques [1] who aspire to take our territory, with the shameless and illegal support of the municipal government, our community decided not to stop the work that was agreed on by our highest authority, that is, the general assembly.
Once again, the police quickly appeared to attack and threaten our community members and to defend the thieves. Whereas when, we defend our communal property, they beat us, threaten us, try to murder us, steal our land and sow terror, the government simply does not exist for us.
That is why we honor our autonomy and, with our heads held high, we will not take a step back in the defense of the territory. Fearless because our existence as original peoples is at stake and once again, the bad government shows that it only exists for those who are committed to turning the land into a commodity and taking it from us. For us what they have is repression, dispossession and violence.
Attentively
As of June 25, 2020
Traditional and agrarian authorities of the autonomous indigenous community of
San Lorenzo de Azqueltán,
Municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco
Notes
[1] A cacique is person who exercises a lot of power in the political or administrative affairs of a town or region, using money or other influence to control the lives of the locals
Original communique: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/2020/06/25/azqueltan-denuncia-hostigamiento-policiaco-para-defender-despojo-y-privatizacion-de-tierras-comunales/