June 30, 2020
ALCALDÍA ÚNICO CONSTITUCIONAL SAN MATEO DEL MAR, TEH., OAX.
“2020, Year of the pluriculturality of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples”
Imiün tiül mipoch teat Monteok: Jane kon nejiw, teat monxey, jane kon nejiw müm montaj, tajlüyiw wüx nangaj monopoots iüt kam, tüjchiw omalüw, omeajtsüw, tüjndiw mayeriw miiündüw nejiw, at kon nej almajlüyiüts ikootsa nganüy, netam müjchiiüts majlüy noik nej andeakaats, noik nej majüy mipochiiüts, atan kiaj meawan leaw najneaj almajiüraats tiül mikambajaats, ndom witemoots. Metepeayeyoots imiün wüx minüt müm nijmeor mayambaats monajneaj. Tamtam man ajlüyiiüts.
From the voice of our ancestors: Who man, who woman, who lived in these sacred lands, gave breath and air, because this is how we survived. Now let’s put our voices together, our word, all the beauty that our people have, let’s rise up. We greet you in the name of our Father, our Mother. May we be well.
San Mateo del Mar, Tehuantepec; Oaxaca to June 28, 2020.
To State, National and International Authorities
To the peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico and the world
To the Media
To state, national and international Organization of Human Rights Defenders.
To the Ikoots People of San Mateo del Mar.
SYSTEMIC VIOLENCE CRIMINALIZES IKOOTS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
57 days have passed since the criminal group commanded by JORGE LEONCIO ARROYO RODRIGUEZ and the Municipal President BERNARDINO PONCE HINOJOSA attacked the town of San Mateo del Mar. Since last May 3rd they have burned houses, injured people and murdered the substitute municipal agent of Huazantlán de Río. As of today, the community continues without security, so the violent actions continue and unfortunately, more Ikoots men and women have died. The government is still absent.
This ARMED GROUP under the command of the former head of the Unit of Attention to Indigenous Students of the UABJO, Jorge Leoncio Arroyo Rodríguez has interests in controlling the territory due to its strategic location, in addition to keep 60 million pesos of the municipal resource, says the Municipal President BERNARDINO PONCE HINOJOSA. For that reason this group has FINANCED ELECTORAL CAMPAIGNS for the Municipal PRESIDENTS in 2017 and recently in 2019, which were supported by both the Government and electoral institutions, thus displacing the traditional indigenous form of government election in this municipality and imposing instead the method of list of candidates. This opens the way for the assembly to be vulnerable and to allow the purchase of votes in exchange for money or food, taking advantage of poverty and the need of our more vulnerable people.
As authorities we want to point out:
– The case of SAN MATEO DEL MAR, is not an internal conflict between communities or between agencies, it is an attack by an armed group, an external agent, a businessman with economic and political interests that co-opts community members, and now he intends to continue controlling them, fabricating information and distorting the truth for his own purposes.
– Since last year and again on January 20, 2020, the authorities of the municipal capital, the agencies and communities of the Ikoots municipality of San Mateo del Mar, informed the State government of these acts and requested its intervention.
Because the last municipal authorities have not complied with the rituals and have not respected the BASTÓN DE MANDO [1], and because the system of government election by Usos y Costumbres [traditions and customs] has been displaced and unrecognized, the Ikoots people raised their voices. On January 20, February 19, March 10, 11, and 12 of this year, with Assembly Minutes in hand, the authorities appeared before the General Secretariat of the State of Oaxaca Government requesting the urgent intervention to attend the political issues.These requests were never met by any government institution.
Agreements were established in assembly to suspend social and ceremonial events. It was agreed to install a sanitary filter nearby the Huazantlán del Río Agency to avoid COVID-19 infections, in order to strengthen the care of families within the municipality’s communities. On May 2, some citizens, including the Agent of Santa Cruz, did not respect the agreements of the assembly, and with the support of President Bernardino Ponce Hinojosa, they generated an attack on the community, burned the houses of the authorities and the office of the Municipal Agency. They also attacked the office of the Colonia Juárez Agency with firearms, beat the police and traditional authorities of the place. In Col. Costa Rica they burned two more houses, one was the home of the substitute agent.
Since May 3, the intervention of the General Secretariat of the Government (SEGEGO), the Secretary of Public Security, the Human Rights Defender of the State of Oaxaca and the National Commission of Human Rights was repeatedly requested. It was requested to have a meeting with the presence of the Ministry of Public Security, the National Guard, the State Attorney General and the Human Rights Ombudsman, which finally took place on May 26 of this year in the Administrative City, in which, without further agreements, the security bodies told us that they DID NOT HAVE THE TECHNICAL CAPACITY to permanently offer security in the community, as requested by the people, but that if the sanitary filter (“blockade” as they called it) was lifted, they could come in to check out every third or fourth day. This was informed to the People’s Assembly.
After the armed attack of May 02 and 03 in Huazantlán del Río, the security force entered the town twice, first on May 08, the second was on May 28, the latter, at the request of the staff of the Bienestar program established in that place that saw the office of the municipal agency taken over by armed people. That same day at 1:00 p.m. by phone the prosecutor was again asked to resume the pending proceedings and set up the place to take the victims’ statement.
After that date, the security forces did not return, despite the fact that every day security was requested for all the residents of all the communities of the municipality. They were informed of the presence of hooded and armed men wandering around the main streets of the entire municipal territory. People with their faces covered and carrying long weapons had control of the road by Col. Reforma.
On June 21, to establish security and carry out a posthumous ceremony for the authority assassinated on May 2, the Analysis and Information assembly was scheduled in the community of Huazantlán del Río, in a space alternative to the agency since this was still taken by the armed group, but it could not be done.
As the facts are already known by the public and the victims have increased, this institutional violence does not stop. With all the false information intended to distort the real problem, the president’s armed group uses our neighbors who lend themselves to make false and unsustainable statements that harm our people and our assembly. They advocate causes that seek to incriminate the Ikoots people on the grounds of violating rights.
The case of San Mateo del Mar is a case of political violence and omission by the State. As [Indigenous] people, the absence of the government is clear to us. It is necessary to review the levels of responsibility, the role of the security forces, their omissions, if it is to prevent or only to intervene when crimes have already been committed. Our questions:
Why did the National Guard abandon the town on the night of June 21? Why did they withdraw from the place?
Why did the State Government not attend when we requested attention?
Who did not do or act accordingly to avoid this tragedy?
To which political and economic interests do government institutions that violate our autonomy respond?
As representatives of 13 of the communities that make up the municipality, we have requested precautionary measures for the entire population, we ask ourselves: What does this mechanism consist of and at what time is it granted? We are left with many questions about state institutions. We want to state that the situation of insecurity and armed attack is updated day by day. Until today activities have not been normalized. We cannot walk safely. We URGENTLY request to make effective the Precautionary Measures requested since May 3rd because, as of to date, even with the acts of violence, we continue in the same situation.
Families, men, women, girls, boys, elderly women and men live in a constant state of fear, there is no governability in our municipality as the same authorities have pointed out. We ask Congress to take action on this matter and guarantee the safety of the community, because as a people we must be in the necessary conditions to continue looking for a way to solve this problem.
Finally, to our Ikoots relatives, we express our concern. We are tired, but we know that this is the time to be more united as a people. It is only us, ourselves, who in the end must sit down and seek unity, here the enemy is not the Ikoots, but the mol, the foreigner who has come to harm both our people and our youth. JORGE LEONCIO ARROYO RODRÍGUEZ we know what he has stolen from us in our municipality, the damage to youth, women and men that he has co-opted. We invite everyone to find a solution to this problem. Today we live in difficult times, and like the reed, we bend with the wind, but we do not break, we are a people who seek peace, we do not want our sons and daughters to suffer.
We invite each and every one of our neighbors to join us in strengthening our culture, in performing our rites. We are deeply sorry that the death of our brothers and sisters is being used for political purposes, that the pain of families who are in permanent mourning is exploited, that the pain of women is a commodity with which the vultures are profiting. We ask respect for the bereaved and for the memory of our brothers and sisters, whom we hope that Teat Monteok, who is the one who finally guards us, together with nangaj iüt monopoots, receive our brothers and sisters, victims of this corruption.
SINCERELY
MUNICIPAL AGENCIES AND COMMUNITIES OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF SAN MATEO DEL MAR
Notes
[1] A staff or baton indicative of authority
Original communique: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/2020/06/30/comunicado-de-agencias-municipales-y-comunidades-que-integran-el-municipio-de-san-mateo-del-mar/