To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
From the depth of the Bolaños Canyon, in the autonomous indigenous community of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco.
We reach out to inform the honest individuals and collectives in Mexico and the world who stand in solidarity.
CONSIDERING:
On April 25, from the ceremonial patio in our community where we pay tribute to the gods and mother earth, we announced the National and International Campaign for Justice and Territory in Azqueltán, which was launched that day and will conclude on August 24, 2021.
That after numerous physical attacks on members and authorities of our community with the purpose of violently taking our land; after armed attacks, death threats and shameless dispossessions, numerous cases have been opened to investigate the attacks but they have only costed the community to be worn out and guaranteed the immunity of the aggressors. Furthermore, in retaliation, community members have been criminalized, falsely accused of crimes and even imprisoned. When these complaints are legitimate and come from the community, they ignore us, but when they are lies and come from those with power, our community members are judged with cruelty.
That on November 3, 2019, after the attempted murder organized by the local cacique[1] Fabio Flores Sánchez, accompanied by a violent group (composed of J. Guadalupe Javier Flores Sánchez, Eduardo Flores Mendoza, as well as the minor Juan Manuel Gómez Frausto) intending to attack our people, investigation # 522/2019 and criminal case # 120/2019 were opened. Eduardo Flores Mendoza and Juan Manuel Gómez Frausto were detained at different times by the Oral Trial and Control Court of XI Judicial District of the State of Jalisco, with headquarters in the municipality of Colotlán, which then reclassified the crime as an injury, and released them. Fabio Flores Sánchez has not been detained despite the fact that he walks around the municipality with impunity, which the prosecution has known about all along. He even comes on our communal lands as a provocation, since he is not and will never be welcome there. It appears that these criminals are being protected at some high level of government in order to make them invisible to those who should be ensuring justice.
These legal actions have taken place despite the fact that the compañeros were left unconscious and nearly dead: had they not been rescued by the community, our compañeros would have lost their lives. They had to be urgently transferred to Zacatecas and later to Guadalajara, where they were in very serious condition due to multiple fractures to the skull and the body. They continue to suffer the consequences of the injuries from which they have not recovered.
All of this was public, widely documented by the media, recorded in the medical records, and declared before the corresponding judicial authorities.
Our indigenous community, by agreement of the general assembly and following the word of our gods, who call upon us to protect and defend our mother earth,
WE CALL UPON
National and foreign human rights groups and organizations, honest lawyers, the indigenous peoples of Mexico and the world, and all good-hearted people, to publicly demand that Fabio Flores Sánchez, alias La Polla, and his violent group be prosecuted in a just manner, and punished for all their crimes, the theft of land and the suffering they have caused our people.
Sincerely
As of May 13, 2021
Never again a Mexico without us
Wixárika and Tepehuana Autonomous Community of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán
Municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco
[1] A 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.
English translation by Sexta Grietas del Norte. Original Spanish: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/2021/05/13/azqueltan-llama-a-pronunciarse-contra-la-impunidad/