MARCH 15, 2021
To the Peoples of Mexico and the World
To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Sixth National and International
To the Civil Mission for the Observation of Human Rights
Today, Monday, March 15, 2021, our community of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco, in compliance with the assembly agreement of March 14, 2021, gathered on the property known as El Grullal, which is located on communal land, to remove the fence placed by people outside our community, who were under the orders of an individual named Arnulfo Vázquez Márquez in an area of approximately 700 hectares (approx. 1729 acres).
Mesquite and metal posts from this location are currently being safeguarded by the general assembly, and will be available to their owners, who must claim them through pertinent legal and peaceful means.
We point out that the invading persons had already been notified on two occasions that they should immediately stop the work they were carrying out, as the general assembly decided. The first time they were warned was on February 8th and the second on February 16th; in both instances, the person who was responsible for the illegal work said that he would not stop until “his employer” told him to.
In the face of the constant and blatant impunity by the government authorities at all levels, that has motivated, protected and encouraged these illegal acts and resulted in the increasing dispossession, attempts at privatization, harassment and repression when we have defend what is ours, we decided to stop this new theft of our collective heritage, land which has been ours for thousands of years, and which is protected by a 1733 viceroyal title, and recognized in the legal procedure of Recognition and Titling of Communal Assets, carried out in District 16’s Unitary Agrarian Tribunal Agrario based in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
We demand that the theft of communal lands cease, since our mother earth is not for sale nor will we allow further dispossession or harassment of our autonomous agrarian authorities or the traditional government of Azqueltán. The reason for our ancestors’ struggles, and the hope of continuing to exist as a Tepehuana and Wixárika indigenous community is not negotiable.
We turn to the solidarity and good heart of civil society, and to human rights organizations so that, with their dignified words and their attention, they continue to accompany us, continue to act from where we are and who we are in order to prevent the powerful from exterminating the Tepecano – Tepehuano people of Azqueltán through the dispossession of our agricultural lands.
We call on you to remain attentive to the actions against our community by those who aspire to take our land at all costs, and we demand:
1. Stop the dispossession of the autonomous communal lands of Azqueltán.
2. Stop the criminalization and repression against the indigenous community authorities of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco.
3. Punish those responsible for the attacks suffered by our authorities for defending the land.
Attentively
Never again a Mexico without us
March 15, 2021
Autonomous Tepehuana and Wixárika indigenous community of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, municipality of Villa Guerrero, Jalisco
English translation by Sexta Grietas del Norte. Original Spanish: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/2021/03/15/denuncia-de-la-comunidad-de-san-lorenzo-de-azqueltan-villa-guerrero-jalisco/