MARCH 4th, 2023
To the peoples and governments of Mexico
To human rights organizations
To the solidarity collectives
To the media
From Tehuacan, Puebla, where the national assembly of the National Indigenous Congress is in session, we denounce the disappearance yesterday of Santos de la Cruz Carrillo, agrarian authority of the Wixárika from Uweeni Muyewe-Bancos de San Hipólito, in the municipality of El Mezquital, Durango. This community is a member of the National Indigenous Congress.
The disappearance occurred following the implementation between, February 20 and 23, of agrarian trial sentence 037/2011, issued by the Agrarian Unitary Court of district 7 in the city of Durango, whereby almost 11,000 hectares of land were legally handed over as a result of a decades-long struggle by the autonomous community of Uweni Muyewe.
Yesterday at 8 in the morning, Santos de la Cruz, along with his wife Carlota and his young son Paulo, went to the municipality of Jesus Maria, Nayarit, crossing the community of Calítique, a town belonging to San Lucas de Jalpa, the agrarian center that lost the conflict leading to the legal victory of Bancos de San Hipólito. He also passed through the town of San Juán Peyotán and the so-called Pastor’s Crossroads
The entire region, including the Wixárika community of Bancos, has been hard hit by the violence generated by organized crime gangs. We declare that the agrarian struggle of Bancos is for the defense of Mother Earth, for the defense of life, of their sacred sites and for the generations to come.
For the above reasons we demand from the local governments and powers the immediate presentation alive of our compañero Santos de la Cruz Carrillo.
We call on solidarity collectives and human rights organizations to be on the alert and to raise their voices to demand the presentation of compañero Santos de la Cruz Carrillo alive.
Sincerely
March 4, 2023
For the Integral Reconstitution of Our Peoples
Never Again a Mexico Without Us
National Indigenous Congress
English translation by Sexta Grietas del Norte. Original Spanish: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/2023/03/04/congreso-nacional-indigena-exige-la-inmediata-presentacion-con-vida-de-santos-de-la-cruz-carrillo-de-la-comunidad-autonoma-wixarika-de-uweni-muyewe-bancos-de-san-hipolito/