[News] Mexico: Another Triqui leader Slain in Oaxaca

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Mexico: Another Triqui leader Slain in Oaxaca
Written by Nancy Davies

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2509-mexico-another-triqui-leader-slain-in-oaxaca
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 10:45

Less than a month after the deaths of two 
activists in the ambush of a humanitarian caravan 
headed  to San Juan Copala, an armed group 
assassinated the indigenous leader Timoteo 
Alejandro Ramirez, a member of the  Movimiento de 
Unificación y Lucha Triqui-Independiente (MULT-I) 
and a founder of the autonomous community now 
under siege.  The armed group entered the home of 
Ramirez in the community of Yosoyuxi, which has 
been giving shelter to those who fled San Juan 
Copala.  The shooters also murdered 
Ramirez'  wife. At the same hour another armed 
group fired weapons  in the surroundings of the 
autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala as a warning to the townspeople.

The spokesperson and human rights representative 
of San Juan Copala, Jorge Albino Ortiz said that 
the murderers, according to neighbors in 
Yosoyuxi, arrived between 2:00 and 2:30  in the 
afternoon in a three ton truck to supposedly 
offer the sale of beer, soda and maize. The 
pushed their way into Ramirez' dwelling and began to shoot.

After killing Ramirez and his wife they escaped 
on the truck and left Yosoyuxi. The group was 
composed of mestizos dressed in civilian clothing 
and wearing white Texas-style hats; they appeared 
to be  from the neighboring town of Putla Villa de Guerrero.

The spokesperson held responsible the  Movimiento 
de Unificación y Lucha Triqui (MULT) because, he 
said, "all the assassins of Putla are linked with 
this organization and also with Unididad de 
Bienestar Social de Region Triqui (Ubisort). It 
was the MULT; it (the assassination) was paid for by the MULT. "

Albino Ortiz  described Ramirez as a natural 
leader of the Triqui people and  the "political 
brain" of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan 
Copala. A “natural leader” is someone whom the 
community selects as a leader, through usos y costumbres

It seems, Ortiz added, we're talking about a 
concerted action to maintain panic among the 
defenders of the autonomous municipality. This 
latest aggression will not stop the next peace 
and aid caravan scheduled for June 8,  Albino Ortiz declared.

At the same time, the Secretary General of 
Government Evencio Nicolas Martinez Ramirez said 
that the murder of the director of MULT-I and his 
wife was not officially confirmed but that he 
would give instructions to the attorney general 
for Justice and to the commission of Public 
Security, to investigate The attorney for the 
Triqui region seated in Huajuapan de Leon, 
Wilfrido Almaraz, said he had received the order 
to send officials and medical experts  to Yosoyuxi.

News appeared in the press with denunciations of 
events by the United Nations human rights 
committees among others, causing Ulises Ruiz, who 
had made no statement, to initiate procedures three days after the event.

The band Los Raices [The Roots] performs at the celebration.
On the evening of Friday, May 21, the Oaxaca 
group known as VOCAL sponsored a fiesta 
celebrating the lives of the slain caravaners, 
Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola. The fiesta 
included music from the 2006 movement with APPO 
songs, and the production of the traditional sand 
tapete, with Bety’s image on the left side and 
Jyri’s on the other. The altar, as these 
memorials are called, was surrounded by flowers and candles.

Amid the reading of letters and poems celebrating 
the lives of the dead,   VOCAL activist David 
Venegas, one of the riders on the caravan, 
presented his memorial speech. In it, he said:

We are now living in a state of exception, a 
fascist war. Never before has a group of 
foreigners been deliberately shot at in Mexico. 
Some people, Venegas continued, thought the 
sounds of bullets were rain. But it was bullets, 
a rain of bullets, it keeps on raining bullets, 
it’s war. It is a war for the entire nation
 We 
are prisoners of war, and now we respond with 
a  declaration of war, with words and music but 
also with barbed wire in the streets. The events 
of April 26 represent the ultimate we can 
tolerate. Those who want to vote will do so 
[referring to the upcoming July 4 election]. They 
are killing us, if they made clear their goals so 
do we, it’s the only thing we can do. They want 
the moment when nothing remains
We are not 
discouraged. We are a brave people. The entire 
country of Mexico wants what we want.

Venegas called for a demonstration on May 27 at 
4:00 PM;  a group will march from Siete Regiones Fountain to the zócalo.

The Oaxaca government assures the public that an 
investigation will go forward and that crimes in 
the Triqui region including the murders of the 
MULTI leader Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez, 46 years 
old, and and his wife Tleriberta Castro Aguilar, 
aged 36, will be punished. Four spent shells of a 
9 millimeter were picked up at the home of the 
leader as well as two pieces of the projectiles 
and a  machete were retrieved as evidence.

No crime by paramilitaries has ever been 
punished, or even prosecuted, in Oaxaca, 
including the murders of 26 during the social 
movement of 2006,  along with hundreds of imprisoned, tortured and disappeared.




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