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<font size=4><b>Mexico: Another Triqui leader Slain in Oaxaca<br>
</b></font><font size=3>Written by Nancy Davies
<br><br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2509-mexico-another-triqui-leader-slain-in-oaxaca" eudora="autourl">
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2509-mexico-another-triqui-leader-slain-in-oaxaca<br>
</a></font><font size=3>Wednesday, 26 May 2010 10:45 <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. " <br><br>
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<br><br>
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. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
The band Los Raices [The Roots] performs at the celebration.<br>
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.<br><br>
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:<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Venegas called for a demonstration on May 27 at 4:00 PM; a group
will march from Siete Regiones Fountain to the zócalo.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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