In Mexico’s state of Oaxaca there has been a ongoing blockade since January 2010. In the mountains of the region of San Juan Copala, the Triqui people are starving and dying off slowly due to a blockade that has remained in place since January of 2010 by the military group UBISORT (Union de bienestar de la region Triqui). The people of San Juan Copala have no access to basic necessities such as water or medical attention. UBISORT is said to be government funded by the ruling party in México, el PRI, and barricaded the city of San Juan Copala after the Triqui had peacefully declared their own autonomy. The people nearly ran the PRI governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, out of office. Several humanitarian aid caravans have tried to make their way to San Juan Copala with no support or guarantee of their safety from the Méxican government.
Twelve people were kidnapped and disappeared in San Juan Copala on May 16, following the ambush of a caravan on April 27, 2010 in which two human rights activists were murdered by Unión de Bienestar de la Región Triqui (Ubisort) paramilitaries. The twelve disappeared are women and children. The kidnapping appeared to be a reprisal for the call to send a second, international and larger caravan to San Juan Copala, scheduled for June 8. At the close of Sunday May 16, late information was received that all the women and children had been freed. Nevertheless the denunciation of their disappearance was published to illustrate the contempt the state government and the State Commission for Human Rights hold for the Triquis.
Title: Oaxaca: The Ongoing Extermination of San Juan Copala’s Autonomous Triquis
Publication: Upside Down World, 17 May 2010
Author: Nancy Davies
Title: Oaxaca: Paramilitaries Ambush Inernational Aid Caravan: Two Dead
IndyBay.org, 4/28/10
Author: Kristin Bricker
URL: www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/04/28/18645993.php
Faculty Evaluator: _Suzel Bozada Diaz, Sonoma State University
Student Reporter: Angelina Bravo, Sonoma State University