Displaced Triqui women and children from the self-declared autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala began a hunger strike today to demand an end to the paramilitary violence that has killed at least ten people in the past 5 months. They are calling on the government to guarantee the safety of autonomy sympathizers trapped in the town by a paramilitary siege.

Today was to mark the start of emergency church mediated talks between MULT-I, the organization behind the autonomous municipality, and MULT, one of the groups accused of participating in the paramilitary siege of Copala. The other group is the UBISORT, which has been linked to the PRI, the political party which has ruled Oaxaca for 8 consecutive decades.

In a press conference to announce the start of their hunger strike, displaced spokesperson Reyna Martínez Flores announced that MULT-I would cancel its participation in the dialogue due to a surge of violence over the weekend. She and the other protestors want security guarantees for the evacuation of autonomy sympathizers trapped in the town, among them, two people over the age of 90.

The displaced say Paulino Ramírez Reyes was killed in Copala over the weekend. Another man, David García Ramírez, is feared dead. Jordan Gonzales Ramírez and Susana López are missing. It’s unknown if they were successfully able to flee Copala. An unnamed woman and child were also reported as injured.

Women in the protest encampment say a “considerable group” of their people were able to escape the town Saturday night and make their way to other communities, but that around 30 people have been unable to leave Copala.

Oaxaca state police went into San Juan Copala over the weekend to transport 3 wounded women to a Oaxaca City hospital and to search for the body of David García Ramírez.

The police made no arrests while in the town.

A week ago, the state government had agreed to send 15 tons of food and 2 state police patrols to Copala in exchange for the women moving their protest encampment out of the central plaza – or Zócalo – ahead of Bicentennial celebrations. The women kept their word, but food aid and police patrols never arrived.

The displaced women say they don’t trust the state government to take any action against those accused of maintaining the siege of Copala. The federal government has remained silent on the issue.