Those kidnapped belong to three families linked to a regional environmental movement known as the Organization of Ecologist Farmers. Two leaders of this organization, Eva Alarcon and Marcial Bautista, were abducted earlier this month as they traveled aboard a passenger bus on their way to a meeting in Mexico City.

The daughters of the two kidnapped organizers held a press conference in Mexico City Tuesday begging the kidnappers to negotiate and to return their parents alive.

Twenty four local police and four state level detectives have been arrested in connection to the federal investigation into the case.

The whereabouts of the abducted environmental activists and their relatives remains unknown.

Papers with names of the murdered and disappeared on a wall in Oaxaca City

Much of the news of Mexico’s Drug War focuses on the shootouts, massacres and abductions which have killed tens of thousands of people in the north. Violence in the south takes on a different form and generally receives less attention.

Download audio file (20110919sy.mp3)

The southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas share certain characteristics. They are Mexico’s poorest states, are rich in natural resources, have large indigenous populations and long traditions of social movements.

In parts of southern Mexico, the legacy of the decades-long Dirty War against political dissidents has dovetailed with the climate of violence and impunity of the ongoing Drug War.

MICAELA CABAÑAS: “Desde hace mas de 40 años que tenemos en esta lucha…(fade under, reporter interprets)

Such is the case of Micaela Cabañas, who joined the caravan in her home state of Guerrero. Her father, the iconic guerrilla leader and rural teacher, Lucio Cabañas, died during an army siege in the mid ’70s. Her mother and aunt, Isabel and Reyna Anaya, were assassinated just over two months ago while leaving a church. Just hours after the crime, Micaela Cabañas received a death threat from the cell phone that had been stolen from her murdered mother.

MICAELA CABAÑAS (voiceover): “We have to continue the struggle. We have to continue planting seeds – seeds that send down firm roots steeped in education and culture – to continue on this path towards the light.”

A historic grievance in this corner of Mexico has been indigenous control over ancestral territory. Conflicts over land can take many forms; from outright paramilitary displacement campaigns sponsored by powerful regional land bosses…to rifts within a community over religion or politics. Exploitation of inter-communal divisions are sometimes fueled by outside forces.

One of the deadliest recent rural conflicts in Oaxaca occurred last year in the town of San Juan Copala. Armed men forced supporters of

Caravan event in the main plaza of Oaxaca City

a local self-governance model to flee the town after a 10 month long siege. The displaced say their aggressors received resources from what was then the state’s ruling party to keep the town under siege and crush the indigenous autonomy project.

Macario Garcia Merino spoke to the caravan during one of its stops in Oaxaca.

MACARIO GARCIA MERINO (voiceover):“It’s not just the situation in San Juan Copala and it’s not specific to the state of Oaxaca. We’ve come to realize that this situation, this war of extermination, is throughout the entire country. This is why we need all need to band together and walk together to find justice.”

San Juan Copala, like other areas experiencing forced displacements, is believed to contain significant mineral wealth.

(SPEECH/AMBI – Monte Alban ceremony)

The issue of conflict and indigenous control over their mineral-rich lands was acknowledged specifically during a ceremony for caravan participants at the Monte Alban archaeological site.

Amada Puentes, whose son has been missing since he was taken from the streets of Monterrey by policemen more than 2 years ago, said the ceremony for peace had a profound impact.

Banner with written messages next to caravan bus

AMADA PUENTES: “Cuando iniciamos la caravana, yo todavía traía en mi corazón deseos de venganza, ya no tanto de justicia, de venganza. En esta ceremonia creanme que me cambió la manera de pensar “(fade under, reporter interprets)

Puentes says even at the start of the caravan her heart yearned for revenge; not so much for justice any more, but revenge. But she says the ceremony at Monte Alban changed her way of thinking.

PUENTES (voiceover):“I now feel calmer than at the start of this journey. And I know now that it was worth it because I felt connected and I could see that I’m not alone. Even with all the people at the start of this trip, I felt isolated. After such an amazing moment [in the ceremony], my way of thinking and feeling changed. Even though I continue to cry on the inside, I now feel strong. I feel accompanied. And I feel hopeful that I’ll find my son soon.”

From Oaxaca, the caravan continued on to Chiapas, where a delegation met with the indigenous pacifist community Las Abejas and the leadership of a Zapatista base community.

The caravan also focused attention on the relatively under-covered dangers faced by undocumented migrants and their advocates in southern Mexico.

Sunday night, the bus loads of drug war victims, human rights activists, observers and journalists received a welcome by thousands ofpeople in Xalapa, the state capital of Veracruz – a city which has recently begun to experience the shoot outs and spike in missing persons cases that have plagued the north.

(Julian LeBaron tape – fade under, reporter interprets)

In Xalapa’s main plaza, Julian LeBaron, a home builder who has lost a brother and a brother in law to the violence in his home state of Chihuahua, told the crowds of people who have lost loved ones that the house that is best protected isn’t the one with the most police guarding it, but rather the one with the most organized residents.

(Julian LeBaron continues, reporter interprets)

LeBaron said that while he is a victim of crime, members of the the movement need to stop viewing themselves as victims and become the agents of the change they want to see.

 (This report was produced for the September 19, 2011 broadcast of Free Speech Radio News. The audio is downloadable here.)

Earlier this summer, Sicilia led a caravan through northern Mexico to bring attention to the on-the-ground situation in the states hardest hit by “narco-killings”. The southbound caravan will visit Mexico’s poorest states, which are home to large indigenous populations and significant expanses of natural wealth.

The drug war in southern Mexico takes on a different form from the large-scale shoot outs and massacres that have made civilian life difficult in the northern states. The shared border with Guatemala has become a hot spot for the shipment of drugs stored in Central America. Years ago, organized criminals muscled into the smuggling, trafficking and kidnapping of migrants who cross Mexico without visas on their way to the border with the United States.

The caravan is likely to focus public attention on the more hidden aspects of violence and impunity in the southern states; the displacement of indigenous communities, land grabs in resource-rich areas, rural para-militarism and politically-motivated attacks targeted at indigenous autonomy and social movements.

The caravan passed through Morelos today and will visit Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz and Puebla over the coming days before returning to Mexico City on September 19th.

A painted banner from the displaced persons camp in Oaxaca

Families displaced by violence in the Mexican town of San Juan Copala are attempting to return to the homes they fled last year. The rural town in the southern state of Oaxaca declared itself autonomous in January of 2007, but differences among factions in the region led to what many call “a paramilitary siege” which lasted for 10 months.

Download audio file (20110524CC.mp3)

In the early months of the siege armed men blocked vehicular access to and from San Juan Copala and fired shots from the hills that overlook the town. As the situation intensified, snipers targeted the families of those who supported the autonomy project – often wounding people who left their homes or who attempted to flee the town on foot.

By mid-October of 2010, more than a dozen of the small town’s residents were dead and many others had been wounded by gunfire.

Some residents who have escaped the conflict fled to Oaxaca City where they set up a protest camp in front of the Government Palace. Women here swept the side walk this morning ahead of their departure for Mexico City as part of a caravan.

Reyna Martinez Flores is the spokesperson for the Oaxaca City camp and is herself displaced by the conflict.

She says the purpose of the caravan is to demand justice for those who were killed and to gather up the displaced in order to return to the town.

Two caravans of observers attempted to reach San Juan Copala last year. Armed men fired upon the first one, killing a prominent Mexican human rights activist and a Finnish observer. The second caravan was prevented from advancing to the town by a convoy of state police.

I asked Reyna Martinez Flores if the state government of Oaxaca had given assurances that the caravan would be able to reach the town this time.

“We haven’t received any guarantees and we’re well aware of this…but the thing is that we’ve been here for a long time already and the people want to go back to their town, to their homes. The government has been stringing us along …and has even told us that we should wait until there are conditions for our return. But the people are fed up – desperate in the sense that they no longer want to wait until the government decides when it’s time to go back to San Juan Copala.  The displaced persons are the ones who took this decision and we’re going to respect it.”

Those who fled San Juan Copala either sought refuge in the indigenous Triqui region or have been living in the camps that were established last August in the state capital and in Mexico City. Martinez Flores told FSRN that a group of women will remain behind in the Oaxaca City camp in the event that the displaced are unable to return to their town.

[This report originally aired in the May 24, 2011 broadcast of FSRN]

Police reports indicate the ambush occurred at a spot in the road that had been blocked by large mounds of dirt. Three of the trucks the victims were travelling in were set on fire.

A dispute has been festering in Choapam since December, when a local election was annulled due to irregularities. While the conflict may go beyond the simple politics of which political faction controls the town, details have been sparse. The town is a ten hour drive from the state capital, which prevents reporters with same-day deadlines from visiting the crime scene. This logistical detail also means that many of the comments on the situation cited in news reports come from politicians based in the state capital.

Choapan is located near Oaxaca’s border with Veracruz, a region that has experienced it’s share of drug violence. Most of said violence has been in and around the city of Tuxtepec. In the state capital, the massacre has led to furious finger pointing between members of the new reformist government and the party that controlled the state’s politics for 8 decades.

Reyna Martinez Flores of the displaced persons protest camp in Oaxaca City

The rural town of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca was thrust into an international spotlight a year ago when an armed group opened fired on a caravan of human rights activists, teachers, and international observers. Two people, Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola, were killed by gunshots to the head.

The incident called wider attention to a cycle of violence and power struggles that had been damaging the indigenous Triqui community for decades. It also revealed a blatant lack of action on the part of authorities to protect a civilian population from attacks by irregular armed groups.

In August of 2010, women and children who fled the siege of the town of San Juan Copala set up a protest camp in the central plaza of Oaxaca City. They were joined by others after a violent – and deadly – displacement campaign forced supporters of the autonomy movement from the town. More than 8 month later, they remain camped out under the arches of the Government Palace.

[dewplayer:http://www.southnotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ReinaMtzFloresApril27_lofi.mp3]

There’s no solid indication of when – or if – they be able to return to their homes. As an event to mark the 1 year anniversary of the deaths of Cariño and Jaakkola wrapped up, South Notes spoke with Reyna Martinez Flores about displacement, impunity, and the role women can play in the peacemaking process.

The audio interview is in Spanish and can be downloaded here.

Protest Graffitti - Oaxaca City - Sept. 2010

Across Mexico today, celebrations to mark the 100 year anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution. Amongst other things, the revolution was considered a victory for the country’s rural poor, who won land rights away from the wealthy elite.

While Mexico today is preoccupied with with the bloody Drug War in the country’s north, small farmers are facing a new fight over land rights in the south.

[dewplayer:http://www.southnotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/twtw_MexRevCen.mp3]

[Chants from Oaxaca City march for Copala]

Women march through the streets of Oaxaca City to call attention to the situation in the farming village of San Juan Copala.

Most of these women fled the town this summer during a violent paramilitary offensive that killed about 20 residents.

[Efendia López speaking in Triqui]

Efendia López is one of those who left.

MULT-I protest camp in the Zocalo

She says men, women and children were shot to death. Others were wounded, gang-raped, or received death threats. Like Lopez, many of the displaced have settled in Oaxaca’s state capitol.

They set up a protest camp in the main square of Oaxaca City, desperate for help.

Reina Martínez speaks for the group.

[Reina Martínez speaking in Spanish]

Martínez accuses the state government of being behind the armed groups that have been working in San Juan Copala.

She says the government is exploiting local political differences as part of a deadly divide-and-conquer strategy.

San Juan Copala is home to fertile farm land…but it also has valuable forests…and studies suggest, under all of it, valuable minerals.

San Juan Copala isn’t the only town in Oaxaca where farmers are facing a bleak future.

Opposition to the Paso de la Reina dam

[Juan Gómez speaking in Spanish]

Juan Gómez is with a group fighting a planned hydroelectric dam on the Rio Verde. The project would flood thousands of acres of agricultural land.

Gómez says they’ve tried to convince the federal government to cancel the project, but their campaign hasn’t worked.

Local control of communal farmland was one of the big changes after the Mexican Revolution. It was protected in the country’s Constitution…until 1992, and NAFTA.

Allowing private sale and ownership of farmland was one of the requirements of Mexico signing onto the North American Free Trade Agreement. That, and an end to some subsidies for farmers who made a living off the land.

Almost two decades later, those reforms are one of the reasons behind a big change in Mexican rural society. Millions of farmers have moved to cities – and to the United States – in search of a living.

[José Rodríguez speaking in Spanish]

Environmental consultant Jose Rodríguez says Mexican farmers used to have a guaranteed price for crops like beans

Zapata on a bike on a wall on Avenida Juárez, Oaxaca - 2010

and corn. He says cheap corn from the United States meant price cuts in Mexico…devastating the rural economy.

[sfx of Oaxaca City protest]

That, and the violent fights over valuable resources under all that land has left Efendia Lopez and others at the Oaxaca City protest camp with an uncertain future.

[López speaking in Triqui]

López says she left everything behind…her home…her animals. She says they didn’t do anything to deserve this.

Rural discontent helped fuel the Mexican Revolution that began 100 years ago today. There may be discontent again…but with Mexico now an increasingly urban country, rural life, and those who cling to it, are being left behind.

[NOTE: This report was produced for November 20, 2010 edition of the CBC's "The World This Weekend". All rights reserved by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.]

A gabion along a creek traps soil rushing downhill

Residents of the Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca are still digging out from a rash of late summer landslides. The disasters killed dozens of people, destroyed homes and blocked rural highways. The landslides were blamed on unusually heavy rains and bad mountain roads… but deforestation and poor agricultural practices have made erosion a chronic problem in the region. Now some local residents are trying to address the problem by experimenting with low-tech traditional practices. Shannon Young reports.

[dewplayer:http://media.theworld.org/audio/102020107.mp3]

REPORTER: Back-to-back storms have drenched Oaxaca and three neighboring states in this busy hurricane season. Much of this rain has hit remote mountainous regions that are already prone to landslides . Storm-related damage to roads has left some towns unreachable by car for weeks.

Forest management consultant Jose Rodriguez says the Mexican government hasn’t provided much help in cleaning up, so the task has largely fallen to unpaid locals with their own shovels.

Impassable roads are a fact of life during the rainy season in southern Mexico’s most remote areas.  Deforestation and overgrazing on steep mountainsides have helped create serious erosion problems here…but much of the erosion is preventable.  Without much help from the government, some local residents have begun fighting erosion and other land use problem with low cost do-it-yourself techniques.

The town of San Andres Huayapam overlooks Oaxaca City from the foothills of the Sierra Norte mountains. The town’s original name

Downtown San Andres Huayapam

means “on the big water”…but the springs that inspired the name have been drying up. The area now swings between drought and the kind of floods experienced in recent weeks.  But one project here has developed a system to restore the ecological balance.

JUAN JOSE CONSEJO: “What we try to do is combine scientific and traditional in a way that everyone gets a better condition.”

Juan Jose Consejo is the director of Oaxaca’s Institute of Nature and Society. He’s working on what’s called the Pedregal permaculture farm and demonstration center.  The project is experimenting with various combinations of modern and traditional technologies for retaining soil and recharging watersheds.

Consejo shows off one erosion control system on the Pedregal site.

Trenches running down this hillside channel heavy rainwater that would otherwise carve out gulches and gashes. The trenches contain chain link cages filled with rocks, which trap eroding soil. The topsoil is then collected and piled onto nearby hillside cornfields that have been stabilized with new terraces and hedgerows.

(water flowing through a small dam)

The demonstration center also has 2 small dams… one built with reinforced concrete and one made using an old technique combining earth and large rocks.  The dams catch overflowing creek water during the rainy season for irrigation during the dry season.
JUAN JOSE CONSEJO: “The idea is to give a little help to nature to do what nature does in healthy conditions. That means – lets the water run down, forming ponds and steppes. Then we have a system of terraces in order to protect the soil from erosion.”

After the recent downpours, the dams and traps are filled to capacity.  But the experimental plots seem to have weathered the season better than much of the surrounding landscape.

(hiking sounds)

Farmer Pedro Santiago in San Andres Huayapam

REPORTER AT SCENE: “Standing on a hillside, I can see the hills that have been reforested. Now, as I turn around and look at the opposite face of the canyon, gashes have been cut into the hillside by running water and these gashes converge into an entire area balded right down to the rock.”

(walking up a cornfield)

Local farmer and traditional leader Pedro Santiago set up the Pedregal center five years ago. Santiago says managing the many experimental projects here requires patience and ceaseless hard labor….but that signs of success are emerging.

Forest ecologist Jose Rodriguez says more than 2 dozen towns have implemented stewardship programs similar to the work done at the Pedregal center and elsewhere in the region… but tailored to their own diverse local conditions.

The combination of old and new approaches being demonstrated here won’t completely solve the erosion crisis in this part of Mexico.  But these small-scale efforts here in Oaxaca are showing that it IS possible to restore degraded land and to protect Mexico’s hillsides against the devastating effects of rain that just doesn’t seem to stop.

For The World, I’m Shannon Young in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Saturday, September 25: Around 100 people participate in a women’s march in Oaxaca City called by women from the MASJC encampment. One person, David García Ramírez, remains missing.

Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortíz denies the presence of paramilitaries, deaths or missing persons in San Juan Copala.

Friday, September 24: The Las Abejas Civil Society, survivors of the Acteal Massacre of 1997, express concern over the actions of armed groups in the Triqui region in a letter addressed to top national and state government officials.

Day 45 of the women’s protest encampment in support of the Municipio Autonomo de San Juan Copala (MASJC). Day 2 of the MULT women’s sit-in.

Thursday, September 23: Women from the MULT begin a sit-in in the Alameda de Leon, on the opposite end of the Zócalo from the encampment of displaced autonomy sympathizers. MULT sympathizers say they will continue their sit-in until a march planned for Oct 12th.

Ten female autonomy movement members lift their hunger strike after 3 days, saying all but the most elderly of their members have fled San Juan Copala.

September 22, 2010: Day three of women’s hunger strike in Oaxaca City camp. Oaxaca’s State Human Rights commissions issues written recommendations regarding the Copala case.

Around 400 people have reportedly fled San Juan Copala at this point, with many taking refuge in nearby communities.

Eugenio Martínez López, María Agustina Flores, and Jordan Gonzales – previously reported as missing – now confirmed as alive. New missing persons reported by the Oaxaca City camp: Angelina Ramírez Ortega, María Juana Agustina and a granddaughter, Sofía Martínez. The number of missing persons remains at 6.

September 21, 2010: Pablo Velasco Dorantes (16) reported as injured from gunfire on Sunday, September 19th. José Gonzalo Cruz added to list of missing; six total.

Children removed from Oaxaca City hunger strike in its second day.

MULT issues communique regarding church-mediated dialogue.

Reports that houses belonging to MULT-I leaders and sympathizers burned inside of San Juan Copala.

September 20, 2010: Displaced women and children begin hunger strike in Oaxaca City camp demanding safe passage for some 30 autonomy sympathizers trapped in the town.

Family of MULT-affiliated Daniela and Virginia Ortíz Ramírez issues communique asking MULT-I not to count the missing sisters among their dead.

Citing weekend violence, MULT-I cancels participation in dialogue meeting called by the Bishop of Tehauntepec and Wilfrido “Padre Uvi” Mayrén. MULT attends. UBISORT was not invited for the 1st round of talks.

September 19, 2010: A “considerable group” of autonomy sympathizers flee San Juan Copala in the night to take refuge in other communities, according to the women in the Oaxaca City camp.

Paulino Ramírez Reyes reportedly killed. Jordan González Ramírez, Susana López Martínez, Eugenio Martínez, and María Augustina Flores missing.

A video uploaded a “grito” Independence celebration inside of the Copala municipal office with alleged members of UBISORT.

September 18, 2010: David Garcia Ramirez shot while attempting to leave Copala. Reported as dead, but found wounded. Women from Oaxaca City camp say state police handed him over wounded but alive to paramilitaries.

September 15, 2010: Celebrations held across Mexico for the Bicentennial of the declaration of Independence. Macaria Merino Martínez (85) wounded by gunfire.

September 14, 2010: María Rosa Francisco and María Rosa López wounded by gunfire. Paramilitaries allegedly issue moratorium to leave town or face death.

September 13, 2010: Displaced women agree to move their protest encampment from the zocalo for Bicentennial festivities in exchange for state government promise to send 15 tons of food aid and two state police patrols to San Juan Copala.

Armed men allegedly with UBISORT and MULT take control of San Juan Copala.

September 7, 2010: Two women attacked while attempting to escape San Juan Copala. Natalia Cruz Bautista gang-raped and beaten, Francisca de Jesús García wounded by a bullet in the back while running away. Those accused of the rape are: Antonio “El Pájaro Toño” Cruz García, Julio César Martínez Morales, Ramiro Domínguez García, and Mauro Vásquez.

September 5, 2010: Pedro Santos Castro, municipal agent of Agua Fría Copala killed – MULT and UBISORT blamed.

August 22, 2010: Caravan scheduled to leave Copala with women and children canceled.

August 21, 2010: Ambush in the community of Hierba Santa targets truck carrying people organizing the women’s caravan to Mexico City. Antonio Ramírez López, Antonio Cruz García and Rigoberto González die in the attack. Victor de Jesus Gonzalez and Alfredo Martínez González injured.

August 11, 2010: Women and children displaced from San Juan Copala set up a protest encampment in the Zocalo of Oaxaca City

August 9, 2010: Announcement of a “Third Peace Caravan” to transport women and children from San Juan Copala to Mexico City on August 23rd.

July 30, 2010: Oaxaca state police and UBISORT enter San Juan Copala to pick up the body of UBISORT leader, Anastasio Juárez Hernández

Teenaged sisters Selena and Adela Ramírez López shot during incursion. Bullet lodged in 14 year-old Adela’s spine left her paraplegic.

June 26, 2010: Marcelina de Jesús López and Celestina Cruz Ramírez wounded by sniper fire after leaving a meeting in San Juan Copala.

June 24, 2010: Eight year-old Miriam Martínez wounded by sniper fire in San Juan Copala.

June 8, 2010: A second aid caravan carrying tons of aid and federal congressmen forced to turn back shortly after passing through Santiago Juxtlahuaca.

May 20, 2010: Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez (one of the founders of the autonomous municipality) and his wife Tleriberta Castro murdered in their home in Yosoyuxi.

May 15, 2010: Twelve women who snuck out of Copala to search for food captured and held hostage by armed men.

April 27, 2010: Paramilitaries open fire on a caravan of national and international observers, activists, teachers and journalists. Beatriz Alberta Cariño Trujillo, the director of the Centro de Apoyo Comunitario Trabajando Unidos (CACTUS A.C.) and Jyri Jaakkola, an international observer from Finland, die in the attack from gunshot wounds to the head.

November 29, 2009: Child care center fired upon. Nine year-old Elías Fernández de Jesús dies and Tomotelín y Jacinto Velasco wounded. Another unnamed child reportedly injured. The road blockade installed in La Sabana.

Hunger Strikers' Camp - Sept. 22, 2010

Women displaced by paramilitary violence from the indigenous Triqui village of San Juan Copala began a hunger strike on Monday, September 20th, calling on authorities to ensure the safety of those attempting to leave the town.

They lifted the strike on Thursday, September 23rd saying all but the most elderly of their supporters were able to escape on foot. Some of the newly-displaced spent upwards of 2 days hidden in the hills before finding shelter in nearby towns. In the past 10 days, two young men were killed and 3 women and 1 teen were wounded by gunfire while attempting to flee.

Paramilitaries allegedly affiliated with two Triqui organizations – the MULT and the UBISORT – took control of the town on September 13th. They reportedly burned the homes of autonomy supporters this week. On Thursday, around 100 women from the MULT organization set up camp in the same plaza where women displaced from Copala have been living since mid-August.

San Juan Copala is a key ceremonial center for Triqui culture at the heart of a 3-way factional struggle for territory and regional power. The region is home to productive agricultural land, rich forests, and is rumored to contain significant mineral wealth.

The UBISORT has issued a message to repopulate Copala and to recognize their authority in the town hall. The MULT denies participating in paramilitary actions in Copala and claims to seek a peaceful outcome. Sympathizers of the autonomous municipality have fled to nearby Triqui communities and to the state and national capital cities.

A peaceful resolution to the conflict remains elusive.