Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez speaking at a mining opposition event in Xalapa, Veracruz (Feb 25, 2012)

A well-known environmental activist in Oaxaca, Mexico was murdered Thursday night in a highway ambush about an hour south of the state capital. Thirty-two year old Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez – a vocal opponent to a Canadian-owned mining project – was shot multiple times in the chest when armed men attacked his car along the road which connects his hometown, San Jose del Progreso, to the regional hub of Ocotlán.

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His brother, Andrés Vásquez and his cousin, Rosalinda Dionicio – both active in the local struggle against the mine – have been hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Bernardo Vásquez died upon arrival at a regional clinic.

The men responsible for the attack have not been identified, but the organization Vásquez led – the Coordinating Committee of the United Towns of the Valley – has meticulously documented the actions of a group they say has been funded and armed by mining interests.

In a recent interview with FSRN, Bernardo Vazquez Sanchez described how in 2006, the then-mayor of San Jose del Progreso signed a deal with mine representatives without consulting the town’s residents.

Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez: “We found out about it in 2008. That year was marked by demands and peaceful protests against the mayor. In 2009, with the occupation of the mine, the pressure became more notable. And it was in May of 2009 when we found out about the pro-mine organization. And it was that month when we began to see armed men who belonged to said organization. Those armed men who belonged to that organization, are now part of the town governing council and they’ve now brought in guys from other towns to act as their gunmen.” 

Water reservoir in San José del Progreso

The mine in San José del Progreso operates as Minera Cuzcatlán, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver.

Bernardo Vázquez showed FSRN a case file of documentation, including photographs of men with weapons reserved exclusively for military use. His group had identified the men by name and – in the face of state government inaction – had planned to deliver the evidence to the Canadian Embassy.

While opposition to the mining project is a main thrust of the Coordinating Committee of the United Towns of the Valley, it’s part of a larger set of demands for greater self-determination and territorial control in Oaxaca; Mexico’s most indigenous state.

Again, Bernardo Vazquez Sanchez.

Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez: “The problem with the San José mine isn’t just limited to San José del Progreso. It’s a problem for Oaxaca. It’s a nationwide problem. It’s practically a war declared on the small towns and their people because government officials, in their eagerness to look productive, are giving away our gold like in times past.”

The gold and silver mine in San José began full operations in September 2011. On its website, Fortuna Silver states it expects the mine to produce “1.7 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold” this year.

Although opposition to the mine will likely continue, Thursday night’s murder of Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez means local movements of mostly indigenous small farmers in the Ocotlán Valley have lost a young and committed leader.

[This report was produced for the Friday, March 16, 2010 broadcast of FSRN]

Seventeen people, including children, were taken from their homes by a group of armed men in the community of Cerro Verde in the southern state of Guerrero. The mass abduction occurred in the early hours of December 11th but has only recently become public after a relative decided to file a police report in a district outside of the one in which the crime occurred.

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.

Two students from the “Isidro Burgos” rural teaching academy in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero were shot dead during a protest in southern Mexico yesterday. Around 500 students from the school blocked part of the Autopista del Sol highway to demand a meeting with the Governor Angel Aguirre Rivero. By the time police took control of the highway, two students were lying dead on the asphalt.

The victims were identified as 20 year-old Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús and 21 year-old Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino. The student organization behind the protests stated a third student, Edgar David Espíritu, died Monday night. However, at the time of this writing, Espíritu is reportedly alive but in a coma.

State authorities initially denied police shot at protesters, but a video released by Milenio TV shows a man in plainclothes firing a high caliber rifle from a police line in the direction of the protests. The police in video made no attempt to stop or apprehend the gunman.

La Jornada published a photo today showing plainclothes police with high caliber rifles at the scene of protest in Chilpancingo. El Universal also published video of plain clothes police armed with rifles.

Students mobilized on Monday to pressure the governor to appear at a budget negotiation meeting that had been cancelled and postponed for months.

In addition to the killings, at least 20 people were arrested. At least one has been released with serious facial bruising. The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, which is providing legal counsel to some of the detained, stated a 19 year-old claimed he was tortured into making a false confession about firing a rifle during the protest.

Tuesday afternoon, Guerrero’s governor announced the dismissals of the state attorney general and the state police chief and his deputy.

Mexico’s system of rural academies (the Normales Rurales) was set up to train children of marginalized small farmers to become teachers in rural communities. The schools have been hard hit by budget cuts and reduced enrolment opportunities over the past 10 years.

Mexico has witnessed a recent spike in attacks targeting known human rights activists, many of them associated with the anti drug war movement.

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This most recent spate of violence targeting activists started on November 28th when Nepomuceno Moreno was gunned down in his truck at an intersection in Hermosillo, not far from the state government palace. Moreno had spent more than a year searching for a son who was kidnapped – allegedly by state police.

The spokesperson for the Sonora state attorney general’s office suggested the murder may have been linked more to organized than to Moreno’s activism.

Then, on November 30th, Norma Andrade, the co-founder of a recognized anti-femicide organization in Ciudad Juarez was shot five times as she left her home. Investigators described the crime as a car-jacking gone wrong. Andrade, who narrowly survived the attack, said it was attempted murder – noting that her vehicle is 20 years old and that the gunman made no demands before discharging his weapon.

On December 6th, a dozen members of the Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity traveled to the Ostula, Michoacan in western Mexico to observe a community consultation to petition the government for security forces. The delegation was traveling with Trinidad de la Cruz Crisóstomo; a community elder. “Don Trino” as he was known, was the town’s representative in talks with the government.

(Hernandez speaks, reporter interprets)

Citlali Hernandez, who participated in the observation trip, says once within the territory of Ostula, four armed men in ski masks blocked road. They boarded the delegation’s bus and took it to a foot path. She says Don Trino was identified and everyone was forced off the bus and told to lie face down on the ground.

HERNANDEZ (voiceover): “They took away our cell phones. They spoke repeatedly of massacring all of us. During this, they were beating Don Trino. We could hear his cries. From what we could hear, it sounded like they were stabbing him because of his screams and what they were saying.”

Hernandez says the armed men ordered the group to get back on the bus and go directly to the city of Lazaro Cardenas. Don Trino remained in the custody of the attackers.

The next day, the 73 year-old community leader was found dead – his body bearing signs of torture. Don Trino became the 28th community member killed since indigenous residents of Ostula took several hundred acres of farmland back from powerful local landbosses in mid-2009. Pedro Leyva, also a community leader from Ostula and a member of the Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity was killed in October.

Attorney David Peña, who acts as legal counsel for the community, says the government is at least partially responsible for the crime for allowing armed groups to operate in the area unchecked, despite local requests for security patrols – specifically from a nearby Marine base.

PEÑA (voiceover): “This serious occurence cannot be viewed as an isolated incident committed by organized criminals operating in the area. It’s not an isolated incident and the state shares responsibility because it knows that these groups are operating and how they’re operating. We’ve told them about it as well as what specific measures to take and they’ve done nothing.”

About 5000 people live in the community of Ostula, WHICH is made up of small enclaves and a core population center. It lies along a highway near the port city of Lazaro Cardenas.

(Judisman speaks, reporter interprets)

Clara Judisman of the Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity says the area around Lazaro Cardenas is a key route for the drug trade. It’s home to one of Latin America’s major sea ports and control of territory in and around the port is fundamental to organized crime operations.

Judisman says indigenous groups who are defending their territories and rights are being attacked and divided as criminals co-opt some residents to create internal strife. She says the case of Ostula demonstrates the concrete local effects of the global drug market on a community which wants to control its traditional territory.

Hours after Don Trino’s kidnapping, two other members of the Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity were taken off of a bus in the neighboring state of Guerrero. Marcial Bautista are Eva Alarcón are long time leaders of an environmental movement of small farmers in the state. They were on their way to a meeting in Mexico City when the passenger bus in which they were traveling was boarded by armed men who witnesses say asked for the activists by name.

At the time of this report, their whereabouts remains unknown.

At a press conference held in aftermath of the attack in Ostula and the abductions in Guerrero – and with last week’s murder of Nepomuceno Moreno and the shooting of Norma Andrade still fresh in the collective memory, Araceli Rodiriguez – mother of a kidnapped federal policeman – voice a question that seems to be on the minds of many…

(Rodriguez speaks, reporter interprets)

Who’s next? – she asked. Who of those who have come forward to tell the stories of and experiences of Mexico’s drug war victims will be murdered before the eyes of an authority which – she says – has ignored petitions for protection.

Rodriguez confessed that she is scared and plans to examine security measures, but she does not plan to allow the environment of fear and intimidation silence the movement’s demands for justice.

(Originally aired December 9, 2011 on FSRN )

Peace activist Nepomuceno Moreno was shot dead in his truck Monday at an intersection in Hermosillo, Sonora. The 56 year-old was the father of a young man disappeared last year by men identified as police.

Moreno was a member of Mexico’s Movement for Peace, Justice and Dignity and was present during last month’s talks in Chapultepec Castle between drug war victims and top government officials.

During those talks, Moreno delivered a case file to officials which he said contained key evidence about those responsible for his son’s disappearance  He accused the government of inaction on the case. He said soldiers began to patrol outside of his house after he publicly linked Sonoran police to the crime.

Peace activist Julian LeBaron told Milenio television that Nepomuceno Moreno recently told him he had plans to move to Tijuana because he felt his life was in danger in Hermosillo.

Estimates for the number of disappearances in Mexico vary widely, but the peace movement puts the figure at around 10,000. Moreno’s murder illustrates why many relatives are hesitant to go public with their cases.

– Transcript of a headline filed November 29, 2011 for FSRN: http://fsrn.org/audio/headlines-tuesday-november-29-2011/9487 –