The Nissan CZV Van in which the indigenous pre-candidate to the Presidency and various council members were traveling turned over at kilometer 102 of the Trans-peninsular Highway of Baja California Sur, characterized by the danger that it represents for those who are not familiar with it. Photo La Jornada

By: Antonio Heras and Raymundo León

Mulegé, Baja California Sur (BCS)

One of the three vehicles on the caravan of María de Jesús Patricio, spokesperson for the Indigenous Government Council (CIG, its initials in Spanish) and an aspirant to be an independent candidate to the Presidency of the Republic, suffered an accident yesterday afternoon at kilometer 102 of the Trans-peninsular Highway, at a spot in the municipality of Mulegé. One person died and eight were injured, among them Marichuy.

Raúl Cepeda, a Red Cross aid worker in Vizcaíno, reported that the person who died responds to the name of Eloísa. Marichuy suffered a fractured left arm and council member Francisco Grado broke his hip.

The other injured have been identified as council member Lucero Islava, Juana Villa Poblano, Lorena Moreno, Ramona Avilés and Antonio Ciego.

Cepeda explained that the accident occurred around 4:30 pm, when the Nissan CZV Van left the highway and turned over on the San Ignacio-Vizcaíno stretch, in the state’s northern part.

The Trans-peninsular Highway is in pitiful condition, besides the fact that it is very narrow, because of which it is a risky road for anyone that does not usually travel on it.

Eleven members of the CIG were traveling in the unit del CIG; they were from the coordination of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and from the networks of support for the CIG in Baja California Sur.

The injured were moved to a Social Security clinic in Vizcaíno, where they received first aid. Minutes later, Marichuy was taken to a hospital in Guerrero Negro.

At night, all the injured were taken in an air ambulance to La Paz. The state of health of Francisco Grado, who belongs to the Cochimí ethnicity, one of the original peoples of Baja California, was reported as stable and out of danger.

Condolences from the President

On his Twitter account, President Enrique Peña Nieto lamented the accident that María de Jesús Patricio Martínez and her companions suffered.

The president published two messages in which he also points out that the Navy Secretariat is supporting to lend medical attention and land and air transportation to those affected. “I send my most sincere condolences to the family of the person that lost her life in this incident and I wish the injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Governance, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, reported that the blows that Marichuy suffered do not put her life at risk. On his Twitter account, the official wrote: La@SEGOB_mx will remain attentive to her evolution and the doctors will give the corresponding reports.”

The presidential pre-candidate of the Todos por México Coalition, José Antonio Meade, also published on that social network: “I lament the highway accident that the caravan of María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, Marichuy, suffered. My prayers go out to her and all of her team. We are attentive.” @JoseAMeadeK.

Ricardo Anaya, pre-candidate of the Por México al Frente alliance, published: “I lament the accident that María de Jesús Patricio and the members of her team suffered. I express my solidarity to Marichuy and all her compañeros.

Later that night, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Together We’ll Make History Coalition, published on Twitter: “I lament the accident that María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, Marichuy, and her companions suffered. I express my condolences to the family members of the person that lost her life and I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery.”

(With information from Notimex)

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Originally Published in Spanish by La Jornada

Thursday, February 15, 2018

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2018/02/15/politica/013n1pol

Re-Published with English interpretation by the Chiapas Support Committee