By Renata Bessi

Original in Spanish published by Avispa Midia, August 16, 2023

Panel of community speakers at the Puente Madera Oaxaca Foro Político Cultura de Rebeldías y Resistencias held during the El Sur Resiste Caravan (April 2023).

On August 15, a criminal trial hearing was held against human rights defender David Hernández Salazar. The courts accused him of attacking communication routes and causing fire damage in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.

The human rights defender has been criminalized for his active role in claiming the right to territory of the Binnizá indigenous community of Puente Madera, by protesting against the installation, on their common lands, of the Polo de Desarrollo para el Bienestar Industrial Park (PODEBI, Industrial Park Development Center for Wellbeing) within the framework of the Tehuantepec Isthmus Interoceanic Corridor (CIIT) project, which is planned to connect with another large-scale investment project, the so-called Mayan Train.

The Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) and the Municipality of San Blas Atempa charged  Salazar with criminal activity after he led acts of protest in May 2021,.

In a press conference, held on August 16, they clarified that during the hearing the expert opinions presented by Salazar’s defense were admitted, where they verified the innocence of the indigenous human rights defender.

However, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Ministry of Tehuantepec decided to continue with the criminal process, based on “false testimonies and statements,” says Mario Quintero, a member of the Assembly of Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIDTT).

The next hearing will take place in approximately a month to present the evidence.

In addition to the criminalization faced by David Hernández Salazar, 17 more members of Puente Madera have suffered the same fate and are being investigated and have arrest warrants out for them.

Front Line Defenders, a human rights organization, expressed its concern about the criminalization and violence against Salazar and the other human rights defenders of the APIIDTT.

Front Line Defenders urges the Mexican authorities to drop the charges against the 18 people and the investigations and arrest warrants against the members of the Binnizá indigenous community of Puente Madera and guarantee their right to due process.

Harassment and violence

The Puente Madera community and the APIDTT released a detailed history of all security incidents that have occurred against its members. The harassment and violence have intensified just after the General Community Assembly of Puente Madera defended itself against the declaration of PODEBI in San Blas Atempa in federal courts on human rights matters.

On June 6, 2023, the judge decided to suspend ex officio and ruled flat out against the declaration and PODEBI in favor of Puente Madera.

This may interest you (in Spanish): Justice suspends industrial park of the Interoceanic Corridor

The same day, around 7:30 p.m, Mexican army vehicles entered Puente Madera, settling on the bridge, inside the community a few meters from the Agency and Community Radio. The Army violently searched the residents who were passing by, without giving no explanation, recounted members of the Assembly.

On June 20, 2023, the federal government made public the biddings for all CIIT PODEBIs. Due to the protection filed, the PODEBI of San Blas Atempa does not appear.

Salazar points out that they have had constant surveillance by the National Guard, the Mexican Army, the State Police and the Navy. “We have had a lot of intimidation, they have entered the town, they have implemented checkpoints near the schools, they have detained colleagues without any explanation. We clearly see this as an act of intimidation towards us, towards this community,” Salazar says.

The offices of the APIDTT, in Juchitán and the houses of members of the Assembly have also been watched by armed persons. Anonymous callers are also constantly making threats.

Another of the attempted intimidation strategies is indirect phone calls. On August 10, 2023, at around 10:30 p.m., Salazar received, through his personal number, a message from a person known in the community who asked him about the whereabouts of Mario Quintero, as well as his personal information. 

However, this person from the community asked the questions on behalf of people from the Mexican Army based in the Ixtepec Military Zone. In the message that Salazar received, military audios were added to “invite Mario to a meal.” The audio was shared by the APIDTT during the press conference.

“Accidents”

On July 14th of 2023 around 930 pm, two residents of Puente Madera were traveling in a red VW hatchback heading towards the Tehuantepec bus terminal. Near Rancho Los Caporales, a few meters away from the de Puente Madera junction, they were rammed by a gray Jetta. Juan Cortés Meléndez, 31 yrs old, was killed  instantly. The co-pilot, Kevin Alberto Solorzano Cortés, 17 yrs old, died days later in intensive care.

On July 19th of 2023, another “accident” occured. David Hernández Salazar and Guadalupe Ríos Maldonado were traveling in a pick-up truck. At 3:30 p.m., they were hit by a 3.5-ton truck a few kilometers from the entrance to Puente Madera, near the Tehuantepec marker. Although the truck in which they were traveling was left with irreparable damage, neither of them suffered physical damage.

“What we see is that threats and persecution are intensifying through the legal and organizational advances made as a community,” Quintero says.

“There is no conflict”

The members of Puente Madera and the APIDTT also responded to the attempt by the head of the Oaxaca Government Secretariat (SEGO), Jesús Romero López, to hide the conflict that is taking place in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec with the arrival of the implementation of the Interoceanic Corridor.

Last Saturday (12), the government official told the media: “We only see two problems, the one that exists in San Blas Atempa, which is a dispute that is in the Agrarian Court and the one in Santa María Mixtequilla, where it’s being discussed.”

“It is not just an agrarian lawsuit or a local land dispute. What is set is the imposition of a large project of catastrophic dimensions for the indigenous peoples, for the environment and that has a geopolitical dimension, with the interests of the United States and China,” declares Quintero.

In addition, Romero López minimized the work of the members of the Civil Observation Mission, who visited communities impacted by the Interoceanic Corridor and classified their conclusions as “biased.”

This may interest you (in Spanish): Observation mission denounces attack and community decision in communities of the Isthmus

The members of the 23 organizations that were part of the Mission found human rights violations, attacks against land defender activists, and the criminalization of indigenous communities, with more than 40 investigation folders.

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Translated from the Spanish by the Chiapas Support Committee.

Published by Avispa Midia, the original article can be read here.