Looking for Trouble

Triqui caravan stands down after shameful moves by Oaxaca government

This is used with permission of Intercontinental Cry, an all-volunteer online journal founded in 2004 and dedicated to providing reports, videos and action alerts on the most pressing Indigenous struggles.

February 10, 2012

The Triqui people of San Juan Copala are returning to the Palace of Governance in Oaxaca de Juárez after a series of shameful moves by the Oaxaca government.

Things were finally starting to look up for the displaced community. On January 23rd, 2012, Oaxaca Governor Gabino Cué agreed to send an armed escort to accompany the Triqui on their return home after being displaced by paramilitary groups 16 months ago.

But then, Governor Cue presented a Peace Accord with some last minute revisions that Triqui representatives dared not accept.

Under the terms of the Accord – which would supposedly guarantee the Triqui’s safety – just 5 families per week would have been be allowed to return home instead of everybody at once. Presumably, those 5 families would have also needed to travel without any escorts, be they police officers, human rights observers or government officials. The paramilitaries used such conditions before, to terrorize the Triqui People.

The Triqui ultimately decided to proceed with their Caravan, without a police escort.

The journey was going good at first. But then, after a day’s journey along the highway to San Juan Copala, the caravan came face to face a with a police blockade.

The paramilitaries set up their own blockades along the highway too. They also occupied San Juan Copala–and not in the way that some of us can feel good about!

Things went downhill from there. Government officials who showed up at the blockade later on, asked the Triqui to sit down and “negotiate” with the paramilitaries.

Then came the arbitrary arrest of a member of the caravan, which was followed by the sudden suspension of talks and the complete withdrawal of all police and government officials from the area, practically leaving the caravan to the paramilitaries.

Sufficed to say, the Triqui have been once again betrayed by the Oaxaca government.

Nevertheless, the The autonomous Triqui community of San Juan Copala has no intention of simply giving up; not with so much at stake.

More Information

FEB 9: San Juan Copala: Autonomous Triquis want to go home
FEB 1: Displaced Triqui women to enter Copala
JAN 30: The Caravan of the Displaced Returns to Yosoyuxi
JAN 29: Communiqué of the Community Council of the Municipio Autónomo de San Juan Copala
JAN 29: State officials break off dialogue with arrest of David Venegas. Call for a new caravan
JAN 28: MULT Paramilitaries occupy San Juan Copala and maintain road blocks to prevent the return of the Displaced
JAN 27: Police stop the caravan of the displaced from San Juan Copala
JAN 27: Triqui Caravan Departs to San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, Mexico
JAN 26: Triquis displaced from San Juan Copala say Caravan will go ahead
JAN 26: We hold Gabino Cué, MULT and UBISORT responsible for what may happen to us in San Juan Copala

2011

SEP 29: Displaced women from San Juan Copala forced to suspend peaceful sit-in

2010

SEP 24: Authorities Order Total Evacuation of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca
SEP 9: Unending Violence for the Indigenous People of San Juan Copala

2007

JAN 28: The Triquis Inaugurate Their New Autonomous Municipality

More news and updates are available in Spanish at http://municipioautonomodesanjuancopala.wordpress.com