November 27th, 2003
Two unresolved inter–community conflicts in the state of Oaxaca lead to incidents of serious violence
Dear Friends:
We have received reports of two very serious Inter–community conflicts in different areas of Oaxaca. In both cases, the conflicts are longstanding. Governments, both present and past, have failed to assume their responsibility for guaranteeing public security and respect for human rights, as well as for helping the communities to reach a definitive solution to their disputes.
In the state of Oaxaca, 83% of landholdings are socially owned. It has been estimated that there are approximately 656 agrarian conflicts in the state. The conflict between San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastián Nopalera has been classified as one of nine disputes requiring special priority attention.
In an article on Agrarian Conflicts and Human Rights in Indigenous Regions, the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre in Mexico City has commented that "while each conflict has its particular characteristics and is related to a concrete situation, there is one constant factor. In all of the cases, we find serious inadequacies (un mal funcionamiento) on the part of the agrarian and legal institutions... The behaviour of the government follows a pattern of abandonment, delays and stalling tactics, negligence, and corruption. Furthermore, the agrarian trials and bureaucratic procedures that the indigenous peoples have to follow ... are long and complicated and involve much effort and expense for the communities ... Although underlying the agrarian conflicts affecting rural Mexico may be factors such as the power of local political bosses (cacicazgos), drug–trafficking, paramilitary groups, armed movements, intra–community power struggles, in all of the cases it is ... the lack of response on the part of the authorities that exacerbates the conflicts and transforms them into situations of inter–community or intra–community violence."
The Pro Centre goes on to observe that "it has been proved that prolonged conflicts impede community development, thus accentuating rural poverty. It should not be forgotten that the satisfaction of the basic needs of rural communities above all of those communities where there is an indigenous population has not come from the government. It has been the result of the collective work of the peoples themselves, through the traditional practice known as "tequio", which has led to the satisfaction of some of their most basic needs. When the social fabric of a community is torn apart by conflict, that community's capacity for finding a way to meet its basic needs is automatically limited; in other words, collective work ceases to function as the locomotive of community development."
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government and to the government of the state of Oaxaca requesting that immediate steps be taken to end the outbreaks of violence between Santo Domingo Teojomulco and San Lorenzo Texmelucan, and between San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastián Nopalera.
Please ask the federal government to set up and to support an inter–community dialogue between the respective local authorities of San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastián Nopalera, leading to an enforceable arrangement that takes full account of the previous legal decisions by the agrarian authorities and that will be respected by both parties.
Please ask the Oaxaca state government to institute, and to give full support to, a process of inter–community discussion and dialogue that will seek a lasting solution to the longstanding dispute between Santo Domingo Teojomulco and San Lorenzo Texmelucan. Please request that, until such a solution is reached, there be a permanent police presence in the area, and that the police personnel stationed in the communities act with compete impartiality and with full respect for human rights.
Please write to the Canadian government informing them of the inter–community conflicts described above and asking them to make known to the Mexican government their concern regarding the negative repercussions on social and economic rights of conflicts between indigenous communities.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850,
MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794
presidencia@gob.mx radio@presidencia.gob.mx webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx
vicentefox@presidencia.gob.mx
Lic. José Murat Casab
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Oaxaca
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México
Fax: 011–52–951–516–3737 (If possible, please send your messge by fax) gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Please send copies of your letters to:
Lic. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Director General de Derechos Humanos
Secretaria de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
Reforma 99, Colonia Tabacalera
CP 006030, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 51 28 02 34
rsepulveda@segob.gob.mx
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente, Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Mexico D.F., Mexico
correo@cndh.org.mx
Lic. Sergio Segreste Rios
Presidente, Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos
Oaxaca, Mexico
cdoax@infosel.net.mx
Her Excellency María Teresa García
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor Street, suite 1500
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 235 9123
info@embamexcan.com
For Canada:
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive, B4
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 943 0606
susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Two unresolved inter–community conflicts in the state of Oaxaca lead to incidents of serious violence
Dear Friends:
We have received reports of two very serious Inter–community conflicts in different areas of Oaxaca. In both cases, the conflicts are longstanding. Governments, both present and past, have failed to assume their responsibility for guaranteeing public security and respect for human rights, as well as for helping the communities to reach a definitive solution to their disputes.
- The land boundary conflict between Santo Domingo Teojomulco and San Lorenzo Texmelucan has its historical
roots in contradictory decisions on the part of the federal government dating back even to the colonial era. It
has been the cause of a number of extremely violent episodes that have caused deaths and injuries in both
communities. Attempts by the communities to reach a negotiated solution have failed. (There has been criticism to
the effect that these efforts have not received sufficient support from the state government.)
In the recent past, a contingent of the Judicial and Preventive police had been stationed in Teojomulco. The state government's decision to withdraw the police has been followed by sporadic incidents cattle robbery by residents of San Lorenzo, the destruction of crops by residents of Teojomulco, the taking of hostages by residents of San Lorenzo. There have been exchanges of gunfire. On November 7th 2003, shots were fired at the Teojomulco cemetery, and on November 19th a Teojomulco resident was seriously wounded by gunfire while attending a burial ceremony. In view of the heavy death toll that the conflict has already taken, this is a cause of great concern for the residents of both communities.
- The dispute between the communities of San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastiín Nopalera dates from the
early years of the twentieth century. It has been characterized by grave outbreaks of violence and by the
apparent inability of the federal agrarian authorities to enforce their own legal decisions in favour of San
Pedro Yosotato. Since 1998, residents of San Pedro Yosotato have complained of repeated incursions on the part of
members of the ejidal community of San Sebastián Nopalera. In the course of these incursions, people have
been injured and driven from their home. There has been serious property damage; homes, coffee plantations, crops
and forested land have been burned.
On November 24th 2003, San Pedro Yosotato residents working in their cornfields were fired upon by San Sebastián Nopalera residents. They fired back and an armed clash ensued. (At the time that they sent out an urgent appeal for help, the San Pedro Yosotato authorities did not know if there had been casualties.) The San Pedro Yosotato local authorities report that they have met three times with a representative of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform (in July, and on September 4th and 26th, 2003), but that the Ministry has made no concrete proposal for resolving the conflictive situation.
In the state of Oaxaca, 83% of landholdings are socially owned. It has been estimated that there are approximately 656 agrarian conflicts in the state. The conflict between San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastián Nopalera has been classified as one of nine disputes requiring special priority attention.
In an article on Agrarian Conflicts and Human Rights in Indigenous Regions, the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre in Mexico City has commented that "while each conflict has its particular characteristics and is related to a concrete situation, there is one constant factor. In all of the cases, we find serious inadequacies (un mal funcionamiento) on the part of the agrarian and legal institutions... The behaviour of the government follows a pattern of abandonment, delays and stalling tactics, negligence, and corruption. Furthermore, the agrarian trials and bureaucratic procedures that the indigenous peoples have to follow ... are long and complicated and involve much effort and expense for the communities ... Although underlying the agrarian conflicts affecting rural Mexico may be factors such as the power of local political bosses (cacicazgos), drug–trafficking, paramilitary groups, armed movements, intra–community power struggles, in all of the cases it is ... the lack of response on the part of the authorities that exacerbates the conflicts and transforms them into situations of inter–community or intra–community violence."
The Pro Centre goes on to observe that "it has been proved that prolonged conflicts impede community development, thus accentuating rural poverty. It should not be forgotten that the satisfaction of the basic needs of rural communities above all of those communities where there is an indigenous population has not come from the government. It has been the result of the collective work of the peoples themselves, through the traditional practice known as "tequio", which has led to the satisfaction of some of their most basic needs. When the social fabric of a community is torn apart by conflict, that community's capacity for finding a way to meet its basic needs is automatically limited; in other words, collective work ceases to function as the locomotive of community development."
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government and to the government of the state of Oaxaca requesting that immediate steps be taken to end the outbreaks of violence between Santo Domingo Teojomulco and San Lorenzo Texmelucan, and between San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastián Nopalera.
Please ask the federal government to set up and to support an inter–community dialogue between the respective local authorities of San Pedro Yosotato and San Sebastián Nopalera, leading to an enforceable arrangement that takes full account of the previous legal decisions by the agrarian authorities and that will be respected by both parties.
Please ask the Oaxaca state government to institute, and to give full support to, a process of inter–community discussion and dialogue that will seek a lasting solution to the longstanding dispute between Santo Domingo Teojomulco and San Lorenzo Texmelucan. Please request that, until such a solution is reached, there be a permanent police presence in the area, and that the police personnel stationed in the communities act with compete impartiality and with full respect for human rights.
Please write to the Canadian government informing them of the inter–community conflicts described above and asking them to make known to the Mexican government their concern regarding the negative repercussions on social and economic rights of conflicts between indigenous communities.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850,
MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794
presidencia@gob.mx radio@presidencia.gob.mx webadmon@op.presidencia.gob.mx
vicentefox@presidencia.gob.mx
Lic. José Murat Casab
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Oaxaca
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México
Fax: 011–52–951–516–3737 (If possible, please send your messge by fax) gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Please send copies of your letters to:
Lic. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Director General de Derechos Humanos
Secretaria de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
Reforma 99, Colonia Tabacalera
CP 006030, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 51 28 02 34
rsepulveda@segob.gob.mx
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente, Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Mexico D.F., Mexico
correo@cndh.org.mx
Lic. Sergio Segreste Rios
Presidente, Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos
Oaxaca, Mexico
cdoax@infosel.net.mx
Her Excellency María Teresa García
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor Street, suite 1500
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 235 9123
info@embamexcan.com
For Canada:
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive, B4
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 943 0606
susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca