More than 550 people have been disappeared in Oaxaca during the first five years of the administration of governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, according to the Center for Human Rights and Support for Indigenous Peoples A.C.

Text by: Diana Manzo for IstmoPress, originally published January 7, 2022.

Images by: IstmoPress.

Translated by: Dawn Marie Paley for Pie de Página in English.

OAXACA– The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) issued an urgent action urging searches for five people, including Ñuu Savi (Mixteca) forest protector Irma Galindo, who was disappeared October 27, 2021 in Mexico City.

In addition to the environmentalist and community defender, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances notified the government of México of the urgent need to search for and find four other Indigenous Ñuu Savi people: Miguel Bautista Avendaño, Donato Bautista Avendaño, Marco Quiroz Riaño and Mayolo Quiroz Barrios, who were disappeared on October 23rd in the communities of Guerrero Grande and Mier y Terán, in the municipality of San Esteban Atatlahuca, Oaxaca.

That day, both communities were attacked by an armed group because of their defense of the forests. More than 100 houses were burned and dozens of people displaced, in addition to the four men who were disappeared.

Irma Galindo is originally from Atatlahuaca, Oaxaca, which is part of the Mixteca region. Since 2019 she has been active defending the forests prized by illegal loggers, which include local municipal and agrarian authorities. That’s why she was targeted for persecution and violence, and her house was burned. Days before her disappearance she was included in the federal government’s Mechanism for Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. 

In a communiqué, the CED asked the Mexican government to immediately establish a holistic strategy that includes an action plan and a calendar for an exhaustive search for those disappeared and for a full and impartial investigation into the disappearances which takes the larger context of the disappearances into account.

With regards to the investigation into the disappearance of Irma Galindo Barrios, the UN committee noted it is important that the strategy be tailored to the circumstances and that all of the stages of the search be carried out from a perspective that includes gender analysis and with personnel that are adequately trained, and which include women.

It noted that the strategies will be periodically revised and should comply with the requirements of due diligence for during all steps of the search process (including unofficial actions, immediacy and the exhaustiveness of the investigation).

According to data from the Center for Human Rights and Support for Indigenous Peoples A.C. (CEDHAPI A.C.), during [the first five years of] the mandate of Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, from 2017 to 2021, approximately 560 people were disappeared. 

Maurilio Santiago Reyes, President of CEDHAPI A.C., said that between 2010 and 2021, his organization documented 17 cases of enforced disappearance. Nine of them have been presented to the CED, among them the enforced disappearance of environmentalist Irma Galindo Barrios.

“Unfortunately all of the cases of enforced disappearance in Oaxaca have been filed away and forgotten,” said Santiago Reyes, who said that it is urgent that the Mexican government comply with the action alerts emitted by the CED.

On December 27, 2021, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) extended precautionary measures and asked the Mexican government to protect the rights of children, women and elders against violence and displacement in the communities of Guerrero Grande, Ndoyonuji and Mier y Terán, in the municipality of San Esteban Atatlahuca, Oaxaca, caused by an armed group believed to be lead by local authorities.

 It is worth noting that Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation recently determined in the writ of protection 1077/2019 of the First Circuit Court that the complying with the measures and urgent actions emitted by the UN CED is an obligation of the government of Mexico at all levels.

This report was originally published by IstmoPress, which is part of the Media Alliance organized by Red de Periodistas de a Pie. You can read the original here.

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