PBI-Mexico accompanies Sierra Madre Alliance at commemoration for Julián Carrillo Martínez

On October 24, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on social media, “Today we were accompanying the Sierra Madre A.C. Alliance during the public ceremony that took place in front of the Government Palace of Chihuahua, recalling the murder of defender Julián Carrillo Martínez.”

PBI-Mexico adds, “His family demands justice and truth for Julian.”

PBI-USA has explained, “Julián Carrillo Martinez, a human rights defender and member of the Raramuri indigenous community in Coloradas de la Virgen, in the state of Chihuahua, was shot to death on the evening of October 24, 2018.”

“Members of the Mexican human rights organization Sierra Madre Alliance, which is accompanied by Peace Brigades International, learned that Carrillo had been pursued by assassins since October 23 and had fled to a hillside. His son later contacted the Sierra Madre Alliance to let them know he had heard gunfire and feared that his father had been found and shot. An hour later, Julián Carrillo’s body was discovered.”

“His family had been heavily targeted since 2016. Two of his nephews, one son, and his son-in-law all were murdered in separate incidents over the past two years.”

“Carrillo himself had been in hiding, only returning to his community because his daughter had died in childbirth.”

“In 2014, Julián Carrillo and three other members of the community, as well as two members of the Sierra Madre Alliance, received protection measures from the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders, provided by the Mexican government.”

“[In 2017], the Protection Mechanism was supposed to reassess their risk level, in order to grant appropriate measures. The Protection Mechanism, however, reportedly failed to do so.”

“The indigenous peoples of Coloradas de la Virgen have taken legal action to obtain recognition as the legitimate owners of their ancestral land, including a portion of forest that borders that states of Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa. Julián Carrillo had been defending the forest against timber operations the community considered illegal.”

You can follow the work of the Sierra Madre Alliance on Twitter here.