PBI-Mexico expresses deep concern over the murder of Tzeltal defender Simón Pedro Pérez and other Indigenous defenders

On July 6, PBI-Mexico posted: “The murder of Simón Pedro Pérez, a member of the @AbejasDeActeal [the Bees of Acteal, a village in the state of Chiapas] joins the list of defenders and journalists murdered in Mexico. As accompaniers of the Espacio OSC we express our deep concern over the recent attacks against indigenous defenders.”

The Associated Press adds: “Pérez López, better known as Simón Pedro, was a member of the Tzeltal Indigenous group and had been active in a social justice organization born out of the 1998 massacre of 45 Indigenous people in the nearby town of Acteal.”

Telesur notes: “In recent years, Perez accompanied the struggle of communities that were fighting against racism and demanding respect for their economic, social, and cultural rights.”

Espacio OSC recently drew attention to the murders of Yaqui water protectors Tomás Rojo Valencia and Luis Urbano Domínguez Mendoza.

On May 27, Rojo Valencia was disappeared following tensions over Yaqui roadblocks protesting gas and water pipelines and railway lines that have been run across their territory without free, prior and informed consent.

On June 8, Urbano Dominguez was shot to death. He had fought against the dispossession of the waters of the Yaqui River and its lands.

The Associated Press also notes that environmental defender David Díaz Valdez was killed on July 2 in Manzanillo, Colima. That article explained: “He had led opposition to the building of a power generating plant in his largely Indigenous community on the Pacific coast.”

Educa Oaxaca specifies: “[He had] denounced for years the pollution of the Manzanillo Thermoelectric Plant in the community of Campos.”

Indigenous Peoples Rights International says there have been “14 indigenous people fatalities in retaliation for their struggle for the dense of their rights in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Sonora” between December of last year and so far in 2021.”

And the National Human Rights Commission says 12 activists have been killed so far this year, eight of whom were environmentalists.

The Civil Society Organization (OSC) Space (Espacio) for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists includes the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Centre, the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, Article 19, Red TDT and many other groups.

PBI-Mexico has accompanied Espacio OSC since it was formed in 2012.