PBI-Mexico highlights that Court has now recognized the illegality of closing a Rarámuri sewing workshop

On January 3, PBI-Mexico tweeted:

“The Rarámuri community Bosques San Elías Repechique in the #SierraTarahumara obtained a sentence from the First District Court of the State of Chihuahua that determined that the closure of the Sewing Workshop in 2020 violated their fundamental rights.”

Raichali reports: “The First District Court in the state of Chihuahua ruled that the State Attorney General’s Office committed an act of illegality by securing the Bowe Najativo sewing workshop in the community of Bosques San Elías Repechique, in the municipality of Bocoyna, which occurred on August 13, 2020.”

The article explains:

“The community and specifically the Rarámuri responsible for the sewing workshop, Teresa González Parra, was sued by businessman Fernando Cuesta Miledi, who claims to be the owner of the land where the workshop was built.

The Federal Court issued the sentence on December 26, one year and four months after the arrest of about 50 members of the community by state ministerial agents, during the government of Javier Corral Jurado.

The judge determined that there was no crime and therefore, the FGE violated the rights of the community because the seizure was carried out without the prior authorization of the Control judge, as established by the National Code of Criminal Procedures, reported the organization Community Technical Consulting (Contec).”

The full article can be read at Juzgado reconoce ilegalidad en clausura de taller de costura de Bosques San Elías Repechique.

Notably, this article also reports that the Rarámuri community has previously defended their ancestral territory by preventing the passage of the Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. (now TC Energy) El Encino-Topolobampo gas pipeline on their lands.

The Rarámuri community is accompanied by CONTEC.

Photo: Teresa González Parra with CONTEC director Diana Villalobos Diaz.

PBI-Mexico has been providing punctual accompaniment to the Community Technical Consultancy, A.C. (CONTEC) since 2015. In February 2022, PBI-Mexico formalized this accompaniment due to the increase in the level of risk faced by the organization.

On April 24, 2022, PBI-Canada hosted a webinar with CONTEC talking about the situation in Chihuahua. The video of that webinar is here.

We continue to follow the situation in the Rarámuri community Bosques San Elías Repechique.

We also share the PBI-Mexico tweet that: “@PBI_Mexico accompanies the Community Technical Consultancy @CONTECAC and we recognize the legitimate right to defend the territory of the indigenous communities in the State of #Chihuahua.”