On August 9, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project tweeted that it is accompanying the “Words of life” forum in Tlapa, Guerrero.

Earlier this week, the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Centre tweeted, “This Friday, August 9, we will hold a forum in the city of Tlapa called ‘Words of life, paths of hope’, to recover the memory of the historical struggles in our state that have left a trail of violence that bleeds us [due to the pattern of impunity that persists against the perpetrators].”

This forum marks the 25^th anniversary of the organization. PBI-Mexico has accompanied Tlachinollan for 16 years (since late 2003).

PBI-Mexico has previously explained, “The organization since its founding has sought to promote and defend the rights of the Na savi, Me’phaa, Nauas, Nn´anncue and Mestizo peoples of the Montaña and Costa Chica regions of Guerrero.”

That post highlights, “Tlachinollan works to defend and protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples; economic, social and cultural rights; civil and political rights; women’s rights; and especially the cases for which it provides legal representation.”

On August 9, La Prensa reported, “The Mexican State is indebted to the indigenous peoples, since their rights do not even appear in the most important norm of the country, which is the Constitution, said specialists.”

“That is why these peoples continue to be considered and treated as ‘second-class citizens’, says Abel Barrera Hernández, director of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Centre, an organization that accompanies indigenous and rural communities in the Guerrero mountain.”

“The director of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Centre ensures that native peoples are willing to talk and make agreements, as long as the initiatives guarantee them the basic floor of what development means to them.”

That La Prensa article adds, “Explicitly recognizing the territorial rights of indigenous peoples and making a significant investment to the countryside so that communities recover their self-sufficiency and food sovereignty are, according to Barrera Hernández, two actions that the Mexican State must undertake to start paying off its historical debt with this sector of the population.”

In this overview for their 25^th anniversary forum, Tlachinollan says, “These two and a half decades have been of many learnings and multiple challenges. We have understood that the defenders of the front line are the men and women who fight hard to survive in the countryside and in the peripheries of the city.”

They add, “We owe them and for them we fight.”

#25AñosTlachinollan

On July 31, Coahuila state police officers in Mexico killed Marco Tulio Perdomo Guzmán, a 29-year-old migrant from Honduras who was with his 8-year-old daughter.

The Daily Mail now reports, “According to Mexican outlet Animal Politico, Perdomo Guzmán took his oldest child and set off for the United States on June 28 and left behind his pregnant wife and two-year-old son in the Caribbean department of Colón.”

The shooting happened near the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, which is accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.

Euronews reports, “Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday [August 2] instructed officials to investigate the killing of a Honduran migrant in the northern city of Saltillo to determine the role of officials in his death.”

That article adds, “Human rights groups and migrant advocates have demanded a full investigation into the shooting, saying that Mexican authorities have been heavy-handed and committed abuses in their efforts to reduce the flow of migrants.”

Mexico News Daily notes, “Six Coahuila state police officers are being investigated for the killing of a Honduran migrant in the city of Saltillo on Wednesday [July 31].”

“Coahuila Attorney General Gerardo Márquez Guevara told a press conference that the migrant was killed as the police were chasing down suspected drug dealers.”

“Márquez said the officers attempted to arrest the drug dealers at about 9:30 pm but the two suspects fled towards the Casa del Migrante, a nearby migrant shelter, and started shooting at the police, who returned fire.”

That article also notes, “Márquez added that state police have interviewed four witnesses who said that Marco and his daughter were planning to hop a train to reunite with their family in the United States.”

Amnesty International adds, “Public information based on witness statements point to the fact that Federal Police and National Institute of Migration officers could also have been involved in the incident, although federal authorities denied this.”

“According to a statement by staff at the [Saltillo Migrant Shelter], there were women, children and babies among the group [of 10 migrants].”

On August 1, the Associated Press had reported, “The Casa Del Migrante Saltillo shelter also said authorities separated a 2-year-old girl from her mother during the raid.”

Now, the Daily Mail reports, “Mexican authorities have ruled that police used excessive lethal force in the death of a Honduran migrant who was shot dead in front of his terrified young daughter as he tried to cross the US border last week.”

“A police officer identified only as Juan Carlos, who fired the fatal shot, was arrested Saturday. He was charged with intentional homicide.”

That article adds, “The Prosecutor’s Office was forced to backtrack from two preliminary reports it released the day after Perdomo Guzmán was killed. It wrongly accused the Honduran dad of verbally insulting the state police officers and also mentioned he shot at them before they responded with fire.”

Migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are travelling through Mexico en route to the United States to seek asylum from the poverty, violence, human rights violations and the impacts of climate breakdown (including food insecurity) in their home countries.

The negative impacts of Canadian capital (notably mining projects) and support for the Honduran government have also been cited as contributory factors in this migration.

The photo is from this tweet by the Saltillo Migrant Shelter which says, “The altar in the celebrations of the patron of the city of Saltillo it is painted with the flags of Central America to pay tribute to Marco Tulio and demand a stop to violence against migrants in Mexico.”

A highway blockade by Ayutla residents protests the water situation. The banner reads: “That the state government punishes the people of Tamazulápam for the damage caused to the detriment of the people of Ayutla.” Photo by Mexico News Daily.

On August 5, civil society organizations announced a ‘Civil Observation Mission’ with the objective of documenting human rights violations, with an emphasis on the right to water, and make recommendations to the state and federal authorities.

El Universal reports this activity is known to international bodies including Peace Brigades International, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.

Mexico News Daily has explained that two years ago “authorities in San Pedro y San Pablo Ayutla, a municipality in the state’s Mixe region about 100 kilometers southeast of Oaxaca city, connected to the water supply of the neighboring municipality of Tamazulápam del Espíritu Santo when their own supply ran dry.”

That article adds, “On May 17, 2017, a violent clash broke out between the two opposing groups, with both guns and sticks used in an ugly confrontation. …Ever since, water supply to Ayutla has been cut off, forcing residents to find an alternative source or look to the sky for relief.”

Proceso further explains, “The armed group from Tamazulapam took the spring, cut off the supply of drinking water and destroyed the hydraulic infrastructure of the community (two water tanks and pipes that connected 70% of the indigenous population).”

“That situation was denounced as a crime against humanity. However, state and federal officials, with knowledge of the risks and facts, did nothing to avoid major problems.”

And it notes, “The case of water dispossession arrived at the United Nations on April 25. On that day, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, received the file related to the collective violation of the human right of access to water committed to the entire Ayutla community since June 5, 2017.”

Last month, Educa Oaxaca tweeted, “Indigenous Mixe community of Ayutla has suffered for 2 years without water, due to land grabs by an armed group from neighboring Tamazulápam. Threats to Ayutla continue, yet the state government asks Ayutla to cede more territory.”

That tweet highlighted this article which says, “The municipal authority of San Pedro y San Pablo Ayutla denounced that the government of Oaxaca intends to strip them again of more territory to give it to Tamazulápam under the pretext of building infrastructure to provide them with drinking water.”

As now highlighted on the Educa Oaxca website, “Given the evidence of serious human rights violations and the unfulfilled promise by the Oaxaca government to reconnect the water to Ayutla, there is a tense situation between the two communities and the risk of a new escalation of violence.”

The UN has stated, “On 28 July 2010, through Resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights.”

It adds, “The Resolution calls upon States and international organisations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries, to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.”

Agencia EFE reports, “An amendment establishing access to water as a human right was added to Mexico’s constitution in 2012, and Congress was supposed to draft and approve within 365 a General Water Law to make the measure effective, but the legislation has yet to materialize.”

A study released by the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Social Research Institute this past March 22 (World Water Day) found that between 12.5 million and 15 million Mexicans are without a secure, reliable supply of drinking water.

Following a May 2017 visit to Mexico, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe water and sanitation Léo Heller stated, “The reality of access to water for poor communities in dispersed rural or peripheral urban areas and indigenous peoples is sporadic supply and unreliable water quality, leaving many people dependent on costly or unsafe water sources.”

#DerechosParaTodxs #DerechoAlAlgua #AguaParaAyutlaYa