To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Indigenous Governing Council
To the Sixth Worldwide
To those who signed A Declaration for Life
To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion
To human rights organizations
To the People of Mexico
To free and autonomous media
July 18, 2024
Brothers and sisters of Mexico and the world: Around 8:49 a.m. today, July 18, 2024, the narco-paramilitary group Los Ardillos murdered two of our siblings as they arrived in the municipality of Chilapa. María de Jesús Pasado Margarito, 43, and Alberto Verales Tepetitla, 32, from the communities of Alcozacán and Buenavista respectively, both belonging to CIPOG-EZ.
After threats were made against members of our organization just last Tuesday, July 15, the threats have become in reality pain and death for our communities. We warned the authorities of the state of Guerrero of the threats, we pointed out the aggressors and also their links with the state authorities. Again we receive their indifference, their silence and here are the results: the ardillos murder two of our siblings again, don’t they care about our lives? Isn’t it the responsibility of the authorities of the state of Guerrero to ensure, at least, the safety of those who inhabit the territory? Or is it that for the Federal and state authorities, Guerrero is only Acapulco and the tourist sites? Why so much contempt for our territories, for our lives?
We want to emphasize that where our sister María de Jesús and Alberto Verales were murdered, it is a place where there is a presence of the National Guard as well as the Ministry of National Defense; obviously there are also municipal, state and ministerial police, but that is equal to nothing, because many of these elements work for crime, that is why we say that the municipal and state authorities are linked to those who murder and sow terror in the state of Guerrero. There is then the presence of federal authorities: in Colotepec-Tula there is a checkpoint of the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA), at the entrance of Jaguey-Quechultenango there is another checkpoint of the SEDENA, in Ajo, entrance to Chilapa, to enter the municipality, there is the National Guard (GN) and members of the army (SEDENA); then, we say very clearly that if there are executions in the state of Guerrero, they occur with the approval and complicit silence of the Municipal, State and Federal authorities.
We want to make it clear that we are alone, that the STATE has abandoned us to our fate, that it leaves us in the hands of crime, as is happening in Chiapas, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Colima, Oaxaca, the State of Mexico and practically the entire country. That is why we call on the different human rights organizations and organizations, collectives, in Mexico and the world, to denounce what is happening in our state, in our country; because the current government, that of Morena, headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, says that nothing is happening, that we exaggerate, that we want to stain his government, that things are changing, that’s how easily he wants to erase the blood of our dead; we do not know if he would maintain that position if the murders were of a governor, his children, his granddaughters, his spouse or himself; if the bullet that kills us was for one of their loved ones, we are sure that whoever fired that bullet would have been arrested immediately, and why is there no justice for us? Are our lives worth less than theirs?
We continue to hold the municipal president of Chilapa, Evelyn Salgado, governor of the state of Guerrero, and the federal government headed by Morena responsible for these deaths and for what may happen in the coming hours and days. We remain on high alert against these attacks; here we continue with our history of resistance and we will stand firm, for the life of our communities.
Attentively
INDIGENOUS AND POPULAR COUNCIL OF GUERRERO EMILIANO ZAPATA.