Veracruz state police detained 47 members of local campesino group “Los Dorados de Villa” at the community of Ixhuatlán de Madero, in the mountainous Huasteca region. The campesinos, adherents of the Zapatista “Other Campaign,” had been peacefully occupying a 513-hectare piece of land at Lomas del Dorado, from which they say they had been illegally evicted by the army 23 years ago. They say the occupation was undertaken after a generation of fruitless petitions for redress. An observer at the scene from the local United Human Rights Network (RUDH) is said to have been “disappeared.” (La Jornada, June 16; LIMEDDH, June 15)
Meanwhile in Veracruz City, some 2,000 residents dressed in ritual white held a march in support of the federal police and army presence in the state, calling for military forces to be permanently stationed to combat increasingly violent narco gangs. Hundreds of local police joined the march. (La Jornada, June 18)
See our last posts on Mexico, Veracruz and the narco crisis.
Police fired on Veracruz campesinos
Hermann Bellinghausen reports for La Jornada June 20 that Antonio Santiago Hernández, 34, was wounded by police gunfire at the eviction at Lomas del Dorado, and is suffering in prison without adequate medical attention.
Prison for Veracruz protesters
Hermann Bellinghausen reports for La Jornada June 23 that 10 of the campesino protesters arrested at Ixhuatlán de Madero have been ordered imprisoned on charges of trespassing, disobeidence of authority and other crimes. Many of those who have been released say they suffered physical and psychological torture.