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More than 160 conflicts in 24 states have been documented up to February of this year in a preliminary report by the Committee for Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (CDPIM) of the Secretariat of Government Relations . In addition to Nayarit and San Luis Potosi, land conflicts also exist in Sonora, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Morelos, Puebla and Veracruz. But…

Nationwide, conflicts are increasing between indigenous peoples and the authorities or private interests over land, water and public safety. More than 160 conflicts in 24 states have been documented up until February of this year in a preliminary report by the Committee for Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (CDPIM) of the Secretariat of Government Relations . At a legal…

Ten armed agents working for the private security firm GIA Private Armed Security detained the former federal and local deputy Flavio Sosa Villavicencio recently for 20 minutes.  This took lace when F. Sosa was taking photos of three trailers belonging to the Canadian Fortuna Silver Mines that were traveling on the Oaxaca-Puerto Ángel highway.  They were escorted by patrols belonging to the cited…

If the fields are burning, it is not only due to the “bad guys”–the drug cartels, hit men and thugs and much less to the self-defense forces, community police groups or farmers defending their territories. Rural Mexico is experiencing a crisis in human security crisis, where criminal violence is not the only factor present or the main cause. The drastic…

Under the pretext of progress, authorities from the three levels of government have joined with economic powers, mostly foreign, to steal resources, territories and the cultural heritage of dozens of indigenous peoples from Mexico with the construction of mega-projects, warned participants of the forum ‘Accounts of Dispossession: The Peoples’ Fight Against Mega-Projects, Central Region ’, which took place in the…

The phrases “You are not alone” and “Long live Galeano” have been circulating on social networks across the globe recently. They refer to the recently assassinated Zapatista teacher José Luis Solís López. Solis, known by the Zapatistas as Galeano, was murdered in paramilitary attack on May 2 in Chiapas, Mexico. He died from both gunshots and machete wounds. Galeano’s death…

In Latin America, torture remains an "endemic" problem for all democratic governments in the region. In countries like Mexico, torture is "widespread," but not state policy says UN Special Rapporteur Juan E. Méndez. On his recent visit to Mexico, Méndez evaluated how serious the problem is of torture practices by law enforcement institutions in that country. In an interview with…