“Although the rulers do not like it, we will continue defending our territory because this is where we come from, and we are not leaving despite their repression and corruption” say the ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón, who denounce the murder with impunity of their leader Juan Vázquez Guzmán, and request the intervention of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation to protect their rights and the integrity of their territory.
“Here we continue in struggle, resisting with hope to defend our lands from dispossession by this accursed government which only wants to sow terror and destruction in our communities”, the indigenous Tzeltal ejidatarios (communal landholders) from San Sebastián Bachajón, in the northern region of the state of Chiapas, Mexico, stated in June 2013. “The bad governments kill and imprison those who struggle for better living conditions for their people. For this reason, two months ago, they ordered the assassination of our compañero, Juan Vázquez Guzmán, by their hired assassins while he was resting quietly at home, the treacherous government wickedly ordered his murder to put an end to our struggle, but they were wrong, because we are here, we are staying here and we are not going to leave our land which is the birthplace of our mothers and fathers, of our grandfathers and grandmothers who also fought and gave their lives for the mother earth.”
With this clear message, the adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle re-confirmed that their struggle continues, despite the brutal murder of their traditional leader, the social activist and human rights defender Juan Vázquez Guzmán, on April 24, 2013, and the fact that neither the instigators nor the perpetrators of the killing have been identified or punished.
Read the complete article: Mexico: San Sebastián Bachajón, Six Months after the Assassination of Juan Vázquez Guzmán and earlier report on the case San Sebastián Bachajón: Following the Assassination of Juan Vázquez Guzmán, the Struggle for the Defense of the Land Continues
