Movement for Triqui Autonomy

Last updated

The Movement for Triqui Autonomy is the struggle for independence of the Triqui people, who live in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. [1] Once based in town of San Juan Copala, they are now largely a diaspora due to the ongoing conflict in the region. In 1975, an Indigenous movement known as the club was formed with the goals of "agrarian conflict resolution, the defense of human rights, and the formation of cooperatives that would market regional products." Not long after it was created, the club's leaders were killed and in 1978 the government introduced a military presence in San Juan Copala. The conflict culminated in 2006 with the clash between the state of Oaxaca, led by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the indigenous autonomy movement, led by the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). APPO was formed in June 2006 during the teacher strikes as an alliance to oppose Oaxacan Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. The attacks have since been stepped up in order to quash the autonomy movement and return control over the land to the government.

Contents

Historical background

Oaxaca, located in the Southwest of the country, has a population of more than 3.2 million and is home to "16 different ethnic indigenous groups." [1] [2] Triqui is an overarching linguistic group that includes three subgroups: Copala Triqui, Chicahuaxtla Triqui, and San Martín Triqui. [3] The different subgroups are determined by where they live in the mountains: Copala Triqui is found in the lower region of Copala, San Martín Triqui is found in the middle area of San Martín Itunyoso, and Chicahuaxtla is found in the higher region of San Andrés de Chicahuaxtla. [4] There are over 20,000 speakers of Triqui in this region: "15,000…in Copala; 6,000 in San Andrés Chicahuaxtla; 2,000 in San Martín Itunyoso." [4]

Historically, San Juan Copala was considered a free municipality by the state of Oaxaca until Oaxaca removed its autonomy and classified it as "a municipal agency of Juxtlahuaca" in 1948. [5] Since 1948, the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) has run the government in Oaxaca. [6] In 1975, an Indigenous movement known as the club was formed with the goals of "agrarian conflict resolution, the defense of human rights, and the formation of cooperatives that would market regional products." [5] The club was in conflict with the PRI over different ideological goals. Not long after it was created, the club's leaders were killed and in 1978 the government introduced "a military presence in San Juan Copala" that lasted until 1991. [5] In 1991, the military was replaced by the Oaxaca state police. [5] Under the military presence, indigenous movements and organizations such as the Club and the Movement of Triqui Unification and Struggle (MULT) faced pressure. MULT was formed in the 1970s to fight for Triqui autonomy and "fight against the caciques (local political bosses)." [7] MULT worked with Indigenous communities in the area of San Juan Copala to introduce opposition candidates to challenge the PRI candidates in local elections. [5]

The state of Oaxaca, run by the PRI, responded to these electoral challenges by using the judicial system against MULT supporters and forming organizations to combat opposition. [5] In 1994, the PRI formed a paramilitary group called the Union for the Social Well-being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT) to maintain its control over the region. [5] In 2003, the political party affiliated with MULT won an election, leading the PRI to focus on "infiltrating and corrupting the MULT." [8] In 2006, a faction of MULT split off and formed its own group to fight for Triqui autonomy: the Unified Independent Movement for the Triqui Liberation Independiente (MULTI). [8] The PRI has been acting to oppress MULTI and its supporters because of their fight for autonomy for Triqui land and people. [8]

2006 protests in Oaxaca

The conflict culminated in 2006 with the clash between the state of Oaxaca, led by the PRI, and the indigenous autonomy movement, led by the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). APPO was formed in June 2006 during the teacher strikes as an alliance to oppose Oaxacan Governor Ruiz. [9] It is made up of over 360 "social, political, human rights, non-governmental, environmental, gender, student, and union organizations, the indigenous communities, and thousands of independent Oaxacans." [9] The clash started with a teachers strike in May, with demands for raises and increased budgets for schools in poorer rural areas of the state of Oaxaca, which the Governor refused to consider. [10] The strike led to a sit-in in the main square of the city of Oaxaca where the teachers were joined by thousands of supporters. [10] In June, the state police raided the camp with "helicopters, tear gas, and rifles" but the teachers fought back by throwing "gas canisters… and charging [the police] with commandeered buses," reclaiming the square. [10] The demands of the strike shifted from higher education budgets to the removal of the Governor. APPO became the focal point of the movement and took over the center of Oaxaca City, leading a march of hundreds of thousands of people two days after the June police raid on the sit-in. [10] By July and August, terror tactics were being used against the APPO-led movement with unidentified gunmen shooting at APPO marches and radio stations. [10] In September, APPO declared itself to be the "only legitimate government in the state" and announced it was forming a government according to the policy of usos y costumbres. [10] The clashes between the APPO and the PRI escalated. APPO protestors were attacked by PRI members with clubs, as well as kidnapped and shot at by unidentified gunmen. [10] In October, an attack on an APPO barricade resulted in the deaths of two APPO members and a camera operator from New York. [10] Two days later, thousands of Federal Police entered the city of Oaxaca to retake the city square from APPO "with water cannons, tear gas, helicopters, and armored vehicles." [10] On October 30, the day after the federal troops entered the city, the official National Human Rights Commission of Mexico reported two confirmed deaths and "at least 40 arrests" since the troops had arrived, a number denied by President Fox who "described the operation as ‘bloodless.’" [10] On November 7, "a women’s march demanding the withdrawal of federal police was attacked by armored vehicles with water cannons. [10] Claims of "sexual abuses by the federal troops" led to a protest by women in Oaxaca City on November 9, which the police responded to with "tear gas and water cannons." [10]

Declaration of autonomy

In 1995, Mexico introduced a law recognizing usos y costumbres (customs and practices), or traditional determinations of leaders for indigenous groups. [11] Under the policy, political parties are not recognized and leaders are selected by consensus. On January 21, 2007, after electing leaders, the "Triqui indigenous community of Oaxaca declared its autonomy." [8] The elected president, José Ramírez Flores, and other Triqui leaders received death threats and one day before the new municipal leaders were supposed to take office, "paramilitary groups burst into town and shot up the place." [8]

Prior to the election of these new leaders, APPO held a "constitutive congress" in November 2006 with "3,000 delegates from across the state" of Oaxaca and introduced the State Council of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca. [10] The creation of an autonomous Triqui region was significant because it reunified indigenous lands that had been divided up when the region's "free municipality" status had been rescinded by the government in 1948. [12] Inspired by the indigenous movement in Chiapas, Triqui and Mixtec leaders announced the formation of an "autonomous municipality" in January 2007. [10] The leaders who created this autonomous region were also supporters of MULTI. In spite of their declaration, MULT and the PRI continued to fight over control of Triqui territory; when the director of UBISORT was shot, he accused the director of MULT of planning the attack. [10]

In response to the Triqui declaration of autonomy in the municipality of San Juan Copala, UBISORT surrounded San Juan Copala. [4] Residents who supported the declaration of autonomy were intimidated by the UBISORT and MULT who had taken control of the town and prevented anyone from entering or exiting. [13] In January 2008, a radio station was formed to be "the voice that breaks the silence" for the newly declared autonomous municipality. Three months later, "two of its young presenters, Felicitas Martínez and Teresa Bautista, were killed in an armed ambush." [14]

The PRI increased its presence in San Juan Copala in November 2009 with the goal of "the elimination of the autonomy project and the recuperation of alliances with the government in order to facilitate development projects in the region." [14] Water, food, and electricity were cut off by the paramilitaries and gunmen were stationed "in the hills surrounding the town and shot at anyone they saw on the streets." [13] On April 27, 2010 an aid caravan was sent to San Juan Copala but was attacked by UBISORT, resulting in the deaths of "two human rights activists." [15] One of the activists, Bety Cariño, was a leader in "indigenous-led human rights struggles in Southern México." [16] Cariño had received death threats before she was shot by UBISORT. [17] Although UBISORT is affiliated with the PRI, the ruling party in Oaxaca, the government has attributed the violence to "internal conflicts in the Triqui region." [15] In September 2010, gunmen captured the town hall, using guns to control San Juan Copala. [13] The leaders of the autonomous municipality "ordered the total evacuation" of San Juan Copala after paramilitaries "said that they would massacre all supporters of the autonomous municipality." Within the first week of the paramilitary groups controlling town hall, the "autonomous municipality… reported at least five females injured – including a little girl – and one man killed, all by gunfire." After that week, the autonomous municipality says only two families remained in the town, compared to the fifty that were reported to be there when the town hall was seized. The two houses where the remaining families were living were said to be "completely surrounded by gunmen. [13] The violence in San Juan Copala is significant. According to one source, there have been about 600 homicides over the last three decades, a large number for a town of about 700 people. [7] During the more than nine-month reign of the paramilitary groups, 35 people were killed, "dozens of women were seriously injured or raped," and nearly 600 people were forced out of the town of San Juan Copala for supporting its autonomy. [18]

Fight for Triqui land

Triqui families have been living and protesting in Oaxaca City's main square since August 2010 On September 10, Triqui women "declared a hunger strike… to pressure the government to send police into San Juan Copala to evacuate the two families who remain trapped inside." [13] Since its creation in 2010, the protest camp has been forced to move many times. In December 2012, the Oaxaca state government forcibly removed the Triqui protest camp from its location in Oaxaca City's main square in preparation for the annual tourist festival Noche de Rábanos. [19]

The protesters have unsuccessfully tried to return to the town of San Juan Copala. In 2012, a peace agreement was signed but it only resulted in a decrease in violence, not an end. [20]

In September 2013, the Oaxaca state government agreed to relocate the displaced residents of San Juan Copala within 90 days. More than two years later, the displaced Triqui have still not been relocated. On November 4, 2015 Triqui community members began protesting in the "corridor of the government palace in the Oaxacan capital demanding" the government follow through on its agreement. The government response to their demands was to send riot police to remove the Triqui demonstrators. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acteal massacre</span> 1997 terror attack in Mexico

The Acteal massacre was a massacre of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of [Catholic] indigenous townspeople, including a number of children and pregnant women, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas, in the small village of Acteal in the municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Right-wing paramilitary group Máscara Roja murdered the victims on December 22, 1997, while the Government of Mexico first admitted responsibility for the massacre in September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oaxaca City</span> City in Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of Oaxaca. It is in the Centro District in the Central Valleys region of the state, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the base of the Cerro del Fortín, extending to the banks of the Atoyac River. Heritage tourism makes up an important part of the city's economy, and it has numerous colonial-era structures as well as significant archeological sites and elements of the continuing native Zapotec and Mixtec cultures. The city, together with the nearby archeological site of Monte Albán, was designated in 1987 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the site of the month-long cultural festival called the "Guelaguetza", which features Oaxacan dance from the seven regions, music, and a beauty pageant for indigenous women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulises Ruiz Ortiz</span> Mexican politician

Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is a Mexican politician and former governor of the State of Oaxaca. He took office in 2004 as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

<i>Guelaguetza</i>

The Guelaguetza[ɡelaˈɣetsa], or Los lunes del cerro, is an annual indigenous cultural event in Mexico that takes place in the city of Oaxaca, capital of the state of Oaxaca, and nearby villages. The celebration features traditional costumed dancing by gender-separated groups. It includes parades of indigenous walking bands, native food, and statewide artisanal crafts, such as pre-Hispanic style textiles. Each costume, or traje, and dance usually has a local indigenous historical and cultural meaning. While the celebration has attracted an increasing number of tourists, it is primarily one of deep cultural importance for the indigenous peoples of the state and is important for the survival of these cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trique languages</span> Language family

The Triqui, or Trique, languages are a family of Oto-Manguean spoken by 30,000 Trique people of the Mexican states of Oaxaca and the state of Baja California in 2007. They are also spoken by 5,000 immigrants to the United States. Triqui languages belong to the Mixtecan branch together with the Mixtec languages and Cuicatec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triqui</span> Indigenous people of Oaxaca, Mexico

The Triqui or Trique are an indigenous people of the western part of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, centered in the municipalities of Juxtlahuaca, Tlaxiaco and Putla. They number around 23,000 according to Ethnologue surveys. The Triqui language is a Mixtecan language of Oto-Manguean genetic affiliation. Trique peoples are known for their distinctive woven huipiles, baskets, and morrales (handbags).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Oaxaca protests</span> Civil conflict in Oaxaca, Mexico

The Mexican state of Oaxaca was embroiled in a conflict that lasted more than seven months and resulted in at least seventeen deaths and the occupation of the capital city of Oaxaca by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). The conflict emerged in May 2006 with the police responding to a strike involving the local teachers' trade union by opening fire on non-violent protests. It then grew into a broad-based movement pitting the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) against the state's governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. Protesters demanded the removal or resignation of Ortiz, whom they accused of political corruption and acts of repression. Multiple reports, including from international human rights monitors, accused the Mexican government of using death squads, summary executions, and even violating Geneva Conventions standards that prohibit attacking and shooting at unarmed medics attending to the wounded. One human rights observer claimed over twenty-seven were killed by the police violence. The dead included Brad Will, Emilio Alonso Fabián, José Alberto López Bernal, Fidel Sánchez García, and Esteban Zurita López.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavio Sosa</span>

Flavio Sosa Villavicencio, is a Mexican activist and a member of the provisional collective council of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

Copala may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copala Triqui</span> Oto-Manguean language of Oaxaca, Mexico

Copala Triqui is a Trique language primarily spoken in the municipality of Santiago Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. A 2007 estimate by SIL International placed the number of Copala Triqui speakers at 25,000 in Mexico.

Putla Villa de Guerrero or simply Putla, is a town and municipality in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is part of Putla District in the west of the Sierra Sur Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiapas conflict</span> Conflict in southern Mexico between the Mexican government and various left-wing militias

The Chiapas conflict comprised the 1994 Zapatista uprising, the 1995 Zapatista crisis and ensued tension between the Mexican state and the indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers of Chiapas from the 1990s to the 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Antonino Castillo Velasco</span> Town and municipality in Oaxaca, Mexico

San Antonino Castillo Velasco is a town and municipality located south of the city of Oaxaca, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Ocotlán District in the south of the Valles Centrales Region Its population is less than 5,000, but it was the scene of a number of violent confrontations in the 2000s. The town is known for its crafts, especially fine embroidery and items made with a flower known as flor inmortal, so called because it does not lose its color when it is dried. The name San Antonino is in honor of Anthony of Padua, who is the town's patron saint. “Castillo Velasco” was added in honor of José María Castillo Velasco, who was born here in 1820 and played important roles in the Reform War and French Intervention in Mexico.

Ubisort is a paramilitary group in Oaxaca, Mexico affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta Cariño</span> Mexican community activist

Alberta "Bety" Cariño Trujillo, was a Mexican human rights defender who was murdered on April 27 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jyri Jaakkola</span> Finnish human rights activist

Jyri Antero Jaakkola was a Finnish human rights activist. He was on his way to San Juan Copala, a village of indigenous Trique people that has declared itself autonomous, as a human rights observer when he was shot dead by UBISORT, a paramilitary organization connected to Institutional Revolutionary Party. In the attack Alberta Cariño, an activist for the local organization CACTUS, was also shot dead and more than ten people were wounded.

San Juan Copala is a town in the municipality of Santiago Juxtlahuaca in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located at 17°11′14″N97°57′46″W, at an altitude of 1578 meters above sea level. According to the 2005 census, carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, San Juan Copala has a total of 786 inhabitants.

The Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala is an entity made up of Trique Indians who declared their autonomy of the Mexican state in 2006 as a reaction to repression by the Mexican state, especially the Oaxacan government, whose leader Ulises Ruiz was targeted by the APPO movement at the time. The move is inspired by the Zapatista Movement in neighbouring Chiapas. It has since been the target of violent attacks by the local paramilitary groups UBISORT and MULT which are related to the PRI, the party of Ulises Ruiz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous people of Oaxaca</span>

The Indigenous people of Oaxaca are descendants of the inhabitants of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico who were present before the Spanish invasion. Several cultures flourished in the ancient region of Oaxaca from as far back as 2000 BC, of whom the Zapotecs and Mixtecs were perhaps the most advanced, with complex social organization and sophisticated arts.

In the Central Valley region of the Southern Mexican state of Oaxaca archeologists discovered evidence of historic settlements. Aztecs from Tenochtitlan on the volcanic plateau to the North around what today is Mexico City first arrived in this region around 1250 AD establishing military rule in the 15th century until the arrival of the Spanish. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Spanish took over Oaxaca which led to the eventual decrease of the Native population and the increase in African slaves. The region was then settled by mostly Spanish immigrants from Europe and the African slaves they brought with them. Oaxaca was considered a department after the Mexican War of Independence, but after the fall of emperor Agustín de Iturbide, it became a state in 1824 with José Murguia as its first governor. During the 19th century, Oaxaca was split between liberal and conservative factions. The political and military struggles between the factions resulted in wars and intrigues. A series of major disasters occurred in the state from the 1920s to the 1940s. In the 1940s and 1950s, new infrastructure projects were begun. From the 1980s to the present, there has been much development of the tourism industry in the state.

References

  1. 1 2 "Yolanda's Portrait: A Story of Triqui Linguistic Resistance Mediated By English and Ethnographic Coevalness is Oaxaca, Mexico". Departamento Interfacultivo de Psicologia Evolutiva y de la Educacion. October 2009.
  2. ↑ Hones, Donald (2012). "Now is the Moment: The State, Public Education, and Communities of Resistance in Oaxaca and Wisconsin". Multicultural Education. 19 (2).
  3. ↑ Hollenbach, Barbara E. (1992). "A Cultural Sketch of the Copala Trique".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 "Triqui". Intercontinental Cry Magazine.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pombo, Maria Dolores Paris (May 2014). "Breaking the Spiral of Violence Politics and Migration in the Lower Triqui Region". Latin American Perspectives. 41 (3). doi:10.1177/0094582X13518754. S2CID   220738885.
  6. ↑ "Triqui Women on the Frontline in San Juan Copala". CASA Collective.
  7. 1 2 Albertani, Claudio (May 3, 2010). "The Dream Of San Juan Copala".
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Schertow, John Ahni (January 29, 2007). "The Triquis Inaugurate Their New Autonomous Municipality". Intercontinental Cry Magazine.
  9. 1 2 Martinez Gonzalez, B Gloria; Valle Baeza, Alejandro (2007). "Oaxaca: Rebellion against Marginalization, Extreme Poverty, and Abuse of Power". Monthly Review. 59 (3).
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Weinberg, Bill (November 12, 2007). "Oaxaca: Backward Toward Revolution". The Journal of Labor and Society. 10 (4): 383–409. doi:10.1111/j.1743-4580.2007.00172.x.
  11. ↑ Eisenstadt, Todd A. (2007). "Usos y Costumbres and Postelectoral Conflicts in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1995-2004: An Empirical and Normative Assessment". Latin American Research Review. 42 (1): 52–77. doi:10.1353/lar.2007.0008. S2CID   144253041.
  12. ↑ Stephen, Lynn (2013). We Are the Face of Oaxaca: Testimony and Social Movements. United States of America: Duke University Press. p. 210.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Bricker, Kristin (September 21, 2010). "Autonomous Authorities Order Total Evacuation of San Juan Copala". Upside Down World.
  14. 1 2 Sieder, Rachel; McNeish, John Andrew (2013). Gender Justice and Legal Pluralities: Latin American and African Perspectives. Routledge. p. 166.
  15. 1 2 Davies, Nancy (May 17, 2010). "Oaxaca: The Ongoing Extermination of San Juan Copala's Autonomous Triquis". Upside Down World.
  16. ↑ Collins, Dana; Falcon, Sylvanna; Lodhia, Sharmila; Talcott, Molly (2010). "New Directions in Feminism and Human Rights". International Feminist Journal of Politics. 12 (3–4): 298–318. doi:10.1080/14616742.2010.513096. S2CID   144070030.
  17. ↑ Talcott, Molly (June 13, 2013). "Together We Have Power: Personal Traumas and Political Responses among Activist Oaxaqueñas". Latin American Perspectives.
  18. ↑ Sieder, Rachel; McNeish, John Andrew (2013). Gender Justice and Legal Pluralities: Latin American and African Perspectives. Routledge. p. 167.
  19. ↑ "Oaxaca: Indigenous Protest Camp Eviction". World War 4 Report.
  20. ↑ "Violence Threatens Accord Among Triqui". Mexico News Daily. December 8, 2015.
  21. ↑ Cerutti, Debora (November 11, 2015). "On a Hunger Strike, the Displaced Women of San Juan Copala". Intercontinental Cry Magazine.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.