Caravan on high alert
On the twelfth day of the Caravan for Water and Life, a threat was reported by the National Indigenous Congress and Zapatista affiliated organizations: Los Ardillos.
For more than 20 years, amid the fertile poppy farmlands that feed Guerrero's heroin trade and supply routes to the US, "Los Ardillos" have been vying to reign supreme among the cartels.
On the twelfth day of the EZLN-affiliated caravan, the cartel ensured their presence was noted by all.
Caravan on high alert
«We inform, with concern, that a few moments ago the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero Emiliano Zapata and the coordination of the caravan notify the presence of 50 vans and 20 motorcycles belonging to Los Ardillos, a gang of hired assassins…»
– A message from the National Indigenous Congress CNI-CIG.
“When our meeting ended last night, we realized that more than 50 pickup trucks and 20 motorcycles had arrived, with the purpose of intimidating us" stated Jesus Placido Valerio, leader of the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero - Emiliano Zapata.
He denounced1 to La Jornada how dozens of gunmen, identified as members of the group Los Ardillos, settled in Colotepec, municipality of Chilapa de Alvarez, in the Montaña Baja of Guerrero to intimidate the Caravan for Life, Water and Against Megaprojects.
The Journey
The official Statement of the National Meeting of Struggles against Gas Pipelines and Deadly Projects announced on January 17, 2022 the Caravan for Water and Life.
The expedition intends to travel through different points of struggle against capital, focusing on the transnational extractivist projects eviscerating the forms of life and organization of originary peoples and the working class across the nation-state commonly referred to as Mexico. The collectives expressed:
In these times of crisis and capitalist wars occurring globally, we are experiencing an alarming, oppressive escalation of plunder and dispossession against our communities, and against Mother Earth.
The originary peoples, the organizations and collectives that remain in resistance, see that the storm of which our Zapatista brothers and sisters spoke about not only has been here for years, but it has been turning vastly violent, truly devastating, bloodthirsty.
We are experiencing the latest onslaught of the hydra, this time it is coming for everything:
It takes our water, both in towns and cities, the water that once stripped is returned with dissolved death in the form of mercury, cyanide and other poisons that industries spew out.
It comes for the land and the minerals that are stored in it; for the fields to reproduce again and again genetically modified seeds that kill those who sustain them and those who ingest them, slowly.
It comes for the homes that have been built with the effort of entire generations, only to demolish them and put in their place tall, empty offices, and shopping malls; or to pass the deadly Mayan train, or to lay gas pipelines, or to trace death as a destiny for all men and women between the cracks and furrows.
The communities remarked they will stop at the Casa de los Pueblos Samir Flores Soberanes, in Mexico City, on April 10th: the anniversary of the death of General Emiliano Zapata.
Today
For over 20 years ago, amid fertile poppy-growing farmland that feed Guerrero's heroin trade and supply routes to the United States, ‘Los Ardillos’ have contested the chance to hold the crown in the highly competitive drug-trafficking industry. The group continuously extorts farmers to force them to grow opium for the cartel.
In the face of the threat, the National Indigenous Congress and Zapatista affiliated organization released the following statement:
To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation,
To the National Indigenous Congress and the Indigenous Council of Government,
To the National and International Sexta,
To Slumil K'ajxemk'op,
To national and international human rights organizations,
Today, April 2, on the twelfth day of the Caravan for Water and Life, in the community of Alcozacán, Chilapa, Guerrero, our comrades informed us that, after finishing the day's activities, the presence of 50 pickup trucks and 20 motorcycles from the group of hitmen "Los Ardillos" was reported in the community of Colotepec, Chilapa, one of the points through which the caravan would pass to continue its journey.
We call on all our comrades in Mexico and the world as well as the human rights organizations that accompany the Caravan to be on high alert, to carry out advocacy actions, to start conducting protocols to strengthen the security of our comrades who are part of the caravan.
We reiterate that this is a peaceful movement. We repudiate all practices of war against the people and we hold the three levels of government responsible for any attack against the Caravan and our brothers and sisters of CIPOG-EZ.
Our struggle is for life.
Alcozacán, Guerrero, April 2nd, 2022
Caravan for Water and Life. United Peoples against capitalist dispossession.
As of right now, the caravan is in transit. We remain alert for possible aggression by hitmen to the CIPOG-EZ.
Arista Ocampo, Sergio. La Jornada. April 3, 2022.