Ostula | Unearthing Mexico
The murder of our siblings and comrades while surveilling — adhering to the principles of direct action and mutual aid — in the regions of Colima and Chinicuila, is not accidental.
Three communal land members from Ostula, Michoacán, were murdered after an attack by the Jalisco Cartel-New Generation.
The communal guard demands justice and requital for those responsible, as well as to continue exercising their collective autonomy, writes taller ahuehuete’s Heriberto Paredes.
Only in the first decade of the 21st century, under two PAN governments (2001–2010), a small group of Mexican and foreign mining companies—with Canadian firms at the forefront—extracted twice as much gold and half as much silver as the Spanish Crown during their 300-year period of conquest and colonialism, from 1521 to 1821, in what is now Mexico1.
According Braulio Carbajal2, six of the top ten gold mines in the nation are held by Canadian firms.
It is known that the Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, and Chiapas contain sizable, untapped rare earth reserves. Mexico may rank as the world's tenth-largest source of lithium. 1.7 million tons of reserves were discovered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The most advanced project, however, expected to start construction in 2024 in the northern state of Sonora is in the hands of China’s Ganfeng Lithium.
On the Michoacán coast, the territory and natural resources of Santa María de Ostula community are in dispute.
“It’s literally a struggle for life and death in which the comuneros defend their land from gang and cartel attacks3" Luis Hernández Navarro reported. But on the regional game board they also fight over the exploitation of natural resources. Ternium4, just one steel manufacturing company, has a concession of 5,000 hectares within Ostula.
Ostula
STATEMENT FOR THE MURDER OF THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND COURAGEOUS PEOPLE RISKING THEIR LIVES FOR THE COMMUNAL GUARD OF SANTA MARÍA OSTULA: ISAÚL NEMESIO ZAMBRANO, MIGUEL ESTRADA REYES, AND ROLANDO MAGNO ZAMBRANO.
TO THE PEOPLES OF MEXICO AND THE WORLD,
TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA,
TO ALL NGOS,
Today, around eight in the morning, three members of the community guard of Santa María Ostula — and the Community Guard of the Municipality of Aquila — ISAÚL NEMESIO ZAMBRANO (from the Xayakalan Commission), MIGUEL ESTRADA REYES (of the La Cobanera Commission) and ROLANDO MAGNO ZAMBRANO (of the Palme de Oro Commission), were violently murdered at a check-point at the hands of approximately twenty hitmen from the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG).
They taunted our comrades, recording various videos, in which they bragged about their cruelty, and their membership to the aforementioned cartel.
The Cartel
This cartel, which currently has its lair and center of activity in the town of La Naranja, is located in the municipality of Aquila (a town in the southwest part of the Mexican state of Michoacán).
Our community is mourning. Our community is deeply affected. Our community is attending to the pain of our murdered comrades’ families. They were killed for having dared to defend the life and integrity of all, with heroic dignity and courage.
They were killed for having sought peace and security in the municipality and the region. We will not forget this brutal atrocity. It fills our hearts with sadness!
Collusion
At the same time, we denounce the complicity of the federal and state governments. We denounce their collusion with the cartels.
We recall that since October 4 of last year, we made public knowledge that while the state of Michoacán is overwhelmed by the territorial growth from the CJNG (Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel), the community of Santa María Ostula in particular, and the Aquila area of this municipality, felt very grateful for the presence of our community guards, who were able to allow us to breathe a climate of peace.
However, since last September 29, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel took control of the municipal seat in Chinicuila, and displaced people and families out of the area. Their aim was to exploit the mines.
It just so happens that a few days before, the National Guard (GN) occupied this town. It disarmed and dismantled its communal guard, arrested two of its members, and completely took over the town.
The Result
The outcome: Chinicuila is currently a tragic place in the hands of the mafia, under the passive presence of federal security forces.
The murder of our siblings and comrades while surveilling — adhering to the principles of direct action and mutual aid struggle — in the regions of Colima and Chinicuila, is not accidental.
Rather, it is rooted in the systematic omission of the Mexican state to provide an existence free of fear to the population due to the dangerous infiltration of drug mafias partaking and colluded with government institutions, especially those whose job it is to provide security.
We also remember that between 2009 and 2014, our community suffered a fatal attack by a cartel group, in complicity with the governments in power, highlighting the collusion between the Mexican Navy and the Knights Templar cartel. This situation left 34 murdered people, and six forced-disappearances of agrarian authorities, community leaders, and the murder of the child Hidilberto Reyes García by the 65th infantry battalion of the Mexican Army, verified by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
BECAUSE OF THE REPORTED ACTS OF VIOLENCE, WE STATE THAT THE COMMUNAL GUARD OF SANTA MARÍA OSTULA, TOGETHER WITH THE SELF-DEFENSE GROUPS AND COMMUNAL GUARDS OF AQUILA AND COAHUAYANA, WILL STRENGTHEN ACTIONS TO COMBAT AND END THE PRESENCE OF THE CARTELS THROUGHOUT THE REGION. CONSEQUENTLY, WE DEMAND:
1. TO LOCATE AND DEAL WITH THOSE RESPONSIBLE OF THE MURDER OF ISAÚL NEMESIO ZAMBRANO, MIGUEL ESTRADA REYES, AND ROLANDO MAGNO ZAMBRANO.
2. THE DISMANTLING OF THE CARTEL, CJNG, AND THE CESSATION OF THE PROTECTION GIVEN TO SAID CARTEL BY THE STATE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT, INCLUDING THE MILITARY.
3. TO RESPECT OUR OPERATION OF THE COMMUNAL GUARD. WE DEMAND THE EXERCISE OF OUR FREE DETERMINATION AND AUTONOMY.
We aim to locate and assess the consequences of those responsible for the death of innocent communal protectors, Isaúl Nemecio Zambrano, Miguel Estrada Reyes, and Rolando Magno Zambrano!
We hope to see justice for the murder of our community members, in the struggle for land and communal freedom!
Respect to our Communal Guard!
SANTA MARÍA OSTULA, JANUARY 12, 2023.
ATTENTIVELY,
NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US
NAHUA INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY OF SANTA MARÍA OSTULA
Carlos Fernández-Vega, La Jornada. México SA. Saqueo, mil 400 toneladas de oro. Corporativos mineros, depredadores / Canadienses encabezan latrocinio. January 2023.
Braulio Carbajal, IED en minería se desploma 62% en los primeros nueve meses, Periódico La Jornada. December 2022, p. 22.
Luis Hernández Navarro, Santa María Ostula, mining and organized crime. Posted on March 29, 2020, as translated by Chiapas Support Committee. Originally published in Spanish by La Jornada. Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
Ernesto Martínez Elorriaga. La Jornada, Aquila: autoridades acusan a minera Ternium de incumplir compromisos. Photograph by Heriberto Paredes.