Members of the Triqui Independent Struggle (MULTI) evicted from the Zocalo
Elements of the state police removed an encampment with at least a hundred stalls of traditional clothing that the Triqui Independent Struggle (MULTI) were maintaining in the Zocalo of Mexico City
MEXICO CITY, MX – Elements of the state police early yesterday morning removed an encampment with at least a hundred stalls of traditional clothing that the Triqui Independent Struggle (MULTI) were maintaining in the zocalo and corridors of the government palace.
Since 2010, with the murder of Triqui land and food sovereignty defender Bety Cariño and Jiry Jaakkola in San Juan Copala, MULTI members have conducted acts to demand justice, one of which was this sit-in.
On April 27, 2010, paramilitaries ambushed a caravan traveling to the indigenous autonomous town of San Juan Copala, killing Bety. The caravan, of local and international activists, was delivering food to a community that had been cut off by paramilitaries allied with the State.
This morning
On day 2 of the government of Salomón Jara Cruz1, uniformed men arrived and began to remove each of the stalls and camps set up with poles and tarps, where the Triqui community sold traditional clothing.
"This is appalling, that they do this to us, when all we demand is justice and a safe return to our region," said the women dressed in the traditional red dresses that distinguish the Triqui people of Oaxaca.
Aristegui Noticias reports that once the Zócalo and the corridors of the State palace were cleared, the traditional dresses were taken away by garbage trucks.
The workers of the State disregarded the women's demands to safeguard their textiles, and very few managed to save some of the garments.
Solidarity with the Triqui community!
Video footage courtesy of RS and Medios Libres Sin Censura.
Song: La Tortolita by Alfonso Jimenez.
We share a translation of the official statement as released by the Triqui Independent Struggle collective (MULTI).
MULTI URGENT COMMUNICATION – Today, at 01:15 am, the government of Salomón Jara evicted our displaced sisters, brothers and siblings from the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala. We demand that the state government prioritize dialogue with the displaced families and immediately set up working groups to build a safe return to their territory with peace and dignity.
We, the members of the Movement of Unification and Independent Triqui Struggle (MULTI), women, children, elders, others and men, unite our voices in total solidarity with the displaced families of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala, who were evicted from their protest and denunciation trenches in the early hours of this morning.
Smear campaigns against the movement of the displaced families are dispersed by the government. These are aberrant actions […] in addition to considering it a lack of respect for the Triqui people, for which we hope that Salomón Jara will reconsider and return to the path that has been proposed to him.
To build peace with concrete actions, such as the return in peace and dignity of all the displaced, justice for Betty Cariño, Jiry Jackola, Timoteo Alejandro and many others who fell fighting for a better world, as well as security, among others, are fundamental for the reconciliation of the Triqui people. Dialogue is today the only way and path that we recognize.
These are necessary steps to reconstitute our social and community fabric, to recover our territory. […] We are a tiny dot in the great geography of Mexico, in which thousands and thousands of voices are embedded, resisting against the repression unleashed by tyranny, bad governments, political overlords, paramilitary groups that seek to put an end to the resistance of the Triqui people and destroy the dream of being able to decide for ourselves the fate we want. We have resisted and we will continue to resist.
From the cradle of the Triqui resistance we call upon the people in resistance of Oaxaca, Mexico, and the world.
We, Triqui people who seek to build a better life for our children, parents, siblings, we hope to walk as a people. We stand and hope you will too stand in solidarity with the displaced families so that they can recover their territory and their heritage.
From the Cradle of the Triqui Resistance, December 02, 2022.
MULTI-Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Triqui Independiente
A Mexican politician affiliated with National Regeneration Movement and serving as a senator in the LXIV Legislature of the Mexican Congress from the state of Oaxaca.