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via US mail and email Sr. Gobernador Salomón Jara Cruz Governor of the State of Oaxaca | via US mail and email José Bernardo Rodríguez Alamilla Attorney General/Chief Prosecutor of Oaxaca |
April 11, 2025
Dear Sirs:
We are deeply concerned about threats and attacks on Zapotec Indigenous defender Silvia Pérez Yescas in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca State. On February 27, while she was away at an intergenerational human rights workshop, her home was burgaled and her computer equipment stolen.
Silvia Pérez Yescas is the coordinator and founder of Indigenous Women for the Conservation, Research, and Use of Natural Resources (CIARENA, AC). She has reported receiving previous death threats because of her human rights work advocating for Indigenous women and youth in the town of María Lombardo, part of the municipality of San Juan Cotzocón Mixe in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. A member of the Zapoteca Indigenous community, Silvia Pérez Yescas had been forcibly displaced from this town for more than a year because for fear of physical assault. Because of insecurity, she and others with CIARENA have decided to temporarily close the office of the organization. She has reason to believe that current or former municipal officials are linked to the threats against her and CIARENA.
Danger to social leaders is real in Oaxaca, the state with the fifth highest number of attacks on human rights defenders and journalists. Sandra Domínguez, another Zapoteca activist who had denounced Oaxacan government leaders, was disappeared a few months ago.
We strongly urge that you:
- conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the burglary at the home of Silvia Pérez Yescas and the threats against her
- instruct the Ombudsman’s Office on Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca to issue precautionary measures and establish working groups to guarantee that all human rights defenders and journalists can work in Oaxaca without impunity
- request that the National Mechanism for Women Human Rights Defenders strengthen protection measures and guarantee the safety of the members of CIARENA, in strict accordance with their wishes
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine Stonebraker Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies:
Elizabeth Lara Rodríguez, Ombudsman for Human Rights of the State of Oaxaca / Defensoría de los Derechos Humanos del Pueblo de Oaxaca ~ via email
José de Jesús Romero López, Minister of the Interior / Secretario de Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca ~ via email
Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, Ambassador of Mexico to the US ~ via email
Andrea Pochak, Rapporteur for Mexico and on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ~ via US mail and email
Ronald D. Johnson, US Ambassador to Mexico ~ via US mail and email
Political Officer, Office of Mexican Affairs, US State Dept ~ via email
US Senators Husted and Moreno ~ via email
US Representatives Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes ~ via email
13 MAR 2025_SiPaz_Mexico
