This June, the Second Criminal Chamber of the Oaxaca Court of Justice confirmed the existence of 200 arrest warrants against members of the Mazatec community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in Oaxaca, including 8 women defenders who face five charges each. The accusations date back to events that took place in 2014 – although they were not brought before a judge until 2016 – in the context of clashes with the local cacique powers that for more than a decade have subjected the community to constant assault and forced displacement to gain territorial control and further the extractivist dispossession of the Xangá Ndá Ge river.

The organization Mazatec Women for Freedom has denounced that the reactivation of the 200 arrest warrants, nine years after the alleged events, is part of a new “political maneuver” against the community. These warrants were issued against people who have shown their innocence throughout all these years and who, in several cases, were not even present during the alleged events. Based on this, more than 13 injunctions and more than 25 rulings of freedom have been obtained in their favor over the last few years. Moreover, a judge ruled in 2016 that there was no way to individualize the crimes alleged, since the accusation was made in a general manner and criminal law requires it to be individualized. This is the case for the 8 women defenders being criminalized under false accusations, simply for being members of the community.

The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico and IM-Defensoras demand the immediate annulment of the arrest warrants and an end to the criminalization of the 8 women defenders and the rest of the criminalized members of the Eloxochitlán community.

We demand that the authorities guarantee the security and protection of the Eloxochitlán community, taking necessary measures to put an end to the persecution, siege and forced displacement perpetrated for more than a decade by local corrupt cacique powers against the community and its members.

The community of Eloxochitlán has a legitimate right to defend its territory and the Xangá Ndá Ge river against the extractive interests that threaten it. We demand respect for this right.

We call on national organizations and the international community to remain vigilant regarding this case and to express solidarity with the criminalized sister defenders and the Eloxochitlán community.