Triqui Indigenous women defenders Adriana and Virginia Ortiz García were killed on the night of Tuesday 5 November in the center of Oaxaca City. They were both involved in the Triqui Unity and Struggle Movement (MULT). Adriana worked as a community legal adviser since 2009, and she played an important role alongside Virginia in the search for their cousins Virginia and Daniela who have been missing in the Mixtec region since July 5, 2008.

Emelia Ortiz García, Adriana’s and Virginia’s sister and MULT spokesperson, said that the 45 and 35 year-old women defenders were intercepted by two unknown individuals on a motorcycle, who shot at them as they were getting out of a taxi on their way to their home near Oaxaca’s historical center.

In response to the events, MULT members demonstrated outside the Oaxaca Government Palace on Wednesday morning, 6 November, condemning the murder of the women defenders, calling for justice and demanding that the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office conduct an immediate and exhaustive investigation to find those responsible.

The National Network of Women Defenders in Mexico, the State Network of Women Defenders, Activists and Journalists of Oaxaca, and IM-Defensoras condemn the killings of women defenders Adriana and Virginia Ortiz García, and we add our voices to the demand for justice and the protection of human rights defenders in Oaxaca.

We reiterate our concern about the rising violence in Oaxaca, particularly against human rights defenders.

For over 10 years, Oaxaca has consistently ranked among the states with the most frequent and serious attacks against women human rights defenders, and among the states with the greatest impunity in cases of killings and forced disappearances of human rights defenders.

We demand that the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office conduct an expeditious and comprehensive investigation with a gender perspective, that all lines of inquiry be pursued and that priority be given to those linked to Adriana’s and Virginia’s human rights defense work. We also demand assurances that reparation and protection measures will be taken for their family.

Finally, we call on all organizations, the international community and grassroots movements to speak out immediately condemning these events and demanding a halt to the widespread violence in Oaxaca.