Mexico: Murders strengthen resolve of autonomous Indigenous community

"We feel defenseless, but we're going to return to San Juan Copala and accompany the family of our dead friend and colleague," Jorge Albino, spokesperson for his autonomous village in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, told IPS Friday. San Juan Copala, a Triqui indigenous village that declared itself "autonomous" in January 2007, faced violence again this week with the murders of Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez, 44, and his wife Cleriberta Castro, 35, by an armed group late Thursday. Ramírez, who had already suffered two attempts on his life, was one of the driving forces behind the town's declaration of autonomy, and the leader of the Independent Movement for Triqui Unification and Struggle. Albino and a group of non-governmental organizations on Friday laid the blame for the killings on the administration of Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and on the state's Popular Unity Party. "Timoteo died in the struggle for his rights, for seeking the common good. The Triqui region has been forgotten and marginalized for so long," Edelberto Hernández, another community leader, told IPS.