Urgent News Bulletin: Pedro Leyva killed in Xayakalan, Ostula

“We have to struggle, come what may, whatever happens, against anyone we have to.
A struggle isn’t easy. It’s exhausting --economically, physically, and emotionally. They want to fill us with fear with their arms, with their show of force. But we must not fear them. We must struggle without fear for our land, for our freedom, for our dignity.”
Pedro Leyva, Santa María Ostula,
July 6, 2011.


Today at approximately 9 p.m. in the community of Xayakalan, Santa María Ostula, municipality of Aquila Michoacán, our comrade and community member, 34-year old Pedro Leyva, was killed in a cowardly attack by paramilitaries operating in the region. Pedro has been a member of the Commission for the Defense of Communal Property, and of the Santa María Ostula Communal Guard, as well as Ostula’s representative to the National Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. The paramilitaries are at the service of organized crime groups that have pursued, killed and disappeared members of this and neighboring communities with total impunity especially since the recovery of Xayakalan on June 29, 2009.

Despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights issued Precautionary Measures in September 2010 for some communal landholders, the violence and aggression against them continue with the complicity of federal, state, and local governments.
We call on all members of the civil society to spread the word about this terrible situation through all possible media and to be alert for new attacks against the comrades in this community.

In addition to Pedro Leyva, the following indigenous Nahua people from Santa María Ostula have been killed or kidnapped / disappeared:

Killed:

Date of killing Víctim

July 26, 2008 Diego Ramírez Domínguez (teacher and communal landholder)

August 15, 2009 Simón Pineda Verdía (communal landholder)

August 15, 2009 Simón Pineda, hijo (communal landholder)

September 11, 2009 Quintín Regis Valdez (communal landholder)

September 15, 2009 Erick Nemesio Domínguez (communal landholder)

September 18, 2009 Froylán Medina Álvarez

September 18, 2009 Demetrio Olivero Álvarez

July 17, 2010 Humberto Santos Valladares (communal landholder)

July 27, 2010 Venancio Ramírez Cirino (communal landholder)

July 27, 2010 Manuel Flores Álvarez (communal landholder)

July 27, 2010 Miguel Ángel Flores Álvarez (communal landholder)

August 3, 2010 José Martínez Ramos (communal landholder)

December 10, 2010 Horacio Martínez Ramos (communal landholder)

January 1, 2011 Ernesto Nicolás López (communal landholder)

January 1, 2011 Pedro Nazario Domínguez (communal landholder)

February 1, 2011 Pedro Guzmán (communal landholder)

March 20, 2011 Isidro Mora Domínguez

March 20, 2011 Feliciano Cirino Domínguez

May 2, 2011 Fortino Verdía Gómez (burned and later killed)

May 2, 2011 Jonathan Verdía Gómez (burned and later killed)

May 13, 2011 Francisco Verdía Macías (communal landholder and Principal of
the Ostula Elementary School)

May 13, 2011 Ambrosio Verdía Macías (communal landholder and teacher at the
Ostula Elementary School)

May 28, 2011 Nicolás de la Cruz (communal landholder, First Commander of Third Communal Guard Group that recovered Xayakalan on June 29, 2009)

May 28, 2011 Nicolás de la Cruz, hijo (communal landholder)

May 28, 2011 Juan Faustino Nemesio (communal landholder, First Commander of Second Communal Guard Group that recovered Xayakalan on June 29, 2009)

Kidnapped-disappeared:

Date Víctim

February 23, 2010 Gerardo Vera Orcino

February 23, 2010 Javier Martínez Robles

April 20, 2010 Francisco de Asís Manuel (Presidente of the Ostula
Community Property Commission)

June 26, 2010 Máximo Magno Valladares (Representative from
El Potrero community)

April 8, 2011 Enrique Domínguez Macías (17 years old)

Furthermore, on February 20, 2011, a commando tried to kill Semeí Verdía, a member of the Communal Dialogue Commission for Agricultural Problems, who is currently unable to live in Ostula.

Stop the War against Ostula Campaign
October 5, 2011