Human Rights Activists in Guerrero Face Deadly Persecution

SOCIAL JUSTICE, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND ACTIVISM  MMN PROGRAM 
 
Regis University 
Master in Nonprofit Management 
672 Social justice, community organizing and activism 
Marcos Villa 
April 30, 2009 
FINAL PAPER 
THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCHERS IN GUERRERO, MEXICO: 
THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY 
   
Abstract. 
 
Human  Rights  has  been  an  important  issue  especially  in  the  last  years,  since 
December 10th, 1948 when the general Assembly of the United Nations adopted and 
proclaimed  the  Universal  Declaration  of  Human  Rights.  Countries  have  agreed  to 
promote them as a consequence of the existence of democracy and as the symbols 
that  express  that  the  governments  are  working  for  building  the  infrastructure  for 
making life of their countrymen possible and full of opportunities.  
There  are  many  documents  signed  by  different  countries  that  commit  to  those 
nations to oversee those rights; even thou, some of these countries develop internal 
politics that question or eliminate the guarantees of those rights.  
In this paper we try to reflect Mexico’s situation in Human rights through the lens of 
the last experiences that some of the civil society organizations from Guerrero State 
have  lived  in  order  to  share  the  experience  and  learnings  to  other  states  or  
countries.  We  will  reflect  in  possible  actions  that  might  help  to  strengthen  the 
identity  of  Human  Rights  groups  and  try  to  remove  the  social  image  governments 
are trying to impose on these groups. 
 
Dark reality in Mexico 
 
Raúl Lucas Lucía, president of Organization for the Future of the Indigenous Mixtecos 
Indigenous,  OFPM1  escaped  four  times  from  death  during  ten  years.  In  1999,  after 

                                                        
1 OFPM for the Spanish name: Organización para el Futuro de los Pueblos Indígenas 

Mixtecos 

 
REGIS UNIVERSITY    MARCOS VILLA

 
the  slaughter  of  “el  Charco”,  he  was  tortured  and  threatened  by  members  of  the 
Mexican Army. Two years later, in September 2001, he was again tortured with his 
brothers  and  brother  in  law.  He  was  also  threatened  in  October  2006  after  the 
Zapatista  Army  of  National  Liberation  EZLN2  marched  in  peace  through  his 
community.  In  2007,  the  15th  of  February  somebody  tried  to  kill  him  and  he  was 
wounded with a bullet in his neck in a prepared ambush. (Hernández, 2009) Finally, 
the past 13th February, a couple of months ago he and Manuel Ponce, the secretary 
of the same OIPM organization were “levantados”3 in an public event in the city of 
Ayutla.  Around  1:30  pm  three  men  with  heavy  weapons  got  in  the  building 
screaming: “police!” They hit Manuel and Raúl, took them out and put them into a 
black Liberty that was waiting for them outside. 
Half  an  hour  later  his  wife,  Guadalupe  Castro  Morales  got  a  warning  call:  “Stop 
fucking.  Be  quiet  or  we  will  kill  your  husband.  This  is  a  consequence  for  defending 
Indians”.  
 
The 20th of February they both appeared dead with torture marks (González, 2009) 
and with a shot in their heads half buried in a near mountain. It was well known that 
Raúl  Lucas  had  documented  4  cases  of  violations  of  Human  Rights  during  2008 
against the Mexican Army and two police corporations of “Ayutla of the freemen”. 
The  16th  of  February,  before  they  appeared  dead,  International  Amnesty  made  a 
public  statement  ‐AI:  AMR  41/007/2009‐  asking  the  Army,  State  and  Federal 
authorities  to  investigate  the  situation 
and  doing  everything  for  bringing  the 
possible authorities in to justice; nothing 
was done (AI, 2009). On the other side, 
the  National  Commission  of  Human 
Rights  hadn’t  made  any  declaration 
before  different  international   
Guerrero State in Mexico 
organization  like  Human  Rights  Watch,  Among the three poorest states of the 
country 
                                                        
2
 EZLN for the spanish name: Ejército Zapatista de Liberación nacional 
3 Spanish name used for the people that is kidnapped without reclaiming a reward for the 

victim’s life. 

 

 
Latin  America  Working  Group,  Washington  Office  on  Latin  America  and  Front  Line 
confirming  the  lack  of  justice  in  the  country  on  Human  Rights  issues  (Saavedra, 
2009). 
 
As a consequence of these 
cases the High Commission of 
the United Nations Alberto 
Brunori came to the state of 
Guerrero and visited 
Guadalupe Castro Morales and 
Margarita Martín de las 
Nieves, widows of Raúl Lucas y 
Manuel Ponce. He expressed   
CDHM Tlachinollan 
that for the High Commission  Alberto Brunori (black cloth) listened to Guadalupe 
Castro Morales and Margarita Martín  widows of Raúl 
the extra official execution of 
Lucas and Manuel Ponce  
Raúl and Manuel were one of   
the worst cases that are documented at the United Nations. He also noticed the risk 
conditions that existed for them and he expressed his concern about it 
 
Some light brought more cases up 
The 17th April of 2008 another organization that is well connected to the OFPM, the 
Independent Organization of Mixtecos Natives OPIM4, were also persecuted and five 
of its members were pointed out as murderers of an informant of the Mexican army. 
Amnesty International declared all of them conscience prisoners:  
 
“They are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful opposition 
to  the  cacique  while  defending  the  rights  of  members  of  their  indigenous 
community.  According  to  their  families,  since  the  men  have  been  detained, 
their children have been stigmatized and discriminated against in their school 

                                                        
4 OPIM for the spanish name: Organización del Pueblo Indígena Me ́phaa

 

 
by the head teacher, who the families say is one of the cacique's supporters, 
and other students have called them "sons of criminals" (AI, 2009) 
Susan Lee, Director of the Program for America of Amnesty International, visited the 
five  indigenous  people  in  jail  and  also  visited  the  communities  were  these  groups 
work  towards  Human  Rights  noticing  the  level  of  poverty  and  the  significant 
presence of the Mexican Army. 
The  20th  of  October2008,  a 
Federal  Judge  ordered  the 
release  of  them  but  the 
Public  Prosecutor  of  the 
“Procuraduría General de la 
República,  PGR”  appealed 
this  resolution  and  it  was 
received  even  thou  they 
didn’t  give  more  evidence. 
 
Tlachinolan/Rodrigo A Cruz  After being one year in jail, 
Felipe Arreaga Sánchez in jail 
the  18th  of  March  2009, 
four of them were released; Raúl Hernandez is still in jail. Susana stated: “It is time 
that the authorities  recognize that the trial  against  these indigenous  people are an 
answer  for  their  legitimate  activities  towards  the  Human  Rights  within  their 
communities and their continuous denouncement against the local oppression of the 
authorities  and  the  landowners.  When  social  workers  are  punished  for  their 
legitimate  work,  authorities  send  a 
message:  to  promote  and  protect  human 
rights ask a high cost” (AI, 2009). 
 
Interviewing  to  a  member  of  the  OFPM5, 
s/he  referred  two  other  historical  cases: 
The first one was Felipe Arreaga who was 
 
in  jail  for  defending  land  that  was  CDHM Tlachinollan 
Indigenous Valentina Rosendo Cantú with 
Louise Arbour High Commissionate of the 
                                                         UN for Human Rights 
5 Asked not mentioning the name   

 

 
exploited by “caciques”. Between 1992 and 2000 40% of the trees in Guerrero forest 
were lost (Calvillo, 2005). The “caciques” tried to get him in to jail by charging him 
for assassination. The local authorities asked the judge to find him guilty and asked 
for  40  years  in  prison  while  Tlachinollan,  A  Human  Rights  Organization  provided 
information  that  questioned  the  credibility  of  the  assassination  charges.  They 
provided  more  information  of  two  previous  cases  against  the  Ecological  Farmers 
Organization from Petulant y Coyuca de Catalán, OCESP6: Rodolfo Montiel y Teodoro 
Cabrera who worked in the same organization that Felipe Arriaga did. They were also 
jailed but the international pressure from Greenpeace among other organizations to 
the National Government set them free. One of the non‐senses of the charges was 
that,  there  were  two  accused:  Felipe  and  a  second  person.  The  other  accused  was 
already  dead  two  years  before  the  assassination  happened.  After  this  trial  there 
were still apprehension orders against members of the group and I confirmed that 
there were still thirteen apprehension orders left (Ballinas, 2005). 
 
The  second  case  was  a  me´phaa  indigenous,  Valentina  Rosendo  Cantú.  She  is  one 
example of the many violations that the Mexican Army has infringed to indigenous 
women. The local government do not do anything and when these cases came in to 
the  media  they  just  say  that  they  are  lying,  that  they  are  part  of  the  communities 
that produce drugs and they want the army out of there. 
 
Other facts to consider 
Guerrero  State  has  been 
historically  one  of  the  three 
poorest  of  the  country  and  some 
of  its  municipalities  are  ranked  as 
poor  as  some  of  the  African 
regions.  Guerrero  state  is  the  first 
ranked  in  national  migration  and 

  the  fifth  in  US  migration  reaching 
Guerrero en datos 
Three poorest states of Mexico 
                                                        
6  Organización de Campesinos Ecologistas de la Sierra de Petatlán y Coyuca de Catalán 

 

 
around 73,000 people each year. There are near of 300,000 migrants from Guerrero 
only  in  Chicago,  US  that  has  become  the  second  larger  city  with  people  from 
Guerrero, just after Acapulco. 
 
Guerrero has seven regions as we 
can  see  in  the  right  box.  The 
region  of  “La  Montaña”  (brown) 
is  the  poorest  region  of  the 
country; most of the people that 
live  within  this  region  are 
indigenous.    73.9%  of  the   
Guerrero en datos, Guerrero Regions 
municipalities  that  keep 
indigenous  languages  haven’t 
developed  income  sources 
(Guerrero,  2009)  so  they  become 
the main source of migration in all 
levels.  In  the  right  box,  the  green 
are  indigenous  municipalities  and 
blue  ones  are  the  main 
municipalities  receiving  people  as   
Municipalities with indigenous population 
a  result  of  migration.  If  we 
compare  both  maps  we  can  see 
that match between poverty and migration.  
 
Guerrero  has  also  become  an 
important  source  of  marihuana 
and  “amapola”  or  poppy.  As  we 
can see in left map there are some 
areas  of  “La  Montaña”  that  have 
some  drug  producing  areas  but 
the  main  ones  of  the  state  are  in 
 
Guerrero en datos, Drugs Areas: 
Green – Marihuana and Red ‐ Amapola 

 

 
the “Costa Grande” and “Tierra Caliente”. As we can see in the next map the most 
military  prescience  is  concentrated  in  “La  Montana”  region  where  most  of  the 
Human Rights infringements are committed (Yellow marked). 

 

The indigenous populations of “La Montaña” have these characteristics: 
• 96%  of  their  population  has  no  access  to  health  services  with  qualified 
medics. 
• 50% of the population is analphabet. 
• Between 80% and 100% of the houses don’t address the minimum conditions 
of dignity 
• There  is  one  hospital  located  in  Tlapa  de  Conmonfort  that  is  supposed  to 
attend 300,500 people from 17 municipalities. In the most margined areas it 
reaches to 88% (San Marcos) 
• 46% of the people above the 15 years old has no source of income 
• 24% of the population that has an income earns 5 USD per day  
• 1 gynecologist for attending 17,654 women in fertile stage 
• 97% of the houses has no sewage system 
• 45.4%  of  the  indigenous  population  above  15  years  old  never  went  to  a 
school and the majority of them are women. 

 

 

Criminalization of Human Rights Watchers 
 
After  recognizing  the  reality  that 
our  indigenous  people  lives  and 
trying  to  imagine  the  fight  they 
are struggling in an everyday basis 
I  understood  that  they  have 
realized  some  of  the  developed 
tactics  by  Saul  Slinky  in  his  Rules 
for  Radicals.  One  of  them  is  the 
Ninth rule: “Any effective means is 
automatically  judged  by  the 
opposition  as  being  unethical” 
(Alinsky,  1989)  and  they  are  also 
developing the media as an ally to 
face  the  different  issues  they  are 
facing. We need to recognize that 
 
Tlachinolan/Rodrigo A Cruz 
they  appear  in  the  printed  media 
but  they  have  no  appearance  in 
the television news, mostly because nobody access to their communities. In Mexico 
very few people reads newspaper, even thou it has a powerful symbolic impact. An 
important  action  might  be  to  provide  them  with  several  tools  that  might  let  them 
record visual images that they might be sending to national and international allies. 
Many national countrymen that joined so faithfully to the EZLN in 1994 for example, 
was  because  the  media  coverage  they  achieved.  A  similar  campaign  should  be 
addressed. 
The  major  strength  of  the  organizations  of  human  rights  of  Guerrero has  been  the 
presence and coverage of international agencies that has an important moral image 
around  the  world.  Therefore  their  most  effective  source  of  power  comes  from  an 
outside  third  actor  and  this  makes  them  very  vulnerable.  IN  the  picture  above  we 
can see how they created an alliance called: “Red Guerrerense de Organismos Civiles 

 

 
de  Derechos  Humanos”  but  they  do  not  have  a  web  page  nor  other  tool  for 
communication and their most closest organization is Tlachinollan that has to speak 
for all the Human Rights violations of the state. It has become a known actor and as 
consequence  people  from  government  or  private  sector  refuse  to  dialogue  with 
them. In a scenario where Tlachinollan could be the objective of an open attack they 
would be left almost without contacts to the rest of the country. 
 
They  have  few  resources 
for  defending  themselves 
but  what  they  have  they 
use  it  very  effectively  and 
they  “clothe  it  with  moral 
garments”  which  makes 
their  testimonials  very 
strong ‐tenth Slinky ‘s rule‐.   
Militar Army in the community of Barranca Piña, 
An  effective  suggested  municipality of Acatepec  
action  for  impacting  this 
rule is to get financial help for making a documental or a short about this issue and 
to show up the everyday life about indigenous Human Rights Violations and sharing 
the documented information. 
 
They also were part of a campaign where other national Human Rights organizations 
have positioned the “Criminalization of social movements” that goes directly to the 
Federal Government that has developed and strengthened the military tactics (Villa, 
2009). They should make a state campaign searching for local organizations that are 
well known for their moral capital such as the Catholic church, private universities, if 
possible  Civil  Society Organizations  that are focused to the assistance of the upper 
classes to the poorest areas of Guerrero and ideally private for‐profit organizations 
knowing that this might be unlikely. They need the help of the actors they now rely 
on like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Front Line and of 
course all the support of the nationals that launched the campaign where important 
allies  will  be:  Academia  Mexicana  de  Drenches  Humanos,  Artículo  XIX,  Asistencia 

 

 
Legal  por  los  Derechos  Humanos,  AC  (ASILEGAL),  CENCOS  (Centro  de  Nacional  de 
Comunicación Social), Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria OP”, 
AC,  Centro  de  Derechos  Humanos  “Miguel  Agustín  Pro  Juárez”,  AC,  Centro  de 
Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, AC, Centro Mexicano de Derecho 
Ambiental  (CEMDA),  Centro  Regional  de  Derechos  Humanos  José  María  Morelos  y 
Pavón,  AC,  Colectivo  Contra  la  Tortura  y  la  Impunidad,  AC,  Colectivo  por  la 
Transparencia,  Comisión  Mexicana  de  Defensa  y  Promoción  de  los  Derechos 
Humanos,  AC,  Consejo  Ciudadano  del  Premio  Nacional  de  Periodismo,  AC,  DECA‐
Equipo  Pueblo,  AC,  El  Caracol,  AC,  Fundar  Centro  de  Análisis  e  Investigación,  AC, 
Incide Social, AC, Iniciativas para la Identidad y la Inclusión, AC, Instituto Mexicano 
de  Derechos  Humanos  y  Democracia,  AC,  Red  Nacional  de  Organismos  Civiles  de 
Derechos  Humanos  “Todos  los  Derechos  para  Todas  y  Todos”,  Mujer  y  Medio 
Ambiente, Promotores de la Autogestión para el Desarrollo Social (PADS), Proyecto 
de  Derechos  Económicos 
Sociales  y  Culturales,  AC 
(PRODESC)  and  Alianza 
Cívica, AC. The bolded ones 
are  nationally  well  known 
and  has  important  social 
and  political  capital,  the 
rest  has  important 
grassroots  development   
CDHM Tlachinollan 
and  might  join  in  to  a  Military Army in El Llano community, Acatepec  
future movement. 
 
Identity 
It is a fact that human beings have come together to organize themselves to get a 
specific objective; no matter if it was a decision, for getting food, for survival or for 
establishing  a  society.  “Human  being”  is  a  structurally  social  being,  socially 
constructed  and  with  the  capacity  to  modify  himself  as  a  consequence  of  this 
construction  (Zubiri,  1986).  Our  identity  is  build  by  others  that  are  ‘like  me’,  the 

 

 
“others”  define  pretty  much  about  me  while  making  my  life  possible,  even  if  they 
were not aware or they were not conscious about the importance of their actions. 
This  is  the  way  we  all  learn  to  see  the  world  and  the  others,  the  way  we  learn  to 
distinguish myself from things and the others; this is the first approach we have to 
reality, the way we are socially constructed at the beginning of our lives.  
 
It  is  very  important  we  realize 
that “the other” is the one that 
allows me to grow, “the other” 
allows  the  possibility  to 
choose;  “the  difference”  gives 
us  possibilities.  The  difference 
provides  me  with  the 
  possibility  to  enhance  my  own 
Tlachinolan/Rodrigo A Cruz 
Women from an ecologic group of Petatlán mountains  life  or  to  confirm  my  own 
practice,  the  possibility  to 
confirm myself on what I am and what I do, or not to. This process is only achievable 
through difference, in this process we build/confirm our identity.  
 
The identity of the indigenous groups is being “attacked” ‐as we all‐ in a continuous 
basis  and  with  all  the  existing  available  media.  The  western  culture  that  arrived 
hundreds of years ago has made a tremendous effort to bring those cultures in to a 
standardization  trying  to  establish  a  typical/average  way  of  life  that  responds  to 
specific interests. To be able to get some independence of that way of living we need 
to  develop  critical  thinking  (Ore,  2009).  The  indigenous  has  kept  most  of  their 
traditions  not  only  through  this  critical  thinking  but  also  because  the  geographical 
difficulties they have had historically. Within these days television has been able to 
arrive  even  to  those  places  and  they  are  learning  the  western  culture  and 
understanding  that  being  men  and  being  happy  is  equal  to  being  oppressors  They 
are starting to understand that living and the meaning of the pursuit of happiness as 
going in to the cities to make money. The cosmos‐vision that relies in their traditions 
is being questioned.  

 

 

Identity and human rights 
 
I have come to realize that the 
fight  for  human  rights  within 
the  indigenous  people  might 
have in the bottom an identity 
fight. It might be a fight where 
the principles expressed in the 
Pedagogy of the Oppressed of 
 
Paolo  Frere  are  practiced  in  Roberto García Ortíz 
Celsa Valdovinos y Felipe Arreaga, after they had a press 
those communities.  conference  in Mexico city. 

 
It is the indigenous people that 
are  fighting  against  different 
issues  as  we  saw  at  the 
beginning  of  the  paper.  It  is 
them  who  are  in  the  frontline 
assuming their “historical role” 
and  several  members  of  an 
external  community  supports 
them in their fights.  
 
Specifically  the  Human  Rights 
Center  “Tlachinollan”  arrived  Roberto García Ortíz 
Celsa Valdovinos y Felipe Arreaga, after they had a press 
more  that  13  years  ago  to  conference  in Mexico city. 
Tlapa de Conmonfort in “La Montaña” and just has opened an office in other three 
places in the state of Guerrero. They have defined as their mission: “To promote and 
defend  the  rights  of  the  Naua,  Na  savi,  Me´phaa  and  non‐indigenous  peoples  in  La 
Montaña and Costa Chica from an integral cultural perspective, and help them create 
legitimate  and  peaceful  means  to  ensure  respect  for  their  human  rights” 
(Tlachinollan, 1996) 

 

 
It is not a coincidence that they add themselves into the fight of the people. The verb 
help  means  they  are  doing  something  and  what  they  are  doing  is  to  “create 
legitimate  and  peaceful  means”  which  is  a  consequence  of  the  cultural  identity  of 
the Me’phaa culture. 

 Military 
intimidating 
Me’ phaa women 
from the 
community 
Caxitepec 
 

 
Pictures: CDHM Tlachinollan 

 
The indigenous organizations they have created like OPIM and OFPM are a result of 
the  construction  of  the  identity  they  are  achieving  and  through  them  they  are 
looking forward in keeping their achievements. We should not forget that the nature 
of an institution is to keep, to maintain, to avoid changes, to continue and if possible 
to reproduce it self as a system. An institution is made to prevent changes that will 
go  against  its  defined  nature,  that’s  why  we  created  them.  In  this  sense  the 
institutions  become  the  foundation  of  a  society.  The  OPIM  and  the  OFPM  are  the 
foundations  of  a  different  society  that  is  working  with  the  principles  of  their  own 
culture  with  the  learning  of  our  western  culture  about  the  creation  of  a  “Legal” 
institution. 
 
At the moment they have created an important social capital within the world with 
their commitment. Having people killed and achieving the international support they 
have achieved is not a simple task. The support and media coverage they have had is 

 

 
consequence of the commitment they have developed. The lack of social justice in 
their immediate context makes them stronger and having the Mexican Army within 
their  communities  are  two  sources  of  union,  identity,  strength  and  a  continuous 
confirmation of the dreams they want to achieve.  
 
I think that the core of their strength is the grass root they have on their behalf and 
this  strength  does  not  appear  in  the  media.  The  organization  they  have  responds 
geographically  and  they  all  know  ‐because  they  have  lived  it‐  that  any  attack  for 
human rights organizations will affect their ecology organizations, any attack in their 
educational  structure  will  affect  their  identity…  they  have  done  this  identity 
“survival” through hundreds of years… 
 
The Human Rights Organizations of 
Guerrero  State  need  to  capitalize 
their  achievements  by  developing 
symbols  of  their  successes.  The 
EZLN  and  the  Chiapas  State 
organizations  have  much  to  share 
in  this  point.  For  example,  the 
“Abejas  Organization”  in  Chiapas 
has  the  “Column  of  infamy”,  a 
monument  built  by  the  Danish 
Jens  Galschiot  in  honor  for  the  45 
killed  people  (15  children,  21 
women,  and  9  men)  and  the  25 
wounded  by  paramilitaries  while 
they  were  praying  in  the  small 
chapel  they  had.  They  also  have   
Column of infamy  
created a chorus were the children  Acteal, Chenaló, Chis 
of the community sing very diverse 
songs.  These  actions  strengthen 

 

 
their identity and provide them with a physical reminder of what they are and what 
they dream, it is an important way of expanding their institutionalization process. 
 
The  Abejas  Organization  has  also  created  a  coffee  cooperative  known  as  “Maya 
Vinic”  and  they  distribute  their  products  under  fair  trade  to  United  States  and  the 
European Union. In the US for example Higher Grounds Trading Company, located in 
Michigan distributes their coffee. 
 
A future agenda 
The  human  rights  organizations  have  been  severely  damaged  by  the  image  the 
government has positioned upon them through several years. Some of the needed 
actions  are  focused  to  attend  and  to  strengthen  the  internal  identity  and  some 
actions should be focused to get more moral capital through the media and through 
alliances with different actors within society. 
 
Sen  principles  of  “picking  the  good  fight”,  direct  action  and  leading  forward  (Sen, 
2003) are key concepts that these organizations  need to strengthen, especially the 
last two concepts. They need to develop a continuous campaign to position Human 
Rights as a minimum in the state agenda. They are normally acting in a responsive 
way. The lack of resources of these organizations is deep and at the same time their 
appearances  in  the  international  media  hasn’t  been  capitalized  in  a  donors 
campaign. It is awful to be in the position they are but with the elements I had I can 
confirm  they  haven’t  asked  any  foundation  for  support  to  their  causes  and  their 
presence  in  national  and  international  media  has  been  important.  What  they 
actually  have  developed  is  good  relations  that  improves  them  but  not  necessarily 
makes  them  independent  or  “individually”  stronger,  their  dependency  to 
Tlachinollan makes them weak and I believe it is time to start going forward in this 
specific aspect by “themselves” (Sen, 2003). 
 
Their  alliances  are  their  stronger  area.  They  are  well  positioned  within  the  civil 
society  sector  but  their  presence  is  only  in  this  sector,  they  should  improve  in  an 

 

 
international level and try to connect with private and government as suggested in 
the previous lines. 
 
They haven’t worked in developing new leaders and this is an important powerless 
area.  They  should  ask  for  scholarships  to  their  national  allies  for  their  people  go 
outside and get back different tools for development, not only in Human Rights but 
in  helping  the  rest  of  the  community  to  improve  their  reality  economically, 
medically,  or  any  other  aspect  of  their  needs.  People  that  might  be  able  to  go 
outside  will  also  get  a  bigger  overview  of  the  complexity  of  their  issues  and  the 
context  of  the  state  and  country  so  s/he  can  come  back  and  share.  Even  to  bring 
other  indigenous  from  different  national  communities  (and  send)  might  be  an 
enlightening  experience.  These  might  be  part  of  a  complete  plan  and  focusing  in 
getting  small  successes  will  make  them  stronger  and  will  bring  more  hope  back. 
These are actions that hasn’t been used and their effectiveness will take them out of 
the  experience  “of  the  enemy”  (Alinsky,  1989)  At  the  same  time  developing  role 
plays will make them stronger and better in the long run (Dobson, 2003) 
 
I  believe  that  they  should  avoid  direct  conflict  with  military  army  due  to  the 
experience has shown that for the moment they aren’t an addressable achievement 
and to focus on local and state politicians that has something to do directly with the 
issue.  The  congress  might  be  the  most  important  factor  due  they  do  not  often 
appear. Federal authorities and army issues might be documented and supported by 
them but never leaded. 
 
We  should  never  forget  their  every  day  reality.  We  should  never  fall  to  remember 
the lack of social justice, the absence of possibilities to develop their humanity, the 
consequences  of  our  actions  as  a  society  that  accepts  and  reproduce  unjust 
structures  because  our  absence  of  critical  thinking.  We  need  to  retake  our  citizen 
role and to remember that these brothers have the same rights that I have.  
 
An important learning in this journey is that we need to re‐valuate the richness we 
have with our indigenous people, we need to go back to our origins and to re‐take 

 

 
from them their vision of the world, men and society; their difference will bring us 
the  possibility  to  re‐think  and  to  develop  a  deepest  critical  thinking  in  front  of 
western culture that tries to orientate our actions towards the individualism and the 
minimization of the common good.  
 
One  of  my  personal  great  learning’s  among  indigenous  communities  is  that  their 
celebration of life and dead is so close, their pain and happiness are so connected. 
One  Jesuit  friend  that  was  working  with  Acteal  communities  while  the  massacre 
occurred shared how people cried them and made the ritual goodbye one day after. 
He highlighted how the goodbye rituals were full of dances that celebrated the life of 
their  dead  friends,  moms,  and  children…  they  relate  dance  with  life,  and  how 
dancing is a similar way of “living”, of expressing life; a way of feeling the blood in 
our  veins  and  a  way  of  celebrating  life,  in  contact  with  mother  earth,  under  the 
blessed sky and expressing yourself within the community, within “the others” that 
make my life possible:  “to dance or die”. 
 
I believe that this dance is the heart/source 
of their social justice passion/inspiration. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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Appendix 
 

 

 

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