January 22, 2018
Mexico City | Desinformémonos.
The Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) and the National
Indigenous Congress (CNI) denounced that a group of journalists covering the
route of their spokesperson MariChuy, were intercepted and cornered by members
of organized crime in Michoacán, who forced the journalists to turn over their
cameras and cell phones. The networks of Indigenous Peoples blamed the attack
"on the three levels of government: the federal government represented by
Enrique Peña Nieto; the state represented by Silvano Aureoles Conejo, and the
municipal authorities".
The Indigenous Council of Government CIG, a collegial body
composed of representatives of the Indigenous Peoples of the country who last
October toured the territories of indigenous communities, also blamed the
government "for the possible aggressions that the communities and peoples
of the CNI may suffer, the CIG Caravan , and journalists who give coverage to
their journey, because during the tour of the communities of the Indigenous Peoples
we have shuddered to hear the pain caused by organized crime in collusion with
the bad government.
The attack on the journalists occurred when the caravan left
a ceremony held in the Nahua community of Ostula and "went to Paracho,
having just left the limits of the municipality of Tepalcatepec, outside the
territory under the protection of the Communal Guard of Ostula and the
self-defense groups that articulate with that community." The last vehicle
of the caravan, in which the independent journalists Daliri Oropeza, Aldabi
Olvera and Cristian Rodríguez traveled, who, the CIG informs, have covered the
route from the beginning of the CIG and its spokesperson, "was intercepted
and cornered by a gray van HONDA CR-V, in which five subjects carrying high-caliber
weapons were traveling. These men forced the companions Aldabi Olvera and
Cristian Rodríguez to descend, threatened them and forced them to deliver their
cameras and cell phones only. "
The IGC and the CNI recognize the work of independent
journalists, particularly those who accompany the caravan, "since they
have been fundamental to make our journey and our pains visible". They
warned that "exercising journalism in Mexico is a high-risk job",
since 40 journalists have been murdered in the administration of Enrique Peña
Nieto. "As the National Indigenous Congress, we are outraged by this war
against the word, a fundamental tool for the organization of peoples. We
sympathize with the compañeras who carry out their work and defend the freedom
of expression and the press," they said in a statement released this
morning.
The community of Ostula, located on the Pacific coast of
Michoacán, where MariChuy and the CIG held a political event on Sunday morning,
has been organized precisely to stop the wave of organized crime, which has
plundered the precious woods and minerals within the Indigenous territory.
"During the festive and multitudinous meeting, we realized that Ostula is
a free, safe community, where the community police take care of the people,
growing resistance against the system of capitalist dispossession," said
the CNI and the CIG.
Next Wednesday, January 24, the spokesperson MariChuy will
be back in Mexico City, attending a public activity in the Hemicycle to Juarez,
at 6:00 p.m.
The recent attack, they said, was carried out "in a
territory controlled by organized crime, in the context of a generalized
capitalist war in the state of Michoacán and in several states of the national
territory in complicity with the bad government. We know that the intention of
organized crime in collusion with the government is to create a climate of fear
and terror. "
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National Indigenous Congress
Statement regarding the Attack on the "Caravan for Life" of the CIG in Michoacan, Mexico
Comunicado sobre las agresiones a la caravana del CIG
***************************************
Meet the Indigenous Governing Council
The
establishment of the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) stems from a
proposal by the Zapatista compañeras and compañeros during the twentieth
anniversary celebration of the National Indigenous Congress in October
2016.
The principle task of the CIG is to denounce all evils of this capitalist system that dominates us, to invite us to organize to defend ourselves against the powerful, and to build our spaces of autonomy in the countryside and in the city, without the control of the State, outside of political parties, outside the rot of this system.
This CIG is collective. That is, there is no one single person who rules—agreements are made between all, listening to what Mexico’s peoples say: it is about “ruling by obeying.”
It’s governed by the seven principles of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI):
To obey, not command
The principle task of the CIG is to denounce all evils of this capitalist system that dominates us, to invite us to organize to defend ourselves against the powerful, and to build our spaces of autonomy in the countryside and in the city, without the control of the State, outside of political parties, outside the rot of this system.
This CIG is collective. That is, there is no one single person who rules—agreements are made between all, listening to what Mexico’s peoples say: it is about “ruling by obeying.”
It’s governed by the seven principles of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI):
To obey, not command
To represent, not supplant
To serve, not serve oneself
To convince, not defeat
To go below, not above
To propose, not impose
To build, not destroy
It has as its voice a woman of the CNI who is of indigenous blood, speaks her language, and knows her culture.
The CIG has proposed that their spokesperson, María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, also known as “Marichuy,” be an independent candidate for the Mexican presidency and not from a political party. The CIG does not seek to win the presidency of a rotten system, but that through their candidacy, they can succeed in widely disseminating their proposal as another way to organize outside the bad governments and their fucked-up accomplices.
To learn more about the CNI and the CIG, visit their multilingual website at: www.congresonacionalindigena.org
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