2020

January 7: The National Coordination of Civil Protection issues a Declaration of Emergency for eight municipalities in the state, after the 6.0 magnitude earthquake on January 4.

January 29: relatives of Gabriel Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya, members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), forcibly disappeared in May 2007 in Oaxaca, urge the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN ) to confirm an injunction ruling that would force the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to resolve the case.

January 29: before the implementation of the Tran-Isthmus Corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) submits a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) due to the alleged violation of the rights to consultation and information of indigenous peoples affected by the megaproject.

February 4: Increase of femicidal violence in the first month of 2020: according to the Documentation Center of the Women’s Studies Group “Rosario Castellanos” (GES Mujer), 19 women were killed by firearm in the period. On February 7^th, GesMujer also calls on the Oaxaca Congress to make modifications to the Criminal Code to prevent potential rapists from being released on bail and penalties according to the harm they cause.

February 9: one year after the murder of the muxe activist, Oscar Cazorla, in Juchitan, members of the muxe collective of the “Authentic intrepid seekers of danger” demand justice and clarification of his death given the total impunity that has prevailed in the case.

February 12: The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, Semarnat, denies the authorization of an Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) to the San José II Project, of the Cuzcatlán mining company, a subsidiary of the Canadian Fortuna Silver Mines.

February 12: The Attorney General of the State of Oaxaca (FGEO) applies for the first time the Olimpia Law, which seeks to punish people who share intimate images of another person without their consent.

February 14: The Committee of Victims for Justice and Truth June 19 (Covic) reports that former governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo and former National Security Commissioner, Renato Sales Heredia, were summoned to appear due to the repression of a teacher demonstration in Nochixtlán in 2016.

February 18: Indigenous Zapotec people from San Pedro Quiatoni wins an injunction that they brought in defense of their territory against mining companies.

February 19: Members of the media receive threats with sharp objects and blows during an agrarian protest in the city of Oaxaca.

February 22: In the framework of the “Samir Somos Todos y Todos” struggle days convened by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), communities and civil and social organizations in the state decide to form the Oaxacan Assembly in Defense of the Land and Territory.

February 28: The San Juan Guichicovi Commissariat asks for constitutional protection against any work related to the “Program for the Development of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec”, for having violated international standards of the right to free, prior and informed consultation.

March 6: Indigenous people in defense of the rights of peoples, land, territory and natural resources make up the Assembly of Peoples of the Isthmus in Resistance to megaprojects.

March 12: The community of Santa María Zapotitlán wins an injunction against the Zalamera mining company, which prevents it from operating in its territory.

March 24: Organizations in defense of women’s rights and independent defenders make a public complaint to demand justice for Ayuuk women who have been victims of cyber violence.

April 24: The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) asks the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) to immediately suspend and cancel the work of the Trans-Isthmus Train, as it lacks an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

April 29: more than 150 organizations, collectives and institutions demand from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and the governments of the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, Chiapas and Tabasco, the immediate cancellation of the so-called “Program of Integral Development of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec-Corridor and Interoceanic Train (PDIIT-TI) ”. Instead, they speak in favor of building an alternative proposal – based on reflection and horizontal dialogue.

May 3: Violence in San Mateo del Mar leaves one dead due to an armed attack on the municipal agency of Huazantlán del Río.

May 13: The municipal president of Nochixtlán and members of Covic, the Committee of Victims for Justice and Truth “19 de junio” are threatened with death.

May 25: thirteen years after the enforced disappearance of the militants of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya in Oaxaca, there hasn’t been any significant progress.

June 1^st: Collectives of relatives of disappeared people complains that Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa has not appointed the head of the Commission for the Search of Persons in the state, although there are at least 500 missing persons.

June 1^st: the feminist organization Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity describes femicidal violence in a bulletin as an “endless pandemic”. It details statistics of violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic.

June 5: The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) determines to resume its original jurisdiction and hear the appeals for review presented by the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) and the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) before the trial for the forced disappearance of the members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez in 2007.

June 7: President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) inaugurates the works of the Trans-Isthmus Corridor in the midst of the health emergency due to the pandemic and in spite of the nonconformity of civil organizations.

June 15: a death threat is found outside the doors of the organization Oaxaca Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity. After the threat, different international voices express their concern for the safety of the members of the organization, asking the Mexican State for guarantees, protection and justice.

June 18: Faced with the blockades and pressure from the residents of San Juan Guichicovi and the indigenous peoples of the northern part of Oaxaca, the remodeling works for the rehabilitation and modernization of the Trans-isthmian Train stop until agreements are reached.

July 1^st: A front is created in defense of the rights of the peoples, women and workers of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec before the Transoceanic corridor.

July 8: The Coordination for the Freedom of Criminalized Defenders in Oaxaca expresses its concern over the detention and torture of Human Rights defender Joaquín Zarate Bernal, a member of the Unión Cívica Democrática de Barrios, Colonias y Communities (UCIDEBACC).

July 9: relatives of Alexander Martínez Gómez, a young man murdered by a municipal police officer from Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa, denounce having received threats and harassment, which they claim derive from their demand for truth and justice.

July 11: the Coordination for the Freedom of Criminalized Human Rights Defenders in Oaxaca, denounces the death of Human Rights defender Nicasio Zaragosa Quintana in the Santo Domingo Tehuantepec prison, product of the negligence and lack of actions of the penitentiary authorities.

July 13: the Coordination for the Freedom of Criminalized Defenders in Oaxaca denounces torture as well as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against Human Rights Defender Fredy García Ramírez, spokesperson for the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Peoples (CODEDI).

July 27: For the second time, the No to Mining for a Future of All Front denounces that the environmental impacts produced by the mining exploitation of Cuzcatlan, a subsidiary of Fortuna Silver Mines

August 5: the Oaxaca Congress approves a law that prohibits the sale of “junk” products, such as sugary drinks and high-calorie packaged foods, to minors, as a measure to curb obesity and health problems in children and teenagers.

August 10: The Coordinator of Nations United for the Care and Defense of Water (COPUDA) denounces that the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), among other federal authorities, has not fulfilled the commitment to issue a new decree to guarantee the human right to water in 16 Zapotec communities of the Central Valley region.

August 12: The former director of the State Investigations Agency and six members of the same police corporation receive a formal prison order for their alleged participation in the forced disappearance of the members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), Edmundo Reyes Amaya. and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez. A month later Interpol issues an alert against other former officials implicated in the disappearance.

August 19: the organization Oaxaca Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogues and Equity publishes the document “Indices of violence against women in Five regions of Oaxaca”, in which it reports that the numbers of registered femicidal violence show an “alarming increase” within the 40 municipalities that have the government mechanism for the Gender Violence against Women Alert (GVWA).

September 8: more than 300 national and international leading figures from the academic and artistic world, as well as 60 civil and social organizations endorse a manifesto through which they express their rejection of mining exploration and exploitation in the jungle of Los Chimalapas.

October 5: organizations denounce an attack with firearms on the blockade organized within the framework of the Day of Struggle “Against corruption, impunity, for justice and respect for human rights”.

October 13: Members of the Zapotec indigenous community of Unión Hidalgo, Oaxaca, file a civil lawsuit in the Paris Court against Electricité de France (EDF), the largest French transnational energy company, for violations to their human rights.

October 20: indigenous Mixes (Ayuuk) close the facilities of the coordinating center of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) in San Juan Guichicovi, Oaxaca, in solidarity with the Otomi people who took over the offices of the same agency, INPI, in Mexico City.

November 6: marked one year since the arbitrary arrest of human rights defender Fredy Garcia Ramirez, who at the time served as spokesman for the Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (CODEDI).

November 19: The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) and the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CMDA) report the violations of their rights in the framework of the approval and implementation of the Trans-Isthmus Corridor to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner in Mexico.

November 30: the Oaxaca Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity reports more than 2 thousand cases of violence against women so far under the government of Alejandro Murat, governor of the state.

December 4: the Human Rights Ombudsman of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) rules on the recent transfemicides that occurred in Oaxaca, urging the authorities to guarantee access to truth, justice, reparation and avoid the repetition of these hate crimes.

December 14: The Front No to Mining for a Future of All and Everyone blocks the circulation of vehicles to demand a hearing with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), this to solve the problem of the San mining project José, from the Cuzcatlán company, owned by Canada’s Fortuna Silver Mines.

December 16: The “Mexicanos Unidos” organization denounces impunity in the murders of indigenous Triqui.