2023

January 13: The Front of Oaxacan Organizations (FORO) rejects the imposition of megaprojects by the 4T that “constitute in reality a single megaproject that aims at the reconfiguration of the Mexican south-east for the benefit of big capital over the interests of the people.” It stresses that these intentions are protected by “decrees” and the use of the army and navy to guard their facilities.

January 17: After protests, David Hernandez Salazar, a community defender from the Binniza community of Puente Madera, is freed following detention in Tehuantepec Isthmus

January 28: Residents of Estación Sarabia, municipality of San Juan Guichicovi, protest against the intimidation they have received from the military, who are supporting the workers of the company La Peninsular, which is carrying out works in favor of the Trans-Isthmus Corridor.

February 9: Diverse communities and other groups mobilize in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, convened by the National Network of Civil Resistance, to carry out dislocated actions for a fair electricity rate, against the imposition of the Interoceanic Corridor, militarization and “megaprojects of death.”

February 15: Elements of the Secretary of the Navy evict a group of ejidatarios from Palomares, in the Matias Romero municipality, who mobilized in order to suspend the modernization work on the Tehuantepec Isthmus railway, because the community was never informed about the work.

February 22: The Feminist organization Consortium for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity reports that since the start of the government of the new governor, Salomon Jara, 33 femicides have been committed.

March 2: The Special Operations Police Unit (UPOE) of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection violently evicts with tear gas the inhabitants of the municipality of Santiago Xiacui who kept the entrances to the Government Palace of Oaxaca blocked to demand the dismissal of Commissioner Waldo Ramirez.

March 21: Opponents of the construction of the Interoceanic Corridor install a blockade on the federal highway in San Juan Guichicovi, Oaxaca, due to the visit of John Kerry, the White House Special Envoy for Climate Change, and demand the establishment of a negotiation table with federal and state authorities.

March 22: Communities, organizations and activists denounce the criminalization and threats against “the indigenous men and women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec who are fighting for their rights, and who have been mobilizing in the area of Mogoñe Viejo municipality of San Juan Guichicovi, Oaxaca, who have been repeatedly harassed by elements of the Navy.” This is part of their fight against the Trans-Isthmus Corridor.

April 10: As part of the commemoration of the anniversary of Emiliano Zapata, unions, social organizations, and communities in resistance to the Inter-Oceanic Corridor organize marches, sit-ins, road blockades, and office takeovers.

April 13: The environmental defender and municipal agent of the 20 de Noviembre El Morro community, municipality of San Francisco Ixhuatan, Felix Vicente Cruz, is shot dead.

April 25: Consorcio Oaxaca denounces that “almost 5 months after the beginning of the administration of Salomón Jara Cruz, in Oaxaca femicides continue to increase in total impunity, institutional indifference and under the protection of the State Executive.”

April 28: Camp at Mogoñe Viejo, Guichicovi is evicted after the visit by El Sur Resiste Caravan.

April 30: The six people detained (four women and two men) during the eviction of the Tierra y Libertad Camp in Mogoñe Viejo, two days before are released.

May 10: Consorcio Oaxaca rejects the stigmatization of journalistic work by the government of Salomón Jara.

May 15: Government promises to breach the border between Chiapas and Oaxaca, Zoques postpone blockade.

May 18: The Mexican state offers an apology to indigenous teacher and human rights defender Damián Gallardo.

June 11: State Police Officer allegedly responsible in in Nochixtlan Case is released.

19 July: Front Line Defenders calls on the Mexican government to drop charges against David Hernández Salazar, a member of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT) and an opponent of the installation of an industrial park in Puente Madera, San Blas Atempa. as part of the Interoceanic Corridor project. It also calls for the withdrawal of investigations and arrest warrants against other members of the community.

July 27: A Civil Observation Mission reports multiple violations of the human rights of the people living in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and those who defend the collective rights of indigenous communities. It records “at least 21 cases of intimidation, harassment, and threats against defenders, their families, or groups; 11 cases of physical and psychological violence, as well as forced evictions; three homicides of defenders between October 2022 and July 2023; two defamation cases through wide-ranging public media; and 43 cases of criminal complaints to local authorities and community defenders.”

September 14: Edilberta Cruz Regino, Search Commissioner for Oaxaca since 2021, presents her resignation. Various groups of victims’ relatives had requested her resignation due to her “ineffectiveness”, and demanded an audit of her work.

October 30: Oaxaca is the state with the most Human Rights defenders murdered in the country from December 2018 to October 2023 with 41 cases, informs EDUCA.

November 16: Salomon Jara presents first report amidst teacher protests.

November 25: a March for the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women is held.

December 6: A report prepared in the framework of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on the human rights situation in the state “Between the PRI and Morena: Setbacks, impunity and simulation” is presented in Oaxaca.