Civil organizations, human rights defenders, and students, all of Mayan origin, protested in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, in Chiapas, to demand the return alive of the activists Ricardo Lagunes and Antonio Díaz, who have been missing for 13 days.
With banners, blankets, and photographs the various Mayan Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chol and Tojolabal indigenous groups gathered on the Plaza de la Paz and placed signs with the images of the disappeared activists.
In the Chiapas plaza in southern Mexico one could read “all for Ricardo and Antonino, the sixth Bachajon Chiapas, we demand the presence of the disappeared alive”, ” they took them alive, we want them alive”, “The survivors of Acteal demand the appearance of the disappeared alive”.
The protesters summoned the supporters who were present to sign a letter with which they seek to intensify the search for the defenders and activists. Their mission is to collect more than 15,000 signatures.
Given this fact, a hundred indigenous people from the southeast mobilized, hired a lawyer as their legal defender and demanded that the Government of Mexico “intensify the search for Ricardo, join forces with various authorities and present him alive immediately.” said Julián Vasquez Guzmán, a member of the Sureste Legal Advice and Defense organization.
This call was also joined by Graciela Ozoño, a human rights defender, who stated: “We are here demanding that the State search and find the human rights defenders Ricardo Lagunes and Professor Antonio because they have been violated and deprived of their liberty. We want no more disappeared people in Mexico, because they were taken away alive and we want them alive.”
They also denounced the crisis of disappearances in the country and in the southern state of Chiapas, since Mexico has more than 110,000 people as disappeared.
The indigenous people also demanded that the Mexican government address this situation and not fall into omission.
The activists Lagunes and Díaz were last seen on January 15 in Tecomán, Colima.
That same day, their truck was found abandoned with gunshot marks, while the relatives have revealed that it was an armed group picked them up.
Until now his whereabouts are unknown, but it is presumed that his disappearance could be linked to their work in defense of indigenous territory.
Source: Lopez Doriga
