Oaxaca, Oaxaca – In response to the request by the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Advice Indigenous Peoples (Centro de Derechos Humanos y Asesoría a Pueblos Indígenas, CEDHAPI), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures in favor of a Triqui indigenous community living in San Pedro River Valley, Oaxaca. The beneficiaries are 76 Evangelists who were displaced from their communities in 2008, mainly due to religious differences.
The Commission was concerned about the safety of the displaced community following the murder of three of its inhabitants by a group of armed men on 8th May 2012. Earlier in the same year, on 25th January, 200 elements of the Preventive Police of Oaxaca burst into Valle del Río San Pedro community. In an interview with Maurillio Santiago, president of CEDHAPI, he said that 20 patrols of heavily armed state security forces arrived in the community, violently entered their homes and took some belongings.
The Commission asked the Mexican government to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the life and physical integrity of the 76 members of the Triqui indigenous community. The Commission set a deadline of 8th June for the Mexican Government to report on the measures put into place.
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