7th of June 2010

Next Monday, 7th of June 2010, a second humanitarian aid caravan will leave Mexico City for the San Juan Copala community, Oaxaca, formed by various organizations and individuals of the Mexican civil society.

On this occasion, PBI has received requests from the Committee 25 November (Comité 25 de Noviembre), the Mexican League for the Defense of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) and the “Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño” Regional Human Rights Centre (BARCA), to monitor developments during the Caravan from its offices in Oaxaca City.

PBI is particularly concerned about the security of all of the members of the caravan due to:

• The declarations that have appeared in the media 1 during the last few weeks, where members of the UBISORT and the Secretary of Government of Oaxaca have affirmed that the appropriate conditions for a new caravan to the municipality of San Juan Copala do not exist;

• The context of serious violence observed in the Triqui region, of which its inhabitants have been victims. Members of the the first humanitarian caravan on the 27 th April 2010 were attacked by armed groups, presumed to be of a paramilitary nature, resulting in the death of a Mexican human rights defender and an international observer from Finland.

PBI asks the Mexican authorities to guarantee that International Observation Missions can carry out their activities without fear of attacks and that the violent acts taking place in the Triqui region are brought to an end.

(1) Diario el Despertar de Oaxaca, 18/05/2010 y La Jornada 14/05/2010

For more information regarding the first caravan: see last PBI declaration.

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