{"id":9248,"date":"2014-03-14T13:19:02","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T19:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=9248"},"modified":"2014-03-14T13:20:18","modified_gmt":"2014-03-14T19:20:18","slug":"la-recuperacion-comunitaria-de-xayakalan-en-la-costa-michoacana-es-tambien-la-de-sus-tierras-guardias-y-autonomia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=9248","title":{"rendered":" La recuperaci\u00f3n comunitaria de Xayakalan en la costa michoacana es tambi\u00e9n la de sus tierras, guardias y autonom\u00edaThe community recuperation of Xayakalan on the Michoac\u00e1n Coast is about their lands, guards and autonomy "},"content":{"rendered":"

Fuente: Ojarasca – La Jornada<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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En su territorio se cruzan intereses de todo tipo: los gobiernos buscan implementar proyectos carreteros que faciliten el trasiego de mercanc\u00edas y estimulen el turismo de playa; las mineras quieren explotar la veta que nace desde San Miguel Aquila; los peque\u00f1os propietarios quieren sembrar sus tierras o fraccionarlas y venderlas, y los narcotraficantes tienen aqu\u00ed un importante punto de circulaci\u00f3n de sus mercanc\u00eda<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Adazahira Ch\u00e1vez<\/strong><\/p>\n

La organizaci\u00f3n de<\/strong> la comunidad nahua de Santa Mar\u00eda Ostula, Michoac\u00e1n, en su lucha por la tierra, reanud\u00f3 la marcha en febrero de este a\u00f1o. Despu\u00e9s de que en junio de 2009 los comuneros activaron su Polic\u00eda Comunitaria y retomaron el lugar conocido como La Canaguancera (renombrado Xayakalan), enfrentaron una ola de asesinatos y desapariciones \u2014sobre todo contra miembros de la guardia tradicional o de los bienes comunales\u2014 que estableci\u00f3 un clima de terror y oblig\u00f3 al desplazamiento de familias enteras.<\/p>\n

Pero ya est\u00e1n de regreso y afirman, como lo declararon en 2009, que no abandonar\u00e1n sus tierras. En fechas recientes, acompa\u00f1ados por grupos de autodefensa de Tierra Caliente, los guardias comunitarios reingresaron a su territorio \u2014muchos de ellos, como su comandante Seme\u00ed Verd\u00eda, estuvieron exiliados\u2014 y los comuneros desplazados tambi\u00e9n volvieron a Xayakalan, que sigue en disputa legal con los peque\u00f1os propietarios de La Placita, quienes lo invadieron hace ya cuatro d\u00e9cadas. La tarea urgente, se\u00f1alan, es levantar de nueva cuenta las asambleas y trabajar las tierras que les dieron sustento y que tuvieron que abandonar.<\/p>\n

La tarea no se mira f\u00e1cil, y los nahuas lo saben. Relatan que en su territorio se cruzan intereses de todo tipo: los gobiernos buscan implementar proyectos carreteros que faciliten el trasiego de mercanc\u00edas y estimulen el turismo de playa; las mineras quieren explotar la veta que nace desde San Miguel Aquila; los peque\u00f1os propietarios quieren sembrar sus tierras o fraccionarlas y venderlas, y los narcotraficantes tienen aqu\u00ed un importante punto de circulaci\u00f3n de sus mercanc\u00eda. En este estado \u2014de acuerdo con las denuncias que los comuneros han hecho desde hace a\u00f1os\u2014 muchas veces estos actores son los mismos sujetos. Y de este territorio ambicionado son due\u00f1os los comuneros de Ostula.<\/p>\n

Tierra rica, tierra despojada<\/strong><\/p>\n

L<\/strong>a cabecera comunal<\/strong> de Ostula y sus 22 encargaturas abarcan m\u00e1s de 28 mil hect\u00e1reas del municipio de Aquila, uno de los de mayor marginaci\u00f3n en Michoac\u00e1n. Los nahuas han poblado poco a poco la porci\u00f3n de su territorio que se extiende hacia la costa michoacana.<\/p>\n

Las tierras correspondientes a la encargatura de Xayakalan, informan los comuneros, se localizan dentro de sus t\u00edtulos primordiales del siglo xviii y dentro de la Resoluci\u00f3n Presidencial que reconoci\u00f3 parte de su territorio en 1964. A pesar de ello, enfrentan un litigio agrario por unas 700 hect\u00e1reas que seis peque\u00f1os propietarios de La Placita invadieron \u201cno s\u00f3lo para la siembra de papaya, mango y tamarindo, sino para venderla al mejor postor\u201d a pesar de las medidas cautelares a favor de los ind\u00edgenas. La Comisi\u00f3n por la Defensa de los Bienes Comunales de Ostula se\u00f1ala que algunos de esos invasores son cabezas del crimen organizado en la regi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nCruce El Naranjo-Tenosique, Tabasco. Foto: Prometeo Lucero<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

La tierra de Aquila tiene abundancia de minerales (plata, zinc, oro y cobre), adem\u00e1s de yacimientos de hierro, que en la actualidad explotan las empresas Ternium, Sicartsa y Metal Steel, y aporta una cuarta parte de la producci\u00f3n nacional. La veta que atraviesa San Miguel Aquila \u2014comunidad de la que tambi\u00e9n tuvieron que salir los integrantes de la guardia tradicional y los comuneros por conflictos con la mina y el crimen organizado\u2014 llega hasta tierras de Ostula, y la empresa argentina Ternium tiene en la mira su explotaci\u00f3n futura. Ternium es due\u00f1a de la mitad de Pe\u00f1a Colorada, mina de Ayotitl\u00e1n, Jalisco, que ha provocado tambi\u00e9n persecuciones contra los l\u00edderes comuneros nahuas como Gaudencio Mancilla.<\/p>\n

Dentro de este territorio invadido no s\u00f3lo pasan las riqu\u00edsimas vetas minerales, sino que hay playas con especies animales en peligro de extinci\u00f3n. All\u00ed se contempl\u00f3 la ampliaci\u00f3n de la carretera Coahuayana-L\u00e1zaro C\u00e1rdenas, e incluso la construcci\u00f3n de un puerto para transportar materiales que Ternium extrae de San Miguel Aquila.<\/p>\n

Los d\u00edas 13 y 14 de junio de 2009, el Congreso Nacional Ind\u00edgena public\u00f3 el Manifiesto de Ostula, que reivindica el derecho a la autodefensa. Despu\u00e9s de varios intentos infructuosos de negociaci\u00f3n y al sentirse burlados por el gobierno, los comuneros retomaron las tierras de Xayakalan en 2009, establecieron su guardia comunitaria \u201cpara cuidar el territorio que nos pertenece\u201d y se asentaron cerca de 250 personas, pertenecientes a 40 familias.<\/p>\n

Los comuneros decidieron no participar en las elecciones oficiales en 2011, al igual que sus hermanos p\u2019uhr\u00e9pechas de Cher\u00e1n, P\u00f3maro y Co\u00edre, en rechazo a la poca eficacia de las autoridades y el divisionismo que, denunciaron, promueven los partidos pol\u00edticos.<\/p>\n

La respuesta a su reto fue atronadora. En los \u00faltimos tres a\u00f1os, 32 pobladores de Ostula fueron asesinados brutalmente o desaparecidos. Destacan las ejecuciones en 2011 de los l\u00edderes Trinidad de la Cruz Cris\u00f3stomo, conocido como don Trino<\/em> o el Trompas<\/em>, encargado de la guardia comunitaria, y de Pedro Leyva. Las bases de la Armada \u2014que se establecieron despu\u00e9s de 2009\u2014 no ayudaron a detener la ola de violencia. Las autoridades judiciales no resolvieron ni uno s\u00f3lo de los cr\u00edmenes. Las balas de los \u201ccuerno de chivo\u201d poblaron las escenas de los cr\u00edmenes, y las familias amenazadas huyeron.<\/p>\n

P<\/strong>ocos habitantes quedaron<\/strong> en Xayakalan, pero los desplazados se ocuparon de planear el retorno y la reconstituci\u00f3n de su organizaci\u00f3n aut\u00f3noma, que se pudo concretar este 2014. El 8 de febrero, \u201cun grupo de comuneros de Santa Mar\u00eda Ostula, coordinado con los grupos de autodefensa de los municipios de Coalcom\u00e1n, Chinicuila y de la cabecera de Aquila, tom\u00f3 el control de la tenencia de Ostula\u201d, informaron en un documento p\u00fablico.<\/p>\n

Coincidentemente, desde ese d\u00eda \u201cgrupos de polic\u00edas federales ministeriales e integrantes del ministerio p\u00fablico, de manera totalmente ilegal han ido a amenazar a los comuneros que viven en Xayakalan con desalojarlos\u201d. Para los ind\u00edgenas es \u201cla continuaci\u00f3n de las graves condiciones de guerra no declarada que vive Ostula desde que precisamente resolvi\u00f3 hacer el resguardo de las tierras de Xayakalan, el 29 de junio de 2009\u201d.<\/p>\n

Este 10 de febrero, un pelot\u00f3n del Ej\u00e9rcito federal intent\u00f3 desarmar a la guardia comunitaria y a los grupos de autodefensa que la respaldaban, pero la poblaci\u00f3n hizo que los soldados devolvieran las armas. El 13 de febrero, m\u00e1s de mil 200 comuneros en asamblea decidieron reorganizar formalmente la Polic\u00eda Comunitaria. Ahora sus esfuerzos se centran en fortalecer los mecanismos comunitarios de decisi\u00f3n, reconstruir la base material para su organizaci\u00f3n y supervivencia \u2014la comida y los recursos escasean\u2014 y mantener la seguridad en su territorio. A pesar de los a\u00f1os de terror, indican a Ojarasca<\/em> desde Ostula, \u201cla gente responde a su ancestral organizaci\u00f3n\u201dSource in English: Chiapas Support Committee Blog<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

All kinds of interests cross each other within their territory: the governments seek to implement highway projects that facilitate the shipment of merchandise and stimulate tourism at the beaches; the mining companies want to exploit the vein that originates in San Miguel de Aquila; the small property owners want to plant their lands or subdivide and sell them; and, the drug traffickers have and important point for circulation of their merchandise here.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Self-defense<\/a>Self-defense forces (autodefensas) enter Xayakalan, Michoac\u00e1n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By: Adazahira Ch\u00e1vez<\/p>\n

Organization of the Nahua community of Santa Mar\u00eda Ostula, Michoac\u00e1n, in its struggle for land, was renewed in February of this year. Later, in June 2009, the comuneros activated their Polic\u00eda Community Police and took back the place known as La Canaguancera (renamed Xayakalan). They confronted a wave of murders and disappearances \u2014especially against members of the traditional guard of of the communal wealth (commission)\u2014 that established a climate of terror and obliged the displacement of entire families.<\/p>\n

But they are returning now and, as they declared in 2009, assert that they will not abandon their lands. Recently, accompanied by self-defense groups from Tierra Caliente, the community guards re-entered their territory \u2014many of them, like their commander Seme\u00ed Verd\u00eda, were exiled\u2014 and the displaced comuneros also returned to Xayakalan, which continues in a legal dispute with the small property owners of La Placita, who invaded it four decades ago. The urgent task, they point out, is to construct anew the assemblies and to work the lands that gave them sustenance and that they had to abandon.<\/p>\n

The task does not look easy, and the Nahuas know it. They tell that all kinds of interests cross each other within their territory: the governments seek to implement highway projects that will facilitate the shipment of merchandise and stimulate beach tourism; the mining companies want to exploit the vein that is born from San Miguel Aquila; the small property owners want to plant their lands or subdivide and sell them; and the drug traffickers have an important circulation point here for their merchandise. In this state \u2014according to the denunciations that the comuneros have made for years\u2014 many times these actors are the same subjects. And the comuneros of Ostula are the owners of this coveted land.<\/p>\n

Rich land, dispossessed [stolen] land<\/strong><\/p>\n

The communal capital de Ostula and its 22 administrative districts encompass more than 28,000 hectares (approximately 69,000 acres) of Aquila Municipality<\/strong>, one of those of greatest marginalization in Michoac\u00e1n. The Nahuas have populated the portion of their territory that extends to the Michoac\u00e1n Coast little by little.<\/p>\n

\"Municipality<\/a>
Municipality of Aquila, Michoac\u00e1n, which lies along the Pacific Coast, is in red.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The lands corresponding to the district of Xayakalan, the comuneros report, are located inside of their land titles that in the 18th<\/sup> Century were the very first and also inside of the Presidential Resolution that recognized part of its territory in 1964. Despite that, they confront agrarian litigation over some 700 hectares that six small property owners of La Placita invaded \u201cnot only for the planting of papaya, mango and tamarind, but also to sell it to the highest bidder\u201d in spite of precautionary measures in favor of the indigenous. The Commission for the Defense of the Communal Wealth of Ostula points out that some of those invaders are heads of organized crime in the region.<\/p>\n

Aquila\u2019s land has an abundance of minerals (silver, zinc, gold and copper), besides iron deposits, which the Ternium, Sicartsa and Metal Steel companies currently exploit, and it contributes one fourth of the national production. The vein that runs through San Miguel Aquila \u2014a community from which members of the traditional guard and the comuneros also had to leave due to conflicts with the mine and with organized crime\u2014 arrives in the lands of Ostula, and the Argentine company Ternium has in sight its future exploitation. Ternium is the owner of half of Pe\u00f1a Colorada, the mine in Ayotitl\u00e1n, Jalisco, which has also provoked persecutions against leaders of the Nahua comuneros like Gaudencio Mancilla.<\/p>\n

Inside of this invaded territory pass not only the rich mineral veins, but there are also beaches with animal species in danger of extinction. There, they contemplate the expansion of the Coahuayana-L\u00e1zaro C\u00e1rdenas Highway, and even the construction of a port for transporting the materials that Ternium extracts from San Miguel Aquila.<\/p>\n

\"Pristine<\/a>Pristine beach in Aquila Municipality, Michoac\u00e1n.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On June 13 and 14, 2009, the National Indigenous Congress published the Ostula Manifesto, which vindicated the right to self-defense. After several fruitless attempts at negotiation and upon feeling mocked by the government, the comuneros took back the lands of Xayakalan in 2009, established their community guard \u201cto care for the territory that belongs to us\u201d and around 250 people, belonging to 40 families, settled here.<\/p>\n

Los comuneros decided not to participate in the 2011 official (national) elections, just like their Pur\u00e9pecha brothers of Cher\u00e1n, P\u00f3maro and Co\u00edre, in rejection of the authorities\u2019 lack of efficiency and the divisionism that, they denounced, the political parties promote.<\/p>\n

The response to their challenge was deafening. In the last three years, 32 residents of Ostula were brutally murdered or disappeared. The executions in 2011 of the leaders Trinidad de la Cruz Cris\u00f3stomo, known as don Trino<\/em> or el Trompas<\/em>, in charge of the community guard, and of Pedro Leyva stand out. The Navy bases \u2014that were established after 2009\u2014 did not help to stop the wave of violence. Judicial authorities did not resolve even one single crime. Bullets from the \u201cgoat horns\u201d (AK- 47s) populated the crime scenes, and the threatened families fled.<\/p>\n

Few residents stayed in Xayakalan, but those displaced occupied themselves with planning their return and the reconstitution of their autonomous organization, which was concretized this 2014. On February 8, \u201ca group of comuneros of Santa Mar\u00eda Ostula, in coordination with self-defense groups from the municipalities of Coalcom\u00e1n, Chinicuila and from the capital of Aquila, took control of the tenancy of Ostula,\u201d they reported in a public document.<\/p>\n

\"Xayakalan\"<\/a>Xayakalan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Coincidentally, since that day \u201cgroups of federal ministerial police and members from the public ministry, in a totally illegal way, have been threatening the comuneros that live in Xayakalan with evicting them.\u201d For the indigenous it is \u201cthe continuation of the grave conditions of an undeclared war that Ostula has lived through precisely since it resolved to guard the lands of Xayakalan, on June 29, 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n

This February 10, a federal Army platoon attempted to disarm the community guard and the self-defense groups that were supporting them, but residents made the soldiers return the weapons. On February 13, more than 1200 comuneros in an assembly decided to formally reorganize the Community Police. Now, efforts are centered on strengthening community decision mechanisms, reconstructing the material base for their organization and survival \u2014food and scarce resources\u2014 and on maintaining security within their territory. Despite the years of terror, they indicate to Ojarasca<\/em> from Ostula, \u201cthe people respond to their ancestral organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

Originally Published in Spanish by Ojarasca<\/em> #203<\/p>\n

La Jornada Supplement, March 2014<\/p>\n

Translation: Chiapas Support Committee<\/p>\n

En espa\u00f1ol: http:\/\/www.jornada.unam.mx\/2014\/03\/08\/oja-costa.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fuente: Ojarasca – La Jornada En su territorio se cruzan intereses de todo tipo: los gobiernos buscan implementar proyectos carreteros que faciliten el trasiego de mercanc\u00edas y estimulen el turismo de playa; las mineras quieren explotar la veta que nace desde San Miguel Aquila; los peque\u00f1os propietarios quieren sembrar sus tierras o fraccionarlas y venderlas, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[798,549,116,114,483,814],"class_list":["post-9248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-autodefensa","tag-michoacan","tag-narcotrafico","tag-ostula","tag-tierra-y-territorio","tag-xayakalan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}