Mexico: Weekly Newsletter
We hereby share an unofficial translation of the part on Mexico from the latest Weekly Newsletter published by Sol Rojo on the 27th of April.
April 27 marks the 16th anniversary of the murder of Bety Cariño, an indigenous Mixtec land defender, and Jyri Jaakkola, a Finnish human rights observer. Both were killed while participating in a humanitarian convoy bound for the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, where the population had been subjected to massacres and forced internal displacement at the hands of the paramilitary group MULT. In response, their families, friends, and colleagues have organized various activities, including statements, posters, and rallies in different parts of the country.
The deaths of Bety and Jyri remain unpunished; the crime has been neglected for several administrations. At the federal level, the administrations of Felipe Calderón (PAN), Enrique Peña (PRI), Andrés López (Morena), and currently Claudia Sheinbaum (Morena) have come and gone; at the State level, the administrations of Ulises Ruiz (PRI), Gabino Cué (PAN-PRD-PT-MC), Alejandro Murat (PRI), and currently Salomón Jara (Morena).
Meanwhile, displacement in the Triqui region continues to rise: San Miguel Copala, San Juan Copala, and Tierra Blanca Copala, to name the largest. Just as the PAN and the PRI did, Morena today also wants nothing to do with the recommendations issued in favor of the displaced; it even refuses to accept the most recent ones, such as Recommendation 14/2025 from San Miguel Copala. For their part, the aggressors are now part of the government of the self-proclaimed “fourth transformation”; the MULT paramilitaries are part of Morena, and it is they who decide the fate of the federal and State governments’ so-called “peace tables.”
The murders of Bety and Jyri, and the treatment of the displaced Triqui people, remind us that bourgeois justice runs counter to the dreams and aspirations of indigenous peoples and the masses. We honor the memory of Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola and join in the demand: Truth and justice for Bety and Jyri!
