The story is old: a conflict over land, indigenous communities stripped of their ancestral territories, local chiefs who exploit the fields and deforest the forests supported by the law of weapons and defenders of the indigenous peoples who are murdered along the way. Gloria Cañez Chávez, a 63-year-old defender of the rights of the Rarámuris, and her daughter Sali Avella Cañez, 23, were shot dead by more than 50 shots last Saturday in the municipality of Balleza, Chihuahua, according to the State Prosecutor’s Office. . Behind the murders lies a dispute over logging permits for some forest lands, the district attorney for the southern zone of Chihuahua, Juan Carlos Portillo, confirmed to this newspaper this Wednesday.
Their bodies were not found until the next day, Sunday. The bodies of the two women appeared on a road in the Yerbabuena community riddled with bullets. Forensic experts collected at least 51 shell casings around him of caliber .223 – very similar to the standard ammunition used by NATO troops, which helps illustrate the type of arsenal to which the murderers had access -, 7.62×39 —a type of rifle bullet of Soviet origin, according to specialized forums— and 40 millimeters —for a pistol—, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. “We are looking for the predominant criminal group in the area, but we are undoubtedly certain that the crime was due to a dispute over timber speech with the help of a criminal association in the region,” says Portillo.
Cañez Chávez had been working alongside the Rarámuri communities that inhabit the region for more than 30 years. He was mainly involved in helping to resolve conflicts over land: recovering for the indigenous communities the territory that he, he considered, had been taken from them. He wanted the inhabitants of the original town to be the ones who could work the land that had historically been theirs, instead of the companies managed by local businessmen and chiefs.
The Prosecutor’s Office contradicts this story and points out that the victim was not an activist, but, on the contrary, had personal interests in exploiting the land. Recently, she had obtained permission to work on a conflictive property, in which there were third parties also interested. The concession allegedly generated tensions with the ejidos of San Carlos and Guajolotes, according to the local press.
“She was in charge of these types of matters, but not from a defense perspective, but legitimately, I suppose, with an interest in logging through permits,” said the state prosecutor, César Jáuregui Moreno, in a press conference. During the appearance, the official also maintained that several complaints had been filed against Cañez Chávez, all related to land exploitation rights.
The residents of the region disagree with the prosecutor. There are many voices that assure that, despite also having personal interests—the recovery of her family’s lands—Cañez Chávez is supported by three decades of defending the rights of the Rarámuris and fighting to ensure that they can recover and work their lands. The newspaper The Herald of Chihuahua collects testimonies that affirm that a phrase that the woman used to say in local assemblies was: “You also have the right to live with dignity, buy a vehicle and exploit the lands that your parents and grandparents left you.”
Asked by EL PAÍS, the district attorney acknowledges that Cañez Chávez attended the assemblies, but maintains that the Prosecutor’s Office does not consider her an activist: “There are conflicting versions,” he concedes.
Almost 10 years ago, in 2014, Cañez Chávez’s husband, Rubén Avella Molina, was also shot to death. His story is murkier than his wife’s. Avella Molina was accused of having killed two men in 2010. He was imprisoned for four years. When he got out of prison, someone killed him. A dispute over some land was also hidden behind the crime.
The double homicide of Cañez Chávez and his daughter occurs in the same week that a new report from Global Witness indicates Mexico as the third most lethal country for environmentalists and land defenders in 2022: 31 murders, only behind Colombia (60) and Brazil (34). The country has registered a drop compared to 2021, when it topped the ranking with 54 homicides, but even so the numbers are still bloody and the violence, as the crime in Chihuahua has once again highlighted, does not end. “The general situation in the country has continued to be alarming for defenders of the land and the environment,” defends the NGO.
In the Rarámuri territory, the double murder does not come as a surprise either. A little more than a year ago, in June 2022, two Jesuit priests, Javier Campos Morales (78 years old) and Joaquín Mora (80), along with a tour guide, Pedro Palma (60), were shot at the door of the church of Cerocahui, a town in the heart of the Tarahumara mountain range. Javier Ávila, one of the main leaders of the Jesuit community in the Tarahumara mountain range for decades and an active defender of human rights, summarizes the situation in the region like this: “Unfortunately, I did not know about it.” [a Cañéz Chávez] I didn’t even know about her work, but regardless, it is sad to see her on the list of homicides covered by the shameful impunity that characterizes these federal and state governments. I repeat: I do not judge her work, which I do not know. I judge the unfortunate reality that we live with homicides and femicides increasing day after day, clear proof of the failed security programs and how wrong militarization is.”
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