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| Residents of Magadela Teitipac: "The people demand that they leave" |
Proceso: Pedro Matias
Oaxaca, Oaxaca - Because community leaders signed a contract with the mining company "Royal Silver", villagers of Magadela Teitipac, in the southern state of Oaxaca, have retained the presidents of the Commission of Communal Goods, Benito Aguilar Hernández, and of the Surveillance Commission, Daniel Hernandez Ignacio, in the municipal jail.
The protesters became aware of the situation when mining company personnel began exploration in the communal lands, as well as at a silver mine located in Loma Colorada.
Members of the state police came to the area to try to free the community leaders, but the villagers asked them to leave on the grounds that it was an internal matter that is theirs alone to solve.
So far, about 600 people are gathered outside the municipal offices of Magdalena Teitipac, where Aguilar Hernandez is being held in the local jail.
The people's dissatisfaction was heightened because the State Investigative Police arrested Hipólito Alvarado Ignacio for the crime of aggravated assault ... During the early hours of Friday morning, it was reported that the chairman of the Supervisory Board, Marcelo Fructuoso Martinez, 42 years old, received at least four stab wounds in different parts of his body, and he was taken to the City Hospital.
The community will hold another meeting today, where Benito Aguilar Hernandez will make his case for why he has not wanted to hand over the post of Commissioner of Community Goods, as villagers have demanded his dismissal. Spanish original