Sowing Hope for Pablo Lopez Alavez

Pablo López Alavez, a peasant and defender of ecological, indigenous and community rights, was violently detained by a group of approximately 15 masked and armed men in August 2010 in Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca. Since his arrest, serious human rights violations and due process occurred, such as arbitrary detention without an arrest warrant and isolation. His status as a member of an indigenous community and Zapotec speaker was not taken into account and professional legal advice was not guaranteed. In February 2019, a direct appeal was filed and granted in February 2020. The Judge’s resolution was in identical terms to the resolution issued on December 6, 2010. They did not grant evidentiary value to the documentary evidence, excluding, for example, one that corroborates that the defendant was working in another place on the date in which the events of which he is accused took place. This is a fact corroborated by people who testified as witnesses for the defense. Nor did they analyze the inconsistencies and contradictions in which the witnesses for the prosecution incurred, as well as the negligence and inconsistencies existing in the preliminary investigation proceedings.

Coupled this criminalization process is the serious disappearance of the defender Irma Galindo in 2021 in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, one of the six territorial defenders who have forcibly disappeared in the last year in the state.

A few days ago, the International meetings “Exigimos libertad para Pablo – Seguimos sembrando esperanza” came to an end after three weeks of actions in 10 countries. Last August, organizations, collectives and defenders sowed 144 trees on the Cerro del Crestón, in the city of Oaxaca, to demand the freedom of López Alavez. The activity involved 171 communities, collectives and organizations from Oaxaca, Mexico and other countries. This action was replicated in ten countries where people and organizations joined the demand for freedom.