The days continue to accumulate and there is no trace of the whereabouts of the lawyer Ricardo Lagunes and Professor Antonio Díaz, who disappeared on January 15 in the town of Cerro de Ortega, Colima, after their participation in a community meeting in San Miguel Aquila, homonymous municipal head of one of the largest municipalities in Michoacán that is located near the border between these two states.
The situation in that community is characterized by the division of its communal assembly. Since the mining company Ternium ?with Italian-Argentine capital? bought its predecessor Las Encinas, from the company Hylsa. Around 2005 and up to the present, there have been a series of problems regarding failure to comply with agreements to which both the community and the company have signed.
Especially from 2012, moment in which the mine decides to make public the royalty money that it paid to each community member, leaving the population at the mercy of extortion, particularly at a time when the criminal group Knights Templar controlled almost the entire economy and the politics in the region.
The links between this group and the support received from the mine to illegally exploit some of the mountains and extract iron.
Today, after more than 4 years of not having legally elected agrarian authorities ?as established by the Agrarian Law in force in Mexico?, Aquila continues to demand that the Unitary Agrarian Court #38 call for the election of new authorities, a procedure that, according to some community members of the assembly legitimate commented in an interview for Peninsula 360 Press, has been obstructed by a minority group allied to the mine.
“The company was the one that caused this division, it is convenient for them, because if we get together we will remove it from the place, due to the anomalies they have been doing. Seeing the problem they have caused, we would have thrown them out of here. This minority group are former commissioners who, during the time they were there, did shady, crooked things in favor of the company, not the community, because they have left all the time to fill their little bags with money, based on the fact that they work for the company. and the company gives them their tickets,” explained Eduardo Sandoval, a recognized community member of Aquila and a member of the legitimate assembly.
"They have not contributed to the community, to all the community members who make up the entire group and this division has been very harmful to the community," he added.
Ternium is incurring in serious breaches of the land occupation agreements and they are accused of being responsible for the disappearance of the two representative figures of the majority part of the communal assembly. Reyes Cisneros, also a recognized community member of Aquila, comments that: “It was a deception by the company, they negotiate, they make the community sign and we really do not agree with what they are doing. They were looking for an extension for land, although they really did it for exploitation, and we do not agree, that is why we are holding informative meetings and the call so that we can define why things are happening.
«In this framework of criminal acts, Professor Antonio Díaz Valencia assumed the leadership of the majority of the recognized community members, and to legally defend them in the agrarian courts and where necessary, in 2019 he hired the lawyer Ricardo Lagunes Gasca, a recognized defender of Human Rights and extensive experience in agrarian justice", according to what they announced in a released statement last February 28.
This legal entanglement is just the tip of the iceberg of what is perhaps one of the most representative examples of collusion between mining companies and armed criminal groups, using intermediaries from the community itself, who until now have been accused by the community members themselves, as allies to the interests of the mine.
It is not that it has not happened before, in the region and in Mexico, that the economic interests of a company that exploits natural resources divide the community in which it is located, molds the law to its convenience and, if necessary, removes of the way to the people that it considers an obstacle.
Nothing good has left Ternium
With a hat and a slow voice, Eduardo Sandoval, originally from Aquila, agrees to sit down with us to talk about what happens after the arrival of Ternium: «What they do is pollute, our river had a lot of fish, many jackals and how many animals there were, now there is nothing anymore because they went to dig it ».
«There is nothing? Does he continue without fuss despite the fact that the heat is getting worse? that they are restoring us. We agreed on a reforestation agreement, but there is nothing, they don't do it, they do it elsewhere, in San Juan, in Ojo de Agua and they report that they do it in the community, but here there has been nothing. There is deforestation, yes, the ancient trees that we had were cut down and left the pure sunbathing area where they are and that is where they are digging ».
Indeed, the devastation is visible to those who visit this municipal seat, and even more so when comparing this population and its surroundings with other neighboring areas where there is no mine. The mountains are completely bare of trees in considerable parts, and the image of the large cut is as if a monster had torn off a piece of the hill with sharp teeth. We achieved the image of this giant bite and we were able to perceive that, in addition, the wound expands and threatens other parts of the mountain range that surrounds Aquila.
Sandoval's sign about the river is also one of the most visible consequences of reaching the community from the coast, the road passes over a bridge over what was once a mighty river and is now just a foamy footprint and a white liquid. Between this scene and the bitten mountains, the burning sun and the few trees to protect oneself, the municipal seat of this mayor's office is the epicenter of a conflict that has taken lives before and has left others on hold, but with the disappearance by Ricardo Lagunes and Antonio Díaz, again attracts reflectors.
«They arrived with a huge pile of machinery, they said they were going to move the eastern hill and if they wanted they were going to move that one too. In a short time they took a tremendous hit and there was a lot of ore, they had a small breaker but later they changed to a bigger and more agile one, which moved much more ore and as a result of that they began to make very large and very deep excavations and there they uncovered aquifers and they spilled water everywhere and contaminated the water and so many things, "adds Eduardo Sandoval as the only moment of the interview arrives in which he looks afflicted.
For his part, Reyes Cisneros affirms that they have carried out inspections and have discovered that Ternium has violated the agreements and contracts regarding the use of the land that the community has provided it, specifically because instead of using it for maneuvers it is using it for mining exploitation. Again the monster tries to bite more than allowed.
"Now we realize that they are exploding there, that they are exploding here, from all angles of the temporary occupation of the mine."
divide and conquer
Don Eduardo points out that Ternium began to get involved in the organizational affairs of the community, it also began to control the decisions of the magistrates in the TUA #38 and, in addition, it favored a group that agreed to work with them, a group of around 40 people.
This is what is known as the minority group, which wanted to have its own commissioner, above the law and the interests of the majority of community members. They even came to have a headquarters other than the Communal Auditorium, "a private house, in Zapotán, in what they called the Communal House, which they themselves formed, which was not formed by an agreement between community members."
Among the main interests that this small group has together with the mining company is a point known as "La Colmena", a place that has the greatest amount of iron, according to what Don Eduardo tells us. «That group had already given the green light to the company to move there. They wanted to do it as the other group wanted, they were going to win a million dollars ».
“We don't want division, adds don Reyes? but unify the community, but unify it in a peaceful way. We want that, if a negotiation is made in the future, the benefits are distributed among all those who prove to be community members. We are very saddened that the agrarian courts, especially the one in Colima, decide things with which we do not agree.
Taking this background into account, on January 4, 2023, a meeting took place in Aquila with the participation of officials from Morelia and the federal government, the municipal president, José María Valencia, and all legitimate community members. That was where the threats that Ternium had made against the representative of the Community Assembly, Antonio Díaz, and his lawyer, Ricardo Lagunes, were made known.
«The teacher Toño was the one who represented us in all the trials or all the places we went to, in Mexico, Morelia and the lawyer Lagunes was the one who took the trials, before the courts, like the 38 of Colima. He had a very strong battle against the minority group and many threats from them," said Eduardo Sandoval.
«I was on many occasions, going out to hearings and those things and there the courage that they bring to the lawyer, to Don Toño, to us was noted. Threats of all kinds. The threat was made on January 4 and it was consummated on the 15th, here there is no more doubt, it is the opposition group and the company that agree on this, "he stressed.
In the opinion of these two community members who agreed to be interviewed, the majority group of community members is at latent risk and they fear that the disappearances and/or murders will continue as long as the Ternium mining company and its allies within Aquila do not achieve their economic and political objectives of profit and control.
The suspicions that we have, through the threats and all that, is about Ternium and the people who work with them, that is, the minority group. We have to be very careful with these businessmen, they are not going to find us out there and they are going to put the guillotine on us because if not, we will see each other until here?
criminal strategy
Far from the aforementioned disappearances and the attacks on the Aquila community members being isolated events, in the Michoacan sierra-coastal region, the criminal group Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación has also tried to destabilize other communities, particularly Santa María Ostula, a territory neighbor to the municipal seat and one of the main interests of Ternium to expand its exploitation properties.
Pedro, a community member of Ostula, also agreed to be interviewed for Peninsula 360 and shares some events that have occurred since the beginning of 2023:
“First, from January 6, they ambushed the Communal Guard on the border with Aquila. There have been constant attacks and on January 12 the 3 compañeros, Isaúl, Miguel and Rolando, were killed, they were at a strategic control point to stop the advance of the CJNG to our communities.”
“They were holed up there, at the change of shift and a command of about 20 hitmen surprised the colleagues and murdered them and later, a few days later, the lawyer Ricardo Lagunes and the professor Antonio Díaz disappeared. It was in Cerro de Ortega, they shot at the truck and some individuals dragged one out, according to witnesses.
These acts were committed, according to investigations by the community itself and its Community Guard, by the same armed group that is allied with the mining company and the minority group that operates illegally.
According to a confidential source who requested anonymity, 3 well-known figures in the region are involved in this triangle: Agustín Villanueva, a former self-defense group and apparent opponent of the same Ternium company, of whom he is now designated as an ally by sharing economic interests; Cemeí Verdía, expelled from the Ostula community for being linked to the CJNG; and José Luis Arteaga Olivares, former municipal president of Aquila (2015-2018).
"They want to control the municipal seat of Aquila now, that's why they hit the majority organized group, to decapitate it and so that no one wants to be its representative, in this way the small but armed group can now fake a conciliation and try to impose a candidate for the Following the 2024 elections, someone from the PRI will surely be Cochelo [José Cortés Ramos, former mayor (2008-2011) disqualified for a period from holding public office in Michoacán]».
According to this source, the CJNG is beginning to operate as the Knights Templar did before, that is, they try to have territorial control and impose a collection of quotas, for this reason, "we must think, continue? as a cartel thinks, to be able to counterbalance it, no matter what name you give it, if in the end the strategies and the people that make it up are criminals, that is what must be fought, that is why Ostula defends its territory a lot, to prevent this group move forward and put an end to the calm life that you have, which has cost so much to achieve ».
For Pedro, the CJNG is wanting to enter the communities of the sierra-costa, "I think they seek to reach the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, to have control, because as far as I understand they only control Manzanillo and the route of the chemical precursors to methamphetamines, for the transfer of drugs, is key, but also in this area there is the collection of quotas, a clear example of this is Chinicuila [adjacent municipality with Aquila], since the CJNG is settled there, to all businesses They charge them 2 salaries a day.
"All businesses. Apart from the exploitation of the mines. When the Knights Templar were there, they went with everything and the people who betrayed the communities, what is their purpose? Exploit the mines.
In this context, many pains are added to the fear in which the population of the region lives, not only due to the constant shootings that take place almost daily, but also to the selective attacks, such as those of the community guards of Ostula who were assassinated by members of the CJNG, which recorded videos of this fact and spread them on social networks with a mocking tone.
“It affected the community a lot, because they are community brothers, they were colleagues who supported us with security. They were holding back the cartel so that we can live well, at ease, and instead of the bullets being here, the bullets being there, where the cartel's are. As long as the Communal Guard is there, the community will be fine, Ostula is alert but it doesn't give us down but up", Pedro concludes the interview carried out in one of the security filters that his community has established to maintain order and security. security.
The search institution that does not search
19 days after the disappearance of Ricardo Lagunes and Antonio Díaz, security and agrarian authorities peacefully detained a convoy made up of various federal institutions: Secretary of the Navy ?SEMAR?, Secretary of Natural Defense ?SEDENA?, National Guard ?GN?, Secretariat of the Interior ?SEGOB? and the National Search Commission ?CNB?.
The authorities of the Nahua community decided to wait for this convoy to pass through their security filter, in what seemed to be the end of an operation carried out without prior notice, without authorization for these authorities to enter the communal territory and without clarifying the objectives of it. After the 10 vehicles stopped and representatives of the aforementioned federal institutions got out of them, a meeting took place where these and other questions were asked.
After only one representative of the CNB and SEGOB had been accredited, the latter commented that the reason for the operation was the search for the lawyer Lagunes and the teacher Díaz, according to Cristian de la Rosa, who also stated that the search was being carried out "from of the points that families gave them.
-Were the families the ones who gave them the points to search? Within our community? Asked a community member, a member of the Ostula Security Commission.
-Yes, that's how it was, also affirmed Erick Herrera Nieves, representative of the CNB.
-I don't think so, we are in contact with the families and they have not said this, also if the compañeros were in our territory we would have already handed them over to their relatives. In Ostula there are no missing persons.
-…
Later in this dialogue, both officials acknowledged that it was not the families but the commanders of the Prosecutor's Offices, both in Michoacán and Colima. In the video that we present together with this report, we show a bit of the unfortunate conversation between public officials and the authorities of Ostula, who, without further filtering, were categorical in their pointing out the collusion that has historically existed between state security institutions. and criminal organizations, specifying that the last have been the Knights Templar and currently, the CJNG.
«They say that the people who don't know their history? Pedro pointedly points out? it is condemned to repeat it, in a certain way, in our homes, this is the talk, once a week at least, about the whole situation, our parents tell us, our grandparents tell us, about how they lived. In these days we are living it, how can we not be aware of so many things? You have to tell everything that has been lived, the process of struggle that the community has lived through, that has cost deaths, disappearances, that security here is the responsibility of the people, of the community itself. In Ostula, the fight for security is permanent.
At the close of this work there are still no traces of the whereabouts of the lawyer Ricardo Lagunes and Professor Antonio Díaz. Their families continue the searches while the institutions are, in this case the Michoacán and Colima Prosecutor's Offices and the CNB, who have not only yielded no results, they are also carrying out alleged searches in places that do not correspond to the real information they have received. been provided.
Beyond a committed and honest effort, it is the Mexican State that opts for the performance of the search, instead of actually searching for the disappeared persons. In this case, the lack of results has left not only two families beaten and in deep pain, but also a community? Aquila?, in a permanent division and the majority group of community members at the mercy of their opponents, allies of a company mining company that does everything possible, day by day, to increase its profits and reduce its economic losses.
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