Demand to the Mexican State for Immediate Search for and Presentation Alive of Community Leader Antonio Díaz and Lawyer Ricardo Lagunes

Demand to the Mexican State for Immediate Search for and Presentation Alive of Community Leader Antonio Díaz and Lawyer Ricardo Lagunes

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

January 17th, 2023

Urgent Action No. 1

We demand that the Mexican State immediately search for and present alive Teacher Antonio Díaz Valencia and the lawyer Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) has received information from the authorities of the indigenous community of Aquila, Michoacan, related to the forced disappearance of Professor Antonio Díaz Valencia (Teacher Antonio), leader of the indigenous community of Aquila and of the lawyer Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca (the lawyer Ricardo).

The events took place on Sunday, January 15th, 2023, at approximately 6:50 p.m., on the Coahuayana bridge, in the state of Michoacan, moments after the end of a general assembly in the Aquila community auditorium and while they were moving in the direction of the capital of Colima. The white Honda pickup truck in which they were traveling was found on the federal highway in the Cerro de Ortega buffer zone, showing bullet holes and nobody was found in said vehicle. Therefore, the inhabitants of the community of Aquila have denounced the arbitrary deprivation of liberty by unknown persons, a situation that puts the physical integrity and life of Teacher Antonio and the lawyer Ricardo at serious risk.

Teacher Antonio is a community member of Aquila Michoacan, candidate for the presidency of the ejido commissioner of Aquila Michoacan and the lawyer Ricardo is a lawyer of the ejido of Aquila Michoacan.

The disappearance of Professor Antonio and the lawyer Ricardo occurs in a context of murders, threats, intimidation, harassment, and physical attacks on communities in the region. We make an urgent call to the Mexican State to activate all the corresponding search and location protocols, as well as a due diligence investigation to locate the destination and whereabouts alive.

We ask you to sign this urgent action: https://frayba.org.mx/exigencia-al-estado-mexicano-la-inmediata-busqueda-y-presentacion-con-vida-del-lider-comunitario

Original version in Spanish at https://frayba.org.mx/exigencia-al-estado-mexicano-la-inmediata-busqueda-y-presentacion-con-vida-del-lider-comunitario

Translated by Schools for Chiapas

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