Article by PBI-Canada

Two suspects in the murder of Indigenous Raramuri defender Julian Carrillo and his son Victor were arrested in January 2019.

On February 13 of this year, a court found one of those people guilty.

This evening (March 5), the Sierra Madre Alliance (ASMAC) reports that the second person has also been found guilty of this crime.

ASMAC writes: “Today, a trial court issued a conviction against one of the material perpetrators who participated in the killings of Indigenous peoples’ human rights defender Julián Carrillo Martínez and that of his son Victor Carrillo Carrillo.”

The first person convicted of the crime was sentenced to three years. The sentencing hearing for the second person will be on March 11.

The defense of Indigenous territory against mining

ASMAC adds: “During the issuance of the judgment, the importance of the various testimonies and evidence that allowed the judges to know the context in which the events occurred was highlighted, that is, in the framework of the defense of the land, territory and natural resources of the Indigenous community of Coloradas de la Virgen.”

During a recent virtual meeting with the Canadian Embassy in Mexico, ASMAC director Isela Gonzalez highlighted: “the situation of human rights violations of the indigenous communities that are located in the Sierra Tarahumara region with more than 1,521 mining concessions from transnational companies, among them several are Canadian.”

Thelma Gómez Durán and Patricia Mayorga of Mexicans Against Corruptions and Impunity (MCCI) have highlighted: “If the areas where there is a mining concession are painted red on a map of the Sierra Tarahumara, much of the territory would be scarlet.”

CEDEHM has also documented that at least 38 human rights defenders have been killed in Chihuahua between 1973 and 2019.

Carrillo spoke against a mining concession before he was killed

Graciela Martinez of Amnesty International has written: “[Carrillo was murdered] after expressing his opposition to a mining concession in his community’s territory because of its social and environmental impacts.”

And Kathy Price of AI Canada has noted: “The assassination [of Julian Carrillo] came just a week after he spoke out against the environmental impacts of a mining concession awarded by authorities to a Canadian mining company without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous people whose lands would be impacted.”

ASMAC accompanies the Carrillo family

In its most recent newsletter, ASMAC noted: “ASMAC and the Centre for Women’s Human Rights (CEDEHM) participate as defenders of the Carrillo Carrillo and Carrillo Baldenegro family. Both families have been permanently accompanied by ASMAC staff.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied ASMAC since 2018.