Yaqui Disappeared and Assassinated Not Included in New UN Human Rights Report

Tomas Rojo, spokesman for Vicam Yaqui Traditional Authority, assassinated

Yaqui Disappeared and Assassinated Not Included in New UN Human Rights Report

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Sept. 11, 2023

Tomas Rojo was someone I knew. In his gentle way, he explained how Traditional Vicam Yaqui were protecting the Yaqui River water from being stolen for an aqueduct for the city of Hermosillo. Tomas was the spokesman for Traditional Vicam Yaqui, and they maintained a highway blockade for years to protect their water.

Tomas was bludgeoned to death and left in the desert.

Nearby, Loma de Bacum Yaqui were going for a cow for a traditional feast, when 10 community members were disappeared. They were traditional security guards opposing a gas pipeline in their village.

It is sad to see that these, and the other assassinations and disappearances in Mexico, south of the Arizona border, are not included in the new report on militarization to the UN Human Rights Council.

The United Nations has failed to take seriously the epidemic of assassinations and disappearances of Indigenous Peoples, by mining and development corporations based in Canada, the United States and Australia, and to hold the governments, military and law enforcement responsible for their crimes -- including Mexico.

The United Nations and U.S. Government: What their new reports are not telling you

Saguaro cactus recklessly destroyed to build the border wall at Ajo, Arizona. Photo by Laiken Jordahl

The United Nations and U.S. Government: What their new reports are not telling you

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, September 11, 2023

French translation by Christine Prat

There are two new reports: One is the U.S. report on the destruction and violation of laws during the building of the border wall during the Trump era. The new report is by the US government's office that claims to be independent: The Government Accountability Office.

The other new report, making its way to the United Nations Human Rights Council, is the report from the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the militarization affecting Indigenous Peoples. The final report has some of the powerful testimony and struggles -- but it leaves out some of the greatest tragedies and heartfelt testimony.

Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, on her homeland. Photo by Jason Jaacks. Ofelia's website is O'odham Solidarity at https://www.oodhamrights.org/

Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, and founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall, has spent her life on the border in the struggle for human rights and battling the militarization of the border.

Ofelia responded to the two new reports and the murder of her childhood friend, Raymond Mattia, and fellow community member, murdered by the U.S. Border Patrol and law enforcement on May 18. Raymond was shot nine times in a rain of bullets on his front door steps, in Ali-Jegk on the Tohono O'odham Nation.