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.

Mexico's Government Spy Files on Yaqui and Zapatistas in Europe Leaked by Hacker Collective

Mexico's Secretary of Defense spy files include the photos shown above: Zapatistas in their communities; Zapatistas tour in Europe, and aerial images. Mexico's government spy files include profiles on Zapatistas and their supporters, Indigenous movement leaders, professors, farmers, and women leaders.

Mexico's Government Spy Files on Yaqui and Zapatistas in Europe Leaked by Hacker Collective

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

A hacker collective leaked the spy files of Mexico's Ministry of Defense, revealing spying on the Zapatistas and their supporters during the Journey for Life in Europe in 2021. The spy files include Mexico's targeting of both powerful Indigenous women and Indigenous movement leaders in Mexico.

The files were released by the hacktivists Guacamaya.

The leaked files reveal the Mexican government spying on the Yaqui Traditional Authority in Vicam, Sonora, where Vicam Yaqui spokesmen have been kidnapped, imprisoned, and assassinated.

Vicam Yaqui protested the theft of their water for an aqueduct taking Yaqui River water to the city of Hermosillo. Vicam Yaqui have maintained highway blockades for years in defense of their water on a major highway, slowing down the flow of commercial trucks to the U.S. and elsewhere.

Top photo: Vicam Yaqui Spokesperson Tomas Rojo, a soft-spoken agricultural engineer, was kidnapped and brutally murdered in 2021. Tomas was found buried in the desert outside the village. Photo 2: International Water Forum hosted by Vicam Yaqui Traditional Authority in Vicam, Sonora in 2012. Photo by Brenda Norrell, Censored News. https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/11/video-yaqui-foro-internacional-del-agua.html

The new spy files of Mexico's Defense Department on Yaqui in Vicam are especially chilling since the exposure follows a series of assassinations of Vicam Yaqui.