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.

Honoring Heroes Leroy Jackson, Cate Gilles and Tomas Rojo -- as Canada's Mining Industry Implodes

Old-growth Ponderosa pines; Tomas Rojo; Vicam Yaqui International Water Forum in Sonora;
Photo in front of Navajo Nation Council chambers by Cate Gilles.

Honoring Heroes Leroy Jackson, Cate Gilles and Tomas Rojo -- as Canada's Mining Industry Implodes

Brenda Norrell

Censored News

French translation by Christine Prat

https://chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=7163

In memory of three of my friends, I've written about the world mining conference in Toronto this week.

The majority of the mining corporations -- linked to the murders of Indigenous Peoples around the world who are defending their land -- are based in Canada.

While Indigenous People protested, it was surprising to see four Native people in Canada have joined the boards of directors of notorious mining companies; companies blasting and ripping into the earth for gold, silver, cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, and other veins of the earth.

Remembering and honoring my friends Leroy Jackson, Cate Gilles and Tomas Rojo

Leroy Jackson, Dine', fought the cutting of the old-growth Ponderosa yellow pines in the Chuska and Tsaile mountains, and the Navajo tribal logging operation. Leroy was cofounder of Dine' Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, Dine' CARE.

Leroy lived his struggle.

Since I was a reporter for Associated Press at the time, Leroy's interviews reached around the world. One of Leroy's most effective tools protecting the tall yellow pines on the Navajo Nation, and shutting down the tribe's logging operation was his sense of humor.

Leroy was found dead in the mountains near Taos after his life was threatened on the Navajo Nation.

Cate Gilles, reporter, covered the Navajo and Hopi areas and the truth about Peabody Coal on Black Mesa. She was among the first to expose the danger of radiation from uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and the threat of contamination for the Havasupai in their homeland, after she received a degree in environmental journalism.

Cate was found hanged in Tucson while working for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

Tomas Rojo, Yoeme (Yaqui), in Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico, was kidnapped and brutally murdered last year.

Tomas was the spokesperson for the Traditional Authority of Vicam, as they fought to protect their water in the Yaqui River from the theft by the Independence Aquaduct for the City of Hermosillo.

Vicam Yaqui held major highway blockades for years blocking commercial traffic to the U.S. and resisted the state and federal governments, military, ranchers, and cartels.

Vicam hosted international water forums and the Zapatistas international gathering.

It was an honor to know all three, and the beauty of their work, sacrifices and service to the people, water and earth.

Most Censored in Indian Country 2021

Most Censored in Indian Country 2021

By Brenda Norrell, publisher

Censored News

The most censored issues in Indian country in 2021 include the death of Paiute Shoshone Journalist Myron Dewey; the kidnappings and assassinations of Yaqui in Sonora; the Mohawk Mothers demand for the search for residential school childrens' graves at a former CIA torture research site in Montreal; the failure of the Navajo Nation to distribute $2 billion in federal virus relief to Dine' in desperate need; and the destruction of O'odham sacred places on the Tohono O'odham Nation by Israel's Elbit Systems for the construction of spy towers for use by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Remains in Desert Believed to be Kidnapped Yaqui of Bacum Pueblo

Photo 1: Family members hold photos of the missing. Photos 2, 3 and 4 are from the press conference of the Attorney General of Sonora today.

Sonora State Attorney General reports bodies found in desert appear to be Yaqui from Bacum Pueblo

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Attorney General Report in English and Espanol

Sept. 22, 2021

CHICHIQUELITE HILL, Sonora --  Six bodies found in the Sonoran desert are believed to be those of Yaqui from Bacum Pueblo who were kidnapped when they went for a cow for a traditional feast. There was no news of the other four Yaqui from Bacum who were kidnapped. The Attorney General in the State of Sonora, south of the Arizona border, released the information late today.

Family members of three of the men have identified some of the belongings found at the camp where the bodies were found in shallow graves at Chichiquelite Ranch in Cajeme municipality. Clothing, belt buckles, thread bracelets and a USB memory device were found.

When government criminal investigators approached the desert camp, heavily-armed men fired on them. The two assailants were shot and killed.

The Mexican government in Sonora has identified the armed camp as drug runners. However, with the collusion between the government, energy corporations and the cartels -- the truth may not be this simple, or obvious.

During today's press conference, Sonoran Attorney General Claudia Indira Contreras said that as a result of the investigations, last Sunday, September 19, personnel of the Ministerial Agency of Criminal Investigation (AMIC), of this Prosecutor's Office, were attacked with projectiles of large caliber weapons, specifically AK-47 and R-15, and were shot by two unidentified assailants in the vicinity of the Chichiquelite hill, where the agents located a makeshift camp.

When repelling the aggression, Claudia Indira Contreras continued, two unidentified assailants were killed in the vicinity of the Chichiquelite hill, where the agents located a makeshift camp with food and maps.

"The seizure of an AK-47 weapon, an AR-15 rifle, three .22 caliber rifles, percussion casings, two backpacks with tactical equipment, breastplates, a helmet and a Toyota Tacoma pickup vehicle with a theft report in Phoenix, in 2019," she listed.

Report from the Attorney General of Sonora today, Sept. 22, 2021

English and Espanol

'Laberinto Yo'eme' premieres: Yaqui battle corporations as water and land defenders are kidnapped and assassinated

Assassinated Tomas Rojo: Yaqui was a defender of water rights, not interested in petty disputes

Tomas Rojo, Assassinated Yaqui Water Rights Defender

Motive for Tomás' crime, simplified conjecture

The coordinator of the Citizens' Movement for Water, Alberto Vizcarra Ozuna, questions the versions of the Sonora Prosecutor's Office about the conflict over the installation of a toll booth as the motive for the murder of Tomás Rojo, because that was not on the list of priorities of the Yaqui leader.

His fight was not against the criminal underworld, he says, but against the criteria of a water policy. "It is evident that the motivations for this crime transcend the simple dispute over a toll booth in Yaqui territory," says Vizcarra in the text we share here.

Yaqui Water Protector's Car Fire Bombed

Yaqui Water Protector's Car Fire Bombed 

Article by Brenda Norrell

Censored News

Mario Luna, spokesperson for Vicam Yaqui, was kidnapped and falsely imprisoned for one year after the Vicam Traditional Authority manned a highway blockade on Yaqui land to protest the theft of their water. Now, his partner's car was fire bombed on June 27, at their home.

Just two days earlier, Mario was among the speakers at the Havasupai Gathering to Oppose Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon.

Earlier, Vicam Yaqui manned the highway blockade for years, disrupting coastal truck transport in Sonora, to protest the theft of Yaqui water for an aqueduct for the City of Hermosillo, Mexico. Mario was kidnapped and falsely imprisoned as he served as a spokesman for Traditional Vicam Yaqui water protectors. Since his release from prison, he has presented their case to the United Nations.

Mario also was among the water protectors at Standing Rock in 2016.

Censored News provided live coverage from Vicam Pueblo of the Vicam Yaqui's water struggle and blockade in Sonora. Earlier, Zapatistas gathered at Vicam to show their support for water rights to Rio Yaqui and Indigenous rights here.

Amnesty International issued the following statement concerning the fire bombing of the car and the risks that Mario and his family face.

Amnesty International
URGENT ACTION

ASSAILANTS BURN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER’S CAR

Unidentified intruders entered the residence of Mario Luna Romero, leader of the Indigenous Yaqui community in Sonora state, northern Mexico, and set fire to his partner’s car. To date, no protection measures have been provided at the defender’s house and investigations are advancing slowly. Mario Luna and his family remain at risk.

In the morning of 27 June, Victoria Anahí Ochoa Domínguez, the wife of Mario Luna Romero, observed smoke rising from their garage and ran outside to find her vehicle on fire. A few hours later, when her husband arrived home from an overseas trip, he reported the incident to the federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, from which he receives protection measures as a defender of the Indigenous Yaqui community’s territory in Sonora state. Representatives of the Protection Mechanism assured him that state security police would promptly be sent, but the police never arrived. In turn, Mario Luna called the local investigative police who came to inspect the scene that same day. They found evidence of a glass bottle filled with gasoline and wrapped in cloth that had been thrown under the car, clearly signaling an intentional attack.

This is not the first time that Mario Luna and his family have faced security incidents. Anahí Ochoa told Amnesty International that in the weeks prior to the 27 June incident, unfamiliar vehicles were stationed outside of their home on repeated occasions. Mario Luna has carried out a number of activities in defense of collective rights of the Yaqui community, especially in relation to the right to water in light of the Independence Aqueduct, a project which could threaten the community’s access to water and cultural survival.

1) TAKE ACTION
Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

Calling on authorities to urgently ensure effective implementation of the protection measures owing to Mario Luna and his family under the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, especially regarding patrols by Sonora State Police and security cameras in his home;

Calling on them to ensure a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation into the incident of 27 June, especially in relation to forensic evidence including the analysis of fingerprints found on the burnt vehicle, to make the results public and to bring those responsible to justice;

Calling on them to urgently and publicly recognize the legitimate role of Mario Luna as a human rights defender in order to send the message that attacks against him and his family are unlawful.

Contact these two officials by 21 August, 2017:

Governor of the State of Sonora

Claudia Pavlovich Arellano

Palacio de Gobierno

Comonfort y Dr. Paliza S/N, Colonia Centenario

Hermosillo, Sonora, México, C.P. 83260

Contact form: http://www.sonora.gob.mx/contacto.html

Twitter: @claudiapavlovic ‏

Salutation: Dear Governor/ Estimada Señora Gobernadora

Ambassador Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez

Embassy of Mexico

1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington DC 20006

Phone: 1 202 728 1600

Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx

Twitter: @EmbamexEUA, @GERONIMO__GF

Salutation: Dear Ambassador

2) LET US KNOW YOU TOOK ACTION

PLEASE EMAIL UAN@AIUSA.ORG TO LET US KNOW YOU TOOK ACTION— PLEASE INCLUDE: THE UA NUMBER; CASE NAME AND COUNTRY; AND THE EXACT ACTIONS THAT YOU TOOK, E.G. “UA 166.17; IDIL ESER. TURKEY; 2 LETTERS; 1 CALL; 1 TWEET.”

Yaqui Water Rights Defender Released from Prison

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
English and Dutch
Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, NAIS
http://www.denaisgazet.be/nieuws/yaqui-waterrechten-activist-vrijgelaten-uit-de-gevangenis

After a year of false imprisonment, Yaqui water rights defender Mario Luna was released from prison. Earlier a judge ordered the release of Mario, tribal secretary of Vicam Yaqui, and Mexico refused. 

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/estados/2015/09/23/sale-libre-mario-luna-vocero-de-la-tribu-yaqui

Censored News traveled to Sonora, Mexico, and provided live coverage when Vicam Yaqui began the long highway barricade in defense of their water rights to Rio Yaqui.
Mexico built an aqueduct to divert water from Rio Yaqui to the City of Hermosillo.
During the Vicam Yaqui highway barricade in the community, Mario was spokesman for Vicam Yaqui Pueblo. Yaqui Spokesmen Mario Luna and Fernando Jimenez Guiterrez were abducted and imprisoned.
Jimenez was released in August.
The National Indigenous Congress and Zapatistas support the defense of Yaqui water rights.

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/11/yaqui-vicam-pueblo-international.html?m=1http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/11/yaqui-vicam-pueblo-international.html
.

.

Yaqui Water Rights Defenders Imprisoned

Yaqui water rights spokesmen imprisoned, as Mexico steals Rio Yaqui water

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
English and Dutch

Yaqui water rights defenders battling the theft of their water by the Mexican government have been imprisoned. The National Indigenous Congress, Zapatistas, and Amnesty International have demanded the release of the Yaqui spokesmen for the Traditional Authority in Vicam, Sonora.

Yaqui in Vicam are struggling to preserve their river water from an aqueduct for the city of Hermosillo, Sonora. Vicam Yaqui maintained a highway roadblock through their community. 

Censored News joins the others in demanding the release of our Yaqui brothers Mario Luna Romero and Fernando Jiménez Gutiérrez from prison.

International Water Rights Forum
Vicam Traditional Authority
Photo by Brenda Norrell

Mario Luna Romero, secretary and spokesperson for the Traditional Authority of Vicam Pueblo, was interviewed by Censored News during the International Water Rights Forum in 2012. Luna was arrested in September and imprisoned.

Fernando Jiménez Gutiérrez, spokesperson for the Yaqui Traditional Authority in Vicam, was also arrested in September and imprisoned.

Amnesty International said, "On the morning of 11 September, Mario Luna Romero, a leading member of the Yaqui Indigenous community in Sonora State, was arrested by state judicial police in Ciudad Obregón. He was denied access to relatives and his lawyers until late afternoon, by which time he had been transferred to a prison outside the state capital, Hermosillo."

"Mario Luna Romero is a translator and spokesperson in the Yaqui Indigenous community based in the town of Vicam and has led protests and legal measures to stop the construction and operation of the Independence Aqueduct which draws water from the Yaqui River at the Novillo dam. The Yaqui community argues that the aqueduct directly places their traditional culture and livelihoods under threat." (Scroll downt to read full statement.)

The National Indigenous Congress and Zapatistas said, “We demand the immediate cancellation of all arrest warrants and fabrication of crimes against members of the Yaqui Tribe, and we condemn the criminalization of their struggle. We say to the bad governments that come from the political parties: the Yaqui River has served as the historical carrier and ancestral continuation of the Yaqui Tribe’s culture and territory. We who make up the National Indigenous Congress reiterate that if you touch any of us, you touch all of us, and we will respond accordingly to any attempt to repress the Yaqui’s dignified struggle or any other struggle (Joint communiqué from the CNI-EZLN). (Scroll down to read full statement.)

Frontline Defenders said, "Early on 23 September 2014, human rights defender Mr Fernando Jiménez Gutiérrez was arrested as he made his way to work in the town of Vícam, Sonora State.

"At 6:50 am. as he walked on Benito Juárez Street, individuals dressed in grey got out of two unmarked white vans, and captured the human rights defender. A lawyer, who has had access to Fernando Jiménez Gutiérriz at the Third Penal Court, CERESO 1 in Hermosillo Sonora, reports that the human rights defender informed him that once inside the vehicle he had a black hood placed over his head and he was questioned in an intimidating manner.

"Fernando Jiménez Gutiérrez is a spokesperson for the Yaqui Tribe, which is the same tribe as fellow human rights defender Mr Mario Luna Romero. Fernando Jiménez Gutiérrez had been participating in meetings on the conflict of Aqueduct Independence on behalf of the Yaqui Tribe en Mexico City. He speaks for his community in the context of the construction and operation of the Independence Aqueduct. The Yaqui Tribe has been working to prevent the diversion of water from the Yaqui river, over which the tribe has 50% ownership, to the Independence Aqueduct. (Scroll down to read full statement.)

Zapatistas attacked enroute home from Resistance Conference

Breaking news Monday, Jan. 5, 2015

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

National Indigenous Congress delegates now enroute home from the Zapatistas gathering have been attacked by police and paramilitary. The trucks and buses attacked are transporting Yaqui and other leaders from northern Mexico.
Indigenous enroute to Puebla and Mexico City were also attacked late Sunday, Jan
 4, 2015.
The Global Festival of Rebellion and Resistance to Capitalism just concluded in Chiapas, Mexico. So far no one has been wounded.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CNI denounces harassment and attacks against buses in which indigenous delegates were travelling to their places of origin, after finalizing the work of the First Worldwide Festival of Resistances and Rebellions against Capitalism

Sisters and Brothers of the Indigenous National Congress

Compañeros and Compañeras of the National and International Sixth

We want you to know that after finalizing the work of the First Worldwide Festival of Resistances and Rebellions against Capitalism, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, delegates started their return journey to their communities and places of origin. 

Pronunciamiento del Primer Festival Mundial de las Resistencias y Rebeldías contra el Capitalismo

This cowardly aggression on the part of the bad government shows us their fear of those of us below and to the left who, from our communities and peoples, cities and countries, come together in the Festival to get together, listen to each other and share our resistances, rebellions and our pains, with many others who also resist and rebel, to thus multiply our resistances and rebellions, and to make ours the pain of those that are missing.

We make a call to be attentive to coming aggressions and hope for the safe arrival of all the Festival delegates in their places of origin.

NEVER AGAIN A MEXICO WITHOUT US

January 4, 2015

National Indigenous Congress

Translation: Chiapas Support Committee

Enlace Zapatista. January 5, 2015

http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2015/01/05/denuncia-del-cni-sobre-hostigamiento-y-agresiones-a-camiones-donde-viajaban-delegados-indigenas-hacia-sus-lugares-de-origen-tras-finalizar-los-trabajos-del-primer-festival-mundial-de-las-resistencias/

http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2015/01/05/denuncia-del-cni-sobre-hostigamiento-y-agresiones-a-camiones-donde-viajaban-delegados-indigenas-hacia-sus-lugares-de-origen-tras-finalizar-los-trabajos-del-primer-festival-mundial-de-las-resistencias/

Photos above:Traditional Authority of Yaquis' in Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico.

Meeting on water rights with National Indigenous Congress.

In solidarity with Zapatistas. Photos Brenda Norrell 2013

Denuncia del CNI sobre hostigamiento y agresiones a camiones donde viajaban delegados indígenas hacia sus lugares de origen, tras finalizar los trabajos del Primer Festival Mundial de las Resistencias y las Rebeldías contra el Capitalismo.

Hermanas y Hermanos del Congreso Nacional Indígena

Compañeros y Compañeras de la Sexta Nacional e Internacional