The residents of the Guerrero Grande community, in the municipality of Atatlahuca, Oaxaca, are warning of violence being carried out by armed individuals. They are firing shots into the air, creating a climate of tension and fear. As municipal agent Eustaquia Sandoval Galindo reported, these people are sowing a climate of tension and violence, scaring us, but we cannot flee from here. What remains is to defend our territory and demand to live free of violence. It is important to mention that Guerrero Grande, along with the Mixtec communities of Indonoyuji and Mier y Terán, have experienced extreme violence since 2021, when their houses were burned for defending the forest from invaders and illegal loggers. At that time, they suffered forced displacement and returned home a year later. However, they now do not feel safe due to this new wave of violence they are facing. Atatlahuca means 'Red land between two rivers' — Independence and Morelos — and annually they hold festivities in honor of Saint Stephen. Accompanied by Maurilio Santiago Reyes from the Human Rights Center and Advisory to Indigenous Peoples A.C. (CEDHAPI A.C.), she expressed that it is urgent to stop the violence they are experiencing, where the clear intention is for them to abandon their territory and leave, but unfortunately, they have no other safe place. 'Every minute counts to safeguard the lives of the community. Last night, armed civilians fired shots from the main accesses and from the rooftop of a private home of a man known in the community,' she said, making an urgent call to the Oaxacan and Mexican state to send state police and the national guard. 'We don't feel safe,' she emphasized, stressing that this is not the first time this type of violent event has occurred in the community, where there are minors, adolescents, women, and the elderly. Two and a half hours from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, and eight hours from the capital, crossing a dirt road covered in green hills that form Cerro del Ratón and the oyamel plain, considered the lung of the Mixteca of Oaxaca, is located the community of Guerrero Grande, where 250 inhabitants live. Together with the communities of Mier y Terán and Ndoyonoyuji, they defend their territory from illegal logging. In this area, the Ñuu Savi (Mixtec) indigenous people live.
