The humanitarian mission that was trying to take food and medicine to San Juan Copala community had been announced to the authorities of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Still there was an ambush that led to the death of two observers of the mission, including Betty Cariño.

“Not even the army, the police or the government did anything. They let the paramilitaries act”, Gustavo Castro told Real World Radio.

The Friends of the Earth campaigner explained the context of the incident happened on April 27, amid an atmosphere of repression in the state of Oaxaca, something that the governor, Ulises Ruiz is to blame for.

“He is a very repressive governor. He cracked down the 2006 demonstration with blood shed. All the remains of resistance in his State, where there are lots of mining and touristic interests, has been systematically crushed. The governor does not seem to be bothered by any of that”, said Castro in San Cristobal de las Casas, hours after the funeral of Betty Carino.

“There is great impunity. Today the paramilitary seem to be above the law”, he regretted.

The ambush against the humanitarian convoy ended with the death of Betty Carino and the Finnish observer Juri Jaakkola. This caused different reactions by social organizations in Mexico and Latin America.

On May 3 there was a demonstration outside the Mexican embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, calling for the end of violence in Oaxaca state. Also, there is an ongoing campaign to send letters to the diplomatic delegations of Felipe Calderon’s government in other countries of the region to demand to stop the repression and to safeguard the individual rights of the social activists.

Betty Cariño was part of the National Coordination Team of the Mexican network of People Affected by Mining (REMA) and was the head of Cactus.

The ambush, after which many Mexican reporters and observers were missing for days, led to a formal demand by the Spanish embassy in Mexico to Felipe Calderon’s administration, to clarify the incidents.

Photo: http://oaxacaenpiedelucha.info