Marichuy, Independent Presidential Candidate Caravan Attacked: CNI
La Cartita Via Twitter#COMUNICADO Respecto a los hechos ocurridos AYER durante el recorrido de la caravana del #CIG, nuestra vocera #Marichuy y compañer@s periodistas independientes #RecorridoCIG https://t.co/eK56zNpWWR pic.lacartita.com/1mjyqajF3x
— CNI México (@CNI_Mexico) January 22, 2018
La Cartita (01/22/2018) --- On Monday, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) accused all three levels of the Mexican government of being responsible for an attack against a vehicle carrying several journalists accompanying their presidential caravan. Currently, Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez is representing as a spokesperson for the indigenous institution organizing native communities in Mexico for an electoral bid and beyond. .
The attack occured yesterday in Michocán where five armed gunmen intercepted the caravan vehicle. Pointing rifles at the journalists, the men searched the group for electronics and promptly exited. The men were heavily armed and attacked them in a stretch of road between Tepalcatepec and Buenavista that is not far from where another activist, Guadalupe Campanur Tapia, was brutally strangled by members of organized crime operating with government blessing. Campanur had not received death threats, but was likely seen as a way to communicate fear towards the indigenous organizations in Cheran, Michoacan.
Prior to the aggression against the foreign correspondents, the caravan of Marichuy had participated in a series of community events in Ostula, Michoacan. They were met by a strong contingent of self-defense groups headed by Cemeí Verdaí. The group of auto-defensas is generally armed and capable of repelling government-linked criminal bandits. The head of Michoacan's official police forces has since denied that the attack was more than a simple robbery. However, Ostula was the scene of the murder of a young nahuatl child by US armed Mexican soldiers. Thus, no one in the community entertains the attack against the caravan as anything but politically motivated, part of a campaign of state terrorism.
