Comunidad indígena Nahua de Santa María Ostula
The Nahua indigenous community of Santa María Ostula is an indigenous group comprised of twenty-four communities located in the coastal highlands region of the State of Michoacán. Throughout its history, they worked for the defence of the autonomy and self-determination of the Nahua peoples, including the recovery of their territory, which has been affected by invasions and dispossessions by organized crime groups. Thanks to this defence work, in 2009, the indigenous group achieved the recovery of an estimated 1250 hectares of land, which is now known as San Diego Xayakalán.
Due to their work in defence of their collective human rights, the Nahua indigenous community of Santa María Ostula has faced attacks, threats, disappearances and killings by criminal groups. In response, they have strengthened their internal legal systems, engaging the community in the participation and protection of the land. In this way, the community exercises their right to self-determination, as well as reassures their cultural identity and roots to their land.
Human rights defenders (HRDs) and journalists in Mexico are subject to intimidation, legal harassment, arbitrary detention, death threats, acts of physical aggression, enforced disappearances and killings as a result of their activities in defence of human rights and the exercise of freedom of expression and journalism.
Disappearances are endemic in Mexico, often happening with collusion from the state. HRDs working on the issue face serious risk, up to and including death. HRDs working in the defence of territory, particularly indigenous territory, face a similar level of risk. They are criminalised, imprisoned, defamed, and often killed. Journalists working on any of these issues, or issues related to the drugs trade and the government's complicity in this, also run the risk of losing their lives.
