Two announcers of the radio station ´´La Voz que Rompe el Silencio`` (the Voice that Breaks the Silence) were assasinated on April 7th whilst travelling by car to the west of the city of Oaxaca according to the civil society organisation Centro de Apoyo Comunitario Trabajando Unidos (CACTUS - Centre for Community Support Working in Unity).
According to State Police the two women were killed and four injured -i ncluding two children - when their car was shot at in a village belonging to Putla de Guerrero in the indigenous Mixtec region of Oaxaca State 350km west of the state capital.
The victims were Teresa Bautista and Felicitas Martínez, 22 and 20 years old, who worked for the radio station ´La Voz que Rompe el Silencio`` in San Juan Copala, 50km from where the shooting took place.
Among the injured were a Registry Office worker and Trique indigenous peoples campaigner , Faustino Vásquez Mártinez, his wife Cristina Flores and their two sons Agustin Gustavo and Jaciel Vásquez Flores, three and two years old. The injured who were taken to hospital suffered gunshot wounds. The police found around 20 AK-47 cartridges near the scene of the shooting.
The radio station started broadcasting on 20th Janusy 2008 on the first anniversary of the declaration of the autonomous community of San Juan Copala, and on April 9th and 10th the victims were due to take part in a State Gathering for the Defence of the Peoples of Oaxaca, in which they were to coordinate a workshop on community radios.
Members of Cactus state that these murders increase the lack of security already existing in Oaxaca state and continue the repression against community radio stations exercising their right to freedom of communication, as expressed in article 169 of the International Labour Organisation.
For interview with CACTUS members (in Spanish) visit
http://portal.radiobemba.org/index.php/archivos/doc/dos_locutoras_de_la_voz_que_rompe_el_silencio_en_san_juan_copala_oaxaca_ase/
For more on CACTUS (in Spanish) visit http://elenemigocomun.net/791
The victims were Teresa Bautista and Felicitas Martínez, 22 and 20 years old, who worked for the radio station ´La Voz que Rompe el Silencio`` in San Juan Copala, 50km from where the shooting took place.
Among the injured were a Registry Office worker and Trique indigenous peoples campaigner , Faustino Vásquez Mártinez, his wife Cristina Flores and their two sons Agustin Gustavo and Jaciel Vásquez Flores, three and two years old. The injured who were taken to hospital suffered gunshot wounds. The police found around 20 AK-47 cartridges near the scene of the shooting.
The radio station started broadcasting on 20th Janusy 2008 on the first anniversary of the declaration of the autonomous community of San Juan Copala, and on April 9th and 10th the victims were due to take part in a State Gathering for the Defence of the Peoples of Oaxaca, in which they were to coordinate a workshop on community radios.
Members of Cactus state that these murders increase the lack of security already existing in Oaxaca state and continue the repression against community radio stations exercising their right to freedom of communication, as expressed in article 169 of the International Labour Organisation.
For interview with CACTUS members (in Spanish) visit
http://portal.radiobemba.org/index.php/archivos/doc/dos_locutoras_de_la_voz_que_rompe_el_silencio_en_san_juan_copala_oaxaca_ase/ For more on CACTUS (in Spanish) visit
http://elenemigocomun.net/791