Source Libertad Oaxaca
Víctor Julián Martínez, indigenous social leader killed yesterday in Coloradas de la Virgen in the municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, was an icon of the struggle for the territory located in one of the most dangerous areas of the region and the country: the Golden Triangle.
Julián Carrillo’s gaze was always expressive, his voice calm but firm, he never stopped denouncing clandestine logging or those who used the law to abuse their power.
For decades, he accompanied other leaders who defended the forest and were killed, including Julio Baldenegro, father of Isidro Baldenegro, the rarámuri defender who received the 2005 Goldman award from North America, and who was also killed in January 2018.
He also witnessed the murder of his own son, Victor Carrillo, who also denounced the violations against the indigenous communities of that region.
Julián Carillo was a beneficiary of the National Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob).
On Wednesday night, members of the Sierra Madre Alliance association – which represents the community in several trials – learned of his murder.
Moments before, the rarámuri activist ran to the hill, only from there they managed to have a signal to make phone calls. From there he warned that several hitmen were chasing him.
Julián Carrillo was brought into the Protection Mechanism in February 2014, it took 17 months to do so remotely, since due to the topography and lack of general security in Coloradas de la Virgen, protection was not provided to the community as a whole.
Julian’s son contacted the organization shortly afterwards, to report from the satellite phone provided by the Protection Mechanism, that the hit men had already murdered his father.
In July 2016, Julián’s nephew, Guadalupe Carrillo Polanco, was murdered; In September 2017, another nephew, Alberto Quiñones Carrillo and finally in July, his son-in-law Francisco Chaparro Carrillo was also killed
A group of organizations in the country denounced that Julián Carrillo’s murder could have been avoided, because the risk he had was very high and was known by the Segob and the State Attorney General’s Office.
Julián Carrillo was interviewed by Apro on several occasions, after the killings of Isidro Baldenegro and Juan Ontiveros .
Three decades of murders
In 30 years 18 indigenous leaders of that community have been killed, including Julio Baldenegro, Isidro’s father, who was the first.
Violence intensified and in 2013 they killed three more. Between February 5 of last year and January 15 of this year (2018), five leaders have been killed.