OAXACA,  The Center for Human Rights and Advice to Indigenous Peoples (CEDHAPI) has reported that an armed group from San Sebastián Nopalera murdered Bernardino García Hernández, representative of the local committee in Zimatlán de Lázaro Cárdenas which is trying to find a solution to the  land conflict between two local communities through dialogue between both communities in that Mixtec region.

The attack took place on Monday 21 around 5:30 p.m. in El Camalote, in Zimatlán de Lázaro Cárdenas, when García Hernández was in his fields, where he had fish ponds where he went to feed them.

The municipal agent of Zimatlán de Lázaro Cárdenas, Jesús Fidencio Jiménez Cruz and the head of CEDHAPI, Maurilio Santiago Reyes, demanded that the Prosecutor General of Oaxaca initiate an urgent investigation into the circumstances of the killing.

This latest killing should be seen in the context of the case of the “forced disappearance” of the elected municipal agent, Erick Hernández Sánchez, 37 years old, and the substitute agent, José Israel Barrios Jiménez, 27 years old.

For this reason, on December 5, 2018, a working meeting was held at the headquarters of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, regarding the precautionary measure, MC-102-10, to be implemented for the protection of the inhabitants of the Mixtec indigenous community of Zimatlán de Lázaro Cárdenas.

However, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Oaxaca did not appear, despite the fact that the meeting was also connected to the forced disappearance of Erick Hernández Sánchez and José Israel Barrios Jiménez.