Chihuahua, Chih., Mexico, February 3, 2021. Yesterday, Tuesday, February 2, in the city of Parral, Chihuahua, started the trial against one of the people indicated as responsible for the murder of Julián Carrillo Martínez and his son Víctor Carrillo Carrillo, which occurred in the community of Coloradas de la Virgen, in the municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, on October 24, 2018 and February 5, 2016, respectively.

The Rarámuri indigenous community of Coloradas de la Virgen has maintained for decades a dignified defense of their land, territory and natural resources, against people who arbitrarily seek to dispossess them of these.  In total, counting Julián and Víctor Carrillo, 10 members of the community have been murdered: Cenón Torres Palma (1966), José Fontes Valdez (1977), Julián Baldenegro Peña (1986), Juan Molina Gastelón (1989), Lucio Carrillo Torres (1990), Cirilo Portillo Torres (1992), Martín Torres Molina (1992), Isidro Baldenegro López (2017), Víctor Carrillo Carrillo (2016) and Julián Carrillo Martínez (2018).

Julián Carrillo was an outstanding leader of his community, who in his role as President of Bienes Comunales, he actively denounced to different state and national instances the situation in Coloradas de la Virgen, which resulted in multiple death threats. Therefore, along with other people, he requested his incorporation to the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, in February 2014.

After being incorporated to the Mechanism, the risk analysis that had to be carried out to determine the appropriate measures for his protection, took more than a year and it was not until a request for review of human rights and individual guarantees, known as amparo, was filed that it was carried out. Then, as measures for his protection, he was given a satellite phone and was offered police accompaniment for his travel outside the community, as long as he gave 72 hours’ notice.

Despite being protected by the Mechanism and although the government was aware of the serious risk situation in the community, the threats did not cease and in February 2016, just 300 meters from where Julián was, his son Victor Carrillo was murdered. Afterwards, his home was set on fire and the death threats against Julián intensified with the clear purpose of inhibiting his activism.

Due to this situation, Julián temporarily left the community to safeguard his life and, in October 2018, because of the death of one of his daughters, he returned to Coloradas de la Virgen.  It was then that a group of armed people who had been stalking him during the previous days, finally killed him.

Today, due to the impunity and lack of security guarantees in the community, a significant number of its members are forcibly displaced.

Julián’s murder also occurred within the framework of the Preventive Alert for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, current in Chihuahua until today. Both this and the fact that he was a beneficiary of the Mechanism motivated different pronouncements from national and international organizations and instances of human rights defense, condemning his murder.

The state of Chihuahua occupies one of the first places in Mexico in aggressions against human rights defenders and, except in the case of Isidro Baldenegro, all of them remain unpunished. The trial of Julián Carrillo, which began on February 2, is the second case in the state of a murdered human rights defender to reach the courts.

The organizations Alianza Sierra Madre (ASMAC) and the Women’s Human Rights Center (CEDEHM), representatives of the family and coadjutants in the trial, hope that justice will be done in the case of Julián and his son, that all those responsible will be adequately punished, and that comprehensive reparations will be achieved, including measures of non-repetition. Unfortunately, the case of Coloradas de la Virgen is a reflection of what many indigenous communities experience in our country, so the case must not go unpunished.

For more information:

Amnesty International report on the case: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AMR4195542019SPANISH.PDF

Bulletin of organizations for the murder of Julián Carrillo: https://cedehm.org.mx/en/2018/10/27/human-rights-activists-and-organizations-express-our-indignation-for-the-murder-of-julian-carrillo-and-urge-the-authorities-to-protect-human-rights-defenders-and-to-investigate-the-incident/

Joint bulletin of CNDH and UN-DH: https://www.cndh.org.mx/documento/cndh-y-onu-dh-condenan-el-asesinato-de-julian-carrillo-defensor-indigena-de-los-derechos