3 Killed over land dispute in Mexico

22/5/2008 - 00:23(GMT)

Mexico City, May 21 (EFE)- Paramilitaries led by a local political boss killed three people last month in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in a dispute over whether communal lands should be sold, a human rights group said Wednesday.

The incidents occurred on April 30 in the Indian town of Santo Domingo Ixcatlan, the president of the Cedhapi organization, Maurilio Santiago Reyes, told a press conference in Mexico City.

Cedhapi accused the town's former mayor, Freddy Eucario Morales, and 14 paramilitaries allied with him of killing three Ixcatlan residents who opposed their plan to sell 1,356 hectares (3,348 acres) of communal land to a neighboring town.

According to Maria de la Luz Martinez, the daughter and girlfriend of two of the dead, the murders occurred when Morales and his followers tried to intimidate her boyfriend, Gustavo Castañeda, a 25-year-old taxi driver.

Castañeda was on the job when he was boxed in by two pickup trucks and a group of some 60 armed people led by Morales, Martinez said.

"Freddy approached the car and shouted to Gustavo Castañeda to get out," and when the latter did not do so he doused the taxi with gasoline and set it on fire, killing the driver, Martinez said.

Maria's father, 60-year-old Melecio Martinez, and his friend Inocencio Medina, 51, were shot to death when they tried to help Castañeda.

The paramilitaries also fired on Maria Martinez when she approached the site of the incident after being alerted by her neighbors as to what was happening.

Morales has been in jail since May 8 for his links to the killings, but Cedhapi denounced the fact that the other people implicated had taken refuge in the mountainous area surrounding the town and are continuing to threaten residents.

The village of Santo Domingo Ixcatlan is located in an agricultural region of the Mixtec Mountains, some five hours by automobile from Oaxaca city, the state capital.

Since the 19th century, there has been on ongoing conflict over land between Ixcatlan and the neighboring town of Chalcatongo de Hidalgo.

Freddy Morales, who according to Cedhapi has the support of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, is trying to sell the disputed parcel for 40 million pesos ($4 million) with the help of the current mayor, his brother Omar Morales.

The sale is being attempted as a result of a commitment Freddy signed with Ruiz to put an end to the quarrel with Chalcatongo, an agreement that was not backed by many Ixcatlan residents.

Cedhapi asked at a press confeence for security forces to be sent to the town to prevent more murders. EFE mps/bp

Terra/EFE