Criminalisation and death threats against land and human rights defenders of the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul

Front Line Defenders and the Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos “Todos los Derechos para Todas, Todos y Todes” (Red TdT) condemn the sentence against the land and human rights defenders Román Sosa Miñon, Saúl Robles Aragón and nineteen others from the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul. The organisations denounce the threats, harassment and criminalisation faced by the human rights and land defenders as they believe they are in retaliation for their peaceful work defending their land and ecosystem.

On 26 November 2024, the First Criminal and Specialized Adolescent Collegiate Court attached to the Superior Court of Justice of the State of Oaxaca announced the suspension of the hearing in the case against twenty-one land and human rights defenders until further notice. Amongst the defendants are land and human rights defenders Román Sosa Miñon and Saúl Robles Aragón, from the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul, municipality of Huamelula, in the State of Oaxaca.

Román Sosa Miñon is a fisherman, ecotourism guide, representative of the Community Assembly of the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul, member of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defence of Land and Territory (APIIDTT), and a human rights and land defender. He has actively worked in the defence of indigenous territory and the conservation of the mangrove zone including it’s endemic flora and fauna such as facilitating the turtle nesting at Ensenada beach which is a protected natural area. Due to his human rights work, he has suffered reprisals such as threats, dispossession and dismissal from his work place in 2021, as well as criminalisation processes pursued against him by people outside of the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul who attempt to appropriate the community’s ancestral territory.

Saúl Robles Aragón is a campesino, representative of the Community Assembly of the Chontal Indigenous Community El Coyul, member of the Regional Coordination of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defence of Land and Territory (APIIDTT) and a human rights and land defender. Since 2022, he has been a representative of the Sociedad Agrícola Ganadera El Coyul which represent two hundred and twenty-one families. The families have defended 1,452 hectares of land with rainforest, lagoons and beaches since 1972, land from which they have been dispossessed since December 2023.

On 8 May 2024, the Unitary Trial Court Two of the Judicial Circuit of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec found the twenty-one members of the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul guilty of the crime of aggravated dispossession of land against the private group Sociedad Agrícola y Ganadera El Coyul Oax S.C. and sentenced them to five years imprisonment, the payment of fifty-five million Mexican pesos to the company as compensation, and a fine of ninety thousand Mexican pesos.

This is the third attempt to criminalise members of the indigenous community for their peaceful human rights work, the first time being in 2011 when the same private group filed a claim against them. This case ended in the same year with a decision not to prosecute. The second attempt to criminalise members of the community took place in 2019 and ended again with a decision not to prosecute in 2022. In both cases, the members were accused of the crime of aggravated dispossession of land. This third case was filed in 2022 and the human rights and land defenders were convicted on 8 May 2024.

During this third case, the Sociedad Agrícola Ganadera El Coyul, which represents two hundred and twenty-one indigenous families provided important proof of the indigenous community’s ownership of the 1,452 hectares of territory which the court refused to consider. The Chontal indigenous community El Coyul believes that this is an attempt to silence it’s continued attempts to defend indigenous peoples' rights and territory from real estate companies with the aim of evicting the community from their territory, appropriating their land, and exploiting the resources located in the lowland rainforest, each of which would cause further damage to the local ecosystem.

In addition to appropriating their community’s territory, human rights and land defenders Román Sosa Miñon and Saúl Robles Aragón have also reported threats and harassment which have resulted in them being dismissed from their work place. In November 2024, the human rights defenders received death threats against them and their families via phone calls and found dead chickens outside of their houses.

Front Line Defenders and the Red TdT condemn the sentences handed down to land and human rights defenders Román Sosa Miñon, Saúl Robles Aragón and the nineteen others from the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul. The organisations denounce the threats, harassment and criminalisation faced by the human rights and land defenders as they believe they are in retaliation for their peaceful work defending their land and ecosystem.

Both organisations express their concern over the the pattern of criminalisation against those who defend human rights, especially against those who defend the rights of indigenous people, as it has become a form of attack against these peoples in Mexico.

Front Line Defenders and the Red TdT call on the Mexico authorities and judiciary to respect international human rights standards that recognise the right to defend human rights including indigenous peoples rights, therefore fulfilling Mexico’s obligations to the international community.

Front Line Defenders urge the authorities in Mexico to:

1. Immediately drop all charges against human rights defenders Román Sosa Miñon, Saúl Robles Aragón and the nineteen other defendants from the Chontal indigenous community El Coyul as it is believed that they are solely motivated by the legitimate and peaceful work of the land defenders in defence of human rights;

2. Carry out an effective and prompt investigation into the threats made against human rights defenders Román Sosa Miñon and Saúl Robles Aragón, prosecuting those responsible, and safeguarding their physical and mental integrity;

3. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Mexico are able to conduct their peaceful and legitimate human rights activities without undue restrictions and without fear of harassment, threats or retaliation, including judicial harassment against them.