Mexicans Launch Hunger Strike to Push Search for Missing Family

Mexican families and members of the National  Plan Coordinator of Ayala- National Movement (CNPA-MN) are joining forces, launching a hunger strike Thursday to force government authorities to resume their search of a pair missing farmers.

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A clash with rivaling communities in Oaxaca, Mexico on December 27 ended with the death of one Campesino, seven persons injured and two missing. Since then, there has been little progress made in investigating their disappearance, CNPA-MN spokesperson, Daniel Zuñiga Maldonado said.

Abigail Cruz Ortega, another CNPA-MN official and a victim, was a resounding voice in the hunger strike as well as a sit-in outside the Ministry of the Interior, demanding her father, Federico Cruz Morales, and Alvaro Bernardo Reyes Cruz be returned home safe.

Zuñiga denounced local and federal governments’ “ineptitude” to address the issue of social conflict and the outstanding impunity for the December crimes. He stated the organization demands that both the chamber of deputies and senators comply with the General Law of Forced Disappearance and proceed with a transparent investigation.

"We continue to demand solutions to our demands for basic infrastructure, social and productive of our communities," Zuñiga said.

Cruz, chimed in, calling on authorities to conduct an exhaustive investigation, solve the agrarian issue, and resolve the laws contrary to Campesino lifestyles.

Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa has refused to acknowledge the growing conflicts in the agricultural sectors, overlooking the aggression and consequently allowing it the inter-community relations to become more agitated.

“As part of the activities of the National Day of Mobilization, we will march to the Senate, expressing our rejection and disagreement with the way that laws have been passed with widespread rejection by the Mexican people, with recommendations and condemnations from national and international organizations,” the organization said in a statement, citing the International Law on Biodiversity, the Law on Internal Security, and the Regulatory Law as support for their claims.