Today marks the two years anniversary of the forced disappearance of activist Claudia Uruchurtu Cruz, which occurred on Friday, March 26th of 2021, when she was participating in a demonstration at the municipal town hall of Asunción Nochixtlán, in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca.
Due to Claudia’s disappearance, the family started to search for justice, including her son with whom she lived in the community and who was also a victim of threats due to the denunciations and activism of his mother. Claudia Uruchurtu denounced for several years the corruption that was taking place in Nochixtlán, which was mainly committed by the former mayor Lizbeth Victoria Huerta.
Claudia’s family has achieved the crime of forced disappearance against a former official for the first time a conviction in the state of Oaxaca.
However, two years after her disappearance, in the midst of inconsistencies, nothing is known of the whereabouts of the British activist. Claudia is the third activist of foreign nationality to be murdered in the state, reminding us that in Oaxaca the defense of human rights, public denunciation, and the struggle for a just state, is a sufficient motive to disappear, torture or kill.
Today, two years after her disappearance, we recognize the struggle that began in Nochixtlán. We as the Committee for the Integral Defense of Human Rights Gobixha A.C. (CODIGODH) join the demand for justice from family and friends so that the State guarantees the human rights of the direct and indirect victims, as well as a serious, effective, and exhaustive investigation to find the whereabouts of the activist.
JUSTICE FOR CLAUDIA URUCHURTU!