13 years after the formation of the General Assembly of San Dionisio del Mar, an Ikotjs community located in the lagoon area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, another anniversary of its existence was commemorated with the presence of people from the community yesterday. The Board of Directors of the Assembly is headed by Andrés Palafox, representatives from San Mateo del Mar, Huamuchil, the Commision of Good Communities in San Dionisio del Mar and the organizations of UCIZONI, Defenders of the Sea, CODIGO DH, and Ojo de Agua Comunicación.
Just like each year, women and men prepared prior to the commemorative event on January 29. Preparations include food, where the kitchen and the courtyard of the house become a single place, where the colors, textures, and smells that characterise the region of the Isthmus become an essential part of the resistance. It is the moment where you can see and smell how the organization-resistance is woven into everyday spaces.
Meeting in the municipal palace or, as it has been renamed, “building in resistance”, they record the process of struggle and resistance against the Mareña Renovables megaproject that was looking to be installed in the Barra Santa Teresa, a traditional fishing zone for the Ikoots and Binniza community of the lagoon area. They also remember the challenges that the indigenous communities face against new development projects like the Interoceanic Corridor (CIIT), the breakdown of the social fabric, and the existence of arrest warrants against human rights defenders.
San Dionisio del Mar continues its resistance. It achieved in curbing the Mareña Renovables project thanks to a combination of forces and solidarity, but the community remains attentive to the effects to its territory that the CIIT can create in the future, such as concessions of minerals. It is possible to organize for the defense, and San Dionisio is an example.
In the voice of the women of Mareñas, the complaint of what happened in San Mateo del Mar was heard: “We are searching to reconstruct our social fabric in a way that will lift us up. We have 156 arrest warrants and 5 political prisoners, 3 of whom are sentenced to 210 years in prison… We do not want a repeat of what happened in San Mateo, where there is a responsible person with a first and last name, but they are very well placed within the state government. We are communities in resistance. As women we have the right to raise our voice. We do not want to be stomped on. As indigenous women, we fight for our rights.”
One must continue to fight because the land and sea belong to us!
Long live San Dionisio Del Mar and communities in resistance!
