Day 5: Florentino García Castro

This is the fifth of twelve biographies of defenders of the security system and indigenous justice system of the state of Guerrero; 12 posts put in the “12 Days in Defense of Our Lives and Freedom” campaign. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

 Day 5.  Florentino García Castro.  Community Police member of the House of Justice of El Paraíso, Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC).

Florentino García Castro, 20, is a youth from the community of El Paraíso, municipality of Ayutla de los Libres.  Florentino speaks very little Spanish.  He had to leave elementary school unfinished at the age of 8, because of his father’s (Fidencio García) death while in third grade.  His two brothers and sister, along with himself, had to take jobs with his mother, María Lorenza, in the plot of land that was given to them by his grandfather, where they planted corn and beans.  The land was the sole form of income for the family.

Florentino is married and has a young daughter of a little less than two years old.  Florentino has been actively involved in community activities where he has spent most of his life.  Although it has been a little over a year since the community of El Paraíso has joined the CRAC-PC; the people, as is the custom in indigenous communities, have had their own police force for years.  Almost every citizen has provided service at some point in their lives.  Florentino had already held the position as an officer, so in the assembly of November 18, 2013 it was confirmed in his position, now as Community Police member of the House of Justice of El Paraíso, and as part of the CRAC-PC.

The CRAC-PC system is an example of the success of any security policy passed by proximity to the population, the care of the social fabric, the legitimacy built on the report on accountability and service to the community.  This model is not a recent invention: rather, an organizational effort to revitalize the ancient legal systems of indigenous peoples.

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Day 4: Eleuterio García Carmen

This is the fourth of twelve biographies of defenders of the security system and indigenous justice system of the state of Guerrero; 12 posts put in the “12 Days in Defense of Our Lives and Freedom” campaign. Day 1  Day 2  Day 3

Day 4: Eleuterio García Carmen.  Director of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities- Community Police (CRAC-PC) of the House of Justice of El Paraíso.

Eleuterio, a Na Savi youth, has two sons and a daughter who are studying; he, however, now sleeps in a prison far away from them.

In the Montaña Alta and part of the Costa Chica region, the CRAC-PC originated within the society of the indigenous people.  Despite the endemic violence and death trail that extends throughout the state, the people and communities continue to stand, resist, and are looking for ways to defend themselves against organized crime; how to compel the authorities in fulfilling their responsibilities.  The indigenous people and farmers have appealed to their community organization to effectively defend their territories.  They know that the best way to ensure their collective rights is to exercise control over their heritage, by implementing a system of monitoring and defending their territory.  Their motto is only the people can defend the people.

The judicial system and security of indigenous people, who the villages of the Costa-Montaña region have introduced, is anchored to a system of territories, of self-governments, of its own world views, which demands that the authorities of the state respect and recognize their state institutions, their rights, and of their own jurisdiction.  It is a system that has a long history and a prolonged memory, established with a lot of suffering and also with a lot of resistance.  It’s a system that challenges the design of the state judicial system and challenges their actions, their intolerance, the inaccessibility, their discrimination, their ineffectiveness, and their corrupt practices.  The CRAC, which is the agency formally recognized by the Regional Assembly as the representative body of the Community Police, is the public face of the indigenous authorities of the Costa-Montaña region who have the popular mandate in administering justice within the community system.

They acquire the reputation and respect to the extent that they comply with what the Assembly instructs them, and that they are faithful and strong defenders of the community laws.  Their biggest challenges are in: ensuring security to the communities, caring for the collective heritage, resolving conflicts peacefully, wisely administering justice, reeducating people who commit crimes, and preventing criminal activities that endanger the peace within communities.

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Day 3: Samuel Ramírez Gálvez

 

This is the third of twelve biographies of defenders of the security system and indigenous justice system of the state of Guerrero; 12 posts put in the “12 Days in Defense of Our Lives and Freedom” campaign.

Day 3: Samuel Ramírez Gálvez.  Community Police member of the House of Justice of Zitlaltepec, Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC).

Samuel Ramírez Gálvez, 18, is a young Na Savi indigenous originally from Zitlaltepec, municipality of Metlatónoc.  The fourth of six children, he dedicates himself along with his family to work in the fields on the family farm, where they have a small farm of coffee and bananas.  Like most youths from the Montaña region, particularly from Metlatónoc, Samuel did not complete his basic education.

Samuel, who speaks little Spanish, was appointed a part of the Community Police of Zitlaltepec on August 10, 2013; one of the few youths who have been appointed to this role at such a young age.  His commitment towards community services originates from a family actively linked with the people.  During the same community assembly in which Samue was elected as part of the Community Police, his mother, Beatriz Gálvez Macario, was elected as Coordinator of the House of Justice of Zitlaltepec, the first woman elected to this position in the history of this House of Justice.  Mrs. Beatriz had previously held the title as Minister of the House of Justice for two years, and is one of the women of the CRAC who has been actively involved for over a decade; in promoting the human rights of women in Zitlaltepec.

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Day 2: Ángel García García

This is the second of twelve biographies of defenders of the security system and indigenous justice system of the state of Guerrero; 12 posts put in the “12 Days in Defense of Our Lives and Freedom” campaign, against the climate of violence that prevails in Guerrero and the soaring use of targeting members with jail time because of the various manifestations of the Community Police. The campaign seeks to raise the voice for those men and women who have been victims of a justice system that on one hand leaves assaults, threats, and killings against activists and human rights defenders go unpunished, and on the other hand is attempting to coercively control the indigenous authorities who are promoting community justice.

Day 2: Ángel García García.  First Commander of the House of Justice of Ayutla de los Libres, Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC). 

 

The legal systems of the indigenous peoples of the state of Guerrero are based on their worldview that integrates their way of social, political, and own cultural organization as having rights; the people and the communities must be respected as a multicultural, pluralistic, and democratic society.

Since before the formation of the National Government, indigenous communities had already had their own system of justice, which survives today in communities as internal regulatory systems;  this, of course, does not imply that these systems are immutable or even idealized.

These internal regulatory systems include institutions, principle procedures and guidelines to ensure the safety and justice of the community.  The protection of these systems is now recognized as a right of the peoples and communities, in legal instruments such as the 169th Collective Agreement of the International Labor Organization (OIT), and in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In this framework, experiences such as the CRAC-PC, that amidst the crisis of violence plaguing the country, stands as an alternative in regards to justice and security; governed by the internal regulatory systems of the indigenous peoples. 

When talking about indigenous justice, the CRAC is and will remain the national and state model in the field; however, the State’s response has been to criminalize those who have organized, those who have organized to safeguard the integrity and security of their communities and to defend the collective rights of their people.

Such is the case of Ángel García García, 24, a Na Savi indigenous who is from the community of El Paraíso, municipality of Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero.

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Day 1: Bernardino García Francisco

This is the first of twelve biographies of defenders of the security system and indigenous justice system of the state of Guerrero; 12 posts put in the “12 Days in Defense of Our Lives and Freedom” campaign, against the climate of violence that prevails in Guerrero and the soaring use of targeting members with jail time because of the various manifestations of the Community Police. The campaign seeks to raise the voice for those men and women who have been victims of a justice system that on one hand leaves assaults, threats, and killings against activists and human rights defenders go unpunished, and on the other hand is attempting to coercively control the indigenous authorities who are promoting community justice.

Day 1: Bernardino García Francisco.  Coordinator of Community Authorities of the House of Justice of El Paraíso, Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities- Community Police (CRAC-PC) in Ayutla de Los Libres.

 

Costa Chica Region

 La Montaña Region

Bernardino García Francisco, a Na Savi indigenous originally from the community of El Paraíso, municipality of Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero, has dedicated much of his life towards the defense and promoting the rights of indigenous communities of the Montaña and Costa Chica region of Guerrero.  Bernardino is a survivor of the “El Charco” Massacre, which are the terrible events that occurred in the early hours of June 7, 1998, in which several indigenous leaders were resting after having participated in an assembly, when members of the Mexican Army stormed into the school “Claritino Maldonado”, executing 10 Na Savi indigenous people and a university student.  During the events, Bernardino was wounded, arrested, and imprisoned for just over a year.

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