Throughout the month of August, woman defender Sandra Miranda Ortega, member of the Movement in Defense of the Atenco River and Territory, has been targetted through various acts of accusations and defamations perpetrated by public authorities from the Jiménez del Teul municipality and the Water and Environment Agency of the state of Zacatecas. These acts seek to criminalize the woman defender and damage her image and credibility with the community, with the goal of favoring the interests of the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) and imposing the Milpillas hydroelectric dam project, which Sandra and the ejido communities of Atotonilco, Potrero, Estancia de Guadalupe and Corrales have been opposing for more than ten years.
On 18 August, Sandra had to appear before the community judge of Jiménez del Teul, Zacatecas, to face C. Liliana Nayeli Herrera Muro, director of Public Works for that municipality, who spread defamatory information linking the woman defender to a land sale carried out by third parties, an action that took place without Sandra Miranda’s participation or consent and, according to testimonies, was carried out under pressure and intimidation of community residents, including threats that “the president of Mexico would expropriate the land” if they refused to sell. In the hearing, the director also falsely accused the woman defender of preventing CONAGUA staff from entering the community. In this regard, it should be noted that since 23 July, CONAGUA has had formal record of the document from the Ejido Commissioner prohibiting the entity from entering the Atotonilco Ejido without requesting permission. Nevertheless, CONAGUA has contravened this Ejido document, and employees of the institution have entered the ejido in private vehicles, violating the decision of the ejido members.
Furthermore, at an event held in Las Bocas on 14 August to promote the Milpillas dam project, the mayor of Jiménez del Teul, Daniel Cisneros Esparza, used the same argument about the sale by third parties to defame and damage the woman defender’s image and credibility in the community. It is concerning that the purchase agreement and photographs of the community members involved in the transaction were disseminated, after being illegally leaked by Dr. Susana Rodríguez Márquez, the head of the Water and Environment Agency of the state of Zacatecas (SAMA). The above not only demonstrates the malicious use of personal and family information as a tool of attack against Sandra, but also reveals the coordinated actions of harassment, defamation, and discrediting of the woman defender.
These are not the first attacks that Sandra Miranda faces in the context of her struggle against the Milpillas dam. Our registry indicates that in 2019, the woman defender experienced various security incidents. On 12 January 2019, her home was placed under surveillance by state police agents when, along with other members of the Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA), she travelled to Mexico City to speak with President López Obrador. Four months later, on 26 April 2019, a newspaper article was published accusing her of leading the detention of the Undersecretary of Government, Érick Muñoz Román, by a group of women ejido members from Atotonilco, the ejido for which she was the delegate at the time. The latest defamatory statements and accusations against Sandra are aimed at discrediting her work as a defender before her own community, while also seeking to attack the social fabric and divide the community in order to weaken the struggle it has been waging for more than ten years in defense of its territory and against the imposition of the Milpillas dam, whose supposed “permits” were obtained through coercion, intimidation and systematic human rights violations.
The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico and IM-Defensoras recognize the work of woman defender Sandra Miranda, the Movement in Defense of the Atenco River and Territory, and the Ejido communities of Atotonilco, Potrero, Estancia de Guadalupe and Corrales. We demand an immediate stop to all actions seeking to delegitimize, weaken and criminalize her dignified and legitimate struggle.
We demand that the responsible authorities at all levels of government guarantee the safety and physical and moral integrity of Sandra Miranda Ortega and the other members of the Movement in Defense of the Atenco River and Territory.
We call on the national and international community to remain vigilant of the situation and express solidarity with the woman defender, the Movement in Defense of the Atenco River and Territory, and the communities of Atotonilco, Potrero, Estancia de Guadalupe and Corrales.