Indigenous Purépecha Forest Defender María Cruz Paz Zamora Marks One Year in Prison

Statement from the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán (CSIM) demanding freedom for Indigenous Purépecha political prisoner María Cruz Paz Zamora

On June 5, 2024, María Cruz Paz Zamora was arbitrarily detained by orders from the Michoacán Public Prosecutor’s Office. María Cruz is a delegate of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), member of the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán (CSIM), Councilor of the first Communal Government of Ocumicho, and defender of the forest, Purépecha culture, and life.

Her detention took place paradoxically on World Environmental Day. In our state of Michoacán, defending the forest can cost you your life, or your freedom. In this context, María Cruz was falsely accused of a crime she didn’t commit. We maintain that the Mexican state, far from its official statements and discourses, continues repressing and criminalizing those who truly defend communal territory, forests, and mother earth.

In recent years, as councilor of ecology and environment in Ocumicho, Paz Zamora has led massive reforestation efforts in the community and organized brigades to combat forest fires. She has defended the forests from logging and organized crime as well as struggled against avocado mono crops. Her constant struggle has been one in defense of life.

The criminalization of María Cruz Paz Zamora can only be understood within the context and history of Ocumicho; a community in resistance in defense of their ancestral territory. In the last five years the community has suffered a series of acts of violence and aggression: on May 31, 2020, armed men assassinated the Secretary of Communal Lands Prudencio Ortiz Alonso in an attack that also left the Representative of Communal Lands injured; on April 28, 2022, the Coordinator of the Communal Government Esteban Cruz Rosas was disappeared but thanks to rapid mobilization he was located alive; on November 11, 2022, the community was attacked by an armed group; and on December 10 of that same year, the Coordinator of the Communal Round Pedro Pascual Cruz was assassinated. All of these cases have been denounced to the Michoacán Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, in this institution, the paradox of impunity prevails: the guilty go free and the innocent are imprisoned.

Thus, to mark one years since the unjust detention of the compañera María Cruz, we demand her freedom. She is an Indigenous political prisoner and we invite the Indigenous communities, as well as social and student organizations and unions, to be attentive to the situation, to accompany the mobilizations that we will be calling for until she is released.

Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán (CSIM)