Rocio Mesino, 22-year old leader of the OCSS (Campesino Organisation of the Southern Sierra ) was accompanied by Jose Manuel Rocha from the Mexican Independent Democratic Movement. A third member of the party Paula Galeano, widow of one of the men killed, was detained on departure in Mexico and refused permission to leave the country.
The OCSS represents thousands of rural poor who have been engaged in constant struggle in defence of their lands and civic rights in the impoverished southern state. Guerrero has been ruled by one family, the Figueroas, arranged by the state-party PRI, with an iron fist. Killings, intimidation, every imaginable human rights violation has been documented in the state, cumulating with the massacre of 17 unarmed peasants on their way to a demonstration last year.
Rocio showed dramatic video footage of the ambush to Dublin audiences. The video footage, taken by the army, had been doctored to appear as if the army had first been shot out. However, copies of the original undoctored version were smuggled out and reveal, quite graphically and chillingly, the execution of the men and the injuring of scores more.
Rocio spoke of the grief of the communities in the wake of the event, and their anger. The tragedy, she said, brought people together and their sorrow has turned to anger for justice.
The Mexicans continued their Irish tour with a visit to the relatives of Bloody Sunday victims in Derry. Similarities were drawn between the two terrible events, and Rocio and Jose Manuel laid a wreath of flowers at the Bloody Sunday memorial. Later, while talking at the One World Centre in Belfast, Rocio made further comparisons with the level of militarization of her home town in guerrero and that of Belfast.
Meanwhile, back in Guerrero, the extajudicial killings and state of low-intensity warfare continues unabated. The emergence of a guerrilla group EPR (Popular Revolutionary Army) has intensified the situation. The state security forces, without any leads on the guerrillas, has targeted the OCSS for further repression. Rocio Mesino returned to her home and has since become the subject of an Amnesty International Urgent Action fear for her safety, and possible extrajudicial execution.