After the first Nacional Forum: Weaving Resistances in Defense of Our territories which took place on the 17th and 18th of April 2009 in San Pedro Apostol, Octolan, Oaxaca, organizations from around the state and the country have returned to the table to continue to create spaces for analysis and reflection between different movements and communities in resistance, in order to connect and to create solidarity between them and against the plunder of their lands.

This time the Forum took place in the comunity of San Juan Jaltepec de Candayoc, in the Mixe region, in the north of Oaxaca.  The community invited the participants to come and to see their territory, to express their for the community´s demands, and to share and weave together their own struggles and fights. In the fresh air outdoors in an artificial forest of pine trees, we were able to hear and share experiences in defense and the land and the Earth.

The forum was sponsored and promoted by several community organizations and NGOs in Oaxaca.  It was called by the Colectivo Oaxaqueño en Defensa de los Territorios and supported by organizations from around the state, including EDUCA, Serivicios de Pueblo Mixe (SER) A.C., and the Consejo de Pueblos en Defensa del Rio Verde (COPUDEVER).
People from all around the state and the country came and participated. Communities like Santa Maria Atzompa and San Juan del Progreso, who are fighting mining projects in their own places, came and told of their resistances.    Communities affected by the mega wind energy projects in the Istmo of Oaxaca also told of the government´s and the multinational corporations’ attempts to rob them of their lands and destroy their ways of life.  Other communities from all around Oaxaca, and some from Guerrero and Chiapas, came and participated.  Human and Indigenous rights organizations were also present, including EDUCA, UCIZONI, Centro de Derechos Indigenas Flor y Canto, Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro, and Centro de Derechos Humanos Ñu Ji Kandii.    
 
The resistance against the Marlin mine in Sipacapa, Guatemala was also present. There the population has been denounce the systematic violation of their homes, caused by the explosions coming from the mine, since the mine´s opening. “The ecocide generated by the acids which run into the rivers and the attack on the cosmovision of the indigenous poeple that live in the mountains bring irreversible consecuences,” stated Carlos Loarca, a spokeperson for the Council of Mayan Organizations of Guatemala.  Perhaps, one of the most difficult and moving parts of the forum, was when he told of the physical harm done to the workers and the children in the community due to the extreme pollution.

Representatives from the High Comissioner for Human Rights in Mexico, also attended the events, who reminded the forum about the treaties for human rights which Mexico has signed, but which in reality the government has not fulfilled.

The encounter ended with are clear declaration which expressed their tirelessness in defense of the soviergnty of indigenous people and their land.  We will be listening for the next forum and if we are sure of anything it is that this resitance will continue...