Indigenous Mexican Prisoner: 'I'm not Florence (Cassez), I'm Just a Worthless Indian' Carlos Beas Torres - La Jornada
go to original February 10, 2013

It's clear that I'm not Florence Cassez. My name is Miguel Juan Hilaria, and I'm Mixe or Ayuuk, as we call ourselves. Before I was a farmer, now I'm just a prisoner. I've been locked up for eight years in a prison in Oaxaca, in a town called Matías Romero, because I was falsely accused of killing a poor man near the ejido [communal lands] of Francisco Javier Jasso.

To gain my [admission of] guilt, I was tortured and forced by the deputy prosecutor, Wilfrido Almaraz, to sign a blank sheet of paper, which I later learned was my confession. I was beaten and humiliated for hours at the offices of the prosecutor in Tehuantepec, where they took me without showing me a warrant. I do not speak Spanish well and after hitting me, screaming at me and spitting on me, they forced me to put my signature and my fingerprint on the paper. No lawyer and no translator accompanied me. That is the law for us.

The next day, like a package, all bruised and sore, they threw me in prison in Matías Romero. I was urinating blood from the beating I received. My family went to advise the prison people, and soon they brought me a doctor who treated me. I was exhausted for more than ten days. And even though the human rights commission found that I had been tortured, and that the only witness stated that the judicial people had threatened her so that she would accuse me, the judge sentenced me to thirty years in prison.

In these long days of confinement that I spend weaving hammocks, I remember that cursed morning when I went to take care of my corn field and I found the cattle of a rich guy, which were quietly eating the corn that I had sown.  Angry, I grabbed the harmful animals so that the rich guy would come for them and pay me the damage. And yes, in a while, he arrived very angry. He screamed and cursed at me: "Indian, look, you're going to pay dearly!, Who do you think you are, sandal wearer! ..."

I got macho and said, indeed, I cried, "Do what you want, but I will not give you your animals until you pay me damages."

And like I wanted, he threw some bills at me and took the three harmful cattle, but not before threatening me again.

And the rich guy soon fulfilled his threat, as his daughter, Janet was an agent with the investigative police, and they blamed me for the death of a neighbor who was involved with the wife of another man. Janet was also political and was campaigning for the famous Ulises Ruiz, and when he won the governorship, the woman became more powerful and using her influence, she got the judges to bury me in jail.

My judgment was very dirty, as my lawyer repeatedly requested that they charge the injured husband, who actually was the perpetrator of the death that they pinned on me, but he was never charged. And as the life of an Indian is not worth anything in this country, I have spent years waiting here every day for the injustice I've suffered to be recognized. I'm finished here, sick and away from my family.

Here in jail, there are many more poor prisoners. They tell their stories. Most say they did not have money to pay lawyers. Some do not speak Spanish well; they do not know why they are prisoners. Many speak of mistreatment and abuse. Another Indian, who is Mixtec, says that a rich guy falsely accused him of rape and has now taken his land. The truth in this land is that there is no justice.

No, I'm not Florence. I am one more Indian. I am one more poor guy who, like many, is incarcerated in this country. Many for not understanding the language, or not having money to pay lawyers or to buy justice. No, I'm not Florence, I'm Miguel Juan, a Mixe Indian. I don't know the French President, nor did I go on television kidnapping or killing. I'm in prison for protecting my cornfield, for defending my right and my life. I'm not worth anything, that's what the judges, police and prosecutors told me. I'm just Miguel Juan Hilaria, an Indian prisoner in a prison in Oaxaca.

See Spanish original

Carlos Beas Torres is a human rights defender and member of UCIZONI, the Union of Indigenous Communities of the North Zone of the Isthmus (of Tehuantepec), Oaxaca

Posted by Reed Brundage at Mexico Voices

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