By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
15 March 2012

We, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, have received from Comrade Florentino Lopez, National President of the Frente Popular Revolucionaria-Mexico and member of the International Coordinating Committee of ILPS, the following report:

Comrade Bernardo Sanchez Vazquez, a leading social activist against imperialist plunder, has been murdered by paramilitaries of a mining company. His companions, Andres Vazquez and Rosalinda Dionisio, have been seriously wounded.

The martyred activist is leader of the movement opposing the Minera Cuzcatlan, a subsidiary of Canadian Fortuna Silverlinc, which is set to extract gold by open pit mining in the Community of San José del Progres, Oacotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.

We call on all our member organizations and allies to condemn in the strongest terms the murder of Comrade Bernardo Sanchez Vazquez and the serious injury to his two companions and to express solidarity to all the people opposing open pit mining and the imperialist plunder of natural resources.

We express heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades and friends of Comrade Bernardo and we demand that the state government of Oaxaca and the federal government of Felipe Calderon apprehend and punish those responsible for the murderous attack.###