Relatives of Juana Santizo went to Guatemala City on Monday, with the aim of delivering a letter signed by more than 5,000 people to the Mexican authorities in Guatemala and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to demand the immediate release of the indigenous, imprisoned in the North American country seven years ago.
READ ALSO:
Guatemalan minister fired amid transport strike
According to family members and social organizations, Juana Alonzo Santizo is a Chuj (Mayan) woman from San Mateo Ixtatán, Huehuetenango, who in August 2014 left her community to migrate to the United States, as part of successive waves of Guatemalan migrants.
However, near the border between Mexico and the United States, Santizo was kidnapped by a migrant smuggler, along with two other women and forced to work, and when she managed to find the local police, she was accused of being an accomplice in the kidnapping of the other women.
Women of San Mateo Ixtatán stand in solidarity with Juana Alonzo Santizo and demand her immediate freedom.
They denounced racism, discrimination and violence in the case of Juan, for the moment they are waiting outside the Minex for a response from the 3 members they let in. pic.twitter.com/83A96He7wz
— FGER (@crfger)
January 31, 2022
The accusation process took place in Spanish, which was not mastered by Santizo, who was unable to defend himself and has remained in a Mexican prison ever since.
They were received at the Mexican Embassy by the Mexican ambassador, Abel EscartĂn, who, although he said he was unaware of the case and that it is not within his capabilities, promised to deliver the letter to the corresponding authorities so that they follow up on the case.
The letter was also delivered to the Guatemalan Consulate in the United States and in Mexico City itself.
Human rights organizations denounce that the case of Juana Santizo is one of the many cases of violence, discrimination and injustice that people who have been forced to move and leave their territories to migrate to the United States experience every day.
In 2018, the UN Office for Human Rights in Mexico visited Santizo in prison, advocating for his rights and expressing concerns regarding the conditions of detention in which he was found.