Aguas Blancas massacre | |
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Location | Aguas Blancas, Coyuca de Benítez, Guerrero |
Coordinates | 17°01′43″N 100°04′43″W / 17.028486°N 100.078488°W |
Date | 28 June 1995 |
Target | Members of the Organización Campesina de la Sierra Sur |
Attack type | Shooting |
Deaths | 17 |
Injured | 21 |
Perpetrator | Mexican police |
The Aguas Blancas Massacre was a massacre that took place on 28 June 1995, in the municipality of Coyuca de Benítez, Guerrero, Mexico, in which, according to the official version, 17 farmers were killed and 21 injured. Members of the Organización Campesina de la Sierra Sur (South Mountain Range Farmer Organization) were en route to Atoyac de Álvarez to attend a protest march demanding the release of Gilberto Romero Vázquez, a peasant activist arrested more than a month before (and who has never appeared since). They were also marching to demand drinking water, schools, hospitals and roads, among other things. According to survivors, they were ambushed by the motorized police and several were shot point blank. Some of the events were captured on film, by the police themselves. Weapons were subsequently placed in the dead farmers' hands[1] and the police said they acted in self-defense.
One of the results of this incident was the creation of the Popular Revolutionary Army, a leftist guerrilla organization.