We publish an unofficial translation of a donation and solidarity campaign started in Oaxaca, Mexico for the construction of a community center in homage to comrade Luis Armando Fuentes Aquino, Commandante "Gato":
[source: solrojista.blogspot.com]
Community Cultural Center
“Luis Armando Fuentes Aquino”
The Community of Cerro Grande is located in the municipality of San Francisco Ixhuatán, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.
It is a fishing community, its population is mostly indigenous, living in it Binniza' and Ikoots people, giving it a cultural richness that gives it uniqueness among the peoples of the region.
It has an important tradition of democratic struggle in defense of the rights of the people.
Developing an interesting process of organization and community mobilization, they have managed to confront the local chieftains and recover the resources of the Ramos 28 and 33, carrying out important infrastructure works like the construction of an elevated tank for the storage of drinking water, paving of streets, construction of a municipal esplanade and a dome, as well as the rehabilitation and construction of classrooms in preschool and primary school, among other actions based on tequios (Note: traditional communal work).
Other important struggles that Cerro Grande has undertaken is the denunciation against the high rates in the consumption of electric energy, maintaining a payment strike along with eleven other communities in the Eastern Zone of the Isthmus since 2007, in demand of better service, modernization of the electric energy network and fair rates, accessible to the population. An important community awareness campaign has also been carried out, regarding the defense of land and territory in the face of the plundering and pillaging plans in charge of the Cerro Grande II mining mega-project, which during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto was granted a concession by the Ministry of Economy to the company Recuperadora AG, SA de CV, for a period of 50 years, with the intention of affecting 29,5431 hectares, affecting the lagoon area and exploiting non-renewable water resources.
In the midst of this context, on April 11, 2019, community leader Luis Armando Fuentes Aquino was killed in a paramilitary ambush in San Francisco Ixhuatán. The day before, the also a fisherman had led a regional mobilization where more than two thousand poor peasants and fishermen were commemorating the 100th anniversary of the assassination of General Emiliano Zapata. Tragically, his fate was the same as that of the agrarian, who cleared the way in the struggle for land.
In homage and continuation of their struggle, the youth and children of the community have decided to promote the construction of a Cultural Center that will bear the name of their fellow countryman, leader and comrade. The community has also received this initiative with joy, and through the use of the tequios and donations it has been possible to build it.
This is how the Community Cultural Center "Luis Armando Fuentes Aquino" came about, in which the new generations intend to install a library and develop diverse workshops that from culture and art help to consolidate a long term community project, training girls and boys in the best democratic and progressive traditions, from a gender perspective, sowing and nurturing a taste for reading, study and science.
Data of the place.
The Community Cultural Center "Luis Armando Fuentes Aquino" is located in the town of Cerro Grande, municipality of San Francisco Ixhuatán, District of Juchitán, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, State of Oaxaca.
It has an area of 63mts2, has two toilets, one for men and one for women, has two work rooms, in one of which will be installed the library and the other is intended as a workshop room.
Needs:
-Book shelf (10 bookcases of 2 x 1m are needed)
-Four tables for reading and study area
-Twenty chairs for reading and study area
-Textbooks, literature, art, general culture, etc.
-Three computer equipment.
-Three desks.
-One multifunctional photocopier
-One large table for the workshop room
-Thirty chairs for the workshop room
-One 0.90 x 1.50 cm acrylic blackboard
-Satellite internet.
-Children's didactic games.
-Rubber play mats.
Contact Data:
·E-Mail: tejiendoculturamx@gmail.com
