Agustina Jiménez, municipal trustee of Santa María Apazco who was imprisoned for denouncing alleged corruption and gender violence carried out against her by councilor Omar Bautistareported that since his release he has received death threats.
The official maintained that these threats come from the municipal president through his bodyguards.
“He (Omar Bautista) sometimes passes by, shouts, threatens and intimidates the few police officers I have… that things are going to explode, that the devil is going to wake up, that’s what he says… Yesterday there was a wax work that is our custom for the patron saint’s day and (the guarura) was drunk with the Works councilor, who is the guarura’s father, and they were shouting. I fear for my life because at two or three in the morning they pass by and the boy is armed… he shoots bullets on the road… he brings the president’s car.”
LEE: CNDH confirms acts of torture in 2011 by elements of the Semar in Veracruz
The trustee stated that she feels cornered, because the community demands answers and on the other hand suffers harassment and persecution from the municipal president, as well as defamation and discredit that has extended to his family.
According to Agustina Jiménez, this situation originated more than 18 months ago, when she made public that the municipal president has caused property damage of around 13 million pesos, and that there are even criminal complaints before the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Corruption.
Agustina Jiménez was imprisoned last Monday around 1:00 p.m. by a group of residents from municipal agencies and police, who accused her of creating an Electoral Committee related to councilor Omar Bautista. That day, community police forcibly took her to the Tierra Colorada community with the argument that she would present her arguments to the population.
There, a group of residents decided to imprison to demand the presence of the municipal president. At 8:00 p.m. she was released after state authorities promised to hold a dialogue table the next day, in the capital, with the presence of representatives of the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office and the State Electoral Institute.
You may be interested in: Former mayor Juan Carlos Mezhua is murdered in Zongolica, Veracruz
The next day, in the facilities of the Municipal Palace of Apazco they imprisoned her again, along with three representatives of Peace Delegates from the Government Secretariat because the promised officials or the municipal president did not arrive. On this second occasion, she was detained until 01:00, after agreeing to a dialogue table in the city of Oaxaca.
But the municipal president was not present in the state capital, nor were there decision-making officials, so there were no agreements either.
“I asked for support, I asked for help from the state… through social networks and media. “I feel like I haven’t been heard… I fear for my life,” she added.
*Stay up to date with the news, join our WhatsApp channel here:
MV