Renato Romero Camacho, an activist and water defender in Puebla, was arrested on the morning of Tuesday, July 1, by ministerial agents in the Granjas Puebla neighborhood of the state capital. His arrest occurred just two weeks after he publicly criticized the Cyber-Siege Law, recently passed in the local Congress.
According to the National Registry of Arrests, Romero was captured at 7:25 a.m. while heading to a community meeting in the municipality of Nealtican. Activists who were expecting him at the meeting stated that he had confirmed his attendance, so his absence surprised them until they learned of his arrest.
On June 17, Romero participated in a forum where he stated that the so-called Cyber-Siege Law is a “gag law” that violates freedom of expression and called for its repeal. “We hope there are free and democratic lawyers working to overthrow it.
If they don’t, it will be clear that in Puebla they are not on the side of the people,” a group of land defenders stated at the time.
Romero Camacho is a member of the Movement in Defense of Water in the Libres-Oriental Basin and is among the nine farmers criminally prosecuted by the transnational corporation Granjas Carroll.
He has participated in mobilizations against water pollution and the dispossession of communities in municipalities such as San Andrés Cholula, San Miguel Xoxtla, Cuautlancingo, and San Pedro Cholula.
Following his arrest, collectives and social organizations demanded his immediate release and denounced an alleged pattern of criminalization against community leaders.
“Renato’s arrest is not an anomaly; it’s part of a pattern. The Puebla State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) has been accused of intimidating community leaders fighting for water and land,” reads the statement released by his colleagues.
Source: e-consulta
