Respect for their rights, indigenous communities of Oaxaca demand from the Senate commission

Andrea Becerril and Georgina Saldierna

La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, January 30, 2026, p. 7

In the second traveling meeting of the Commission of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican Peoples, demands were heard for greater attention to this group of the population, complaints that their rights are not respected, especially those of the lesbian-gay community, and the request that they not only be heard, but attended to.

The meeting took place this time in San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca, where the president of that senatorial commission, Edith López Hernández (Morena), stressed that the needs expressed and their concerns will be addressed by the Legislature, either through initiatives or efforts before the authorities.

The also cherry senator Luisa Cortés García highlighted that San Mateo del Mar is among the most forgotten, so it is important to be close to the town of that coastal municipality of Oaxaca.

In the meeting, which was broadcast through the Congress Channel and a digital platform, Beth Sua de Gyves Gallegos, representative of sexual diversity in the entity, raised the urgency for the State to fulfill its responsibility, since there is a historical debt to fully guarantee the rights of the indigenous and Afro-Mexican LGBT community, since they only mention it, but nothing is done.

“We do not ask for favors or concessions, but for political decisions, with a sense of territorial justice, respectful of our cultures, of our languages.” He called for recognition of “the complexities” of those living in impoverished rural communities.

“We need a comprehensive health approach and, as a priority, our muxes and lesbian sisters,” that the necessary financial resources be channeled.

Other speakers demanded that the violence stop and their political-electoral rights be respected, because the candidacies that correspond to them are usurped by people who pretend to be part of sexual diversity, without actually being so.