Only rubble remains of the structure known as ‘The Castle’. Photo by Francisco Cañedo, SinEmbargo This is an adaptation of two articles originally published in Spanish on SinEmbargo's website: “The way they stamp on us is not fair, say Otomis who were displaced in Xochicuautla to make way for Higa” and “PRI wants us out, but they won't get rid of us even with their tear gas, say the people of Xochicuautla“. These texts are reproduced here under a collaborative agreement. In a single morning, the García family saw the destruction of everything they'd spent their whole lives working for. On April 11, 2016, representatives of Governor Eruviel Ávila Villegas, a member of the ruling political party PRI, (in Spanish, the acronym stands for Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or The Institutional Revolutionary Party) arrived in the Otomí community of San Francisco Xochicuautla in the municipality of Lerma. They came accompanied by 700 policemen. Without a judicial order, they planned to demolish the Garcias’ home. That same day, heavy machinery belonging to hundreds of members of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Security destroyed the Camp of Peace and Dignified Resistance. This camp was created to halt the construction of the Naucalpan-Toluca motorway, commissioned by Constructora Teya, which is affiliated with the businessman Juan Armando Hinojosa's Grupo Higa, one of the Mexican government's most favoured businessmen. Hinojosa gained public notoriety during a scandal involving the white house he built for the country's president and his wife. Hinojosa was also recently exposed in the Panama Papers scandal. On July 9, 2015, President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a decree approving the expropriation of nearly 38 hectares owned by the Otomí town of San Francisco for the building of a private motorway in the name of “public interest”, despite the community's opposition to the plan. Many locals see these works as a violation of their rights as an indigenous town, as they were not consulted about the project. The construction of the motorway, which would connect the Mexican capital Mexico City with Toluca, was approved in April 2007 and ever since then the community has fought against the plan, hoping for its revocation. At about 10:30 a.m. on April 11, the police formed a winding wall atop the hill where doctor Armando García lived (one of the three local authorities). Estoy aquí para pedirles el apoyo y la solidaridad. Para que vean como este gobierno trabaja. Estan derribando mi patrimonio, mi casa, mi hogar, sin ninguna notificación previa como debe de ser. No nos dieron tiempo de sacar nuestras pertenencias. Esta es una de las injusticias más de nuestro gobierno. De nuestro mal gobierno diría yo. En este país la justicia solamente existe para los que tienen dinero. Para los pobres pues, no hay justicia. I'm here to ask for your support and solidarity. I want you to see how our government works. They are destroying my house, my home, my livelihood, without so much as a warning. They did not give us time to take our belongings. This is one of the many injustices committed by our government. By our bad government, I should say. In this country, justice is only for those who have money. For the poor, there is no justice. Selene Romero Gil, one of Dr. García's relatives, said the following in an interview with SinEmbargo: Subieron cuatro camionetas 4×4 y nosotros nos quedamos ahí en la casa. Y en eso vimos como una máquina empezó a llegar. Yo me subí al tercer nivel y en eso empezaron a patear la puerta. Se escuchaba mucho ruido. Four 4x4s came up, and we stayed in our house. Then we saw a machine arriving. I went up to the third floor and they started banging at the door. There was a lot of noise. This place, where the majority of the residents work either as builders or farmers, was taken by surprise, meaning no one had a chance to help the community members who were hit the hardest. “I was coming back from work at about 12:30 when I realised there was a lot of security about,” said Luis Antonio Baltazar Lucas, who is from the area. The town's inhabitants claim that around 50 people were displaced by the State Police. Photo by SinEmbargo's Francisco Canedo. Between 40 and 50 people, children and the elderly among them, were displaced by force, according to witnesses. “They came to provoke us. I was kicked by a policewoman,” said María Isabel Hernández García, a member of the local authority the Supreme Council. She can be seen crying for help in this video: No se vale. Todo ha sido pacífico. Esta lucha. No tenemos armas, no tenemos nada. Nos dedicamos a trabajar honradamente. It's not fair. Everything had been peaceful in this fight. We don't have weapons, we don't have anything.