A Oaxaca man has spent six months in jail and could remain there for 10 years if he is convicted of what has been called a crime against biodiversity. The charge? Killing rabbits.
Heliodoro Morales Mendoza is accused of killing three rabbits in a natural protected area in the Oaxaca municipality of Tlacolula de Matamoros, not far from the city of Oaxaca, the state capital.
“I think there are more dangerous people who are walking around free,” complained the man’s son, Heliodoro Morales Soriano.
Staff from National Protected Areas Commission, or Conanp, claim that Morales killed the animals with a shotgun while he was clearing a section of his land four years ago. The accusation was not made until this year, when the father of five was apprehended and transported to the state penitentiary at Ixcotel.
Morales’ family claims that he didn’t kill the rabbits, but they were dead when he found them.
Six months after his arrest, Morales’ wife, Adela Soriano Aguilar, and their children are without the family’s main income earner.
“We haven’t seen any justice . . . we never expected something like this to happen,” lamented Soriano.
One of Morales’ sons as well as his brother believe the accusation filed by Conanp is baseless because they presented no convincing evidence, only eyewitness accounts.
“They say they saw him with the rabbits at his feet, with a shotgun in his hand, but how is that possible from more than 300 or 600 meters away? Besides, the area is covered with shrubs,” said the accused’s brother.
“We’re going through dire economic straits. My four siblings and I are attending the university but the family has no source of income,” said Morales Soriano.
“We don’t understand the desire to keep someone behind bars for killing three rabbits, without any element of proof.”
He cited a similar case: “The same thing almost happened to a lady who was catching chapulines [grasshoppers] in order to survive, and they wanted to send her to jail.”
“In the case of my father,” he continued, “everybody knows that in these towns it is very common to hunt and eat the rabbits; it also serves to prevent their reproduction, which is too rapid.”
If Morales can prove indigenous status and show that he represents no threat to society, he can be released, according to a judge.
Local residents have signed several documents attesting to Morales’ good conduct, but to no avail, said his son.
As for being indigenous, Morales’ father, Heliodoro Morales García, confirms he has Zapotec blood. Some of his children “may have turned out clear-skinned” due to his marriage to a woman from Michoacán, but the family considers all of its members to be Zapotec.
“Must an indigenous person always wear a loincloth and huaraches” to prove his heritage? asked Morales Sr.
