The “Agua Fría” Massacre. Indigenous Terrotorial Disputes and their Media Agenda Representation

On May 31, 2002, in Agua Fría, Oaxaca, Mexico, 26 indigenous peasants were murdered as part of a historic dispute between two towns, Santiago Xochitepec and Santo Domingo Teojomulco, for 4,622 forest hectares, which were distributed more than one hundred years ago. Mexican State’s participation in this case is equally old because of its disdain and omis­sion of actions that contribute to the clarification of ownership of the territory. Wasn’t known about this case, hence a historical method of reconstructing the narrative of this from the hemerographic acquis of the Archivo General de la Nación (agn) with four newspapers of national publication. It was found that its sociocultural characteristics and brutality, this is a paradigmatic case ignored by the media agenda of the time that was focused on communicat­ing about the fifa World Cup 2002.