The following is an English-language translation of a brief essay I wrote for a course I am taking called Epistemologías del Sur. As I dislike the academic practice of creating work that doesn’t go beyond the classroom, I’m publishing it here in case it might be of any use or interest. For the latest information on Fidencio Aldama and his case, see this recently published statement.

For the past several years, part of my work has been as a member of the Fidencio Aldama Support Group. A small, binational collective of individuals in what they call the United States and Mexico, we work through a variety of means to advocate for the immediate release of Yaqui political prisoner Fidencio Aldama and to support him and his family during his imprisonment. Currently serving a 14-year sentence for a homicide he did not commit, Fidencio’s incarceration is rooted in his and his community of Loma de Bácum’s steadfast resistance to the imposition of a natural gas pipeline through their territory. Echoes of the arguments put forward by the epistemologies from the South in this course can be easily identified through the lenses of Fidencio’s case and the centuries-long tradition of Yaqui resistance and self-defense.