Oaxaca: Offices of Consorcio are harassed for second time

Logo @ Consorcio Oaxaca

On 3 March members of Consorcio for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity in Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca) reported that their offices had been broken into that very morning, this being the second occasion that it suffers an aggression with similar characteristics, given that 4 months earlier on 3 November 2011 there was observed a first incident of harassment and robbery at their workplace. On that occasion they suffered the loss of computer equipment and archives with information on cases of human-rights violations. In light of these acts, they presented a denunciation to the PGJE and in fact already had been awarded precautionary measures by the Secretary for Public Security.

“Despite there being 3 previous investigations and that the measures solicited by the Secretary of Public Security on the part of the Commissioner for Human Rights, it is evident the lack of capacity of the State to guarantee our work and with this its violation of the obligation to guarantee the right to defend human rights,” denounced the organization in a press-bulletin.

In this way, Consorcio Oaxaca demanded that the government of Gabino Cué Monteagudo immediately pursue the detention of those responsible for the aggressions, as well as an efficient protective mechanism for the defense of human-rights defenders. The organization also placed responsibility for the physical integrity of its members on the government.

For its part, the “Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño” Center for Human Rights (Barca-DH) released an urgent communiqué signlaing that “The criminalization that today human-rights defenders face in Oaxaca by means of several different paths continue to be serious, frequent, and promotive of impunity; they continue being victims of murder or murder-attempts, death-threats, and intimidation. An example of this is the cases that it has denounced; the death toll of social activists that continues to increase since last year, such as that of Rafael Rodríguez, member of Section XXI; the death of Bernardo Méndez, member of the Coordinator of United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley, and the grave injuries suffered by Abigail for the defense of her territory; the detention and judicial process against the human-rights defender Bettina Cruz Velázquez in the Tehuantepec Isthmus, and recently the harassment on second occasion of the offices of Consorcio.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Boletín de prensa de Consorcio (5 March 2012)

ALLANAN DE NUEVA CUENTA OFICINAS DE CONSORCIO-OAXACA (EDUCA, 3 March 2012)

Allanan por segunda ocasión las oficinas de Consorcio Oaxaca(Cencos, 5 March 2012)

Comunicado urgente de Barca-DH (5 March 2012)

Consorcio Oaxaca fija su postura por el segundo allanamiento (Ciudadanía Express, 4 March 2012)

Gobierno de Cué, incapaz de garantizar labor de defensores de Derechos Humanos (Página 3, 5 March 2012)

Condena Comisión de Derechos Humanos allanamiento a “Consorcio Oaxaca” (NSS Oaxaca, 3 March 2012)

Gobierno del Estado condena hostigamiento contra Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario (Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca, 3 March 2012)

En cuatro meses ONG feminista sufre allanamientos (Rotativo, 5 March 2012)

Consorcio denuncia nuevo allanamiento de oficinas (Noticias Net, 4 March 2012)

Desaprueba IMO nuevo allanamiento a oficinas de Consorcio (ADN Sureste, 4 March 2012)