Margarita Martínez following her kidnapping in February 2010 (@CDHFBC)
According to information documented by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Center for Human Rights, on 30 June Margarita Martínez found a folded paper upon opening the door of her business in San Cristóbal de Las Casas that contained the following death-threat:
“San Cristóbal de Las Casas Chis, 29 June 2009
Dear Margarita Martínez, human-rights defender, well that’s what you believe you are, or that’s what you make those from Frayba think. In truth it makes us laugh; you are pathetic but in the end we know who you really are, and as human beings you are despicable, as you do not love Chiapas, nor do you want the development of the state, and you all are a regression for social welfare. You are thieves, and if you think not, ask those from Frayba how much money they receive from the State, supposedly for the defense of human rights. You are despicable; on the one hand you show the faces of the victims, but you will do this no longer. We will declare a price so that this ends as soon as possible, for we are tired of it.
In passing we wanted to congratulate you for not being stupid. You know that after 25 February 2010, you learned your lesson, and you don’t know how excited I am to continue hearing your bitch cries demanding ‘Now, no more, please.’ Tell your husband that you are very hot!!!!!! Hahahahahahahaha.
If you want to come to an agreement with us, do not tell Frayba anything, and one day we will tell you where to go so that you can ask us ‘How much do you want?’ And the things we will arrange with goodwill on our part, as on yours, without any lies about violations and such, because the truth is that that day you were making it difficult, but I know women of your caliber well, all rebellious. It would be better to take care of your children and to stop involving yourself in problems.
The governor wants to reach an agreement, but without Frayba. We do not want any bad act on your part, and poor you, as this will not end if you make this letter public. Then you will come to the list of the disappeared, and you know how that works. Not the prosecutors, nor the public ministry or national or international human-rights organizations can help you in this.
You should know that in this affair you have only two options: the first, that we offer you to leave the country, and the second that if you publish this letter you will be dead. I hope you are an intelligent woman, and that the few neurons that you have left due to the medicines you take for your depression–drugs or whatever. We do not give you much time, or it might be that we do not need to kill you, such that you will end up in San Agustin, old crazy bitch.
Well you know, if you do not show this to those from Frayba, this latest message we leave for you: true, very committed, isn’t it?”
It should be remembered that Margarita Martínez is preparing for a visit to New York City to participate in a delegation of human-rights defenders from Mexican civil society in the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) at the United Nations.
For more information (in Spanish):
Accion Urgente: Margarita Martínez sigue en riesgo, recibió nuevas amenazas y las autoridades no hacen nada, Red Todos los Derechos para Todos, (6 de julio de 2012)
Preocupan a ONG amenazas a activista (La Jornada, 7 de julio de 2012)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Chiapas: New death-threats against human-rights defenders; they denounce intimidating treatment on the part of judicial authorities (27 October 2011)
Chiapas: Announcement of International Accompaniment for the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights center on the part of the International Service for Peace (10 December 2010)
Chiapas: 7 months after the beginning of harassment directed at members of Enlace Comunicación y Capacitación of Comitán (23 June 2010)
Chiapas: Wife of Adolfo Guzmán Ordaz, Member of Enlace, Comunicación y Capacitación, Margarita Martínez: Beaten, Kidnapped and Threatened with Death (26 February 2010)
Chiapas: new harrassment of a member of the civil organization Enlace, Capacitación y Comunicación, AC (13 January 2010)
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