Chiapas: Confrontation in Petalcingo leaves one dead

Photo @Contrapoder

The Tila City Hall, located in northern Chiapas, has reported that one person died from gunshot wounds, with six others injured, in the Petalcingo ejido following a confrontation that occurred during the early morning of 5 May.  “The situation in the ejido has worsened after the murder of a youth, given that the followers” of Eliseo Trinidad Trujillo Hernández, ex-mayoral candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for Tilia, “set ablaze the ejidal house and the library there located,” beyond the fact that “several men armed with pistols, machetes, and sticks have now besieged Petalcingo with trees and rocks.”

“The disturbances in the Nueva Esperanza neighborhood of Petalcingo have been developing for several months now, but the indifference of the authorities in terms of justice has resulted in the growth of shock-groups and the creation of a hostile environment; even the State Attorney General’s Office and the Subsecretary for Governance were aware of this all.”  The differences among the groups of Petalcingo have been exacerbated after the municipal elections in Tila, held on 2 July 2012, with the triumph of Limberg Gutiérrez Gómez, representative of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) over the PRI candidate Trujillo Hernández.

For more information (in Spanish):

Un muerto en enfrentamiento (Cuarto Poder, 6 de mayo de 2013)

Mueren 3 en Chiapas por enfrentamientos (La Jornada, 6 de mayo de 2013)

Enfrentamientos entre pobladores dejan tres muertos en Chiapas (Contrapoder, 6 de mayo de 2013)

National: Second March for National Dignity

On 10 May, Mother’s Day in Mexico, there was held a “Second March for National Dignity” in which participated Mexican and Central American mothers who are seeking out their disappeared daughters and sons in Mexico.  The caravan was accompanied by civil-society organizations that demand truth and justice for the at least 26,000 cases of disappearances that have occurred in recent years, the majority of which continue without having been investigated.

“Today, May 10, is a very special day for many women who are mothers in Mexico.  However, for these mothers it is a sad memory of the absence of their children,” emphasized Daniel Zapico, representative of Amnesty International (AI) in Mexico.  “It is time that these authorities recognize the dignity of the struggle of these families and act to observe their obligations to clarify their disappearances and hold those responsible to justice,” noted the communique published by AI on the occasion.

For its part, the Network All Rights for All expressed that “it is very worrying that a year after the first March for National Dignity, the demands of mothers and relatives have not been resolved, and the number of disappeared continues to rise.  These realities show us the incompetence and lack of will on the part of local, state, and federal authorities to labor to resolve the disappearances and above all to guarantee, protect, and respect the human rights of all.  The Mexican State should take its responsibility by finding the disappeared, utilizing all the means available to it so that victims have access to truth, reparations, and the security of not continuing to be object of violations that damage their dignity.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Madres con hijos desaparecidos marchan, lanzan globos, cuentan su historia, lloran… (Proceso, 10 de mayo de 2013)

Madres de desaparecidos exigen búsqueda efectiva de sus familiares (La Jornada, 10 de mayo de 2013)

La Red TDT se solidariza con la Segunda Marcha de la Dignidad Nacional (Comunicado Red TdT, 10 de mayo de 2013)

Demandan que se tipifique como delito la desaparición de personas en Chihuahua (Proceso, 9 de mayo de 2013)

Participará Amnistía Internacional en Marcha de la Dignidad Nacional (La Jornada, 9 de mayo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

National: Mothers of the disappeared on hunger strike before Segob (16 November 2012)

Mexico: Caravan of mothers of Central American migrants seeking out their children (2 November 2012)

National: “March for National Dignity, mother seeking out their children and justice” (18 May 2012)

Mexico: Report of the UN Work Group on Forced and Involuntary Disappearances (24 March 2012)

Chiapas: Civil Observation Mission ends in Tenosique; migrants and rights-defenders in grave danger; caravan of Central American mothers searching for disappeared relatives arrives in Tenosique (14 November 2011)

Mexico: the International Week of the Disappeared and Detained ends (9 June 2011)

Mexico: Preliminary conclusions from the UN relator regarding extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions in the country

From 22 April to 2 May, the Special Relator of the Untied Nations on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, visited Mexico, where he met with governmental officials, judges, members of civil society, and victims in Mexico City and the states of Chihuahua, Guerrero, and Nuevo León.

Upon finishing his visit, Heyns urged the Mexican government to strengthen the structure of the country in terms of protection of human rights in general and the right to life in particular, so as to reduce the necessity of the use of force.  Mr. Heyns also recommended the reduction of the involvement of military forces in police tasks.

“From my point of view, it is particularly important to diminish the participation of soldiers in police work, to assure that civil courts judge members of the armed forces who have been accused of committing human-rights violations, including murders of civilians; and to establish clear and broadly recognized standards on the use of force on the part of public-security forces,” he said.  The Special Relator also called special attention to the problem of impunity: “All of these lives that have been lost should be investigated with the same rigor, and each perpetrator should be apprehended and judged.  To follow this object it would serve not only to diminish impunity but also to re-establish the value that society places on life,” he emphasized.  Heyns stressed the importance of making justice by solving past homicides, whether committed during the Dirty War, or the more than 100,000 registered during the government of Felipe Calderón.  Whichever strategy is chosen for the future, he noted, must first look to the past.

For more information (in Spanish):

El desastre mexicano pone a dudar al relator Heyns (Proceso, 7 de mayo de 2013)

Comunicado de prensa: Relator Especial de la ONU urge al Estado mexicano a fortalecer la protección de los DH y reducir el uso de las fuerzas militares en labores policíacas(OACNUDH, 3 de mayo de 2013)

La estrategia militar contra crimen no funciona: ONU(El Universal, 3 de mayo de 2013)

Impunidad sistémica y endémica, principal desafío del gobierno federal: Christof Heyns (La Jornada, 3 de mayo de 2013)

Observaciones preliminares sobre la visita oficial a México del Relator Especial sobre ejecuciones extrajudiciales, sumarias o arbitrarias, Christof Heyns, 22 de abril al 2 de mayo del 2013b (2 de mayo de 2013)

Ojalá gendarmería no se trate del Ejército con “otro uniforme”: Relator de la ONU (Proceso. 2 de mayo de 2013)

Activistas y víctimas de Guerrero se reúnen con el relator de la ONU (La Jornada, 30 de abril de 2013)

Presenta ombudsman a relator de la ONU panorama de derechos (La Jornada, 25 de abril de 2013)

Especial interés de relator de la ONU en temas de fuero y justicia militar del país(La Jornada, 24 de abril de 2013)

Detallan a relator de la ONU un negro panorama en derechos humanos en México (Proceso, 24 de abril de 2013)

Guerrero: Impunity continues in the Ayotzinapa case; students arrested and then released

Photo @SIPAZ

At the beginning of May, Amnesty International (AI) called on the state government of Guerrero to take all necessary actions to avoid the eventuality that the murder of two students from the rural normal school “Isidro Burgos” of Ayotzinapa continue in impunity, so as to assure that those who are found responsible be prosecuted.  In a communique, AI joined the call carried out by different Mexican civil-society organizations and international organizations to put an end to the impunity that has prevailed in the case of the murder of two students from the rural normal school of Ayotzinapa in 2011.  The organizations which signed the public letter to Guerrero’s governor, Ángel Aguirre Rivero, include among others the Tlachinollan Mountain Center for Human Rights and the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights.  In the letter, they emphasize that  “The obligation to diligently investigate these types of acts finds its basis not only in the law of Guerrero, but also in the political Constitution and the international accords [signed by Mexico] in terms of human rights.”

In other news, during the afternoon of 7 May, 25 students from the rural normal school of Ayotzinapa were arrested by state police using violence and beatings, and even firearms, according to witness testimony, on the federal highway between Chilpancingo and Iguala.  The students were transferred to the State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE), where they were surrounded by anti-riot police.  The arrest catalyzed a mobilization undertaken by teachers from the State Coordination of Educational Workers from Guerrero (CETEG) during the evening, who carried out a sit-in before the principal entrance to the PGJE office.  Following several hours of protest, the students were released on the morning of the 8th.

For more information (in Spanish):

Carta Pública al gobernador Ángel Aguirre (2 de mayo de 2013)

AI pide a Guerrero poner fin a impunidad en caso Ayotzinapa (El Universal, 5 de mayo de 2013)

Llama AI a dar fin a la impunidad en Caso Ayotzinapa (Novedades Acapulco, 5 de mayo de 2013)

Liberan a comunitarios y detienen ahora a 25 alumnos de Ayotzinapa (El Sur de Acapulco, 7 de mayo de 2013)

Liberan esta madrugada a los 25 normalistas de Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 8 de mayo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: Release of police charged for the murder of students from the Rural Normal of Ayotzinapa (29 April 2013)

Guerrero: normalists commemorate first anniversary of repression in Ayotzinapa (21 December 2013)

Guerrero: New aggressions against students in Ayotzinapa (26 November 2012)

Guerrero: “The Ayotzinapa case cannot remain in impunity” – OMCT (16 August 2012)

Guerrero: Ayotzinapa denounces impunity six months after the deaths of two students (17 June 2012)

Guerrero: CNDH confirms serious rights-violations against students of Ayotzinapa (16 January 2012)

Guerrero: Extrajudicial execution of students from the Rural Normal of Ayotzinapa (21 December 2011)

Oaxaca: Three-year impunity continues in the case of the murders of Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola

On 27 April, three years passed since the murders of Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola, of Finnish origins, who were attacked by an armed group with presumed links to local and state authorities on this day in 2010, as they were traveling in a humanitarian and observation caravan to the Triqui community of San Juan Copala to document the conditions in which dozens of family had been living under conditions of siege.

Members of the Indigenous Zapatista Agrarian Movement (MAIZ), the Revolutionary Popular Front (FPR), and teachers from Section 22 of the Huajuápan chapter of the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE), together with other social organizations, on 26 April carried out mobilizations and a march to protest the impunity experienced in the case of these murders.

Omar Esparza Zarate, leader of MAIZ in the Mixteco region and widower of Bety Cariño Trujillo, expressed that “These three years have been difficult, because I not only lost a comrade–the pain is there and will always be there–but also because of all the harassment, intimidation, illegal searches of the office, and sensing that one has to always be on edge due to lack of knowledge of when the aggressors will make good on their death-threats.”  Furthermore, he added that “for three years, we have spoken to the lack of interest on the government’s part to see justice done.  We have not perceived any sort of will to resolve these murders, nor for punishment of those responsible for them, in accordance with the law.”  Finally, Omar Esparza lamented that the state authorities have not observed their commitment, nor have they declared responsibility for the intellectual and material authors of the crimes.  Beyond this, he stressed that the deaths of social activists is certainly a constant feature of life in the country.

For its part, the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) made public that “with relation to these crimes, 12 arrest-orders have been declared against the presumed murderers, among which is included the leaders of UBISORT which one day before the departure of the caravan made serious threats against the physical integrity of our comrades.  We also indicate that ex-governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz should be considered an intellectual author of these bloody acts, given his public recognition of his having financially supported the paramilitary UBISORT group.”Similarly, Amnesty International and Frontline Defenders have reminded the federal and Oaxacan state authorities of their responsibilities to guarantee that these acts not remain in impunity.

For more information (in Spanish):

La herida está ahí y siempre va a estar: Omar Esparza (El Imparcial, 27 de abril de 2013)

UCIZONI: Demandamos castigo para los asesinos de Bety Cariño y Jyri Jaakkola (Kaos en la Red, 26 de abril de 2013)

A 3 años de la muerte de una indígena y un finlandés en Oaxaca (E-Oaxaca, 26 de abril de 2013)

Oaxaca: A tres años del asesinato de defensores de derechos humanos seguimos reclamando justicia (Amnistía Internacional México, 27 de abril de 2013)

México: Se cumple el 3° aniversario del asesinato de la defensora de los derechos humanos Bety Cariño (Frontline Defenders, 27 de abril de 2013)

Audio-video:

Entrevista a Bety Cariño: Sembrando sueños, cosechando esperanzas (Código DH, 27 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: 12 arrest-orders released against presumed material authors of the murder of the Mexican defender Bety Cariño and the Finnish observer Jyri Jaakkola (12 October 2012)

Oaxaca: Meeting in front of the PGR against impunity in the case of Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola, nearly two years after their murders (21 April 2012)

Oaxaca: justice demanded for San Juan Copala (14 December 2011)

Oaxaca: Eurodeputies in the case of Cariño and Jaakkola (17 October 2011)

Oaxaca: following the caravan “Bety Cariño y Jyri Jaakkola” to San Juan Copalá (21 June 2010)

Distrito Federal: visiting Mexico, the parents of Jyri Jaakkola demand justice for the case of their son and that of Bety Cariño (9 September 2010)

Chiapas: March from Suchiate river to denounce abuses against migrants, and beginning of hunger strike

On 16 April, approximately 20 activists and migrants began a march of 290 kilometers from the Suchiate river, following the route taken by the undocumented, to denounce the sexual and labor exploitation to which many Central American migrants are subjected within the southern border region of Mexico.  The march was to end two days later in Arriaga, where the migrants often take the freight train toward the center of the country.

However, the following day, the protest ended in Tapachula, due to the fact that its members had received death-threats “by phone and in person, though we do not know from whom they originate,” declared the organizers.  Ramón Verdugo Sánchez, member of the organization “All for all” to assist street children and migrants, explained that “due to the fact that the security of those who were marching could not be assured, we decided to change the action into a hunger strike, which is something that is more drastic and sacrificial, given that it can exert the same pressure on the authorities so that they fulfill their responsibilities.  We are not asking for the impossible, given that it is their obligation to show that they are working to protect minors in the streets and migrants in transit.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Caminata desde el Suchiate para denunciar abusos contra migrantes(La Jornada, 17 de abril de 2013)

Por amenazas, deciden activistas concluir en Tapachula y no en Arriaga caminata (La Jornada, 17 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Organizations present report on migration during Sabines’ six-year reign (21 December 2012)

Mexico: Caravan of Central American mothers seeking out their children (2 November 2012)

Chiapas/Oaxaca: #WeMigrantsAre132 (20 June 2012)

Chiapas/Tabasco: “The forgotten border” press-conference (13 December 2011)

Civil Observation Mission ends in Tenosique; migrants and rights-defenders in grave danger; caravan of Central American mothers searching for disappeared relatives arrives in Tenosique (14 November 2011)

 

Chiapas: Denunciation of death-threats and fabrication of evidence on part of PGJE made by those displaced from the Busiljá and Cintalapa ejidos

On 23 April, families who have been displaced from the Busiljá and Cintalapa ejidos (Ocosingo municipality), publicly denounced that agents of the Public Ministry (which belongs to the State Attorney General’s Office of Chiapas, PGJE) in Ocosingo had pressured and threatened Mrs. Elena Morales Gutiérrez to sign a document affirming knowledge of the whereabouts of her daughter Gabriela Sánchez Morales, who was kidnapped in 2011. Regardless, in a denunciation the families claim now that the girl still has not been located.  It should be noted that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has awarded the precautionary measures requested by the family of the minor.  Furthermore, those displaced expressed their disappointment with the lack of execution of penal action against the presumed kidnappers.  In this sense, they indicate that “the PGJE seeks to trick the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” given that the PGJE must inform the IACHR on progress in the investigations.

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia de los desplazados de Busiljá y Cintalapa (23/04/2013)

Proceso: Procuraduría de Chiapas falsea pruebas sobre el plagio de una niña indígena (25/04/2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Chiapas: Civil society expresses its concern for the situation of those displaced from Busiljá (26 February 2013)

National: Article 19 receives death-threats

On 19 April, the organization Article 19, whose task it is to denounce abuses and intimidations against freedom of expression, received an anonymous message at its offices in Mexico City.  The message threatens the organizations’ director, Darío Ramírez, and his collaborators with death.The organization reported that it had presented the corresponding denunciations to the Federal Attorney General’s Office in Mexico City, who is responsible for the crime of death-threats.The same day, the organization Freedom House indicated that so far in the term of Enrique Peña Nieto (since 1 December 2012), there have been registered 26 cases of aggressions against journalists and communication media in Mexico, thus expressing its concern for the “impunity” evinced in these attacks.

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado de prensa (Artículo 19, 19 de abril de 2013)

Amenazan al director de la organización Artículo 19 (Proceso, 20 de abril de 2013)

Exigen a autoridades indagar amenazas contra Artículo 19 (Proceso, 22 de abril de 2013)

Freedom House registra 36 ataques al periodismo desde el 1 de diciembre (CNN México, 19 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Mexico: 172 aggressions against journalists in 2011 – Article 19 (2 April 2012)

 

Oaxaca: march of relatives of victims of feminicide and members of human rights organizations for women

On 15 April, relatives of victims of feminicide and members of women’s human rights organizations marched newly in Oaxaca City to demand justice, in light of the different cases of feminicide that have been presented in recent weeks in the state.It should be recalled that civil-society organizations have registered more than 197 feminicides (20 of which have occurred in 2013) and 57 disappeared women and female children during the administration of acting governor Gabino Cué (2010 to present).  Ana María Hernández, member of Consorcio for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity in Oaxaca, has declared that during the entire six-year administration of former governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (2004-2010) a total of 283 women were killed in Oaxaca.  Hence can be seen the grave increase in the frequency of this crime.

For more information (in Spanish):

Marchan en Oaxaca familiares de víctimas de feminicidios; exigen justicia al gobernador (La Jornada, 15 de abril de 2013)

Video: Castigo a feminicida, exigen ONG´s (1 mn.),

Feminicidio en Oaxaca al nivel de Ciudad Juárez, alertan (CIMAC Noticias, 16 de abril de 2013)

Oaxaca, en focos rojos por feminicidios (Noticiasnet.mx, 16 de abril de 2013)

No todos los homicidios en Oaxaca tienen tinte de feminicidios: PGJ (Milenio, 8 de abril de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: More feminicides under Gabino Cué than in the final years of Ulises Ruiz (24 January 2013)

Chiapas: The displaced of Banavil, Tenejapa in “precarious and inhumane” conditions

In a press bulletin released on 2 April, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (CDHFBC) denounced that “men, women, and children who were displaced from the Banavil community (Tenejapa municipality), being sympathizers of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), find themselves facing precarious situation of health due to their forced displacement, beyond being threatened constantly as a result of the looting of their lands, the disappearance of Alonso López Luna, and the murder (still not clarified) of Pedro Méndez López. In response, the state government by means of the Prosecutorial Office for Indigenous Justice has dawdled unjustifiably, thus systematically violating the human rights of the displaced.”

The bulletin details that the 13 persons displaced in December 2011 presently find themselves in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, living in “inhumane and precarious” conditions: “they live in a wooden and cardboard room, with a plastic roof of 3×3 meters, with soil for ground.”  Regarding the disappearance of Alonso López Luna, the communique notes that the Special Prosecutorial Office has refused to “carry out the 11 arrest orders against the aggressors, including the public servants of Tenejapa, Pedro Méndez López and Manuel Méndez López, indciated as having been material authors of the act.”  The bulletin affirmed also that “according to testimony, the PRI aggressors have recently looted five and a half hectares of the property of the displaced.  One part was taken directly by the aggressors, and the other sold.  These new acts worsen the situation of these EZLN sympathizers.”

For these reasons, the CDHFBC indicates that “the State is not observing its obligation to guarantee and protect the human rights of the indigneous peoples of Chiapas,” and it demands the “total cessation of all threats and harassment against the displaced in the Banavil ejido; that the 11 arrest-orders against the aggressors be carried out; that there be serious, timely, and expedited investigations to find the whereabouts of Alonso López Luna; that the right to land and the return with guarantee of physical safety and life of the displaced in Banavil be observed; that the Chiapas state government as part of the Mexican State guarantee and protect the human rights of the 13 assaulted persons.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Denuncia Frayba que 13 tzeltales desplazados viven en condiciones “inhumanas” (La Jornada, 3 de abril de 2013)

Boletín de prensa: Boletín: Siguen en situación precaria e inhumana las 13 personas desplazadas de la comunidad de Banavil simpatizantes del EZLN (CDHFBC, 2 de abril de 2013)

Denuncia de los desplazados de Banavil (27 de marzo de 2013)

Para más información de SIPAZ:

Chiapas: CDHFBC published more information on the Banavil case, Tenejapa (9 February 2012)