Guerrero: One year after the IACHR sentences in favor of Inés y Valentina; anniversary and expansion of the Communal Police; violence in the Sierra de Petatlán

On 1 October 2010, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) sentenced the Mexican State in the cases of Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú, determining that both indigenous Me’phaa women had been sexually violated and tortured by members of the Mexican Army in the year 2002.  One year after these sentences were passed down, civil organizations that have accompanied the two have denounced that “a year having passed since the decisions were released, substantial advances in the observance [of the sentence] remain fleeting.  Moreover, at all times, the work related to the questi0n of reparations has had to be taken up by Fernández Ortega and Rosendo Cantú and their representatives themselves.”  In particular, they indicate in a press-release that “the persistence of the impunity that protects soldiers who tortured and sexually assaulted Fernández Ortega y Rosendo Cantú is evidence of the reticence of the State to observe the sentences.  The investigations have continued in military tribunals during essentially all of this year; only recently was the case turned over to the PGR, after both Me’phaa women formally requested this change.  This delay makes it so that today the investigations have not progressed, and that still there is no possibility that Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú access them to provide evidence.”  On 6 October, the Senate of the Republic requested the presence before the Commission of Justice of Francisco Blake, Secretary of Governance, so that he present a detailed report regarding the actions taken to observe the sentences released by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) in the case of Inés and Valentina.

In other news, on 14 and 15 October, the Regional Coordination of Communal Authorities-Communal Police (CRAC-PC) will celebrate its XVI anniversary.  On this occasion it organized this together with indigenous organizations at the XXX meeting of the National Indigenous Congress.  The event, entitled “For the defense of our territorities,” will be held int he community of Paraje Montero, municipality of Malinaltepec.  Some days before the event, press articles and alternative media discussed the process, including subjects like the participation of women at the meeting and the news that 55  communities from the municipality of Atoyac Alvarez (Costa Grande) will form a communal police unit, considering that the state and municipal governments do not ensure their security.

Finally, on 3 October, civil organizations from Guerrero and Chiapas that comprise the “Program of Interchange, Dialogue, and Assessment in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security” (PIDAASSA) denounced that due to the violence of drug-trafficking and the militarization of the country, many communities find themselves obligated to abandon their homes, lands, and crops.  They emphasized in particular the case of the sierra of Petatlán in Guerrero, where families from 15 communities have been displaced.  In a press-conference, they affirmed that in this place “from July to present, 471 persons from 85 families have been forced to leave their communities int his region.  Of these 15 communities, seven–Zapotillo, Campo del Cielo, El Timbirichal, El Roblar, La Florida, El Guamilón y Los Limones–have been left either abandoned entirely or cut off.”

For more information (in Spanish):

A un año de las sentencias de la CoIDH a favor de Inés y Valentina México no avanza en su cumplimiento (Boletín de prensa Tlachinollan, CEJIL, OPIM, 4 October 2011)

CARTA ABIERTA A FELIPE CALDERÓN: Solicitan al Presidente Felipe Calderón dar cumplimiento a las sentencias emitidas por la CoIDH en los casos de Inés Fernández y Valentina Rosendo (OSC de derechos humanos, 5 October 2011)

Punto de acuerdo en el Senado para que Segob comparezca sobre el Caso de Inés y Valentina (Sididh, 7 October)

Campaña “Cumplir las Sentencias para Romper el Muro de la Impunidad” (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, August 2011)

Más comunidades tendrán policía propia (La Jornada, 3 October)

Las mujeres en La Montaña de Guerrero(Desinformémonos, 4 October)

Convocatoria al XVI Aniversario de la Policía Comunitaria, 14-15 October 2011

La sierra de Petatlán, Guerrero, asolada por los narcos, la violencia y la militarización (4 October)

Familias desplazadas de sus pueblos exigen al Estado seguridad(Pronunciamiento del Programa de Intercambio, Diálogo y Asesoría en Agricultura Sostenible y Seguridad Alimentaria,PIDAASSA México, 3 October)

Para más información de SIPAZ:

Guerrero – briefs: Mexican state fails to comply with sentencing in the case of Valentina and Inés (7 October 2011)

Guerrero: “Indigenous peoples are subject to rights and are not electoral merchandise” February 4, 2011

Guerrero – briefs: Mining exploration continues in the Montaña region without permission from communities; reinstallation of the blockade against La Parota January 13, 2011

Guerrero: IACHR condemns Mexican government in disappearance case

In its 23 November sentence that was made public in December, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) found the Mexican government to bear responsibility for the disappearance of Guerrero-based social activist Rosenda Radilla Pacheco in 1974 and condemned the great number of massive and systematic rights-violations that took place during México’s so-called “Dirty War.”  IACHR further questioned the military tribunals and called on Mexican authorities to adopt reforms that would guarantee that human-rights violations committed by the military be dealt with in civilian courts.

The CIDH demanded that the Mexican State continue in its search for the missing campesino and that it publicly recognize its responsibility in this case as well as produce a biography of Pacheco’s life, make available psychological assistance to his family members, and pay the equivalent of $238,000 in reparations.

In the weeks following the public release of IACHR’s statement on the case, the government faced pressure to attack the findings through sources both in government and outside of it:  the CNDH (whose ombudsman found it “ridiculous” to have to resort to international justice organizations in cases such as this one); the Permanent Commission of the National Congress; Amnesty International; and the Association of Families of the Incarcerated, Disappeared, and Victims of Human-Rights Violations.  In this light, the Minister of the Interior, who during a press conference on the matter claimed that CIDH should not bear judgment on a case that occurred 35 years ago, promised to respect the sentence and pay the recommended fine, all in the public eye.  Nonetheless, “Tito Radilla, who struggled in this case at both the national and international level, stated that an honorary plaque in memory of her father was not enough, and made clear that what she demands is an investigation to locate his remains” (Milenio).

For more information (in Spanish):

Mexico is condemned for its “Dirty War” (article, Informador, 15/01/10)

The Permanent Commission of Governance calls on the Secretary of Governance to fight the CIDH sentence in the case of Radilla Pacheco (article, La Jornada, 13/01/10)

New sentence by CIDH finds government responsible in the Radilla case (article, La Jornada, 16/01/10)

Ombudsman will oversee the implementation of CIDH’s ruling (article, Milenio, 18/12/09)

CIDH condemns México for its dirty war (article, El Universal, 15/12/09)

The case of Radilla Pacheco vs. México, ruling of 23 November 2009 (Inter-American Court on Human Rights)

For more information from SIPAZ (in Spanish):

Impunity in Guerrero:  An Endemic Problem (SIPAZ document, September 2007)