Norma Mesina (@Haz que se vean)
In February, both the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights as well as the National Network of Human-Rights Defenders in Mexico (RNDDHM) demanded that the Secretary of Governance, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, take the necessary steps so that the Mexican State effectively protect the life of Norma Mesino Mesino, a human-rights defenders from Guerrero State and leader of the Campesino Organization of the Southern Sierra (OCSS).
The two groups denounced that she had been subjected to libel, death-threats, and direct as well as indirect attacks in recent months. The Mexican Commission detailed that “Norma Mesino and her close co-workers have received anonymous messages containing death-threats, they have been photographed and videotaped during different public events, and Norma’s security cameras have been disabled. All of this comes in addition to the deficient escort work provided by the state police, who constantly distance themselves from the vehicle in which she travels, thus completely losing the point of their work of protection and reaction to an unexpected dangerous situation.”
In October 2014, the case was presented before the Mechanism for Protection for Human-Rights Defenders and Journalists, but the Secretary for Governance responded negatively, given his assessment that there was “no evidence of threats that put the defender at risk…” Amidst this context, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights has requested precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Norma Mesino Mesino is the sister of Rocío Mesino, who belonged to the same organization and was killed in October 2013.
For more information (in Spanish):
Carta pública de la RNDDHM (Página3.mx, 9 de febrero de 2015)
Piden ONG a Osorio Chong proteger a Norma Mesino (La Jornada de Guerrero, 10 de febrero de 2015)
SEGOB niega protección a Norma Mesino, defensora de derechos humanos en grave riesgo en Guerrero (CMDPDH, 5 de febrero de 2015)
Presentación de la defensora Norma Mesino (Haz que se vean, video y resumen)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Guerrero: Impunity one year after the murder of Rocío Mesino Mesino, OCSS leader (26 October 2014)
Guerrero: murder of a social activist from the Campesino Organization of the Southern Sierra (12 November 2013)
Guerrero: Murder of leader of the Organization of Ecologist Campesinos of the Sierra de Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán (7 December 2012)
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