Guerrero: On hunger strike, Nestora Salgado continues to hope for transfer as her health declines

Nestora Salgado (@socialism.com)

Zaira Rodríguez, daughter of Nestora Salgado García, the coordinator of the Communal Police in Olinalá who has been on hunger-strike in the maximum-security prison of Tepic, Nayarit, since 5 May, denounced that her mother is taken to the dining room with the rest of the prisoners at mealtimes as a form of psychological torture. She denounced that the director of the prison falsified a medical report claiming that her mother had been seen by a doctor.

Since 18 May, members of the federal and state governments of Guerrero, as well of Mexico City, agreed to transfer the political prisoner from the federal prison in Nayarit to a facility ruled by common law. This change is due to the precautionary measures awarded to Nestora Salgado by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as well as to a formal petition from the National Commission Human Rights (CNDH). Regardless, this transfer had been expected in any case.

In parallel terms, on 20 May, Eladio Ávila Pérez, the in-law of Salgado, was murdered in the Tomatlán municipality of Jalisco. Differnet media sources attributed the murder to death-threats that the victim had received due to his activism in favor of Nestora’s release. José Luis Ávila Báez, her husband, noted regardless that “to date my family has seen no evidence that the homicide has to do with the activism in search of the release of my wife Nestora Salgado, or that the Jalisco cartel or any other criminal group are affiliated or responsible for the crime. The causes of my father’s murder are to be determined by the Jalisco State Attorney General, who must investigate and punish the person(s) who perpetrated the act. For this reason, I request that an expeditious and effective investigation be carried out, so that my father’s murder not remain in impunity.”

On 25 May, 20 days after beginning her hunger strike, Nestora Salgado decided to suspend her consumption of liquids to demand that the State Prosecutor Miguel Ángel Godínez Muñoz agree to meet with her lawyer to review the case. News of a possible transfer are presently hoped for.

For more information (in Spanish):

Lleva Nestora 20 días en ayuno; se espera su traslado al DF, que se acordó hace una semana (El Sur 25 de mayo de 2015)

Deja Nestora de tomar líquidos en demanda de su libertad; cumple 19 días en huelga de hambre (El Sur 24 de mayo de 2015)

Asesinan en Jalisco al suegro de Nestora; la familia no tiene evidencias de que sea por el activismo, declaran (El Sur, 22 de mayo de 2015)

Comunicado completo de José Luis Ávila Baéz (Los AngelesPress, 21 de mayo de 2015)

Trasladarán a Nestora Salgado a un centro de reclusión del fuero común (La Jornada, 19 de mayo de 2015)

Cumple Nestora 15 días en ayuno; Segob retrasa su traslado a Tepepan (Proceso, 19 de mayo de 2015)

Por protestar, empeora la situación de Nestora Salgado en la cárcel (La Jornada, 18 de mayo de 2015)

Torturan a Nestora, que cumple 13 días en huelga de hambre; la llevan a donde comen otras presas (El Sur, 18 de mayo de 2015)

Op-eds (in Spanish):

Nestora Salgado, por Elena Poniatowska (La Jornada, 17 de mayo de 2015)

La comandanta Nestora, por Luis Hernández Navarro (La Jornada, 19 de mayo de 2015)