Landscape of the Mountain region of Guerrero. Photo @SIPAZ archive
On 2 August, the José María Morelos y Pavón Human Rights Center (Morelos Center) released an Urgent Action (UA) to protect the life of the Iguala activists Evelia Bahena García, Diana Carolina Brito Bahena, and Félix Rodríguez Navarrete, who have been threatened with death after having led a struggle against the Media Luna mining corporation in defense of the territory on which the Tlachinollan community finds itself located. The communique incorporating the UA establishes that in 2007, Bahena García undertook together with her father a struggle against the Media Luna company in the communities of Real de Limón and La Fundación, Cocula municipality, for which she received death-threats, with three of her comrades being imprisoned. On 30 July, close to 7:30pm, she received a threatening phonecall during which a man warned her that she, her comrade Diana Carolin, and the lawyer for the Morelos Center, Félix Rodríguez Navarrete, needed to “leave this place” or, if not, “I will split you in two.” After she hung up on the call, she received a text message telling her that they know of her husband and family, insisting that she should abandon the place.
The Morelos Center considers it to be evident that Evelia Bahena García, Diana Carolina Brito Bahena, and Félix Rodríguez Navarrete are at risk of losing their lives or being attacked. For this reason, its UA demands the respect of the lives and physical integrity of Evelia Bahena García, Diana Carolina Brito Bahena, Félix Rodríguez Navarrete, calls on the Mexican State to respect, observe, and implement all the mechanisms and actions related to the precautionary measures to protect the physical and psychological integrity of Evelia Bahena García, Diana Carolina Brito Bahena, and Félix Rodríguez Navarrete, and demands that the Guerrero State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) launch a timely and exhaustive investigation to arrest and punish those responsible for these threats.
For more information (in Spanish):
AU_Centro_Morelos (2 de agosto de 2015)
Pide ONG al gobierno proteger a activistas de Iguala amenazados de muerte (La Jornada, 5 de agosto de 2015)
For more information from SIPAZ (in English):
Guerrero: Indigenous from Mountain region request legal motion against British mining corporation (7 December 2013)
Guerrero: PGR’s investigation into Iguala case continues to be lacking: CNDH (10 September 2015)
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