Guerrero: Urgent Action for Centro Morelos Defenders

On April 2nd, the Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center published a statement on its website in which it denounces, in conjunction with the All Rights for All Network (Red TdT), the risks that Teodomira Rosales and Manuel Olivares face, defenders from Centro Morelos and compañeros of the victims of internal forced displacement from the Leonardo Bravo Municipality (Chichihualco). This is a result of the smear campaign against them and their work published on social networks on March 22nd and 26th.

This statement traces the situation of people who have been displaced from their communities since 2018 due to violence carried out by armed civilian groups, the breach of the agreements signed with the Ministry of the Interior regarding the return of these families to their communities as well as the sexual assault on Teodomira Rosales and the physical assault of Manuel Olivares perpetrated by an elite group of the State Police in December 2019.

In this context, Tlachinollan and the Red TDT demand:

not criminalize or disqualify the work carried out by the defenders of the Morelos Center;
investigate the elite group that committed the attacks against Teodomira Rosales and Manuel Olivares;
and that federal authorities “comply with the commitments assumed to guarantee the return to their communities, as well as to establish order and security in the region.”

For more information in Spanish:

COMUNICADO | En alto riesgo la vida y la seguridad de los defensores y defensoras del Centro Morelos de Chilapa (Tlachinollan, 2 abril 2020)

Campaña de desprestigio pone en riesgo a defensores del Centro Morelos, denuncian Tlachinollan y Red TDT (El Sur, 3 abril 2020)

Policía de Guerrero no garantiza seguridad y viola derechos de víctimas y defensores de DH (Red TDT, 8 enero 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ: