Guerrero/National/International: New Reports on Ayotzinapa Case

(@Serapaz)

On March 15th, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presented the report “Double Injustice”, which analyzes the human rights violations that were committed in the context of the Ayotzinapa investigations (forced disappearance of 43 students from the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014). 129 people were arrested in this framework. The UN-HR analyzed 34 cases and found “strong evidence of the use of torture, arbitrary arrests and other human rights violations” during and after the arrests. Those involved in these abuses would be elements of the prosecution, the federal police and members of the Navy. For all of the above, the UN-HR urged the Mexican government to identify those responsible for these abuses, as well as their superiors, and bring them to justice. It also called on the prosecution and the judiciary to dismiss evidence obtained under torture.

In response to the report, The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR in its Spanish acronym) said that it is “particularly concerned that the OHCHR report draws conclusions on situations that are currently under investigation, or that are under analysis by the Judiciary”, and specified that the tortures referred to were “exceptional.”

One day before, 41 months after the forced disappearance of the 43 students, several NGOs including Fundar, the Center for Analysis and Investigation, the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center and Serapaz, presented the report “I just wanted dawn to come. Psycho-social impacts of the Ayotzinapa case”. They pointed out that “the study shows how these impacts have deepened over three years due to impunity, understood not only as the lack of investigation and punishment of those responsible, but also includes the actions of the authorities that have hindered the investigation and manipulated the truth.”

For more information in Spanish:

Autoridades torturaron a detenidos por caso Ayotzinapa para obtener confesiones: ONU (Animal Político, 15 de marzo de 2018)

ONU-DH sobre Ayotzinapa: al menos 34 casos de tortura y una ejecución extrajudicial (Proceso, 15 de marzo de 2018)

Excepcionales, los casos de tortura en caso Ayotzinapa: PGR a ONU-DH (Proceso, 15 de marzo de 2018)

Presentan informe de los “Impactos psicosociales del Caso Ayotzinapa” (Regeneración, 14 de marzo de 2018)

“Te van a ofrecer una cantidad muy alta” (Informe sobre #Ayotzinapa) Aristegui Noticias, 14 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: PGR buscará cerrar caso Ayotzinapa antes de diciembre (6 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero / México – Nacional: Ayotzinapa: Caravana Rompiendo el Silencio y el Olvido (3 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero / Nacional-México: Ayotzinapa a 40 meses de la desaparición de los 43 sigue la “indolencia” del gobierno (30 de enero de 2018)

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Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP

Members of the security forces in confrontation with the inhabitants of La Concepcion. Photo @: La Jornada/Xinhua

On January 7th, members of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – Community Police (CRAC-PC in its Spanish acronym) from the town of La Concepcion, municipality of Acapulco, were ambushed by unknown armed persons according to the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center. In the confrontation, two community policemen and six members of the attacking group died.

Hours later, the government of the state of Guerrero mounted an operation of more than 100 elements of the security forces made up of ministerial and state police, as well as the army who deployed in surrounding communities in order to search the homes of members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym), without any legal warrant issued by a competent authority. At the time of the events a helicopter was flying over the area, inside which a state policeman “unleashed a round of amunition that resulted in the extrajudicial execution of three community policemen. At that moment all the police forces gathered to arrest Marco Antonio Suastegui Muñoz and Vicente Suastegui Muñoz, leaders of the CECOP, as well as more than 30 community police officers. Around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, elements of the ministerial police moved Marco Antonio Suastegui out of the Prosecutor’s Office based in Acapulco without his family’s knowledge so far of his whereabouts.”

In addition, according to Proceso magazine, seven reporters were beaten and stripped of their work equipment, including photographer Bernardino Hernandez, to prevent them from documenting the violent operation led by the head of the State Public Security Secretariat (SSP in its Spansih acronym), the active general Pedro Almazan

For more information in Spanish:
Enfrentamiento en comunidad de Acapulco deja al menos ocho muertos (El Sol de Mexico, 7 de enero de 2018)
ACCIÓN URGENTE | Detienen e incomunican a más de 30 policías comunitarios de La Concepción, Acapulco y ejecutan a tres (Centro de derechos humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 8 de enero de 2018)
Cacahuatepec: los policías se habían ido; regresaron sólo para detener a Suástegui (La Jornada Guerrero, 8 de enero de 2018)
La CNDH emite medidas cautelares tras enfrentamiento en zona rural de Acapulco (Proceso, 8 de enero de 2018)
Deja 11 muertos enfrentamiento entre grupo armado y comunitarios en Guerrero (Proceso, 8 de enero de 2018)
Declaran tres de seis policías comunitarios del Cecop (La Jornada, 9 de enero de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Heridos siete integrantes del Cecop (3 de mayo de 2016)

Guerrero: Liberan a vocero del CECOP, Marco Antonio Suástegui (24 de agosto de 2015)

Guerrero: Ataque a integrantes del CECOP deja saldo de 5 muertos (19 de noviembre de 2014)

Chiapas: Theft, Burglary, Harrassment and Intimidation on the Chiapas Coast.

The Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center denounced that on October 2nd, the domicile of human rights defender Guadalupe Nuñez Salazar, Councilor of the Indigenous Council of Government, was raided.

The doors and veneers of the house, located on Calle 1º de Mayo No. 73 in the Colonia Evolucion in the city of Tonala, Chiapas, “were not forced, the subjects entered through the back of the house, until arriving at the room of Mrs. Guadalupe where they only took away a cell phone, Lanix brand, a TV, and her wallet containing the amount of $MXN 1500.00 as well as her personal ID.”

The Digna Ochoa Center also reported that the PGR Criminal Investigation Agents carried out acts of intimidation and harassment against their members on October 4th when they returned, after having toured three communities affected by the September 7th earthquake in Tonala. “A white Tacoma pickup with no plates blocked the way, three armed men came down and asked them to get out of the vehicle, when they did, the uniformed subjects began to take pictures and videos.” According to a bulletin from the Digna Ochoa Center, of PGR gave different reasons for the detention, the first was “that they had received a complaint stating that an organization was asking for money in exchange for providing food and that they were investigating” and the second “in Paredon there was a young man who had been arrested for automobile theft, stating that since we are new, they did not know how to proceed because the boy was asking for support regarding his rights, as we were told at the checkpoint that you were human rights [defenders], we stopped them and asked them.”

The Digna Ochoa Center. expressed its concern about the acts of robbery, search, harassment, intimidation and “demands the Mexican State and the Government of Chiapas:

– End all acts of threat, intimidation, harassment against Mrs. Guadalupe Nuñez, Councilor of the Indigenous Council of Government on the Coast of Chiapas.

-It will guarantee her physical integrity and her life as well as that of her family before any present or future situation.

– Investigate and punish those responsible for the search and theft of objects against Mrs. Guadalupe Nuñez.

– Investigate and punish the behavior of the three elements of the Criminal Investigation Agency attached to the PGR in Chiapas.

– Take the necessary measures to ensure the full exercise of their human rights in the framework of the political proposal of the Indigenous Congress of Government and to support the people affected by the earthquake on the coast of Chiapas.

– Stop all acts of intimidation and harassment against members of the Center for Human Rights by public officials, especially police bodies.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente: Allanamiento y Robo en casa de Concejal del Concejo Indígena de Gobierno en la Costa de Chiapas #CIG #CNI (Centro de Medios Libres, 3 de octubre de 2017)

Pronunciamiento del CNI por el allanamiento y robo a la concejala de la Costa de Chiapas (Congreso Nacional Indígena, 4 de octubre de 2017)

Agentes de Investigación Criminal de PGR realizan actos de intimidación y hostigamiento a integrantes del Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa. (Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa AC, 6 de octubre de 2017)

Pronunciamiento en solidaridad por el allanamiento y robo de Guadalupe Nuñez, concejala del Concejo Indígena de Gobierno (Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa AC, 3 de octubre 2017)

Chiapas: Preventative Prison for Three People from Chiapa de Corzo after EPN”S Visit

Photo: @ Isain Mandujano

On August 7th, after Enrique Peña Nieto’s visit to Chiapa de Corzo on the occasion of “International Day of Indigenous Peoples”, seven federal police, six women and one man were beaten and detained by villagers for 6 hours, after which were released.

According to Proceso magazine, “One of the trucks of the local AVC company that transported federal police was destroyed in front of the municipal presidency. The young men ransacked the unit and riot gear pack came out of it. Helmets, vests, kneepads, shields and other accessories that were aboard the bus were distributed as war trophies. With their faces covered, the young people turned to a federal police with a bloodied face. They took him to the square where he was taunted by the crowd. He was then taken to one of the neighborhoods to put him with six more who were previously captured.”

Following these events, on Saturday, August 12th, agents of the Attorney General of the Republic’s Office (PGR) and the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), began a search and arrested at least four people, allegedly involved in the riots on August 7th, “Although the state and federal governments were committed not to retaliate in exchange for the police being released – an event that happened around 2 of the morning of Tuesday 9th”, according to Proceso.

According to Meganoticias website, “The State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) reported that in the context of the initial hearing, the Control Judge determined that it was appropriate to impose the precautionary measure of preventive detention against three detainees resulting from the riots in the municipality of Chiapa de Corzo last August 7th.” Those three people remain imprisoned in the prison of “El Amate”.

It should be remembered that according to Aristegui Noticias: “From a day before their arrival, residents of Chiapa de Corzo expressed their rejection for the visit of the President and declared him a ‘persona non grata'”, where the Governor of Chiapas, Manuel Velasco Suarez, expressed his interest in replicating economic policy and in particular the Special Economic Zones to indigenous regions of Chiapas in his spech.

 For more information:

Pobladores retienen a siete policías federales tras visita de Peña a Chiapas (Proceso, 7 de agosto de 2017)

Detienen a presuntos instigadores de disturbios durante visita de Peña a Chiapa de Corzo. (Proceso, 13 de agosto de 2017)

Prisión preventiva a detenidos en Chiapa de Corzo. (Meganoticias, 14 de agosto de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Habitantes de Chiapa de Corzo rechazan visita de EPN en el Día Internacional de los Pueblos Indígenas. (SIPAZ, 8 de agosto de 2017)

México/Nacional: Diputados aprueban Ley Federal de Zonas Económicas Especiales. (SIPAZ, 18 de diciembre de 2017)

Chiapas : denuncian criminalización de defensores de la Madre Tierra en zona zoque. (SIPAZ, 1 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas: Press Conference to Demand Release Roberto Carlos Ruiz Hernandez

Roberto Carlos Ruiz Hernandez. Photo: @No Estamos Todxs

A press conference was held at the offices of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) on June 29th in San Cristobal de Las Casas, to demand the release of Roberto Carlos Ruiz Hernandez, an immigrant of Honduran origin currently imprisoned State Social Reintegration Center for the Sentenced No. 13 (CERSS No.13), in Tonala Chiapas and detained since May 22nd, 2013, accused of extortion.

The “No Estamos Todxs” Working Group, and the lawyers of the Digna Ochoa Human Rights Centers and the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center participated in the press conference.

In 2015, his file was presented to the Reconciliation Table of the Government of Chiapas so that the case would be reviewed, and in 2017, according to information from Frayba: “the members of the Reconciliation Board had determined to grant him his freedom, but due to bureaucratic delays from February to date the government maintains an arbitrary deprivation that has caused anguish and psychological wear and tear from the promise of freedom.”

In addition to this, “independent experts conducted medical and psychological assessments based on the Istanbul Protocol, with the result that Roberto Carlos suffers from physical and psychological consequences due to acts of torture and/or cruel and inhuman treatment during his detention.”

They point out that: “Roberto Carlos has more than 70% of his sentence served, is a survivor of torture, his judicial process contained faults of due process and resulted in an unfair trial, had no consular assistance and the Reconciliation Board determined to grant him freedom.”

Frayba considers that: “The Embassy of Honduras in Mexico has not granted the appropriate consular assistance to Roberto Carlos, nor the political or diplomatic efforts to obtain his freedom, arguing that they do not have him registered as a citizen of their country, although Carlos has been deported by the Mexican State on three occasions, so the government of that country does have the records that accredit him as a Honduran citizen.”

It is worth remembering that in May 2017 Roberto Carlos sewed his lips and began a hunger strike to demand his immediate release or at least transfer to San Cristobal de Las Casas prison for having received threats, according to Roberto, from the authority of the prison.

Frayba laments that, “the case of Roberto Carlos is one more example of the criminalization of migrants who decide to transit or to settle in our country.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Hondureño preso injustamente en Chiapas denuncia tortura, montaje de expediente y exige su liberación (Centro de medios libres, 22 de junio de 2017)

Denuncia de Roberto Carlos Ruiz, hondureño preso en México (Grupo de trabajo No estamos Todxs, 27 de junio de 2017)

Inmigrante hondureño continúa en detención prolongada e injusta (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 28 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/internacional: La CIDH expresa su preocupación ante el endurecimiento de las autoridades mexicanas hacia los migrantes y sus defensores en la frontera Sur

México : Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos “buscando vida en caminos de muerte”

Nacional: Senado aprueba Ley contra la Tortura

Nacional/Oaxaca: German Coordination for Human Rights in Mexico

At the end of March, the German Coordination for Human Rights in Mexico, a network created in 2000 and composed of 15 German organizations and institutions, presented the main results of its observation mission in which they visited human rights defenders Enrique Guerrero Aviña (UNAM student) and Damian Gallardo Martinez (Oaxacan activist) imprisoned at CEFERESO No.2, in Jalisco. It stressed that, “it has known of these cases in which experts of the UN have pronounced for more than two years on the arbitrary nature of the arrest and in demand for their immediate freedom.” They reported that for this reason, the German Coordination has launched a campaign for their release.

 It denounced that, “it was informed of the hunger strike that began on March 6 in which more than half of the persons deprived of their liberty denounced the situation of cruel, inhuman treatment and torture in CEFERESO. The human defenders Damian Gallardo and Enrique Guerrero have denounced this situation on multiple occasions, promoting legal actions and protesting. The German Coordination firmly condemns any retaliation that may occur against both defenders for their legitimate work of denunciation and demand for rights in the prison.”

The German Coordination also denounced that “another element of particular seriousness was the confirmation that the cases of arbitrary detention of Damian Gallardo and Enrique Guerrero are not isolated cases, since the members of the mission could observe that there is a pattern of criminalization of defenders In Mexico, which is a worrying indicator of the deep human rights crisis in the country.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado « Culmina Red Alemana por los Derechos Humanos en México misión en el país » (31 de marzo de 2017)

ONG alemana expresa ‘‘enorme preocupación por permanente violación a DH y pretensión de criminalizar protesta social” (Revolución 3.0, 31 de marzo de 2017)

Viola México derechos humanos: ONG alemana (La Jornada, 31 de marzo de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Oaxaca: Exigen liberación inmediata de Damián Gallardo (23 de diciembre de 2014)

Oaxaca: A 16 meses del encarcelamiento de Damián Gallardo, y tras llamamiento de la ONU, no hay respuesta del Estado mexicano (10 de octubre de 2014)

 

Chiapas: Zoque Activist, Silvia Juarez Juarez, Released

Silvia Juarez Juarez (photo @OMCT)

On March 28th, Silvia Juarez Juarez, a community human rights defender and member of the Movement in Defense of Zoque Territory, was released having been held for 35 days. This movement has been developing a process of civil and peaceful resistance against exploration, extraction of hydrocarbons and mining projects in the municipality of Tecpaan, Chiapas and in the Zoque region. Silvia had been arrested on February 21st in Tuxtla Gutierrez on charges of mutiny, harassment and kidnapping – allegedly against municipal officials – in the framework of a protest in which she did not participate, on February 13th.

On March 28th, the head of the State Attorney General’s Office, Raciel Lopez Salazar, withdrew from the criminal action for the crimes that were charged “considering that the agent of the Public Prosecutor’s Office lacked elements to prove the aforementioned crimes.” Therefore, the activist was released from the State Center for Social Reinsertion of the Sentenced No. 14, El Amate, in the municipality Cintalapa de Figueroa.

Nevertheless, Silvia Juarez is still subject to prosecution, “with the obligation to sign before the Court every two weeks, because Judge Cesar Rodriguez Robles, Supervisory Judge, considered that there are elements to prove the crime of damages. Facing threats of risk to her integrity and repeated harassment against the defenders of Zoque territory, Silvia Juarez cannot return home with her family.”

It is also worth mentioning that on the day Silvia Juarez Juarez was released, “the municipal president of Tecpatan, Armando Pastrana Jimenez, filed for an injunction for the withdrawal of the PGJE to prevent the community defender from leaving prison” and also maintained his complaint against 29 other community defenders.

In a statement on the case, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (FRAYBA),  expressed concern that “despite changes in the criminal justice system, in Chiapas, practices of violations of judicial guarantees and judicial protection, including presumption of innocence, continue, which result in arbitrary deprivation of liberty.”

For more information in Spanish:

Libre activista zoque, tras desistimiento de denuncia de PGJ Chiapas (Proceso, 5 de abril de 2017)

Liberan a indígena zoque Silvia Juárez (Expreso Chiapas, 6 de abril de 2017)

Silvia Juárez Juárez, defensora del territorio, en libertad (Chiapas Paralelo, 6 de abril de 2017)

Libre Silvia Juárez, defensora zoque (Primera edición Chiapas, 5 de abril de 2017)

Condena el Frayba encarcelamiento de Silvia Juárez (El Heraldo de Chiapas, 5 de abril de 2017)

Luego de 35 días en prisión, la activista Silvia Juárez Juárez es liberada (Aqui Noticias, 6 de abril de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas : denuncian criminalización de defensores de la Madre Tierra en zona zoque (1 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas : comunidades zoques se oponen a extracción de hidrocarburos en el norte de Chiapas (20 de octubre de 2016)

Chiapas: Silvia Juárez Juárez anima a sus compañeros a seguir en la defensa de la tierra desde la cárcel (27 de marzo de 2017)