Guerrero/National: Federal Police Use Tear Gas on Parents of the 43

Father of one of the “43” fater being sprayed with tear gas. Photo@: Tlachinollan

On April 25th, one day before the the completion of 31 months since the forced disappearance of the 43 student teachers from the Raul Isidro Burgos Normal Rural School in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, their relatives were violently evicted by the Federal Police from the facilities of the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) with tear gas cannisters. They were waiting to be met by the Secretary of the Interior, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, to find out and demand advances in the investigations that aim to reveal the whereabouts of the students, as well as the research lines marked by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE). Five parents were injured by the effects of tear gas ccording to the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center. Their eyesight and other organs could be at risk according to early medical reports. Tlachinollan denounced that, “in addition to facing the forced disappearance of their children, they face the absence of access to justice and knowledge of the truth.”

It is worth mentioning that during its second official visit to Mexico held from April 19th to 21st, 2017, the Follow-up Mechanism on the Ayotzinapa case noted “the lack of speed in reaching conclusions, both in the search activities and in the effective elucidation of the different lines of research identified by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE).” The Monitoring Mechanism also stated that “the issuance of public statements by high authorities validating the hypothesis that the 43 students were incinerated in the municipal garbage dump in Cocula is of concern to the Commission”, since the IGIE of the Inter-American Commission itself concluded in its first report that “the minimum fire necessary for the incineration of 43 bodies was not scientifically possible given the evidence found.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Rocían con gas lacrimógeno a padres de normalistas frente a la Secretaría de Gobernación (Animal Politico, 25 de abril de 2017)

Ayotzinapa: La luz que no se apaga (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 24 de abril de 2017)

Vocación represora desaparece 43 y agrede a los padres de familia (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 25 de abril de 2017)

Reprueban ONG agresión contra padres y madres de Ayotzinapa Centro de Derechos Humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 24 de abril de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/ Nacional: Madres y padres de los 43 consideran no acudir a la reunión con la PGR y la CIDH (20 de abril de 2017)

Guerrero : padres de los 43 participan en audiencia de la CIDH (22 de marzo de 2017)

Guerrero/ National: Parents of the 43 Consider not Attending Meeting with PGR and CIDH

Photo@SIPAZ Archive

On April 20th, the parents of the 43 disappeared students of the Raul Isidro Burgos Normal Rural School, Ayotzinapa are scheduled for a meeting with officials of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), with representatives of the special monitoring mechanism and with the Rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño.

This meeting was scheduled before the IACHR session in Washington on April 17th. However, according to the newspaper the Sur de Acapulco, the parents are considering not to attend because of the statements made by the undersecretary Roberto Campa Cifrian during this session. He affirmed that the main line of investigation continues to be the incineration of the student teachers at the garbage dump of Cocula, although this hypothesis was scientifically denied by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE).

Whether or not they attend the meeting, the families said they will not stop demanding that the authorities reveal their children’s whereabouts. Therefore, they announced that they will undertake, on Thursday, April 20th, at 11:00 a.m., a march to the anti-monument to the PGR, where they will stage an indefinite sit-in.

For more information in Spanish:

Las grietas del poder (Centro de derechos humanos de la Montaña, Tlachinollan, 18 de abril de 2017)

Valoran padres de los 43 la posibilidad de asistir a la reunion de PGR con la CIDH (El Sur de Acapulco, 19 de abril de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero : padres de los 43 participan en audiencia de la CIDH (22 de marzo de 2017)

Guerrero: Internal Security Law Initiative Rejected

Security or human rights forum: a false dichotomy Photo@: Tlachinollan

On March 28, in Guerrero, one of the most violent states in Mexico and also one of the most militarized, a forum on militarization entitled “Security or human rights: a false dichotomy” was held during which civil organizations, victims, representatives from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico defended different reasons for rejecting the initiative of the Internal Security Law currently under debate in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies.

Parents of the 43 students took part in the event, who reported that soldiers from the 27th Infantry Battalion and police from the three levels of government participated in the attacks, murders and forced disappearances suffered by their children. Also participating were Tita Radilla, daughter of the Atoyac peasant leader, Rosendo Radilla Pachecho, arrested and disappeared at a military checkpoint in 1974 and Valentina Rosendo Cantu, raped by soldiers at age 17.

Prior to this forum, the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon Human Rights Center, the Guerrero Network of Civil Organisms for Human Rights, the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center and the Mexican Institute of Human Rights and Democracy, among others, declared themselves to be against the Internal Security Law, explaining that it would “give rise to more violations of human rights and complete impunity.” These organizations argued that, “it has been useless for the military to assume public security tasks in the state if levels of violence continue to increase exponentially every day because organized crime groups have taken over institutions and exercise territorial control by imposing their rules and self-government.”

For more information in Spanish:

Rechazan la iniciativa de Ley de Seguridad Interior (El Sur de Acapulco, 29 de marzo de 2017)

Foro | Seguridad o Derechos Humanos: Una falsa dicotomía (Centro de derechos Humanos de la montaña Tlachinolla, 27 de marzo 2017)

 For more information from SIAPZ:

Nacional : cierre de año legislativo con agenda polémica en el Congreso (18 de diciembre 2016)

 

Guerrero: Parents of 43 Participate in IACHR Hearing

Photo@ SIPAZ archive

On March 17, 30 months of the disappearance of the 43 student teachers, a hearing was held within the framework of the 161st regular session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to monitor the investigations and search that the Mexican State is carrying out, as well as the progress of the follow-up mechanism to the recommendations of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE).

According to La Jornada newspaper, the defenders opened the hearing with critical comments on the zero progress and urged that the recent changes in the IACHR do not affect the follow-up to which that body has committed itself.

On behalf of the Mexican State, Roberto Campa Cifrian, undersecretary of Human Rights of the Ministry of the Interior, affirmed that the government of Peña Nieto continues working on the hypothesis of historical truth (declared by the State in January 2015) that the 43 student teachers were burned in the garbage dump of Cocula: “The authorities responsible for the investigation have formulated a hypothesis that has been known as the historical truth. That hypothesis presents the version of what happened, the version of who is responsible, and what was the fate of the 43 disappeared student teachers.”

Mario Patron, director of the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, reacted, indignantly denouncing that “the conclusions of the IGIE are being rejected by the State in this moment.” It is worth noting that the IGIE investigations dismantled this historical truth with multiple proofs.

On April 20, the IACHR will visit Mexico to continue the development of the follow-up mechanism.

For more information in Spanish:

Ayotzinapa en la CIDH: ¿golpe de mano? (La jornada, 20 de marzo de 2017)

La CIDH escuchó hoy de viva voz la pesadilla mexicana: muertos, desaparecidos, torturados… (Sin embargo, 17 de marzo de 2017)

Campa Cifrián revive en la CIDH la “verdad histórica” del caso Ayotzinapa (Proceso, 17 de marzo de 2017)

La voz de los 43 en la CIDH (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 20 de marzo de 2017)

Padres de los 43 participarán en audiencia de la CIDH en Washington (La Jornada, 14 de marzo de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero : La PGR niega ocultamiento al GIEI en el caso Ayotzinapa (26 de enero de 2017)

Nacional: Se aprueba la implementación del Mecanismo de Seguimiento para el caso Ayotzinapa (15 de septiembre de 2016)

Guerrero/México: GIEI concluye su trabajo México entregando un segundo informe (28 de abril de 2016)

Guerrero/ Nacional: EAAF y GIEI reaccionan ante conclusiones sobre fuego en el basurero de Cocula (11 de abril de 2016)
Guerrero: Grupo de Expertos sobre caso Ayotzinapa presenta su informe a 6 meses (7 de septiembre de 2015)

 

 

 

Guerrero: The PGR Denies Concealing Information from the IGIE in Ayotzinapa Case

Relatives continue to demand justice, Photo@: Ronaldo Schemidt

Alfredo Higuera Bernal, head of the investigation office of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR in its Spanish acronym) in the Iguala case, denied concealing information from the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) and the relatives of the 43 students disappeared from Ayotzinapa in 2014 in an interview with La Jornada.

 One of IGIE’s hypotheses to explain the attack on the students was that they took buses used by an organized crime cartel, Guerreros Unidos, to smuggle drugs into the United States. According to La Jornada, the PGR was aware of the use of buses by the cartel for its trafficking. Two months before the disappearance of the 43, in July 2014, the Army and the PGR detained Gonzalo Martin Souza Neves and Jose Bahena Salgado, members of Guerreros Unidos, in possession of about 250,000 dollars in cash, three vehicles and 24 kilos of heroin. On the day of the arrest, the Ministry of the Interior reported through bulletin 351/14 that Gonzalo Martin Souza Neves had “taken control of the criminal group […] and was in charge of drug trafficking through hidden compartments in various vehicles, mainly in passenger buses (sic).”

However, when the IGIE requested information from the PGR to investigate its hypothesis, the PGR never provided it with background information related to the trafficking of heroin in passenger buses. According to La Jornada, in response to a request for information on Guerreros Unidos, the PGR indicated that it only found “data according to which the criminal group was formed in 2011 by members of the Familia Michoacana and the Beltran Leyva”, without mentioning the arrest of July 2014. Similarly, on presenting its final report on the Ayotzinapa case – known as the white paper – in June 2016, the PGR stated that “so far no evidence has been found that sustains” the IGIE hypothesis.

Failure to mention this information to either the parents or the IGIE could indicate that there has been no good faith on the part of the PGR according to La Jornada, and it is even more serious because it is information of special relevance. Alfredo Higuera Bernal did not confirm the accusations of concealment and assured that “that line of investigation was one of the main approaches that the IGIE took and has been the subject of treatment in the talks that we have with the representatives of the parents.”

Despite the difficulties encountered in the investigation to find their children, the parents of the missing continue their search and their demand for justice and truth. Six months after suspending dialogue with the government, they declared that next February 9 they will meet with the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), Raul Cervantes Andrade, and a member of the Follow-up Commission of the Iguala Case of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which acts as a mediator between the parties to arrive at a new negotiating table. The parents will present their demands, including legal action against Tomas Zeron, exercise of criminal action against the Huitzuco municipal police and two agents of the Federal Police, for participating in the disappearance of the student teachers.

For more information in Spanish:

Padres de los 43 y PGR reanudarán diálogo en febrero (La Jornada, 26 de enero de 2017)

Rechaza Alfredo Higuera que haya habido ocultamiento en el caso Iguala (La Jornada, 24 de enero de 2017)

PGR ocultó el trasiego de droga en autobuses (La Jornada, 23 de enero de 2017)

PGR ocultó datos sobre trasiego de drogas en caso Iguala (UniRadioInforma, 23 de enero de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/México: GIEI concluye su trabajo México entregando un segundo informe (28 de abril de 2016)

Guerrero: Grupo de Expertos sobre caso Ayotzinapa presenta su informe a 6 meses (7 de septiembre de 2015)

Guerrero: Familiares de estudiantes desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa se reunen con PGR por primera vez en 4 meses (16 de julio de 2015)

 

Chiapas: Banavil Displaced Families Announce Provisional Return to their Community for Day of the Dead.

Provisional return of displaced Banavil families at their homes. Photo@SIPAZ

On October 28, the families displaced from Banavil provisionally returned to their lands in the framework of the Day of the Dead. In a statement, they reported that “our customs, as we were taught by our grandmothers and grandfathers, is to remember and bring to mind our dead, such as Antonia Lopez Mendez, who died in the forced displacement, and her little sisters Petrona and Maria, surnamed Lopez Mendez, who are buried in the lands of their grandfather Alonso Lopez Luna, forcibly disappeared by PRI supporters from the same location of Banavil since December 4, 2011.”

In the same statement, they again demanded that the Mexican government have an investigation into the forced disappearance of Alonso López Luna. They denounced that “so far the Mexican state has not done investigations, nor has it asked or questioned Mr. Alonso Lopez Ramirez, who is being held at the State Center for Social Reinsertion No. 5, the alleged perpetrator” of that enforced disappearance.

They concluded their statement by saying they sympathized “with the families of the north of Masojá Shucjá, the massacre of Viejo Velasco and families of the martyrs of Acteal, still unpunished, like our family they also seek truth and justice” and demanding “the presentation with life of our 43 student compañeros from the normal rural [school] of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero.”

For more information in Spanish:

Chiapas: Familias desplazadas de Banavil anuncian retorno provisional a su comunidad (Pozol, a 28 de octubre de 2016)

Desplazados retornan de manera provisional (Cuatro poder, a 30 de octobre de 2016)

Documental “Justicia, verdad y retorno para las familias desplazadas de Banavil “ (YouTube, 17 abril de 2016)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Inauguración de exposición fotográfica de familias desplazadas de Banavil ( a 8 de julio de 2016)

Chiapas: Desplazados y desplazadas de Banavil, 4 años de impunidad (9 de diciembre de 2015)

Chiapas: Retorno provisional de las familias desplazadas de Banavil para Día de MuertosTumba de Antonia López Méndez (9 de noviembre de 2016)

Chiapas: Desplazados de Banavil retornan temporalmente a su comunidad (12 de agosto de 2015)

 

 

Guerrero: Former Chief of Police of Iguala, Fugitive after Disappearance of 43 Ayotzinapa Students, Arrested

Felipe Flores Velazquez, former chief of police of Iguala, implicated in the disappearance of the 43 students. Photo@ La Jornada

On October 21, Felipe Flores Velazquez, former chief of police of Iguala, fugitive after the disappearance of the 43 student teachers from Ayotzinapa in September 2014, was arrested. It was in Iguala that elements of the Federal, marine and military police tracked him down and arrested him. The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) had announced a reward of two and a half million pesos to anyone who provided information leading to the location, arrest or detention of Flores. The former police chief is accused of organized crime, kidnapping student teachers and covering up the municipal police officers involved in the disappearance of students.

According to statements from one of those detained for the Ayotzinapa case, Felipe Flores along with the deputy police chief of Cocula, Cesar Nava Gonzalez, were the ones who handed over the 43 student teachers from Ayotzinapa to members of Guerreros Unidos on night September 26, under orders from Jose Luis Abarca, the former mayor of Iguala.

According to Animal Politico, the PGR considers his capture as key to the outcome of investigations into the Ayotzinapa case.

For more information in Spanish:

Detienen al ex jefe policial de Iguala, clave en la desaparición de los 43 normalistas (Animal político, a 21 de octubre de 2016)

Abren juicio contra Felipe Flores, el ex jefe policial de Iguala, clave en el caso Ayotzinapa (Animal político, a 26 de octubre de 2016)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Actualización “caso Iguala” – siguen desaparecidas 43 personas (a 3 de octubre de 2014)