Oaxaca: Order to Open Army Barracks in Search for EPR Members Disappeared in 2007

On May 9th, the order of Judge Maria Dolores Nuñez Solorio, attached to the Fourth District Court for Injunction in Criminal Matters in Mexico City, was published and may be challenged within a period of ten days. The sentence urges the head of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym), Luis Cresencio Sandoval, to order the opening of the barracks and allow soldiers and officers to be interrogated on the case of the forced disappearance of the members of the People’s Army Revolutionary (EPR in its Spanish acronym) Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez in Oaxaca, in May 2007. “The Secretary of National Defense, through all the members of the Army, must provide the necessary facilities to the federal prosecutor in charge of the integration of the investigation of origin, as well as to any authority that has the task of finding the whereabouts of the complainants”, the sentence states.

The Coordinator of the Committee Until They Are Found (Hasta Encontrarlos) and daughter of Reyes Amaya, Nadin Reyes Maldonado, considered that it would be possible for a commission of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Search of Disappeared Persons to enter the barracks, which would set a precedent for more relatives to seek refuge and seek their relatives there. “What we hope is that this government, which calls itself different, does not interpose resources to evade compliance with this ruling and that it begins to show will with concrete facts … that searches are made”, she said.

For the Cerezo Committee it is a judicial resolution with several scopes because it recognizes the forced disappearance for political reasons and the participation of the Armed Forces in those crimes, and because “it creates conditions so that other relatives of the disappeared do the same and do not demand less than what is happening with this resolution.”

For more information in Spanish:

Ordena juez buscar a los activistas Edmundo Reyes y Alberto Cruz (La Jornada, 12 de mayo de 2019)

Boletín sobre los DH de las Víctimas de VDH plasmados en la Sentencia del Amparo del Poder Judicial de la Federación en el caso de Edmundo Reyes y Alberto Cruz (Comité Cerezo, 13 de mayo de 2019)

Ordena una juez la apertura de cuarteles para buscar a eperristas desaparecidos (Proceso, 13 de mayo de 2019)

Jueza ordena abrir cuarteles militares para buscar a integrantes del EPR desaparecidos (Página3.mx, 13 de mayo de 2019)

Piden a FGR acatar sentencia y abrir cuarteles militares (Pie de página, 14 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Search for EPR Members Missing for 11 Years on State Properties (August 21, 2018)

Chiapas: National Day: “The Victims of State Terrorism are of the People, We will not Stop until We Find Them!” (March 15, 2017)

Chiapas: “Jornada nacional contra el terrorismo del estado en Chiapas” del FNLS (May 2, 2016)

Nacional/Oaxaca/Chiapas: Gira nacional: desaparición forzada en México (March 6, 2015)

National: Civil Commission for Pursuit and Search for two disappeared members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) denounces lack of progress (September 29, 2014)

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Chiapas: Chiapas Prisoners Enter Fourth Week of Hunger Strike

The 13 prisoners on hunger strike in different prisons in Chiapas have now entered their fourth week on this protest. Their health situation is deteriorating: “German Lopez Montejo, a prisoner on hunger strike, is suffering from fainting due to low blood glucose levels. The Working Group No Estamos Todxs claims that in the CERSS # 14 (Amate Prison) the prisoners are not ingesting the minimum amount of honey for survival because the prison authorities have retained it [their supply].”

On April 4th, SIPAZ visited the inmates of The Voice of Indigenous in Resistance (La Voz de Indigenas en Resistencia) and Supporters of the Voice of Amate (Solidarios de La Voz de Amate). Both are located in CERRS # 5 in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

The reasons for their protest are that they declare themselves innocent of the crimes of which they are accused, and that they were forced to plead guilty under torture. They began their hunger strike to demand their freedom.

Furthermore, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights published a document on March 22nd denouncing that “the 13 people deprived of their liberty began a hunger strike inside prisons to denounce human rights violations they live daily in the penitentiary centers where they are held, as well as to proclaim their innocence given the unfair trials in which they are being prosecuted. It is important to point out that they have denounced torture and cruel inhuman and/or degrading treatment since the moment of their arrest, 12 of them are indigenous Tsotsiles.

The 13 prisoners on hunger strike have indicated that they constantly receive threats and harassment from the prison authorities to give up their protest.

We request that the personal integrity of the 13 persons deprived of their liberty who are on hunger strike be respected and that they be treated in accordance with their dignity and that due respect for fundamental rights be respected.

We urge the authorities of the state of Chiapas to immediately cease acts of threats and intimidation, as well as acts of punishment that constitute torture and cruel, inhuman and/or degrading treatment. “

The people who are on hunger strike are: Abraham Lopez Montejo and German Lopez Montejo, in the Social Rehabilitation Center for Sentences No. 14 El Amate (CERSS No. 14 El Amate), in Cintalapa; Adrian Gomez Jimenez, Juan de la Cruz Ruiz, Mariano Gomez Lopez, Marcos Gomez Lopez, Martin Gomez Lopez, Mariano Perez Velasco, Mario Diaz Rodriguez, Felipe Diaz Mendez and Juan Castellanos Gomez in CERSS No. 5 in San Cristobal de Las Casas; as well as Marcelino Ruiz Gomez and Baldemar Gomez Hernandez in CERSS No. 10 in Comitan de Dominguez.

For more information in Spanish:

Presos indígenas, 18 días en huelga de hambre, 2 de abril de 2019, Chiapasparalelo

Riesgo grave a la salud de nuestros compañeros en huelga de hambre en el CERSS#14, noestamostodxs.tk, 4 de abril de 2019

Reos indígenas de Chiapas se cosen los labios para exigir su libertad,  Proceso, 29 de marzo de 2019

Cese de amenazas y hostigamientos a presos en huelga de hambre en Chiapas, CDHFBLC, 22 de marzo de 2019

Trece presos indígenas cumplen 18 días en huelga en Chiapas; acusan tortura y exigen su liberación, Sinembargo 2 de abril de 2019

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Thirteen Prisoners on Hunger Strike  (March 24, 2019)

Chiapas : seis presos indígenas inician huelga de hambre (16 de marzo de 2019)

Chiapas: Diego Lopez Mendez Freed, Prisoner and Member of Solidarios de la Voz del Amate (March 15, 2019)

Chiapas: Luego de 10 años de Encarcelamiento es liberado Alfredo Goméz Lopez, Víctima de Tortura (21 de febrero de 2019)

Chiapas: Prisoners in San Cristóbal carry out fast to demand respect for their rights (January 4, 2019)

Chiapas: Indígenas presos en San Cristóbal de Las Casas exigen revisión de sus expedientes (4 de enero de 2019)

Guerrero/National: More Information Published on Role of Army in Ayotzinapa Case

@Cuartoscuro

The National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) has reported that it has corroborated a link between organized crime and the Mexican government in the forced disappearance of the 43 students of the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guerrero, on September 26th, 2014. In addition, the Commission has declared that there was “connivance or collusion” between the local, state, and federal governments regarding the follow-up of the case. Additionally, the CNDH has indicated obstacles on the part of the authorities during its investigation that led to a series of recommendations at the end of 2018.

In December, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in one of his first acts as the new president created by decree the Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in the Ayotzinapa case. On March 11th, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) presented the Technical Support Group (TSG) that will provide technical support to the Mexican authorities to arrive at the truth in the facts. In presenting the new work plan, the president of the IACHR and rapporteur of that agency for Mexico, Esmeralda Arosamena de Troitiño, applauded the position of the new federal authorities, which unlike the previous administration, have opened an impulse that represents “a historic opportunity to break impunity.” During the event, the Undersecretary of the Interior for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, remarked that the TSG will technically support all the open criminal investigation lines, which were not followed by the former Attorney General’s Office.

One of the most delicate in this sense is the role that the Mexican Army could have played in the events. On March 12th, a video was published that shows that Julio Cesar Lopez Patolzin, one of the 43 missing student teachers, had been recruited by the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym) to infiltrate the Ayotzinapa School.

Faced with this, civil organizations accompanying the families of the 43 students declared that the video shows that the army “did not deliver or have given all the information it has about the Iguala case and its context (…) to more than four and a half years after the events.”

The second reason for concern, they said, is that it confirmed that SEDENA practices the infiltration of the Ayotzinapa School, which “does not delegitimize in any way the requirement of the relatives of Julio Cesar to know the whereabouts of their son.”

Finally, they stressed that this new material “confirms the urgent need for a thorough investigation into the role of the Armed Forces in this new phase” and that they provide “all information in their possession that is relevant to the full clarification of the whereabouts of the 43 students, as ordered in the presidential decree that instructed to establish effective material, legal and human conditions, to strengthen the human rights of the relatives of the victims of the Ayotzinapa case to the truth and access to justice, signed, among other authorities, by the President of the Republic, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of National Defense and the Secretary of the Navy.”

For more information in Spanish:

CNDH a ONU: “obstáculos y negativas” en caso Iguala (Milenio, 14 de marzo de 2019.)

Proceso y la historia del normalista-soldado infiltrado en Ayotzinapa (Proceso, 14 de marzo de 2019)

CNDH presenta recomendación por violaciones graves en caso Ayotzinapa (Excelsior, 13 de marzo de 2019.)

Normalista de Ayotzinapa desaparecido era infiltrado de la Sedena (VIDEO) (Radio Formula, 13 de marzo de 2019)

Un normalista de Ayotzinapa era militar e informante del Ejército: reporte (ADN Politico, 13 de marzo de 2019.)

Señalan necesidad de esclarecer papel del Ejército en caso Ayotzinapa SIDIDH, 13 de marzo de 2019.)

Abren, formalmente, nueva etapa de investigación por caso Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 11 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/National: Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in Ayotzinapa Case Set Up. Federal Judge Orders Investigation into Possible Responsibility of Attorney General Employees for Irregularities (January 22nd, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Decree Establishes Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case

(December 19th, 2018)

Guerrero/National/International: CNDH and IACHR Ayotzinapa Reports  (December 14th, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Ayotzinapa, Four Years On…  (October 1st, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Incoming Government Confirms Creation of Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (Aug. 13th, 12018)

 

National/International: Mexico Ranked 99th of 126 in Rule of Law Index – World Justice Project

Photo @ CentroPro DH

At the end of February, the civil organization World Justice Project (WJP) published its “Index on Rule of Law 2019”, in which Mexico was ranked 99 out of 126 listed countries, worse than countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and its neighbor, Guatemala. At a Latin American level, Mexico is still considered one of the countries with the least respect for the rule of law, ranking 26 out of 30.

The results obtained by the WJP are “based on surveys in 120,000 households and 3,800 experts in 126 countries, and measures the perception and experience of the general population of the rule of law in practical and everyday situations.” The Index evaluates eight key categories: Limits to Government Power, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Compliance, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.

Leslie Solis, researcher in the project, highlights in the report published by Animal Politico that the hot spots that Mexico should dedicate “immediate attention” to are: corruption, security and criminal justice. These factors are the worst valued by the citizens and the experts consulted, being in second last place regionally in two of the three categories. Jorge Morales, a member of WJP, adds that, “the rule of law in Mexico has not improved in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to begin to change this situation with decisions based on evidence and data such as those shown in this Index, because these data will serve to identify weaknesses and strengths, and what are the priorities in the public policies to be developed, so that they have an impact on the population.”

Globally, the three countries with the highest rates are: Denmark, ranking leader, Norway and Finland; the last three, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia and Venezuela, occupying last place. It is striking that in general more countries have obtained lower scores than the previous year, which according to the researchers “is a sign that suggests an increase in authoritarianism, the score of the factor ‘Limits to Government Power’ was the one that showed the highest deterioration: 61 countries decreased, 23 remained the same, and 29 improved.”

The founder of WJP, William Neukom, reiterates that, “the Rule of Law is the basis for communities to enjoy peace, equality and opportunities.” That is why the results of this research project are important as “a first step to establish reference points, inform and direct reforms.”

For more information in Spanish:

México, entre los países del mundo donde menos respeto hay por el Estado de Derecho: World Justice Project (Animal Político, 28 de febrero de 2019)

El Estado de Derecho continúa debilitándose en el mundo (World Justice Project, 28 de ferbrero de 2019)

México más corrupto que Venezuela: estudio de WJP 2019 (Vanguardia, 1 de marzo de 2019)

For more infromation from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: denuncian grave incremento de la violencia feminicida en el primer bimestre de 2019 (18 de febrero de 2019)

Nacional/Internacional: ONU-DH condena asesinatos de defensores y periodistas en Chiapas y Baja California. Cuestiona eficacia del Mecanismo de protección gubernamental para dichos sectores (25 de enero de 2019)

International/National: Mexico’s 2018 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) (November 14th, 2018)

International/National: Human Rights Watch Publishes Report on Human Rights Situation in Mexico and the World
(February 4th, 2018)

 

International: Trial Against German Company for Illegal Sale of Arms to Mexico Ends

@n-tv

On February 21st, the trial against the German arms company Heckler & Koch in Stuttgart, for the illegal sale of arms to Mexico ended with sentences for a former head of sales and a member of the administrative staff. Between 2006 and 2009, Heckler & Koch delivered thousands of weapons to Mexico, including 4,219 semi-automatic G-36 rifles, two submachine guns and 1,759 gun barrels that arrived in Jalisco, Chiapas, Chihuahua and Guerrero, states where the export of weapons is prohibited by German law. The company itself will have to return all the profits of these sales amounting to 3.7 million euros (approximately 4.2 million dollars). The two individuals mentioned were sentenced to probation for 22 and 17 months with a fine of 80 thousand euros and 250 hours of social work. Three other employees, two former export managers and a sales assistant manager, were acquitted. The culprits obtained the export permit fraudulently, using false information from the Mexican government regarding the destination of the weapons.

During the sessions not only were there accusations against the German company, but also against politicians and members of the Armed Forces of Mexico, including the director of the Direction of Commercialization of Armament and Ammunition (DCAM in its Spanish acronym), Guillermo Aguilar, who received 117 thousand pesos as an accomplice to the events.

Jürgen Grässlin, activist and initiator of the trial, said that in this way thousands of German weapons were made available to state forces designated as co-opted by organized crime and responsible for serious human rights violations. Human rights organizations stressed that even legally imported weapons will end up in the hands of drug trafficking groups. A serious case of human rights violations in which a link with Heckler & Koch’s weapons was established is that of the 43 missing students of the Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa. It has been shown that these weapons were used in the violent events of September 27th, 2014.

Heckler & Koch reacted to the ruling with the promise of “fundamental changes to avoid unfortunate incidents in the future” such as a change in the internal compliance system and “to each potential distribution partner a rigorous compliance audit.” However, they criticized the ruling “that we should not only renounce the profits generated from the business in Mexico, but renounce the total sales price, despite the fact that none of the directors committed the offense.”

Also German pacifist organizations criticized the sentence for judging the company and its employees under the Law of Foreign Trade instead of the Law of Control of Weapons of War. The judges decided that the declaration to end use of arms is not part of the license to export arms, which is why the War Weapons Control Act cannot be applied. “If this ruling is maintained, the current controls on the export of weapons of war and military equipment do not work. You have to develop and introduce a new law to control the export of weapons that is effective”, said the German lawyer Holger Rothbauer. Other criticisms arose due to the absence of sentences against more influential employees. “This is a very clear case of two kinds of justice: the smallest are condemned and the biggest are let go,” said Jürgen Grässlin.

For more information in Spanish:

Multan a empresa alemana de armas usadas en caso de los 43 de Ayotzinapa (El Universal el 21 de febrero de 2019)

Juicio alemán por venta ilegal de armas a México concluye (El Universal el 21 de febrero de 2019)

Un tribunal alemán multa a Heckler & Koch por la exportación ilegal de armas a México (El País el 21 de febrero de 2019)

Condenas en Alemania por venta ilegal de armas a México (La Jornada el 21 de febrero de 2019)

Corte alemana condena a Heckler & Koch por exportar armas ilegalmente a México (Contra Linea el 21 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ :

International: Case against for Illegal Sale of Firearms to Mexico by Heckler and Koch Begins (June 25th, 2018)

Guerrero/National/International: New Reports on Ayotzinapa Case (March 27th, 2018)

International/National: CSOs Warn European Union about Human Rights Crisis in Mexico with Modernizing of Global Agreement (June 11th, 2017)

National/Guerrero: “No more arms sales to Mexico” – German Government (March 8th, 2015)

 

National/Guerrero: Support Plan for Victims of the Dirty War

Photo @ EllosyNosotros

On February 11th, the Plan of Attention and Reparation for the Victims of Political Violence of the Dirty War was announced in the municipality of Atoyac de Alvarez in Guerrero.

The Executive Commission of Attention to Victims (CEAV in its Spanish acronym), relatives and survivors of victims of the “dirty war”, as well as the governor Hector Astudillo Flores, the president of the CEAV, Jaime Rochin del Rincon, presented the strategy of collective reparation that is intended to be implemented.

“The Care and Reparation Plan for the victims of past political violence in Guerrero seeks to give visibility to those who disappeared, give voice to those who were silenced and recover and reconstruct the social fabric of the communities”, according to information from Proceso.

According to the Economist, Jaime Rochin del Rincon, executive commissioner of the CEAV, acknowledged that, “actions such as forced disappearance, torture and arbitrary detention in Guerrero during the period of the Dirty War, followed a State policy of repression and extermination.”

The strategy emerged from the recommendation 26/2001 endorsed by the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanisg acronym) addressed to the then president of the republic, Vicente Fox, and as well as the proposals included in the Special Report on the Disappearance of Persons and Clandestine Graves in Mexico of the CNDH, presented in 2017.

Through a statement, the CNDH announced that “in assessing the institutional progress represented by the Plan for Attention and Reparation for the Victims of the “Dirty War”, the CNDH established that the Mexican State has an outstanding debt with the victims of disappearance and their families, which will not be paid while the authorities of the three levels of government fail to comply with their basic and fundamental obligation to guarantee minimum conditions of security for peaceful coexistence between people and to put an end to the environment of violence, impunity and illegality that we face.”

For more information in Spanish:

Presentan en Guerrero plan de atención a víctimas de la guerra sucia (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de febrero de 2019)

La CEAV presenta Plan de Atención y Reparación a las Víctimas de la Violencia Política del Pasado (Proceso, 11 de febrero de 2019)

CNDH EL PLAN DE REPARACIÓN A VÍCTIMAS DE LA “GUERRA SUCIA”, QUE ATIENDE LAS PROPUESTAS DE LA RECOMENDACIÓN 26/2001 Y EL INFORME ESPECIAL SOBRE DESAPARICIÓN DE PERSONAS Y FOSAS CLANDESTINAS DE ESTE ORGANISMO NACIONAL (CNDH, 11 de febrero de 2019)

Recomendación 26/2001 (CNDH, 2001)

INFORME ESPECIAL SOBRE DESAPARICIÓN DE PERSONAS Y FOSAS CLANDESTINAS EN MÉXICO. (CNDH, 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: INAI Orders SENEDA to Submit Information on Generals Linked to “Dirty War” (June 26, 2018)

International/National: IACHR presents report regarding right to truth which includes the case of the “Dirty War” in Mexico (December 14, 2014)

The Peoples’ Permanent Tribunal condemns Mexican State for crimes against humanity (October 11, 2014)

Oaxaca: “Simulation” of Gender Parity – Women Threatened and Forced to Renounce Posts: National Electoral Institute

(@IEEPCO)

During the first week of January, at least three cases have been reported in which elected municipal presidents did not assume their political office, such that the posts were occupied by men. According to Proceso, “these are the municipal presidents of Santiago Tamazola, Anayeli Huerta Atristain, of the PRI-PVEM-Nueva Alianza coalition; of San Miguel Ahuehuetitlan in the Mixteca area of Oaxaca, Fidelia Bernarda Cuenca Fermin, and of San Juan Bautista Tlacoatzintepec, Martha Regules Mendoza (Morena).”

In addition, the National Electoral Institute (INE in its Spanish acronym) reported in a statement about three other cases in San Juan Colorado, Santa Maria Teopoxco and Pinotepa de Don Luis where mayors are being threatened to resign their positions.

Counselor Adriana Favela denounced that “we cannot allow them to continue to be used by political parties only to cover a quota, it is not enough that parity is in the law, we must get women to occupy their positions without any kind of simulation.”

Favela called on the governor and the authorities of the state of Oaxaca to stop political violence against women and ensure that vacant positions are taken over by women. If necessary “the INE will use this situation to appoint women”, the counselor assured.

For more information in Spanish:

Condena INE violencia política de género que sufren presidentas municipales de Oaxaca (Comunicado de prensa del INE, 9 de enero de 2019)

Violencia política de género contra alcaldesas en Oaxaca debe ser investigado y castigado: INE (Proceso, 9 de enero de 2019)

Pide IEEPCO al Congreso garantizar libre cargo de alcaldesas (El Universal, 8 de enero de 2019)

Presidenta municipal de San Juan Colorado sin bastón de mando (El Imparcial de la Costa, 4 de enero de 2019)

Renuncia Fidelia Cuenca, alcaldesa de San Miguel Ahuehuetitlán (SDP Noticias, 4 de enero de 2019)

Alcaldesa de Santiago Tamazola, Oaxaca, renuncia y deja cargo a su cuñado (El Universal, 3 de enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: investigation of resignations of women candidates elected as mayors or deputies whose positions would be occupied by men (September 20th, 2018)

Oaxaca: 17 Men Pose as Transgender to Register as Candidates (May 14th, 2018)

National: Historic Elections in Mexico – Historic Record of Political Violence (July 17th, 2018)