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)

 

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Guerrero: Urgent Action “No Dam, No Prisoners”, Demands Release of 16 Indigenous CECOP Members

On March 8th, more than 2,000 people had already demanded “the immediate release of the 16 indigenous members of the Council of Ejidos and Opposition Communities to the Presa la Parota (CECOP), whose crime was to defend their lands and natural assets against the La Parota Dam”, through the Avaaz petition website. This is due to the multiple violations of due process, torture and the arbitrary and illegal circumstances of the arrests, which “demonstrate that there are political and economic interests against the communities that oppose the dam.” They also requested that harassment and arbitrary arrests of the inhabitants of the community of Cacahuatepec, municipality of Acapulco, stop.

In the same case, on March 5th, members of CECOP, the Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of the State of Guerrero (MOLPPEG in its Spanish acronym) and the Montaña Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights held a meeting with the Governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo Flores, to follow up on the tables established to review the cases of these same prisoners, as well as to demand the cessation of harassment against the members of CECOP. The MOLPPEG reported that, “it filed a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission (CODDEHUM in its Spanish acronym), to intervene and no longer continue to pressurize the comrades of the communal property of Cacahuatepec, in the municipality of Acapulco, as well as the Zapata Vive collective.” He explained that the State and Ministerial police have been raiding computers to identify comrades who have an arrest warrant.

For his part, the Tlachinollan lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, reported that through this meeting he was following up a dialogue path begun in December, with a view to solving the problem of political prisoners in the state, mainly those of CECOP. He stated that the government authorities have said that it will be resolved according to law and that the legal route will be that which is privileged.

A day earlier, Tlachinollan listed 8 reasons why it considers that the 16 CECOP prisoners should be granted freedom:

“• They were arbitrarily detained on January 7th, 2018 in a violent operation where the police murdered three CECOP campesinos.

• On the way to the Prosecutor’s Office they were tortured and given cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment to force them to plead guilty. • During their detention, they were held incommunicado for more than 48 hours, preventing their relatives and lawyers from being interviewed.
• During their solitary confinement, the Public Ministry obtained evidence in an unlawful manner to indict them for homicide.
• The weapons allegedly obtained by the police were obtained from illegal searches carried out at the houses of the CECOP community members.
• The CECOP detainees were not at the scene when the confrontation took place between those who were killed on both sides. They were arrested in the place when they went to the Sunday Assembly of the CECOP.
• There is an onslaught to dismantle the CECOP and the resistance against the La Parota hydroelectric project.
• Gravel workers who irrationally exploit the gravel and sand of the Papagayo River have organized the villagers to confront CECOP.

For more information in Spanish:

Acción Urgente en línea “Ni presa ni presos” (marzo de 2019)

Se reúne ONG con Héctor Astudillo para pedir la libertad de 16 miembros del Cecop (La Jornada de Guerrero, 6 de marzo de 2019)

Denuncian en Guerrero acoso de policías contra opositores a La Parota (LA Jornada, 5 de marzo de 2019)

Se reúne Astudillo con Tlachinollan, Cecop y Molppeg (Quadratin, 5 de marzo de 2019)
8 Razones para la libertad de los presos políticos del CECOP (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, 4 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Liberan bajo fianza a dos integrantes de la CECOP (28 de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero/Internacional : Europarlamentarios y organizaciones internacionales expresan su preocupación por criminalización de integrantes de CECOP; marchan en Acapulco a favor de la liberación de sus presos (7 de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero : Siguen exigiendo la libertad de 19 presos detenidos por oponerse a la construcción de la Presa La Parota (1ero de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero: Piden la liberación de 19 presos políticos (10 de enero de 2019)

Guerrero: organizaciones nacionales e internacionales visitan a presos del CECOP y la CRAC-PC (6 de octubre de 2018)

Guerrero: 50 órdenes de aprehensión contra comuneros del CECOP (17 de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero: Gonzalo Molina, Tixtla CRAC PC, Released

@Desinformemonos

On February 28th, after five years, three months and 22 days in prison, the promoter of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC in its Spanish acronym) of Tixtla, Gonzalo Molina Gonzalez, was released.

He had been detained on November 6th, 2013, when he was protesting against the arrest of Nestora Salgado, today senator for MORENA and at that time commander of the CRAC-PC in the municipality of Olinala. He was accused of deprivation of liberty, robbery and terrorism with a total of ten criminal charges against him. Since his arrest, he was in Miahuitlan jail, Oaxaca; in the maximum security prison of the Altiplano, in the state of Mexico, and finally in the Social Readaptation Center of Chilpancingo, Guerrero.

“I showed that I am innocent, that there is no crime to investigate, that CRAC is within the legal framework and we will continue to work because that is what 701 law permits”, he said.

“The indigenous peoples, who for more than 500 years have resisted looting and discrimination, have to organize ourselves. Megaprojects of death are promoted, and we will not allow that, because our peoples have a different worldview than the capitalist system”, he added.

For more information in Spanish:

Liberan a Gonzalo Molina, líder de la Policía Comunitaria en Tixtla (La Jornada, 1ero de marzo de 2019)

Guerrero: Dictan auto de libertad a Gonzalo Molina, preso político de la CRAC-PC (Desinformémonos, 28 de febrero de 2019)

Liberan al promotor de la CRAC-PC Gonzalo Molina tras casi 6 años (Quadratin Guerrero, 28 de febrero de 2019)
Gonzalo Molina, preso hace 5 años por supuesto terrorismo, queda libre en Guerrero (Sin Embargo, 28 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: 19 aniversario de la CRAC-Policía Comunitaria (11 de noviembre de 2014)

Guerrero: demand for release of political prisoners in observance of the eleventh anniversary of CECOP (September 2nd, 2014)

Guerrero: Police operation provokes confrontations and new arrest of member of CRAC-PC in Tixtla (March 30th, 2014)

Guerrero: Ministerial Police detain Gonzalo Molina, CRAC promoter, in Tixtla (November 14th, 2013)

 

National: Senate Will Not Approve National Guard Bill. Morena and #SeguridadSinGuerra Propose Alternatives

The discussion of the bill to create the National Guard approved by the Chamber of Deputies last January will not be endorsed in its current terms by the Senate of the Republic. The discussion will take place in an open parliament in which specialists and civil organizations will be invited, the Senate announced.

Before this decision, the United Nations (UN) had sent a letter to the senators, through which it expressed its serious concern about the constitutional reform project that “constitutionalizes and makes permanent the military presence in security tasks, giving continuity to a policy that has generated more violence and increased the commission of serious human rights violations (…) All this, in a context of fragile controls, ineffective mechanisms of accountability and alarming impunity.”

Morena already announced that it will distribute a project with various modifications to the legislators, while the more than 300 organizations and people grouped in the collective #SeguridadSinGuerra also presented an alternative reform proposal that eliminates the military component in its operation as well as in its conformation, and in which the National Guard would be a “police institution of character and civil direction” attached to the Secretariat of Public Safety, which acts with respect to human rights and with a gender perspective.

“The political discussion has been marked by the simulation and distortion between what is in the Minute and public discourse. Morena’s proposal plays with words again and again because they tell us that it is civil when it is actually military, and they tell us that it will be temporary when in reality it will be permanent (…) and when civil society has complained it accuses us of not having alternative proposals. That is why today we present this opinion,” said Denise Dresser, a member of the collective.

SeguridadSinGuerra celebrated the decision of the Senate to open the debate for the creation of the National Guard, through the open parliament format: “We understand the problem of insecurity and violence that the country is experiencing, but we are convinced that the use of the Armed Forces in security tasks must be exceptional, temporary, auditable and based on conventionality criteria, (…) We urge all senators, and especially the majority group, to discuss and work this issue in an open parliament exercise (…) If the war on drugs is over, its causes and effects can not be constitutionalized. We must build peace, with proof and democratic responsibility.”

For more information in Spanish:

En el Senado, Morena hará cambios a minuta sobre la Guardia Nacional (La Jornada, 8 de febrero de 2019)

#SeguridadSinGuerra pide a senadores tomar en serio su propuesta de una “Guardia Nacional Civil” (Proceso, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Senado no avalará dictamen de Guardia aprobado por diputados; Morena y ONG presentan nuevas propuestas (Animal Político, 7 de febrero de 2019)

PROPONEMOS UNA GUARDIA NACIONAL CIVIL (Boletín de prensa Seguridad sin Guerra, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Propuesta de dictamen a la minuta (Seguridad sin Guerra, 7 de febrero)

La ONU rechaza la Guardia Nacional y pide a legisladores reconsiderarla (Animal Político, 6 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: Aprueban diputados Guardia Nacional. Siguen los cuestionamientos incluso de parte del Ejecutivo (19 de enero de 2019)

Nacional:

Inician audiencias públicas para debatir la creación de la

Guardia Nacional
(9 de enero de 2019)

Nacional/Internacional:

ONU-DH pide al Congreso que guardia nacional se plantee con mando

civil y por un máximo de 5 años

(15 de diciembre de 2018)

Nacional: Ante rechazo al anuncio de Guardia Nacional, AMLO propone nueva consulta (23 de noviembre de 2018)

Nacional: La Suprema Corte invalida Ley de Seguridad; AMLO anuncia Plan Nacional de Paz y Seguridad 2018-2024 (16 de noviembre de 2018)

Chiapas: Arrest Warrant for Ex-Mayor of Arriaga as Possible Intellectual Author of Murder of Defender Sinar Corzo

On February 7th, a judge ordered the arrest of David Parada Vazquez, now ex-mayor of Arraiga, as the suspected intellectual author of the murder of the human rights defender Sinar Corzo Esquinca on January 3rd.

“The investigations make it possible to establish the existence of the act that the law indicates as a crime of homicide and the likelihood of the intellectual authorship of the former Arriaga mayor,” the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE in its Spanish acronym) reported. For the same reason it had informed “in time and form to the Honorable Congress of the State that an investigation for homicide is instructed for the aforementioned mayor, for which the commissions of the Interior and Constitutional Points, Justice and Surveillance of the State Congress determined that the request for Declaration of provenance against David Parada Vazquez, presented by the FGE, complies with the requirements established in the Law,” an assessment that led to his dismissal on February 7th.

So far, four arrest warrants have been issued for the murder of Corzo Esquinca against Rogelio “N” and/or Artemio “N”, Fernando “N”, Julio Cesar “N” and Apolinar “N”, the last being the father-in-law of Parada Vazquez, who since the beginning of last October was mayor of Arriaga, for the Chiapas Unido party.

The FGE stated that “now, the former municipal president should be brought before the courts and respond for the behavior that is reproached, with the certainty that both the arrest warrant and the process of declaration of origin have been the result of legality in the investigations and that David Parada Vazquez can not allege violations of fundamental rights because the Prosecutor has always attended to the rules of due process.”

Corzo Esquinca was part of the Coloso de Piedra Citizen Committee for the Defense of Human Rights. Hours before his death, he had met with Arriaga municipal authorities to discuss issues related to the construction of La Linea highway and the improvement of fishing communities.

For more information in Spanish:

Giran orden de aprehensión contra alcalde de Arriaga, Chiapas, por homicidio de Sinar Corzo (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de enero de 2019)

Giran orden de detención contra ex alcalde por asesinato de Sinar Corzo (La Jornada, 7 de enero de 2019)

Congreso de Chiapas avala desafuero de alcalde presuntamente implicado en asesinato del activista Sinar Corzo (Animal Político, 7 de enero de 2019)

Tras desafuero, ordenan captura del alcalde de Arriaga por asesinato de Sinar Corzo (SDP Noticias, 7 de enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Detienen a tres presuntos responsables del asesinato del defensor Sinar Corzo Esquinca, incluyendo suegro del alcalde de Arriaga (18 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: Movilizaciones para exigir justicia en el caso del asesinato defensor de derechos humanos Sinar Corzo. Todas las líneas de investigación siguen abiertas afirma fiscal.

(15 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: Asesinan al defensor de derechos humanos Sinar Corzo Esquinca (4 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: denuncian criminalización de defensores medioambientales en San Cristóbal de Las Casas (28 de diciembre de 2018)

Nacional : 161 defensores y 40 periodistas asesinados en el sexenio que termina, Red TdT (30 de noviembre de 2018).

Guerrero/International: MEPs and International Organizations Express Concern over Criminalization of CECOP Members

On February 6th, MEPs expressed their deep concern over “the situation of the defenders of land and territory in Mexico, particularly the incessant criminalization of members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to “La Parota” Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym) in the State of Guerrero”, in a letter sent among others to the Governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo.

They believe that the CECOP members “continue to be criminalized and stigmatized for defending their right to the territory of their communities opposing the construction of “La Parota” hydroelectric dam”, and that, “additionally, the lawyers and members of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights group were the target of defamations in the media and social networks when assuming legal representation.” They stressed that to date there are “no investigative acts that indicate any progress in clarifying the responsibility for the alleged extrajudicial executions and acts of torture. In addition, we have received with concern information on several violations of due process and the right to an adequate defense, as well as on the probable fabrication of evidence and the non-individual character of the evidence presented by the Public Ministry for the formulation of imputation and connection in the trial of the 17 defenders who are indicted. “

Similarly, 13 international human rights organizations stated their positions on the same case denouncing that, “the justice system was used in bad faith to detain these people, already in custody for another crime that had no legal or factual basis. In all cases, there was ill-treatment and, in at least eight of them, torture. Additionally, the lawyers and members of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center were publicly defamed for assuming their legal representation.” They expressed their concern at the fact that “the circumstances in which these human rights violations occurred are related to the work of defending the rights of the indigenous peoples of the CECOP and the CRAC-PC, as the umpteenth form of reprisal particularly for their work of defense of the rights related to the land and the territory opposing a hydroelectric project that threatens the means of subsistence and the security of the communities.”

At the same time, relatives of the prisoners and social organizations close to the CECOP carried out a blockade against the Viaducto Diamante, in Acapulco, to demand the government release political prisoners and in support of the members of the CECOP, who have been in jail since January 7th, 2018. On the same day, February 6th, a hearing was scheduled for the Criminal Control and Prosecution Court in the same area of ​​Acapulco to decide whether the evidence obtained under torture and other evidence that has also been discredited by the defense will be permitted.

For more information in Spanish:

Pronunciamiento | Carta de 15 euro parlamentarios a favor de los presos del CECOP (Europarlamentarios, 6 de febrero e 2019)

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA CONJUNTO : La criminalización de los integrantes del CECOP debe cesar (OSC internacionales, 6 de febrero de 2019)

Con bloqueo, exigen liberación de 19 comuneros en Acapulco (La Jornada, 6 de febrero de 2019)

Bloquean organizaciones el Viaducto Diamante en apoyo a comuneros del Cecop presos (El Sur de Acapulco, 7 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero : Siguen exigiendo la libertad de 19 presos detenidos por oponerse a la construcción de la Presa La Parota (1ero de febrero de 2019)

Guerrero: Piden la liberación de 19 presos políticos (10 de enero de 2019)

Guerrero: organizaciones nacionales e internacionales visitan a presos del CECOP y la CRAC-PC (6 de octubre de 2018)

Guerrero: 50 órdenes de aprehensión contra comuneros del CECOP (17 de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero : Detienen a otro integrante del Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositoras a La Parota (CECOP) en medio de presiones de fuerzas civiles armadas (5 de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero : Liberan a 9 de los 25 detenidos por enfrentamiento en La Concepción en enero (1ero de septiembre de 2018)

Guerrero/Nacional : Nestora Salgado anuncia campaña por la libertad de los presos políticos (31 de agosto de 2018)

Guerrero : Cancelación definitiva de la Parota y libertad de presos, pide CECOP en su 15 aniversario (31 de julio de 2018)

Chiapas: One Dead and Two Wounded in Latest Confrontation in Aldama – Chenalho Conflict

In the early hours of January 22nd, an attack by residents of Santa Martha, municipality of Chenalho, against their neighbors from Aldama who were going to their plots to work left one person dead and two wounded by bullets, as a result of the old conflict over the dispute of 60 hectares between the two municipalities, government sources reported.

As a consequence of this conflict, at least 2,036 people from communities bordering Santa Martha (Xuxch’en, Coco, Tabak and San Pedro Cotzilnam) are displaced in camps far from the disputed area.

According to the inhabitants of Aldama, in 2009, Santa Marta and Aldama signed an agreement to end the conflict, by which the inhabitants of the first community received from the state government one 1,300,000 thousand pesos. However, this agreement has been broken and the situation has been growing ever more violent since 2016.

In view of the most recent events, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights urged the Mexican State to “adopt effective measures to guarantee the life and personal integrity of the population of Aldama, especially of the communities located in the territorial limits with Manuel Utrilla , Chenalho, as well as the municipal seat; investigate, sanction, disarm and dismantle the armed groups of Santa Martha, Manuel Utrilla, Chenalho; address the humanitarian emergency of the displaced population in the Chiapas Highlands region, Mexico; and cancel arrest warrants that criminalize representatives of displaced families.”

For more information in Spanish:

Un muerto y dos heridos, saldo de agresión entre Chenalhó y Aldama (La Jornada, 22 de enero de 2019)

Nuevo ataque paramilitar en Aldama, Chiapas, un muerto y dos heridos (Regeneración, 22 de enero de 2019)

Un muerto y dos heridos deja añeja disputa de tierra entre tsotsiles de Aldama y Chenalhó (Alerta Chiapas, 22 de enero de 2019)

Acción Urgente : Persiste riesgo a la vida en comunidades desplazadas, en Aldama, Chiapas (CDH Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 22 de enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Se necesita atención al Desplazamiento Forzado Interno en Chenalhó y Aldama, ataque armado deja dos jóvenes heridos (14 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: Sigue la violencia entre Aldama y Chenalhó (5 de enero de 2019)

AMLO sobre el caso de Desplazamiento Forzado Interno en el Municipio de Aldama, Chiapas. (18 de diciembre de 2018)

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces New Attacks in Aldama and Demands End to Violence
(November 19th, 2018)

Chiapas :Se mantienen amenazas y desplazamiento forzado en Aldama ; Frayba lanza acción urgente (October 14th, 2018)

Chiapas : Persiste riesgo a la vida de indígenas tsotsiles en Aldama, denuncia el Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas (April 26th, 2018)

Chiapas: Violence increases in the Highlands of Chiapas, 747 displaced and 3 dead in Aldama (May 10th, 2018)