Guerrero: Follow-up Session of IACHR on Ayotzinapa Case Reports No Progress

Photo @ SIPAZ

On July 6th, the Ayotzinapa hearing was held at the 163rd session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Lima, Peru. The IACHR expressed its concern about poor progress.

According to the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, the stagnation of the investigations, the use of technology to spy on victims and members of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) and the inconsistencies of the historical truth were exposed, given that it was recognized that nine of the students’ phones were active after September 26, 2014.

Given this lack of progress, the relatives of Ayotzinapa informed the IACHR that they had to protest to demand truth and justice, but the response has been criminalization, threats, physical attacks, defamation campaigns and even spying. They also recalled that there are lines of investigation that the State agreed to resolve in June but to date have not presented results.

For more information in Spanish:


Estado mexicano exhibe ante la CIDH resultados en caso Ayotzinapa (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinolla, a 7 de julio de 2017)

Celulares activos tras desaparición de los 43 (La Jornada Maya, 6 de julio de 2017)
Analiza CIDH caso Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 6 de julio de 2017)

Evaluará la CIDH los avances de mecanismo para el caso Ayotzinapa, este jueves en Lima, Perú (El Sur de Acapulco, a 4 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:


Guerrero / Chiapas: Llega la Caravana de Ayotzinapa a San Cristóbal de las Casas (3 de julio de 2017)

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/Chiapas: Ayotzinapa Caravan Arrives to San Cristobal de Las Casas

Press conference of the relatives of the 43 disappeared student teachers from Ayotzinapa in Cathedral Square, San Cristobal de Las Casas.  Photo @ Sipaz

On July 1st, the South Southeast Caravan of relatives and students of the 43 disappeared student teachers from Ayotzinapa (2014) arrived to San Cristobal de Las Casas on the last stage of their journey. The caravan was welcomed by students from the Jacinto Canek Intercultural Normal School, members of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym), as well as various groups and social organizations. The objective of the caravan was to make known the “four essential roads for truth and justice” of the case:

– open a thorough investigation into elements of the Mexican Army present during the night of September 26th, 2014.

– the arrest of members of the federal, municipal, ministerial and State police that carried at least 25 Huitzuco students.

– analyze the students’ cell phone activity and their geographical location and hand over the results to the relatives.

– to investigate the transfer of the drugs from Iguala to Chicago as a motive for the aggression.

At a press conference, Felipe de la Cruz, a spokesman for relatives, revealed that, “two telephones of the 17 student taechers continued to function and a message was sent from Military Camp Number 1 in Mexico City and another from the Center Research and National Security (CISEN in its Spanish acronym). And through investigations of independent bodies, it is known that the students Julio Cesar Ramirez Nava and Daniel Solis Gallardo, were killed with bullets manufactured by the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym).”

At the end of the press conference, Felipe Cruz said that “the State crime committed in Ayotzinapa cannot be forgotten because if we stop fighting today it will happen again and other Mexican families will live that nightmare.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Reciben en San Cristóbal de las Casas a padres de los 43 (La Jornada, Sabado 01 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/ Guerrero : Caravana en el Sur Sureste en búsqueda de los desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa (27 de junio de 2017)

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)

National/International: Espionage of Journalists and Activists in Mexico

Photo: @SinEmbargo

On June 19th, The New York Times (NYT) published a report entitled “We are the new enemies of the State: espionage of activists and journalists in Mexico” in which they reported that Mexican journalists and activists have been spied on with software acquired by the government, called Pegasus.

Pegasus software infiltrates phones and other devices to monitor every detail of a person’s daily life through their cell phone: calls, text messages, emails, contacts and calendars. You can use the microphone and phone cameras for surveillance. The company said they sell this application “exclusively to governments on the condition that it is used only to combat terrorists or criminal groups and drug cartels” and that only a federal judge can give permission to monitor private communications by demonstrating that there is a well-founded case to make that request. According to several ex-officials of the Mexican intelligence services “it is very unlikely that the government has received such judicial approval to hack the phones of activists and journalists.”

Eduardo Guerrero, a former member of Mexico’s National Security and Research Center, questioned: “How would it be possible for a judge to authorize monitoring of someone dedicated to the protection of human rights?”

There is no definitive evidence that the Mexican government was responsible because “Pegasus software leaves no trace of the hacker who used it. Even the maker, the NSO Group, points out that you cannot determine exactly who is behind the specific hacking attempts. But cyber experts can verify when the software has been used on a target’s phone, leaving them little doubt that the Mexican government or some corrupt internal group is involved.” In addition, the NSO Group said that, “the program can only be used by government agencies in which the technology has been installed.”

According to Animal Politico newspaper, among the targets are:

– “Agustin Pro. Center [for Human Rights]. During the period of attacks, the directors of the center were actively involved in the documentation and defense of serious cases of human rights violations such as the disappearance of Ayotzinapa student teachers or the alleged extrajudicial execution committed by the Army in Tlataya.”

– “Carmen Aristegui and her son, as well as Rafael Cabrera and Sebastian Barragan, received intrusion attempts via SMS from April 2015 until the middle of 2016. Months after the publication of the report of La Casa Blanca and during the dissemination of other articles of possible corruption. “

– “Carlos Loret de Mola. He was the target of at least eight intrusion attempts since August 2015, the month in which the journalist published the first column of several related to the alleged extrajudicial execution in Tanhuato.

– “On May 25, 2016, Salvador Camarena, director of the journalistic research area of ​​this organization, received an attempted intrusion. It was a day after that organization in collaboration with Animal Political revealed the report The Ghost Companies of Veracruz that ended with the resignation and subsequent arrest of former governor Javier Duarte.

– “Juan Pardinas and Alexandra Zapata of the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness were victims of intrusion attempts, in the period in which they promoted several investigations into alleged acts of corruption, and the promotion of ‘Law 3 of 3’, for officials to declare assets which they possess publicly. “

The federal government responded in “a three-paragraph statement to the editor of the New York Times, where it officially says that “there is no evidence” that Mexican government agencies are responsible for espionage and asked those spied on to report the alleged intrusion.” Faced with this response, journalists and defenders who had been spied on filed a complaint for possible illegal intervention of communications with the PGR but doubt that it will have results since the government would have to be judge and part of this case.

Activists demand the PGR investigate espionage – Periodico Proceso Photo: @Benjamin Flores

In protest over the case #GovernmentEspía, on June 23rd, journalists and human rights defenders were handed themselves over symbolically to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR in its Spanish acronym). Denise Dresser, a politician and participant in the demonstration, said: “Just as it criminalized those who are the eyes and the conscience of the country, we come to give ourselves up as criminals of the same type. In full solidarity with Carmen Aristegui, with Juan Pardiñas, Daniel Lizarraga and Salvador Camarena, and with the other journalists and activists who were spied on. We expect an independent, international, clean, autonomous and credible investigation. That is something the Mexican State cannot do it on its own.”

 For more information in Spanish:

5 claves para entender el caso del espionaje a periodistas con el software Pegasus (Animal Politico, a 20 de junio de 2017)

‘Somos los nuevos enemigos del Estado’: el espionaje a activistas y periodistas en México (The New York Times, a 19 de junio de 2017)

Proponen comisión especial para indagar espionaje a periodistas y activistas (Proceso, a 19 de junio de 2017)

En manos de PGR, denuncia por espionaje gubernamental a periodistas y activistas (Aristegui Noticias, a 20 de junio de 2017)

Activistas y periodistas en México son espiados con un software adquirido por el gobierno: NYT (Animal Politico, a 19 de junio de 2017)

Periodistas y defensores se entregan ante PGR en protesta por #GobiernoEspía (CentroProdh, a 26 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: Cámara de Diputados aprueba cateos militares a domicilios y espionaje telefónico

Chiapas: EZLN denuncia sobrevuelos militares nocturnos sobre Caracoles zapatistas

Chiapas : Liberan a 236 normalistas detenidos por presuntos actos vandálicos en el marco de protesta contra reforma educativa

México: La CIDH exige una investigación sobre el caso de varias mujeres víctimas de abuso sexual en San Salvador Atenco en el 2006

 

National/Guerrero: Caravan in the South-Southeast in Search of the Ayotzinapa Disappeared

Photo @SIPAZ

33 months after the forced disappearance of 43 student teachers from the Raul Isidro Burgos Normal School and the murder of 6 others, their families continue to travel the country in their search and to demand justice. Since June 18th, they started a caravan in the South-Southeast of the Republic. The caravan started in Campeche and will pass through five states: Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Chiapas.

The aim of this caravan is that more than a thousand days after the attack on the student teachers, “in every corner of Mexico, it is known that the Mexican State, while still hiding the truth, is responsible, and that it not be forgotten”, said Felipe de la Cruz, a spokesman for relatives.

Relatives and friends of the victims as well as other students are asking the government to follow the four lines of investigation identified by the group of independent experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which, they are sure, will lead to the truth about what happened. The first request is to investigate the elements of the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym), who were, they propose, directly involved in the events. The other is the drug raid that was supposed to be the motive for the disappearance, as the young people allegedly had taken a bus loaded with drugs and money. The third is the detention of the federal and municipal police of Huitzuco, Guerrero, who took the 25 young people, because it has not been determined who is the “boss” who ordered their disappearance. The last line of research is cell phones. According to Aristegui Noticias, during their journey, participants were arrested by a patrol and violently taken off the bus on which they were traveling at the point of high-caliber guns, because they had passed a toll booth without paying: “It does not fit with disappearing our children, today they harass repress us for looking for them”, they said.

 For more information in Spanish:

Caso Ayotzinapa fue un crimen de Estado (La Jornada Maya, 26 de junio de 2017)

Ciudadanía se une a la marcha por Ayotzinapa de la caravana del sureste en Chetumal (Proceso, 25 de junio de 2017)

A punta de pistola, bajan de autobús a padres de Ayotzinapa (Aristegui Noticias, a 18 de junio 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: 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)