Guerrero/National: “Important Steps on the Route to Know the Truth of what Happened” in Ayotzinapa Case

@Tlachinollan

The arrest of Jose Angel Casarrubias, alias “El Mochomo”, leader of Guerreros Unidos, a criminal group implicated in the disappearance of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal Rural School in Iguala in September 2014, generated expectations of finding key information on the whereabouts of the student teachers and towards the clarification of the case.

Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, lawyer for the relatives of the 43, stated that “when the events occurred, Jose Angel Casarrubias was the main leader of the Guerreros Unidos crime group. He directed, ordered, and all the evidence gathered indicates that he was the one in charge of the criminal group, which is why he has inside information on the whereabouts of the 43 students.” The lines of investigation suggest that Guerreros Unidos was protecting the municipal president of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, who had given orders to proceed against the 43 student teachers. However, Rosales recalled before the media that several of the detainees in the case have been released, a situation that could be repeated in this latest arrest when on July 1st, a federal judge ordered the release of Casarrubias based on technical rigor over the evidence presented by the then Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) in 2014.

Regarding the detention, the ProDH Center stated that “since he was a fugitive since 2014, it is essential that his collaboration with the investigation of the victims’ whereabouts be encouraged and that the links of his family and his criminal organization with the security forces of the three levels of government continue to be investigated.”

For its part, the La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center acknowledged that the arrest of Jose Angel Casarrubias, the arrest warrant against Tomas Zeron and the 46 arrest warrants issued against Guerrero officials, advances presented by Prosecutor Alejandro Gertz Manero on June 29th, “constitute important steps on the route to knowing the truth of what happened on September 26th, 2014 in Iguala. These are the first steps in which the political will that this government has shown in the Ayotzinapa case is condensed.”

However, it stated that “truth and justice are far from being achieved. The authorities must prosecute and sanction members of the security forces that operated in Iguala on the night of September 26th, directly and indirectly to attack Ayotzinapa students, and they will be challenged to implement legal mechanisms to approach the detainees and obtain information on the whereabouts of the missing youths. It is important to detain the highest level officials who constructed the historical lie with the deliberate intention of hiding the truth and the whereabouts of the 43 missing students, therefore, it is urgent that the immediate arrest and extradition of Tomas Zeron de Lucio architect of the so-called “historical truth” and fugitive from justice proceed.” The Prosecutor’s Office has reported that Zeron fled the country and is wanted by Interpol. He is accused by the FGR of torture and a series of irregularities in the case of the 43 students.

In the case of the 46 arrest warrants against public servants from various municipalities in the state of Guerrero, who are allegedly involved in the disappearance of the 43 normal students from Ayotzinapa, they are for the crimes of forced disappearance and organized crime, for facts that had not been investigated or prosecuted by the previous administrations of the last Attorney General of the Republic.

The prosecutor has also announced that other officials at various levels are expected to be brought to justice in the coming days, as well as to give information about the human remains that were sent to the University of Innsbruck.

For more information in Spanish:

Ordenan liberar a “El Mochomo”, presunto implicado en caso Ayotzinapa (El Informador, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Vidulfo Rosales celebra que se ejerza acción penal por desaparición forzada por caso Ayotzinapa (Proceso, 30 de junio de 2020)

Pasos importantes en la lucha por la verdad y la justicia en el caso Ayotzinapa (Tlachinollan, 30 de junio de 2020)

Fin a “verdad histórica” en caso Ayotzinapa; va Interpol por Zerón: FGR (La Jornada, 30 de junio de 2020)

Tomás Zerón huyó de México y es buscado por la Interpol por el caso Ayotzinapa (Animal Político, 30 de junio de 2020)

Otorgan suspensión a ‘El Mochomo’ (La Jornada, 30 de junio de 2020)

Detienen a Ángel Casarrubias, ‘el mochomo’, líder de Guerreros Unidos, implicado en caso Ayotzinapa (Animal Político, 29 de junio de 2020)

Detención del ‘Mochomo’: «un paso importante para encontrar a los 43» (Pie de página, 29 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/National: 68th Global Action for Ayotzinapa (June 4, 2020)

National/International: Mexico and IACHR Formalize Reinstallation of IGIE for Ayotzinapa Case (May 11, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Federal Judge Gives Prison Sentences to Three Accused of Torture in Ayotzinapa Case (March 30, 2020)

National/Guerrero: First Legal Actions against Officials in Ayotzinapa Case Investigation (March 24, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Meeting on New Evidence in Ayotzinapa Case (March 9, 2020)

 

National/International: First Latin American Encounter “We Embrace Horizons Facing Disappearances”

From June 9th to 12th, the online encounter “Latin American Meeting #We Embrace Horizons Facing Disappearances” (#AbramosHorizontes ante las desapariciones) was held, convened by Citizens in Support of Human Rights (CADHAC), Services and Advice for Peace (SERAPAZ) and the Foundation for Due Process. The event set out to “nurture the debate in Mexico on this serious phenomenon that affects so many families and the entire country, as well as glimpse the challenges faced by institutions, academia and civil society to eradicate this practice and give forceful responses.”

It included different tables with panelists: Table 1 “Latin America: from disappearances to responses”; Table 2: “Mexico facing the missing persons crisis”; Table 3: “Experiences from the family movement”, and Table 4 “The Experience of Nuevo Leon”.

The table that generated the most media coverage was the second, with the participation of the Deputy Secretary for Human Rights of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas, who has led the government’s human rights agenda since the beginning of the presidency of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO).

The undersecretary affirmed that progress has been made both in the legislative field and in the consolidation of a new institutional scaffolding so that the legislative changes are reflected in facts. However, he acknowledged that multiple challenges remain to reach justice and truth in the problem of disappearances in Mexico (61,000 cases today). He pointed out, among them, impunity and corruption, as well as inertia and resistance in some states of the republic in particular and in their prosecutors when it comes to supporting the tasks of searching for people and identifying bodies exhumed in clandestine graves. This, he affirmed because these players continue in the logic of wanting to minimize or hide the problem. He ratified the will of the federal government to continue with these tasks regardless of that. He acknowledged that, although in Mexico there is a General Law to Prevent and Punish the Forced Disappearance of Persons, to date there is no sentence in the country for a case of disappearance in general. He announced that in the following days he will announce the results of the data update on the matter together with the National Search Commission (CNB).

He also stated that 272,800,000 pesos (of the 341 million programmed) have been channeled to the local search commissions, which will help to have capabilities in equipment and infrastructure, as well as to promote actions for the identification of localized people. Contrary to the information circulated by the CEAV due to the policy of proposed cuts to face the impacts of the pandemic, Encinas guaranteed that there will be no budget cut this year for the work of searching for people and that no program related to human rights will be affected.

During this same event, Santiago Corcuera, former president of the UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances, affirmed that the phenomenon of disappearance was on the rise in the six-year term of Felipe Calderon, continued in that of Enrique Peña Nieto, and remains in the current federal government, so a different drug policy is required to prevent them from happening again. For this reason, he questioned the formation of the National Guard as a follow-up to a strategy that has not worked. As for the national registry, he questioned that it is not yet configured; “We have been more than a year and it is still not created, due to the indolence of local authorities that do not report the cases.” Santiago Corcuera also insisted on another pending issue: the recognition of the UN committee to hear cases of torture and disappearances in Mexico.

For more information in Spanish:

Mesa 1 América Latina de las desapariciones a las respuestas (“Encuentro Latinoamericano #AbramosHorizontes ante las Desapariciones”, CADHAC, 9 de junio de 2020)

Mesa 2 México ante la crisis de personas desaparecidas (“Encuentro Latinoamericano #AbramosHorizontes ante las Desapariciones”, CADHAC, 10 de junio de 2020)

Mesa 3 Experiencia desde el movimiento de familias (“Encuentro Latinoamericano #AbramosHorizontes ante las Desapariciones”, CADHAC, 11 de junio de 2020)

Mesa 4 Experiencia de Nuevo León (“Encuentro Latinoamericano #AbramosHorizontes ante las Desapariciones”, CADHAC, 11 de junio de 2020)

Fiscalías renuentes a apoyar en búsqueda de desaparecidos: Encinas (Heraldo, 12 de junio de 2020)

Fiscalías se resisten a apoyar en búsqueda de desaparecidos: Encinas (Excelsior, 10 de junio de 2020)

Encinas acusa resistencias por parte de gobiernos estatales para enfrentar desaparición de personas (El Economista, 10 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Collectives of Victims of Violence Demand Dismissal of Head of Executive Commission for Attention to Victims (CEAV) and Request Meeting with AMLO (June 11, 2020)

National: Government Cuts Paralyze CEAV (June 8, 2020)

Mexico: Mothers Continue the Search for Their Disappeared Children on Their Day (May 13, 2020)

 

National: Collectives of Victims of Violence Demand Dismissal of Head of Executive Commission for Attention to Victims (CEAV) and Request Meeting with AMLO

@Arturo Contreras, Pie de Página

Between June 4th and 7th, different groups in the country outlined their positions through three briefs to request the immediate removal of the head of the Executive Commission for Attention to Victims (CEAV), Mara Gomez Perez, and that the State guarantee the defense and the accompaniment of those who have suffered violence in the country. They separately demanded a meeting with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) to meet their demands and produce agreements.

The letters were written by relatives of victims of the so-called dirty war; by groups of relatives of disappeared people (who held a sit-in in front of the National Palace in Mexico City since June 4th); and by 700 direct victims and 61 groups.

All agree on the need for changes in the CEAV even moreso after the announcement of a cut of 75% of its budget due to austerity measures defined by the federal government to respond to the economic situation in the midst of the pandemic. They also agree that Gomez Perez has been characterized by her inefficiency, bureaucracy, threats, contempt, has been offensive and lacking sensitivity, as well as opacity to resolve issues of reparations to victims.

The relatives also demand Alejandro Encinas, Undersecretary of Human Rights and Population who also chairs the CEAV Governing Board, to make the use of the dependency’s economic resources transparent. They asked for several improvements to the services provided by the institution, in addition to proposing proposals for it.

Pie de Pagina stresses that “the work of the CEAV has been questioned by the victims since its origin. As of May 2019, the institution had been identified as the responsible authority in 242 injunction trials and 53 complaint files had been opened against it in the National Human Rights Commission, of which two recommendations were issued.

For its part, CEAV reported via Twitter that it will continue to work with republican austerity in its legal obligation to guarantee, promote and protect the human rights of victims.

For more information in Spanish:

Insisten colectivos en remover de la CEAV a Mara Gómez (La Jornada, 9 de junio de 2020)

Familiares de desaparecidos mantienen plantón por exigencias a CEAV (Pie de Página, 9 de junio de 2020)

Acusan crisis de Comisión Ejecutiva de Atención a Víctimas (Excelsior, 9 de junio de 2020)

Familiares de desaparecidos exigen reunión con AMLO y la destitución de titular de la CEAV (Proceso, 8 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Government Cuts Paralyze CEAV (June 8, 2020)

Mexico: Mothers Continue the Search for Their Disappeared Children on Their Day (May 13, 2020)

 

National: Friar Raul Vera Sends Letter of Resignation to Pope Francis

In a video conference, the bishop of the Diocese of Saltillo, Friar Raul Vera Lopez, announced that he has already sent his letter of resignation to the Vatican in accordance with canon law, which indicates that he must do so when he turns 75. On June 21st he will be this age.

The bishop commented that the reason for his resignation is to comply with the protocol, not because he wants to leave the Diocese of Saltillo and reiterated that the decision will be made by Pope Francis and that he will “gladly” obey.

For almost 30 years, Fray Raul Vera has been a witness and also protagonist of some of the social conflicts that have marked the history of the country. He was a peace promoter in Chiapas after the uprising of the Zapatista movement. He was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, along with Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia in 1995. He played a key role during the social crises due to the massacres of Aguas Blancas and Acteal, today he accompanies the families of thousands of disappeared and murdered by organized crime.

He has denounced violations of the human rights of indigenous people, women, migrants, miners, the LGBT community, as well as abuses of power and harassment by drug gangs.

For more information in Spanish:

Envía obispo Raúl Vera López su renuncia al Papa Francisco; resolución podría tardar, Zocalo, 2 de junio de 2020

Raúl Vera, el obispo revolucionario de la Iglesia católica, El Sol de Hidalgo, 7 de junio de 2020

Renuncia Raúl Vera, obispo de la Diócesis de Saltillo, Diario de Jalapa, 2 de junio de 2020

Raúl Vera presenta al Vaticano su renuncia como obispo de Saltillo,Yahoo, 1 de junio de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: New Auxiliary Bishop Named in San Cristobal de Las Casas Diocese (June 10, 2020)

National: Saltillo Diocese Denounces Intimidation of Fray Jose Raul Vera Lopez (July 20, 2019)

Chiapas: Mons. Rodrigo Aguilar Martinez Becomes New Bishop of San Cristobal(January 22, 2018)

 

Oaxaca/National: SCJN to Resolve Injunction for Forced Disappearance of EPR Members

On June 5th, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) decided to resume its original jurisdiction and to hear the motions for review presented by the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) and the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) before the injunction trial moved since 2013 for the forced disappearance of the members of the People’s Revolutionary Army (EPR), Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez. This disappearance occurred in 2007 in the City of Oaxaca, allegedly at the hands of the Mexican Army and the then Ministerial Police of the State of Oaxaca.

Given the decision of the SCJN, the daughter of one of the victims, Nadin Reyes Maldonado, declared that the highest judicial body “has a historic opportunity to offer access to justice, the right to the truth and full compensation for damage in cases of serious human rights violations.”

Also representative of the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees “Until We Find Them”(Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos “Hasta Encontrarlos”), she stressed that this would allow “establishing mandatory criteria for all present and future cases regarding the definition of the powers of district judges in cases where enforced disappearance is claimed and suspected, especially the guidelines to be exercised to establish themselves as guarantors of the observance of human rights and of integral reparation in favor of the direct victims and indirect victims of those actions.”

The “Until We Find Them” Committee expects the SCJN to resolve “in favor of direct and indirect victims, and not to perpetuate impunity, to determine the fate and whereabouts of their families and to have real access to the truth, to justice, to memory and measures for non-repetition.”

For more information in Spanish:

Resolverá SCJN amparo por desaparición forzada de integrantes del EPR  (Quadratin, 5 de junio de 2020)

Esperan justicia para guerrilleros desaparecidos de parte de la SCJN (NVI Noticias, 6 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca/National: No Truth nor Justice for Victims 13 Years after Forced Disappearance Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya (May 28, 2020)

 

Oaxaca/National : SCJN May Take On Case of Forced Disappearance of Two EPR Members in 2007 (January 31, 2020)

Oaxaca: FGR and SEDENA Dispute Search for EPR Disappeared (May 30, 2019)

Oaxaca: Order to Open Army Barracks in Search for EPR Members Disappeared in 2007 (May 16, 2019)

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)

 

Guerrero/National: 68th Global Action for Ayotzinapa

On May 26th, within the framework of the 68th Global Action for Ayotzinapa, the parents of the 43 students from the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa who disappeared in Iguala in September 2014 regretted that the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has no longer informed them of progress on the investigation. During an act carried out through social networks, the parents’ legal representative, Vidulfo Rosales, also called on the federal authorities to say what the progress there is on the investigation. In particular, he asked for an explanation of why arrest warrants have not been delivered against several people involved in shaping the so-called “historical truth”, including former director of the Criminal Investigation Agency, Tomas Zeron de Lucio.

For their part, at a political rally in Iguala, students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School and members of close organizations also demanded results in the investigation. They claimed inaction and the use of the pandemic to justify inefficiency.

In Mexico City, at the Anti-monument for the 43 located in Paseo de la Reforma, about ten members of organizations carried out a symbolic protest with paintings on the ground and photographs demanding truth and justice in the case.

“Those of us who are suffering in the flesh the lack of a loved one, those who have lost hope of seeing our children succeed will not have rest even with diseases like Coronavirus, we will continue to look for our children and the government must do the part that corresponds to it”, one of the mothers who participated in the event said.

For more information in Spanish: 

Padres de los 43 exigen información sobre avance en investigaciones (La Jornada, 26 de mayo de 2020)

Con un mitin en Iguala, recordaron a los 43 desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa (El Sol de Acapulco, 26 de mayo de 2020)

Activistas realizan ’68 Acción Global por Ayotzinapa’ en Reforma (Excelsior, 26 de mayo de 2020)

Piden padres de Ayotzinapa a gobierno a dar resultados del paradero de normalistas (MVS Noticias, 26 de mayo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: Mexico and IACHR Formalize Reinstallation of IGIE for Ayotzinapa Case (May 11, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Federal Judge Gives Prison Sentences to Three Accused of Torture in Ayotzinapa Case (March 30, 2020)

National/Guerrero: First Legal Actions against Officials in Ayotzinapa Case Investigation (March 24, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Meeting on New Evidence in Ayotzinapa Case (March 9, 2020)

 

Oaxaca/National: No Truth nor Justice for Victims 13 Years after Forced Disappearance Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya

May 25^th marked thirteen years since the enforced disappearance of the militants of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya in Oaxaca.

In an online press conference, Nadin Reyes, daughter of Edmundo Reyes and representative of the Comite Hasta Encontrarlos (Until They Are Found Committee), declared that “these have been difficult years and, undoubtedly, today they are more difficult given the context that forces us this year to remain in the compulsory confinement given the COVID-19 pandemic that has paralyzed everything in the country and which is blamed for all the ills of this system, as if the virus were responsible for impunity.”

She claimed that in the case of Cruz Sanchez and Reyes Amaya three presidents passed without any significant progress, which, she considered, is “the evident proof that, regardless of who is ruling in the country, the policy of enforced disappearances is a State policy that is committed government after government and that the government headed by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has not changed and we say this because it has not fulfilled its commitment to find the thousands of disappeared detainees in the country, much less to prosecute and punish those responsible.”

She explained that in the case of the new administration “despite having endless documentation that confirms the crime that was committed against our relatives and having a legal resolution for more than six years which orders the search for both fighters in military barracks and the creation of a special search commission, among other points, to this day it has not been accomplished.” This, she stated is because “although it is said that this government is different, in fact, it maintains the same policy of covering up with impunity and giving greater power to those who for years have repressed and committed the worst crimes against the people: the army.”

For this reason, she considered that the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is “co-responsible for maintaining and expanding access to truth and justice more and more in the case of our relatives. During this last year, on repeated occasions, he was notified of the latest developments in the case, and of the recent request of the Second Court to the SCJN to take on the case and has done nothing to expedite and guarantee true access to Justice for the victims.”

In view of this, the Committee confirmed that “we will carry out all legal and human rights actions to firmly maintain our demand. Neither will this government be the one to bend us in this decision.” It extended the invitation to join the activities planned in the framework of the International Week of the Disappeared Detainee (#NOSFALTANENCASA).

For more information in Spanish:

Como Peña y Calderón, AMLO mantiene impunidad del ejército: Comité Hasta Encontrarlos (Proceso, 26 de mayo de 2020)

Continúan con incansable búsqueda de desaparecidos (NVI Noticias, 26 de mayo de 2020)

Reclaman a AMLO esclarecer desaparición de miembros del EPR (La Jornada, 25 de mayo de 2020)

Boletín de prensa : A 13 años de la Desaparición Forzada de Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez y Edmundo Reyes Amaya: sin verdad ni justicia para las víctimas (Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos Hasta Encontrarlos, 25 de mayo de 2020)

“4T”, sin noticias de los desaparecidos del EPR (Contralínea, 21 de mayo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca/National : SCJN May Take On Case of Forced Disappearance of Two EPR Members in 2007 (January 31, 2020)

Oaxaca: FGR and SEDENA Dispute Search for EPR Disappeared (May 30, 2019)

Oaxaca: Order to Open Army Barracks in Search for EPR Members Disappeared in 2007 (May 16, 2019)

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)

 

National: Numerous Collectives Call National and International Communities to Back Urgent Action against Maya Train

@ Enlace Zapatista

On May 11th, different groups made a call to support an urgent action against the Maya Train project, since, despite the injunctions filed by the communities of Ocosingo, Palenque and Salto del Agua and the COVID-19 pandemic, work has not been suspended, thus violating the “Right to Health, life and active participation in the defense of their rights.”

It is expected that on May 14th, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will resolve the definitive suspension of this project, which had been provisionally done by a Federal Judge in previous weeks.

Added to this is the decree published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, where the government announced that it will have the Armed Forces carry out public security tasks, which represents for indigenous peoples and communities not only “unleashing a war against the drug cartels, which impose dispossession of forests, waters, minerals, wood and facilitate the entry of business and government megaprojects, but also face corruption, the links it has with organized crime, its complicity with fuel theft, the acts of repression and dispossession of indigenous peoples and communities, the use of public force to impose megaprojects, the forced displacement that they cause in the communities, according to them to bring order, as well as the murders, rapes and the criminalization of social protest social.”

Given what is happening and could happen, it seeks to promote knowledge and resistance against the project in civil society through actions such as concentrating information on the subject for its dissemination; share the existing poster (s) and/or design new ones that denounce the project and its damages; write and disseminate pronouncements in this regard; identify campaign initiatives by existing Mexican citizen groups to support them, or launch one; promote saturation of phone calls or emails to SCJN, FONATUR, CNDH, etc., speaking out against the project; and, invite networks, groups, contacts, to join in the campaign tasks.

For more information in Spanish:

Diversos colectivos promueven acción virtual contra el proyecto de despojo nombrado tren maya (Enlace Zapatista, 11 de mayo 2020)

Urgen intervención de la CNDH para frenar obras del Tren Maya (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de mayo 2020)

¿Por qué decir ¡NO! al “Tren Maya”? (Los Hijos del Maíz- Tlax, 11 de mayo 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Armed Forces Decreed Public Security Duties for Five Years; “Militarism Came out of the Closet” – CSO(May 14, 2020)

Chiapas: Federal Court Orders Suspension of Palenque Section of Maya Train; FONATUR Considers Injunction “Unfair” (May 13, 2020)

National: Online Forum “No to the Misnamed Maya Train”(May 5, 2020)

 

Oaxaca: Organizations, Communities and Movements Demand Suspension of Trans-Isthmus Project (May 2, 2020)

Oaxaca: Illegal Start on Trans-Isthmus Corridor without EIR Denounced (April 28, 2020)

National: Almost 200 Organizations Demand Halt to Maya Train Works During Emergency; AMLO Confirms Megaprojects Will Continue (April 25, 2020)

 

Mexico: Mothers Continue the Search for Their Disappeared Children on Their Day

Photo: Chiapasparalelo

May 10th is Mother’s Day in Mexico and despite the pandemic, women demonstrated to show that they will continue to search for their missing children. For several years, May 10th has been an emblematic date for the mothers of thousands of disappeared in the country to take to the streets demanding justice.

“Nothing to celebrate, for us this date is not a celebration, it is a fight and a protest”, declared Eva Verduzco de la Cruz-mother of a disappeared son.

The call was broad and due to the pandemic it assumed different forms to in the past, including messages on social networks, videos, photographs (the vast majority wearing face masks with messages alluding to the demand for justice and the presentation of the disappeared), caravans, statements, among others.

The Movement for Our Disappeared in Mexico – made up of more than 60 groups of relatives of disappeared people, from 22 Mexican states and three Central American countries – and United Forces for Our Disappeared in Mexico (FUNDEM) urged the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that despite the emergency caused by the COVID-19, the effective and immediate search for the 61 thousand disappeared – according to official figures – that exists in Mexico does not stop and the processes for the identification of the more 37 thousand unidentified bodies, many of them found in clandestine graves, are accelerated.

On another note, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) joined the actions of protest and demand for truth, justice and guarantees of non-repetition, so it called on society as a whole to echo this virtual mobilization on social networks, “accompanying those who every day must face obstacles and risks in the search for their loved ones, for justice and for the truth.”

For more information in Spanish:

Madres de desaparecidos usan vías alternas de protesta por Covid-19, La Jornada, 10 de mayo de 2020

A pesar de la pandemia, mujer sale a buscar a hijo desaparecido, Aristegui Noticias,10 de mayo de 2020

Madres de desaparecidos en Colima urgen no parar mecanismos de búsqueda, proceso, 11 de mayo

Ante la ausencia del Estado, madres, hijas y esposas aprenden a rastrear a sus familiares, Desinformemonos, 11 de mayo de 2020

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Committee of Mothers and Fathers of 43 Demand the “Search and Investigation Continue” Despite Health Emergency (April 28, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Agreement to Reintroduce Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts in Ayotzinapa Case. Number of Disappeared Increases in the Country (January 14, 2020)

National/International: Caravan of Mothers of Disappeared Migrants 2019 Tours Country (November 24, 2019)

 

National/International: Mexico and IACHR Formalize Reinstallation of IGIE for Ayotzinapa Case

IGIE in previous phase (@Centro PRO DH)

In a statement published on May 7th, the Interior and Foreign Relations Secretariats reported that the Mexican government signed an agreement with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for the reinstatement of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE).

The objective in this new stage will be to provide international technical assistance for the advancement of investigations and to assist in the preparation of search plans, care for victims and other relevant aspects in the case of the forced disappearance of 43 students from Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guerrero, in September 2014.

The statement explained that the process “was carried out taking into account the representation of the parents of the students, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the experts themselves who will form part of the International Group of Independent Experts.”

It specified that this action is part of the commitment established in the “Decree that instructs to establish effective material, legal and human conditions to strengthen the human rights of the relatives of the victims of the Ayotzinapa case to truth and access to justice”, issued by President Lopez Obrador on December 4th, 2018 and which raised, among other points, the possibility of passing agreements that allow the IACHR to cooperate.

For more information in Spanish: 

Gobierno de México y CIDH firman acuerdo para reinstalación del GIEI, a fin de seguir brindando asistencia técnica en el caso Ayotzinapa (comunicado completo, 7 de mayo de 2020)

Firman Segob y SRE acuerdo con CIDH para reinstalación del GIEI (La Jornada, 7 de mayo de 2020)

Firman acuerdo de reinstalación de GIEI en caso Ayotzinapa (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de mayo de 2020)

Formalizan reinstalación del GIEI en el caso Ayotzinapa (Regeneración, 8 de mayo de 2020)

Acuerdan México y CIDH reinstalar el GIEI para el caso Ayotzinapa (El Universal, 7 de mayo de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/Guerrero: Agreement to Reintroduce Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts in Ayotzinapa Case. Number of Disappeared Increases in the Country (January 14, 2020)

 

Guerrero: Attorney General Will Investigate Ayotzinapa Case “Almost from Scratch”(September 25, 2019)

 

Guerrero: New Stage in Investigation of Ayotzinapa Case – Creation of Special Investigation Unit with Omar Gomez Trejo as Head (July 8, 2019)