National: Murder Rate Rises in Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s First Semester

@npr

In June, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP in its Spanish acronym) published data that show that in the first semester of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration (December 1st, 2018 to May 31st, 2019) 17,500 people were killed in the country (of which 17,011 correspond to cases of intentional homicide and 489 to femicides). The murder rate during the first semesters of Vicente Fox, Calderon and Peña Nieto, were 7.12, 4.89 and 8.01 per one hundred thousand inhabitants; while during the first six months of this government, there were 11.51 cases of homicide per hundred thousand inhabitants in the country.

Although there was a slight decrease in April, in May there were 2,903 victims of intentional homicide and 76 of femicide, totaling 2,979 people murdered. It is equivalent to an average of 96 cases per day and represents the highest monthly total of victims so far in the term of office. The states with the greatest increase in crime are Nuevo Leon, which increased 72%; Tabasco, with a growth of 50.7%; Mexico City with 43.2%; Sonora and Morelos, with increases of 43.1%.

 

For more information in Spanish:

Con AMLO y Sheinbaum se vive el primer semestre de sexenio más sangriento de la historia (La Otra opinión, 24 de junio de 2019)

Mayo, el mes más violento (El Siglo de Durango, 22 de junio de 2019)

El primer semestre rojo (El Heraldo de México, 22 de junio de 2019)

Con 17,500 asesinatos, el primer semestre de AMLO es el más violento de los últimos sexenios (Animal Político, 21 de junio de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Visits Mexico (April 11, 2019)

National/International: Mexico Ranked 99th of 126 in Rule of Law Index – World Justice Project (March 12, 2019)

Chiapas: Already Five Femicides in January (February 1, 2019)

National: Chamber of Deputies Approves Ruling on Revocation of Mandate and Consultations

(@Quadratín)

On March 14th, the Chamber of Deputies endorsed a ruling by which the President of the Republic may be subject to revocation of mandate in addition to raising various constitutional amendments to regulate citizens’ consultations, with 328 votes in favor, 153 against and two abstentions

For the revocation of the mandate, it is proposed that it will be convened by the Congress of the Union at the request of the president and must have the endorsement of 33% of the members of the chambers.

To call for it, it will be necessary to gather at least 3% of the nominal list, that at least 40% of the voter register concurs and that is called in the intermediate elections (the day on which federal deputies are elected in the next electoral period).

In the case of the consultation processes, the document states that 1% of the electoral roll will be needed to request it and that it be binding, its results will be necessary to summon 33% of the nominal list. Likewise, it establishes that which cannot be the object of citizen consultation: the limitation of human rights, as well as the bases, tax rates and the budget of expenditures of the federation.

The National Electoral Institute (INE in its Spanish acronym) will be responsible for the organization and development of the voting while the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation will issue the declaration of official validity.

The approval of the ruling occurred in the middle of an exchange of signs and banners with the slogan “Effective suffrage, no reelection” on the side of the opposition versus “Revocation of mandate, prerogative of citizens, not of governors” on the part of the MORENA followers (the party of President Lopez Obrador). In the arguments of those who opposed, there is the risk that such a reform will allow reelection, the questioning of the fact that they occur in the intermediate elections (they consider that the intervention of the President of the Republic in them is “a tactical political resource to pull the vote towards the candidates of his party to positions of popular election”) and when indicating that “a badly designed mechanism of direct democracy can generate ungovernability.”

For more information in Spanish:

Tras acalorado debate, aprueban revocación de mandato y consulta (Aristegui Noticias, 14 de marzo de 2019)

Diputados aprueban dictamen sobre revocación de mandato y consultas (Proceso, 14 de marzo de 2019)

Revocación de mandato (Proceso, 15 de marzo de 2019)

AMLO dice que firmará el compromiso de no reelegirse como presidente de México (CNN, 15 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador New President Elect in Mexico (July 17, 2018)

National: Several Organizations Express Concern over Freedom of Expression in Mexico

(@Reporters without Borders)

On March 12th, in Mexico City, Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of the organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB) held a meeting with the Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, and reported that he had gone to the International Criminal Court (ICC) ask it to intervene in Mexico given the murders of 102 journalists and the forced disappearance of 14 others that occurred between 2012 and 2018 in the country. In the text presented, it is argued why they should be classified as crimes against humanity, as stipulated in Article 7 of the Statute of Rome, which establishes the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Deloire told Encinas of the great concern of his organization because in Mexico there continue to be numerous murders and acts of violence against reporters, being one of the most dangerous in the world for the press; it is ranked 147 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Ranking. In the first months of the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), three journalists have been murdered. In a subsequent press conference, he affirmed that “the mandate of President Andres Lopez Obrador must be marked by profound reforms in order to advance in the fight against impunity in which the murders and disappearances of journalists remain, as well as to improve the effectiveness of the protection mechanism for journalists, even in the states of the country where the situation is most difficult, so that journalists can work freely and disseminate all the information that is useful to Mexicans, for the country.”

For its part, the organization for freedom of expression Articulo 19 has expressed its concern over the fact that the new government has not pronounced on improvements in protection policies for journalists or presented clear actions to ensure that crimes committed against the press are investigated and punished: “The violence against the press did not end on July 1st nor in fact did it end on December 1st”, said Ana Cristina Ruselas, regional director of Articlulo 19. She also stated that “it is important and very necessary that the new government refuses to stigmatize the press, in a context like ours, the statements of the President of the Republic against the press only revive the violence and give guidelines to different individuals and different perpetuators to go against the press (…) The highest officials, including the President of the Republic, must expressly acknowledge the importance of the journalists, an express sanction to any type of aggression and a consequent fact that has to do with other State institutions of an investigation and sanction of this type of aggressions.”

Articulo 19 has documented that by using stigmatizing statements such as “conservative” [fifí] press and bribed journalists, AMLO might “legitimize and encourage attacks against journalists in the digital, in the physical physical and affect the plurality of public debate. This increases the level of vulnerability and risk faced by journalists in the most dangerous country to exercise freedom of expression in the Americas.” He demanded the head of state “unequivocally recognize the importance of a free press in democracy.”

In a similar vein, a study by Signa Lab of the Technological Institute of Higher Studies of the West (ITESO in its Spanish acronym) revealed that in recent months a trend in users related to the president in the social network Twitter emerged, whereby they carry out attacks against journalists and media critical to his mandate. The document “Democracy, freedom of expression and the digital sphere. Analysis of topologies on Twitter: the case # RedAMLOve” recommended “that there should be an official statement from the Presidency or from the Office of Social Communication of the same, to clarify what the position of the government against these online non-organic strategies is”. Signa Lab said that these actions “may result in critical voices, necessary in a democracy, retreating given the virulence of the attacks.”

When questioned about this study, the president denied that there is a group organized by the government to defend him from those who question or criticize him. He assured that the media will not be disrespected, freedom of expression will not be curtailed, “but we will exercise our right of reply.”

For more information in Spanish:

Reporteros Sin Fronteras denuncia ante la CPI crímenes contra periodistas en México (CNN México, 13 de marzo de 2019)

Dichos de AMLO incentivan ataques a la prensa, dice Artículo 19; Obrador niega bots a favor suyo (Vanguardia, 13 de marzo de 2019)

Impunidad de los crímenes contra periodistas en México: RSF anuncia su comunicación oficial a la Corte Penal Internacional (Reporteros sin fronteras, 12 de marzo de 2019)

En los primeros cien días de gobierno se ha intensificado la intolerancia a la crítica y al discurso disidente (Artículo 19, 12 de marzo de 2019)

Con AMLO van ya 3 periodistas asesinados y las acciones para protegerlos no aparecen: Art.19 (Sin Embargo, 9 de marzo de 2019)

DEMOCRACIA, LIBERTAD DE EXPRESIÓN Y ESFERA DIGITALANÁLISIS DE TENDENCIAS Y TOPOLOGÍAS EN TWITTEREL CASO DE LA #REDAMLOVE (Signa_Lab, ITESO, 28 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

International/National/Guerrero/Chiapas: More Attacks on Journalists; Articulo 19 and European Parliament Launch “By the Hand” Initiative to Protect Journalists at Risk (February 14, 2019)

National/International: UNHCHR Condemns Murders of Defenders and Journalists in Chiapas and Baja California and Questions Efficacy of Government Protection Mechanism (January 31, 2019)

Chiapas: Two Members of Movement for Welfare, Peace and Common Good of Amatan and Independent Revolutionary Campesino Movement Murdered (January 28, 2019)

National: Journalist Rafael Murua Murdered (January 28, 2019)

National: 161 Defenders and 40 Journalists Murdered in Last Presidential Term of Office (December 14, 2018)

 

National: Third Assembly of National Indigenous Congress and Indigenous Council of Government (CNI-CIG) in Mexico City

On the first weekend of March, the third assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym) and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym) took place in Mexico City, with 288 participants among delegates, councilors and guests from various towns in Campeche, Mexico City, Chihuahua, Chiapas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Tabasco and Yucatan.

In the final pronouncement, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN in its Spanish acronym), the CNI and the CIG considered that the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is nothing more than the “continuity” of the neoliberal governments that have held power since Miguel de la Madrid. They even stated that the current government “deepens neoliberalism”, even “with more brutality and cynicism if possible.”

They also denounced that “the neoliberal government led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has its sights set on our towns and territories, where, with the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, a network of co-optation and disorganization is laid, opening the way to a war that has an industrial name, made up of projects and violence, which, together with the other wars and war networks, spread a dark web of death in the original peoples of the country.”

They said that, with their “simulated consultations”, the new government only intends to impose megaprojects throughout the country. They made it clear that “our people, in exercise of their fundamental rights of autonomy and territory say NO to policies and megaprojects of dispossession, death and destruction, as well as to the consultations organized by bad governments to obtain the consent of our peoples to said policies and said megaprojects.” They said that, “in the exercise of our territorial rights and autonomy, we say that these megaprojects will be faced with the will of our peoples.”

They affirmed that the supposed transformations are taking place “in function of the interests of the oligarchies and those that have the power, which are increasingly smaller and bigger, that do not cease to live off the oppression, exploitation, and destruction of the same ones as always.” Instead, they stressed that “for the indigenous peoples the only ‘true change’ is the increase in lies, deceit, persecution, threats, imprisonment, dispossession, assassinations, ridicule and contempt, human exploitation and the destruction of nature; in sum: the annihilation of the collective life that we are.”

Among other more specific denunciations, they condemned the murder of Samir Flores in Morelos who was fighting against the Huexca thermoelectric plant: “Samir was killed by the neoliberal regime; we do not know if the government, if the entrepreneurs, if their criminal cartels, or, if the three together. The offers made by AMLO, not to those below, but to the owners of money and power, the veiled threats against those who defend life, laid the foundations of the murderous assassination.”

They finally expressed that “below, in all the geographies that the original peoples are, we continue to sow autonomy, we build and deploy power from below in what are also networks of networks, but of resistance and rebellion, which are also the mirrors not only of the peoples that we are the CNI – CIG and the EZLN, but many others that sow the hope and of which this is our mirror, our third national assembly.”

For more information in Spanish:

La Cuarta Transformación es más brutal que los anteriores gobiernos: EZLN (Radio Formula, 8 de marzo de 2019)

El gobierno de AMLO “profundiza” el neoliberalismo, acusan el EZLN y el CNI (Proceso, 7 de marzo de 2019)

Megaproyectos se toparán con voluntad de pueblos: EZLN y Congreso Nacional Indígena (El Universal, 7 de marzo de 2019)

¡SAMIR VIVE, LA LUCHA SIGUE! PRONUNCIAMIENTO DE LA TERCERA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL DEL CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA, EL CONCEJO INDÍGENA DE GOBIERNO Y EL EZLN (Comunicado CNI y EZLN, 6 de marzo de 2019)

El Congreso Nacional Indígena: balances y desafíos (La Jornada, 5 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Controversy between EZLN and AMLO Supporters Floods Social Networks    (January 18th, 2019)

Oaxaca : CODEDI denuncia hostigamiento militar ; CNI exige que cese la represión en su contra (1 de noviembre de 2018)

Chiapas: Second Assembly of National Indigenous Congress (CNI) (October 22nd, 2018)

Chiapas/Mexico: Invitation to the Second National Assembly of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and the Indigenous Governing Council (CIG) (September 18th, 2018)

National: “In democracy, it’s OK to disagree”, CSOs to AMLO

Photo: Ilse Huesca, Cuartoscuro

In a letter published on March 5th entitled “In democracy, it’s OK to disagree”, 70 civil society organizations (CSOs) and 104 activists asked President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) to stop disqualifying and minimizing their work.

They stared that, “democracy is not a delegation of power limited to suffrage and six years of silence. Triumph at the polls does not grant a license to ignore those who think differently. On the contrary. In democracy, we Mexicans have the right to express ourselves freely, to participate in public life and even to defend positions critical of the government.”

They stressed that “it is necessary for citizens to express themselves and be heard even when their positions are critical or contrary to whoever governs. Any violation of this pact questions the democratic conviction of those who hold power.”

They stressed that “political violence in Mexico should not be taken lightly and civic order – in which dialogue, dissent, discussion and recognition of all as citizens – should be the foundation of democratic life. The plurality and diversity of opinions are valuable in and of themselves.”

They indicated that their sole purpose is “to contribute to the construction of a better country and to communicate points of view that we have and have been able to nurture when confronted with our own realities.”

It should be remembered that in his morning press conferences and on more than one occasion, Lopez Obrador has questioned organized civil society and announced that CSOs would no longer receive money from the public budget.

For more information in Spanish:

ONG piden a AMLO evitar descalificaciones contra quienes piensen diferente (Animal Político, 5 de marzo de 2019)

En democracia se vale no estar de acuerdo, dicen a AMLO 70 ONGs; lo acusan de “violencia política” (Sin embargo, 5 de marzo de 2019)

En democracia se vale no estar de acuerdo, dicen ONG a AMLO (El Financiero, 5 de marzo de 2019)

En democracia se vale no estar de acuerdo¡Defendamoslas libertades y el Estado de derecho!, carta completa (OSC, 5 de marzo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Civil Society Organizations Criticize AMLO for Questioning Their Ethics and Commitment  (March 7th, 2019)

National: Civil Society Organizations Criticize AMLO for Questioning Their Ethics and Commitment

In a pronouncement published on February 26th, 166 civil society organizations criticized President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) considering that “the assessment and generalization” that he has made about organized civil society as well as its ethics and commitment is wrong and unjust. They recognized that “We are aware that not all citizens – organized or not – act in an honest and transparent manner and also those who use the needs and pain of others to profit. Of course, those actions must be sanctioned -no matter where they come from.” However, they stressed that, “like other agents of society, CSOs are diverse, plural, with different ideologies and objectives in a society that is complex, unequal and diverse, an expression of democracy”.

They emphasized that “although it is true that in past administrations organizations have been created for clientelist purposes and to support forces or political currents, it is not a phenomenon that can be generalized, we are not all equal, many have promoted and acted ethically in politics as we have already expressed on other occasions, solid democracies foster a strong civil society that favors the exercise of activities freely. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure a legal, inclusive, economic and political environment that encourages and does not discourage and harm civil society.” For this reason, they requested a dialogue with the president and “reconsider his administrative provisions, but above all, his judgments.”

In his morning press conferences and on more than one occasion, Lopez Obrador has questioned organized civil society and announced that CSO would no longer receive money from the public budget. “There was the bad habit of budgeting … funds were transferred to social organizations and there was no transparency,” AMLO said, for example. He also said: “I do not know who grabbed that from civil society, (that) the right, conservatism appropriated. It is very rare to find that there is a grouping of progressive civil society, and there are well-intentioned people, but in general, all companies promote bodies of the so-called independent civil society that there are, but of the people, not of vested interests.” He also disqualified the contributions of CSOs in their questioning of the creation of the National Guard

For more information in Spanish:

Llamamiento de las OSC a Andrés Manuel López Obrador Presidente de México (Pronunciamiento completo, 26 de febrero de 2019)

Es equivocado e injusto que AMLO generalice sobre las OSC, reclaman organizaciones (Animal Político, 26 de febrero de 2019)

“No todas somos iguales”, muchas actuamos con ética: organizaciones al Presidente (Aristegui Noticias, 26 de febrero de 2019)

‘Es equivocado e injusto que AMLO generalice sobre las organizaciones ciudadanas’ (Vanguardia, 27 de febrero de 2019)

Chiapas: Municipal Government to be Set up in Amatan

Photo @ AlMomento

In recent days, it was agreed that a Municipal Government Council will be established in the municipality of Amatan, after a meeting, which was part “of the process of pacification and reconciliation to restore the social fabric”, in which among the participants were leaders of the Movement for Peace, Justice and the Common Good of Amatan (MPJBCA in its Spanish acronym) and the National Coordinator Plan of Ayala, National Movement (CNPA MN in its Spanish acronym) with its lawyers from the Strategic Defense Office in Human Rights (DEDH in its Spanish acronym), Governor Rutilio Escandon, Secretary of Government, Ismael Brito Mazariegos, SEGOB’s Undersecretary of Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez and Aaron Mastache Mondragon, responsible for the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.

According to a statement from the MPJBCA, they agreed that the council will be composed of 18 people. Six of them will be members of the MPJBCA and the 12 other people will be of “other political opinions giving the opportunity for inclusion that is needed.”

They also reported that Alejandro Encinas, “promised on behalf of the Federal Government to assume municipal security and investment of economic resources for basic and social infrastructure for the development of the communities of Amatan, as was similarly declared by Governor Rutilio Escandon.”

Previously, on January 31st, in an extraordinary session, the mayor of Amatan, Manuel de Jesus Carpio Mayorga and his entire cabinet, resigned after accusations that linked them to the murder of human rights defenders Noe Jimenez Pablo and Jorge Santiago Alvarez. In this regard, the MPJBCA continues to demand “punishment of the material and intellectual authors of the forced disappearance, torture and murder.”

It should be remembered that, according to the Cuarto Poder, in December of last year, Mario Carlos Culebro Velasco, then Secretary of Government, stated that “it is a minority that has opposed the municipal government functioning and the creation of a municipal council. He clarified that “this is a figure created by the very Congress of the State, not the Executive, and as I understand, the legislators are not willing to nominate municipal councils.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado: #TodosConElConsejoPopularIndigenaDeAmatán (Movimiento por la Paz, la Justicia y el Bien Común de Amatán (MPJBCA) y Coordinadora Nacional Plan de Ayala, Moviniento Nacional (CNPA MN), 9 de febrero de 2019)

Crearán Consejo para garantizar “estabilidad social” en Amatán (La Jornada, 9 de febrero de 2019)

Avanza proceso pacificación en Amatán, Chiapas (Milenio, 9 de febrero de 2019)

Descartan Concejos Municipales por conflicto (Cuarto Poder, 5 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Two Members of Movement for Welfare, Peace and Common Good of Amatan and Independent Revolutionary Campesino Movement Murdered (January 28, 2019)

National/International: UNHCHR Condemns Murders of Defenders and Journalists in Chiapas and Baja California and Questions Efficacy of Government Protection Mechanism (January 31, 2019)

National / International: UN-DH denounces that 10 Human Rights Defenders have been murdered in Mexico until now in 2018 (September 21, 2018)