National: Rosario Ibarra de Piedra Sworn in as New President of CNDH

@Web

On November 12th at 9 p.m., amidst shouting and pushing, Rosario Ibarra de Piedra was sworn in as the new president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym). This occurred after five motions in the plenary to repeat the election process as demanded by the opposition that considers that there was fraud in the process so that Rosario Piedra obtained a qualified majority. Although initially, the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), through its coordinator Ricardo Monreal, had agreed to repeat the vote on the leadership of the CNDH, finally the majority of legislators of his party voted against.

In an interview after with the media, Ibarra de Piedra said that “it is legitimate, legal, my choice. (…) I don’t get disqualified, there are thousands of citizens in this country who are happy with my appointment.” She also insisted that she will be impartial, despite the fact that in the past she was a candidate for MORENA.

For more information in Spanish:

Entre jaloneos y manotazos, Rosario Piedra Ibarra protesta como titular de la CNDH (Video) (Proceso, 12 de noviembre de 2019)

Morena rechaza repetir votación y Rosario Piedra toma protesta como titular de CNDH (Animal Político, 12 de noviembre de 2019)

En medio de zafarrancho, Piedra Ibarra asume la CNDH (La Jornada, 13 de noviembre de 2019)

Astillero (LA Jornada, 13 de noviembre de 2019)

CNDH, la desconfianza (Proceso, 13 de noviembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Process of Voting for Head of CNDH to Return (November 15, 2019)

National: Activist Rosario Piedra Ibarra is elected new president of the CNDH (November 11, 2019)

Guerrero: One Month Since Disappearance of Human Rights Defender Arnulfo Ceron Soriano

November 11th marked one month since the disappearance of the human rights defender, Arnulfo Ceron Soriano in the city of Tlapa de Comonfort. The Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center regretted that the case was not addressed immediately until it escalated internationally. It denounced that “this lack of due diligence in the first hours that followed the complaint, added to the context of macrocriminality, extreme violence, corruption and impunity that characterize the state of Guerrero make this case very complex.” It acknowledged that the arrest on November 6th of Jorge “N” aka “Chiva”, Javier “N” and Cristal “N”, in Morelos, who are allegedly involved in the disappearance “represents a breakthrough in the investigation.” However, it stressed that “the main objective is still to find the live whereabouts of defender Arnulfo Ceron Soriano. These arrests should not mean the end of the investigation and much less of the search work. The authorities must act in a coordinated manner and dedicate all their resources to the search for Arnulfo, with the help of the family and the representatives.” Not until November 12th was the first day of search carried out in coordination with the state and national commission. Tlachinollan urged that this fact “be the beginning of a firm commitment to the case and that it be given a timely follow-up.” It also warned about a situation of serious risk for the family of Ceron Soriano, the members of the Popular Front of the Mountain (FPM in its Spanish acronym, the organization to which the victim belonged) and for Tlachinollan itself by continuing to demand his appearance alive so that it requested “adequate protection measures for each group, as well as the detention of all persons involved in the case.”

For its part, the FPM denounced that one month after the disappearance there has been no effectiveness in the actions of the State to investigate and present him alive, so they protested in the Ministry of the Interior and carried out an informational blockade on the Tlapa-Chilapa highway . They hope that, despite the late action, the state and national Commissions for the Search for Missing Persons will obtain results. The State Attorney General’s Office (FGE in its Spanish acronym) offered a million pesos for those who give information about the whereabouts of Ceron Soriano, who was disappeared on October 11th when he left his home to give a talk at the rehabilitation center in the city of Tlapa.

For more information in Spanish:

COMUNICADO | SE CUMPLE UN MES DE LA DESAPARICIÓN DEL DEFENSOR DE DERECHOS HUMANOS ARNULFO CERÓN SORIANO (CDH Tlachinollan, 12 de noviembre de 2019)

El FPM anuncia bloqueo informativo para buscar a Arnulfo Cerón a un mes de su desaparición (Sin Embargo, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

Defensor Arnulfo Cerón suma un mes desaparecido; protestan en Guerrero y Segob por encontrarlo (SDP Noticias, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

Detienen al presunto responsable de la desaparición del líder campesino de Tlapa, Guerrero (Animal Político, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

Detienen a presunto vinculado a desaparición de activista guerrerense (La Jornada, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

“La Chiva”, presunto implicado en la desaparición de Arnulfo Cerón, es detenido en Morelos (sin Embargo, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Siguen exigiendo la búsqueda con vida del activista Arnulfo Cerón Soriano a 19 días de su desaparición forzada (October 29, 2019)

Guerrero: Disappearance of Activist in Tlapa de Comonfort Reported. Member of Regional Council of Agrarian Authorities in Malinaltepec (October 17, 2019)

National: Process of Voting for Head of CNDH to Return

@La Otra Opinion

On November 12th, given the disagreement caused by the election process of Rosario Ibarra de Piedra as president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) and the threat of the senators of the National Action Party (PAN in its Spanish acronym) to block the session, the MORENA parliamentary group agreed to propose that the vote be reinstated. The coordinator of MORENA, Ricardo Monreal, declared that “we do not want to have doubts, because we are clean men and MORENA, as a Parliamentary Group, cannot be subject to doubt or distrust.”

Since the November 7th vote, the PAN has been making a series of declarations and actions before what it denounced as “fraud” and irregularities that were presented in the election of the head of the CNDH, a fact that it says puts “at risk the credibility of the institution responsible for ensuring the human rights of Mexicans and defending them.” PAN supported the reinstatement of the procedure but requested that there be at least one new candidate since the three candidates submitted were voted three times and for the same number of occasions did not meet a qualifying majority.

On the other hand, seven of the 56 candidates to preside over the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) had also asked the Senate through a public pronouncement to reinstate said election since, they said, “the process leaves questions of legality that must be corrected in order to ensure that the institution has the necessary legitimacy to be effective.” Alberto Athie, Rosalinda Salinas, Michael Chamberlin and Manuel Alejandro Vazquez stressed that “the CNDH and its leader’s profile are faced with a situation of unprecedented gravity, which inevitably affects the institution, its present and future members and especially the victims of human rights violations.”

On another note, four human rights groups and 128 victims from 12 states of the Republic issued a letter in which they call on the elected president, Rosario Piedra Ibarra, not to take office “until there is a transparent process and without a shadow of a doubt.” Although recognizing that Ibarra de Pierra is a “testimony of dignified struggle for all the disappeared and for the Human Rights of all our peoples”, they propose that “we need a strong Commission, which is consistent with its responsibility to work so that Human Rights are respected, protected and guaranteed without the political interest of the groups in power and that they work to find the truth and justice. That is the CNDH that we have not had until now.” In this regard, they express their concern when they consider that “arbitrariness cannot be combated with more arbitrariness.”

For more information in Spanish:

Acuerda Morena reponer elección para la CNDH (LA Jornada, 12 de noviembre de 2019)

Alerta PAN a OEA sobre fraude en elección para CNDH (La Jornada, 12 de noviembre de 2019)

Aspirantes a la CNDH piden nuevo proceso (La Jornada, 12 de noviembre de 2019)

Organizaciones piden a Rosario Piedra Ibarra no asumir cargo en la CNDH (La Jornada, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

Piden familiares de desaparecidos a Rosario Piedra Ibarra no tomar protesta sino hasta esclarecer votación (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

CARTA A LA COMPAÑERA ROSARIO PIEDRA IBARRA (Fuerzas Unidas por nuestros desaparecidos en Coahuila y México, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

¿Quién es Rosario Piedra Ibarra, la próxima presidenta de la CNDH? (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

Para más información de SIPAZ:

National: Activist Rosario Piedra Ibarra is elected new president of the CNDH (November 11, 2019)

Chiapas: Former Mayor of Amatan Arrested Accused of Murder of Two Human Rights Defenders

On November 9th, the former mayor of Amatan, Manuel de Jesus Carpio Mayorga, of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party was arrested by state police. He is accused of the murder of the leader of the Independent Regional Peasant Movement – National Coordinator Plan of Ayala-National Movement (Mocri-CNPA-MN in its Spanish acronym), Noe Jimenez Pablo and Jose Santiago Gomez Alvarez, a member of the same organization. Before being elected by MORENA (July 2018), he had been municipal president from 2001 to 2004, for the National Action Party (PAN in its Spanish acronym) and from 2012 to 2014 for the Green Ecological Party of Mexico (PVEM in its Spanish acronym).

The bodies of the two activists were found last January 18th in a dump near the headwaters of Amatan. They had been participating in protests to demand the dismissal of the mayor by denouncing the cacicazgo of the Carpio Mayorga brothers. In addition to this demand, the inhabitants of said municipality grouped in the Movement for Peace, Justice and the Common Good, had been denouncing corruption, the arbitrariness of municipal police in collusion with criminals, the lack of drinking water and street lighting, the non-completion of works, among other issues.

After these murders, on January 31st, Manuel de Jesus Carpio Mayorga and his entire cabinet resigned as they were allegedly implicated in the case. A new municipal council endorsed by the State Congress had been elected by February and various protests continued to demand justice for the death of Jiménez Pablo and Santiago Álvarez. On November 5th, one of the protests resulted in the taking over of the central offices of the Prosecutor’s Office.

For more information in Spanish:

Detienen a ex alcalde de Amatán, Chiapas; lo acusan por homicidio (La Jornada, 10 de noviembre de 2019)

Manuel de Jesús, ex Alcalde de Amatán, Chiapas, es detenido por el presunto asesinato de 2 personas (Sin Embargo, 10 de noviembre de 2019)

Detienen a exalcalde de Morena por estar implicado en doble homicidio en Amatán (Chiapas Paralelo, 10 de noviembre de 2019)

Exalcalde implicado en doble homicidio (Cuarto Poder, 11 de noviembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Gobierno estatal nombró nuevo Consejo Municipal de Amatán (Febraury 14, 2019)

Chiapas: Municipal Government to be Set up in Amatan (February 13, 2019)

Chiapas: Renuncian alcalde de Amatan y su gabinete. Llaman a a reconocer consejo de gobierno autónomo ciudadano (February 2, 2019)

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

International/National : Un Human Rights Committee Issues 48 Human Rights Recommendations for Mexico

On November 7th, at the end of Mexico’s sixth periodic review of the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations (UN) issued 48 recommendations.

Among the main ones, the Committee gave the Mexican State a period of two years to “advance in the process of formation of the National Guard as a civil institution.” It expressed concern “for the militarized nature of law enforcement in general, including the National Guard, and for the lack of a clear timetable on the withdrawal of military force in civic security tasks.”

On the other hand, it lamented the lack of progress in the case of the forced disappearance of the 43 students of the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa (Iguala, Guerrero, 2014) and urged to “strengthen the research capacity and independence of all the actors involved in the investigation, including prosecutors and experts, as well as ensuring the consolidation of the accusatory system and the autonomy of the institutions of law enforcement.”

A third recommendation, also with a period of two years to assess progress, is the situation of vulnerability of journalists and human rights defenders. The Committee requested that more resources be allocated towards the prevention of aggressions towards these two sectors as well as an exhaustive investigation in case they occur.

Another concern raised is the mistreatment of migrants, including cases of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, enforced disappearances, extortion, trafficking, murder and other crimes, in a context of increased migration flows from Central America to the United States and pressures from US government to the Mexican government to stop them. It expressed concern about the widespread use of detention many times by force. It also said it was concerned about the implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols, which require that asylum seekers in the United States remain in Mexican territory during their processing.

On a positive note, it valued the approval of laws such as the Law to Prevent, Investigate and Punish Torture or the Law on the Forced Disappearance of Persons (both from 2017), although it regretted their slow application. In the case of the General Victims Law, it considered its implementation “insufficient” and therefore urged “the State party to provide the bodies responsible for applying the General Victims Law with the necessary resources, adequate training and effective control mechanisms so that victims of human rights violations promptly receive comprehensive reparation… The State party must also ensure, even through legislative reforms, a fast and efficient procedure to achieve legal recognition of the quality of victims.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comité de Derechos Humanos Observaciones finales sobreelsexto informe periódico de México (CCPR, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

Señala ONU violación de derechos de migrantes en México (La Jornada, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

ONU le da dos años a México para desmilitarizar la Guardia Nacional y resolver caso Ayotzinapa (Animal Político, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

La ONU-DDHH pide desde Ginebra a México desmilitarizar la Guardia Nacional y apurar caso de los 43 (Sin Embargo, 7 de noviembre de 2019)

Desmilitarizar la Guardia Nacional y resolver caso Ayotzinapa pide ONU a México (Radio Formula, 8 de noviembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

International/National: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ends Mexican Visit while African Migrants Protest in Tapachula (October 7, 2019)

Internacional/Nacional: Alta Comisionada de la ONU para Derechos Humanos expresa preocupación ante varios pendientes en derechos humanos en México (5 de septiembre de 2019)

National/International: UNO Presents Diagnostic of Protection Mechanism of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (September 2, 2019)

National: Consultative Council on Mechanism for Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (April 11, 2019)

National: Mechanism for Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists Reviewed (March 31, 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/Chiapas: INM offers public apology to four indigenous migrants from Chiapas

@Proceso

On November 7, in the Hall of Fine Arts in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the National Institute of Migration (INM) offered a public apology to four Tzeltal indigenous people from Chiapas who were detained, tortured and almost deported by INM elements. In 2015, the two men and two women were on their way north, looking for work in one of the country’s several industrial crops. Presenting their birth certificates and their electoral identification at a checkpoint in San Juan del Río, Querétaro, “INM agents told them they were false, took them to a migratory station and told them they were Guatemalans; they mistreated them so that they would admit to being from Guatemala”, explained María Fernanda Pincus, director of the Legal Clinic of the University program of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). One of the victims was still a minor at the time of the arrest.

Accompanied by the Municipal President of San Cristóbal, Jerónima Toledo Villalobos, Francisco Garduño Yáñez, commissioner of INM, apologized to the legal representative of the victims, Gretchen Kuhner, for the violation of their human rights and the “damage to the image, honor and dignity“, of the 4 people. “They were not present at the ceremony because they want to maintain a private life, but it was very important that a public apology be made because it is not something that happens only to them; they said we don’t want it to happen to us, but neither to other people”, said María Fernanda Pincus. According to Gretchen Kuhner, the victims accept the apology.

As consequence and in an administrative process, two deputy directors, an agent, a coordinator and two heads of department were punished with suspensions between 15 and 30 days. “Through me, the Institute is committed to guaranteeing measures of non-repetition, so that the acts that violated the human rights of these people do not happen again”, Garduño Yáñez said. He added that the end of non-repetition “translates into prevention through the sensitization of public servants attached to the INM, on issues related to indigenous communities and the urgency of its members to migrate to other parts of the country.” According to María Fernanda Pincus, in addition, there will be “reparation of the damage in economic terms, because they were going to work in the north of the country as agricultural day laborers and they will be paid what they missed earning in those days.”

Mario Peña, also from the Legal Clinic of the UNAM’s University Program on Human Rights, pointed out that “there are no conditions to know who are Mexicans and who are foreigners. We have noticed that people in vulnerable conditions with little command of Spanish are more affected and that they are not provided with an interpreter of their language in migration procedures”.

For more information:

Pide el INM disculpas a indígenas tzeltales por agresión en retén (La Jornada, November 7, 2019)

El INM ofrece disculpa pública a indígenas chipanecos confundidos con migrantes (El Proceso, November 7, 2019)

Ofrece INM disculpa pública a 4 indígenas de Chiapas (El Heraldo de México, November 7, 2019)

Ofrecen disculpa pública a tzeltales torturados en 2015 (EL Universal, November 8, 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: Effort to Protect Migrants “Lasted a Few Months”, UNHCHR (November 7, 2019)

Chiapas: Migration Authorities Stop Migrant Caravan in Tapachula (October 17, 2019)

National/International: CSOs Denounce Poor Conditions in Provisional Migration Centers in Chiapas (October 13, 2019)

Chiapas: African Migrants Clash with National Guard in Tapachula (October 8, 2019)

International/National: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ends Mexican Visit while African Migrants Protest in Tapachula (October 7, 2019)

National/International: Mexico and US Reevaluate Migration Agreement after Three Months; Disagreement over Desired Outcomes (September 23, 2019)

International/National: UNO Calls for Evaluation of National Guard as Migratory Control in Mexico (September 2, 2019)

National: Activist Rosario Piedra Ibarra is elected new president of the CNDH

@Cuartopoder

On November 7, the Senate elected the new head of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). With 76 out of 114 votes cast in her favor, Rosario Piedra Ibarra, human rights activist and daughter of the founder of the Eureka! Committee, an organization of mothers and relatives of the disappeared, was elected as the new ombudsman, while candidates Arturo Peimbert Calvo and José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez received 24 and 8 votes respectively.

After the vote, members of the National Action Party (PAN) denounced that in reality 116 instead of 114 legislators voted and that there was fraud in the process. “We demand the annulment of the vote to elect the incumbent of the @CNDH. [. . . ] We cannot allow FRAUD to be done in the Senate of the Republic”, Martha Márquez of the PAN reported on Twitter. It should be noted that the only people empowered to count votes are the secretaries of the Board of Directors of the Chamber where the PAN is represented by one secretary.

PAN senators also criticized that Rosario Piedra Ibarra was a candidate for federal congresswoman for Morena: “Today Morena did not vote in favor of the Mexicans, they voted for a president of the @CNDH who will act under the command of the President”.

“I am never going to submit to a partisan idea that would be contrary to what is in my own conscience“, emphasized the new president of the CNDH before the accusations. She also stated that she wants to prevent the CNDH from becoming a instance of “simulation” with the promise of putting herself “in the shoes of the victims”.

On voting day she announced on her Twitter account: “A new period for human rights begins today. I heartily thank the people who place their trust in me and rest assured that I will work the same way I have for over 40 years. May this achievement be for all of us.”

For more information:

Rosario Piedra Ibarra en Twitter (November 7, 2019)

Rosario Piedra hace historia: Es la primera luchadora social que llega a la Presidencia de la CNDH (SinEmbargo November 7, 2019)

Oposición acusa fraude en elección de titular de CNDH; es un trámite concluido, dice Morena (Animal Político November 7, 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: CNDH Demands Clarification of Crimes against Journalists in Mexico – 90% Remain in Impunity (November 8, 2019)

National/International: UNO Presents Diagnostic of Protection Mechanism of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (September 2, 2019)

Oaxaca: Founder and Director of Community Radio Murdered. Tenth Journalist Murdered under AMLO Government (May 10, 2019)