Guerrero: Attorney General and SEDENA Denounced for Lack of Interest in Solving Ayotzinapa Case

On May 14th, during a protest by the parents of the 43 disappeared students of the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala in 2014, it was reported that in “five months of government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Ayotzinapa case continues stalled because the FGR and the SEDENA have no interest in solving it.”

The spokesperson for the parents, Meliton Ortega Garcia, urged the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR in its Spanish acronym) to appoint the special prosecutor for the Iguala case and the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym) to deliver the evidence and information they have in their possession about the attack on the the students.

According to Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, lawyer of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, “there is a commitment with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and with Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas, although there are federal government institutions that are not walking hand in hand with the instruction given by the head of state, such as the FGR, which to date has not designated the Special Prosecutor for the Ayotzinapa case. As long as the prosecutor is not named, there will be no investigation. The same happens with the Mexican Army, which has information, but we do not know which and the relevance it has.”

According to La Razon, the relatives of the disappeared are conducting a first day in search of information in Iguala and asked the population to join in a “manner of solidarity to deliver information that they have the whereabouts of their children and that they will reserve their right to anonymity”

For more information in Spanish:

Padres de los 43: FGR y Sedena sin disposición para aclarar el caso (La Jornada, 14 de mayo de 2019)

A la FGR y Sedena no les interesa resolver el caso Ayotzinapa: padres (La Razón, 11 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/National: More Information Published on Role of Army in Ayotzinapa Case (March 15, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Commission for Truth and Access to Justice in Ayotzinapa Case Set Up. Federal Judge Orders Investigation into Possible Responsibility of Attorney General Employees for Irregularities (January 22nd, 2019)

Guerrero/National: Decree Establishes Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (December 19th, 2018)

Guerrero/National/International: CNDH and IACHR Ayotzinapa Reports  (December 14th, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Ayotzinapa, Four Years On…  (October 1st, 2018)

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Oaxaca: Order to Open Army Barracks in Search for EPR Members Disappeared in 2007

On May 9th, the order of Judge Maria Dolores Nuñez Solorio, attached to the Fourth District Court for Injunction in Criminal Matters in Mexico City, was published and may be challenged within a period of ten days. The sentence urges the head of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym), Luis Cresencio Sandoval, to order the opening of the barracks and allow soldiers and officers to be interrogated on the case of the forced disappearance of the members of the People’s Army Revolutionary (EPR in its Spanish acronym) Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez in Oaxaca, in May 2007. “The Secretary of National Defense, through all the members of the Army, must provide the necessary facilities to the federal prosecutor in charge of the integration of the investigation of origin, as well as to any authority that has the task of finding the whereabouts of the complainants”, the sentence states.

The Coordinator of the Committee Until They Are Found (Hasta Encontrarlos) and daughter of Reyes Amaya, Nadin Reyes Maldonado, considered that it would be possible for a commission of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Search of Disappeared Persons to enter the barracks, which would set a precedent for more relatives to seek refuge and seek their relatives there. “What we hope is that this government, which calls itself different, does not interpose resources to evade compliance with this ruling and that it begins to show will with concrete facts … that searches are made”, she said.

For the Cerezo Committee it is a judicial resolution with several scopes because it recognizes the forced disappearance for political reasons and the participation of the Armed Forces in those crimes, and because “it creates conditions so that other relatives of the disappeared do the same and do not demand less than what is happening with this resolution.”

For more information in Spanish:

Ordena juez buscar a los activistas Edmundo Reyes y Alberto Cruz (La Jornada, 12 de mayo de 2019)

Boletín sobre los DH de las Víctimas de VDH plasmados en la Sentencia del Amparo del Poder Judicial de la Federación en el caso de Edmundo Reyes y Alberto Cruz (Comité Cerezo, 13 de mayo de 2019)

Ordena una juez la apertura de cuarteles para buscar a eperristas desaparecidos (Proceso, 13 de mayo de 2019)

Jueza ordena abrir cuarteles militares para buscar a integrantes del EPR desaparecidos (Página3.mx, 13 de mayo de 2019)

Piden a FGR acatar sentencia y abrir cuarteles militares (Pie de página, 14 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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)

Chiapas: “Jornada nacional contra el terrorismo del estado en Chiapas” del FNLS (May 2, 2016)

Nacional/Oaxaca/Chiapas: Gira nacional: desaparición forzada en México (March 6, 2015)

National: Civil Commission for Pursuit and Search for two disappeared members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) denounces lack of progress (September 29, 2014)

National: Mothers Demand Whereabouts of their Disappeared on 7th National March for Dignity

On May 10th, Mother’s Day in Mexico, thousands of mothers of missing persons marched, accompanied by national and international organizations, in several cities of the country, among others in Mexico City, Puebla, Colima, Morelos, Colima, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Guerrero, to demand justice.

In Mexico City, the VIII March for National Dignity arrived at the Angel of Independence, in the capital of the country, with the demand to put an end to the disappearances, the installation of state search committees and specialized prosecutor’s offices, and the creation of an International Extraordinary Mechanism on Forensic Identification in the case of the more than 26 thousand unidentified persons. The request list also included the strengthening of the National Search System, in which families of the victims, including those of migrants, participate; application of a reparations system with a human rights perspective “and not the administration of victims”; the implementation of the General Law on Disappearance in all states; guarantees for the proper functioning of the Foreign Support Mechanism for the search and investigation of cases of migrants who disappeared in Mexico, and for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accept the competence of the UN Committee on Forced Disappearances (CFD) to analyze individual cases, among other demands.

“We do not want simulation, we will not endorse that they purge institutions when in reality they only recycle officials who are ignorant and responsible for the horror they should be fighting”, the women maintained, demanding from the current government “a State policy that recognizes truth and justice as urgent, necessary and non-negotiable.”

The representative of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Jan Jarab, stressed that this date, which should be a day of joy, has become a day of mobilizations “a product of the tragedy that Mexico faces on regarding disappearance” with its more than 40 thousand disappeared. While acknowledging as a step forward a “change of attitude” in the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to have admitted the seriousness of the problem, Jarab warned that the emergency continues, so he urged the real construction of a search system throughout the country to “reduce the cloud of impunity.”

For more information in Spanish:

“Este día no es de fiesta”: Madres de desaparecidos marchan por justicia para sus hijos (Animal Político, 10 de mayo de 2019)

10 de Mayo en tiempos 4T: Madres de desaparecidos y su extenso pliego petitorio al Estado mexicano (Proceso, 10 de mayo de 2019)

El dolor por los hijos ausentes une a miles de madres por todo el país: unas marchan, otras buscan (Sin Embargo, 10 de mayo de 2019)

¿Dónde están nuestros hijos?, claman miles de madres en el país (La Jornada, 11 de mayo de 2019)

Otro amargo Día de las Madres en el México de los desaparecidos (CNN México, 11 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: World Network of Mothers of Disappeared Migrants Formed in Mexico (November 12, 2018)

National / International: Caravan of mothers of disappeared migrants arrives in Mexico

(November 1st, 2018)

Nacional : madres de desparecidos marchan en el Día de la Madre(11 de mayo de 2018)

National/International: “Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants” Arrives to Mexico

(December 27th, 2017)

México : Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos “buscando vida en caminos de muerte” (25 de noviembre de 2016)

National/International: Movement for Our Disappeared Calls for Special Mechanism for Forensic Identification and High-level Meeting with IACHR

(@mexico.com)

On May 9th, in the framework of the 172nd session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in Kingston, Jamaica, the hearing “Enforced Disappearances and Proposal for a Extraordinary Forensic Identification Mechanism in Mexico” was held, in which representatives of the Mexican State and civil organizations discussed the situation regarding this issue, whose toll is more than 40 thousand missing persons, 26 thousand unidentified bodies and more than 850 clandestine graves.

The Movement for Our Disappeared in Mexico denounced the situation of crisis and impunity and detailed the efforts of civil society in the absence of effective and coordinated government actions. It presented a series of proposals for the creation of an extraordinary forensic identification mechanism, which should have technical, economic and administrative independence. It also requested the installation of a high-level negotiating table for its creation, in which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Secretaries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Finance, as well as the national prosecutor of the Republic and the National Search Commissioner, would participate and the representatives of Central American countries with disappeared persons in Mexican territory. Finally, it asked the IACHR to establish, in agreement with the Mexican State, coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) to establish a technical assistance scheme for the setting up construction, monitoring and evaluation of said mechanism.

For his part, the undersecretary of human rights, Alejandro Encinas, acknowledged the humanitarian crisis and argued that the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have as a priority to address the problem of disappearances, for which there would be no limits of resources: “Today this is a full responsibility of the State that we are going to assume”, he stressed. He promised to release a diagnosis of the forensic system on May 13th but considered that there would be no need for a new mechanism of international assistance to address the forensic crisis. The head of the National Search Commission (CNB in its Spanish acronym), Karla Quintana Osuna, reported that “there are already 266 forensic centers in the country, in which 5,900 people of different specialties work, in addition to 40 genetic identification laboratories and only 35 specialists in this field, while in 21 states they have the same genetic identification markers, which would allow an exchange of information.”

For more information in Spanish:

Ante
la CIDH, urgen a crear mecanismo extraordinario de identificación
forense (Centro PRODH, 10 de mayo de 2019)

Demandan
Mecanismo extraordinario de identificación forense ante la CIDH(Contralínea, 9 de mayo de 2019)

Atender
emergencia forense en el país, prioridad del Gobierno de México,
reafirma Alejandro Encinas (Notimundo,

9 de mayo de 2019)

En
audiencias de la CIDH, proponen al Estado mexicano crear mecanismo
forense y mesa de “alto nivel” (Proceso,

9 de mayo de 2019)

Evaluarán
en la CIDH crisis por desapariciones en México (La

Jornada, 9 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/Guerrero: Disappearances Increasing in Mexico – CNDH. No Progress in Victor Ayala Tapia Case (May 11, 2019)

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

National/International: Centro Pro DH Urges Foreign Ministry to Accept UN Committee on Forced Disappearance (March 26, 2019)

Oaxaca: Ninth Anniversary of Murder of Bety Cariño y Jyri Jaakkola in San Juan Copala

@La Voz de la Nahuac

On May 7th, in the framework of the ninth anniversary of Bety Cariño Trujillo and Jyri Antero Jaakkola (Finnish), human rights defenders killed in San Juan Copala, Oaxaca when they participated in a humanitarian caravan on April 27th, 2010, relatives and friends placed commemorative plaques on the Beam of Light and on the representation of the Oaxaca government in Mexico City. Omar Esparza Zarate, widower of Bety Cariño, said that “a plaque was installed symbolically on the victims of the country, and this monument has been considered by the victims of violence as the monument of corruption that was the scam of light, where the relatives of the victims and the members of the Movement for Peace and Justice have been placing plaques of their relatives who have been victims of insecurity, so this is a way of demanding justice.”

He denounced that nine years later, there is no interest from the authorities to solve the murders and that many inconsistencies have been detected in the investigations: “Until now we have nothing, we want to say that since November we have been looking for the approach with other bodies and we have not had an answer either.” He expressed his fear that the case be forgotten. He continues to demand that those responsible be punished, since two of those who had been arrested have already been released and six more have never been arrested. “They continue to walk around Oaxaca, and they are even in public office, such as the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples”, he said.

The lawyer David Peña, from the Action Group for Human Rights and Social Justice, explained that the two persons who were released were done so because “the federal and state governments have not specified the protection of witnesses and survivors of the attack, who have not been able to attend the hearings due to the risks that exist against them.”

For more information in Spanish:

Ataque en San Juan Copala, nueve años de impunidad (La Jornada, 7 de mayo de 2019)

Exigen justicia en la Estela de Luz (NVI Noticias, 8 de mayo de 2019)

PRONUNCIAMIENTO A 9 AÑOS DEL ASESINATO DE BETY CARIÑO Y JYRI JAAKKOLA (familiares y amigos de Bety Cariño, 27 de abril de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Suspect in Murder of Human Rights Defenders in San Juan Copola in 2010 Arrested (January 31, 2019)

Oaxaca: MEPs Highlight Lack of Political Will Regarding Murder of Jyri Jaakkola and Bety Cariño (February 26, 2018)

Oaxaca/National: Another Suspect Implicated in the Murder of Defenders Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakola Arrested (September 6, 2017)

Oaxaca: Seven Years of Impunity in Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola Case (May 4, 2017)

Oaxaca: European Parliamentarians Again Denounce Impunity in Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola Murder Case (March 6, 2017)

Oaxaca/International: Fifth Person Arrested in Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola Murder Case (October 19, 2016)

National/Guerrero: Disappearances Increasing in Mexico – CNDH. No Progress in Victor Ayala Tapia Case

Photo @ CCTI

In April, Ismael Eslava Perez, first visitor of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym), reported that “the disappearance of people in Mexico has not stopped and on the contrary, continues to increase throughout the country, with about 30,000 missing persons, 1,306 clandestine graves found and 3,760 bodies or remains found to date (…) due to the complexity of this problem in Mexico, the official figures are not precise, ranging from 30 thousand to more than 40 thousand people disappeared today , however what is a fact, is that the numbers do not descend, do not stop, and what is more, continue to increase.”

Forbes said it is important that “the political will be reflected in channeling resources necessary for the search, location, investigation and punishment of those responsible from the federal authorities, but particularly the states because there the largest number is missing”

The Mexican government has announced that, “in this 2019 a budget of more than 400 million pesos will be applied for searches.”

Many of the cases of forced disappearance in the country remain unpunished. One example is that of Victor Ayala Tapia who disappeared on September 14th, 2010 in the community of Papanoa, municipality of Tecpan de Galena, in the state of Guerrero. Ayala Tapia belonged to the organization Hermenegildo Galeana Free Front, a campesino organization that promotes productive projects with its partners that negotiated with a mango processing factory to locate it in Papanoa.

According to information from the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI in its Spanish acronym), “eyewitnesses reported that approximately 100 meters from Victor’s home, a patrol car of the State Preventive Police was parked, moments before the van arrived that took Victor and continued circulating behind the colony to reappear when they took him.”

Nine years after the disappearance of Ayala Tapia there has been no progress in the investigation and the relatives remain in uncertainty.

For more information in Spanish:

Desaparición de personas aumenta en México: CNDH (Forbes, 19 de abril de 2019)

Caso: Víctor Ayala Tapia (CCTI, 4 de febrero de 2016)

De 2007 a 2016, alrededor de 30 mil personas desaparecieron en México (UnoTV, 19 de abril de 2019)

México: Detención-desaparición forzosa del Sr. Víctor Ayala Tapia (Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura, 8 de octubre de 2010)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: briefs – Support is requested in Radio Ñomndaa case; SCJN assumes responsability in the case of Rosendo Radilla; 4 months of disappearance for activist Victor Ayala (January 24, 2011)

Guerrero: briefs – NGOs present amicus brief to Inter-American Court on case of environmentalists; activist is detained (September 23, 2010)

Guerrero: CNI Denounces Kidnapping and Murder of Two Members

@Aristegui Noticias

On May 5th, the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) denounced “the kidnapping and murder of the Nahua council member of the Indigenous Council of Government Jose Lucio Bartolo Faustino and of the delegate of the National Indigenous Congress Modesto Verales Sebastian, of the Nahua indigenous communities of Xicotlan and Buenavista respectively.” The two victims participated on May 4 in a meeting with the Indigenous and Popular Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata (CIPOG-EZ) in the city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero, at approximately 3 pm. On their return trip they were attacked “by narco-paramilitary groups that operate in the region with the complicity and protection of the three levels of bad government, which with contempt and lies pretend to meet the demands of security and justice of the indigenous communities.”

The identities of the deceased were confirmed by the Prosecutor’s Office that initiated an investigation into the murder by firearm as the vehicle of Jose Lucio Bartolo Faustino and Modesto Verales Sebastian was found with bullet entry holes.

Both participated in the collection of signatures for the CNI presidency candidate, Maria de Jesus Patricio, Marichuy, as well as in mobilizations and meetings of the CNI/EZLN. In addition, they organized the Community Police in their communities “to resist violence, extortion and the imposition of the poppy cultivation by two criminal groups, Los Ardillos and Los Rojos, who control the municipal presidencies of the region with the complicity of the Mexican Army and the state and municipal police and even succeeded in imposing, at some point, one of its leaders as president of the Congress of the state of Guerrero.”

“We denounce the intensification of neoliberal repression against the peoples, nations and indigenous tribes that do not agree with their death plans in Guerrero and throughout Mexico, nor with the violence they use to impose them and repress, kidnap, disappear and assassinate those of us who decide to plant a new world from the indigenous geographies that we are”, the statement concluded.

For more information in Spanish:

COMUNICADO DEL CNI-CIG Y EL EZLN ANTE EL COBARDE SECUESTRO Y ASESINATO DE LOS COMPAÑEROS DEL CONCEJO INDÍGENA Y POPULAR DE GUERRERO – EMILIANO ZAPATA (Enlace Zapatista el 5 de mayo de 2019)

Dos activistas indígenas son asesinados en Guerrero; el CNI, vinculado al EZLN, culpa a AMLO (Sin Embargo el 5 de mayo de 2019)

“Narcomilitares” emboscan y asesinan a líderes del CNI en Guerrero (Grupo Fórmula el 6 de mayo de 2019)

Asesinan a dos activistas indígenas del CNI en Chilpancingo, Guerrero (Político el 5 de mayo de 2019)

Matan a dos integrantes del Congreso Nacional Indígena en Guerrero (Aristegui Noticias el 5 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: denuncian dos comunidades choles de Salto de Agua amenazas, persecución y hostigamientos (El 22 de abril de 2019)

National: Third Assembly of National Indigenous Congress and Indigenous Council of Government (CNI-CIG) in Mexico City (March 14, 2019)

Chiapas : CNI denuncia amenazas y agresiones en la zona Norte (El 16 de agosto de 2018)

Chiapas: denuncia aumenta de violencia en los municipios de Sitalá y Chilón (El 6 de marzo de 2018)

Chiapas: A year since the “unjust” incarceration of communal defender from Salto de Agua: Chiapas Denuncia Pública (October 8, 2015)