National/Guerrero: Support Plan for Victims of the Dirty War

Photo @ EllosyNosotros

On February 11th, the Plan of Attention and Reparation for the Victims of Political Violence of the Dirty War was announced in the municipality of Atoyac de Alvarez in Guerrero.

The Executive Commission of Attention to Victims (CEAV in its Spanish acronym), relatives and survivors of victims of the “dirty war”, as well as the governor Hector Astudillo Flores, the president of the CEAV, Jaime Rochin del Rincon, presented the strategy of collective reparation that is intended to be implemented.

“The Care and Reparation Plan for the victims of past political violence in Guerrero seeks to give visibility to those who disappeared, give voice to those who were silenced and recover and reconstruct the social fabric of the communities”, according to information from Proceso.

According to the Economist, Jaime Rochin del Rincon, executive commissioner of the CEAV, acknowledged that, “actions such as forced disappearance, torture and arbitrary detention in Guerrero during the period of the Dirty War, followed a State policy of repression and extermination.”

The strategy emerged from the recommendation 26/2001 endorsed by the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanisg acronym) addressed to the then president of the republic, Vicente Fox, and as well as the proposals included in the Special Report on the Disappearance of Persons and Clandestine Graves in Mexico of the CNDH, presented in 2017.

Through a statement, the CNDH announced that “in assessing the institutional progress represented by the Plan for Attention and Reparation for the Victims of the “Dirty War”, the CNDH established that the Mexican State has an outstanding debt with the victims of disappearance and their families, which will not be paid while the authorities of the three levels of government fail to comply with their basic and fundamental obligation to guarantee minimum conditions of security for peaceful coexistence between people and to put an end to the environment of violence, impunity and illegality that we face.”

For more information in Spanish:

Presentan en Guerrero plan de atención a víctimas de la guerra sucia (Aristegui Noticias, 11 de febrero de 2019)

La CEAV presenta Plan de Atención y Reparación a las Víctimas de la Violencia Política del Pasado (Proceso, 11 de febrero de 2019)

CNDH EL PLAN DE REPARACIÓN A VÍCTIMAS DE LA “GUERRA SUCIA”, QUE ATIENDE LAS PROPUESTAS DE LA RECOMENDACIÓN 26/2001 Y EL INFORME ESPECIAL SOBRE DESAPARICIÓN DE PERSONAS Y FOSAS CLANDESTINAS DE ESTE ORGANISMO NACIONAL (CNDH, 11 de febrero de 2019)

Recomendación 26/2001 (CNDH, 2001)

INFORME ESPECIAL SOBRE DESAPARICIÓN DE PERSONAS Y FOSAS CLANDESTINAS EN MÉXICO. (CNDH, 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: INAI Orders SENEDA to Submit Information on Generals Linked to “Dirty War” (June 26, 2018)

International/National: IACHR presents report regarding right to truth which includes the case of the “Dirty War” in Mexico (December 14, 2014)

The Peoples’ Permanent Tribunal condemns Mexican State for crimes against humanity (October 11, 2014)

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

Photo @ Medium

On February 6th, the director of the office in Mexico City of El Sur newspaper in Guerrero, Vietnika Batres, received death threats and was the victim of identity theft. According to the information received by the organization Articulo 19, the journalist reported that “she detected unusual activity in both her personal and work email accounts (…) threats began to come from one of her own accounts (…) several more messages were sent from her own emails with explicit death threats addressed to her family, which included names and addresses of their homes, along with schedules of their activities.”

Articulo 19 asked for the Protection Mechanism for Defenders and Journalists to be granted to the journalist Vietnika Batres, as well as the necessary protection measures for her family.

On February 9th, the announcer, Jesus Ramos Rodriguez, from the station Oye 99.9 FM de Tabasco was murdered. According to El Pais, Rodriguez was the presenter of the morning program Our Region Today and was attacked when he was having breakfast at a hotel restaurant in the municipality of Emiliano Zapata, Tabasco.

On February 11th, the owner and announcer of a radio station in the municipality of Chicomuselo, Chiapas, was shot in the head. According to La Jornada, the announcer, Bersain Galvez Ramirez, broadcasts a “program of musical tastes in a FM station, presumably of the so-called pirates, that is, that does not have an official permit.” There is no greater clarity about the reason for the attack.

Given the high number of attacks against journalists in the country and “the ineffectiveness and inoperativeness of the law enforcement agencies” the initiative was presented on February 6th in the Senate of the Republic; “By the Hand; the European Parliament with Mexican Journalism.”

The initiative “consists of a political support tool to maintain a regular and constant dialogue between members of parliament, journalists and Mexican authorities such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state and federal authorities, to rule on any threat and attack against the journalists who are part of the program.”

For more information in Spanish:

Artículo 19 denuncia amenazas de muerte contra Viétnika Batres, periodista del diario El Sur (Sin Embargo, 10 de febrero de 2019)

Amenazan de muerte a periodista en CDMX, suplantando su propia identidad (Aristegui, 10 de febrero de 2019)

Balean a Bersaín Gálvez, locutor de radio en Chiapas (El Sol de México, 11 de febrero de 2019)

Balean a locutor de radio en Chiapas (La Jornada, 11 de febrero de 2019)

Personas desconocidas amenazan de muerte a periodista suplantando su propia identidad (Artículo 19, 10 de febrero de 2019)

Parlamento Europeo y ARTICLE 19 lanzan el programa “De la Mano” para la protección de periodistas en riesgo (Artículo 19, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Asesinado un periodista en Tabasco, el segundo en México en 2019 (El País, 9 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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)

Oaxaca: Muxe Activist Oscar Cazorla Lopez Murdered

@Facebook Tradiciones Istmeñas, Minatitlan, Ver.

On February 9th, the Muxe activist and leader of the LGTTBI community, Oscar Cazorla Lopez, was found dead. The organizer of one of the biggest parties for the sexual diversity “Auténticas Intrepida Buscadorras del Peligro” (Authentic Intrepid Danger Seekers), which has been running for 40 years, was found at his home in Juchitan de Zaragoza, where an autopsy showed he was attacked at night with a knife. The body also showed signs of torture.

After the murder, Muxe collectives, civil society organizations and members of the LGTTBI community demanded a clear and exhaustive investigation to clarify the case. Calls for justice were also made by Congress. “The murder of Oscar Cazorla hurts the Muxe community and in general the Oaxacan people; as Legislative Power, we are obliged to join in the demand for justice to prevent the crime from going unpunished”, said Elisa Zepeda Lagunas, President of the Standing Committee on Administration and Law Enforcement, demanding the Attorney General of the State to carry out the appropriate actions.

The murder occurred in a context of hatred and violence against members of the LGTTBI community and defenders of the rights of that community. In the community where Oscar Cazorla Lopez comes from, five murders have been documented in the last 15 years. “There have been more than five murders and in only one, that of our friend Nisa, someone was arrested, who was later released. These crimes continue unpunished. We demand justice for them and for all the murders that have taken place in this city, considered the ninth most violent in the country”, reports Amaranta Gomez Regalado, another Muxe activist. Throughout Mexico, a record number of murders of LGTTBI people was recorded with 95 dead, as well as 14 murders of rights defenders of this group in 2017 and it is estimated that the figures for 2018 were similar.

For more information in Spanish:

Encuentran muerto al activista muxe Óscar Cazorla en Juchitán (El Sol de México, 10 de febrero de 2019)

Hallan sin vida al activista muxe Oscar Cazorla (La Jornada, 10 de febrero de 2019)

Hallan muerto y con signos de violencia a activista muxe en Juchitán; exigen justicia (Proceso, 11 de febrero de 2019)

Se une Congreso a comunidad muxhe para pedir justicia por asesinato de Óscar Cazorla (Oaxaca Digital, 10 de febrero de 2019)

Asesinan a líder de la comunidad muxe en Juchitán (El Universal, 11 de febrero de 2019)

Urgen a implementar protección para activistas LGBTTTI (Segundo Segundo, 11 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: 17 Men Pose as Transgender to Register as Candidates (May 14, 2018)

National: Increase in Murders of Transgender People Denounced (October 12, 2016)

Guerrero: Brutal murder of LGBT activist in Chilpancingo (May 6, 2011)

National: Senate Will Not Approve National Guard Bill. Morena and #SeguridadSinGuerra Propose Alternatives

The discussion of the bill to create the National Guard approved by the Chamber of Deputies last January will not be endorsed in its current terms by the Senate of the Republic. The discussion will take place in an open parliament in which specialists and civil organizations will be invited, the Senate announced.

Before this decision, the United Nations (UN) had sent a letter to the senators, through which it expressed its serious concern about the constitutional reform project that “constitutionalizes and makes permanent the military presence in security tasks, giving continuity to a policy that has generated more violence and increased the commission of serious human rights violations (…) All this, in a context of fragile controls, ineffective mechanisms of accountability and alarming impunity.”

Morena already announced that it will distribute a project with various modifications to the legislators, while the more than 300 organizations and people grouped in the collective #SeguridadSinGuerra also presented an alternative reform proposal that eliminates the military component in its operation as well as in its conformation, and in which the National Guard would be a “police institution of character and civil direction” attached to the Secretariat of Public Safety, which acts with respect to human rights and with a gender perspective.

“The political discussion has been marked by the simulation and distortion between what is in the Minute and public discourse. Morena’s proposal plays with words again and again because they tell us that it is civil when it is actually military, and they tell us that it will be temporary when in reality it will be permanent (…) and when civil society has complained it accuses us of not having alternative proposals. That is why today we present this opinion,” said Denise Dresser, a member of the collective.

SeguridadSinGuerra celebrated the decision of the Senate to open the debate for the creation of the National Guard, through the open parliament format: “We understand the problem of insecurity and violence that the country is experiencing, but we are convinced that the use of the Armed Forces in security tasks must be exceptional, temporary, auditable and based on conventionality criteria, (…) We urge all senators, and especially the majority group, to discuss and work this issue in an open parliament exercise (…) If the war on drugs is over, its causes and effects can not be constitutionalized. We must build peace, with proof and democratic responsibility.”

For more information in Spanish:

En el Senado, Morena hará cambios a minuta sobre la Guardia Nacional (La Jornada, 8 de febrero de 2019)

#SeguridadSinGuerra pide a senadores tomar en serio su propuesta de una “Guardia Nacional Civil” (Proceso, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Senado no avalará dictamen de Guardia aprobado por diputados; Morena y ONG presentan nuevas propuestas (Animal Político, 7 de febrero de 2019)

PROPONEMOS UNA GUARDIA NACIONAL CIVIL (Boletín de prensa Seguridad sin Guerra, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Propuesta de dictamen a la minuta (Seguridad sin Guerra, 7 de febrero)

La ONU rechaza la Guardia Nacional y pide a legisladores reconsiderarla (Animal Político, 6 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional: Aprueban diputados Guardia Nacional. Siguen los cuestionamientos incluso de parte del Ejecutivo (19 de enero de 2019)

Nacional:

Inician audiencias públicas para debatir la creación de la

Guardia Nacional
(9 de enero de 2019)

Nacional/Internacional:

ONU-DH pide al Congreso que guardia nacional se plantee con mando

civil y por un máximo de 5 años

(15 de diciembre de 2018)

Nacional: Ante rechazo al anuncio de Guardia Nacional, AMLO propone nueva consulta (23 de noviembre de 2018)

Nacional: La Suprema Corte invalida Ley de Seguridad; AMLO anuncia Plan Nacional de Paz y Seguridad 2018-2024 (16 de noviembre de 2018)

Chiapas/International: Pueblo Sin Fronteras Reports Disappearance of Member

@Programa de Asuntos Migratorios de IBERO

On February 7th, 2019, the disappearance of Carlos David Cueva Ramirez, a member of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, was reported. He was last seen on February 4th or 5th, in Mapastepec, Chiapas. He had spent two weeks in this state where he accompanied the migrant caravans that entered the country between January and February.

It was also reported that two other members of Pueblo Sin Fronteras were detained by the federal police. Although there were rumors saying that Cueva Ramirez was also arrested, the National Institute of Migration and the Attorney General of the Republic have declared that they have no record of it. According to reports prior to his disappearance, he was harassed by workers of the INM (National Institute of Migration) and by the federal police in Tapachula. It is also worrying that the disappearance of Cueva Ramirez occurred after acts of xenophobic violence in Tecun Uman and Tapachula by the local population towards migrants.

Pueblo Sin Fronteras, an organization formed after 2000, denounced the “criminalization against migrants who assumed a leadership role in the accompaniment of migrants who arrived at the border of Mexico by the Suchiate, from mid-January of this year until today.”

For more information in Spanish:

Denuncia Pueblos Sin Fronteras desaparición de uno de sus integrantes (La Jornada, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Denuncian desaparición de activista David Cueva, en Chiapas (El Sol del Centro, 7 de febrero de 2019)

Denuncian desaparición de integrante de ONG en Chiapas (Informador, 7 de febrero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Internacional/México: Estalla la Violencia Xenófoba a migrantes en Tecún Umán 28 de enero de 2019.

Nacional/Internacional: más de 9 mil migrantes que entraron en caravanas siguen sin mucha posibilidad de cumplir con su sueño 7 de diciembre de 2018.

Nacional/Internacional: 164 países aprueban el Pacto Mundial para La Migración de Naciones Unidas 11 de diciembre de 2018.

Nacional/Internacional: Caravana Viacrucis Migrante 2018 llega a EUA 10 de mayo de 2018.

Chiapas: Arrest Warrant for Ex-Mayor of Arriaga as Possible Intellectual Author of Murder of Defender Sinar Corzo

On February 7th, a judge ordered the arrest of David Parada Vazquez, now ex-mayor of Arraiga, as the suspected intellectual author of the murder of the human rights defender Sinar Corzo Esquinca on January 3rd.

“The investigations make it possible to establish the existence of the act that the law indicates as a crime of homicide and the likelihood of the intellectual authorship of the former Arriaga mayor,” the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE in its Spanish acronym) reported. For the same reason it had informed “in time and form to the Honorable Congress of the State that an investigation for homicide is instructed for the aforementioned mayor, for which the commissions of the Interior and Constitutional Points, Justice and Surveillance of the State Congress determined that the request for Declaration of provenance against David Parada Vazquez, presented by the FGE, complies with the requirements established in the Law,” an assessment that led to his dismissal on February 7th.

So far, four arrest warrants have been issued for the murder of Corzo Esquinca against Rogelio “N” and/or Artemio “N”, Fernando “N”, Julio Cesar “N” and Apolinar “N”, the last being the father-in-law of Parada Vazquez, who since the beginning of last October was mayor of Arriaga, for the Chiapas Unido party.

The FGE stated that “now, the former municipal president should be brought before the courts and respond for the behavior that is reproached, with the certainty that both the arrest warrant and the process of declaration of origin have been the result of legality in the investigations and that David Parada Vazquez can not allege violations of fundamental rights because the Prosecutor has always attended to the rules of due process.”

Corzo Esquinca was part of the Coloso de Piedra Citizen Committee for the Defense of Human Rights. Hours before his death, he had met with Arriaga municipal authorities to discuss issues related to the construction of La Linea highway and the improvement of fishing communities.

For more information in Spanish:

Giran orden de aprehensión contra alcalde de Arriaga, Chiapas, por homicidio de Sinar Corzo (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de enero de 2019)

Giran orden de detención contra ex alcalde por asesinato de Sinar Corzo (La Jornada, 7 de enero de 2019)

Congreso de Chiapas avala desafuero de alcalde presuntamente implicado en asesinato del activista Sinar Corzo (Animal Político, 7 de enero de 2019)

Tras desafuero, ordenan captura del alcalde de Arriaga por asesinato de Sinar Corzo (SDP Noticias, 7 de enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Detienen a tres presuntos responsables del asesinato del defensor Sinar Corzo Esquinca, incluyendo suegro del alcalde de Arriaga (18 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: Movilizaciones para exigir justicia en el caso del asesinato defensor de derechos humanos Sinar Corzo. Todas las líneas de investigación siguen abiertas afirma fiscal.

(15 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: Asesinan al defensor de derechos humanos Sinar Corzo Esquinca (4 de enero de 2019)

Chiapas: denuncian criminalización de defensores medioambientales en San Cristóbal de Las Casas (28 de diciembre de 2018)

Nacional : 161 defensores y 40 periodistas asesinados en el sexenio que termina, Red TdT (30 de noviembre de 2018).

National/International: Civil Organizations Ask Mexico to Erradicate Torture

On January 30th, at a press conference after three days of meetings, national and international organizations and networks reported that the Mexican State did not fulfill its obligation to present a National Program against Torture, a commitment included in the General Law on the subject approved in 2017 and that is “completely stopped” and of “low priority for official spaces”

They exhorted the new government led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) to “recognize the seriousness of the phenomenon of torture and to collaborate with civil society in combatting it, recognizing the experience and value of its contribution.” They demanded the new government “incorporate an axis of work on combating torture in the context of the new National Development Plan, as well as to make known opportunely the mechanisms so that civil society can make contributions in this process.”

They also highlighted “the opportunity represented by the national review to which Mexico will be submitted in April of this year before the Committee Against Torture (CAT). This space will be a fundamental test that will permit determing the true commitment of the new government to take concrete actions to eradicate torture.”

They revealed that they plan to contribute to the fight against torture in two says. On the one hand, “they will strengthen the updated diagnosis of the problem, with the coordinated production of a joint report (…) which will be presented to the UNCAT in April in Geneva.” On the other hand, they reported that in the meeting they began to work together on “an initial draft of the National Program to Prevent and Punish Torture based on internationally tested methodologies. The purpose of this exercise is to contribute constructively to the design and implementation of a State policy that effectively counteracts and discourages the practice of torture.”

For more information in Spanish:

Organizaciones exigen al Estado mexicano erradicar la tortura (OSC, 30 de enero de 2019)

Oportunidad histórica de México para erradicar la tortura: OMCT (La Jornada, 30 de enero de 2019)

Piden voluntad en combate a tortura (Reforma, 30 de enero de 2019)

Organizaciones nacionales e internacionales piden a Gobierno Federal incluir lucha contra tortura en el Plan de Desarrollo (Vanguardia, 30 de enero de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Internacional/Nacional: México ante el Examen Periódico Universal (EPU) 2018 (8 de noviembre de 2018)

Nacional/Internacional: Organizaciones civiles fuerzan a Relaciones Exteriores a hacer público el informe del Subcomité para la Prevención de la Tortura de Naciones Unidas

(20 de abril de 2018)

Internacional/Nacional : Human Rights Watch publica informe sobre la situación de derechos humanos en México y el mundo (19 de enero de 2018)

Nacional: Senado aprueba Ley contra la Tortura (29 de abril de 2017)