Guerrero: Communiqué: Demand for End to Attacks and Defamations against La Montaña “Tlachinollan” Human Rights Center and its Attorney Vidulfo Rosales Sierra

Vidulfo Rosales Sierra receiving the Jtatic Samuel Jcanan Lum award @ SIPAZ

The signatory organizations express our deep concern over the recent statements of the former Attorney General of the State of Guerrero, Iñaki Blanco Cabrera, against the lawyer of La Montaña “Tlachinollan” Human Rights Center, Vidulfo Rosales, whom he accuses of impeding investigations and profitting with the defense of the families of the 43 student teachers disappeared on September 26th and 27th, 2014, even indicating that he must be investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.

We believe that these declarations constitute a direct attack and that they seek to delegitimize the work of the human rights defender, in addition to upturning the legal representatives’ responsibilities for the recent releases of persons linked to the case and thus avoiding the costs of an investigation plagued by countless human rights violations, ranging from the fabrication of evidence to the use of torture to obtain confessions, documented by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico and that were at the origin of the sentence issued by the First Collegiate Court of Circuit of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, which lists 158 irregularities.

It should be remembered that Iñaki Blanco Cabrera is one of the main players who could be involved in the forced disappearance of the 43 student teachers, for serving as prosecutor at the time of the events and for having incurred omissions and protecting several officials under their charge who had responsibilities in the attack on the students.

We recognize the work of Tlachinollan, which has been defending the human rights of indigenous people of La Montaña Guerrero against the abuses of authority and marginalization for 25 years, and is recognized nationally and internationally for the quality of its integral defense work, as well as for its moral commitment, obtaining a range of awards for this.

We also recognize the work that the defender Vidulfo Rosales Sierra has done for more than 20 years, who has stood out for his accompaniment of the victims of serious human rights violations in Guerrero such as Valentina Rosendo Cantu, Ines Fernandez Ortega, the relatives of the Ayotzinapa students Jorge Alexis and Gabriel Echeverria executed on El Sol highway in December 2011, and the victims of repression from Tlapa de Comonfort on election day in June 2015, struggles that have repeatedly led to threats and direct physical attacks, even causing his departure from the country to safeguard his life.

For all the above, we demand a cessation of the campaign of delegitimization against the defender Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, pointing out the seriousness of this type of statements, whose nature can encourage direct attacks against his life and physical integrity. Likewise, we consider that the statements of the former official seem to aim to divert attention and thus prevent the state authorities of Guerrero from being investigated, emphasizing that it is the violations of due process and the cases of torture with which the investigation of Ayotzinapa are now motivating judicial decisions that release probable perpetrators of the events, which is another example of the network of corruption and impunity that have marked this case and that have been constantly denounced by Tlachinollan and Vidulfo Rosales Sierra.

Organizations, collectives and networks

Acción de los Cristianos para la Abolición de la Tortura de Francia (ACAT-Francia)
Acción Colectiva (León, Guanajuato)
ALUNA, Acompañamiento Psicosocial
Asociadas por lo Justo (JASS)
Bios Iguana
Buscando desaparecidos en México BUSCAME
Causa en Común
Casa del Migrante de Saltillo
Cátedra UNESCO de Derechos Humanos de la UNAM
Centro de Capacitación en Ecología y Salud para Campesinos – Defensoría del Derecho a la Salud (CCESC-DDS)
Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres A.C. (CEDEHM)
Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte
Centro de Estudios Sociales y Culturales Antonio de Montesinos A.C.
Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo, A.C. (CEPAD)
Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social A.C. (CENCOS)
Centro para el Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer A. C. (CEDIMAC)
Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos A.C. (CADHAC)
Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat, Oficina para América Latina
Comité Cerezo México
Comité de Familiares de Personas Detenidas Desaparecidas en Mexico, COFADDEM.
Comisión Ciudadana de Derechos Humanos del noroeste A.C (CCDH)
Comisión de Solidaridad y defensa de los derechos humanos
Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH)
Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca A.C:
Coordinación Alemana por los Derechos Humanos en México
El Día Después
Espacio de Coordinación de Organizaciones Civiles sobre Derechos Económicos, Sociales, Culturales y Ambientales (ESPACIO DESCA)
FIAN sección México
Fundación Abogacía Española
Fundación Find
Fundación para la Justicia y el estado Democrático de Derechos A.C.
Idea A.C.
Justice Mexico Now (UK)
La Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias (AMARC)
La Sandía Digital, Laboratorio de Cultura Audiovisual A.C.
Laboratorio de Innovación para la Paz
Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario, A.C. (IMDEC)
Instituto para la Seguridad y Democracia (INSYDE)
México vía Berlín
MISEREOR
Movimiento Morelense en Contra de la Minería
Observatorio de Violencia Social y de Género de Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez
Observatorio Internacional para la Abogacía en Riesgo.
Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos
Otros Mundos/Chiapas
Procesos Integrales para la Autogestión de los Pueblos (PIAP)
Red Ciudadana de No Violencia y Dignidad Humana
Red Mexicana de Afectadas/os por la Minería (REMA)

National network of Human Rights Civil Organisms “All Rights for All” (composed of 87 organizations in 23 states if the Mexican Republic):

Academia Hidalguense de Educación y Derechos Humanos A.C. (ACADERH) (Hidalgo); Agenda LGBT (Estado de México); Alianza Sierra Madre, A.C. (Chihuahua); Aluna Acompañamiento Psicosocial, A.C.(Ciudad de México); Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (AsiLegal) (Ciudad de México); Asociación Jalisciense de Apoyo a los Grupos Indígenas, A.C. (AJAGI) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Asociación para la Defensa de los Derechos Ciudadanos “Miguel Hidalgo” (Jacala Hgo.); Bowerasa, A.C. “Haciendo Camino” (Chihuahua, Chih.); Casa del Migrante Saltillo (Saltillo, Coah.); Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, A.C. (Ciudad de México); Centro de Capacitación y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos e Indígenas, Asociación Civil (CECADDHI) (Chihuahua); Centro “Fray Julián Garcés” Derechos Humanos y Desarrollo Local, A. C. (Tlaxcala, Tlax.); Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador, A.C. (CAT) (Ciudad de México); Centro de Derechos de la Mujeres de Chiapas (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Don Sergio” (Jiutepec, Mor.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas”, A. C. (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria O.P.”, A. C. (Ciudad de México); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Matías de Córdova”, A.C. (Tapachula, Chis.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Juan Gerardi”, A. C. (Torreón, Coah.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez”, A. C. (Ciudad de México); Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña, Tlachinollan, A. C. (Tlapa, Gro.); Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (Chihuahua); Centro de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos del Sur de Veracruz “Bety Cariño”, A.C. (Tatahuicapan de Juárez, Ver.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa, A.C (Tonalá, Chis.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte (Cd. Juárez, Chih.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Toaltepeyolo (Orizaba, Veracruz); Centro de Derechos Humanos Victoria Diez, A.C. (León, Gto.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Zeferino Ladrillero (CDHZL) (Estado de México); Centro de Derechos Indígenas “Flor y Canto”, A. C. (Oaxaca, Oax.); Centro de Derechos Indígenas A. C. (Bachajón, Chis.); Centro de Investigación y Capacitación Propuesta Cívica A. C. (Propuesta Cívica) (Ciudad de México); Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo, A. C. (CEPAD) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Ciudad de México); Centro de Reflexión y Acción Laboral (CEREAL-Guadalajara) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos “Fray Juan de Larios”, A.C. (Saltillo, Coah.); Centro Juvenil Generando Dignidad (Comalcalco, Tabasco); Centro Kalli Luz Marina (Orizaba, Ver.); Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) (Ciudad de México); Centro Mujeres (La Paz, BCS.); Centro Regional de Defensa de DDHH José María Morelos y Pavón, A.C. (Chilapa, Gro.); Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos “Bartolomé Carrasco”, A.C. (BARCA) (Oaxaca, Oax.); Ciencia Social Alternativa, A.C. KOOKAY (Mérida, Yuc.); Ciudadanía Lagunera por los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (CILADHAC) (Torreón, Coah.); Colectivo contra la Tortura y la Impunidad (CCTI) (Ciudad de México); Colectivo Educación para la Paz y los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (CEPAZDH) (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis.); Comisión Ciudadana de Derechos Humanos del Noroeste (Mexicali, Baja California); Comisión de Derechos Humanos y Laborales del Valle de Tehuacán, A.C. (Tehuacán, Pue.); Comisión de Solidaridad y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (COSYDDHAC) (Chihuahua, Chih.); Comisión Independiente de Derechos Humanos de Morelos, A. C. (CIDHMOR) (Cuernavaca, Mor.); Comisión Regional de Derechos Humanos “Mahatma Gandhi”, A. C. (Tuxtepec, Oax.); Comité Cerezo (Ciudad de México); Comité Cristiano de Solidaridad Monseñor Romero (Ciudad de México); Comité de Defensa de las Libertades Indígenas (Palenque, Chis.); Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha A.C. (CODIGODH) (Oaxaca, Oax.); Comité de Derechos Humanos “Fr. Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada”, A. C. (Ocosingo, Chis.); Comité de Derechos Humanos “Sierra Norte de Veracruz”, A. C. (Huayacocotla, Ver.); Comité de Derechos Humanos Ajusco (Ciudad de México); Comité de Derechos Humanos de Colima No Gubermantal A. C. (Colima, Col.); Comité de Derechos Humanos de Comalcalco, A. C. (CODEHUCO) (Comalcalco, Tab); Comité de Derechos Humanos de Tabasco, A. C. (CODEHUTAB) (Villahermosa, Tab); Comité de Derechos Humanos y Orientación Miguel Hidalgo, A. C. (Dolores Hidalgo, Gto.); Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos “Hasta Encontrarlos”(Ciudad de México); Comité Sergio Méndez Arceo Pro Derechos Humanos de Tulancingo, Hgo A.C. (Tulancingo, Hgo.); Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria AC (CONTEC) (Chihuahua); El Caracol, A.C (Ciudad de México); Estancia del Migrante González y Martínez, A.C. (Querétaro, Qro.); Frente Cívico Sinaloense. Secretaría de Derechos Humanos (Culiacán, Sin.); Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho (Ciudad de México); Indignación, A. C. Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (Mérida, Yuc.); Instituto de Derechos Humanos Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Universidad Iberoamericana- Puebla (Puebla, Pue.); Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia (Ciudad de México); Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario, A. C. (IMDEC) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente. Programa Institucional de Derechos Humanos y Paz (Guadalajara, Jal.); Justicia, Derechos Humanos y Género, A.C. (Ciudad de México); La 72, Hogar-Refugio para Personas Migrantes (La 72) (Tenosique, Tabasco); Mujeres Indígenas por la Conservación, Investigación y Aprovechamiento de los Recursos Naturales, A. C. (CIARENA) (Oaxaca); Oficina de Defensoría de los Derechos de la Infancia A.C. (ODI) (Ciudad de México); Promoción de los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (PRODESCAC) (Estado de México); Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC) (Ciudad de México); Proyecto sobre Organización, Desarrollo, Educación e Investigación (PODER) (Ciudad de México); Red Solidaria de Derechos Humanos, A.C. (Morelia, Michoacán); Respuesta Alternativa, A. C. Servicio de Derechos Humanos y Desarrollo Comunitario (San Luis Potosí); Servicio, Paz y Justicia de Tabasco, A.C. (SERPATAB) (Villahermosa, Tab.); Servicios de Inclusión Integral, A.C. (SEIINAC) (Pachuca, Hgo.); Tequio Jurídico A.C. (Oaxaca, Oax.); VIHas de Vida (Guadalajara, Jal.); Voces Mesoamericanas, Acción con Pueblos Migrantes AC (San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas).
Sabuesos Guerreras A.C.
Servicio, Desarrollo y Paz, A.C. (SEDEPAC)
Servicio y Asesoría para la Paz (SERAPAZ)
Zacatecanas y Zacatecanos por la Paz

Individuals

Alberto Xicotencatl Carrasco, Presidente del Consejo Consultivo del Mecanismo para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas.
Alberto Athier
Alfredo Lecona Martínez
Alfredo Limas Hernández
Catalina Pérez Correa
Cecilia Saviñón Casas, Feminista / Nuevo León
Comité de Solidaridad México-Salzburgo
Daniel Vázquez
Investigador de tiempo completo del IIJ-UNAM
Investigador de tiempo parcial de la FLACSO-México.
Daniel Giménez Cacho
Denise Dresser
Dra Gloria Ramirez
Edith Hanel
Fernando Ríos
José Mario de la Garza Marroquín
Jesús Sarabia Contreras Torreón Coahuila
Jorge Javier Romero Vadillo
Ixchel Cisneros Soltero
Lídice Ramos, Académica de la Univresidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Lylia Palacios, Académica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
Santiago Corcuera Cabezut
Paola Zabala Saeb
Pablo Romo Cedano
Ruth Fierro Pineda
Raymundo Sandoval
Gabino Gómez Escárcega
Marcela Villalobos Andrade
Michel Chamberlin
Maite Azuela
Mariclare Acosta
María Isabel Cruz Bernal
María Dolores Estrada, Feminista / Nuevo León
Maricruz Flores, Feminista e Intengrante del Colectivo Plural de Mujeres / Monterrey, N.L.
Ricardo Loewe
Rosalinda Zavala Salazar, Feminista
Sandra H. Cardona, Feminista
Séverine Durin, Académica del CIESAS Noreste
Walter Schnöll

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Oaxaca/International: WOAT Warns about State Inaction in Disappearance Case of Ernesto Sernas Garcia

@Zona Roja

On October 10th, 17 months after the forced disappearance of Dr. Ernesto Sernas Garcia, the World Organization Against Torture (WOAT) published a video in which it denounced the inaction of the Mexican State in the case. Miguel Martin Zumalacarregui, Director of the WOAT in Brussels, Belgium, called on the federal authorities to “take action on the matter,” as well as to initiate an effective search to find Sernas Garcia’s whereabouts and he be presented alive. It also reiterated its support for those who make up the Sol Rojo (Red Sun) organization.

“It has been 500 days, 500 days in what has been an important mobilization by human rights organizations in Oaxaca, Mexico and internationally, 500 days in which it has been achieved that the United Nations Rapporteur show her concern with on the subject, 500 days in which the Mexican authorities have not taken action on the matter,” it said.

It should be remembered that, according to the Front Line Defender organization, on May 10th, 2018, the lawyer and university professor Dr. Ernesto Sernas Garcia disappeared in San Agustin de las Juntas, Oaxaca. His disappearance “coincided with a crucial moment of a criminal process in which he legally represented 23 defenders, whose detention in 2015 was declared arbitrary by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its Opinion 17/2016. The case is being followed by the UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances and four members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances condemned the lack of significant progress in the investigation.”

For more information in Spanish:

Dr. Sernas Presentación con vida (OMCT, 10 de octubre de 2019)

Denuncia OMCT inacción del Estado para iniciar búsqueda efectiva de Ernesto Sernas (El Universal, 11 de octubre de 2019)

Organización Mundial contra la Tortura exige aparición con vida de Ernesto Sernas (Zona Roja, 12 de octubre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Oaxaca/Internacional: A un año de su desaparición, no hay avances en la desaparición del defensor de derechos humanos Ernesto Sernas García (May 16, 2019)

Oaxaca: 22 Members of Sol Rojo (Red Sun) Released (November 14, 2018)

Chiapas: Migration Authorities Stop Migrant Caravan in Tapachula

@Daniel Zacarias

On October 13th, 2019, elements of the National Migration Institute (INM in its Spanish acronym) as well as the Chiapas State Police and the National Guard launched an operation to stop a caravan of migrants, which started early in the evening.

Around five o’clock in the morning between 1,500 and 3,000 Central American, Caribbean and African migrants, including young people and children, left the “Miguel Hidalgo” central park of Tapachula, Chiapas, heading to Tijuana. They intended to make a stop in Mexico City and organize a meeting with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to ask for his help and accelerate their migration processes.

To date, the National Institute of Migration and the Mexican Commission for Assistance to Refugees (COMAR in its Spanish acronym) have not responded to their requests: they ask that they be granted an Office of Departure or regularize their stay one way or another. That is why thousands of migrants have been stranded for several months in the Tapachula immigration stations without employment and basic services.

The caravan moved rapidly along the state’s coastal highway that leads to the southern state of Oaxaca towards Huixtla, its first planned stop. It crossed two checkpoints guarded by State Police and the National Guard, one of them being the Viva Mexico bridge where they shouted “Goodbye, Tapachula!” in front of the public forces.

Around 4:30 p.m. 30 kilometers from the point of departure, at Xochiltepec community, the caravan was stopped by elements of the INM, the State Police and the National Guard. Migrants were surrounded by the authorities, causing them to flee among the bushes, pastures and agricultural crops. Before that, about 150 had been assured that they were behind the caravan and were transferred to the Siglo XXI Migration Station in Tapachula.

Luis Garcia Villagran, lawyer and activist for the rights of migrants, who accompanied the caravan said: “They came on us like there was a war, rather there is a sordid war here. I was with my wife and about 200 agents arrived, between Migration and National Guard. We showed them that they all brought documentation, that they were all shelter applicants. Then the pulling began, the pulling changed to beatings. They even took children to the hospital.”

However, the official INM statement states that its officials “convinced” foreigners to return to Tapachula using trucks provided by the authorities, or on foot along the road. It says that “with full respect for human rights [the INM] carried out actions to invite foreign people who made up the contingent that left the city of Tapachula to go to the Institute to know the options to regularize their stay in the country.”

It also said that all the migrants who participated in the caravan were transferred to the Siglo XXI Migration Station while the activist Irineo Mujica, president of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said that about 300 were locked in Siglo XXI, another 280 in Tuxtla Gutierrez and a small Group of 90 in Huixtla. Cases of family separation were also recorded.

This caravan was the first mass migration movement since Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ratified an agreement with Donald Trump, president of the United States, which aims to contain illegal migration and occurred after numerous protests made by migrants in Tapachula, demanding that the authorities expedite their paperwork so that they can continue their journey to the United States.

For more information in Spanish:

Nueva caravana de migrantes sale de Tapachula, Chiapas (Multimedios, el 12 de octubre de 2019)

Frenan autoridades caravanas de migrantes (Cuarto Poder, el 13 de octubre de 2019)

Las autoridades mexicanas paran una caravana de casi 3.000 migrantes, incluyendo cubanos (14 y medio,l 13 de octubre de 2019)

Guardia Nacional bloquea caravana de migrantes africanos en Chiapas (Animal Político, 13 de octubre de 2019)

Migración detiene y encierra a solicitantes de refugio pese a tener papeles (Animal Político, el 14 de octubre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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)

Chiapas: Federal Police Attack Migrants and Journalists at Migration Center in Tapachula (September 2, 2019)

Chiapas/National/International: Human Rights Organizations Demand End to Child and Adolescent Migrant Detentions (May 26, 2019)

National/International: CNDH Requests Special Measures for Migrants (May 8, 2019)

Guerrero: Disappearance of Activist in Tlapa de Comonfort Reported. Member of Regional Council of Agrarian Authorities in Malinaltepec

Photo @ Tlachinollan

In the afternoon of October 11th, a member of the Popular Front of La Montaña (FPM in its Spanish acronym) and the Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of the State of Guerrero (MOLPEG in its Spanish acronym), Arnulfo Ceron Soriano, was reported missing in Tlapa de Comonfort.

According to a public complaint from the La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, relatives reported that the last information they had about him was when Ceron Soriano “left his home to go to talk at a recovery center for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), located in the Caltitlan neighborhood Tlapa de Comonfort city, Guerrero, where he never arrived.”

On October 12th, the van in which “the activist Ceron Soriano was traveling in the Magisterio neighborhood was found abandoned, even with the keys in it, without any further indication of him. Due to these facts, a complaint was lodged with the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Enforced Disappearance and Search for Missing Persons in the city of Chilpancingo, Guerrero, to which the investigation file number 12022510400165121019 was assigned.”

According to different newspapers 11 social organizations have stressed “that Cerón Soriano accused the mayor of Tlapa of having threatened him because of the defense he made so that street traders were not evicted.”

On October 13th, social and family organizations “took over the town hall of Tlapa to demand the mayor’s presentation of the indigenous leader and demanded that the Ministerial Police, the State, the National Guard begin an operation” to find the missing activist.

For its part, the State of Guerrero Human Rights Commission (CDHEG in its Spanish acronym), urged the corresponding agencies of the state and federal government, to speed up investigations.

During the same weekend, on Friday, Isaias “N”, president of the Commissariat of Paraje Montero Communal Assets, in the municipality of Malinaltepec, was killed, El Sol de Acapulco reported. The victim “had attended meetings in the morning that Friday and in the afternoon on his return he was murdered near the police station.” He was “member of the Regional Council of Agricultural Authorities in Defense of the Territory (CRAADT in its Spanish acronym), which opposes the mining exploitation of the region.”

For more information in Spanish:

ACCIÓN URGENTE: DESAPARECEN AL LUCHADOR SOCIAL DE LA MONTAÑA: ARNULFO CERÓN SORIANO (Tlachinollan, 13 de octubre de 2019)

Exhorta la CDHEG agilizar investigaciones por desaparición de Arnulfo Cerón Soriano (El Sol de Acapulco, 13 de octubre de 2019)

Un defensor de la montaña de Guerrero es asesinado y otro es reportado desaparecido el fin de semana (Sin Embargo, 14 de octubre de 2019)

Identifican a tres hombres asesinados en distintos hechos (El Sol de Acapulco, 14 de octubre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Declaran libres de minería los municipios de Malinaltepec y San Luis Acatlán. (October 8, 2019)

Guerrero: Denuncian una “campaña de desprestigio” en contra de una abogada de Tlachinollan y una reportera del El Sur de Acapulco (11 de julio de 2019)

National: Demand for Resignation of Head of National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women (CONAVIM)

At a press conference on October 8th, more than 350 civil society organizations and human rights defenders from 17 states of the Republic asked President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB in its Spanish acronym), Olga Sanchez Cordero, to remove the current head of the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women (CONAVIM in its Spanish acronym), Maria Candelaria Ochoa Avalos, from office, considering that Ochoa Avalos “has not promoted or carried out forceful actions that can address the problem that every day ends the lives of ten women.”

They also claimed that Ochoa Avalo prevents the active participation of civil society organizations in the mechanisms for monitoring Gender Violence Alerts (GVA) declared in the country. “The commissioner has shown and told us, in practice and in court, that we have no dialogue with her, that she has no capacity for dialogue. We are not questioning if she is an expert on the issue of violence against women, we are questioning her inability to dialogue with the organizations that are with the victims fighting for access to justice day by day,” they claimed. They also denounced her role in delaying the declaration for Mexico City, as well as in rejecting the issuance of a GVA in Zacatecas and Verecruz.

“Instead of complying with its obligations in the implementation of the GVA mechanism and designing the implementation plans and methodology for monitoring and evaluating the 19 declared GVAs and convening the monitoring groups – as requested in several states – the current commissioner has been dedicated to sidelining organizations to prosecute women’s rights, instead of guaranteeing them as mandated,” the signatories said. More generally, they also considered that more than seven months after the presentation of the Government Plan of Emerging Actions to Guarantee the Integrity, Security and Life of Women and Girls of Mexico, “to date, the solution to the problem has not had considerable progress, contrary to this, the violence remains and intensifies.”

For more information in Spanish:

ONG exigen renuncia de la titular de Conavim; la acusan de obstaculizar acceso a la justicia de las mujeres (Animal Político, 8 de octubre de 2019)

Organizaciones demandan la renuncia de la titular de Conavim (La Jornada, 8 de octubre de 2019)

Víctimas y organizaciones civiles exigen renuncia de la titular de Conavim (Vanguardia, 8 de octubre de 2019)

CARTA PÚBLICA : Ante omisión y falta de eficacia,ONG exigen renuncia de Titular de CONAVIM (OSC, 8 de octubre de 2019)

Vídeo de la conferencia de prensa (OSC, 8 de octubre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: Spotlight Initiative against Gender Violence Launched in Mexico (June 6, 2019)

National: Over 424,000 on Mexican #Me Too (May 7, 2019)

National: Presentation of ‘Emergent Plan to Guarantee the Integrity, Security and Life of Women and Girls in Mexico” (March 14, 2019)

Nacional : OSC denuncian omisiones en investigación y combate a feminicidios (August 16, 2018)

National/International: “Final Observations on the Ninth Periodic Report from Mexico, the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women” Published (August 6, 2018)

Chiapas: Second Suspected Leader of Armed Gang in Santa Martha, Chenalho Arrested

Photo @ Gaby Coutinho

After the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE in its Spanish acronym) arrested Mr. Efrain Ruiz Alvarez last month, another alleged leader of an armed group of the Santa Martha community, Chenalho was arrested by ministerial policemen, Enrique Lopez Perez, in recent days.

The arrests are related to the old agrarian conflict between residents of the Santa Martha community and the municipality of Aldama. Both alleged leaders are accused “of firing heavy caliber guns against residents of villages in Aldama.” In the case of Lopez Perez, he is accused “of the crime of attacks on peace (…) in October 2015 shooting with a firearm towards the community of Tselejopotoptic, which caused the displacement of families from Aldama.”

It should be remembered that on June 4th, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, constitutional and traditional authorities of Aldama and Chenalho, accompanied by Governor Rutilio Escandon Cadenas and the federal undersecretary for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez, signed a non-aggression pact that they expected would put an end to an initially agrarian conflict over 60 hectares of territory between both municipalities that has lasted more than four decades, which has caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of displaced families.

Despite signing of the pact, different sources reported that attacks followed by both parties.

According to information from La Jornada residents of Aldama “commented that since Ruiz Alvarez was arrested, firing of high-caliber firearms from Santa Martha to places in that municipality has reduced.” But that the situation remains tense since “after the arrest of the leader, representatives of Santa Martha have threatened to hold their neighbors from Aldama to exchange them for the detainee.”

For more information in Spanish:

Detienen a líder de grupo armado de Santa Martha en Chenalhó  (La Jornada, 6 de octubre de 2019)

Detienen a líder del grupo armado Santa Martha en Chiapas (La Jornada, 13 septiembre de 2019)

Detienen a presunto líder de grupo armado de Chenalhó (Diario de Chiapas, 8 de octubre de 2019)

Detienen a presunto dirigente de grupo armado de Chenalhó, Chiapas (El Universal, 13 de septiembre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Sigue la violencia entre Aldama y Chenalhó a pesar de pacto de no agresión. (8 de junio de 2019)

Chiapas: Firman pacto de no agresión autoridades de Aldama y Chenalhó (5 de junio de 2019)

Chiapas: encuentran cuerpo del síndico de Aldama quien fungía como alcalde de dicho municipio (6 de mayo de 2019)

National: Mexico Sixth Most Dangerous Country for Environmentalists According to Global Witness; 12 Activists Killed in 2019

@Cuartoscuro

According to data from the human rights organization Amnesty International, at least 12 environmental activists were killed in Mexico since the beginning of the year to date. Seven of those murders were carried out in the month of January alone. With five attacks in Oaxaca and four in Chiapas, these two states have become the most dangerous regions for environmentalists.

A similar process can be observed worldwide. After the Philippines (30 defenders killed in 2018), Colombia (24), India (23), Brazil (20) and Guatemala (16), Mexico with 12 is the sixth most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders, according to Global Witness NGO reports. In 2017, 15 defenders were killed and in 2018 another 14.

The first victim of the year was Sinar Corzo Esquinca, a water, housing and health rights activist, who also defended the victims of the 2017 earthquake in Oaxaca and Chiapas. He died on January 3rd from gunshot wounds in Arriaga, Chiapas, after he was shot.

Among the other victims were the environmentalists Noe Jimenez Pablo, Jose Santiago Lopez, Rafael Murua Manriquez, Gustavo Cruz Mendoza, Samir Flores, Eulalia Lilia Diaz, Luis Armando Fuentes, Telosforo Santiago Enriquez, Jose Luis Alvarez Flores and the human rights lawyer Juan Quintanar Gomez, who was killed in the center of the city of Oaxaca on the way to his office.

“These attacks (against indigenous people) are almost 80% of the cases. In the case of Oaxaca, Puebla and Michoacan, 100% of those attacked are indigenous,” said Gustavo Sanchez, the director of the Mexican Network of Forest Farmers Organizations (MOCAF in its Spanish acronym).

Of the 14 activists killed in 2018, eleven were people from native villages according to Antonio Medina, representative of the Indigenous Tourism Network of Mexico (RITA in its Spanish acronym), given that 50% of Mexican territory belongs to indigenous peoples, meaning that a large part of the mines, material banks, water reserves and biodiversity of the country are part of their heritage and they are particularly affected by the megaprojects of the Mexican State.

In the face of the great aggression against environmentalists, the NGO Amnesty International recently launched the “No More Murders: Raise your Voice for Environmentalists in Mexico” campaign. According to its website, “it will be based on petitions, events and the dissemination of information and audiovisual materials through social networks, to denounce the murders of environmental defenders in Mexico.”

“This campaign is our way of highlighting the violence faced by environmental defenders in Mexico and recognizing their invaluable contribution to the health of the planet and the wellbeing of its inhabitants given the the disastrous effects of extractive exploitation, industrial pollution and climate change,” explained Erika Guevara Rosas, Director for the Americas of Amnesty International.

For more information in Spanish:

12 ambientalistas y defensores han sido asesinados este año; Oaxaca y Chiapas, los estados más peligrosos (Animal Político el 7 de octubre de 2019)

El 80 % de los activistas ambientales asesinados en México son indígenas (Infobae el 1 de agosto de 2019)

México, el sexto país más peligroso para defensores del medio ambiente; hubo 14 asesinatos en 2018 (Animal Político el 29 de julio de 2019)

México: Amnistía Internacional lanza campaña para urgir al Estado que proteja a las personas defensoras del medio ambiente (Amnistía Internacional el 1 de octubre de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Environmentalist Nora Lopez Murdered in Palenque (August 27, 2019)

Chiapas: denunciation of criminalization against environmental activists in San Cristóbal de Las Casas (January 4, 2019)

Chiapas/Tabasco: Ecologist Jose Luis Alvarez Flores Murdered (June 17, 2019)

Chiapas: Denuncian ataque contra defensor de los derechos humanos en San Cristóbal de las Casas (10 de junio de 2019)

National: 21 Environmental Defenders Murdered in 2018 (CEMDA) (April 1, 2019)

National: CEMDA 2017 Report Shows Increase in Vulnerability of Environmental Defenders (March 26, 2018)