International/Guerrero: Demands for Attorney General to Exhaust All Lines of Investigation Following New Information in Ayotzinapa Case

On April 12th, the newspaper Reforma reported that intercepted telephone conversations between members of the Guerreros Unidos de Chicago cartel and “armed en from Iguala” show that the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal Rural School in 2014 was ordered from the United States. According to the text revealed by the newspaper, the heads of that criminal organization gave orders from Chicago to involve police in the detention of students.

According to the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (PRODH in its Spanish acronym), an organization that accompanied the families of the students, “the messages show the weakness of the so-called “historical truth” of the PGR [Attorney General]. Particularly we refer to the message published with the words: “60 packages already saved and others with San Pedro”, assuming that the word “packages” refers to people, the message was sent on September 27th at 3:28 pm, which is in clear contradiction with the official theory: according to the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) at that time the students would have been executed and incinerated, while the message is clear that at that time they had “saved” packages.

The civil organizations Serapaz, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, Fundar and the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, noted that what was published by Reforma corroborates that the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was right to urge the Mexican State to open and exhaust the line of investigation related to the transfer of drugs from Mexico to the United States, specifically from Iguala to Chicago.

The PRODH Center stated that, “almost 43 months after the events, the messages confirm that the case cannot be closed and that the official explanation that has been given is unsatisfactory. In light of the revelation of Reforma, we demand that the PGR exhaust all lines of investigation that emerge from the messages, avoiding a hasty closure with electoral overtones and that the scrutiny of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the collaboration of the North American agencies are increased.”

For more information in Spanish:

Caso Ayotzinapa: Nueva Información de telefonía muestra falencias de versión oficial e impide dar por concluido el caso (Centro Prodh, 12 de abril de 2018)

Guiaron narcos desde Chicago ataques en Iguala (Reforma, 12 de abril de 2018)

Mensajes entre ‘Guerreros Unidos’ muestran “debilidad” de “verdad histórica” del caso Ayotzinapa: Centro Pro (Aristegui, 12 de abril de 2018)

Conversaciones entre líderes de Guerreros Unidos revelan que fueron hasta 60 los desaparecidos en Iguala (Animal Político, 12 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/Nacional/Internacional : Nuevos informes sobre caso Ayotzinapa (15 de marzo de 2018)

 

Guerrero: PGR buscará cerrar caso Ayotzinapa antes de diciembre (6 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero / México – Nacional: Ayotzinapa: Caravana Rompiendo el Silencio y el Olvido (3 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero / Nacional-México: Ayotzinapa a 40 meses de la desaparición de los 43 sigue la “indolencia” del gobierno (30 de enero de 2018)

Guerrero : Caso Ayotzinapa: reunión con el Consejo de la Judicatura Federal y 5ta visita oficial del Mecanismo de Seguimiento de la CIDH (8 de febrero de 2018)

Guerrero / Nacional-México: Ayotzinapa a 40 meses de la desaparición de los 43 sigue la “indolencia” del gobierno (30 de enero de 2018)

Guerrero: caso Ayotzinapa: se exige la entrega de vídeos del Palacio de Justicia de Iguala para conocer lo ocurrido (19 de enero de 2018)

Guerrero: Ayotzinapa, tercera audiencia de oficio en la CIDH: “el gobierno federal no quiere resolver el caso” (26 de octubre de 2017)

Guerrero/Nacional : A tres años de Ayotzinapa (2 de octubre de 2017)

Guerrero: tercera visita del mecanismo de seguimiento de la CIDH sobre le caso Ayotzinapa a casi tres años de los hechos (7 de septiembre)

Guerrero: Sesión de seguimiento de la CIDH del caso Ayotzinapa : avances nulos (10 de julio de 2017)

Guerrero/ Nacional: Madres y padres de los 43 consideran no acudir a la reunión con la PGR y la CIDH (20 de abril de 2017)

Advertisements

Guerrero: Judge Orders Guarantees for Rights to Water, Health and Dignified Treatment for 25 CECOP Prisoners

CECOP Prisoners (@Tlachinollan)

In the framework of the trial of 25 members of the Council of Ejidos and Opposition Communities to La Parota Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym) and the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police (CRAC-PC in its Spanish acronym), arrested on January 7th 2018, in La Concepción and currently imprisoned in Las Cruces Prison in Guerrero, four days of court hearings were held at the beginning of April in which the conditions of their imprisonment were verified.

The Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center denounced several violations of their human rights, including the restriction of family visits and their lawyers, lack of health care, water and adequate food, as well as the unjustified isolation they suffered by some and overcrowding by others.

The Acapulco prison and the state authorities filed a motion for nullity arguing that these allegations would not have been made in accordance with law on the matter. For its part, the defense stated that the violations reported were urgent because many of them put health, dignity and life at risk.

The Judge who reviewed the case ruled to respect the right to dignified treatment, water and adequate conditions for the imprisonment of those prisoners, including the fact that the leader Marco Antonio Suastegui must have space for recreation like the other prisoners.

The Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center celebrated that in the new Accusatory Criminal Justice System and with the new National Law of Criminal Enforcement, an enforcement judge is responsible for monitoring and supervising the rights of persons deprived of their liberty as well as the circumstances of imprisonment, infrastructure, health and food in prisons: “Prison systems are a cornerstone in the justice system, but it is the area where there are serious violations of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty. The lack of respect for rights and laws on the part of the authorities, as well as the idea of criminal law that sees the person deprived of liberty as a sick person who requires treatment, is nowadays in a situation of collapse in the prisons.”

For more information in Spanish:

Ordenan celda ‘digna’; agua, alimentación y visitas a presos de La Parota (Regeneración, 6 de abril de 2018)

BOLETÍN | Juez de ejecución ordena al Cerereso se garantice derecho al agua, a la salud y trato digno a los 25 del CECOP (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinllan, 8 de abril de 2018)

Juez ordena que se garantice el derecho al agua y a la salud a los 25 del CECOP (Somos el medio, 8 de abril de 2018)

Los 25 presos del Cecop (La Jornada de Guerrero, 9 de abril de 2018)

Respeto a los derechos humanos de los 25 del Cecop (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinllan, 9 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Acción urgente: Ejecuciones extrajudiciales y detenciones de policías comunitarios y de miembros del CECOP (10 de enero de 2018)

Guerrero: Heridos siete integrantes del Cecop (3 de mayo de 2016)

Guerrero: Liberan a vocero del CECOP, Marco Antonio Suástegui (24 de agosto de 2015)

National/Guerrero: CNDH Report Causes PGR Criticisms

Photo @ Milenio

On March 28th, the president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) delivered his 2017 Activities Report where he took the opportunity to ask the Federal Government for the security that Mexico needs.

Regarding the government of the current president Enrique Peña Nieto, it noted “Mexico has not experienced a significant and objective change towards greater respect and validity of human rights; nor has our democratic state of law been substantially strengthened, nor has the environment been changed positively, when millions of Mexicans confronted each other on a daily basis, characterized by the binomials of insecurity and violence, impunity and corruption, inequality and poverty.”

He also regretted that there were major attacks against women, journalists and migrants.

The CNDH “asserted that the law enforcement system “is overwhelmed” and warned that in the current six-year term of office the human rights situation is unfavorable, including the Iguala case, where crimes against students of the normal school of Ayotzinapa were perpetrated.”

On these allegations in the case of Iguala, the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) responded by means of a statement that “it does not correspond” to the CNDH to make inquiries into it and that this agency “cannot replace” the office of the Attorney General in its functions.

Given these criticisms of the PGR, the Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) supported the CNDH’s actions and assured that “autonomous human rights organizations do not seek confrontation, but rather contribute to truth and justice.”

For more information in Spanish:

González Pérez demanda más seguridad a Peña Nieto (Sexenio, 10 de abril de 2018)

Desfavorable balance en derechos humanos: González Pérez  (La Jornada, 28 de marzo de 2018)

ONU respalda investigación de CNDH por caso Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 4 de abril de 2018)

Molestia de la PGR, porque somos “incómodos”: CNDH (Vanguardia, 3 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/Nacional/Internacional : Nuevos informes sobre caso Ayotzinapa (15 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero: PGR buscará cerrar caso Ayotzinapa antes de diciembre (6 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero / México – Nacional: Ayotzinapa: Caravana Rompiendo el Silencio y el Olvido (3 de marzo de 2018)

Guerrero / Nacional-México: Ayotzinapa a 40 meses de la desaparición de los 43 sigue la “indolencia” del gobierno (30 de enero de 2018)

Nacional : EPN promulga Ley de Seguridad Interior. CNDH promoverá acciones de inconstitucionalidad. (29 de diciembre de 2017)

International/National/Oaxaca: Fox, Calderon and over 100 Former Officials to be Denounced before International Criminal Court for Crimes against Humanity

Photo @ impacto.mx

On April 5th, 2018, the ombusman of Oaxaca Arturo Peimbert, confirmed in an interview with La Jornada that in July he will present a complaint before the International Criminal Court against former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon, the former governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and a dozen senior officials of the Mexican State for crimes against humanity committed during the socio-political conflict of 2006 and 2007 in Oaxaca.

Peimbert told La Jornada that the actions of the government followed a “systematic and generalized pattern of low and medium intensity warfare, as a strategy to contain social protest.” The magazine Proceso specifically reports “serious crimes, particularly murders, tortures and forced disappearances”, committed by federal, state and municipal police bodies, which after 12 years “are in absolute impunity.”

La Jornada said that, “according to the final report of the Truth Commission for the case of Oaxaca 2006-2007, 30 civilians were killed during the attacks of armed groups against the barricades”, as well as containing “a list of more than one hundred officials, deemed responsible” during this conflict.

In his interview Peimbert added that “to take this case before the Criminal Court, we are inspired by the one presented by Michael Chamberlin, of the Fray Juan de Larios Human Rights Committee, on Coahuila. Therein the concerted action of the Zetas criminal group with the governors Humberto and Ruben Moreira is documented, and consequently the proven disappearance of more than a 1,800 people and the massacres of Allende and Piedras Negras. Because they are not isolated cases, but a pattern of systematic and widespread violence, the ICC admitted it in June of last year. “

For more information in Spanish:

Estado sigue patrón de guerra de baja intensidad contra protesta social: Peimbert (La Jornada, 5 de abril de 2018)

Denunciarán a Fox, Calderón y Ruiz ante la Corte Penal Internacional por crímenes de lesa humanidad (Proceso, 21 de marzo de 2018)

Denunciarán a Felipe Calderón ante Corte Penal Internacional (La Jornada, 21 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: denuncian amenazas contra integrantes de la Comisión de la Verdad conformada para investigar el conflicto político-social del 2006 (23 de abril de 2015)

Oaxaca: A 8 años del conflicto de 2006, sigue la impunidad. Se conforma Comisión de la Verdad (27 de noviembre de 2018)

National: Relatives of the Disappeared Oppose Changes to General Law of Forced Disappearance

Members of the Movement for Our Disappeared in Mexico considered “unacceptable” and a “setback” that the National Search Commission (CNB in its Spanish acronym) is under the tutelage of the National Security Commission (CNS in its Spanish acronym), so they demanded that the operation of the body be in charge of the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB in its Spanish acronym) as agreed with the groups of relatives of disappeared persons in the framework of the elaboration and approval of the General Law on Enforced Disappearance, Disappearance by Individuals and the National Search System.

In a letter addressed to President Enrique Peña Nieto and to the Secretary of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, on the occasion of the publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation of the “Agreement by which the decentralized administrative bodies of the Ministry of the Interior are organically assigned”, The Movement expressed that it regretted “profoundly that the Secretary of the Interior has broken commitments previously taken on by that secretariat and that, unilaterally, it has decided to organically weaken the body responsible for facing the most important challenge in Mexico in the area of ​​human rights ( …) with his decision, the Secretary of the Interior sends a message of disdain to the work carried out jointly with dozens of collectives of relatives and civil society.”

They pointed out that “due to the extreme gravity and political relevance of the problem of disappearances in our country, the position and organic structure of the CNB must reflect the government’s commitment to this issue.” They stated that, “the appropriate thing is for the CNB to be directly attached to the Secretary of the Interior, since this would allow it to better fulfill its attributions of coordination, conduction and inter-institutional linkage of a comprehensive policy for the search of persons”. They also indicated that they do not trust the CNS, because “it has not favored the clarification of the multiple cases of missing federal policemen, how can we expect them to help find others?”

For more information in Spanish:

Familiares de desaparecidos exigen a Peña que Comisión de Búsqueda dependa de Segob (Proceso, 2 de abril de 2018)

Comisión de Búsqueda dejará de ser un órgano independiente; es un retroceso: activistas (Animal Político, 2 de abril de 2018)

Se oponen a reformas a la Ley de Desaparición Forzada (Vanguardia, 2 de abril de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : ONU se pronuncia ante entrada en vigor de Ley sobre Desaparición forzada (19 de enero de 2018)

Nacional: Promulgan Ley contra la Desaparición forzada (25 de noviembre de 2017)

Nacional: aprueban Ley de Desaparición forzada (17 de octubre de 2017)

Chiapas: Military Spying and Harassment of Indigenous Communities in Palenque, Ocosingo, Chilon and La Libertad Reported

Press conference (@Fray Bartolome de Las Casas)

At a press conference held at its offices on March 21st, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Fryba) and indigenous representatives of 120 communities and Tseltal ejidos, Choles, Tsostiles, Zoques and Mestizos reported that they documented acts of spying and harassment by the military against indigenous peoples in recent times.

They argued that “under the pretext of the application of the Internal Security Law and the “fight against crime”, communities living on the so-called southern border road in the municipalities of Palenque, Ocosingo, Chilon and La Libertad, Chiapas, have been violated in their right to security and personal integrity by elements of the 18th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army, based in Tenosique, Tabasco.” They detailed that the acts of “surveillance, harassment, intimidation, threats and criminalization by the Mexican Army (…) put at risk the life and freedom of those who make up the Organization of Autonomous Peoples in Defense of Uses and Customs.”

For the same reason and since February 21st, by community agreement, the Autonomous Peoples Organization began to hold peaceful demonstrations with the distribution of flyers in the stretches of El Tulipan, Tabasco, and Chancala, Chiapas, to request the return of livestock confiscated in a protest on February 16th and the cessation of harassment.

In the framework of these actions they retained a person who took photos of them, who identified himself as Ezequiel Lopez Lopez, originally from Puebla and who, they discovered, was a soldier in civilian clothing, spying on them. Several soldiers went to the place where he was being held to negotiate his release. However, “while a negotiating table was being set up, the SEDENA besieged the community: some 200 soldiers from Tenosique arrived in the vicinity, cut off access, as well as communication to the outside and electricity and were stationed in attack position, while deploying a media campaign to discredit the organization. On February 24th, government authorities released the confiscated livestock and signed an agreement, which established that there would be no reprisals against members of the Organization. In addition, Ezekiel was handed over without harm.”

However, after these events, the communities and ejidos of the Organization of Autonomous Peoples in Defense of the Uses and Customs of Palenque have reported “greater vigilance and military patrols in the region, as well as an increase in intermittent lockdowns of elements of the Mexican Army, who have shown hostile, threatening and discriminatory behavior.”

When their behavior was questioned, they argued aggressively that “they are powers that the Internal Security Law gives them and that, as indigenous people, they have to abide by the new rules.”

For all the above, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Fryba) urged the Ministry of National Defense to cease acts of harassment, intimidation, threats and criminalization against those who are organized peacefully in the construction of alternative of ways of life, and also respect for the collective rights of indigenous peoples.

For more information in Spanish:

Ejército mexicano realiza espionaje a pueblos originarios en Chiapas (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 21 de marzo de 2018)

El Frayba denuncia espionaje y hostigamiento militar contra indígenas en Chiapas (Proceso, 21 de marzo de 2018)

Municipios de Chiapas, prisioneros del ejército: Frayba (Juicio Político, 22 de marzo de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : EPN promulga Ley de Seguridad Interior. CNDH promoverá acciones de inconstitucionalidad. (29 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Más aprobaciones controvertidas de Leyes Mexicanas (20 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Senado aprueba Ley de seguridad interior (16 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Ante rechazo a la Ley de Seguridad Interior, EPN pide ampliar “los espacios de diálogo y acercamiento con las distintas organizaciones de la sociedad civil” (11 de diciembre de 2017)

Nacional: Entre protestas se aprueba Ley de seguridad interior (1 de diciembre de 2017)

 

Chiapas: Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez Named as New President of State Human Commission Rights

Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez (@Twitter CEDH)

On March 15th, the Chiapas Congress approved the appointment of Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez as the new president of the State Human Rights Commission (CEDH in its Spanish acronym), replacing Juan Oscar Trinidad Palacios, who took office as head of the Supreme Court of Justice of the State last January.

Zepeda Bermudez, who until recently served as general coordinator of the cabinet of the governor Manuel Velasco Coello and before as head of the Planning Secretariat, was chosen from a shortlist in which the academic Delia Estrada Sanchez and Diego Cadenas Gordillo, former director of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center and former executive secretary of the CEDH, also participated.

Cadenas Gordillo informed that he will challenge the appointment of Zepeda Bermudez when he considers that he is “an businessman, former public, political, and PAN official, which makes him ineligible because he does not guarantee autonomy” of the CEDH.

For his part, Pedro Faro Navarro, current director Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights, said in media that, “the state government and Manuel Velasco are still in the dynamic of imposing key positions on inexperienced people who have been jumping around positions in the different governments.” He assured that Zepeda Bermudez does not have any profile or experience in the defense of human rights. He regretted that “the people of Chiapas have institutions that have cost a lot of effort to create and that are not functioning to the needs of the population because of the violence generated by the State, which continues to commit serious violations of human rights.”

In recent days, Juan Jose Zepeda Bermudez, presented his work plan based on three fundamental axes; the promotion of human rights mainly in indigenous languages, the rapprochement of services and the strengthening of the representation of this institution before governmental and non-governmental organizations.

For more information in Spanish:

Designan a presidente de CEDH en Chiapas (La Jornada, 15 de marzo de 2018)

Nombran a empresario y ex funcionario como presidente de la CEDH (Chiapas Paralelo, 16 de marzo de 2018)

Frayba condena nombramiento Zepeda Bermúdez como ombudsman chiapaneco (Tribuna Chiapas, 16 de marzo de 2018)

Zepeda Bermúdez habla del rumbo que tomará la CEDH (Aquí Noticias, 18 de marzo de 2018)