Guerrero: Follow-up Session of IACHR on Ayotzinapa Case Reports No Progress

Photo @ SIPAZ

On July 6th, the Ayotzinapa hearing was held at the 163rd session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Lima, Peru. The IACHR expressed its concern about poor progress.

According to the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, the stagnation of the investigations, the use of technology to spy on victims and members of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE) and the inconsistencies of the historical truth were exposed, given that it was recognized that nine of the students’ phones were active after September 26, 2014.

Given this lack of progress, the relatives of Ayotzinapa informed the IACHR that they had to protest to demand truth and justice, but the response has been criminalization, threats, physical attacks, defamation campaigns and even spying. They also recalled that there are lines of investigation that the State agreed to resolve in June but to date have not presented results.

For more information in Spanish:


Estado mexicano exhibe ante la CIDH resultados en caso Ayotzinapa (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinolla, a 7 de julio de 2017)

Celulares activos tras desaparición de los 43 (La Jornada Maya, 6 de julio de 2017)
Analiza CIDH caso Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 6 de julio de 2017)

Evaluará la CIDH los avances de mecanismo para el caso Ayotzinapa, este jueves en Lima, Perú (El Sur de Acapulco, a 4 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:


Guerrero / Chiapas: Llega la Caravana de Ayotzinapa a San Cristóbal de las Casas (3 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)

Guerrero : padres de los 43 participan en audiencia de la CIDH (22 de marzo de 2017)

Guerrero/Chiapas: Ayotzinapa Caravan Arrives to San Cristobal de Las Casas

Press conference of the relatives of the 43 disappeared student teachers from Ayotzinapa in Cathedral Square, San Cristobal de Las Casas.  Photo @ Sipaz

On July 1st, the South Southeast Caravan of relatives and students of the 43 disappeared student teachers from Ayotzinapa (2014) arrived to San Cristobal de Las Casas on the last stage of their journey. The caravan was welcomed by students from the Jacinto Canek Intercultural Normal School, members of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE in its Spanish acronym), as well as various groups and social organizations. The objective of the caravan was to make known the “four essential roads for truth and justice” of the case:

– open a thorough investigation into elements of the Mexican Army present during the night of September 26th, 2014.

– the arrest of members of the federal, municipal, ministerial and State police that carried at least 25 Huitzuco students.

– analyze the students’ cell phone activity and their geographical location and hand over the results to the relatives.

– to investigate the transfer of the drugs from Iguala to Chicago as a motive for the aggression.

At a press conference, Felipe de la Cruz, a spokesman for relatives, revealed that, “two telephones of the 17 student taechers continued to function and a message was sent from Military Camp Number 1 in Mexico City and another from the Center Research and National Security (CISEN in its Spanish acronym). And through investigations of independent bodies, it is known that the students Julio Cesar Ramirez Nava and Daniel Solis Gallardo, were killed with bullets manufactured by the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA in its Spanish acronym).”

At the end of the press conference, Felipe Cruz said that “the State crime committed in Ayotzinapa cannot be forgotten because if we stop fighting today it will happen again and other Mexican families will live that nightmare.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Reciben en San Cristóbal de las Casas a padres de los 43 (La Jornada, Sabado 01 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/ Guerrero : Caravana en el Sur Sureste en búsqueda de los desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa (27 de junio 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)

Guerrero : padres de los 43 participan en audiencia de la CIDH (22 de marzo de 2017)

Chiapas: FNLS Reports Delay in Forensic Investigation into Case of Minor Murdered in Ocosingo

Photo@ tiempo y forma

On June 26th, 2017, a team of Argentine forensics arrived to Chiapas to investigate the cause of death of Humberto Morales Santiz, aged 13, and from El Carrizal, who was assassinated in February 2017.

The Argentine experts found it difficult to start their activities due to the lack of X-rays that the Mexican government should have provided.

The National Front of the Fight for Socialism (FNLS in its Spanish acronym) demanded that “no motive obstructs the laudable work that will contribute to the right to the truth for the victim’s next of kin; trial and punishment for the material authors and responsible for the execution of our compañero; dismantlement and expulsion of the police-paramilitary camp that is unconstitutionally located in El Carrizal.”

Simultaneously, 14 members of the FNLS were detained while distributing information at the Chiapa de Corzo toll booth on the Tuxtla-San Cristobal highway on June 29th, 2017.

For more information in Spanish:

Forenses argentinos arriban a Chiapas para aclarar caso de menor asesinado en Ocosingo (FNLS, 27 de junio de 2017)

Represión y desalojo violento de la policía estatal preventiva a compañeros del Frente Nacional de Lucha por el Socialismo (FNLS, 27 de junio de 2017)

Detienen a 14 miembros del FNLS por toma de caseta en Chiapas (Proceso, 29 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIAPZ:

Chiapas: Jornada Nacional: “Las víctimas del terrorismo de Estado son del pueblo, no desistiremos ¡hasta encontrarlos!” (14 de marzo de 2017)

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

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Killing of Attorney and Leader of MORENA in Tixtla

Eduardo Catarino Dircio’s wife (Photo @Radio Alborada de Tixtla)

On June 4th, a chase and fighting between groups of armed civilians and state police in Tixtla left a toll of two dead civilians, lawyer Eduardo Catarino Dircio and a suspected member of organized crime, as well as two seriously injured state police officers.

According to his relatives, the 45-year-old lawyer and leader of MORENA in the city, was executed extrajudicially by policemen inside his home and then “they planted a weapon”. They also denounced that “he did not die immediately and agonized for several minutes, even when the police prevented him from being helped, without calling an ambulance to attend to him. After dying, and according to the testimony of Hilda Vazquez [his wife], a firearm of exclusive use of the army was placed on the body of Lic. Eduardo Catarino, in full view of two minors, a daughter and nephew and the impotence of Hilda who were threatened so as not to help.”

In a bulletin, the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavón Regional Center for the Defense of Human Rights and the Collective against Torture and Impunity (CCTI in its Spanish acronym) stated that “the government of the State has not arrested anybody responsible for the extrajudicial killing of Eduardo Catarino Dircio; the State Human Rights Commission has not asked the State Government for precautionary measures for the Catarino Cipriano family, who, by publicly denouncing the extrajudicial and summary execution of Eduardo Catarino Dircio, as well as threats and verbal aggression against relatives and witnesses are in a high risk situation. The situation is aggravated because the spokesman of the state in an effort to hide the facts, in his statements pointing to Lic. Eduardo Catarino Dircio criminalizes him by identifying him as a “hitman”. Such criminalization is an additional grievance for the family, their Tixtla compañeros and lawyers from Guerrero.”

In their bulletin, the two civil organizations indicated that their concern “goes beyond what has happened to this extrajudicial killing that should not go unpunished: we are concerned about the lack of sensitivity of those who are in charge of safeguarding the safety of all citizens of Guerrero; (…) we are concerned that despite the militarization in several violent points of the state such as Chilpancingo, Tixtla and Chilapa, executions and murders continue to occur every day; that the police and army elements continue to give motives to generate distrust among the citizens, for that reason once again we reject the Law of Internal Security.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Denuncian ejecución extrajudicial de abogado de Morena en Guerrero (Proceso, 4 de junio de 2017)

Balacera en Tixtla; acusan a policías estatales de matar a líder de MORENA (El Sur, 5 de junio de 2017)

El abogado asesinado no era un sicario sino un hombre intachable, dice el alcalde de Tixtla (6 de junio de 2017)

La probable ejecución extrajudicial y sumaria del Lic. Eduardo Catarino Dircio debe ser investigada y sus perpetradores llevados ante la justicia. (Boletín del Centro Regional de Defensa de Derechos Humanos “José Ma. Morelos y Pavón” A. C., y del Colectivo Contra la Tortura y la Impunidad A. C., 6 de junio de 2017)

El abogado asesinado por policías en Tixtla no era sicario, se retracta el gobierno (El Sur, 6 de junio de 2017)

Asesinan a militante de Morena en Guerrero; partido acusa ejecución policial, gobierno lo niega

(Animal Político, 6 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Levantan en Tixtla a integrante de la CRAC-PC (25 de noviembre de 2016)

National/International: Mexico Second Most Violent Country World (IISS)

On May 9th, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) published the results of its 2017 Armed Conflict Study, which places Mexico as the second country with the highest number of deaths (23,000 counted in 2016) after Syria (50,000), and before Afghanistan (17,000) and Iraq (16,000). Mexico is the only country in America in the top ten.

The IISS claims that the levels violence coming from the fight against organized crime in Mexico reached those of a country in open war. “It is very unusual for criminal violence to reach a level similar to an armed conflict. But it happened in the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) and especially in Mexico”, the IISS warned.

 The Mexican Interior Ministry (SEGOB in its Spanish acronym) and Ministry for Foreign Affairs (SRE in its Spanish acronym) criticized the report questioning both the figures that it uses for being “unlikely” and “lacking technical rigor”; such as the fact that “Organized crime violence is a regional phenomenon that goes beyond the borders that Mexico shares with the United States, Guatemala and Belize, among many other countries. The challenges Mexico faces in this area cannot be isolated from related phenomena in other jurisdictions, such as arms trafficking and drug demand. The fight against transnational organized crime must be analyzed in an integral way.”

For more information in Spanish:

México es el segundo país del mundo con más muertos por “guerra”, según estudio (SDP Noticias, 9 de mayo de 2017)

México alcanzó los niveles de violencia de un país en guerra abierta: IISS (Proceso, 9 de mayo de 2017)

México, el segundo país más violento del mundo: IISS (La Jornada, 9 de mayo de 2017)

La SRE y Segob niegan que haya un conflicto armado en México; Trump retuitea encuesta inglesa (Sin Embargo, 10 de mayo de 2017)

Reporte del IISS sobre la violencia en México “carece de rigor técnico”: Segob y SRE (Proceso, 10 de mayo de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional : Pobres resultados diez años después de iniciar la guerra contra el crimen organizado ; El Ejército seguirá en las calles, EPN (16 de diciembre de 2016)

Oaxaca: COPUVO Denounces Harassment by Municipal Authorities and Mining Company

Valle Ocotlan (Photo @COPUVO)

In a statement issued on May 9th, the Coordinator of the United Nations Ocotlan Valley United Peoples Coordinator (COPUVO in its Spanish acronym) reported harassment and threats when it sought to hold a regional meeting against mining in San Jose del Progreso, “where for eight years [the inhabitants] have defended their territory against the “San Jose” mining project, promoted by the Cuzcatlan company, a subsidiary of the Canadian Fortuna Silver Mines.

It said that prior to this meeting, the current mayor of San Jose del Progreso, Servando Daaz Vasquez, “publicly threatened our organization, communities in the region and civil organizations” proposing “not to allow the population to enter to hold a forum.” He added that Diaz Vasquez asked the state and federal police “to place a ring of officers and a filter at the check point at the town so as to prevent the entrance of the organizations the following Mat 7th…”

Accordingly, the Ombudsman’s Office for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca (DPHPO in its Spanish acronym) requested precautionary measures in favor of human rights defenders from the various civil and community organizations that would attend said meeting “for which there was State Police Agents presence during May 6th and 7th in the community; it is important to note that the State Police was also protecting the mining project with security forces during these dates.”

COPUVO denounced that “behind the campaign of threats and harassment of our movement, the mining company Fortuna Silver Mines is involved, who in its intent to expand to other ejidos and communities in the region has criminalized and violated our rights to autonomy, to the territory, to the freedom of protest, among the most important. This company has irrationally extracted our common goods and caused violence, destroying the peace and harmony that existed among our peoples.”

 For more information in Spanish:

COPUVO denuncia amenazas por parte de empresa minera y autoridades de San José del Progreso (COPUVO, 9 de mayo de 2017)

Mineras generan conflictividad en Oaxaca y Chiapas (Contralínea, 11 de mayo de 2017)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Se exige justicia para el defensor comunitario Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, asesinado hace 5 años (23 de marzo de 2017)

Oaxaca: Comunidades afectadas por el proyecto minero “San José” toman oficinas de SEMARNAT (1 de marzo de 2017)

 

Chiapas: IACHR Determines Responsibility for Extrajudicial Execution in Context of Chiapas Campaign Plan 94

Press conference at Frayba, May 3rd, 2017. Photo: @Sipaz

On May 3rd, a press conference was held at the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center (CDHFBC) in which it was reported that, in the case of the extrajudicial execution of the Tzeltal indigenous Gilberto Jimenez Hernandez in February 1995 in the community of La Grandeza, Altamirano, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) determined “the responsibility of the Mexican State for violating the right to life and the principle of equality and non-discrimination, personal integrity and judicial guarantees and judicial protection, in the context of the implementation of the counterinsurgency strategy designed within the Chiapas Campaign Plan 94.”

 22 years after the military operation in that community, the CDHFBC Press Bulletin recalled: “On February 20th, 1995, in La Grandeza ejido, in the municipality of Altamirano, Chiapas, the population was alerted to the military operation carried out by the reconnaissance patrol of the 17th Infantry Battalion, commissioned in the Task Force “Arcoiris” in the “Yabur” Group, composed of 65 military agents who were carrying 3 MP5 Cal. 9mm and 62 G-3 Cal 7.62mm armaments. At the same time Army aircraft flew over the region. The population of the ejido La Grandeza, made up mostly of women, girls, children and the elderly, were forced to the mountain to save their lives, while in the village, soldiers burned the belongings of displaced persons. Mr. Gilberto Jimenez Hernandez, a 43-year-old indigenous Tseltal, was extrajudicially executed by a soldier while fleeing with his family to the mountains. The soldier ordered him to stop, lie down and shot him, even though that he had his five-year-old daughter tied with a shawl on his back.”

The Director of the CDHFBC, Pedro Faro, stressed that, “to date the military court has served to ensure impunity. The investigations of the present case have been framed by lack of due diligence to cover up the Mexican Army, the file has been lost by the justice authorities since 1997. The right of access to the justice to know the truth of what happened so that those responsible are punished does not exist in Mexico “.

Ruben Moreno, lawyer for the the Center, stated that the family of Jimenez Hernandez decided not to receive any financial compensation for damages, but chose to have the IACHR’s report made public.

 For more information in Spanish:

Estado mexicano responsable de crímenes de lesa humanidad: CIDH (CDH Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, a 3 de Mayo de 2017)

CIDH culpa al Estado por muerte de tzetzal: Frayba (La Jornada, 3 de mayo de 2017)

CIDH culpa al Estado mexicano por ejecución extrajudicial de indígena tzeltal (Proceso, 3 de mayo de 2017)

Determinan responsabilidad del Estado en muerte de indígena (Cuarto Poder, 4 de mayo de 2017)