Guerrero/National: Caravan 43 “Hope is Reborn”

(@El Sur)

From December 19th to 26th, fathers and mothers of the 43 students of the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guerrero, missing since September 2014, caravan 43, Hope is Reborn, within the framework of the 51st Global Action, which began in Tixtla, Guerrero, passed through Morelos, and ended at the Basilica of Guadalupe, Mexico City.

They denounced that 51 months have elapsed since the forced disappearance of their relatives without any result being achieved. They asked for justice in their case, in the case of political prisoners, the thousands of disappeared in Mexico, and the constant violations of human rights in the country. Several civil and social organizations also joined these protests.

Caravan 43 “Hope is Reborn” was named in this way because of the possibility that the new government led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will return the disappeared. “The idea is to continue touring and informing that the former administration of former President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, tried to bury the Ayotzinapa case and impose the historical truth”, said the spokesman of the parents of the 43 missing teachers, Meliton Ortega. He warned that despite the fact that the “new government has signed a decree, we want to say that it is not enough and it is necessary to go beyond the signing of a simple document; we need them to advance each of the lines [of investigation] until we know the truth and the whereabouts of the 43.”

For more information in Spanish:

Finalizan protestas de la 51 Acción Global por los 43 en la Basílica de Guadalupe (La Jornada, 27 de diciembre de 2018)

Padres de los 43 van a la Basílica; el obispo Rangel los recibe y en una misa pide saber la verdad y justicia (El Sur, 27 de diciembre de 2018)

Llega a Iguala la caravana 43 La Esperanza Renace, en el segundo día de actividades (La Jornada Guerrero, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Llega a Taxco la Caravana 43 La Esperanza Renace, de normalistas (La Jornada Guerrero, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Llega a Iguala la caravana de lucha por los 43 desaparecidos; demanda castigo a Peña Nieto (El Sur, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Padres de los 43 inician caravana La Esperanza Renace en Tixtla (Quadratin Guerrero, 19 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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

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

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

Guerrero/National: Incoming Government Confirms Creation of Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (Aug. 13th, 12018)

Guerrero/National: Obstruction in Formation of Truth Commission in Ayotzinapa Case Denounced (Aug. 8th, 2018)

Guerrero: Classmates of Ayotzinapa 43 Graduate (Aug. 2nd, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Federal Court Orders Creation Truth Commission to Reopen Investigation of Ayotzinapa Case (July 12th, 2018)

 

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National/International: Inter-American Court Rules Mexico Responsible for Sexual Torture of Women in Atenco

(@Centro ProDH)

On December 21st, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) determined that the Mexican State was responsible for the sexual torture of which 11 women were victims during a 2006 police operation in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico State.

It should be recalled that on May 3rd and 4th, 2006, police forces carried out an operation in San Salvador Atenco supposedly to “re-establish order” during a series of protests by the inhabitants over the construction of an airport. More than 200 people were arrested during the raids. 50 of them were women, 31 of whom later reported sexual assaults by the police.

“The use of force by the police authorities when arresting them was not legitimate or necessary, but it was also excessive and unacceptable due to the sexual and discriminatory nature of the aggressions suffered. The Court concluded that the indiscriminate use of force by the State in this case, as a result of an absence of adequate regulation, a lack of training of the agents, inefficient supervision and monitoring of the operation, and a misconception that violence of some justified the use of force against all”, the Court said.

It should be emphasized that the judgments of the IACHR are binding for Mexico, and therefore the State is obliged to comply with all the measures ordered by the Inter-American Court. The Miguel Agustin Pro Juárez Human Rights Center declared that, “with this historic sentence, the State has the possibility to put an end to impunity in the emblematic case of Atenco and to take concrete measures to prevent such violations of human rights from being reproduced in other contexts. The full and prompt compliance with the sentence announced by the Court today will be a clear sign of the new government’s commitment to human rights. Moreover, in a context in which the security model is under discussion in Mexico, with the intention of creating a militarized National Guard, the sentence issued by the Court in the Atenco case – as with the resolution published yesterday regarding the Alvarado case – obllige the Mexican Legislative Power to review the legislation that it intends to pass in light of the standards set by the Inter-American Court, which reinforce the perspective of citizen security of a civil nature and external supervision of security institutions.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado MÉXICO ES RESPONSABLE POR TORTURA SEXUAL DE MUJERES EN ATENCO (Corte IDH, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

En sentencia histórica, Corte Interamericana ordena al Estado mexicano sancionar represión y tortura en Atenco (Centro ProDH, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Ilegítimo e innecesario, el uso de la fuerza en Atenco: Corte Interamericana al notificar sentencia al Estado mexicano (Aristegui Noticias, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Culpa Corte IDH al Estado por tortura de mujeres de Atenco (La Jornada, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Responsabilidad internacional del Estado mexicano en actos de tortura contra 11 mujeres de Atenco: CoIDH (Proceso, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

Corte IDH: El Estado mexicano violó DDHH de mujeres en Atenco, cuando Peña gobernaba Edomex (Sin Embargo, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

CIDH responsabiliza al Estado por tortura sexual de 11 mujeres en Atenco (Radio Fórmula, 21 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Hearing of Cases of Sexual Torture in San Salvador Atenco at IACHR Court (November 29th, 2017)

Mexico: IACHR Demands Investigation into Case of Female Victims of Sexual Abuse in Atenco in 2006 (October 10th, 2016)

 

 

Guerrero/National: Decree Establishes Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case

(@SIPAZ)

On November 3rd, in one of his first actions as new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) signed a decree that establishes the creation of a truth commission to resolve the case of the forced disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal Rural School, in Iguala, Guerrero, in September 2014.

“With this agreement, we began the search process for the youths of Ayotzinapa. With this decree the whole government is ordered, in what corresponds to the Executive Power, so that all the support is given to you, to the commission, to arrive at the truth. The whole government is going to help in this purpose”, AMLO told the parents of the missing students. He promised that, “there will be no impunity neither in this so sad, painful, case nor any other.”

The Commission which will start working within a maximum of 30 working days will be made up of the relatives of the disappeared students or their representatives, their lawyers, a representative of the Secretariats of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Finance, as well as professional and technical experts who are required.

Alejandro Encinas, the new undersecretary of Human Rights of the Interior and who will lead the new Commission, said the Commission will resume the investigations carried out by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as well as the “truncated” investigation of the PGR. “To clarify the case is the beginning of a state policy that places the victims at the center,” assured Encinas.

At the end of the event, family members of the students expressed that the decree gives them hope, although “confidence will be gained as the search for the truth advances”. For his part, Vidulfo Rosales, a member of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center and a lawyer for the relatives of the victims, welcomed the inauguration of a “new stage in the struggle and the search for the 43 compañeros, but this is only the the beginning, all the invstigation lines that the Peña Nieto government did not want to promote and which remained stagnant will be retaken.” Santiago Aguirre, deputy director of the Pro Center, stressed that the decree instructs the entire federal administration to collaborate in the clarification of the facts, “given that in the past, the federal government obstructed the process.”

Outside the National Palace, some parents of missing persons protested because they were not allowed to enter the event and demanded that immediate mechanisms of search and investigation be applied in all cases of disappearance, not only Ayotzinapa.

According to Alberto Solis Castro, director of Services and Consultancy for Peace (SERAPAZ), resolving this emblematic case “can be a spearhead and hope for all of the over 30,000 disappeared in the country. It is a first effort of that must be turned into something structural to address the serious human rights crisis we are in.”

For more information in Spanish:

AMLO presidente: ¿qué cambia con la Comisión de la Verdad creada por López Obrador para aclarar el caso de los 43 estudiantes desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa? (BBC Mundo, 3 de diciembre de 2018)

Decreto de AMLO, ¿nueva esperanza para padres de los 43 de Ayotzinapa? (CNN, 3 de diciembre de 2018)

Crea AMLO Comisión de la Verdad por caso Ayotzinapa (La Jornada, 3 de diciembre de 2018)

López Obrador formaliza comisión para la verdad y justicia del caso Ayotzinapa (Proceso, 3 de diciembre de 2018)

AMLO firma decreto de creación de la comisión para el caso Ayotzinapa; retomará investigación de PGR (Animal Político, 3 de diciembre de 2018)

¿Qué implica el decreto para la Comisión de la Verdad en el caso Ayotzinapa? (ADN Político, 4 de diciembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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

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

Guerrero/National: Incoming Government Confirms Creation of Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (Aug. 13th, 12018)

Guerrero/National: Obstruction in Formation of Truth Commission in Ayotzinapa Case Denounced (Aug. 8th, 2018)Guerrero: Classmates of Ayotzinapa 43 Graduate

Guerrero: Classmates of Ayotzinapa 43 Graduate (Aug. 2nd, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Federal Court Orders Creation Truth Commission to Reopen Investigation of Ayotzinapa Case (July 12th, 2018)

Guerrero/Nacional : CNDH informa que se tiene a un preso inocente por el caso Ayotzinapa (22 de junio de 2018)

Guerrero/Nacional/Internacional : Llamados a redigirir investigación en el caso Ayotzinapa (14 de junio de 2018)

 

Guerrero/National/International: CNDH and IACHR Ayotzinapa Reports

Ayotzinapa at Tlachinollan anniversary(@SIPAZ)

On November 27th, three days before the end of the six-year term of office of Enrique Peña Nieto, the president of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanish acronym), Luis Raul Gonzalez Perez, presented recommendation 15VG/2018 on the events that took place in September 2014, in Iguala, Guerrero, that caused the forced disappearance of 43 students from the Normal Rural School of Ayotzinapa, the death of six people and 42 more wounded. He considered it as a “point of departure and a clear guide to what remains to be done” so that the next government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will get truth and justice in the case.

At a press conference, he said that, “what happened in Iguala should not be seen as an isolated case, but as a reflection of the situation that covers several regions of the country, and in which the possibility of generating an episode of similar dimensions and characteristics is a latent risk.”

He stressed that “a crime of the dimensions that happened in Iguala could only occur because of the penetration of organized crime in government structures”, while “various authorities, at federal, local and municipal levels, knew that things were rotten and contaminated, but nobody did anything. This would have prevented an outcome like the one that happened.”

He indicated that the investigation showed “that the authorities violated the right to the truth of the victims and of society when formulating or disseminating biased statements or partial or false information, which disorientated, confused and generated uncertainty in public opinion, causing the victims to be victimized again.”

On another note, two years after the Special Follow-up Mechanism was installed, this body of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) presented its final work report, in which it analyzes the main anomalies, deficiencies and omissions detected in the investigation conducted by the Mexican government. It concludes that “despite all the proceedings contained in a dossier of more than 618 volumes, the investigations continue fragmented, and require a comprehensive analysis (…) many of the proceedings seem to be incomplete, are discarded or fail to be procedurally driven.” The IACHR also expressed its concern at the fact that “there is still no change in the official narrative regarding the line of investigation of the Cocula landfill, despite what has been indicated by this Commission, by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (IGIE), the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights (UNHCHR) and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (AFAT).” It urged the Mexican State “to redouble the efforts to determine the whereabouts of the student teachers, to know the truth of what happened on the night of September 26th and 27th, 2014, to provide comprehensive assistance to families and to ensure that these atrocious events do happen again”.

For more information in Spanish:

RECOMENDACIÓN No. 15VG/2018 « Caso Iguala » (CNDH, 28 de noviembre de 2018)

Toca a AMLO enderezar investigación por caso Ayotzinapa: CNDH al emitir recomendación a Peña (Proceso, 28 de noviembre de 2018)

La CNDH revive “versión histórica” de la PGR en caso Iguala: mínimo 19 personas calcinadas en Cocula (Proceso, 28 de noviembre de 2018)

La CNDH señala que autoridades violaron el derecho a la verdad en el caso Iguala (ADN Politico, 28 de noviembre de 2018)

Informe Final: Mecanismo de Seguimiento al Asunto Ayotzinapa (CIDH, 25 de noviembre de 2018)

Profundizar investigación a militares y policías por caso Ayotzinapa, recomienda CIDH (Informe) (Aristegui Noticias, 28 de noviembre de 2018)

Sin identificar, 19 calcinados en basurero de Cocula: CNDH (La Jornada, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

Caso Ayotzinapa: la CIDH detecta más indicios de federales y militares en ataque a normalistas⁩ (Animal Político, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

Caso Ayotzinapa aún incompleto y sin detención de involucrados: CIDH (Vanguardia, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

Incompleta y fragmentada la “versión histórica” del caso Ayotzinapa; CIDH pide desecharla (Proceso, 29 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

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

Guerrero/National: Incoming Government Confirms Creation of Truth Commission for Ayotzinapa Case (Aug. 13th, 12018)

Guerrero/National: Obstruction in Formation of Truth Commission in Ayotzinapa Case Denounced (Aug. 8th, 2018)Guerrero: Classmates of Ayotzinapa 43 Graduate

Guerrero: Classmates of Ayotzinapa 43 Graduate (Aug. 2nd, 2018)

Guerrero/National: Federal Court Orders Creation Truth Commission to Reopen Investigation of Ayotzinapa Case (July 12th, 2018)

Guerrero/Nacional : CNDH informa que se tiene a un preso inocente por el caso Ayotzinapa (22 de junio de 2018)

Guerrero/Nacional/Internacional : Llamados a redigirir investigación en el caso Ayotzinapa (14 de junio de 2018)

 

National: Faced with Rejection of National Guard, AMLO Proposes New Consultation

@Guillermo Solguren, La Jornada

On November 21st, President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) reported that on March 21st the formation of the National Guard, in addition to asking about the possibility of trial of former presidents for alleged acts of corruption and on the formation of the business advisory board will be tentatively put to consultation. He said that this consultation would take place until this date so that the amendment to Article 35 of the constitution is approved, which would allow the National Electoral Institute (INE in its Spanish acronym) to organize it.

Since the presentation of the security plan of the next government and what would be the National Guard, national and international organizations have questioned this option. “Lopez Obrador commits a colossal error that could thwart any hope of ending the atrocities that have caused so much suffering in Mexico in recent years,” Human Rights Watch said, referring to allegations of human rights violations committed by the military that have been occurring since 2006 (such as extrajudicial executions, torture and disappearance of people). “Lopez Obrador should commit to improving the country’s civilian police forces, a task that, however complex, is essential to sustainably end the violence and abuses that have proliferated in Mexico,” it said.

“It is extremely serious that the next federal government is committed to a militarized security model, as announced last week with the proposal to create a National Guard,” the National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations said. All Rights for All” (TDT Network, made up of 87 organizations in 23 states of the Republic), expressed its “great concern” over “the political speed and inconsistency” with which the deputies of MORENA have presented various initiatives for constitutional reform that would allow the creation of the National Guard: “Even more so than the binned Law of Internal Security, the new initiative intends to raise military participation in public security tasks to constitutional rank, as it seeks to attach elements of the Secretariats of National Defense and the Navy to this institution in the work of public security and procurement of justice. In addition to this, its organic link with the Public Ministry puts at risk the advances that the model of delivery of justice is having in Mexico.”

On another note, a letter endorsed by 128 groups and 544 people, organized by Common Cause, makes a strong and urgent call to the president-elect to stop the constitutional reform announced to integrate the National Guard and opt, instead, for the development and strengthening of civilian security institutions. The text supports the reinforcement of the Federal Police, since although it is admitted that “it was abandoned during recent years, it considers that it has research, technological and operative capacities that allow contemplating a civil option for the attention of high impact crimes.”

AMLO, for his part, says he made this decision because the police bodies have no capacity to guarantee the country’s security. “The fact that the National Guard is attached to SEDENA in operational terms does not mean that the military personnel are responsible for security,” he says. “They will have a training process different from the military one, training to perform the tasks of public security,” including topics on the new criminal justice system and respect for human rights among others, he said.

For more information in Spanish:

AMLO prevé consultar en marzo sobre Guardia Nacional, juicio a expresidentes y consejo empresarial (Proceso, 22 de noviembre de 2018)

AMLO anuncia consulta sobre juicio a expresidentes, la Guardia Nacional y el consejo empresarial (Animal Político, 21 de noviembre de 2018)

Organizaciones de DH cuestionan plan de seguridad militar de AMLO (La Jornada, 20 de noviembre de 2018)

AMLO: las críticas al controvertido plan de seguridad en México presentado por López Obrador (BBC, 20 de noviembre de 2018)

ONGs y especialistas piden a AMLO dar marcha atrás en Guardia Nacional (Forbes, 20 de noviembre de 2018)

Guardia Nacional, el gran error de AMLO (Sin Embargo, 19 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Supreme Court Invalidates Security Law; AMLO Announces National Peace and Security Plan 2018-2024  (November 27th, 2018)

National: CNDH Asks SCJN to Declare Interior Security Law Unconstitutional (November 7th, 2018)

National: Reactions to Minister for Supreme Court’s Proposal on Interior Security Law (November 7th, 2018)

National: AMLO “The Army and the Navy will continue on the streets in internal public security tasks” (September 15, 2018)

 

Oaxaca: 22 Members of Sol Rojo (Red Sun) Released

Press conference of the Coordination for the Release of Criminalized Defenders in Oaxaca (@Consorcio)

In a statement published on November 6th, the Coordination for the Release of Criminalized Defenders of Oaxaca reported that “after more than three years of facing a judicial process with serious violations of due process, torture and incommunicado detention, 22 members of the organization Corriente del Pueblo Sol Rojo [Current of the Red Sun People] were freed from criminal case 30/2015 in which they were accused of terrorism and carrying a weapon (molotov cocktail). This freedom was given in resolution of the incident promoted in August by the lawyer and defender Ernesto Sernas, rejecting a series of tests used by the Attorney General of the Republic’s office. It should be recalled that these people were arbitrarily arrested on June 7th, 2015 in retaliation for their participation in a peaceful demonstration called by Section 22 of the Oaxacan teachers in the context of the elections on the same day. Their trial was at all times plagued by serious irregularities; also the members of Sol Rojo suffered torture during their detention, as well as during transfers and arrivals in prisons. This torture has left serious consequences on physical and emotional levels.”

The Coordination stressed that with this decision – in which it was observed “action on political direction on the part of the Attorney General of the Republic, when imputing crimes that they never committed in coordination with federal and state police bodies” is evidenced once again the “policy of criminalization” of Enrique Peña Nieto against human rights defenders, the “serious pattern of criminalization in Oaxaca” and the urgency that all these serious violations be punished promptly and in accordance with the law.

It also demanded the presentation of the defender Ernesto Sernas who is missing, since last May 10th for reasons that they believe have to do with his defense work in favor of the organization Sol Rojo, in the context that so far “there has been no progress in the investigations to find his whereabouts.”

It reaffirmed its position in favor of the liberation of all the defenders of Oaxaca who remain unjustly in prison as “reprisal” for their legitimate defense work. It also urged the authorities to act against the high risk in which members of Sol Rojo remain who have suffered serious and permanent attacks.

For more information in Spanish:

Defensores de DH integrantes de la organización Sol Rojo en libertad mediante sentencia absolutoria, luego de tres años de proceso judicial (Coordinación para la Libertad de Personas Defensoras Criminalizadas en Oaxaca, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

22 presos políticos de Sol Rojo fueron puestos en libertad (Libertad Oaxaca, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

Dejan en libertad a 22 presos políticos en Oaxaca (Siete Días Oaxaca, 6 de noviembre de 2018)

Anuncian la liberación de 22 activistas de Oaxaca presos por delitos federales (Despertar de Oaxaca, 7 de noviembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero / National: Nestora Salgado announces campaign for the freedom of political prisoners  (September 16th, 2018)

Oaxaca : Exigen atención para 33 personas defensoras de derechos humanos bajo procesos judiciales (3 de agosto de 2018)

Oaxaca: “Under Attack, Human Rights in Oaxaca” Report Launched; Nochixtlan Case ”Not Clarified”, UNHCHR

(@EDUCA)

On September 27th, the presentation of the Citizen Report “Under Attack, Human Rights in Oaxaca”, a document prepared by Oaxacan civil organizations in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mechanism for evaluating the progress of the United Nations to which the Mexican Government will be submitted this year, was carried out in the City of Oaxaca. Among the main challenges, civil organizations highlighted that the state is among the first three places in the country for attacks against human rights defenders and journalists, and in first place in the case of women defenders. They also emphasized the systematic use of the criminalization of social protest to silence the voices of resistance.

For the deputy representative in Mexico Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights present at the event, Jesus Peña Palacios, the confrontation of settlers, teachers and elements of the Gendarmerie, on June 19th, 2016, in Nochixtlan, is an emblematic case of this trend, a case that is otherwise “not clarified and far from justice.” He noted that, “everything remains unpunished at both the state and federal levels.”

He stressed that cases like this send a dangerous message: “Impunity in itself is terrible because it denies the right to justice and also sends a message to aggressors to say, threatening, assault, murder comes free.”

It should be recalled that the 2016 operation in Nochixtlan left eight people dead, around 226 civilians injured, of which 84 were by firearm, as indicated by the Citizen Report. “The response of the federal government was to attribute the attack to the protesters themselves; even denying at first that its agents were armed,” the document says.

Jesus Peña, deputy representative of UNHCHR in Mexico, described as essential the contributions of civil society, because they allow the international body to contrast the information provided by the State with serious and first-hand data.

For more information in Spanish:

Oaxaca, caso emblemático de violación a derechos humanos: ONG (Proceso, 28 de septiembre de 2018)

Para la ONU, el caso Nochixtlán que dejó Cué y EPN, sigue en la impunidad (Página 3,mx, 28 de septiembre de 2018)

Nochixtlán, un caso no aclarado: ONU (NVI Noticias, 28 de septiembre de 2018)

Presentan informe a ONU sobre violaciones a derechos humanos en Oaxaca (El Imparcial, 28 de septiembre de 2018)

Organizaciones civiles evidencian ante la ONU agudización de graves violaciones a derechos humanos (Boletín de prensa de OSC, 27 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: President of Nochixtlan Victims Committee Attacked  (April, 12th, 2018)

Oaxaca/National: CNDH Issues Recommendation for Seroius Human Rights Violations during Events in Nochixtlan on June 16th, 2016 (Oct. 28th, 2017)

Oaxaca/Guerrero: Gun Attack on Nochixtlan Victims’ Bus (Aug. 1st, 2017)