Guerrero: CNDH on Acapulco Massacre Case and Warns of Risk of Torture in Guerrero Prisons

Prisoners’ families outside Las Cruces prison. Photo@: La Jornada

On July 6th, a riot between “opposing groups” for the internal control of Las Cruces prison in Acapulco left 28 people dead and three wounded.

According to Animal Politico, the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH in its Spanish acronym) had already identified the Acapulco CERESO [prison] as a red spot in Guerrero prisons since last year. It had urged the Astudillo government to “take necessary actions” to optimize the treatment and conditions of detention of persons deprived of liberty in the institution’s detention centers.

Likewise, the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNPT in its Spanish acronym) had issued a recommendation against the PRI government of Hector Astudillo Flores for considering that there are “pressing situations to see to”. According to Proceso, Astudillo publicly stated that he “had no time to comply” with the CNDH and MNPT’s observations to try to reverse the corrupt conditions that led to the massacre in the Acapulco prison.

On July 14th, the CNDH announced that it will resume the case “to investigate human rights violations.”

For more information in Spanish:


CNDH atrae caso de la masacre en Acapulco y alerta por riesgo de tortura en penales en Guerrero (Proceso, a 12 de julio de 2017)

Riña entre grupos rivales deja 28 muertos y 3 heridos en la cárcel de Acapulco, Guerrero (Animal Político, a 6 de julio de 2017)

Sube a 28 la cifra de muertos por motín en penal de Acapulco (La jornada, 6 de julio de 2017)

Chiapas: 44 Secondary Schoolteachers Arrested in Tuxtla during Eviction of Sit-in

Eviction of teachers in Tuxtla Photo: @Proceso

On July 11th at 3 am, the eviction of the Second Technical School Teachers that had been in the city of Tuxtla since July 3rd took place.

According to Proceso magazine, “Among their demands is the rejection of structural reforms in general and in particular the educational reform – which they say, is labor, arrears since 2013 and also demand the chain of changes according to the method of Level of Technical High Schools.”

During the operation, 44 teachers, 34 men and ten women were arrested and according to Manuel de Jesus Mendoza Vazquez, substitute general secretary of Section 7 of the National Union of Workers of Education (SNTE in its Spanish acronym) “State police evicted teachers from secondary technical schools who for a week had held a sit-in in the center of Tuxtla Gutierrez to demand the payment of 150 million pesos to teachers of that level.” The teachers were transferred to the facilities of the Center of Investigation and Restorative Justice Unit of the state capital.

He stated that: “The Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Public Security and Protection, Municipal Public Security Secretariat, State Commission for Human Rights, Municipal Civil Protection and a Public Notary participated in the event.”

In turn, the State Attorney General explained that, “with the eviction the right of citizens to free transit was recovered. The protestors had installed tents and vehicles across the street, preventing free vehicular traffic and thousands of citizens who daily go to this area of ​​the city to carry out paperwork or purchases. “

It is noteworthy that according to statements to the newspaper La Jornada, Alejandro Ovando Rodriguez, secretary for labor and conflict of the technical secondary schools of the National Coordinator of Education Workers, said “that the teachers marched again in Tuxtla Gutierrez and they located at the State Secretariat of Education to meet their demands. The authorities owe about 150 million pesos to half of the 5,230 workers of that level in the state.”

For more information in Spanish:

Desalojan plantón de maestros en Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, y detienen a 44 (Revista Proceso 11 de julio de 2017)

Detienen en Chiapas a 44 maestros de secundaria en protesta (La Jornada 11 de julio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Desalojo violento hacia el plantón de maestros y maestras en San Cristóbal de Las Casas

Nacional: Desalojos violentos de los plantones de protesta de la Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE)

Chiapas : El Pueblo Creyente peregrinó en Tuxtla en apoyo a las y los maestros

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)

Oaxaca: Death of “Hermanos en el Camino” Activist ‘Beto’ Donis

Jose Alberto Donis Rodriguez (@SDP Noticias)

On June 29th, the Guatemalan activist Jose Alberto Donis Rodriguez, known as Beto, died in a car accident. He was a coordinator at the “Hermanos en el Camino” (Brothers on the Road) shelter in the city of Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

Beto arrived in Oaxaca in his attempt to reach the United States and ended up staying in Ixtepec, where he pledged to fight and defend the rights of migrants who transit through Mexico. Amnesty International recognized him as “defender of the year” in 2008 for his work on migrant rights.

“Beto is not dead, he is spiritually alive,” Father Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, who was his great friend, said during a farewell homage Mass.

 For more information in Spanish:

Migrantes y amigos rinden homenaje póstumo a Coordinador del Albergue Hermanos en el Camino (Itsmo Press, 1ero de julio de 2017)

El activista guatemalteco Alberto Donis falleció tras un accidente, confirma el padre Solalinde (Sin Embargo, a 30 de junio de 2017)

Despiden a guatemalteco que ayudó por 9 años a migrantes en Ixtepec, Oaxaca (NVI Noticias, 2 de julio de 2017)

Muere coordinador de albergue en Ixtepec tras accidente, confirma Solalinde (Proceso, 30 de junio de 2017)

Fallece el activista ‘Beto’ Donis, del albergue Hermanos en el Camino (SDP Noticas, 30 de junio de 2017

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/internacional: La CIDH expresa su preocupación ante el endurecimiento de las autoridades mexicanas hacia los migrantes y sus defensores en la frontera Sur (17 de junio de 2016)

Oaxaca: Nueva agresión a integrantes del Albergue para migrantes Hermanos en el Camino de Ixtepec (23 de septiembre de 2014)

Oaxaca: nueva amenaza de muerte en contra del Padre Solalinde (11 de octubre de 2012)

Chiapas: Press Conference to Demand Release Roberto Carlos Ruiz Hernandez

Roberto Carlos Ruiz Hernandez. Photo: @No Estamos Todxs

A press conference was held at the offices of the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) on June 29th in San Cristobal de Las Casas, to demand the release of Roberto Carlos Ruiz Hernandez, an immigrant of Honduran origin currently imprisoned State Social Reintegration Center for the Sentenced No. 13 (CERSS No.13), in Tonala Chiapas and detained since May 22nd, 2013, accused of extortion.

The “No Estamos Todxs” Working Group, and the lawyers of the Digna Ochoa Human Rights Centers and the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Human Rights Center participated in the press conference.

In 2015, his file was presented to the Reconciliation Table of the Government of Chiapas so that the case would be reviewed, and in 2017, according to information from Frayba: “the members of the Reconciliation Board had determined to grant him his freedom, but due to bureaucratic delays from February to date the government maintains an arbitrary deprivation that has caused anguish and psychological wear and tear from the promise of freedom.”

In addition to this, “independent experts conducted medical and psychological assessments based on the Istanbul Protocol, with the result that Roberto Carlos suffers from physical and psychological consequences due to acts of torture and/or cruel and inhuman treatment during his detention.”

They point out that: “Roberto Carlos has more than 70% of his sentence served, is a survivor of torture, his judicial process contained faults of due process and resulted in an unfair trial, had no consular assistance and the Reconciliation Board determined to grant him freedom.”

Frayba considers that: “The Embassy of Honduras in Mexico has not granted the appropriate consular assistance to Roberto Carlos, nor the political or diplomatic efforts to obtain his freedom, arguing that they do not have him registered as a citizen of their country, although Carlos has been deported by the Mexican State on three occasions, so the government of that country does have the records that accredit him as a Honduran citizen.”

It is worth remembering that in May 2017 Roberto Carlos sewed his lips and began a hunger strike to demand his immediate release or at least transfer to San Cristobal de Las Casas prison for having received threats, according to Roberto, from the authority of the prison.

Frayba laments that, “the case of Roberto Carlos is one more example of the criminalization of migrants who decide to transit or to settle in our country.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Hondureño preso injustamente en Chiapas denuncia tortura, montaje de expediente y exige su liberación (Centro de medios libres, 22 de junio de 2017)

Denuncia de Roberto Carlos Ruiz, hondureño preso en México (Grupo de trabajo No estamos Todxs, 27 de junio de 2017)

Inmigrante hondureño continúa en detención prolongada e injusta (Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, 28 de junio de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/internacional: La CIDH expresa su preocupación ante el endurecimiento de las autoridades mexicanas hacia los migrantes y sus defensores en la frontera Sur

México : Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos “buscando vida en caminos de muerte”

Nacional: Senado aprueba Ley contra la Tortura

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)