Chiapas: Judge Who Released Man Who Confessed to Femicide Dismissed

@ Twitter #TodosSomosViridians

On October 29th, a judge from the San Cristobal de Las Casas criminal court issued a sentence of absolution in favor of Omar Fernando Rosales Toledano, who confessed to femicide and had been accused of murdering Viridians Flores Ramirez, the mother of his son, in June 2013. Given the facts, the parents of the girl protested together with friends and family in front of the Judiciary. The judge was dismissed from his position and will be subject to an investigation process, as well as the secretary of agreements and the actuary involved in the sentence.

Rosales Toledo was held for five years in El Amate prison. His case had gained media relevance at the time of his arrest, since, before it, he worked as an assistant to the senator of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), Luis Armando Melgar.

The parents of Viridians have denounced a series of irregularities throughout the process. Before the release, the father of the victim stated that: “It is in these situations where justice is justified by one’s own hand, one feels frustrated, one expects them to act with rectitude and honesty, attached to the law, however, they release the criminals, and now we have to take care of ourselves because we are threatened for denouncing injustice.”

In Chiapas there have been more than 28 femicides so far in 2018.

For more information in Spanish:

Tras protestas, cesan a jueza que liberó a un feminicida confeso en Chiapas (Proceso, 30 de octubre de 2018)

En Chiapas dejan libre a feminicida confeso (Chiapas Paralelo, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Posicionamiento del Consejo de la Judicatura del Poder Judicial del Estado (Poder Judicial del Estado, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Corrupción garantiza impunidad a feminicidas en Chiapas (Revolución 3.0, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Liberan a feminicida de Viridiana Flores (SDP Noticias, 29 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/National: Femicides on the Rise (May 24th, 2018)

 

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National / International: Caravan of migrants from Honduras arrives in Mexico

Caravan of migrants from Honduras (@AFP)

On October 19, thousands of Honduran migrants entered Mexico where, according to media reports, they were greeted by tear gas. On October 13, they had left in a caravan from San Pedro Sula in the North of Honduras with the intention of arriving in Mexico to continue later to the United States. According to information from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico (UN-DH), the caravan is made up of more than 3,000 people – including minors, women and seniors – fleeing violence, poverty and human rights violations in their country.

This Caravan has provoked the anger of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has called on the Central American countries and the Mexican authorities to do everything necessary to stop them, even threatening to suspend the financial support given to them.

Since October 17, the Mexican authorities had sent some 240 members of the Federal Police to the southern border so as to accompany an operation of the National Institute of Migration, which would include the observation of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH). For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) announced that migrants would be treated in accordance with the law and with respect to their human rights: those who have a passport or visa will enter as well as those who submit refugee applications while those who violate the law will be deported. The head of the SRE, Luis Videgaray, also announced that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was asked to help Mexico to process these requests and to find a permanent solution.

In light of what happened on the 19th, the Secretary of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete, indicated that an agreement had been reached with the migrants for them to enter Mexico in an “orderly manner”, in groups of between 50 and 100 people to be reviewed, but that the Caravan “broke the agreement” by trying to enter Mexico “by force” and “hurting” Mexican police.

On the other hand, several civil and social organizations, as well as churches, have expressed the need to respect migrants’ human rights and calling for solidarity.

For more information (in Spanish):

TUMBEMOS EL MURO. PRONUNCIAMIENTO DEL CNI-CIG EN APOYO A LA CARAVANA DE MIGRANTES (20 de octubre de 2018)

Ante crisis humanitaria, exigimos a los gobiernos de GUatemala y de México, respeto a los derechos que tienen las personas migrantes (OSC, 19 de octubre de 2018)

La caravana de migrantes entra en territorio mexicano (El País, 19 de octubre de 2018)

Qué busca la caravana migrante y por qué México los recibe con 200 policías para impedir su paso (Animal Político, 19 de octubre de 2018)

La policía mexicana lanzó gases contra los migrantes, según un VIDEO de periodistas en la zona (Sin Embargo, 19 de octubre de 2018)

México recibe a la avanzada de la Caravana Migrante; llegan las primeras peticiones de asilo (Sin Embargo, 19 de octubre de 2018)

Policía Federal frena irrupción de caravana migrante a México (La Jornada, 19 de octubre de 2018)

Detienen en Chiapas a Irineo Mújica, activista defensor de migrantes (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2018)

Gobierno mexicano atiende solicitudes de refugio para migrantes hondureños (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2018)

EN RESPUESTA A LA LLEGADA DE LA CARAVANA DE HONDURAS A TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS (OSC, 18 de octubre de 2018)

¿CARAVANA O ÉXODO DE MIGRANTES? (CELAM, 18 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National / International: Mexico, migration filter? September 21, 2018

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA June 25, 2018

National: 84 Organizations and Collectives Oppose Gendarmerie at Southern Border April 30, 2018

Mexico – National/International: Latest Amnesty International Report on the Deadly Return of Central American Asylum Seekers from Mexico February 15, 2018

Chiapas/National: Girls Struggling and Changing the World

(@Melel  Xojobal)

On October 11th and 12th, 41 girls, adolescents and youths from Mexico City, Chiapas, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla and Veracruz, as well as several civil organizations that work with children, participated in San Cristobal de Las Casas in the First National Encounter of Girls and Adolescents “Girls Struggling and Transforming The World “. The aim of the event was “to reflect on what is happening in our country” and to look for “solutions through our participation, sharing experiences, living together and learning about our rights, to recognize and exercise them, based on feminism.”

In the final declaration of the event, the participants expressed that “it causes us sadness to see how male chauvinism and the patriarchal system influence femicides, forced marriages, teenage pregnancies, gender discrimination. We feel powerless because although we are generating changes, we cannot transform situations that violate the rights and dignity of all girls, adolescents and young women in Mexico, such as sexual harassment or abuse or dating violence.”

They demanded that the authorities “exercise their office in a correct manner. That they install more surveillance cameras in the cities, to prevent femicide and sexual harassment”; that the protection attorneys “give us fair treatment and help us when we denounce whether we are beaten or mistreated”; that companies “pay a fair and equal salary for women and men”; and that society in general, “eliminate the stereotypes that exist about women and be open to other ways of thinking and acting.”

For more information in Spanish:

Construyen acciones para erradicar abusos contra la niñez (Ultimatum, 11 de octubre de 2018)

Declaratoria del Primer Encuentro Nacional de Niñas y Adolescentes “Las niñas luchando y al mundo transformando” (13 de octubre de 2018)

Niños y jóvenes demandan mayor seguridad (Cuarto Poder, 14 de octubre de 2018)

National/International: “Green Tide” – Activists March for Free and Safe Abortion; Threatened across Republic

Photo @SIPAZ

On September 28th, within the framework of the Global Day of Action for a legal and safe abortion, feminist marches were organized in several cities of the Mexican Republic as well as throughout Latin America. The movement called the “Green Tide” demands that abortion be legalized not only in cases of sexual violence or a risk to the health or life of the mother but extensively and that it be free. Although in some Latin American countries abortion is already legalized (Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana and French Guiana) in the vast majority it is only possible under certain conditions. In addition, in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Haiti termination of pregnancy is illegal and women face years and sometimes decades of prison if they abort.

However, regardless of their legality, abortions occur, often in clandestine circumstances that, as a study by the Guttmacher Institute indicates, “put women’s health at risk and consume scarce resources.” According to its calculations, between 750 thousand and one million clandestine abortions are performed annually. Not infrequently they are carried out by minors, and in no other country in the world are there more childhood pregnancies than in Mexico. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 65% of Mexican women between the ages of 15 and 19 already have at least one child.

In Mexico, demonstrations were held in Toluca, Morelos Guadalajara, Tepic, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Oaxaca and Veracruz, among other cities. The largest of these occurred in Mexico City with thousands of participants, mainly women but also some men.

In the context of a tense debate about the possibility of legalization, several incidents, threats and aggressions against the organizers of the marches occurred. In Mexico City some drivers tried to block the marches.

In San Cristobal de Las Casas, women received threats since March of this year, which “put at risk [their] lives and [their] right to freedom of expression.” They denounced that “a secret group in the social network Facebook called “Motonetos to the rescue “, (…) that is formed mostly of men” has “shared screenshots of, at least six activists.” The men threatened to “lynch the activists alive”, as well as spraying them with gasoline and setting them on fire. The direct threats forced feminist activists and groups to change the date of the march that took place one day before the Day of Global Action. The organizers asked the government for precautionary measures, so the municipal and state police, state transit, urban mobility and the public ministry were present. In the end the march ended in the Zocalo de San Cristobal without excesses or acts of violence.

For more information in Spanish:

La marea verde en la CDMX: mujeres marchan por la legalización del aborto en México (Animal Político, 28 de septiembre 2018)

Oleaje de Marea Verde llega a Oaxaca ; Piden aborto legal (El Universal, 23 de septiembre de 2018)

Activistas pro aborto legal activan la “Marea Verde” en Oaxaca (El Universal, 28 de septiembre de 2018)

México primer lugar en embarazo infantil (El Sol de Toluca, 19 de abril de 2018)

Embarazo no planeado y aborto inducido en México: causas y consecuencias (Instituto Guttmacher, Noviembre 2013)

Abortos clandestinos en México: las cifras y las alternativas (El Diario, 20 de agosto de 2018)

Pronunciamiento sobre las amenazas que hemos recibido defensoras de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos en SCLC, Chiapas (Aborto legal para decidir SCLC, 20 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Nine Femicides after 28 Days of Gender Violence Alert – Some Municipalities Yet to Implement Declaration (Oct. 2nd, 2018)

Oaxaca: Segob decrees Gender Violence Alert in Oaxaca for unfullfillment of governor Murat  (Sept. 18th, 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  (Aug. 6th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides Rocket Despite Gender Violence Alert (July 12th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides on the Rise in 2017 (Jan. 26th, 2018)

Oaxaca: Special Comission to Investigate Femicidal Violence Set Up after Delays  (Jan.24th, 2018)

Oaxaca: Nine Femicides after 28 Days of Gender Violence Alert – Some Municipalities Yet to Implement Declaration

Photo @ Primera Línea

28 days after the declaration of a Gender Violence Alert (GVA) by the Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB in its Spanish acronym) in 40 municipalities of Oaxaca (of the 570 that make up the state), there were more than nine femicides in the state. Journalist Jazmin Gomez noted that “officials pass on the blame, prevent family members of victims of femicides from raising their voices, ignore figures, but pose for the photo and promote meetings with the wealthy class.”

According to Pagina 3, “only 11 of 40 municipal authorities of Oaxaca included in the GVA were present at the Special Session of the State Council to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Gender Violence.” He adds that “only Oaxaca de Juarez set up the installation of its council (on the AVG)”, with Huajuapan de Leon another municipality planning the implementation.

The head of the Secretariat of Oaxacan Woman (SMO in its Spanish acronym), Ana Vazquez de Colmenares, has been criticized strongly by the local deputy Hilda Garciela Perez Luis, who demanded that Vazquez de Colmenares assume her responsibilities, undergo training and stop attending political events only for the photo opportunity and focus on what really matters, help to ensure that women live a life free of violence. According to Perez Luis, “it is too soon after the alert has been declared to have results, but not for the first steps that will be implemented by the state and municipal governments to be finalized.”

 For more information in Spanish:

Encargados de atender feminicidios entre la insensibilidad y la ignorancia (EDUCA, 25 de septiembre de 2018)

Solo 11 de 40 Gobiernos Municipales de Oaxaca, acatan Alerta de Violencia de Género (Página 3, 24 de septiembre de 2018)

#ESPECIAL Van 220 mujeres asesinadas en actual Gobierno… Alerta de Género solo circo mediático y SMO un “elefante blanco” de doble moral (Primera Línea, 24 de septiembre de 2018)

 For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Segob decrees Gender Violence Alert in Oaxaca for unfullfillment of governor Murat (Sept.18th, 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  (Aug. 6th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides Rocket Despite Gender Violence Alert (July 12th, 2018)

Guerrero: Femicides on the Rise in 2017 (Jan. 26th, 2018)

 

Chiapas: investigation of resignations of women candidates elected as mayors or deputies whose positions would be occupied by men

@binoticias

In the first days of September, at least 30 women who had been elected as mayors or deputies in the elections of last July 1 submitted their resignation to the Institute of Elections and Citizen Participation (IEPC) of Chiapas. It is feared that they were forced to do so, so as to open the possibility for their positions to be occupied by men.

Although they argued that they did so voluntarily, the IEPC has expressed its concern, fearing that these are cases of political violence against women, so the Provisional Commission for Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination will analyze the situation and the reasons for the mass resignations.

So far, those who have resigned are women from the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) of the Tuxtla Chico and Mapastepec municipalities; of Nueva Alianza in Frontera Comalapa; and from the local party Podemos Mover a Chiapas in Suchiapa. In the municipality of Frontera Hidalgo, the elected municipal president, Leticia Galindo Gamboa, from the PVEM, resigned as well. Ten women from the Green Party who should be made deputies in the local Congress through proportional representationalso resigned.

The IEPC explained that the electoral law has not been violated since, at the time, all the political parties “complied with the parity when registering their forms both for the local mayorships and the local deputies.” However, he clarified that “registering a woman and then compeling her to resign and replace her with a man ─ what are known as simulated candidacies ─, besides being political violence, could be a possible fraud to the law, and if it so, in no way will it be permited“.

For his part, the presiding counselor of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Lorenzo Cordova, condemned the acts of political violence and stated that they would represent a regression in gender parity. He announced that on September 10, a commission of councilors of the INE will go to Chiapas to verify the situation and establish actions in the defense of women’s political rights.

The governor of Chiapas, Manuel Velasco, instructed the Justice Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the situation: “I strongly condemn that the women elected in the July 1 elections could be renouncing their positions due to pressure or to be victims of political violence in order to resign”, he said.

For more information (in Spanish):

Chiapas investiga si renuncia de candidatas fue por presión (Político.mx, 8 de septiembre de 2018)

¿Violencia política contra mujeres en Chiapas? Fiscalía investiga renuncia de 30 regidoras y diputadas (Animal Política, 8 de septiembre de 2018)

Ganaron pero las sustituiría un hombre: 30 regidoras y diputadas renuncian a sus cargos en Chiapas (Animal Político, 7 de septiembre de 2018)

40 mujeres electas renuncian, varones serán diputados o regidores (Regeneración, 7 de septiembre de 2018)

Condena INE que obliguen a candidatas a renunciar para que varones ocupen sus cargos (Aristegui Noticias, 7 de septiembre de 2018)

En Chiapas, al menos 40 “Juanitas” ceden sus cargos de elección popular (Proceso, 6 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Historic Elections in Mexico – Historic Record of Political Violence July 17, 2018

National: 94 Candidates Murdered; Over 1,000 Leave Election Campaign June 25, 2018

Oaxaca: 17 Men Pose as Transgender to Register as Candidates May 14, 2018

Oaxaca: Segob decrees Gender Violence Alert in Oaxaca for unfullfillment of governor Murat

Photo @ Proceso

Due to the lack of action of the state government facing the request of the Ombudsman for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) to obtain a Gender-based Violence Alert (AVG) in the state (it was presented in July 2017), the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) decided to issue this mechanism. According to Regeneration, it requires “the government of Alejandro Murat Hinojosa to deliver a work program to prevent, address, punish and eradicate violence against women taking into account the intercultural nature of its 570 municipalities “.

It is worth noting that the figures for femicides have exceeded two hundred victims during Murat Hinojosa’s term. Although a comprehensive program should be prepared by the state government for the entire Oaxacan territory, the AVG was only issued in 40 municipalities of the state, where local authorities must implement emergency actions. In total it deals with “6 municipalities of the Mixteca region, 3 of the Cañada; 5 on the Isthmus; 10 of the Coast; 8 of Central Valleys; 4 of the Papaloapan Basin; 2 in the Sierra Sur and the same number in the Sierra Norte”, according to a report by NVInoticias.

Regeneración adds that the working group that promoted the issue of the AVG in Oaxaca emphasized that in the past “the local government did not take into account the criteria related to intersectionality, intercultural approach, transparency and accountability in the implementation of actions. It also excluded civil organizations specialized in violence against women to follow up on the alert. “

At the moment, the AVG has been implemented in 14 states: Oaxaca, State of Mexico, Morelos, Michoacán, Chiapas, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Colima, San Luis Potosi, Guerrero, Quintana Roo, Nayarit, Zacatecas and Veracruz.

For more information (in Spanish):

Por incumplimiento de Murat, decretan Alerta de Género en Oaxaca (Regeneración, 4 de septiembre de 2018)

Alerta de Género para 40 municipios de Oaxaca (NVI Noticias, 2 de septiembre de 2018)

Gobierno de Oaxaca acepta declaratoria de alerta de género (El Universal, 2 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ :

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

Oaxaca: Feminist Strike on International Women’s Day March 27, 2018

Oaxaca: Special Comission to Investigate Femicidal Violence Set Up after Delays January 24, 2018

Oaxaca: Virtual Platform “Femicidal Violence” Launched December 28, 2017