Guerrero: Article 19 urges to investigate political motivations in the case of the murder of the journalist, Gabriel Soriano

@Article 19

In a statement on October 28, the organization for freedom of expression Article 19 urged to investigate possible political motivations in the case of the murder of journalist Gabriel Soriano Kuri. This fact occurred four days earlier in an armed attack in Acapulco, after Soriano ended to give technical support to the journalistic coverage of Radio & Television Guerrero (RTG) to a report of Governor Hector Astudillo Flores.

The Attorney General’s Office has been disseminating a version of the facts according to which the murder was allegedly due to a “road incident”. However, Article 19 referred that one day after the murder of Soriano, a dismembered body was found in the La Poza neighborhood, located in the Diamond Zone of Acapulco with a message that, according to a photo circulating in the media, says the following: “Here you have to respect me fucking government; if you continue to have deals with the Cida (Independent Cartel of Acapulco) that will be the end of you all, journalists and government, you are going to suck my cock. Here (…) the “amarillos” (the Yellows) prevail“.

Article 19 recalled that on more than one occasion it has expressed that “Guerrero exemplifies the institutional weakness and the infiltration capacity of organized crime in public entities.” It demanded to clarify whether the assassination of Gabriel was an attack directed and perpetrated by alleged members of organized crime with political motivations. “If so, this homicide would be an unprecedented event because it would confirm that drug trafficking is using the press as cannon fodder to politically press public authorities to achieve their ends. This would signal the beginning of a new form of organized crime violence against journalism”, said.

It also urged the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists to take measures to guarantee the life and personal integrity of the family of Gabriel Soriano as well as of his fellow RTG colleagues.

For more information (in Spanish) :

No hay despegue de violencia, sino asesinatos que causan impacto: gobernador (Acapulco News, 30 de octubre de 2018)

Exige la Felap investigar a fondo el asesinato de Gabriel Soriano (La Jornada de Guerrero, 29 de octubre de 2018)

Llaman a a investigar motivaciones políticas detrás de asesinato del periodista en Guerrero (Centro Pro DH, 30 de octubre de 2018)

El homicidio de Gabriel Soriano en Acapulco: ¿una nueva forma de violencia del narcotráfico contra el periodismo? (Artículo 19, 28 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Radio and TV Broadcaster from Guerrero Murdered (November 1, 2018)

National/International: UN and IACHR Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression Call on Mexico to Increase its Efforts to Protect Journalists (December 27th, 2017)

Guerrero: Intimidation of El Sur Reporter Zacarias Cervantes Reported (November 30th, 2017)

Guerrero: Attack on Proceso Correspondent (June 14th, 2017)

Guerrero: Xochistlahuaca Reporter Shot at in Ometepec (June 7th, 2017)

Guerrero: Journalist Cecilio Pineda Murdered (March 8, 2017)

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Guerrero: Guerrero Radio & Television announcer is killed

@Facebook of Gabriel Soriano

On October 24, at 8 o’clock in the evening, Gabriel Soriano Kuri, announcer and worker of the state news system Guerrero Radio & Television, died after a bullet attack on the truck of the company in which he was being transported. This when returning from the transmission of the report of Governor Hector Astudillo for his third year in office, which took place in the Diamond Zone of Acapulco. He was the son of the information chief of the newspaper La Jornada Guerrero, Javier Soriano.

According to the initial version released by the prosecution, the cause of the attack could be a discussion with another motorist who was armed. With his death, Soriano becomes the seventeenth communicator murdered so far this year in Mexico.

The next day, relatives and colleagues of the announcer marched to demand justice for his murder. In a statement, they denounced that since the beginning of the administration of Héctor Astudillo three journalists have been killed and one more was injured in a shooting attack. These crimes remain unpunished, they recalled. They pointed out that the wave of violence in the state “envelops us and (…) daily kills us with anxiety, because we do not know if our relatives, friends or companions will return alive to their homes”.

The Governor of Guerrero posted a message on Twitter lamenting the murder of Soriano and exhorting the State Attorney General to clarify the facts. Shortly after, Sam Soriano, the journalist’s daughter, responded in the same way: “My father was murdered working, covering his government report. Do your work and fix the situation in the state. IT’S NOT FAIR”.

The murder of Gabriel Soriano “is a terrible reminder that violence against journalists does not stop in the country, reinforcing what we already know: Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for those who do the work of informing society his passion and his profession”, said Jan Jarab, representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

For more information (in Spanish):

Asesinan en Acapulco al locutor Gabriel Soriano (Proceso, 24 de octubre de 2018)

Matan a hijo del jefe de información de ‘La Jornada Guerrero’ (La Jornada, 24 de octubre de 2018)

Muere el locutor Gabriel Soriano durante ataque a una camioneta de Radio y TV de Guerrero (Animal Político, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Asesinan a balazos a un locutor de RTG en la glorieta de Puerto Marqués (El Sur, 25 de octubre de 2018)

Protestan por asesinato del periodista y locutor Gabriel Soriano Kuri en Acapulco (Proceso, 25 de octubre de 2018)

ONU-DH y CNDH condenan el asesinato del periodista Gabriel Soriano (Proceso, 25 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Intimidation of El Sur Reporter Zacarias Cervantes Reported November 30, 2017

Guerrero: national and international organizations visit prisoners of the CECOP and the CRAC-PC

Press Conference at the Las Cruces prison (@La Jornada de Guerreo)

On October 5, members of Services and consultancies for peace (Serapaz), in representation of the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC), and the International Service for Peace (SIPAZ) visited 16 of the 18 prisoners of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (Cecop) and the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – Community Police (CRAC PC), held in the prison of Las Cruces, in Acapulco, since January 7. They were accompanied by the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, which has assumed the defense of said prisoners.

At a press conference outside the prison after the visit, Alberto Solís Castro, director of Serapaz stated that the struggle that has led the Cecop has been emblematic for the country: “they have resisted for more than 12 years the onslaught of different governments and faced unfair situations and repressions. What we are seeing is a new effort to criminalize them, to stop them and attack them, because they fight for the land, because they oppose a dam megaproject that would end the environment and a good part of community life in the region”. He reported that they will issue a recommendation to the state government to release the prisoners and stressed that at least eight cases of torture during detention were documented. The complaints on those case have not been addressed, despite visits by representatives of state and national human rights organizations. He announced that next week they will report this situation to the person that will be in charge of the Institute of Indigenous Peoples, Adelfo Regino; to the next head of the Welfare Ministry, as well as to Senators Félix Salgado Macedonio and Nestora Salgado García.

Tommy Van Straten, member of Sipaz, indicated that as an international organization with a presence in Guerrero since 2005, they are concerned about the mistreatment of the detainees. He said that in this visit they documented the cases of torture inside the jail and the differential treatment the prisonners have received, including the isolation of the rest of the prison population. He also highlighted the situation and traumas of the prisoners’ relatives.

For his part, Rogelio Téliz García, Tlachinollan’s lawyer, said that the defense process is progressing, that there will be a new hearing on October 26 where the prisonners are expected to be released, such as a group of eight community members already was. He pointed out that there are 50 arrest warrants against the same number of community members in Cacahuatepec who, he said, are being persecuted by the government. He said that this happens despite the fact that the Crac-PC is protected by Law 701.

For more information (in Spanish):

Visitan ONG a los presos del Cecop; documentan 8 casos de tortura (El Sur, 5 de octubre de 2018)

Documentan ONG 8 casos de tortura a presos del Cecop en Acapulco (Quadartín, 5 de octubre de 2018)
Visitan activistas a los presos del Cecop en la cárcel de Las Cruces (El Sur, 6 de octubre de 2018)

Visita una ONG internacional a miembros del Cecop y de la Crac (La Jornada de Guerrero, 6 de octubre de 2018)

Visita SIPAZ a los presos del Cecop y la CRAC PC (La Plaza, 6 de octubre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Guerrero: 50 arrest warrants against members of CECOP (September 24, 2018)

Guerrero: 9 of the 25 detainees for a confrontation in La Concepción in January are released September 17, 2018

Guerrero: Judge Orders Guarantees for Rights to Water, Health and Dignified Treatment for 25 CECOP Prisoners April 24, 2018

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP January 22, 2018

Guerrero: 50 arrest warrants against members of CECOP

@Regeneración

Weeks after the release of members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota dam (Cecop), the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – Community Police (CRAC-PC), and civilians of several villages belonging to the Communal Lands of Cacahuatepec, municipality of Acapulco, a new persecution and unprecedented criminalization has been unleashed against members of the movement, reported the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center.

According to several newspapers, ministerial police maintained checkpoints at the entrances of the communal lands of Cacahuatepec such as Las Chanecas, San Pedro Cacahuatepec, Las Palmitas, Tasajeras, San Isidro Gallinero and La Concepción ; and with list in hand illegally review all the peasants that come or go. They also reported that more than 80 policemen travel through the villages of San Isidro Gallinero, Parotillas, La Concepcion, Aguas Calientes, Oaxaquillas, Salsipuedes and Amatillo.

Two weeks ago, “ministerial police illegally searched the home of Clemente Cabrera Benítez, a prominent member of CECOP in the community of Tasajeras, and took him away. On September 4, Tomás Cruz Valeriano from the community of Ilamos was arrested in San Isidro Gallinero, both of whom have an arrest warrant for the crime of damages and dispossession resulting from unfounded accusations and fabricated evidence. The Office of the Prosecutor has released more than 50 arrest warrants against the same number of CECOP members, whose crime has been to defend their lands and natural assets such as the Papagayo River, which is irrationally exploited by gravial businessmen. “

On December 12, a delegation of community members from Cecop, CRAC, from the Council of Affected Communities of La Montaña (Ccdm), from the Popular Front of Tlapa (FPT), from the Front of Communities for the Defense of Collective Rights in La Montaña (Frecoddec) and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center for went to the State Congress where they met with a commission of deputies from Morena. According to La Jornada de Guerrero, they listed several points for urgent resolution, among them the establishment of mechanisms for the prompt release of political prisoners, the immediate expulsion of state forces from the Communal Lands and the cessation of intimidation and harassment of civil organizations.

According to Cuadratin, they also presented a proposal for an initiative to reform the Political Constitution of Guerrero, from articles 8 to 14, regarding indigenous and Afro-Mexican populations so as to guarantee their right to decide and exercise their forms of social, economic and political organization, as well as their own community justice system.

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado / Persecución política contra el CECOP (CDH Tlachinollan, 6 de septiembre de 2018)

Piden organizaciones la libertad de los presos del Cecop y alto al hostigamiento (Sur de Acapulco, 12 de septiembre de 2018)

Piden comunitarios que diputados exhorten al gobierno a no reprimirlos (La Jornada de Guerrero, 13 de septiembre de 2018)

Piden organizaciones reforma que garantice derechos de los pueblos (Cuadratin Guerrero, 12 de septiembre de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: 9 of the 25 detainees for a confrontation in La Concepción in January are released September 17, 2018

Guerrero: Judge Orders Guarantees for Rights to Water, Health and Dignified Treatment for 25 CECOP Prisoners April 24, 2018

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP January 22, 2018

National: presentation of the seventh report “Defending Human Rights: The six-years term of impunity”

Presentation of the seventh report “Defending Human Rights” (@Comité Cerezo)

On August 21, the seventh report “Defending Human Rights in Mexico: The six-years term of impunity” elaborated by Urgent Action for Human Rights Defenders (ACUDDEH), the Cerezo Committee and the Campaign against Enforced Disappearance was presented publicly. It covers the period from June 2017 to May 2018.

This report states that during the government of Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN) there have been 5527 attacks against human rights defenders and journalists; 949 of those cases were documented in this last period. It also states that « the largest number of cases registered are related to the opposition against the implementation of the structural reforms, particularly the people who defend the right to education were the most aggressed (224 cases); in second place were activists and people that demostrated in the streets; that is, those who exercised their human right to protest (219 cases) ». It also documents that “in this six-years term the major repression occurred in the states of Michoacán, Guerrero and Chiapas, states that, while suffering from high poverty rates, also have a long history of organizing to defend their human rights.”

The report also analyzes that after the Ayotzinapa case (2014), « the forced disappearance of human rights defenders or journalists implied a high political cost to the government to make it a widespread practice, so it was only used selectively against leaders or founders of indigenous, social or human rights movements, with which the case numbers are lower; however, this had a counterpoint : the Mexican government used extrajudicial execution to silence dissenting voices ». It highlights that the cases of forced disappearance increased by two times those of the previous six-year term.

It adds that “the cases of political imprisonment in Mexico are not unconnected or isolated facts, […], but they respond, in their vast majority, and are part of a mechanism of the strategy of political repression of the Mexican State to limit, dismantle and / or destroy, in practice, the human right to protest”. The organizations that wrote the report propose that within the national reconciliation proposed by the future government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) there might be an amnesty for this type of cases “that is, as a power of the president to “erase” the charges that are raised against these persons so thay they might obtain their freedom, as well as to eliminate the criminal record of those who have already served their sentence so that they might work or avoid being arrested for “recidivism”. An other option is to eliminate the cases that remain open as a silent threat to be able at any time to reactivate criminal proceedings, a situation thats wear down families and organizations and force them to stop demonstrating or compel them to give up from the defense of their rights”.

For more information (in Spanish):

Boletín de prensa Defender los Derechos Humanos en México: El Sexenio de la Impunidad (JUNIO DE 2017 A MAYO DE 2018) (Comité Cerezo, 25 de agosto de 2018)

Informe completo (Comité Cerezo, 25 de agosto de 2018)

México entre los países más peligrosos para defensores de derechos humanos (Vanguardia, 25 de agosto de 2018)

Una larga deuda: 5527 agresiones contra activistas y periodistas y el sexenio aún no concluye (Comité Cerezo, 28 de agosto de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Cerezo Committee Demands Amnesty, Truth Commissions and Protection of Defenders and Journalists from AMLO August 2, 2018

Guerrero: Nine of 25 Detainees from Confrontation in La Concepción in January Released

Detentions in La Concepción, January 2018 (@Tlachinollan)

On August 24, nine of the 25 detainees arrested on January 7, after a confrontation that left 11 dead and 38 arrested in the community of La Concepción were released.

Among those released are four members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota dam (Cecop), three community police and two people who were in the process of reeducation and do not belong to any organization.

After the initial hearing, 13 of the 38 detainees had already been released while 25 of them were to be prosecuted, 16 of them community police.

Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer for the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, explained that evidence was presented that the detainees were tortured, “that the sodium rhodizonate test is not conclusive since a lack of certainty may exist and it was done without the presence of their defenders, which is a requirement within the new accusatory criminal system. In addition to that there was coercion for them to accept that the weapons presented were theirs and the presentation of the detainees was late”, explained El Sur. However, the criterion that was used to free the detainees was the fact that “the witnesses do not point them out (…) so they could not be linked to the accusation“.

Another detainee of those who should have been freed did not leave the prison because he is facing another process.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Liberan a 9 de los 25 detenidos tras el enfrentamiento en La Concepción (El Sur, 24 de agosto de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Judge Orders Guarantees for Rights to Water, Health and Dignified Treatment for 25 CECOP Prisoners April 24, 2018

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP January 22, 2018

Guerrero / National: Nestora Salgado announces campaign for the freedom of political prisoners

@Regeneración

On August 29, at a first press conference after tooking oath as a new federal senator for the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), the ex-commander of Olinalá’s community police, Guerrero, Nestora Salgado, announced the start of a campaign for the freedom of all the political prisoners in the country. She declared that there are currently 500 of them in Guerrero, although the first thing that is required is to carry out a national diagnosis: “The intention is to make a mapping to integrate prisoners of conscience and social activists, as is the case of the Indigenous Dominga “N”, originally from Jalisco, who has been imprisoned for 15 years for various crimes. “

Having been imprisoned, it is not surprising that Salgado has stated that the fight for the freedom of political prisoners is the main axis of her legislative agenda: “We can not allow our comrades who fight for life to remain imprisoned.” “Justice in Mexico has been negotiated and for people who do not have money, they have no way to pay for it, but now that we have this voice it will sound stronger in the Senate in defense of them, we will make sure that it is taken into account”, she emphasized.

She was accompanied by inhabitants of San Pedro Tlanixco, municipality of Tenango del Valle, who demand the release of their family members, political prisoners for defending land and water, and by Professor Alberto Patishtan, from the El Bosque community in Chiapas, who was also Political prisoner and released through pardon in 2013.

Senator Salgado García announced that she is studying what initiatives could be promoted from the Upper House to help in this fight.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Trabajará Nestora Salgado para la liberación de 500 presos políticos (MX Político, 31 de agosto de 2018)

Nestora Salgado luchará por libertad de presos políticos (La Jornada, 30 de agosto de 2018)

Nestora Salgado inicia campaña para liberar a los presos políticos (La Jornada, 30 de agosto de 2018)

Nestora Salgado busca liberar a más de 500 presos políticos (Radio Fórmula, 30 de agosto de 2018)

Senadora Nestora Salgado inicia campaña por la libertad de presos políticos (Aristegui Noticias, 29 de agosto de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Guerrero: Extrajudicial Executions and Arrests of Community Police and Members of CECOP January 22, 2018

Nestora Salgado Launches Campaign to Demand Release of Political Prisoners April 7, 2016

Guerrero: Nestora Salgado Free March 22, 2016