Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2009 - Mexico

Political context

2008 was marked by a noticeable increase in violence caused by the war amongst the main drug cartels.1 To that extent, there is no hope for the battle against drug trafficking if social inequalities are not tackled. About 60% of Mexicans live in poverty and are unable to satisfy basic needs, in a context where women make up more than 60% of this population. Over the last few years, many Mexicans were forced to emigrate in order to survive. It is also worth highlighting that some States concentrate the highest levels of social exclusion, repression and violence. These include the States of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas, where generalised corruption, impunity, extreme poverty, discrimination and the denial of indigenous peoples' rights was combined with conflicting interests vying to exploit natural resources and carry out megaprojects to produce energy. Both of these were carried out without any consideration of local communities' rights. As for the State of Chihuahua, it suffered from a high level of delinquency, crimes, corruption and impunity during the war between drug cartels, which only worsened in 2008. In this context, the crime of feminicide did not diminish, particularly in Ciudad Juárez and in the city of Chihuahua, which have registered since 1993 more than 500 murders and an undetermined number of disappeared women and girls, which all remained unsolved as of the end of 2008.

On December 3, 2008, the United States of America and Mexico signed an agreement to launch the Merida Initiative (Iniciativa Mérida),2 which aims at strengthening the collaboration between the United States, Mexico and the States of Central America in the fight against drug trafficking. This initiative could have negative effects on human rights regarding, for example, the criminalisation of social protest and the treatment of migrants in transit. Mexico is a country with three dimensions with regards to migrants: a country of origin, a hosting country an a country of transit. Despite the possible step backward that the enforcement of the Merida Initiative could have, Mexico amended the General Law of Population (Ley General de Población – LGP) in mid 2008, abolishing the articles that criminalised irregular entry into the country.3

The environmental situation also continued to be one of the main problems in 2008. Regions such as Chiapas have significant natural resources that attract large national and international companies, reflected in Mexico's adoptions of various commercial agreements. The last of these is the agricultural chapter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which came into force on January 1, 2008. This has had a very negative effect on agriculture, the environment and natural resources, but it has also affected the rights of workers and indigenous communities, as well as their lands. The increase in the price of maize has been particularly critical. This measure, which aims at encouraging the production of biofuels, is causing an unprecedented food crisis in the country.

Faced with these complex situations, the Government of President Felipe Calderón continued to use militarisation to fight against organised crime. This included the reinforcement of the armed forces' central role, the militarisation of civil institutions charged with maintaining public order, and the adoption of reforms in the judiciary system. This led to the increasing criminalisation of social protest through use of force and detentions without judicial authorisation, which sometimes resulted in excessive sentences against social actors, including human rights defenders.

In this context, on June 18, 2008, constitutional reforms were passed on the criminal justice system. Although they entail progresses that could contribute to strengthening individual guarantees to a fair trial, there are also worrying elements since some regulations contravene international human rights standards. One of the constitutional articles codifies a series of crimes for which preventive detention (arraigo) is mandatory. This violates the principle according to which preventive detention should only be used in exceptional cases, considered individually. Preventive detention is a form of detention whereby the Public Ministry, with a judicial warrant, can order the detention of any person for a period of almost three months without them being charged. In the case of alleged organised crime, preventive detention can be extended from forty to eighty days in a detention centre (centro de arraigo), and it restricts the guarantees regarding the probative value of the evidence presented in court against the defendant. This provision creates a subsystem of exceptions for people accused of belonging to organised crime, which limits the procedural laws applied in such cases. It is all the more dangerous as the definition of organised crime is very wide4 and allows for the accusation of members of social movements, including human rights defenders, of belonging to organised crime. This situation can encourage the use of torture in order to obtain information from the detainee during the period of preventive detention.5 It should be noted that preventive detention was qualified as an "arbitrary form of detention" on several occasions by international organisations, such as the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.6

Violent harassment and murders of environmental defenders

Defenders fighting for the right to land and the environment continued to be the victims of harassment and even assassinations. Besides, the assassination, on May 15, 2007, of Mr. Aldo Zamora, an environmental rights activist struggling against illegal deforestation and the son of a community leader, in the State of Mexico, remained unpunished one year later.7 On March 14, 2008, Mr. Armando Villarreal Martha, Head of the National Agrodynamic Organisation (Organización Agrodinámica Nacional – OAN), was murdered by an armed commando. Mr. Villarreal was a community leader, recognised both nationally and internationally for his defence of the rights of the farming sector. Over the past few years, he had come to hold a prominent position due to his battle, alongside farmers and producers, for the Government to revise electricity rates, as well as the price of fuel and fertilisers for agricultural consumption. Repression also took other forms. On February 6, 2008, several defamatory and slanderous articles were posted around the work place of Ms. Yara Fernández Moreno, a doctor in ecology, a researcher8 and an employee of the "Miguel Álvarezdel Toro" zoo (ZOOMAT). At the same time, news articles about the deforestation of "El Zapotal", an ecological reserve in Tuxla Gutierrez, State of Chiapas, which Ms. Fernandez had denounced, were ripped out. In addition, Sister Consuelo Morales Elizondo, Director of the organisation Citizens in Support of Human Rights A. C. (Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos A.C. – CADHAC) in the State of Nuevo León, received phone threats and her house was watched in May 2008. These events took place at a time when the CADHAC was supporting environmental organisations and the social movement that called for the protection of the environmental reserve of Valle de Reyes, on which there are projects to build a high-class residential complex.

Acts of harassment against defenders fighting against impunity and for prisoners' rights

In 2008, defenders fighting against impunity, for prisoners' rights and against the poor conditions in the country's detention facilities continued to be subjected to harassment. On April 24, 2008, Mr. Francisco, Ms. Emiliana and Mr. Alejandro Cerezo Contreras, members of the Cerezo Committee (Comité Cerezo), received threats via email.9 In addition, Mr. Elias Sánchez Gomez, a member of the group of former prisoners "Innocent Voices" (Voces Inocentes),10 was followed and threatened with death on July 2, 2008, by three members of the Organisation for the Defence of Indigenous and Peasant Rights (Organización para la Defensa de los Derechos Indígenas y Campesinos – OPDDIC)11 and from the Busiljá community. Mr. Sánchez and his family had been previously arrested and accused by the OPDDIC of abduction and firearms. They were released on March 31, 2008 after a 22-day hunger strike, on condition that they did not return to their community. The residence of Mr. Abdallán Guzmán Cruz, an activist for the "Diego Lucero A. C." Foundation (Fundación "Diego Lucero A. C."),12 was raided in July and August 2008. In the first raid, documents and important information that had been gathered over many years of investigation into five detainees who have disappeared since 1974 were stolen. In the second raid, six armed soldiers who claimed to be carrying out a routine inspection came to interrogate Mr. Guzmán and his wife without providing a search warrant.

Serious acts of harassment against women human rights defenders

In a country in which women's safety can be very low in certain areas, the security of people fighting for women's rights continued to be extremely precarious. On February 7, 2008, Ms. Dora María Avila Betancourt, a member of the Centre for Women's Rights Nääxwiin, A. C. (Centro para los Derechos de la mujer Nääxwiin, A. C.), in the State of Oaxaca, where she is in charge of the administrative counselling and training for indigenous women who are victims of domestic violence as well as of a sexual and reproductive health youth programme, was followed and arrested for eight hours because the car she was driving had allegedly been reported as stolen. She was released after long negotiations but, on February 17, 2008, the Judge issued a formal order of imprisonment against Ms. Avila on these charges.13 At the end of 2008, the Second Unitary Tribunal acquitted her of all the charges.

Furthermore, in the region of Chihuahua, and especially in the cities of Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, women continued to be subjected to kidnappings, crimes and torture. In this context, those campaigning against impunity and for an effective judiciary system were victims of threats and severe harassment. For example, Ms. Luz Estela Castro, Director of the Centre for Women's Human Rights, A. C. (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Mujeres A. C.) and lawyer for the organisation "Justice for Our Daughters" (Justicia para Nuestras Hijas), in the State of Chihuahua, received two death threats on May 14, 2008, via her mobile phone. Since that date and until the end of 2008, Ms. Castro continued to receive threats despite being escorted by two security guards. Three members of the organisation "May Our Daughters Go Home" (Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa), Ms. Marisela Ortiz Rivera, Ms. Maria Luisa Andrade and Ms. Norma Andrade received continuous death threats aimed at themselves and at their children in the framework of the first screening of the film "Bajo Juárez", a documentary on the murders in the State of Chihuahua, which denounced the powerful city's gangs and hinted at the authorities' negligence and possible tolerance towards the cruel murders of women.

Repression against defenders of indigenous peoples' rights

In 2008, repression against defenders of indigenous peoples' rights was very severe, as shown by the registered cases of arbitrary detentions and murders. On April 7 for instance, Ms. Felicitas Martinez Sanchez and Ms. Teresa Bautista Merino, two journalists working for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio radio, were ambushed and assassinated whilst they were working on a report on the Triqui indigenous community in the State of Oaxaca. Moreover, several members of the Me'Phaa Indigenous People's Organisation (Organización del Pueblo Indígena Me'Phaa – OPIM), in the State of Guerrero, were subjected to judicial proceedings and one of them was murdered. Mr. Lorenzo Fernández Ortega, one of the OPIM leaders, was kidnapped on February 9, 2008. His lifeless body was found the next day with evident signs of torture. On various occasions, Mr. Fernandez had denounced the forced sterilisation of 30 indigenous women in 1998. As of the end of 2008, the investigation into his murder had made no progress. In addition, on April 17, 2008, Messrs. Raúl Hernández, Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega and Romualdo Santiago, all members of OPIM, were arrested and accused on January 1, 2008 of the murder of Mr. Alejandro Feliciano Garcia, an army informer, in the community of El Camalote, in Guerrero State.14 Due to the irregularities in the trial, one may fear that the accusation was staged in order to frighten other OPIM members and to weaken their activities. At the end of 2008, the five defenders were still under arrest in the Centre for Social Rehabilitation in Ayutla de los Libres.15

Acts of harassment against defenders of migrant rights

In 2008, following the clamp down on migration policy in Mexico, defenders of migrant rights found themselves in a very vulnerable position, being subjected to acts of harassment within shelters or communities. For instance, Mr. Ireneo Mújica Arzate, a well-known human rights defender and community organiser for the Migrant Civil Rights Centre (Centro de Derechos Civiles para los Migrantes) in Arriaga, in the State of Chiapas, was arrested along with some migrants following an operation to stop Central-American immigrants who were trying to cross the border. Before being arrested, he was stripped of all his belongings. He was subsequently transferred to a detention centre for immigrants, even though he is a Mexican national. State agents insulted him, calling him a "pollero",16 before releasing him after five hours. Furthermore, the catholic priest Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, who has repeatedly denounced attacks by federal and local authorities against illegal migrants, in both national and international forums, was visited by about 40 people led by the municipal Mayor, Mr. Gabino Guzmán Palomec, the Secretary of Municipal Public Security and around 14 municipal policemen. His visitors arrived at the shelter "Brothers in the Way" (Hermanos en el Camino) in Oaxaca, for which he is responsible, and threatened him with setting fire to the centre if he did not close it down within 48 hours, alleging that delinquency and insecurity had increased since the arrival of migrants.

Urgent Interventions issued by The Observatory in 200817

Names of human rights defenders / NGOsViolationsIntervention ReferenceDate of Issuance
Ms. Yara Fernández MorenoHarassment / Defamation campaignUrgent Appeal MEX 001/0208/OBS 022February 20, 2008
Ms. Dora María Ávila BetancourtHarassment / Defamation campaignUrgent Appeal MEX 002/0208/OBS 029March 4, 2008
Mr. Armando Villarreal MarthaAssassinationUrgent Appeal MEX 003/0408/OBS 044April 1, 2008
Mr. Irineo Mújica ArzateThreats / Arrest / Harassment / Fear for safetyUrgent Appeal MEX 004/0408/OBS 065April 23, 2008
Mr. Aldo Zamora and Mr. Ildefonso ZamoraImpunity / HarassmentPress ReleaseMay 16, 2008
Ms. Luz Estela CastroDeath threats / HarassmentUrgent Appeal MEX 005/0508/OBS 088, issued as MEX 004/0508/OBS 088May 21, 2008
Ms. Consuelo Morales EliozondoThreats / HarassmentUrgent Appeal MEX 006/0608/OBS 093, issued as MEX 005/0608/OBS 093June 4, 2008
Mr. Martin Amaru Barrios Hernández and Ms. Reyna RamírezThreats / Judicial proceedings / AttacksUrgent Appeal MEX 001/0106/OBS 002.2June 18, 2008
Mr. Alejandro SolalindeHarassment / IntimidationUrgent Appeal MEX 007/0708/OBS 113, issued as MEX 003/0708/OBS 113July 3, 2008
Mr. Elías Sánchez GómezHarassment / AttacksUrgent Appeal MEX 008/0708/OBS 115, issued as MEX 004/0708/OBS 115July 8, 2008
Mr. Abdallán Guzmán CruzSearches / HarassmentUrgent Appeal MEX 009/0708/OBS 121July 16, 2008
Urgent Appeal MEX 009/0708/OBS 121.1September 3, 2008
Ms. Maria Luisa Andrade, Ms. Marisela Ortiz Rivera and Ms. Norma AndradeSerious threats / HarassmentUrgent Appeal MEX 010/1108/OBS 188November 12, 2008

1 According to the newspaper El Universal, the "narcowar" caused the unprecedented figure of 5,630 victims only for the year 2008. See El Universal, article dated January 1, 2009 and published on January 27, 2009.

2 The aim of the Merida Initiative is to allow Mexico and Central American countries to contribute, jointly with the United States of America, to the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking. This initiative was already passed by the Mexican Executive.

3 See Without Borders (Sin Fronteras).

4 "When three or more people decide to organise or to organise themselves to carry out, either permanently or repeatedly, actions that, separately or in conjunction to others, have the aim or the result of committing one or several crimes relating to [inter alia, terrorism, arms stockpiling and trade, trade of undocumented people, organ trading, corruption of minors or slave trade]", Federal Law Against Organised Crime (Ley Federal contra la Delincuencia Organizada), Official Diary of the Federation, November 7, 1996, Article 2.

5 The most emblematic case of preventive detention (arraigo) in 2008 was the following: on September 15, 2008, Mr. Carlos Solís Reina, correspondent for the newspaper El Bravo Matamoros, and Mr. Luis Alberto Salas Barajas were arrested by federal police in Matamoros. To begin with, the federal police accused Mr. Solís Reina and Mr. Salas Barajas of having murdered a girl, but witnesses declared that the policemen had shot the girl. The detainees were not sent before the Federal Public Ministry nor in front of the Fifth Agency of the Public Ministry of the city of Matamoros. They were transferred to Mexico City and they appeared before the Deputy Prosecutor General's Office Specialised in Investigations into Organised Crime. Mr. Solís Reina and Mr. Salas Barajas stated that during the transfer to Mexico City, they were submitted to various acts of torture to force them to make false declarations and to confess that they were guilty. They were transferred to the facilities of the National Preventive Detention Centre (Centro Nacional de Arraigo) in Mexico City. Both men remained under preventive detention (i.e. without being given any penal accusation) for 36 days, until October 20, 2008, when they were told that they would be brought before the Sixth District Judge in the State of Tamaulipas, based in Matamoros. They were then transferred to the Third Centre for Social Rehabilitation based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

6 See Committee Against Torture, Conclusions and Recommendations, UN Document CAT/C/MEX/ CO/4, February 6, 2007, and Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on its visit to Mexico, UN Document E/CN.4/2003/8/Add.3, December 17, 2002.

7 Following those events, the ministerial authorities of the Tenancingo municipality in the State of Mexico opened the corresponding prior investigation. The Judge based in the same municipality then issued an arrest warrant against those allegedly responsible. However, as of the end of 2008, only Mr. Fernando Jacinto Medina and Mr. Silvestre Jacinto Medina had been arrested, whilst both Mr. Luis Encarnación Neri and Mr. Alejo Encarnación Neri continued to be fugitives, despite the commitment made by President Felipe Calderon in 2007 that his Government would collaborate with the local authorities to ensure that justice was carried out in the case of Mr. Aldo Zamora's murder.

8 Ms. Yara Fernandez Moreno has been working at the Natural History and Ecology Institute (Instituto de Historia Natural y Ecologia – IHNE) for nearly 17 years, carrying out investigations in the environmental reserve El Zapotal. She wrote works of reference on the issue of urban environmental reserves and denounced the transformation of the aforementioned reserve into a tourist destination, which would cause irreparable ecological damage.

9 The Cerezo Committee is an organisation that defend the human rights of political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and prisoners wrongly associated with political motives.

10 The group of former prisoners "Innoncent Voices" fights for the release of the prisoners of La Voz de El Amate, La Voz de los Llanos and the Zapatista group and it denounces human rights violations suffered by persons deprived of their liberty.

11 The Organisation for the Defence of Indigenous and Peasant Rights is a paramilitary-style organisation, established by the ex-MP for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), Mr. Pedro Chulín Jiménez, which aims at harassing and threatening members and autonomous communities linked with the Zapatista National Liberation Movement (Movimiento Zapatista de Liberación Nacional).

12 The "Diego Lucero A. C." Foundation is a human rights organisation that campaigns so that disappeared detainees in Mexico be found alive.

13 An order of formal imprisonment is a judicial decision that means that the detainee has to go into preventive detention while waiting the beginning of his or her trial for the crime he or she is being prosecuted, and/or which will require the person to remain at the courts disposal.

14 Charges would also have been pressed against at least ten other indigenous persons, including various members of the OPIM, although their names were not known.

15 On October 20, 2008, a federal judge granted them protection (amparo) and ordered the release of four of them, Messrs. Manuel Cruz Victoriano, Orlando Manzanares Lorenzo, Natalio Ortega Cruz and Romualdo Santiago Enedina, when he established that the evidence presented did not concern them. However, they were not released since the Prosecutor General of the Republic appealed against the decision of protection.

16 The words "pollero", "coyote" and "pateros" are used for people who are specialised in the illegal transfer of undocumented migrants, in exchange for large sums of money. These people are also often responsible for attacks, theft and other crimes against migrants.

17 See the Compilation of cases in the CD-Rom attached to this report.

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