Amnesty International Report 1999 - Mexico

MEXICO

Prisoners of conscience detained in previous years continued to be held. Hundreds of people, including human rights defenders, were arbitrarily detained. Human rights defenders and workers for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were the victims of death threats and other forms of harassment. Torture and ill-treatment by the army and police were widespread. Several "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions were reported.

There were continuing reports of human rights violations by the army and by paramilitary forces allegedly linked to the government in the context of law enforcement, anti-narcotics and counter-insurgency operations.

Peace negotiations between the armed opposition group Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), Zapatista National Liberation Army, and the government remained suspended. Consequently, the Comisión Nacional de Intermediación, National Mediation Council, led by Bishop Samuel Ruiz, dissolved itself in June. In November, however, there were talks between the EZLN and the Comisión de Concordia Pacificación, Concord and Pacification Commission, made up of federal deputies and senators.

In Guerrero and Oaxaca states, the armed opposition group Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR), Revolutionary Popular Army, allegedly carried out a number of attacks on the security forces. In March the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo Insurgente (ERPI), Insurgent People's Revolutionary Army, split from the EPR.

In the context of popular concern about public security and the perceived steep rise in violent crime, the Senate approved government proposals for measures to combat delinquency which significantly reduced judicial guarantees, particularly those relating to detention.

The arrest of an individual accused of more than 20 kidnappings in August led to a public debate on the death penalty. Although the Constitution allows for capital punishment, the death penalty had not been imposed in Mexico since 1937.

A draft law on "disappearances" was prepared by the Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, National Human Rights Commission, in May. It had not been discussed by Congress by the end of the year.

In January the UN Special Rapporteur on torture concluded that "torture and similar ill- treatment are frequent occurrences in many parts of Mexico". The report followed his visit to Mexico in August 1997.

In August the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities called on the government to ensure full respect for the international instruments to which Mexico was a party. In particular, the resolution urged the government to combat impunity for those who commit serious human rights abuses, particularly against members of indigenous populations, and to promote the work of human rights defenders and guarantee their safety.

In September the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a report on the human rights situation in Mexico. It urged the government, among other things, "to conduct meaningful, prompt and impartial investigations in all cases of disappearances" and punish those responsible; and to develop "strategies to effectively combat the proliferation of paramilitary groups" and measures to combat torture, including ending impunity for torturers. The government accepted the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in December but with the reservation referring to Article 33 of the Constitution which allows the Presidency to expel foreign nationals without a judicial hearing.

In October the government failed to attend an IACHR session which discussed the implementation of IACHR recommendations made previously on the cases of Brigadier General José Francisco Gallardo (see below); the killing of three peasant leaders from Morelia, Chiapas state, in 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1996); and the massacre of 17 unarmed peasants in 1995 near the village of Aguas Blancas, Guerrero state (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 and 1997). The government failed to implement the recommendations, claiming that the cases were resolved.

In May the Ministry of the Interior introduced strict visa requirements for international human rights observers which jeopardized the confidentiality of victims, witnesses and relatives who provided testimonies on violations.

The government expelled dozens of foreign nationals who were on missions to monitor human rights in a clear attempt to reduce international observation of the deteriorating situation in Chiapas. Among those expelled was Father Michel Chanteau, a French priest who had been living and serving as a parish priest in Chiapas for 32 years and who was active in the defence of human rights. The expulsion of Thomas Hansen, former director of the US-based NGO Pastors for Peace, was successfully challenged in the courts and the ban on his returning to the country was lifted. A government appeal against the ruling was pending at the end of the year.

Prisoners of conscience detained in previous years continued to be held. Despite recommendations by the IACHR in 1996 that he be immediately released, in March and April Brigadier General Gallardo was condemned by military courts to two consecutive 14-year prison sentences on trumped-up charges. His right to receive visits was restricted and he suffered continual harassment by prison guards. He had been arrested in 1993 for calling on the government to create the post of human rights ombudsman for the armed forces (see Amnesty International Report 1997).

Prisoners of conscience Benigno Guzmán and Bertoldo Ramírez Cruz (see Amnesty International Report 1998) remained in prison in Acapulco, Guerrero state, and were reportedly threatened by fellow prisoners, allegedly in collusion with the prison director. In October Benigno Guzmán was sentenced to more than 13 years' imprisonment following atrial which reportedly fell short of international fair trial standards.

In May prisoner of conscience Gerardo Demesa Padilla, a leader of the Comité de Unidad de Tepoztlán, Committee of Unity of Tepoztlán, was released after 29 months' imprisonment (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998).

More than 200 people, including human rights activists, were detained in five joint army and police operations in Chiapas state between April and June. Most were subsequently released without charge. However, the operations in Taniperla, Diez de Abril, Amparo Aguatinta, Nicolás Ruiz, and El Bosque appeared to be collective punishments against the communities, whom the authorities suspected of supporting the EZLN. In Nicolás Ruiz, for example, 167 people were detained on the basis of three individual arrest orders in an operation lasting six hours and involving hundreds of police officers and soldiers.

Human rights defenders and NGO workers, continued to suffer death threats and other forms of harassment. In March César Estrada Aguilar, a member of the Centro de Derechos Indígenas, Indigenous Rights Centre, in Chiapas state, was arbitrarily detained for some three hours by three members of the Policía de Seguridad Pública (PSP), Public Security Police, who threatened to kill him. In November Abel Barrera Hernández, President of the Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, Centre for Human Rights of Tlachinollan, Guerrero state, received death threats.

Sister Consuelo Morales Elizondo of the organization Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos, Citizens for Human Rights, who publicly denounced the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners in Nuevo León state, was subjected to intimidatory surveillance allegedly carried out by police. Members of other human rights organizations – including the Comité de Derechos Humanos de Tabasco, Human Rights Committee of Tabasco; several NGOs in Guerrero state; and the Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Mexican League for the Defence of Human Rights, in Oaxaca state – were subjected to a widespread campaign by the authorities, clearly aimed at delegitimizing their work.

There were reports of torture and ill-treatment by the security forces, including the army. The victims were often denied medical treatment. Courts continued to accept confessions extracted under torture as evidence. Numerous cases of ill-treatment were reported in the prison at Apodaca, Nuevo León state. In March, José Luis Blanco Flores was reportedly detained by judicial police near the town of Atoyac de Alvarez, Guerrero state, and tortured while held in unacknowledged detention for three days. Efrén Cortés Chávez and Erika Zamora Pardo alleged that they were tortured by soldiers after being detained during an army operation in the village of El Charco, Ayutla, Guerrero state, in June in which 11 civilians, whom the authorities alleged were members of the ERPI, were killed. By the end of the year the circumstances surrounding the incident had not been clarified by the authorities.

In June the former director of the Policía Judicial Federal, Federal Judicial Police, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for the torture of witnesses carried out in the context of the investigation into the murder of Francisco Ruiz Massieu, General Secretary of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Institutional Revolutionary Party, in September 1994.

Several people "disappeared" and hundreds of "disappearances" from previous years remained unresolved. Juan Sosa Maldonado was detained in July while shopping with his wife in Oaxaca city. The authorities did not acknowledge his detention for a month. In August the State Attorney's Office announced that Juan Sosa Maldonado was in detention, accused of being an EPR quartermaster. Two people who had "disappeared" after being captured during military operations in April and June 1997, reappeared in mid-1998. Both reported long periods of torture by their military captors to extract information and confessions.

Extrajudicial executions and deaths resulting from excessive use of force by the security forces continued to be reported. In January Guadalupe Méndez López was shot dead by members of the PSP in Ocosingo, Chiapas state, during a demonstration calling for justice for the victims of the 1997 Acteal massacre. Her three-year-old daughter Isabel Santís and 17-year-old Lázaro López Vázquez were wounded in the incident. Of the 22 police officers detained for the killing, 21 were released in June. By the end of the year no one had been charged.

In February José Tila López was shot dead when peasants returning from giving evidence to a human rights delegation were ambushed in northern Chiapas close to a PSP post. Survivors accused members of the so-called paramilitary group Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice) of the shooting.

In March Magdaleno Correa and Carlos Ayala – two members of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), Democratic Revolutionary Party – were shot dead in Guerrero state, allegedly by armed civilians linked to the PRI. The killings of several other PRD activists, allegedly by supporters of the PRI, in previous years had not been clarified by the end of the year.

At least 20 people were killed in two separate incidents in June involving the security forces at El Charco, Guerrero state, and El Bosque, Chiapas state. Some were reportedly extrajudicially executed. Official investigations had not clarified the circumstances, manner and cause of their deaths by the end of the year.

The judicial authorities failed to clarify a number of high-profile cases, such as the extrajudicial execution of six people in the Buenos Aires district of Mexico City in September 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998).

In April the Public Attorney's office appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate the massacre of 45 indigenous peasants at Acteal in December 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). In December, the Attorney General's Office published a report which failed to fully clarify the responsibility of state officials in the massacre. However, as details emerged of the circumstances surrounding the massacre, it became clear that state agents had facilitated the arming of those thought to be responsible and that the state authorities had failed to intervene promptly once the massacre had started.

In May Amnesty International published Mexico: "Disappearances" – a black hole in the protection of human rights which documented the growing number of "disappearances" between 1994 and 1997 and called on the government to take measures to prevent a return to systematic state-sponsored "disappearances" such as occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.

Amnesty International expressed concerns about the new visa regulations for human rights observers and the incidents at El Bosque and El Charco. The organization also reiterated its demand for the immediate and unconditional release of Brigadier General Gallardo.

Amnesty International delegates visited Mexico in September and held talks with government officials. The delegates were able to visit Brigadier General Gallardo, but only after a press campaign protesting at the previous denial of access to him. The Guerrero state authorities refused to allow the delegates to visit detainees in Acapulco prison, including Benigno Guzmán, Bertoldo Ramírez Cruz and two alleged ERPI members.