Mexico: Rights Activists Face Threats, Arbitrary Detention - and Worse

MEXICO CITY, Apr 17, 2010 (IPS) - Francisco Jiménez, a member of the National Committee of Rural and Fishing Unions (CONORP) was arrested on Apr. 7 in the Mexican capital by agents from the southern state of Chiapas in what activists say is another case of arbitrary detention.

Jiménez, who was seized by a group of armed plainclothes men while meeting with government officials and several fellow activists in a café to discuss the creation of a working group to respond to Chiapas peasant farmers' demands, is accused of the brief "kidnapping" of an agriculture ministry official in 1999.

He is now in prison in the state of Nayarit, some 2,600 km northwest of the Mexican capital, far from his family, friends and colleagues.

His case is illustrative of the situation faced by activists in Mexico - the focus of the third national meeting of human rights defenders, held Friday and Saturday in the capital.

"We have been demanding that the state help create a national programme for human rights defenders," Abel Barrera, head of the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Centre based in the southern state of Guerrero, told IPS. "There is an international framework that has to be enforced and applied in a precise manner."

Threats and attacks against activists are so numerous in Guerrero that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has extended precautionary measures for 107 human rights defenders in the state.

The threats faced by activists, protection mechanisms guaranteed by international treaties and the creation of a guide on international human rights conventions were the focus of the conference on Friday, which was closed to journalists.

Activists in Mexico suffer intimidation, harassment, attacks and are even murdered because of their work, according to reports by the Mexican office of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and local human rights groups.


http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51083

For anyone who hasn't heard of Digna Ochoa, a Mexican human rights activist, please see the following:

Digna Ochoa y Plácido, Human Rights Lawyer
Mexico
Extra-judicial execution

http://www.amnestysd.org.nyud.net:8090/Dignathreats.jpg

On Friday 19 October, Digna Ochoa y Plácido, a leading human rights lawyer who had won international awards in recognition of her human rights work, was found shot at her office in the centre of Mexico City. The killers left a death threat warning human rights defenders of the PRODH that they could meet a similiar fate.

A catalogue of threats and attacks preceded the killing of Digna Ochoa who had worked for many years with the Centro de Derechos Humanos "Miguel Agust’n Pro Ju‡rez" (PRODH), Human Rights Centre "Miguel Agust’n Pro Ju‡rez".

In August 1999, Digna Ochoa was forced into a car in Mexico City by two unknown men and punched in the stomach. She was later released, but warned she would be killed if she reported the attack. In September 1999, PRODH received three separate letters containing death threats. Attached to one of the threats was one of Digna Ochoa's business cards, supposedly stolen when she was abducted. On 28 October 1999, three unidentified men entered Digna Ochoa's house, blindfolded her and interrogated her for several hours about members of the PRODH and members of armed opposition groups operating in Guerrero and Chiapas. The men tied Digna Ochoa to her bed and locked her in a room with an open gas canister. After they left she managed to set herself free. The same night the offices of the PRODH were broken into and searched. Another threat was left behind.

None of these incidents were properly investigated. Amnesty International believes that if the previous and current Mexican authorities had taken the appropriate action to ensure an exhaustive and independent investigation of these incidents the killing of Digna Ochoa could have been averted.

However, the investigation by the Offices of the Attorney General, which is responsible for all judicial investigations in Mexico, was unduly slow and cumbersome. Although the authorities provided police protection for Digna Ochoa and members of the PRODH, they failed in their responsibility to bring those responsible to justice and to send a clear message that such attacks on those who defend human rights would not be tolerated.

Digna Ochoa and members of the PRODH have worked on cases of serious human rights violations in which public officials have been implicated, including members of the Offices of the Attorney General and the military. The threat left by Digna Ochoa's killers leaves no doubt that Digna Ochoa was killed because of her human rights work. Her killing is the act of those seeking to evade prosecution by silencing human rights defenders who expose the perpetrators of human rights violations and insist that the authorities ensure they are brought to justice.



This is the original Urgent Action in 1999

Mexican Lawyer Under Threat of Violence for human Rights Work
The Centro de Derechos Humanos "Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez, AC (PRODH), the human rights organization in Mexico City currently providing the lawyers defending Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia have received death threats, sent to their offices on September 3rd and 8th, 1999. Although the death threats have not been directly linked to the Flores and Garcia case, there is concern that PRODH's general human rights work, including defending ecologist farmers like Garcia and Flores, have made them a target for intimidation.

According to reports, these threats are related to the abduction on August 9th, 1999 of Digna Ochoa y Pl‡cido, a human right lawyer working with PRODH, in Mexico City. Digna Ochoa was forced into the back of a car by two unknown men and punched in the stomach. She was later released, but was told she would be killed if she drew attention to her situation as she left the car.

On September 3rd, 1999, PRODH received three letters with the following death threats: "Reverendo padre aqu’ est‡ su sentencia de muerte" ("Reverend Father here is your death sentence"); "El que sigue es otro, hijos de puta. As’ se los cargar‡ su madre a todos" ("This is another , sons of bitches. This way you are all going to be dead meat"); and "A los que se creen los omnipotentes tambiŽn se mueren" ("Those who believe they are omnipotent also die"). Attached to the death threat was one of Digna Ochoa's business cards, stolen when she was abducted.

On September 8th,1999, four more letters containing death threats arrived at the offices of PRODH. Members of the organization have also been receiving threatening phone calls at their homes. The anonymous letters were made up using newspaper cuttings. One was addressed to the PRODH legal team which is run by human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa y Pl‡cido. The PRODH have also reported other incidents which they fear may be related to the threats. These include repeated power cuts and interruptions to telephone lines affecting calls, e-mail and internet-related work.

On the eveniong of 28 October 1999 three unidentified men entered the house of Digna Ochoa y Placido and interogated her at length about members of the PRODH in Mexico City. They asked her about the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) The men tied Digna to a chair, securing her arms and legs, and locked her in a room with an open gas canister; the telephone line was cut. After they left she managed to set herself free. The same night the offices of the PRODH were broken into and turned upside down. A video ws erased, papers were stolen and a message was left behind: 'poder suicida.'

More:
http://www.amnestysd.org/digna.html

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

The UN has also complained about Cuba. Human rights NGOs do a great job, and they need our support, everywhere. But tell me, you guys are in the USA, what do you think you will do about the Wikileaks video showing the murder of Iraqi civilians? When will you stop killing and murdering people in the Middle East because you are driven to be Israel's proxy? I never get an answer to many of my questions.