Obviously we should bomb Mexico City!
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Tue, 18 May 1999 14:42:41 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Urgent Action appeal from Amnesty International
Date: Mon, 17 May 1999
Subject: UA 111/99 Mexico
From: Marilyn McKim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Essential accents for this email version:
Acute (/) accent on
a in Vazquez, a in Sanchez
e in San Jose
first e in Tellez
second e in Rene, a in Juarez (Governor)
I in Diaz, I in Garcia (Attorney General)
e in Mexico
PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 41/08/99
UA 111/99 Fear for safety/Extrajudicial execution 17 May 1999
MEXICO Francisca Santos Pablo (f), 33
Victoriana Vazquez Sanchez (f), 50
Community of Barrio Nuevo San Jose
Killed: Antonio Mendoza Olivero, 12
Evaristo Albino Tellez, 27
Amnesty International is calling on the Mexican authorities to
protect the entire Mixteca indigenous community of Barrio Nuevo
San Jose, in Guerrero state, after members of the Mexican armed
forces apparently summarily killed two men and raped two women
from the community.
According to reports on 21 April 1999, Evaristo Albino Tellez and
Antonio Mendoza Olivero left Barrio Nuevo San Jose, part of the
autonomous municipality of Rancho Nuevo Democracia, to harvest
their crops. As they had not returned home the following day,
Francisca Santos Pablo, Evaristo's sister in law, and Victoriana
Vazquez Sanchez, Antonio's grandmother, went to look for them.
Near their plots of land the women found a military. The women
tried to run away, but report that the soldiers caught and raped
them.
Both women managed to return to Barrio Nuevo San Jose, and told
community leaders what had happened. Because they feared further
attacks, members of the community were only able to visit the
site of the camp on 28 April 1999, once the soldiers had left.
They apparently found bloodstained military gloves and sandals
that belonged to either Antonio or Evaristo.
On 27 April, members of the community attempted to report what
had happened to both the State and National Commissions of Human
Rights. The State Commission warned them not to pursue the case,
which they interpreted as a threat. For two days a lower court
judge refused to accept their request to obtain the equivalent of
a writ of habeas corpus, demanding that both Antonio and Evaristo
be presented before the authorities.
On 7 May, a full 17 days after they had last been seen, the State
Commission for Human Rights apparently informed Evaristo and
Antonio's relatives that they had been killed by soldiers, who
claim the two attacked them with guns. The Public Prosecutor's
Office in Ometepec, Guerrero, where the army took the bodies,
knew of the deaths long before the families and community members
were told.
When the families went to the Servicio Medico Forense (SEMFO),
Forensic Medical Service, in Acapulco, Guerrero to retrieve the
bodies, they found that Antonio had apparently died of blood loss
from a single bullet wound to the leg.
Amnesty International has received reports of increased troop
movements near Barrio Nuevo San Jose since 8 May, increasing
fears for the safety of the community and others living in the
region.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Reports of violence by the Mexican security forces in Guerrero,
including attacks on Mixteca activists campaigning for autonomy,
date back to the Aguas Blancas massacre of June 1995, when 17
peasants were killed in an ambush set by state police and
government officials. In a 1998 report the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights concluded that "the emergence of new
dissident armed groups of various types has led not only to a
resumption of measures of control by the security forces but also
to the indiscriminate repression of social organizations and
leaders".
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/faxes/airmail letters
in Spanish or your own language:
- asking the authorities to take adequate measures to guarantee
the safety of Francisca Santos Pablo, Victoriana Vazquez Sanchez
and all the Mixteca indigenous community of Barrio Nuevo
San Jose;
- calling on the Governor of Guerrero to open an independent and
thorough investigation into the involvement of members of the
armed forces in these events, suspend from duty those under
investigation, make all results and prosecute those found
responsible in a civil court;
- calling on the authorities to clarify any irregularities in due
process that occurred surrounding the notification, investigation
and forensic procedures in this case;
- reminding the Mexican authorities that in August 1998 the UN
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities called on them to combat "the impunity of perpetrators
of serious human rights violations, especially those suffered by
numerous members of the indigenous populations".
APPEALS TO:
1) Governor of Guerrero State:
Lic. Rene Juarez Cisneros
Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero
Palacio de Gobierno, Plaza Central
Primer Congreso de Anahuac
Chilpancingo 39000
Estado de Guerrero, MEXICO
Telegrams: Gobernador del Estado, Guerrero, Mexico
Fax: + 52 747 2 8319
Salutation: Sr. Gobernador/ Dear Governor
2) Attorney General of Guerrero State:
Lic. Fransico Diaz Garcia
Procurador del Estado de Guerrero
Carretera Mexico-Acapulco Km. 6300
Chilpancingo 39000
Estado de Guerrero, MEXICO
Telegrams: Procurador del Estado, Guerrero, Mexico
Fax: + 52 747 22328
Salutation: Sr. Procurador/ Dear State Attorney
3) Minister of Defence:
Lic. Enrique Cervantes Aguirre
Secretario de la Defensa Nacional
Blvd. Manuel Vila Camacho y
Avda. Industria Militar
Col. Lomas de Sotelo
11640 Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Fax: + 52 5 557 8963
Salutation: Senor Secretario/Dear Mr Secretary
4) Attorney General of the Republic:
Lic. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar
Senor Procurador General de Justicia de la Republica
Paseo de la Reforma y Violeta, Col. Guerrero
06300 Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Telegrams: Procuradoria General de la Republica, Mexico DF,
Mexico
Faxes: + 52 5 626 4419
Salutation: Sr. Procurador / Dear Attorney
COPIES TO:
His Excellency Ezequiel Padilla Couttelenc
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor Street, Suite 1500
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
Fax: (613) 235-9123
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
La Voz de los Sin Voz
Hilda Navarrete Gorjon
Calle Venustiano Carranza numero 26
C. P. 40980, Coyuca de Benitez
Guerrero, MEXICO
Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos :
Serapio Rendon No. 57-B, planta baja
Col. San Rafael,
06470, Mexico D.F., MEXICO
"La Jornada"
Francisco Petrarca No. 118
Col. Chapultepec Morales, C.P. 11570
Mexico D.F., MEXICO
Fax: + 52 5 262 4356
PLEASE SEND YOUR APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
[PEN-L:7059] (Fwd) Urgent Action appeal from Amnesty International
ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224] Wed, 19 May 1999 18:35:55 -0500
