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