"Washington, D.C., February 24, 2009 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemns the murder of Raúl Lucas Lucía and Manuel Ponce Rosas, defenders of the rights of indigenous people in the State of Guerrero, Mexico, and urges the authorities to investigate and punish those responsible.
"Manuel Ponce Rosas and Raúl Lucas Lucía were abducted on 13 February in Ayutla de los Libres municipality, Guerrero State by armed men who local human rights organizations believe may be connected to the authorities. Their whereabouts remain unknown and Amnesty International is concerned that they may have been subjected to forced disappearance.
"Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Raúl Hernández, Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega and Romualdo Santiago, who have been in detention for more than six months in Ayutla, Guerrero state. After closely scrutinising their case, Amnesty International has concluded that all five are innocent of the murder charges and their detention and prosecution is politically motivated.
· In the space of 2 hours, indigenous na savi, me´phaa, nahua and amuzgo people put forward 10 cases of human rights violations.
· They ask for an end to militarization and to the criminalization of social movements and they demand that due respect be paid to the indigenous peoples and their human rights
· Louise Arbour offers to share the testimonies in the places that she visits.
