Oaxaca, Oax.- The government of Oaxaca publicly acknowledged state responsibility for serious human rights violations committed in 2006 and 2007 on June 14th. During the ceremony, held at the State Government Palace, an agreement creating the Comprehensive Plan to Repair Damage (Plan Integral de Reparación del Daño) to amend the damage caused to the victims of the conflict was signed.

June 14th marked the sixth anniversary of the attempted removal of a teachers sit-in from the Zocalo of Oaxaca, when Ulises Ruiz Ortiz was still the state Governor. Excessive use of force and human rights violations including arbitrary detention, torture, serious injury, extrajudicial execution and enforced disappearance exacerbated the social conflict in Oaxaca and unleashed acts of repression, criminalization and social stigmatization.

The commemorative event was attended by the Governor and other state authorities, such as judge Laguna Rivera, president of the Court of the State of Oaxaca, Jesus Martinez Alvarez, state interior ministry, deputy Pavel Lopez Gomez, president of the Permanent Human Rights Commission of the State Congress, the state attorney Manuel Lopez Lopez, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Oaxaca, Erendira Cruzvillegas Fuentes and other officials. National and international authorities on human rights were also invited such as Fernando Bautista Jimenez, Fifth Visitor of the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH), Aida Marin, representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in México. Social organizations that emerged to defend prisoners and affected by the conflict and in search for truth and justice were also in attendance, including Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos (Codigo-DH) and Human Rights Centre "Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño" (Barca-DH), junto con la, together with the Red Nacional "Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos" (Red TdT).

The event also aimed to return dignity to victims and for the state to accept its responsibility to repair damage in their presence, according to recommendation 15/2007 of the CNDH and the resolution 1/2007 issued by the National Supreme Court of Justice. This recognition was declared to the victims by the state governor, Gabino Cue. A bulletin signed by Codigo-DH manifested that “the event was just one of many actions the state is obligated to carry out meant to repair damage and does not replace the people's right to know he truth and demand justice”.

The state governor signed the Integral Agreement Establishing the Comprehensive Plan to Repair Damage, which includes restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non repetition and compensation, according to international human rights standards. The measures will be defined, implemented, reviewed and evaluated with the participation of victims throughout the process.

Participants in the event included Commissioner Cruz Villegas, Dr. Victor Raul Martinez Vasquez and representatives of the Comisión de Familiares de los Desaparecidos, Asesinados y Presos Políticos de Oaxaca (COFADAPPO), Merit Jimenez, architect Porfirio Muñoz Dominguez, and the governor Cue. All of them emphasized the need for truth, justice and peace, and their hope to begin a stage of reconstruction of social fabric, transparency, democratization, respect and the protection of human rights, "not as rhetoric, but as a requirement of true democracy" in the words of the governor. Cue said that "nothing more hurts a society more than a shared sense of injustice" and that justice is not achieved with one public event but with a legal one, underlining the commitment of this administration to fight for justice.

More information

"El gobierno del estado de Oaxaca reconoce su responsabilidad en las graves violaciones a DH en 2006-07", Press release (spanish), Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha A.C., FUNDAR Analysis and Research Centre, 14th June 2012.

"Hablan las víctimas de 2006 en el Acto del 14 de Junio" (Audio), Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha A.C., 14th june 2012.

"Gobierno de Oaxaca inicia proceso de reconciliación y reconstrucción del tejido social por hechos del 2006", Press release (spanish), Oaxaca State Government, 14th june 2012.

Peace Brigades International accompaniment to Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha A.C.