The kidnapping comes in a climate of systematic harassment and serious threats against the Center of Support for Workers (CAT) and puts at risk the lives of all human rights defenders in the CAT
May 16, 2012
Facts
At approximately 1 p.m. on May 15, 2012, four masked men jumped out of a truck and kidnapped human rights defender José Enrique Morales Montaño, member of the Center of Support for Workers (CAT). At the moment of his kidnapping, Mr. Morales Montaño was headed to the Local Labor Board in the city of Puebla to accompany the case of a group of textile workers who were fighting a case against a factory in the region. For 17 hours, his captors physically tortured Mr. Morales, kept a gun pressed to his head for extended periods of time, and threatened to kill him and the other members of the CAT.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., the kidnappers robbed his cell phone and backpack and left him on an abandoned highway headed to Veracruz. Mr. Morales made his way to his home with serious injuries. Then, at 7:30 a.m. this morning, Blanca Velázquez, director of the CAT, received a message from Mr. Morales Montaño’s stolen cell phone stating: “You will die, bitch.”
Background
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the CAT has been subject to attacks. This kidnapping follows several years of systematic harassment pushed largely by multi-national companies since 2008. The CAT is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to promote the exercise and defense of labor rights. Their work as human rights defenders has raised awareness of the precarious conditions that workers in Puebla face every day.
In 2010, unknown persons robbed the CAT’s offices and prominently left written threats on one of the office walls. Since then, CAT members have been physically assaulted and have received death threats by email. In response to these threats, the Project of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ProDESC), requested that the National Commission of Human Rights and the Puebla State Commission of Human Rights grant precautionary measures immediately to protect the CAT members in their work. Both Commissions granted these measures and the State Commission implemented them (Exp. QVG/DGAP/27/2011). However, after only 12 months, and without any advance in the investigations of these threats, the Puebla State Commission suspended the measures unilaterally and without making the required risk analysis that justified the decision. Furthermore, on March 21, 2012, the Puebla State Commission of Human Rights roundly denied a request to reveal its risk analysis. By doing so, the Puebla State Commission left the human rights defenders of the CAT in a vulnerable situation.
The CAT has also been the subject of a smear campaign by governmental and business actors. On July 27, 2011, the president of the National Chamber of Industry of the Transformation (Canacintra), Luis Espinosa Rueda, qualified the CAT and its leader, Blanca Velázquez, as a “threat for Puebla.” He stated that “this group only seeks to de-stabilize businesses, particularly those with headquarters in the United States.” On April 12, 2012, the state leader of the Mexican Confederation of Workers (CTM) and President of the Labor and Social Welfare Committee of the Mexican House of Deputies, Dip. Leobardo Soto Martínez, publicly stated that “insofar as the worker base is competitive, we will not allow [the CAT] to meddle in the union and business life of the state with the consequences that it generates.”[1] Similarly, Soto Martínez threatened to “defend businesses where we have collective bargaining agreements no matter what the cost, even if there is violence. We will not lose contracts with businesses in Puebla nor in other parts of the country.”[2] In other words, a federal elected official in charge of the Congressional Labor Committee publicly condoned violence against the CAT only one month before today’s attack.
The kidnapping and beating of Mr. Morales Montaño and the harassment and threats against the other female members of the CAT illustrate the risk that all human and labor rights defenders face in Mexico.
CALL TO ACTION
The family of Morales Montaño, the members of the CAT, and civil society are worried and outraged that human and labor rights defenders are subject to a climate of harassment and are vulnerable to physical attacks just for exercising their right to defend the human rights of others.
Please write (in whatever language is easiest) and demand the following from the public officials mentioned below:
- That they guarantee the lives, physical integrity and security of José Enrique Morales Montaño and the other members of the CAT.
- That the relevant authorities effectively comply with its obligation to investigate and sanction those responsible for this attack and the continual threats with regard to the highest international standards. This investigation must result in the identification of those responsible for the kidnapping, beating, and threats against Mr. Enrique Morales Montaño and the other members of the CAT and should proceed to sentencing in compliance with the law.
- That they assure the application of the Declaration Regarding Human Rights Defenders, in particular the protection of the right of every “person, individually and collectively, to promote and procure the protection and realization of human rights and the fundamental liberties on both the national and international plane.” (Art. 1) They must also “guarantee the protection of all persons, individually or collectively, against all violence, threats, retaliation, discrimination, denial of rights, pressure or other arbitrary action resulting from the legitimate exercise of the rights mentioned in this Declaration.” (Art. 12.2)
PLEASE SEND THESE DEMANDS TO THE FOLLOWING AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY:
Dr. Alejandro Poiré Romero
Secretario de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez, México D.F., C.P.06600, México
Fax: +52 55 5093 3414
Email: secretario(at)segob.gob.mx
Dr. Raúl Plascencia Villanueva
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Edificio “Héctor Fix Zamudio”, Blvd. Adolfo
López Mateos 1922, 6° piso, Col. Tlacopac San Ángel, Del. Álvaro Obregón, C.P. 01040, México, D.F.
Tels. y fax (55) 56 81 81 25 y 54 90 74 00
Marisela Morales Ibáñez
Fiscal General de la República
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 211-213
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Del. Cuauhtémoc
México D.F., C.P. 06500
México
Fax: +52 555 346 0908
Correo-e.: mmoralesi(at)pgr.gob.mx
Lic. Omeheira López Reyna
Unidad para la Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, SEGOB.
Tel: 52 5551280000, Ext: 11875 o +52
5557287400
Fernando Manzanilla Prieto
Secretario General de Puebla
14 Oriente 1204, Col. Barrio del Alto, C.P. 72290, Puebla, Puebla
Tel: 01 (222) 213 89 01
Mtro. Adolfo López Badillo
Presidente de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Estado de Puebla
Avenida 15 de Mayo 22929 Fraccionamiento las Hadas, 72070 Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, México
Tel. 01 222 248 9412
presidencia(at)cdhpuebla.org.mx
[1] Oro Noticias, “CTM no permitirá más intromisiones del CAT en las empresas del estado”, http://www.oronoticias.com.mx/detalleNota.php?id=26537.
[2] Sexenio Puebla, “CTM acusa al CAT de querer desestabilizar a Volkswagen” ,http://m.sexenio.com.mx/puebla/articulo.php?id=9643 (emphasis added).
Más información
ProDESC website.