On 7th January 2018, after a violent incident in the community La Concepción (Guerrero) that caused the death of eight people, a security operative took place where three people lost their lives and at least 25 were detained, the majority of whom are members of the Ejidos and Communities Council Opposed to La Parota Dam (CECOP).
On 1st July 2018 general elections will take place in Mexico, which as well as determining the presidency for the next 6 years, coincide with several local elections. These will be the largest elections in Mexican history with 3,400 positions being decided.
In his most recent report, published on 23rd March 2018, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, explicitly mentions those defending human rights in Chilapa de Alvarez, Guerreo and their particularly high levels of risk due to the hostile context in which they undertake their legitimate work: “Human rights defenders from Chilapa, where collective disappearances appear to have occurred with the acquiescence of the authorities, are particularly vulnerable to attacks in the context of organized crime and corruption”.
Experts in forensic anthropology from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) carried out a new search for evidence in Atoyac, specifically at the former site of the 27th Infantry Battalion. Following Tita Radilla’s request, PBI accompanied AFADEM during this exercise.
In the context of the first Civil Observation Mission to Chilapa and Chilpancingo organized by the All Rights for Everyone Network (Red TdT) on September 19 and 20, national human rights organizations including the Red TdT, Morelos y Pavon Regional Human Rights Centre, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre, CCTI, and Serapaz) and international organizations (Amnesty International) met with the Secretary of the Interior of the State of Guerrero, Florencio Salazar Adame, and officials from the Interior Department in the State of Guerrero on 28 November in Chilpancingo.
On 7 and 8 October in Malinaltepec, a municipality in the Montaña Region of Guerrero, there was a National Encounter against the Extractive Mining Model. The forum was organized by the Regional Council of Agrarian Authorities in the Montaña-Costa Chica Region, Guerrero in Defense of Territory against Mining and the Biosphere Reserve, (CRAADT) and accompanied by the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center.
From 16 to 18 October, Araceli Tecolapa of the Morelos and Pavón Human Rights Center from Guerrero State, participated in a delegation of Mexican human rights defenders that traveled to Canada. They gave their official testimony to the Human Rights Subcommittee in the Canadian Parliament together with representatives of other Mexican organizations, including Prodh, Periodistas de a Pie, and REMA.
September marked the third anniversary of the mass disappearance of students in Iguala, Guerrero known as the “Ayotzinapa Case”. PBI observed the “Silent March” that commemorated the date, demanded justice, and offered solidarity with the victims and those affected by the recent earthquake.
After publishing an alert for human rights defenders in the State of Guerrero, the “All Rights for All” Network organized the first Civil Observation Mission in Chilapa and Chilpancingo, Guerrero where the “José Ma. Morelos y Pavón” Regional Center for the Defense of Human Rights and the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center carry out their work.
30 August marked the International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearance. According to oficial statistics, there are about thirty thousand disappeared people in Mexico, and this number could be much greater according to civil society organizations due to the lack of an adequate registry.