Oaxaca, Oaxaca.- On April 27, 2010, human rights defender Alberta Beatriz "Bety" Cariño, and Finnish citizen Jyri Jaakkola were killed in an ambush in the Triqui region of Oaxaca. Two years after the event, David Peña, a lawyer for the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Asociación Nacional de Abogados Democráticos,ANAD), and Karla Michel Salas, both representatives of the victims, have lodged a complaint with the prosecution of Finland in search of justice for the victims and prosecution of those responsible for the deaths.
The Mexican lawyers traveled to Helsinki, where they have promoted the opening of an investigation and the criminal prosecution of former governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, in Finland for the murder of Jyri Jaakkola. So far, they have met with Finnish civil society organizations, as well as lawyers and authorities. They will probably do so with the president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, this week. Finnish MEP Satu Hassi has already visited Mexico several times to gather information about ongoing investigations of these crimes.
The Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament has also included the case in the agenda several times and has spoken out to condemn the actions, including in a statement by the President of the European Parliament in 2010. The lawyers visited Brussels before coming to Helsinki, where David Peña explained that "although we know who they are, their names, where they live, we have witnesses, but due to a situation of legal institutional weakness in Mexico -- despite the fact that there are two ongoing investigations – those responsible have not been arrested nor prosecuted"[1].
Moreover, Mexican social organizations, driven by the Indigenous Zapatista Agrarian Movement (Movimiento Agrario Indígena Zapatista, MAIZ), coordinated by Bety Cariño's husband, Omar Esparza, are also carring out actions to demand the clarification of the events two years ago. On 17 April, they carried out a public meeting outside the Federal Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) in Mexico City. During the anniversary, on April 27, they held a demonstration to demand justice in Huajuapan de Leon, a town located in the Mixteca region (Oaxaca).
Video: Bety Cariño memorial, two years after the killing, Front Line Defenders.
Bety Cariño and Jyry Jaakola were participating in a civil mission of observation to the municipality of San Juan Copala when unidentified individuals attacked the buses in which they were travelling. The main purpose of the mission was to gain knowledge the conditions in which its inhabitants lived because, since it proclaimed its independence in 2007, human rights violations have increased in this area that suffers an old conflict. In the region, three political groups have been in dispute: the Social Welfare Union of the Triqui Region (Unión de Bienestar Social de la Región Triqui, UBISORT), the Triqui Unification and Struggle Movement (Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Triqui, MULT) and splitting of the latter, the Independent Triqui Unification and Struggle Movement- Independent (Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Triqui Independiente, MULT-I), founded in 2006.
In addition to violence stemming from the conflict, the region has been marked by the displacement of population. On October 7, 2010 the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights granted, precautionary measures to 135 displaced residents of San Juan Copala, asking the Mexican government take the necessary actions to protect their lives and personal integrity. The displaced inhabitants tried to return in January 2012. However, the vast majority have not returned to their homes, as they consider that there has been no change in the situation of violence and insecurity that forced them to flee their communities.
On April 27, Satu Hassi said to the German magazine Deutsche Welle that "[she has] not lost hope. This case is not a mystery, is a matter of political will" and explained that it could take only a couple of months to resolve, and if so, "the case would set a precedent and help break the culture of impunity "[2].
[1] Juicio en Finlandia por asesinato en Oaxaca, Deutsche Welle, 27 April 2012.
[2] Ibid.
More information
La ANAD demandará a Ulises Ruiz en Finlandia, La Jornada Newspaper, 22 April 2012, p. 2.
Copala: la autonomía aplastada, by Laura Castellanos, El Universal Newspaper, 19 February 2012.
Desplazados de San Juan Copala exigen a Cué garantías para su retorno, Proceso Magazine, 10 February 2012.
CIDH pide informe sobre desplazados de Copala, El Universal Newspaper, 31 January 2012.
PM 197-10 - 135 Inhabitants of San Juan Copala, Mexico, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, Organization of American States, 7 October, 2012.