Situation in Guerrero:
PBI expresses profound concern for the security of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, accompanied by PBI since 2003, and for the Guerrero Network of Civil Society Organizations and the Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon Regional Human Rights Center, all of which accompany students from the “Raul Isidro Burgos” Rural Teachers School of Ayotzinapa and families of the 43 students who disappeared on the nights of September 26-27, 2014.
Accompanied organizations have alerted PBI of two cases of defamation and discrediting of the work of these organizations in Guerrero. In one case, the Governor of Guerrero made declarations discrediting the work of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center and in another, certain media outlets where filtered a supposed report by a Mexican governmental intelligence agency accusing the Technical Secretary of the Guerrero Network of being involved with a guerrilla group. As stated by the Inter-american Commission on Human Rights, “government officials should abstain from making public statements that stigmatize HRDs or that suggest that human rights organizations act in an undue or illegal way only because of their work promoting and defending human rights”1.
It's important to note that PBI has published alerts in the past about threats and harassment of which these three organizations have been targets. Especially worrying is the situation of Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer and Coordinator of the Tlachinollan Legal Unit, which currently advises student's family members. In 2012, Rosales was forced to temporarily leave the country due to threats related to his defense work for the same rural teachers school after human rights violations committed against students in 2011.
At the same time, PBI observes with concern new presumably arbitrary detentions carried out during protests over the Ayotzinapa case in the Federal District and documented by the Cerezo Committee, an organization accompanied by PBI since 2001. In May, PBI observed a pattern of increasing restrictions on the right to protest and freedom of expression in Mexico. PBI urges the Mexican Government to guarantee and protect the right to social protest, assembly and freedom of expression which are recognized at the national and international level. At the same time, PBI calls on the Mexican Government to recognize, protect and promote the work of HRDs that directly or indirectly accompany the events that occurred in Iguala at the end of September and the demand for justice expressed by family members of the victims and Mexican civil society in general. PBI also reiterates the international obligation of the Mexican State to carry out full and impartial investigations in accordance with international standards in order to locate the 43 disappeared students and ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes be processed by the Mexican justice system.
Situation in Oaxaca
November 2 and 5, PBI Mexico accompanied the Committee for Integral Defense of Human Rights Gobixa (Código-DH) to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and observed several phases of consultation on the development of the wind project Eolicos del Sur (formerly Mareña Renovables) in the Zapotec community of Juchitan, Oaxaca. After PBI had left the area, several members of the Popular Assembly of the Juchiteco Peoples (APPJ) reported being harassed and receiving death threats. PBI expresses deep concern over these security incidents which obstruct the consultation and calls on the Mexican Authorities to protect the physical and psychological integrity of the HRDs accompanying the process.
It's important to note that, according to Código-DH, the Mareña Renovables project was previously set to be implemented in the Ikjoot community of San Dionisio del Mar. After an agrarian injunction, the project has been displaced and now plans to build in Juchitán, where a community conflict had previously formed around the construction of a wind project developed by Gas Natural Fenosa. In Juchitan, those who have questioned the project or who have come out against it along with those who have defended individual and community rights in the presence of large scale economic projects, especially members of the APPJ, the Totopo community radio and Código-DH have reported being harassed, threatened and attacked on various occasions. In July of this year, PBI alerted on the risk faced by HRDs that accompany this process and specifically on telephone threats received by Código-DH, who have been accompanied by PBI since 2009. Amnesty International has also repeatedly published urgent actions on the situation. The current consultation process is one of the first of its kind in the Ithmus of Tehuantepec concerning the construction of a wind farm. In order for it to be legitimate in accordance with international standards it is fundamental that the physical and psychological integrity of the participating defenders be protected.
For more information, see the communique from ProDesc, Código-DH and PODER, the Urgent Action from Código DH and a report on the observation mission for the first week of consultation in Juchitan.
1 CIDH, Segundo Informe sobre la situación de defensoras y defensores de los derechos humanos en las Américas, 2011, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc.66, para.124