13 March 2009

Five Mexican Indigenous Human Rights Activists Remain Unfairly Detained

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUERRO, Mexico – Despite insufficient evidence against them five indigenous human rights activists in Mexico are still being held in prison nearly a year after their arrest.

The activists are members of the Guerrero-based Me’ phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (OPIM). They are being held in a Guerrero state prison on charges of murder. Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega, Romualdo Santiago and Raúl Hernández were detained on 17 April 2008. They were charged with the murder of Alejandro Feliciano García on 1 January 2008 in the town of El Camalote, Guerrero.

A federal review judge ordered the release of four of them on 20 October 2008, after ruling that the evidence presented did not implicate them. However the four remain in prison after Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal against the ruling, despite not providing further evidence in the case.

The fifth detainee, Raúl Hernández, was denied an injunction by the federal judge because two witnesses testified that he was present at the time of the murder.
Other eyewitness have testified, however, that Hernández was not present have been disregarded.

Most likely the five activists are still being detained as reprisal for their work promoting the rights of their community and exposing abuses by a local political boss and local authorities.  There has been a documented a pattern of harassment and intimidation in Guerrero state against members of Indigenous rights organizations such as the OPIM. These groups highlight cases of violations of human rights by members of the Mexican Army.

Most recently, both the Secretary and President of the Organization for the Future of Mixtec Indigenous Peoples (Organizacion para el Futuro de los Pueblos Mixtecos, OFPM) were found murdered late at night on 20 February in Tecoanapa municipality, Guerrero State.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Indigenous human rights activists unfairly detained in Mexico – 12 March 2009

Source News – Mexico: Indigenous human rights defenders still unfairly imprisoned despite government promises to UN – 12 March 2009

Upside Down World – Mapping Controversy in Oaxaca: Interview with Aldo Gonzalez, Director of UNOSJO – 12 March 2009