By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
GUERRO, Mexico – On Tuesday, Amnesty International demanded the immediate release of five Indian activists jailed in southern Mexico on suspicion of homicide.
Amnesty International contends that all five are innocent of the murder charges and their detention and prosecution is politically motivated. The activists were detained in connection with the Jaunary killing of a government supporter in the mountain community of El Camalote. Leftist rebel groups and drug traffickers have been active in this area over the past decade.
The five activists, belonging to the Organization of the Tlapaneco Indian People, were arrested in April. The organization is an activist group that has protested army patrols and forced sterilization of some men in their remote mountain communities in the 1990s.
A court ruled in late October that there was not enough evidence to continue holding the five men, but federal prosecutors appealed that ruling, guaranteeing the men would remain in jail. It is believed that the men’s continued prosecution is aimed at quashing the protest movement. The Mexican government has sought to decimate and disband the Tlapaneco organization.
This story illustrates a wider pattern of abuse against human rights activists in Guerrero in Mexico. Authorities have often misused the judicial system to punish those who promote respect for the rights of marginalized communities and dare to speak up about abuses. In June, Guerrero state authorities agreed to pay 35,000 pesos ($3,400 at the time) in compensation to 14 indigenous Mexican men coerced into having vasectomies, and give them water storage tanks and cement to build homes. Other parts of the compensation agreement, the punishment for the authorities who coerced the men into the procedure, and the construction of rural health clinics have been unfulfilled.
For more information, please see:
Amnesty International – Mexico: Amnesty International adopts five indigenous rights defenders as prisoners of conscience – 11 November 2008
Taiwan News – Amnesty demands Mexico release Indian activists – 12 November 2008
UK MSN – Amnesty International says Mexico Indian activists are prisoners of conscience, demands release – 12 November 2008
