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October 22, 2001 (updated December 12, 2003)

Internationally known human rights attorney Digna Ochoa y Plácido was found dead in her office on Friday, October 19, 2001. Ochoa worked with the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center (PRODH) in Mexico City until a year ago when she formally separated from the Center after receiving death threats. She represented some of the most difficult and politically charged human rights cases in Mexico, many involving torture or murder by Mexico's military and security forces, including the widows of the Aguas Blancas massacre, the campesino ecologists of Guerrero, and, most recently, the Cerezo brothers who are accused of setting small bombs in front of CitiBank offices. Fellow attorney Gerardo Gonzalez discovered the body in her office at about 5:30 pm with gunshots to the head, apparently from a .22 caliber weapon. Mexico City's Attorney General characterized the crime as "without a doubt" political in nature.

Next to Ochoa was a letter containing death threats directed against members of the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center. The note read, "Sons of bitches, if you continue, this will also happen to another. You have been advised. This is not a trick." Edgar Cortez, Director of PRODH, demanded a thorough investigation. The Center began receiving death threats in 1996. In October of 1999, Ochoa was kidnapped in her own home, tied up, and interrogated for nine hours about contacts in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Puebla, about EZLN and EPR safe houses, and about members of the ERPI. The perpetrators opened gas valves in the apartment, then left, apparently with the intention of killing Ochoa in a gas explosion. She was able to free herself and escape without life-threatening injuries. In September of 2000, Ochoa left Mexico for the U.S., waiting for "the danger to pass," and returned to Mexico in April of this year.

During her years as a human rights activist, the 38-year-old Ochoa received numerous death threats, including a number of recent letters. Jose Lavanderos, a close colleague of Ochoa, said, "When she told me that she had received new threats I suggested that she file a formal complaint, that she publicize the letters. But the deception she felt from the justice system was overwhelming. 'Why?' she told me, 'nothing ever happens, a formal complaint won't accomplish anything.'" Edgar Cortez affirmed the disposition of the Fox administration: "The official reaction has always been to treat us, the ones who are threatened, as the suspicious ones. They never followed up with any sort of investigation."

The assassination appears to be part of a pattern of attacks on human rights activists throughout the country. Edgar Cortez called the killing "an ominous sign" that impunity continues to undermine justice. Cortez cited several recent incidents of assaults on human rights activists in Chiapas, including a lawyer whose home was set on fire and another who was nearly run down by a speeding vehicle. Mr. Cortez said that law enforcement agencies conducted only half-hearted investigations into such attacks. The Federal District Department of Justice (PGJDF) conducted several inquiries over the years, which led nowhere.

The assassination calls into question President Fox's campaign commitments to investigate human rights violations by government officials and to root out government corruption. Ten months into the Fox presidency, his promise to create a truth commission remains unfulfilled, and his appointment of a military general as federal attorney general was widely criticized. Government officials are widely suspected of complicity in the assassination.

Since Digna's death Global Exchange has sent over 1000 faxes to President Fox to demand he personally see that Digna Ochoa's case is fully investigated and those responsible be brought to justice.