| 11/19/02 | Army Atrocities in Mexico -- Despite bringing an end to 71 years of national PRI rule when he was elected two years ago, President Fox is struggling to control the army that built the PRI. By releasing intelligence files, which document the brutal state repression carried out during Mexico's "dirty war" of the 1970's, Fox has gone some way towards acknowledging military abuses. However, his failure to reform the constitution and strip the army of its impunity leaves Mexico little changed.(Global Exchange) |
| 10/14/02 | The Disappearance of Faustino Jiménez Alvarez -- "We were sleeping in the house, my husband and little children and I, when the police arrived. They beat on the door and demanded that we open it, shouting, 'Judicial Police, open the door.' Scared and confused, my husband, Faustino Jiménez Alvarez, decided to open the door. As soon as he opened it a little bit, the police pushed inside, without any search or arrest warrant, knocking my husband down. Kicking him and pulling his hair, the police dragged him half-naked along the rocky path that leads to our house, forced him into the truck and immediately left." --- Enedina Cervantes Salgado, wife of Faustino Jiménez Alvarez (Global Exchange) |
| 9/30/02 | Clear Rodolfo and Teodoro's name! -- Both men had attracted international attention by speaking out about the destruction of the forests in Guerrero, Mexico. Rodolfo and Teodoro stood up to mega-corporations, like Boise Cascade, that were destroying their watersheds by fueling unsustainable logging. They were beaten, tortured and imprisoned for these acts. Amnesty International named them Prisoners of Conscience and they both received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award for their sacrifice. Although freed from prison, Rodolfo and Teodoro still have not been exonerated for the false charges that lead to their original arrest. (Rainforest Action Network) |
| 8/24/02 | TO REFLECT IS TO FIGHT AGAINST DISAPPEARANCES IN GUERRERO -- Last March the Guerrero Province Committee for the Fight of Human Rights made public an important Recommendation, this being the 19th during 2002. It was addressed at the Procaduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) regarding the involuntary disappearance of eight people between 1999 and 2001. Without a shade of doubt, this Recommendation puts forward the forced disappearance of people in the Guerrero province.(Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez) |
| 8/24/02 | Press Release from Global Exchange Delegation -- A lack of justice, plus agrarian conflicts, contamination of tourist bays, and deforestation continue to generate serious problems, both socially and economically in the state of Guerrero. This was the conclusion of an international delegation convened by Global Exchange(GX) |
| 8/24/02 | Rights group says it will take campesino case to international court -- A leading human rights group said Tuesday it had lost faith in Mexico's legal system and would take its efforts to clear the names of two celebrated anti-logging activists to an international tribunal. President Vicente Fox freed Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera last fall after the pair spent two and a half years in prison on charges of growing marijuana and carrying illegal weapons.(Will Weissert, AP) |
| 7/3/02 | " We Can Give The Most Accurate Testimony About What Happened At El Charco: It Was A Massacre" says Efran Cortes -- Three months ago Efran Cortes of Guerrero state weighed 73 kilos. He was sent to the infirmary at Puente Grande, a maximum security prison, with severe diarrhea caused by a poorly treated intestinal condition. He was released from prison during the night last night weighing 56 kilos.(La Jornada) |
| 7/3/02 | Defending Human Rights, the El Charco Movement -- El charco drew its fame for the massacre of eleven villagers June 8 1998, when army soldiers surrounded this small town's Caritino Maldonado School where a group of guerrilla fighters from the ERPI were supposedly lodging. (Forum y La Crisis) |
| 6/19/02 | Guerrero gives "noble" hand out to massacre survivors -- The government of Guerrero on Wednesday gave 7,514 pesos (US$750) to survivors of the Aguas Blancas massacre in what it called a "noble gesture" and some recipients grumbled was merely "symbolic," El Universal newspaper reported.(The Mexico News) |
| 11/11/01 |
Freed environmentalists fear for their lives -- The renowned environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who were freed by President Vicente Fox on Thursday, said they would fear for their lives if they were to return to their homes and continue defending the environment, the Mexican press reported. (The News Mexico) |
| 11/8/01 |
Mexican President releases two environmental activists -- Vicente Fox, exercising the legal powers as Mexico's Chief-of-State, today called for the immediate release of prisoners Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera García, both detained since May 2, 1999 for their environmental struggles in Ahuizotla, Guerrero. (Notimex) |
| 11/8/01 |
We welcome the liberation of Rodolfo and Teodoro. Justice has yet to be done. -- Press Release from PRODH. |
| 11/8/01 |
Full text from President Vicente Fox's speech regarding the liberation of Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera from jail in Guerrero. |
| 7/19/01 |
Imprisoned environmentalists refuse to withdraw accusations against soldiers -- According to Rodolfo Montiel, interviewed via telephone from prison in Iguala, the upholding of his sentence and that of fellow campesino environmentalist, Teodoro Cabrera, demonstrates the role played by the military in their case. "I've refused to withdraw the accusation made against the soldiers by whom we were tortured" he stated. (La Jornada) |
| 7/18/01 |
The Court Becomes the Government's Accomplice in Torture: Judgment Against Campesino-Ecologists Affirmed -- It appears that the First Circuit Court sanctions the coverup regarding the illegal character of the confessions obtained under torture, overlooking the evidence on this clear violation of human rights, which was the sole basis of the case against the ecologists. (Press Release, Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Center for Human Rights) |
| 7/18/01 |
Mexican court upholds sentences -- A Mexican appeals court has upheld the drug and weapons convictions of two anti-logging activists, prompting rights groups Wednesday to pledge to take the case to an international court. (Associated Press) |
| 6/27/01 | Pressure to release Mexican protesters -- The Mexican authorities are under pressure to release two internationally renowned peasant environmentalists who were convicted of drugs and arms offences. Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera claim the charges were invented to stop their protests against rapacious logging in the southern Sierra Madre. (Guardian UK) |
| 4/24/01 |
Human Rights Delegation to Guerrero: June 2-10, 2001 -- As the world focuses on the conflict in Chiapas, another war is being waged in Southern Mexico in the state of Guerrero. Over the past 11 years over 600 activists from various democratic organizations have been murdered or disappeared within the state. |
| 2/7/01 |
President Orders Intervention in Favor of Montiel and Cabrera -- The President of Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada, has ordered the Secretary of the Interior, Santiago Creel Miranda, to intervene in favor of the rural workers Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, imprisoned since May 2, 1999. The two men were arrested due to a conflict over environmental protection of the Petatlan and Coyuca mountain ranges in the state of Guerrero. |
| 1/28/01 |
Trip to Guerrero Bronco: Where The Gun Is As Common As The Belt -- Executions, kidnappings, assault, revenge... This is not the news of the first few days of 2001 in Guerrero; but rather the interminable story of a state forgotten by the Federation of Mexico. The region is home to 13 of the 100 poorest municipalities in the country, where for decades political corruption has erected an empire of impunity, where the poor left behind intermix with economic empires and political strongmen, and where AK-47 bullets are the law of the land. |
| 5/26/00 |
Mexican villagers fear army attack -- An intricate tale of Mexican counter-insurgency strategy cloaked in the justification of the fight against drugs is being played out on the tiny stage of the indigenous community of Barranca de Guadalupe. The Indian villagers insist that they know nothing about either narcotics or guerrillas, but they shudder at what the next act might bring. |
| 12/7/99 |
Inter American Court asks for protection for Digna Ochoa -- The Inter American Court on Human Rights has made an official request for "provisional measures" of security "effected to guarantee the life and personal integrity" of the lawyer Digna Ochoa as well as other members of the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Center; Edgar Cortez, Mario Patron, and Jorge Fernandez Mendiburu; all of whom have suffered harassment and death threats. |
| 12/3/99 |
Mexican Press Coverage of Global Exchange Report -- Three articles from the Mexican press on Global Exchange's recent report on repression in Guerrero. |
| 11/3/99 |
Guerrero: The Power of the Violence -- Disturbing signs of institutional decomposition such as social violence and the deterioration of the political process have been observed in the state of Guerrero during recent months. The explosive situation that exists in Guerrero has perhaps best expressed itself in recent years through the contested electoral process and natural catastrophes. However, for many years the people of Guerrero have been suffering as a result of the continued aggression against their fundamental rights. |
| 11/3/99 |
Tlapaneco Commissioners demand that the Mexican Army withdraw from their communities -- Seven Tlapaneco Commissioners and representatives of the Indigenous Autonomous Development Organization from the Municipality of Ayutla have demanded that Governor Rene Juarez Cisneros withdraw the Mexican Federal Army from their communities. |
| 11/1/99 |
Aggressive actions on the part of Mexican Soldiers reported at military checkpoint in Ayutla, Guerrero -- With well-armed artillery vehicles, the Mexican Federal Army has been patrolling the federal highway that passes through Ayutla, Guerrero. At the point where the Union River passes next to the highway, the army has set up three checkpoints: two stationary installations, and one mobile installation. |
| 10/28/99 |
The Ineffectiveness of the National Commission on Human Rights: An Interview with Abel Barrera -- Abel Barrera, Director of the Human Rights Center of the Mountain (Tlachinollan) recently reported that The National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) hasn't completed at least 20 cases of human rights violations committed by the Mexican Federal Army in Guerrero that have been reported to their commission by various non-governmental organizations. According to Barrera, "we have documented the actions of the CNDH throughout the state of Guerrero, and we have more than 20 cases of clear human rights violations that fall within the jurisdiction of the National Commission...Unfortunately the CNDH has stopped almost all of the investigations into these cases." |
| 10/14/99 |
Election Day Violence -- A summary of the political violence surrounding the Oct. 3 local elections in Guerrero. Four case summaries describing what is undoubtedly a result of revenge tactics used by wings of the PRI and their supporters in response to recent election results in Acapulco where the opposition parties won the municipal election for the first time in its history. |
| 10/13/99 |
Interview with Digna Ochoa -- Interview with Digna Ochoa, lawyer for the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center about the impunity of the Mexican Army in Guerrero and the case of Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia |
| 10/13/99 |
Interview with Digna Ochoa -- Interview with Digna Ochoa, lawyer for the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center about the impunity of the Mexican Army in Guerrero and the case of Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia |
| 9/6/99 |
Official Petition From The Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center -- The Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center (The PRODH) presented a petition to the 5th District Judge, Jose Martinez Guzman, insisting that the Federal Public Ministry turn over all of the information relating to case of Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, two farmer/ecologists who were tortured at the hands of the Mexican Federal Army in the beginning of May of this year. |
| 9/1/99 |
A Summary of the Militarization and Violation of Human Rights in Guerrero -- The State of Guerrero has been in the news in the last few years because of two massacres: the massacre on June 28th of 1995 at Aguas Blancas in which 17 people were murdered by members of the State Public Security; and the massacre in El Charco on June 7th of 1998 in which 11 people were murdered by members of the Mexican Federal Army. Besides these incidents of violence, the State of Guerrero has been an almost unknown and forgotten region of the Republic. |
| 8/27/99 |
Jailed Timber-Cutting Foe Seen As Guerrilla By Mexico Officials -- To his foes, he's a dangerous man, an "eco-guerrilla." But to supporters, Rodolfo Montiel is a humble farmer who tried to save the forest and was jailed for it. "The only bad thing he did was to defend the land, the trees, so we'll have something in the future," said his nephew, Guillermo Miranda Montiel, 28, of Acapulco. |
| 7/18/99 |
"The Mexican Federal Army treats the people of the mountain communities in Guerrero like criminals": Ex-soldier of the Mexican Federal Army -- Jose was a member of the 40th infantry battalion of the Mexican Federal Army during the 1980's. His family never had the income to send Jose to study outside his home of Guerrero, the region where he grew up. Consequently, like so many young men in the army, Jose originally jumped at the chance to have a military career given the greater number of educational opportunities that military service presented. |
| 7/17/99 |
Report on Extrajudicial Executions in Guerrero -- A report by the Guerrero civil network of human rights organizations presented to Mrs. Asma Jahangir, Specialist to the United Nations on Summary and Arbitrary Extrajudicial Executions |
| 7/17/99 |
Report on Extrajudicial Executions -- A report by the Guerrero civil network of human rights organizations presented to Mrs. Asma Jahangir, Specialist to the United Nations on Summary and Arbitrary Extrajudicial Executions, followed by Mrs. Jahangir's own comments. |
| 7/17/99 |
Extrajudicial Executions -- Excerpts from report by civil network of human rights organizations in Guerrero prepared for UN Specialist on Extra-Judicial Executions. |
| 7/17/99 |
Militarization in Guerrero -- Since the presidency of Luis Echeverria Alvarez, through the administrations of Jose Lopez Portillo, Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, and Carlos Salinas de Gortari and up until the current president of the Republic of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, the state party system with its only party, the PRI (The Institutional Revolutionary Party), has demonstrated authoritarian forms of governing in which the current president has decided who would come to power and become the next president of the Republic of Mexico. |
