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. Although these incidents are horrific examples of violence in the state of Guerrero, it is important to remember that these massacres are symptoms of a much more profound problem that has taken the lives of hundreds of other people in this region. It is also important to realize that all of the factors that led to the massacres in Aguas Blancas and El Charco, such as the situation of political corruption, social violence, and poverty, exist as embedded cultural entities in the state. With this understanding, it is our impression that the situation in Guerrero merits more attention from the national and international media, as well as with human rights groups, and national and international NGO's.

In some reports, Guerrero has been recognized as the poorest state in the Republic, with the highest rate of overall marginalization. At the very least it is always compared to both Oaxaca and Chiapas in terms of the extreme condition of poverty and violence that plagues its citizens. The situation of poverty in Guerrero becomes more clear when considering that in relation to the rest of Mexico, Guerrero is recognized as having the highest percentage of houses that have earth floors (57.5%), the highest percentage of dwellings of poor and very poor quality (69%), the highest number of illiterate fathers (53.4%) and illiterate mothers (54.7%), and the highest percentage of severe infant malnutrition (32.4%). (Violence in Guerrero, Gutierrez Moreno, 1998, p.9) Furthermore, in non-indigenous communities the level of malnutrition in children under the age of 5 is 38.5%, in communities with indigenous presence this rate rises to 43.2%, and in indigenous communities the rate of malnutrition for children under the age of 5 rises to the incredible level of 58.3%. Also it is important to note that over 73.6% of all children of indigenous communities in Guerrero are suffering from malnutrition. (Violence in Guerrero, Gutierrez Moreno, 1998, p.9)

Although the violence committed by the state and federal governments against the indigenous communities of Chiapas has received more attention from both the national and international media, the "culture of violence" that exists in Guerrero is in some ways more extreme than the violence being perpetrated in Oaxaca or Chiapas. The increasing degree of poverty that is touched upon in the preceding paragraph has coincided with the appearance of new social organizations and sectors of society demanding social and political change in Guerrero, as well as numerous different armed rebel groups. The response by the state and federal governments to the demands of democratic transition, public security, and justice made by Guerrero civil society, has not been to address these concerns and make the necessary changes to improve the lives of their constituents, but has instead been to drastically increase the level of militarization in the state. Unfortunately for the people of Guerrero the increasing level of military occupation of the state has also coincided with an increase in violence and violations to human rights.

We have put together a collection of a few documents to inform and hopefully shed a little light on this violent, socially and politically complicated, and often forgotten (by the national and international press) region of Mexico. The first document is the introductory letter written by the civil network of human rights organizations in Guerrero (La Red de Guerrero) that was presented to the Specialist to the U.N. on Extra-Judicial Executions, Mrs. Asma Jahangir, during her visit to Guerrero on June 17th and 18th of this year. Following the introductory letter is a collection of comments that Mrs. Jahangir made in regard to human rights violations and impunity in Guerrero, as well as her overall impressions on the state of human rights in Mexico. We have also included excerpts from the more in-depth report that the civil network of human rights organizations in Guerrero presented to Mrs. Jahangir. The section of this report that we have translated goes into more detail about the specific cases of human rights violations such as murder, torture and forced disappearances, that have been directly attributed to the Mexican Federal Army and/or various police forces that operate in Guerrero. Lastly, we have included a translation of another section of the report presented to Mrs. Asma Jahangir, written by Javier Mojica Martinez, that specifically addresses the issues and affects of the increasing militarization of the state of Guerrero.