Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro
October 15, 1999

Yesterday, October 14, notification of the decision by the Third District Judge on Penal matters arrived at the offices of this Human Rights Center, stating that the Third Collegiate Tribunal on Penal Matters of the Federal District has upheld the unconstitutionality of the April 11, 1998 expulsion of international human rights observers. Those expelled were: Julie Marquette and Sarah Mireille Baillargeon, of Canada, Michael Zap, Jeffrey Wright Conant and Travis Blaize Loller of the United States, Charles Marie Lambot Gautier and Jean Guillaume Berger Domique of Belgium, Marion Landich, of Germany, and Olga Claveria Iranzo, Ana Lopez, Julen Cobos, and Martha Sanchez Zaragoza, from Spain.

The expulsion occurred after the observers witnessed an operation carried out at the Taniperla Ejido in the municipality of Ocosingo, Chiapas. Participating in the operation were members of the Mexican Army, the Federal Judicial Police, the National Migration Institute, State Judicial Police of Chiapas, and State Public Security forces; the results of the operation included the destruction of homes, theft of money and belongings, unwarranted searches, and illegal arrests.

It should be noted that as of March 22, 1999, the Third District Judge on Penal Matters had declared the expulsion unconstitutional; however, the Ministry of Government appealed that ruling before the Third Collegiate Circuit Tribunal on Penal Matters. The latter has just decided to uphold the previous decision, confirming the illegality of the expulsion.

The main argument used by the Third Circuit Tribunal, as well as by the Third District Judge, in declaring the expulsion order unconstitutional, is that the Ministry of Government's General Directorship of Government violated the constitutional rights of the observers by expelling them without taking into account Article 16 of the Mexican Constitution. This article establishes the imperative need to have a basis and motive for any act of authority that inflicts any suffering on individuals. This legal principle was omitted by the Government Ministry in carrying out the explusion. The Ministry based the expulsion order on the charge that the international observers "interfered in political actions and impeded the work of legally constituted authorities in Chiapas by created an autonomous municipality." Based on this charge, observers were subjected to the application of Article 33 of the Constitution; however, the Government Ministry's charges were never proven.

It should also be noted that recently, the Federal Judiciary also declared unconstitutional the expulsion of Thomas Hansen, as well as the expulsion of several Italian observers. This latest decision confirming the illegality of the expulsion of the 12 Taniperla human rights observers thus shows that the policy applied by the Federal Executive against the work of international human rights observers lacks any sort of legal basis. Rather, it is part of the mendacious manipulation of a discourse of "sovereignty" that the Mexican government has used against international observers, to prevent them from finding out about the human rights situation in Mexico, especially in the indigenous communities of Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

Finally, it is crucial to point out that this Human Rights Center is currently engaged in a lawsuit before the Third District Judge on Administrative Matters. In this case, the Center is charging that a regulation of the National Migration Institute, issued as the INM/001/98 circular, is unconstitutional. This regulation was created precisely because the Federal Executive was unable to find a legal basis for its expulsions, and is a clear example of how the federal goverrnment is trying to impede observation work, even at the cost of individual rights consecrated by the Constitution.

Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez

Translated by Leslie Lopez