Fear for Safety of Members of Me'phaa Indigenous People's Organization

12 February 2009
AI Index: AMR 41/006/2009

Prisoners of conscience and new concern: Fear for safety

MEXICO
Members of Me’phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (OPIM)
     Raúl Hernández (m)

     Manuel Cruz (m)
     Orlando Manzanarez (m) ] (OPIM)
     Natalio Ortega (m) ]
     Romualdo Santiago (m) ]
    

         And 8 other members of OPIM

OPIM member Rafael Rodriguez Dircio was threatened with death on 4 February by a supporter of the local cacique (political boss) in the community of El Camalote, Guerrero State.

The man, who had a gun, approached Rafael Rodriguez and said, "I am going to kill you, your life will soon be up, human rights aren’t worth anything, you aren’t worth anything." (te voy a matar con poquito tiempo viven ustedes, los derechos humanos no valen nada, ustedes no valen nada.)

Rafael Rodriguez is one of 15 OPIM members who have been accused of the 1 January 2008 killing of Alejandro Feliciano García; OPIM say he was one of the cacique's supporters. The first five named above have already been arrested, and are detained in Ayutla prison, Guerrero State. They are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful opposition to the cacique while defending the rights of members of their indigenous community. According to their families, since the men have been detained, their children have been stigmatized and discriminated against in their school by the head teacher, who the families say is one of the cacique's supporters, and other students have called them "sons of criminals" (hijos de delincuentes).

The threat against Rafael Rodriguez is part of a concerted pattern of harassment of OPIM members in reprisal for their legitimate work defending human rights. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has responded by asking the Mexican government to provide protection to over 100 members of the organization, including Rafael Rodriguez and all the others named above.

OPIM founder member Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, was followed by a van with tinted windows on 24 January. A few days before this, she had been followed to an OPIM meeting by three vans; in the third van she recognised a man who had been continually harassing her, whom she had already reported to the authorities. Another man in the third van shouted to her: "Do you think you’re so brave? Are you a real woman? Let’s hope you also go to prison…If you don’t go to prison, we'll kill you." (Te sientes muy valiente, que eres de verdad una mujer? Ojala tu tambien te vayas a la carcel…... Si no se van a la carcel los vamos a matar.”).

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:
- urging the authorities to release the five OPIM members detained in Ayutla prison (naming them) immediately and unconditionally;
- calling on them to order an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the recent threats and acts of harassment against Rafael Rodriguez Dircio and Obtilia Eugenio Manuel;
- urging them to ensure that the children of the five OPIM members in Ayutla prison can attend school without fear of discrimination or stigmatization;
- urging them to ensure that the 100 OPIM members named by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights receive all the protection that the Commission has requested for them.

APPEALS TO:

Governor of Guerrero
Lic. Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo
Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero
Palacio de Gobierno, Edificio Centro, piso 2, Ciudad de los Servicios
CP 39075, Chilpancingo, Guerrero, MEXICO
Email: gobernador@guerrero.gob.mx
Fax: +52 747 471 9956
Salutation: Señor Gobernador/Dear Governor


PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with AIPh if sending appeals after 26 March 2009