Social Justice Committee joins other Montrealers in protesting
violations of rights in Mexico, in letter to President Fox
Montréal
April 19th, 2002
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de la República de México
Residencia Oficial de "Los Pinos"
Col. San miguel Chapultepec
Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 5 515 9829 ou 516 5837
vicente@fox2000.org.mx
Dear Mr. President:
Today, six months to the day after the assassination of Digna Ochoa, we wish to convey to you our profound
indignation over the slowness of the Mexican authorities in clarifying the circumstances of her death and in
bringing to justice those who were responsible for this brutal crime.
Digna Ochoa's assassination shocked and saddened Mexican civil society and the international human rights
community. Lic.Ochoa was widely respected for her commitment to the defence of the human rights of Mexican peasant
farmers, and she was internationally known for her role in defending the Campesinos Ecologistas of Guerrero and the
surviving relatives of the members of the Organización Campesina de la Sierra Sur who were massacred at
Aguas Blancas. Her work on these two cases in particular brought her into contact with two organizations which
have, in a few short years, lost more than forty of their members – peasant farmers who were killed by the
security forces or by armed civilians because of their non–violent struggle in defence of their land and
livelihood.
As members of international human rights organizations, we are deeply troubled by the dilatory manner in which the
death of this noted human rights lawyer is being investigated. Although we are fully aware of the fact that this
case is within the sphere of competence of the Federal District Attorney General's Office, we are very concerned by
your failure to do all that is needed to give that Office the full support of the federal government and, very
importantly, to see that the staff of the Federal District Attorney–General's Office have the complete
cooperation of the Mexican army as they carry out their investigation.
Furthermore, we would like to take the liberty of reminding you that it is the responsibility of the federal
government to provide protection to Mexican lawyers and human rights defenders against all forms of threats,
harassment, and intimidation. In this connection, we are extremely worried by recent reports concerning Digna
Ochoa's legal partners. On March 18th 2002, Barbara Zamora received an e-mailed death threat, and more recently
there has been an actual physical attack on the police personnel assigned to protect Leonel Rivera. This is an
alarming and disgraceful state of affairs. We trust that your government has, by now, taken the necessary steps to
comply fully with the November 2001 request from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to the effect that
measures be undertaken by the Mexican state for the protection of Lic. Zamora, Lic. Rivero, and other threatened
human rights defenders, including the staff of the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre. At the same time
that we commemorate the tragedy of the assassination of Digna Ochoa, we also express our support for the residents
of the Los Loxichas region of the state of Oaxaca – at this moment engaged in a march from Oaxaca to Mexico
City in order to demand an amnesty law for the political prisoners of Mexico
Since 1996, one hundred and thirty six indigenous peasant farmers from the Los Loxichas region of Oaxaca have been
sentenced to prison on the basis of "confessions"that were signed as a result of brutal and prolonged torture.
When you visited Oaxaca in December 2000, and again in December 2001, you personally met with the relatives and
legal advisors of these prisoners of conscience.
During the past two years, one hundred and twenty–nine of the prisoners of Los Loxichas have been released.
In sixty–three cases, criminal charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Nine convicted persons obtained an
early release from prison. As a result of the amnesty law passed by the state of Oaxaca in December 2000, the
fifty-seven prisoners then remaining in state jails were released, and one hundred and thirteen outstanding arrest
warrants for alleged crimes under state jurisdiction were cancelled.
Nevertheless, twenty–five innocent peasant farmers from the Los Loxichas region remain in jail – twenty
persons who have been convicted of federal crimes and another five persons imprisoned for common crimes. We
urgently request you to use your presidential authority to grant an immediate pardon to the twenty federal
prisoners, and to do all that is possible to bring about the speedy release of the five persons who have been
convicted of common crimes, as well as to see that the approximately fifty outstanding arrest warrants for alleged
federal crimes are cancelled.
We would respectfully remind you that the Mexican state has a moral and legal duty to provide financial
compensation to the indigenous peasant farmers of Los Loxichas for the physical suffering that they have endured
and for the very serious miscarriages of justice to which they have been subjected. Moreover, in as much as the
practice of torture is a criminal act, the Mexican state has a legal obligation to bring to justice all of those
persons who were in any way or capacity responsible for the torture of the peasant farmers of Los Loxichas. (It is
important to remember that, even had these persons been guilty of the crimes of which they were accused, the
tortures to which they were subjected would still constitute criminal acts on the part of those who were
responsible for their arrest and detention.)
In conclusion, in view of the fact that April 17th marked the International Day of Farmers' Struggle, we are
reminded of the grave potential dangers, to both farmers and consumers, that are posed by the rapid spread of
genetically–modified food crops. Because of Mexico's importance as a centre of origin and diversity of corn,
the cases of contamination that have already occurred in Oaxaca and Puebla represent a very serious threat to
Mexico's native corn varieties and, it goes without saying, to Mexican peasant farmers, who, over generations, have
selected and developed those varieties. In the light of this very serious situation, we urge you to give legal
confirmation to the existing de–facto ban on the commercial or experimental growing of
genetically–modified corn in Mexico. Furthermore, the Mexican government will need to ensure that it is the
seed companies responsible for developing the genetically-modified corn, and not the affected peasant communities,
who assume the costs of detecting and disposing of all of the genetically–modified corn that is contaminating
the milpas of Mexico – a process that should, of course, be carried out under the strict supervision of
qualified government scientists and community representatives. Only in this way can the socio-economic rights of
peasant farmers and the cultural heritage of Mexico be protected.
In concluding, we would like to thank you for your attention to this letter. We trust that you will take immediate
steps to resolve the situations described above, all three of which have extremely serious implications for the
human rights of Mexican peasant farmers.
Sincerely,
Karen Rothschild
On behalf of the Montréal Coalition for Human Rights in Mexico
Karen Rothschild is the coordinator of the Social Justice Committee's Mexico human rights program.
