March 21, 2002
Dear Friends:
This is a brief but very important message regarding death threats against Mexican lawyer Barbara Zamora. It is based on information supplied by Lic. Zamora herself and on articles from the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
On Monday, March 18th, 2002, Barbara Zamora received emailed death threats that, though elliptical in their content, were clear in their meaning, and that in their wording closely resembled death threats received by the late Digna Ochoa and human rights lawyer Pilar Noriega in 1996 when they were both members of the legal team of the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre.
Barbara Zamora worked together with Digna Ochoa in the law firm Tierra y Libertad (Land and Freedom) which they set up together. Although she received a number of death threats during 2001, this is the first death threat that Barbara Zamora has received this year. It goes without saying that, especially after the assassination of Digna Ochoa on October 19th 2001, threats of this kind must be treated with the utmost seriousness.
On October 30th 2001, in reaction to the assassination of Digna Ochoa, the Inter–American Court of Human Rights requested the Mexican government to take special protective measures for the security of Barbara Zamora. The government has still not fully complied with this request. An agreement regarding the form that the protective measures were to take was to have been signed by the two parties, that is to say by Barbara Zamora and the government. However, although a verbal agreement was reached in November 2001, the government has not yet produced the final written text for signature. On March 20th, Barbara Zamora submitted her written comments on this situation to the Ministry of the Interior.
With regard to the opening of an investigation into the source of the emailed threats, Barbara Zamora has deplored the slowness of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal District (Mexico City) in reacting to her official complaint, which was made on March 19th. It appears that the Attorney General did not initially accord the matter a great deal of importance, reportedly saying that it did not seem to be a death threat.
In the opinion of Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, the Director of the Mesoamerican regional office of the Centre for Justice and International Law, these threats against Barbara Zamora are closely related to recent events in connection with the investigation of the assassination of Digna Ochoa, and in particular to public statements made by Digna Ochoa's family and by Barbara Zamora herself. Five months after the assassination of Digna Ochoa, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal District has still not concluded its investigation. Despite a recent statement to that effect by the Attorney General, information was subsequently "leaked" suggesting that Digna Ochoa had committed suicide. Her family, friends, and former associates, including Barbara Zamora, publicly expressed their disbelief in such an explanation for her death. Furthermore, they criticized the conduct which had allowed such an information "leak" to take place during the course of a very serious investigation. (In a press release published on March 29th, the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre reminded the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal District that the conclusions of its investigation should be explainable within the context in which the crime took place and that they must be based on the existence of solid and substantial proof, verified by an independent technical expert.)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
It is important to note that Param Coomaraswamy, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, in the very recently published report on his follow–up visit to Mexico (which took place from May 13th to 23rd, 2001) includes a recommendation to the following effect: The government must provide the necessary protection to lawyers and human rights defenders to safeguard them from all forms of intimidation, threats, and harassment. The report goes on to state that it is essential that all reports of acts of intimidation, threats, and harassment be thoroughly investigated and that those responsible for these acts be brought before the law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government to express your surprise and dismay at learning of the death threats against Barbara Zamora, and your concern regarding the bureaucratic delays that have caused the government's incomplete compliance with the October 30th request of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights with regard to protective measures for Barbara Zamora.
In your letter please note that the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers has emphasized the need for the Mexican government to provide proper protection to lawyers and human rights defenders.
Please ask the government to take immediate steps to comply fully with the request of the Inter American Court of Human Rights with regard to the physical security of Barbara Zamora. Please emphasize the need for a prompt investigation of the source of the death threats described above leading to the punishment of those responsible in accordance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers regarding the importance of such investigations.
Please inform the Canadian government of this very serious incident, requesting them to take the earliest possible opportunity to convey to the Mexican government the very serious concern felt by Canadians with regard to the continued death threats against Barbara Zamora and other Mexican human rights defenders.
ADDRESSES:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or
radio@presidencia.gob.mx or go to
www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo@ to send a message. If you have access to a fax machine and are able to get through, the fax method, being less impersonal, is probably more effective. If you live in a city where there is a Mexican consulate, they will almost certainly be willing to forward a fax to President Fox's office on your behalf.
General Rafael Macedo de la Concha,
Procurador General de la
República, Av.Reforma, esq. Violeta, Col Guerrero México DF, CP 06300
México / DF México, Fax: 011 5255626 4426, Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández,
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos,
Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice,
CP 10200 México / Df México,
Fax: 011 5255681 7199.
Lic. Santiago Creel
Secretario de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, primer piso, Col Juarez, Mexico D.F. CP 06699, MEXICO
FAX: O11 52 55 546 5350 or 546 7388 segob@rtn.net.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 or 327 3195 afranco@sre.gob.mx or macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Exellency Maria Teresa Garcia Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ont. K1P 1A4
FOX 613 235 9123 info@embamexcan.com
FOR CANADA:
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
DEATH THREATS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER BARBARA ZAMORA
Dear Friends:
This is a brief but very important message regarding death threats against Mexican lawyer Barbara Zamora. It is based on information supplied by Lic. Zamora herself and on articles from the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
On Monday, March 18th, 2002, Barbara Zamora received emailed death threats that, though elliptical in their content, were clear in their meaning, and that in their wording closely resembled death threats received by the late Digna Ochoa and human rights lawyer Pilar Noriega in 1996 when they were both members of the legal team of the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre.
Barbara Zamora worked together with Digna Ochoa in the law firm Tierra y Libertad (Land and Freedom) which they set up together. Although she received a number of death threats during 2001, this is the first death threat that Barbara Zamora has received this year. It goes without saying that, especially after the assassination of Digna Ochoa on October 19th 2001, threats of this kind must be treated with the utmost seriousness.
On October 30th 2001, in reaction to the assassination of Digna Ochoa, the Inter–American Court of Human Rights requested the Mexican government to take special protective measures for the security of Barbara Zamora. The government has still not fully complied with this request. An agreement regarding the form that the protective measures were to take was to have been signed by the two parties, that is to say by Barbara Zamora and the government. However, although a verbal agreement was reached in November 2001, the government has not yet produced the final written text for signature. On March 20th, Barbara Zamora submitted her written comments on this situation to the Ministry of the Interior.
With regard to the opening of an investigation into the source of the emailed threats, Barbara Zamora has deplored the slowness of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal District (Mexico City) in reacting to her official complaint, which was made on March 19th. It appears that the Attorney General did not initially accord the matter a great deal of importance, reportedly saying that it did not seem to be a death threat.
In the opinion of Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, the Director of the Mesoamerican regional office of the Centre for Justice and International Law, these threats against Barbara Zamora are closely related to recent events in connection with the investigation of the assassination of Digna Ochoa, and in particular to public statements made by Digna Ochoa's family and by Barbara Zamora herself. Five months after the assassination of Digna Ochoa, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal District has still not concluded its investigation. Despite a recent statement to that effect by the Attorney General, information was subsequently "leaked" suggesting that Digna Ochoa had committed suicide. Her family, friends, and former associates, including Barbara Zamora, publicly expressed their disbelief in such an explanation for her death. Furthermore, they criticized the conduct which had allowed such an information "leak" to take place during the course of a very serious investigation. (In a press release published on March 29th, the Miguel Agustín Pro Human Rights Centre reminded the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal District that the conclusions of its investigation should be explainable within the context in which the crime took place and that they must be based on the existence of solid and substantial proof, verified by an independent technical expert.)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
It is important to note that Param Coomaraswamy, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, in the very recently published report on his follow–up visit to Mexico (which took place from May 13th to 23rd, 2001) includes a recommendation to the following effect: The government must provide the necessary protection to lawyers and human rights defenders to safeguard them from all forms of intimidation, threats, and harassment. The report goes on to state that it is essential that all reports of acts of intimidation, threats, and harassment be thoroughly investigated and that those responsible for these acts be brought before the law.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please write to the Mexican government to express your surprise and dismay at learning of the death threats against Barbara Zamora, and your concern regarding the bureaucratic delays that have caused the government's incomplete compliance with the October 30th request of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights with regard to protective measures for Barbara Zamora.
In your letter please note that the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers has emphasized the need for the Mexican government to provide proper protection to lawyers and human rights defenders.
Please ask the government to take immediate steps to comply fully with the request of the Inter American Court of Human Rights with regard to the physical security of Barbara Zamora. Please emphasize the need for a prompt investigation of the source of the death threats described above leading to the punishment of those responsible in accordance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers regarding the importance of such investigations.
Please inform the Canadian government of this very serious incident, requesting them to take the earliest possible opportunity to convey to the Mexican government the very serious concern felt by Canadians with regard to the continued death threats against Barbara Zamora and other Mexican human rights defenders.
ADDRESSES:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico D.F., C.P. 11850, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 or 516 9537 or 515 1794 vicente@fox2000.org.mx or
radio@presidencia.gob.mx or go to
www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo@ to send a message. If you have access to a fax machine and are able to get through, the fax method, being less impersonal, is probably more effective. If you live in a city where there is a Mexican consulate, they will almost certainly be willing to forward a fax to President Fox's office on your behalf.
General Rafael Macedo de la Concha,
Procurador General de la
República, Av.Reforma, esq. Violeta, Col Guerrero México DF, CP 06300
México / DF México, Fax: 011 5255626 4426, Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández,
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos,
Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice,
CP 10200 México / Df México,
Fax: 011 5255681 7199.
Lic. Santiago Creel
Secretario de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, primer piso, Col Juarez, Mexico D.F. CP 06699, MEXICO
FAX: O11 52 55 546 5350 or 546 7388 segob@rtn.net.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 or 327 3195 afranco@sre.gob.mx or macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Exellency Maria Teresa Garcia Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ont. K1P 1A4
FOX 613 235 9123 info@embamexcan.com
FOR CANADA:
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca