5 May 2003
The World Organization Against Torture has sent an alarming message about the disappearance of MARCELINO SANTIAGO PACHECO, a former victim of torture and member of the Organization of Zapoteco Indigenous Peoples (OPIZ) in the state of Oaxaca.
OPIZ spokesperson Juan Sosa Maldonado reports having had a short conversation with Sr. Santiago Pacheco on the evening of April 27th at which time the two men discussed a planned urgent meeting that was to be held on April 29th in a hostel in the city of Oaxaca. (Two other OPIZ members were expected to arrive for the meeting.) In the early afternoon of April 28th, Sr. Santiago Pacheco left the hostel to go the city centre. Since then, his family has not heard from him and his whereabouts are unknown.
Marcelino Santiago Pacheco is from the Los Loxichas region of Oaxaca. In 1996, after an armed attack by the EPR guerrilla movement took place in the coastal city of Huatulco, Zapoteco indigenous people living in this isolated mountain region were subjected to a campaign of brutal repression. They suffered arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and even extra–judicial executions. On the basis of the allegation that one of the guerrilla members who died in the attack in Huatulco was a member of the municipal council of San Agustin (one of the largest municipalities in the region), 150 Los Loxichas residents, among them the entire San Agustin municipal council, were imprisoned. Many of them were tortured. The official imprisonment of Marcelino Santiago Pacheco and Felipe de Jesus Antonio Santiago was preceded by nine months of forced disappearance. During this period, they were interrogated and brutally tortured in clandestine prisons.
At the present time, the majority of the human rights victims from Los Loxichas have been been pardoned and released. However, they have not been compensated for their suffering and their torturers have not been punished. (A possible exception is the case of the extra–judicial execution of Celerino Jimenez Almaraz, which was brought before the Inter–American Human Rights Commission. Following a change in the state governorship, Lucio Vasquez Ramirez, a former policemen and Los Loxichas area political boss, was arrested and imprisoned in connection with this crime.) Of the original 150 prisoners from Los Loxichas, only 14 are still incarcerated. They are all in federal penitentiaries. 6 of them are about to be sentenced.
After nine months of disappearance and torture, followed by four years in prison for crimes of which he was innocent, Marcelino Santiago Pacheco was pardoned and released at the end of July 2002. In October 2002, OPIZ filed an official legal complaint against Diodoro Carrasco Altamirano, former governor of the state of Oaxaca and former federal Minister of the Interior, as well as against the former state attorney–general and the former director of the state judicial police. The complaint was based on the violations of the rights of indigenous Zapotecans that were committed during the term of office of former Governor Carrasco. At the time of his recent disappearance, Marcelino Santiago Pacheco was waiting to be called to give his testimony.
Please request the Mexican government to take immediate action to locate Marcelino Santiago Pacheco and to guarantee his physical and psychological integrity and the physical and psychological well–being of other OPIZ members.
Please ask for a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the forced disappearance of Marcelino Santiago Pacheco, in order that the planners and perpetrators of this crime can be brought before the law and duly punished.
Please request a full inquiry into the events that have taken place in the Los Loxichas region since 1996, so that measures can be taken to safeguard the human rights of the region's Zapoteco citizens. Please ask for the victims of the human rights violations committed in the Los Loxichas region to be properly compensated.
Please write to the Canadian government informing them of the circumstances surrounding the recent disappearance of Marcelino Santiago Pacheco. Please ask the Canadian government to urge the Mexican government to give the highest priority to addressing the very serious problem of the prevalence of torture in the Mexican judicial system. Please ask the Canadian government to give all possible support to the work of the Mexico office of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
For Mexico:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
C.P. 11850, México D.F, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 OR 516 9357 OR 515 1794
vicente@fox2000.org.mx or radio@presidencia.gob.mx or webadmon@appresidencia.gob.mx or go to www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo to send a message
LIc. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Unidad para la Promoción y la Defensa de Los Derechos Humanos
Secretaria de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
Reforma 99, Colonia Tabacalera
C.P. 06030, México D.F., Mexico
FAX: 011 52 55 51 28 02 23 or 011 52 55 51 28 02 24
rsepulveda@segob.gob.mx
Please send copies to:
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice, C.P. 100200, México D.F., MEXICO
FAX: O11 52 55 681 7199 correo@cndh.org.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 327 3195 macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Excellency María Teresa García Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 2235 9123 info@embamexcan.com
For Canada:
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
B4 125 Sussex Drive
FAX: 613 943 0606 susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Disappearance of member of the Organization of Zapoteco Indigenous Peoples, Oaxaca
The World Organization Against Torture has sent an alarming message about the disappearance of MARCELINO SANTIAGO PACHECO, a former victim of torture and member of the Organization of Zapoteco Indigenous Peoples (OPIZ) in the state of Oaxaca.
OPIZ spokesperson Juan Sosa Maldonado reports having had a short conversation with Sr. Santiago Pacheco on the evening of April 27th at which time the two men discussed a planned urgent meeting that was to be held on April 29th in a hostel in the city of Oaxaca. (Two other OPIZ members were expected to arrive for the meeting.) In the early afternoon of April 28th, Sr. Santiago Pacheco left the hostel to go the city centre. Since then, his family has not heard from him and his whereabouts are unknown.
BACKGROUND:
Marcelino Santiago Pacheco is from the Los Loxichas region of Oaxaca. In 1996, after an armed attack by the EPR guerrilla movement took place in the coastal city of Huatulco, Zapoteco indigenous people living in this isolated mountain region were subjected to a campaign of brutal repression. They suffered arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and even extra–judicial executions. On the basis of the allegation that one of the guerrilla members who died in the attack in Huatulco was a member of the municipal council of San Agustin (one of the largest municipalities in the region), 150 Los Loxichas residents, among them the entire San Agustin municipal council, were imprisoned. Many of them were tortured. The official imprisonment of Marcelino Santiago Pacheco and Felipe de Jesus Antonio Santiago was preceded by nine months of forced disappearance. During this period, they were interrogated and brutally tortured in clandestine prisons.
At the present time, the majority of the human rights victims from Los Loxichas have been been pardoned and released. However, they have not been compensated for their suffering and their torturers have not been punished. (A possible exception is the case of the extra–judicial execution of Celerino Jimenez Almaraz, which was brought before the Inter–American Human Rights Commission. Following a change in the state governorship, Lucio Vasquez Ramirez, a former policemen and Los Loxichas area political boss, was arrested and imprisoned in connection with this crime.) Of the original 150 prisoners from Los Loxichas, only 14 are still incarcerated. They are all in federal penitentiaries. 6 of them are about to be sentenced.
After nine months of disappearance and torture, followed by four years in prison for crimes of which he was innocent, Marcelino Santiago Pacheco was pardoned and released at the end of July 2002. In October 2002, OPIZ filed an official legal complaint against Diodoro Carrasco Altamirano, former governor of the state of Oaxaca and former federal Minister of the Interior, as well as against the former state attorney–general and the former director of the state judicial police. The complaint was based on the violations of the rights of indigenous Zapotecans that were committed during the term of office of former Governor Carrasco. At the time of his recent disappearance, Marcelino Santiago Pacheco was waiting to be called to give his testimony.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please request the Mexican government to take immediate action to locate Marcelino Santiago Pacheco and to guarantee his physical and psychological integrity and the physical and psychological well–being of other OPIZ members.
Please ask for a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the forced disappearance of Marcelino Santiago Pacheco, in order that the planners and perpetrators of this crime can be brought before the law and duly punished.
Please request a full inquiry into the events that have taken place in the Los Loxichas region since 1996, so that measures can be taken to safeguard the human rights of the region's Zapoteco citizens. Please ask for the victims of the human rights violations committed in the Los Loxichas region to be properly compensated.
Please write to the Canadian government informing them of the circumstances surrounding the recent disappearance of Marcelino Santiago Pacheco. Please ask the Canadian government to urge the Mexican government to give the highest priority to addressing the very serious problem of the prevalence of torture in the Mexican judicial system. Please ask the Canadian government to give all possible support to the work of the Mexico office of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
ADDRESSES:
For Mexico:
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de Los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
C.P. 11850, México D.F, MEXICO
FAX: 011 52 55 522 4117 OR 516 9357 OR 515 1794
vicente@fox2000.org.mx or radio@presidencia.gob.mx or webadmon@appresidencia.gob.mx or go to www.gob.mex and from there to interactivo to send a message
LIc. Ricardo Sepúlveda
Unidad para la Promoción y la Defensa de Los Derechos Humanos
Secretaria de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
Reforma 99, Colonia Tabacalera
C.P. 06030, México D.F., Mexico
FAX: 011 52 55 51 28 02 23 or 011 52 55 51 28 02 24
rsepulveda@segob.gob.mx
Please send copies to:
Dr. José Luis Soberanes Fernández
Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Periférico Sur 3469, Col. San Jerónimo Lidice, C.P. 100200, México D.F., MEXICO
FAX: O11 52 55 681 7199 correo@cndh.org.mx
Lic. Mariclaire Acosta, Subsecretaria de Derechos Humanos y Democracia
FAX: 011 52 55 117 4334 327 3195 macosta@sre.gob.mx
Her Excellency María Teresa García Segovia
Ambassador for Mexico
45 O'Connor St, suite 1500, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
FAX: 613 2235 9123 info@embamexcan.com
For Canada:
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
FAX: 613 996 9607 Graham.b@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Susan Gregson, Director
Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division (AGH)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
B4 125 Sussex Drive
FAX: 613 943 0606 susan.gregson.agh@dfait-maeci.gc.ca