Amnesty International USA: Business and Human Rights

Business and Human Rights – The Environment

Mexico

Anti-logging Activists Fear for Their Lives; Death of Human Rights Lawyer Remains Unsolved

After spending more than a year and a half in prison for crimes they did not commit, Mexican environmentalists and Amnesty International prisoners of conscience, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia were released on orders from President Vicente Fox on November 8, 2001. In his public statement, President Fox cited humanitarian reasons for their release. He acknowledged the work of non-governmental organizations on behalf of the two men and cited international human rights treaties, as well as the ruling on the case made by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. However, President Fox did not recognize the innocence of the two men, nor the injustices they suffered.

Coming in the wake of the death of prominent human rights defender and one of their former PRODH (Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center) lawyers, Digna Ochoa y Plácido, on October 19, 2001, the release of these environmental defenders was a bitter sweet victory for activists around the world who have worked on their case since May 1999, when both men were arrested. Those responsible for the killing of Digna Ochoa are yet to be found and brought to justice.

Montiel and Cabrera were arrested on May 2, 1999 by members of the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican army who forced them under the duress of torture to sign false confessions that were later used in court to sentence them to six year and ten year prison sentences respectively, on trumped up charges of drugs and weapons possession. After sustained international activism, numerous legal appeals, and a petition to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights spearheaded by their lawyers at PRODH, the men were finally released. Although President Fox did not directly state so, his decision appears to have been influenced by the international pressure on this case and on Mexico's human rights situation.

Background

Concerned about the impact of increased logging in an environmentally fragile region, as well as its impact on agricultural production, Montiel and other campesinos and community leaders formed the Organization of Campesino Ecologists of the Sierra de Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalan (OCESP) in 1997 and began to protest clear-cut logging in the area by Idahobased Boise Cascade Corporation. They feared that the logging would destroy their farms, their culture, and their means of livelihood. The activities of OCESP angered landowners by forcing logging mills to interrupt their operations. After years of political tension in the area, Boise Cascade left Guerero in 1998 because of "difficult business conditions." On April 17th, 1999, Montiel was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for his courageous efforts in defense of the environment.

According to complaints made to Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH), the soldiers of the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army entered the town of Pizotla, Guerrero on the morning of May 2, 1999 and began shooting, without provocation, killing a local resident. Montiel and Cabrera were held incommunicado for several days by the Mexican army and later taken into custody on alleged ties to a guerrilla movement, illegal possession of weapons, and drug trafficking. Both men were beaten and tortured into confessing involvement with a guerrilla group. The two men were forced to pose for a photo holding rifles used by soldiers. The State Attorney Generals' Office at one time described them as members of an "ecological guerilla organization."

In April 2000, Amnesty International declared Montiel and Cabrera prisoners of conscience and activists around the world rallied to demand their immediate and unconditional release. Both men were imprisoned in the town of Iguala, where their health quickly deteriorated. International vigilance of their detention was critical to stop harassment or intimidation by prison officials.

Mexico City's human rights law group, PRODH, took on the legal defense of Montiel and Cabrera. Internationally respected human rights attorney Digna Ochoa represented Montiel and Cabrera and helped document the evidence of torture at the hands of the Mexican military. On August 9th, 1999 Ochoa was kidnapped for several hours and beaten while being driven in the back seat of a car. The threats and attacks against her and other members of the organization continued. The situation escalated until tragically on October 19, 2001 Digna Ochoa was found shot dead in her office in Mexico City. Near her body a note was found threatening other lawyers at PRODH. Those responsible have not yet been found.

The prevailing culture of impunity in Mexico has ensured that no progress has been made in the investigation into the mistreatment and torture of Montiel and Cabrera despite the fact that three soldiers from the 40th Infantry Battalion have been identified by Montiel and Cabrera themselves of committing these violations. These military officers have been accused of violating Mexican Federal law regarding the use of torture, but have not been officially investigated. In fact, the judicial system has shielded them in various ways, while paradoxically maintaining Montiel and Cabrera's guilt.

On August 15, 2002, the Second Circuit Appeals Court of Chilpancingo, Guerrero, which was asked to reconsider Montiel and Cabrera's case following their release from prison, dismissed two of the three charges against both men - that they were involved in drug trafficking and that they possessed a prohibited weapon. The appeal on the third and most serious charge, possessing weapons of the exclusive use of the military, was denied. This charge carries the highest sentence and, in the eyes of Mexico's legal system, Montiel and Cabrera are still convicted felons. They have not yet been able to return to their homes in Guerrero State because they fear for their safety. Members of their environmental organization, OCESP, continue to be harassed and threatened.

Update on Digna Ochoa

Meanwhile, the investigation into the death of Digna Ochoa was closed in 2003 after the Special Prosecutor assigned to the case concluded that the human rights defender had committed suicide. The case was closed despite the failure of the Prosecutor's Office to rectify or adequately explain the deficiencies, flaws and omissions in the investigation identified in the report to Mexican authorities by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in June 2003. These included the failure to properly isolate the crime scene, the lack of rigor of first post mortem, irregularities in gathering, handling and storing evidence and the unexplained appearance, 18 months later, of new physical evidence repeatedly missed in earlier stages of the investigation. In addition, the report noted the failure to follow meticulously all available lines of investigation. The case was closed without adequately addressing these outstanding issues seriously undermining the validity of the conclusions reached by the Prosecutor's Office and denying Digna Ochoa and her family justice.

Sidewalk memorial to slain human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa

Another key area of concern was the Special Prosecutor's refusal to allow Digna Ochoa relatives and legal representatives to fully contribute to the investigation, excluding evidence provided by the family from the enquiry. The family has since lodged an appeal in the courts in Mexico City against the closure of the case by the Prosecutor's Office. A decision is pending in the next days or weeks. During the course of the investigation, there were repeated leaks and public statements questioning the family's legitimate efforts to seek justice and discredit Digna Ochoa's personality and the human rights work she carried out during her life.

Rather than thoroughly address the concerns of Amnesty International and other human rights groups throughout the Americas, the official investigation opted to denigrate Digna Ochoa's reputation and memory in order justify the suicide verdict. Sadly, this is not uncommon. Prosecution services in Mexico frequently seek to blame the crime victim, and other high-profile investigations in the past have floundered amidst rumors and leaks that diverted attention, ultimately leaving the cases unresolved and allowing those responsible to remain untouched. By ignoring the deficiencies in the Ochoa investigation, officials have once again failed to serve justice.

Amnesty International USA strongly condemned her killing and demanded that Mexican President Vicente Fox immediately initiate a complete and unbiased investigation into her death. Amnesty is disheartened that the official investigation failed to achieve this. The organization is calling for issues raised the by IACHR and the family regarding the investigation be fully answered in order to clearly establish exactly what happened that day and ensure justice is done.

The unrelenting efforts of activists around the world helped free Montiel and Cabrera from prison, but much work still needs to be done to end the culture of impunity in Mexico, prevent future violations of the human rights of environmentalists and their defenders, and bring to justice those responsible for the death of Digna Ochao.

Prisoners of conscience - indigenous environmental activists, Isidro Baldenegro López and Hermenegildo Rivas Carrillo

On March 29, 2003, Isidro Baldenegro López and Hermenegildo Rivas Carrillo were arrested without warrant by the state judicial police, and charged with illegal possession of weapons and drugs. They are currently in a Chihuahua prison while awaiting the outcome of their trial, which has been marred by procedural irregularities, and the judge's unwillingness to consider evidence that ran counter to the police's account. In June 2003 the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission issued a report concluding that the version of events provided by the state judicial police contradicted the account given by Isidro Baldenegro, Hermenegildo Rivas and other eyewitnesses, and that the arrest did not occur as described by police officers. It is widely believed that their detention is linked to their continual protest of unregulated logging in forest lands inhabited by Rarámuri indigenous community of Coloradas, and that their arrest was instigated by powerful local interests. Amnesty International has declared them prisoners of conscience and is calling for their immediate and unconditional release. Click here to learn more.