Urgent Action! Women's Human Rights Center in Mexico under threat! Please write!
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa13608.pdf
22 May 2008
UA 136/08 Fear for safety
MEXICO Luz Esthela Castro Rodriguez (f), aged 55, human rights defender
Other members of the Women's Human Rights Center (Centro de
Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres, CDHM)
Human rights defender Luz Esthela Castro Rodriguez,
coordinator of the Women's Human Rights Center, (Centro de
Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres, CDHM) in Chihuahua City,
northern Mexico, has received two death threats. She and
other staff working at the CDHM are in danger.
On 14 May, Luz Esthela Castro was leading a training session
for a group of women victims of violence when she received
two calls on her mobile phone. During both calls a male
caller verbally abused her, including by saying "You and
your human rights centre will get fucked, you idiot" (te va
a llevar la chingada, y a tu centro de derechos humanos,
pendeja), and threatened Luz Esthela Castro and her
colleagues at the CDHM with death.
Luz Esthela Castro is also the co-founder of Justice for Our
Daughters (Justicia Para Nuestras Hijas), an organization
that supports and campaigns for justice in the cases of
women abducted and killed in Chihuahua state. On 13 May, she
participated in a protest organized by Justicia Para
Nuestras Hijas, marking the fifth anniversary of the
abduction and killing of Neyra Azucena Cervantes, who was 19
years old when she died in 2003 (see her case in Amnesty
International's report Mexico: Ending the brutal cycle of
violence against women in Ciudad Juarez and the city of
Chihuahua, AI Index: AMR 41/011/2004). In addition, during a
local human rights forum on 27 April, Luz Esthela Castro had
proposed a campaign to end the involvement of military
forces in policing operations in Chihuahua state.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In recent months, other human rights defenders in Chihuahua
state have suffered attacks and harassment, including
apparently unfounded criminal charges being leveled against
them. On 14 March 2008, Armando Villareal Martha, an
activist working for the rights of farmers in the state, was
shot and killed. Amnesty International is not aware of any
advances in the investigation of this crime. On 3 April, two
other local well known activists and human rights defenders,
Carlos Chavez Quevedo and Cipriana Jurado Herrera, were
arrested and then released on bail for participating in a
street protest in 2005. Another organization set up to fight
for justice for women abducted and murdered in Ciudad
Juarez, Our Daughters Return Home (Nuestras Hijas de Regreso
a Casa) have also been threatened and harassed because of
their work (see UA 167/07, AMR 41/028/2007, 28 June 2007).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- calling for a full, prompt and impartial investigation
into the threats against Luz Esthela Castro Rodriguez on 14
May and for those responsible to be brought to justice;
- calling on the authorities to take appropriate measures to
guarantee Luz Esthela Castro Rodriguez's safety and that of
her colleagues at the Centro de Derechos Humanos de las
Mujeres in Chihuahua City, in accordance with their wishes;
- calling on the authorities to adhere to their obligations
under the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities
of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and
Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental
Liberties, which recognizes the legitimacy of the activities
of human rights defenders and their right to carry out their
activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals.
APPEALS TO:
Governor of Chihuahua state
Lic. Jose Reyes Baeza
Gobernador del Estado de Chihuahua
Palacio de Gobierno, piso 1
C. Aldama #901
Col. Centro, Chihuahua, C.P. 31000
Estado de Chihuahua, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 614 429 3300 ext. 11066
Salutation: Dear Governor/ Senor Gobernador
Attorney General of Chihuahua state
Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez
Procuradora del Estado de Chihuahua
Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado
Vicente Guerrero 616,
Col. Centro, Chihuahua, C.P.31000
Estado de Chihuahua, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 614 415 0314
Salutation: Dear Attorney General /
Senora Procuradora
Minister of the Interior
Lic. Juan Camilo Mourino Terrazo
Secretaria de Gobernacion
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez, Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico
D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5093 3414
Salutation: Senor Secretario/Dear Minister
Human Rights Commission of Chihuahua
Lic. Leopoldo Gonzalez Baeza
Presidente de la Comision Estatal de
Derechos Humanos de Chihuahua
Calle Decima y Mina, 1000
Col. Centro, Chihuahua, C.P.31000
Estado de Chihuahua, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 614 410 0828
(if someone answers say ‘‘me da tono de fax, por favor'‘)
Salutation: Dear President/ Senor Presidente
COPIES TO:
Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres, A.C., Avenida
Juarez #4107,
Col. Centro, Chihuahua, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 614 415 4152
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 3 July 2008.
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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