San José, Costa Rica / Chihuahua, México, April 24, 2018.- On April 26 and 27, the
Inter-American The forced disappearance occurred during the time of the failed
strategy of the Operativos Conjuntos
(Joint Operations) implemented by the administration of Felipe Calderón, with
the result of thousands of human rights violations.
After the disappearance of the victims, more than
10 investigations were filed in different offices without results.
The case represents a historical opportunity for
the process of memory, truth, reliable justice and integral redress in favor of
all of Mexico’s disappeared persons and their relatives.
Court
of Human Rights will hear the testimonies of two members of the family of Nitza
Paola Alvarado Espinoza, Rocío Irene Alvarado Reyes and José Ángel Alvarado
Herrera, relatives among themselves, disappeared in the Ejido Benito Juárez, municipality of Buenaventura, Chihuahua on
December 29, 2009 by elements of the Mexican Army.
These
events occurred in the framework of the “War on Drugs”, a strategy that
privileges the participation of the Armed Forces in public law enforcement and
that has continued into the administration of the current president Enrique
Peña Nieto. With the implementation of Joint Operations in several states in
the country, Chihuahua turned into the most violent state in Mexico in 2010,
with a rate of 110 murders for every 100 thousand inhabitants.
After
the disappearance, 12 national and international instances have heard the case,
among them the State Attorney General Office, several areas of Mexico’s
Attorney General Office, the National Human Rights Commission and even the
military jurisdiction. The demand for justice and for knowing the whereabouts
of their loved ones have brought threats for the families on several occasions
and have led them to be forcibly displaced, currently some of them are trying
to obtain political asylum in the United States.
This
case demonstrates what thousands of families of disappeared persons in Mexico
live every day: there were never any immediate nor effective actions for search
that conducted towards finding the disappeared persons alive; there has been no
investigation to determine the responsibility for the disappearance. Actually,
the proceedings of the investigation in themselves constituted an obstacle for
the access to justice and in many times attempted to place the burden of the
progress of the investigations on the family. Therefore, this will be the first
time the Inter-American Court hears a case in the current framework of
disappearances in Mexico, a number that according to official information
amounts to 35,000 persons recognized as disappeared from 2007 to date.
In
June 2011, the families filed the complaint before the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). After 8 years of the families of Nitza
Paola, Rocío Irene and José Ángel demanding justice, searching their relatives
in despair, the Inter-American Court will hear the case, a product of the
failure of the Mexican State to comply with the recommendations issued by the
IACHR, instance that found in this case that the Mexican State was responsible
for their forced disappearance and therefore recommended Mexico to investigate
the events with due diligence, search the disappeared victims and sanction the
responsible parties. In addition to this, the IACHR determined the
responsibility of the State for the violations to the human rights of the
relatives, derived from threats and harassment against them, and requested that
the Mexican State adopted a series of measures for redress and for avoiding
repetition of the events.
The
case was forwarded by the IACHR on November 9, 2016 and the written stage of
the proceedings has concluded. During the public hearing six people will appear
before the Inter-American Court, testimonies and arguments will be submitted to
prove the responsibility of the army, the omission of the authorities in the
search and in the investigations and the lack of protection to the relatives.
Also, expert witness reports will be presented by the victims, the State and
the IACHR.
For
the relatives of the victims in this case, the sentence issued in this hearing
will be a recognition to their fight and the struggle of thousands of families
which demand proper and proportional measures against the problem of forced
disappearance in Mexico.
The
representing organizations, the Centro de
Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (CEDEHM), the Comisión de Solidaridad y Defensa
de los Derechos Humanos (Cosyddhac), the Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte (CDHPN) and Mexicanos/as en el Exilio hope that this
resolution serves for a deep reflection on the negative consequences of
militarization as strategy for the fight against organized crime, to address
the problem of forced displacement in Mexico that is increasingly expanding in
the country without recognition and without proper public policies, and also to
provide an account of the obstacles and risks faced by the families to find
their loved ones and to obtain justice in the case.
Finally,
in the framework of the policy implemented in Mexico in the last two
presidential terms, this resolution may determine that the Ley de Seguridad Interior (Law of Internal Security) violates
international human rights treaties that Mexico has ratified. Likewise, the
sentence may add to the many claims of civil society and local, national and
international human rights organizations. Without a doubt, the resolution may
serve for the countries in all the continent where militarization for security
is being discussed as an option.
