Rapid Response Network

Mexico ranks as the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists. 

Fredid Román Román ran an online program called The Reality of Guerrero, which focused heavily on state-level politics. On August 22, he posted a story online about the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from the nearby city of Iguala. His story was released just days after a government truth commission declared the incident, and its coverup, a “crime of the state” that involved the participation and negligence of all layers of government. In a lengthy Facebook post, Fredid Román Román mentioned an alleged meeting between four officials at the time of the students’ disappearance, including former attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam, who was arrested after the publication of the truth commission report last week.

At around 4:40pm on August 22, Fredid Román Román was in his car, just having a left a journalism workshop that he teaches. Two people who were traveling on a blue motorcycle intercepted the journalist on Valerio Trujano street in Chilpancingo, the capital city of Guerrero State, and shot him to death.

The killing of Fredid Román Román causes us to be ever more disturbed by the general climate of impunity and inadequate security conditions for journalists in the state of Guerrero, and in the Republic of Mexico in general. Fredid Román Román became the 15th journalist killed in Mexico this year.

We wrote to the attorney general and human rights ombudsman of El Salvador to express our concerns over the weakening of democracy in El Salvador, especially in light of the State of Exception, which was recently extended for the fourth time. More than 46,000 suspected gang members have been arrested since the State of Exception, a government-declared crackdown on gang activity, was initiated on March 27. Maximum time-limits on pre-trial detention have been lifted. Journalists are under surveillance of spyware and criminalized for reporting on gang activity or the government’s response to it. Civil society organizations in El Salvador have documented more than 3,000 cases of abuse and torture, including the cases of 50 people who died while they were imprisoned in state detention centers. The University Observatory of Human Rights (OUDH) has documented 63 cases of cruel and degrading treatment, including cases of arbitrary arrests, deaths of detainees in custody, torture, and prison overcrowding. One of the most emblematic cases of torture corresponds to a 14-year-old who was detained and tortured by agents of the National Civil Police (PNC). To force the teenager into confessing that he belonged to a gang, police submerged his head in water and clamped his fingers with pliers. Although the teenager was not a gang member, he was later taken to a gang cell, where the inmates also beat him. For twelve days, the police continued to beat him. His mother found him vomiting blood when he was finally released after a hearing.

We wrote to officials in Guatemala about continued impunity for violent crimes against transwomen. On July 2, 34-year-old Nancy Sacul Tut became the 16th LGBTQ+ leader killed in Guatemala in 2022.

On July 2 at 9:30pm in Guatemala City, Nancy Sacul Tut was shot in the face. A few days prior, Nancy had filed a complaint with the Public Ministry for death threats and violent attacks against her. Nancy, a Maya Q’eqchi’ woman originally from Alta Verapaz, was an active member of the Transwomen Sex Workers Collective of Trébol.  Ilse Janeth Contreras, president of the Transwomen Collective, has been forced into hiding; she began receiving death threats after being interviewed in the media about Nancy’s assassination and the vulnerability of transwomen.

Nancy grew up in Chisec, Alta Verapaz Department, before moving to the capital city at age 17. She was rejected by her family and suffered discrimination in her hometown. Proud of her heritage, she continued to wear traditional Indigenous clothing representative of her region. Ilse Janeth Contreras described Nancy as a quiet woman who worked in the sex trade, in addition to selling clothes and vegetables in the market. As of July 5, the day Nancy was buried, authorities had not started an investigation into her assassination.  

We are outraged by the pattern of disinterest and inaction on behalf of the state to defend and prevent violence against transwomen.

We wrote once again to officials in Colombia about the continued impunity for attacks on signatories of the historic Peace Agreement. Since the Peace Agreement was signed in November 2006, 324 signatories have been killed, with 25 so far this year. Many are ex-combatants of the now extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FACR-EP).   

Killed on July 12 was Noel Humberto Castro Colorado, age 45, an ex-guerrilla who was enrolled in the official reincorporation process at the Agua Bonita Territorial Training and Reincorporation Center (ETCR). He had been transferred there for security reasons after having received death threats. Armed men approached him at 9:45pm and shot him as he was storing his car in the garage of his home in Florencia municipality, Caquetá Department.

We are urging that authorities in Colombia (1) investigate the assassination, (2) offer protection for his family, (3) offer protections for other signatories of the Peace Agreement, (4) construct comprehensive and inclusive measures to implement the Peace Agreement.

We wrote once again to officials in Guatemala about the unjust criminalization of environmental defenders who are part of the local resistance to the El Fénix nickel mine in El Estor (Izabal Department), run by the Guatemala Nickel Company (CGN) and owned by Switzerland-based Solway Investments. Residents of El Estor have been victims of land grabbing, arson, and repression. The contamination of Lake Izabal has had severe consequences on the local fishing community. María Magdalena Cuc Choc was first detained and unjustly criminalized in 2018 for the alleged crimes of threats, illegal detention and aggravated usurpation during the eviction of the community of Chab’il Ch’och’ in 2017. On June 27, the judge acquitted her of two crimes but sentenced her to two years for the charge of aggravated usurpation. She was given the option to pay 7,500 quetzales—about US $920—to commute her sentence.

We condemn acts of state violence and criminalization of Indigenous environmental rights defenders in El Estor

National and regional forest management plans are threatening the ancestral forests of the Indigenous Tolupán people of Yoro Department. Because deforestation has caused some water sources to go dry, the Tolupán Tribe of San Francisco de Locomapa tribe has asked the National Institute for Conservation and Forest Development (ICF) to take action to protect their forest rights. Police and courts routinely side with the interests of private companies instead of protecting the tribe. Police have attacked some community members. Nine Tolupán defenders are facing criminalization instigated by the INMARE logging company. The tribe has recorded at least ten murders of Tolupán land rights leaders, even some who had precautionary measures.

Attacks on social leaders continue with impunity. Since the Peace Agreement was signed in November 2006, 1,318 social leaders have been murdered, with at least 91 this year.

Julián David Ochoa Rueda was an active member of the left political coalition Historic Pact (Pacto Histórico). As such he had been active in promoting the electoral campaign of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez for the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. In Granada, Petro’s opponent Rodolfo Hernández won with a wide margin.

In the early morning hours of June 27, Julián was killed with a shotgun the small town of Santa Ana in Granada municipality, Antioquia Department. During the attack, his domestic partner, the mother of his 4-month-old infant, received injuries caused by a machete.

There must be an end to impunity for these attacks on social leaders. We are calling on authorities in Colombia to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the killing of Julián David Ochoa Rueda with the goal of finding the intellectual and material authors of the attack, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice.

Despite a court order to stop expansion of its open-pit gold mining operations in La Unión, Miami-based Aura Minerals continues the destruction of an Indigenous Maya Chortí community in Copán Department in western Honduras. At the heart of the matter for local residents is the contamination of vital water sources and the destruction of their 200-year-old Azacualpa community cemetery As we described in previous letters (cf December 2, 2021; January 25, 2022, April 11, 2022) army and police were deployed to ensure the exhumations of graves, to facilitate expansion of the San Andrés gold mine, which is owned by US- and Canada-based Aura Minerals and operated by its Honduran subsidiary MINOSA (Minerales de Occidente SA). On March 30, 2022, the government of Honduras ordered MINOSA to stop its operations, but the destruction has continued.

Those who try to protect their water sources and cemetery are regularly threatened.   Fredy García, a resident of Azacualpa, filed a complaint with the Public Ministry against Jacobo Paz, a manager of the San Andrés gold mining project, and Dimar Miranda Pérez, a contractor for the mining company, because of the contamination of a vital water source. In retaliation, people have been coming to the home of Fredy García and threatening him.

The judicial system in Chiapas fabricates crimes as a method of repression. Authorities are currently fabricating charges against Tzeltal human rights and environment defenders because of their opposition to the militarization of their territory and construction of infrastructure for mega-tourism projects.

Manuel Santiz Cruz, president of the Human Rights Committee of San Juan Evangelista Catholic parish in San Juan Cancuc, was falsely arrested on May 29 for drug possession. He was released and re-arrested a day later for aggravated homicide. By June 4, a total of eight Tzeltal defenders had been arrested:  Manuel Santiz Cruz, Agustín Pérez Velasco, Martin Pérez Domínguez, Juan Velasco Aguilar, Agustín Pérez Domínguez, and three more persons (names withheld for their personal security).

These arbitrary detentions take place in a context in which inhabitants of San Juan Cancuc have opposed the military presence in their territory and the construction of a highway project that would connect San Cristóbal de las Casas with the region of Palenque. The highway is part of the development of mega-tourism projects in the region that have been promoted by the government without free, prior informed and culturally appropriate consultation with impacted Indigenous communities.

We are deeply concerned about the ability of Indigenous communities and leaders to carry out their legitimate activities in defense of their peoples’ territories and waterways. Last year we wrote to authorities about the about the assassination of Tzeltal human rights defender Simón Pedro Pérez López, age 35, in the Los Bosques de Chiapas region of Chiapas State (cf our letter July 6, 2021).

Attacks on social leaders continues with impunity. Since the Peace Agreement was signed in November 2006, 1,311 social leaders have been murdered, with at least 84 this year.

KILLED: June 8, Antioquia Dept: Danilo de Jesús Madrid López, the 49-year-old vice-president of the Community Action Board of Doradas Altas Village (Tarazá municipality) was found dead on his farm in the morning, with gunshots to various parts of his body. June 8, Bogotá: LGBT advocate Oscar Parada Torres, 55-year-old attorney and father of five, was shot dead while walking in front of a church in the Engativá district of the city. In February he had been appointed as a representative of the bisexual community to the Bogotá District LGBTIQ Consultative Council.

ATTACKED: May 20, Bogotá: Guillermo Pérez Rangel is a peasant leader in César Department (president of the Mesa de Derechos Humanos y Territorios del Cesar and member of the Unión Nacional de Integración Rural), displaced from his home since February 2020. After leaving the office of TeleSur TV, where he gave an interview, he was followed by unknown individuals. Hours later the men intercepted him at a bus station, threw him to the ground, threatened him and beat him on his head and body. Although he has been included in the National Protection Unit (UNP) program since 2016, the UNP did not respond after he reported being followed by unknown individuals to the Attorney General's Office on April 29.