ABEL BARRERA

Abel Barrera is the Executive Director of the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña in Tlapa Guerrero. Click here for more information on Tlapa Guerrero.

Abel has been the target of numerous death threats since 1998. Federal and state authorities rarely investigate such violations. When investigations do occur, they never result in bringing the culprits to justice.

As recently as October of 2001, Abel received word that men had been offered money to kill him for the his work in defense of indigenous communities. On November 30, 2001, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission recommended that Mexican authorities take action to protect human rights workers, including Mr. Barrera. While the Federal Attorney General provided four guards for Mr. Barrera, they did not provide transportation for the guards, leaving him vulnerable when he travels to remote indigenous communities, as he is required to do almost daily. When Mr. Barrera filed a complaint with the Commission, the Attorney General responded by mounting an investigation of Mr. Barrera's personal life, then showed the file to a US-based human rights delegation in an effort to slander Mr. Barrera. Aside from the fact that most of the information in the file was incorrect, the investigation demonstrates a serious lack of commitment to human rights.

TAKE ACTION:
Write to President Fox and tell him to ensure that Abel Barrera is protected.

Lic. Vicente Fox Quezada
Presidente De Mexico
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos No. 1
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850
[email protected]
Fax: 011 52 55 52772376

Please CC your letter to the US Embassy in Mexico:

Ambassador Jeffery Davidow
U.S. Embassy
Paseo de la Reforma 305
Colonia Cuauhtemoc 06500 Mexico, D.F.
Fax: 011 52 55 5208-4178

Here is a short sample letter:

Dear President Vicente Fox:

I am deeply concerned about the protection of human Rights in Mexico, especially in light of the October 19, 2001 assassination of Digna Ochoa y Plácido. I am aware of the fact that threats against other human rights defenders including Abel Barrera, Executive Director of the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña in Tlapa Guerrero, have increased since the assassination.

As recently as October of 2001, Abel Barrera received word that men had been offered money to kill him for the work he has been doing in defense of indigenous people. On November 30, 2001, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission issued recommendations to the Mexican Government to protect human rights workers, including Mr. Barrera. Six months later, several of the recommendations are still unfulfilled. While the Federal Attorney General provided four guards for Mr. Barrera, they did not provide transportation for the guards, leaving him vulnerable when he travels to remote indigenous communities, as he is required to do almost daily. When Mr. Barrera filed a complaint with the Commission, the Attorney General responded by mounting an investigation of Mr. Barrera's personal life, then showed the file to a US-based human rights delegation in an effort to slander Mr. Barrera. Aside from the fact that most of the information in the file was incorrect, the investigation demonstrates a serious lack of commitment to human rights.

I write to urge you to ensure that authorities adopt the necessary protection measures in accordance with the demands of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. I also encourage your administration to develop public policies for the long-term protection of human rights advocates.

Sincerely,

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Click here for more information on the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña and how to contribute...

Tlapa, Guerrero:
Guerrero is the third poorest state in Mexico. Almost 70 percent of the population lives in conditions of poverty or extreme poverty. The Montaña region, where the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center is located, is one of the poorest regions in the country. Indigenous people make up 85% of the population and face discrimination and repression on the part of the Mestizo population that controls the political and economic power in the region. Lack of sufficient fertile land and a lack of technological development in the agricultural sector has forced many residents to migrate to other parts of the country or to the United States in search of work. The majority of the population earns less than one dollar per day. Because of endemic extreme poverty, cultivation of drugs, in particular opium poppy, has become one of the only alternatives for indigenous families who wish to remain on their land to sustain themselves.

The state of Guerrero has a history marred by violence, political impunity, and human rights abuses. Extreme poverty has also led to the presence of guerilla groups in the state. The state has responded with counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency campaigns, which in turn have become the pretext for excessive militarization in the region. The campaigns aim to annihilate suspected guerrillas or the indigenous population classified as complicit or suspicious. The combination of drugs, widespread corruption among local and state authorities bought off with drug money, endemic poverty, the presence of guerrilla groups, and excessive militarization, with the military often acting at the bidding of drug barons or corrupt politicians, has had devastating consequences for the indigenous population.

Indigenous people are regularly tortured, illegally detained, executed, and threatened physically and psychologically. The state police and military units in Guerrero have been repeatedly charged with human right abuses, yet not a single military member has been charged, tried and convicted for human rights abuses. From May of 2000 to April of 2001, there were 38 registered human rights violations charged against the municipal police, state police, and the army. The leading leftist party, the PRD, has blamed the military for many of the 123 disappearances of its members and sympathizers during the past seven years. Despite constant accusations of human rights abuses committed by the military, the army maintains a strong presence throughout the state. Since the appearance of various guerilla insurgencies in the mid-90's the military has increasingly invaded communities under the pretext of looking for guerrilla members as well as marijuana and poppy plantations. In 1995 the state police were involved in the massacre of 17 campesinos in the community of Aguas Blancas, and in 1998 members of the military massacred 11 local residents of El Charco.

Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) is the newest threat to indigenous communities. Mexico's newest neo-liberal economic program, PPP is an invention of the Fox administration to turn southern Mexico into a series of transportation corridors and maquilas, linking commodity production in the Pacific rim with consumer bases in the eastern US and Europe. PPP would result in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of indigenous campesinos, forcing them off their land and into low-paying maquila jobs. It would also result in the destruction of some of the most bio-diverse territory in the world. We have already seen an increase in the militarization of the Montaña region of Guerrero related to PPP. The federal and state governments have increased the number of military and police personnel in the region with a clear purpose, to suppress social movements against PPP and to guarantee stability and security for transnational capital.

In Guerrero most often the victims of human rights abuses lack the resources to seek justice through legal avenues. In many cases the victims live in extremely rural areas with poor roads, making the trip to a local official extremely difficult. Even in situations where the victims find the resources to pursue justice, the government and military continue to operate with impunity. In cases involving state officials, police, or military, local officials often refuse to cooperate in finding the perpetrators. Even a former chief of the state police has testified regarding the involvement of the police in kidnappings, as well as the use of torture. This injustice has awakened a social movement in Guerrero that demands a new social pact that recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples. This is the principle work of the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña.

Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña
The Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña works to defend the individual and collective rights of indigenous communities in the Montaña region of Guerrero, Mexico. These communities include nahuas, mixtecos, tlapanecos, na nasavi, and me paah. The Center began training community human rights promoters seven years ago, recruiting approximately 60 promoters that work in 17 municipalities in the Montaña region. The Center's work represents the principle voice of the indigenous population outside of their communities. The Center provides legal advise and defense in more than 600 cases of human rights violations each year, holds community workshops on human rights, helps strengthen the work of indigenous organizations, and helps indigenous authorities in project development.

Last year the Center lead a mobilization on the state level for the rejection of the indigenous law approved by Congress, a law, which does not fully recognize the collective rights of indigenous communities. The Center persuaded local authorities to reject the law and, as a result, the State government denounced movement leaders in an act of intimidation. In Guerrero, denouncement by local authorities is tantamount to inviting attacks by local paramilitaries and/or security agencies. In spite of the constant dangers implicit in human rights work in this region, the Center constantly works to defend the human rights of indigenous communities in Mexico.

The center is a civil organization committed to empowering indigenous communities. Tlachinollan was founded by anthropologist Abad Carrasco Zúñiga, an indigenous Tlapaneco, who coordinated a project called "Me phaa 2000" - the production of 2,000 texts written in Tlapaneco with the help of teachers that speak the language. In order to truly respond to the demands of the indigenous population, staff includes indigenous people who develop, direct and carry out the programs on a daily basis.

Because of the Center's commitment to working with indigenous communities, in 1996 it received the national prize "TATA VASCO," awarded by the Universidad Iberoamericana - Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, part of the Jesuit order. The state government has also recognized the Center's work in indigenous communities by awarding it the state prize "Nicolás Bravo" in 2001 for civil organizations that work in the human rights field.

The decision-making and planning process in Tlachinollan flows from the Community Human Rights Promoters to the staff. Presently there are promoters in 60 communities, and each community meets regularly to assess their program and needs. These assessments are passed along to the staff, and together we develop work plans and projects that fit the assessments of the Promoters. The Board of Directors acts as liaison between Tlachinollan, and local political leaders and security forces. The Board helps to resolve problems of an official or government-oriented nature. The Board also assumes an advisory role in plans and projects that are forwarded by the Promoters.

Program Objectives
The objectives of the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña are:
To place teams of human right promoters in 10 municipalities to record and defend cases of human rights abuses.
· To denounce violations of human rights, to defend cases at a national and international level, and to return the enjoyment of rights to those whose rights have been violated.
· To contribute to the dissemination of a catalogue of human rights abuses.
· To combat corruption and impunity, and strengthen the protection of rights.
· To promote popular education with a particular emphasis on the Zapatista-promoted Indigenous rights laws.
· To strengthen alliances of strategic coordination with communities and organizations in the region in order to generate an alternative citizen-held power.
· To sensitize public opinion on the human rights situation in Guerrero on a state, national and international level in order to prevent the most grave violations and increase the administration of justice.

To support to the work of Abel Barrera and the Tlachinollan Center for Human Rights of the Montaña, contribute on-line with a credit card (Send us an e-mail confirming that the donation is designated for "Tlachinollan").

Or send tax-deductible donations to:

Mexico Solidarity Network
4834 North Springfield
Chicago, IL 60625

All checks should have "Tlachinollan" written in the memo line.

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