https://ayotzinapasomostodos.
"Letter against repression and criminalization of civil protests in Mexico"
November 22nd, 2014
Enrique Peña Nieto
President of Mexico
Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong
Ministry of the Interior
Jesús Murillo Karam
Attorney General
Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Organization of American States
To the international community
To the general public,
We wish to express our deepest alarm and anger over the repressive actions that the government of Mexico has systematically demonstrated in response to the public unrest generated by the disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa?s Teacher?s College.
President Enrique Peña Nieto?s statements about using state forces on November 19th, and the excesses committed by the anti-riot police and other security bodies against the peaceful civilian demonstration on November 20th, constitute ominous signs that threaten the peaceful development of the citizens? protest movement. Legitimate public outrage and mobilization movements in response to violence and impunity in Mexico are a direct consequence of the inefficiency of the Justice apparatus and a lack of confidence in the security forces. It is obvious that the same apparatus, deeply involved in corruption
scandals, is incapable of offering a political solution to the conflict that the country is going through. For these reasons, the Global Network #AyotzinapaSomosTodos and the signatories below make the following demands and points:
1. We alert governments, media and international organizations of the risks involved in criminalizing and repressing civil protests in Mexico. The use of State forces is not the solution to the political unrest that the country is experiencing, and this approach only increases Human Rights violations and conflicts between citizens and the government as well as violating the citizenry's rights of political expression.
2. Claims made by government officials that the social movement and its media are part of a destabilization campaign are very disturbing and must be rejected.
3. We support the intervention of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission of the OAS in the cases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances in Mexico. The international Community must demand that the Mexican government respect the human rights treaties it has signed.
4. We demand the immediate release of the demonstrators who were arbitrarily arrested on November 20th, 2014, during the peaceful demonstration in Mexico City's Central Square. We demand that the charges the judicial apparatus has filed against these citizens be retracted and that the authorities stop their transfer to remote prisons where they do not have legal assistance. We firmly denounce violations of the judicial process, including the hindering of defense attorneys from seeing their clients and providing proof of their innocence. The liberation of political prisoners is crucial for the restoration of the credibility of Mexican institutions.
We urge a fast response from the authorities and the recipients of this letter.
Thank you!
#AyotzinapaSomosTodos
https://ayotzinapasomostodos.
