"Liberating Hope": A Journey of Central American Families in Search of Disappeared Migrants

by the Nicaragua Team 



This fall a caravan made up of 38 Central American mothers, sisters and brothers traveled through Mexico looking for disappeared loved ones. Many of the disappeared left their homes with the intention of reaching the United States. Their families covered almost 4,600 kilometers through 14 states and 23 towns along the migrant route looking for answers.


Witness for Peace met with Nicaraguan and Honduran families who participated in this caravan. The following recounts the realities that Central American migrants face during their perilous journeys to the United States and the stories of some of the mothers who followed those footsteps.

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'Our community is a family:' First sentence of LGBTQ murder since 2009 gives hope to Honduras's sexual diversity movement

Elizabeth Perkins, Honduras Team

Since the military coup that shook the country on June 28, 2009, Honduras’s LGBTQ community has found itself under attack; 87 have been murdered. One researcher documenting the violence described it as “open season” on Hondurans in the sexual diversity movement. Before the coup, in their May 2009 report Not Worth a Penny Human Rights Watch cited 17 deaths of transgender persons between 2004 and 2009. La Red Lésbica Cattrachas (The Honduran Lesbian Network) in their August 2012 report Situation of Violent Deaths in the LGTTBI Community in Honduras sited 5 LGBTQ deaths in 2008 and 25 in 2009. According to this report numbers have varied but remained high from year to year. 

On December 4, 2012 the Honduran Supreme Court heard proposals for the final sentence of the first LGBTQ murder case to be tried since the coup. Daniel Esquin Vasquez, 21, found guilty on November 13 of this year for the murder of Jorge Nelson Flores Bonilla was just 19 when he killed Flores. While this was not the first hate crime to be tried since the coup d’état, it was the first LGBTQ murder to be processed by the court since that date. The first case heard by the Supreme Court was that of a trans woman named Noelia who was stabbed 14 times on December 17, 2009 by a police officer. She survived the attack. According to Sandra Zambrano of APUVIMEH (Association for a Better Life for Persons Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras) of the 87 LGBTQ deaths since the coup 18 cases are currently being investigated.

APUVIMEH activists after the hearing on Nov 13

According to APUVIMEH’s November 13^th press release, last month would have been the 31^st birthday of Walter Tróchez whose case has made little progress in the judicial system. Tróchez was a widely known and well-respected LGBTQ rights activist and a prominent member of the resistance to the coup. December 13 marked 3 years since his death. APUVIMEH protests the impunity surrounding his case on the 13^th of every month outside the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Recently a U.S. State Department official has been assigned to monitor Tróchez’s case exclusively. U.S. involvement in the Honduran judiciary system is significant. According to Sandra, there were 3 FBI attorneys on Flores’s case. They had been assigned as part of a Special Victims Taskforce to evaluate the Honduran judiciary process. This Taskforce was highlighted in the State Department’s response to a letter from Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) in June. Polis’s letter asked for more intentional action against the repression experienced by LGBTQ Hondurans.

The alternative to the Honduran government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (widely criticized for its lack of transparency and considered by many to be illegitimate), La Comisión de Verdad, highlighted the U.S.'s position in its recent report The Voice of Greatest Authority is that of the Victims (link to report in Spanish). “[The U.S.] expressed its concerns about specific issues (like the situation in the LGBTQ community), but never recognized that what happened in Honduras was a coup d'etat which would have consequences in the internal policies of the United States, in terms of its cooperation with the Honduran Armed Forces and the distribution of arms.” Although the U.S. has been providing direct support in specific human rights issues, the human rights situation in Honduras is not being looked at as a systemic issue of a government heavily supported by the U.S. This approach amounts to putting lots of band-aids on a gaping wound, expecting that wound to heal on its own.

Pressure is mounting among legistlators for an alternative to this approach. As previously mentioned, in June Rep. Polis sent a letter to Hillary Clinton which was signed by 84 congressional representatives and outlined the situation of LGBTQ Hondurans requesting more intentional action to alleviate the intense repression being experienced by the community. The State Department responded to the letter outlining the things they were doing to respond to the repression of LGBTQ rights in Honduras, detailing a list of the 18 cases they were working on at the time. In October Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) also sent a letter to Clinton demanding a re-set on U.S. policy in Honduras. He outlined the human rights situation and called attention to the lack of confidence many Hondurans have in the U.S. government's human rights focus.

At the beginning of the proceedings on the 13^th, after closing arguments from both sides, the presiding judge requested that Flores' family present themselves. Nearly half of the audience, some 15 to 20 members of the sexual diversity community stood. Organizations present included activists of the APUVIMEH community, Diversity in Resistance Movement (MDR), The Honduran Lesbian Network (Red Lésbica Cattrachas), and Independent Trans Activists of Tegucigalpa. Because Flores had no blood relatives present, they all stood in solidarity to represent him. When the judge asked someone to say a few words, Sandra stepped forward and explained, “Our community is a family.” 

In APUVIMEH’s press release, the organization’s president, José Antonio Zambrano, expressed hope and a sense of encouragement at what the organization sees as a step forward for the movement. “It fills us with satisfaction that we can see an immediate future of more cases being prosecuted. Murderers now should be aware that the arm of justice reaches them.” However, he also expressed the need to continue fighting for justice and respect for human rights, demanding that the Honduran government guarantee citizen security.

The LGBTQ community in Honduras needs more than a Special Victims Taskforce, which only works to process cases. The repression experienced within this community is a symptom of a larger problem of impunity. Rep. Berman summed up in his letter to Clinton the need for a drastic change in U.S. policy in Honduras: “The situation in Honduras, which will likely be with us for some time, forces us to make a choice. We can view the terrifying human rights situation through the lens of 'threats to citizen security,' as the State Department recently characterized it; or we can understand the same human violations through the prism of the coup and indeed of a lock-down on the political process by long-entrenched elites. If we choose the latter, Honduran chaos begins to look like something much closer to political repression. Until the U.S. begins to embrace this view, we will not get our Honduras policy right.”

Civilian Observation Mission Explores the Devastating Effects of Canadian Mining Company in San Jose del Progreso, Oaxaca

By Moravia de la O, former Mexico Team member

Bernardo Vazquez Sanchez's father (right)
demands justice for his son's death (Photo: Sara Mendez)

“All I want is justice for my son’s death,” said a tearful Mr. Vazquez as we sat around him under the shade of a willow tree in the Oaxacan community of San Jose del Progreso. His son, Bernardo Vazquez Sanchez, until recently a prominent leader of the Coordinating Committee of the United Villages of the Ocotlan Valley (CPUVO by its initials in Spanish) was assassinated in March 2012 for his outspoken opposition to a Canadian-owned mine’s operations in their community. His brother, Arturo Vazquez Sanchez, and his cousin, Rosalina Dionicio Sanchez, were seriously wounded in the ambush as well.

Around Mr. Vazquez sat other family members and victims of the violence that has gripped this once sleepy indigenous Zapotec town nestled in Oaxaca’s Ocotlan Valley. For over three hours, they gathered to tell us about the extent to which the social fabric in their community has been torn apart by the arrival of the mine.

Since 2007, residents from San Jose del Progreso and nearby towns have been in resistance against the gold and silver mine, which is owned and operated by the mining company Cuzcatlan S.A. de C.V., a local subsidiary of Canada’s Fortuna Silver Mines, Inc. In the last year, the conflict over the mine has turned increasingly violent, resulting in the deaths of anti-mine activists Bernardo Vazquez and Bernardo Mendez.

“It is the mine’s fault. They have stepped all over us, they have humiliated us,” said another community member whose son was also a victim of aggressions for his opposition to the mining project.

A Mexican flag reads "Long Live CPUVO" and bears
the portraits of Bernardo Mendez and Bernardo Vazquez,
the two anti-mine activists
who were killed in early 2012 (Photo: Sara Mendez)

From November 19th to the 21st, the Witness for Peace Mexico Team and representatives of 18 other Mexican and international organizations gathered these testimonies, and dozens more, as part of the “Justice for San Jose del Progreso” Civilian Observation Mission to the town and nearby communities.  The goal of the mission, organized by the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of the Land, was to “highlight the human rights violations, risks, and vulnerability that members of the CPUVO and residents of San Jose del Progreso face, as well as the violations committed by the mining company and the municipal, state, and federal authorities.“

Over three days, mission participants met with community members opposed to the mine, local and state authorities, and representatives for the mining company.  The picture that emerged after talking to all these actors was one of impunity, corruption, repression of those opposed to the mine, as well as deep divisions within the community. The consensus among those we spoke to is clear: the root cause of all these problems in San Jose del Progreso is the mine.

Unfortunately, the situation in this small Oaxacan town is not unique. All across rural Mexico, communities are being torn apart and repressed for opposing the efforts of large transnational corporations to develop projects on their land. According to researchers from Mexico’s Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM by its initials in Spanish), “There are 52 points of conflict where we observe how national policies do everything necessary to funnel resources in the service of international capital.” These mines, dams, and wind-power farms, collectively known as mega-projects, are possible because of Mexico’s adoption of U.S.-backed neoliberal economic policies in preparation for the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The End of the Ejido

One of the few victories for Mexican campesinos, or small-scale farmers, that emerged from the 1910 Revolution was Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution. Article 27 emphasized land redistribution and the adoption of a model of collective landholdings called the ejido. During the 20th century, pro-campesino policies, like Article 27, resulted in the redistribution of 52% of Mexico’s territory and the creation of over 30,000 ejidos.

Graffiti on a bridge in the entrance to San Jose del Progreso
reads "Cuzcatlan Mine Out" (Photo: Moravia de la O)

However, Mexico’s agrarian policy drastically changed as the country began reorienting its economy to fit neoliberal policies pushed by the World Bank and the United States. In 1990, the World Bank published a study on Mexico’s countryside that recommended halting land redistribution efforts and eliminating the ejido in favor of private landholdings. By 1992, Mexico had adopted a reform to Article 27 that promoted individual title deeds and eliminated barriers to foreign investment in Mexico’s countryside in order to meet the criteria to enter into NAFTA negotiations.

To further the efforts to foster foreign investment in Mexico’s countryside, in 1993 the Mexican government began PROCEDE, a program to award ejido members individual land titles. Far from being a useful tool for campesinos, PROCEDE opened up the door for transnational corporations to buy up ejido land for resource extraction.

This was the case in San Jose del Progreso, where this program was implemented in the early 2000s. According to community members interviewed during the observation mission, ejido members were encouraged to apply for individual land titles through this program so that they could have their land valued. However, full adoption of this program meant that individuals would not have to have the approval of the rest of the ejido members when selling their land, making it easier for the mine to purchase land in the community. For citizens of San Jose del Progreso, it is very clear that without the adoption of this program, the mine could not have established itself in their town without the consent of the community.

In spite of these efforts to privatize land in Mexico, there are still nearly 10,000 ejidos where communal ownership continues to be practiced – though their days may be numbered.  Former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa announced a plan in November 2012, just days before leaving office, to further reform agrarian policy to speed the process of land privatization. If passed, this reform would be the last nail in the coffin for the ejido system of land ownership and would essentially eliminate the last important barrier to foreign investment and resource extraction in Mexico – and with it, one of the last protections for campesinos seeking to defend their land.

Pillaging Mexico’s Minerals

The entrance to the mine in
San Jose del Progreso (Photo: Moravia de la O)

Another important reform to Article 27 in 1992 concerned natural resource exploitation. After this reform, it was possible for the federal government to grant concessions to companies to exploit the country’s mineral resources. A new Mining Law was also passed in 1992 that eliminated previous restrictions on foreign investment in the industry and prioritized mineral extraction over other land uses, such as agriculture. Together, these policies allowed an unprecedented number of foreign companies access and control over Mexico’s mineral resources.

These policies were so effective in granting transnational mining corporations access to Mexico’s mining sector that now, 20 years after their implementation, a full 25% of Mexico’s land mass has been awarded in concessions to these companies. These are by and large Canadian companies, though there are a few important U.S.-based mining corporations as well, such as the Coeur D’alene Mines Corp. and Cotton & Western Mining, Inc.

Despite the promise of economic development, which was the pretext under which policies like the Mining Law were passed, mining in Mexico has left little more than environmental degradation and intra- and inter-community conflicts. This is unsurprising, as mining corporations only pay between $0.38 USD to $8.60 USD per metric hectare (2.5 acres) to the Mexican government for mining rights, leaving little behind to compensate for the environmental degradation they cause.

Investigative reporter Erika Ramirez found that the transnational mining companies’ payments to the Mexican federal government for the rights to mineral exploitation in the country amount to only 1% of the total value of the minerals they extract. And this pittance only goes to the federal government. According to another study by the UAM, the Mining Law “prohibits states and municipalities from imposing fees on mining activities, and therefore deprives them of any income from those activities that might benefit them.”

The situation in San Jose del Progreso mirrors that of the national context. By the company’s own estimates the San Jose mine was expected to produce about 15,000 ounces of gold in 2012. That translates to roughly $23 million USD in gold production revenue alone (based on average gold prices per oz in 2011). In contrast, the mine only pays roughly $310,000 USD per year to the Mexican federal government for the concessions it holds, as company representatives stated during a meeting with members of the observation mission. So while foreign companies earn huge revenues from resource extraction, towns like San Jose del Progreso face the devastating consequences of the mine’s presence in their communities.

Mission’s Findings and Demands

Members of the observation mission present the
preliminary report at a press conference in Mexico City
(Photo: Dave Mitchell)

After three days of interviews with relevant actors, the “Justice for San Jose del Progreso” Civilian Observation Mission found that there is a pattern of systematic violations of the human rights of community members, corruption of the local authorities by the management of the mine, deep divisions among the community, and negative health and environmental impacts.

One of the foremost violations that the mission documented was the Right to Consultation outlined in the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 169. This Convention “requires that indigenous and tribal peoples are consulted on issues that affect them. It also requires that these peoples are able to engage in free, prior and informed participation in policy and development processes that affect them.”

However, in San Jose del Progreso, no such consultations took place. The mission found that “the mining company never consulted the assembly of citizens of San Jose del Progreso, meaning that the company did not obtain the population’s consent to establish the mine.” This was even recognized as “extremely problematic” by the director of the Coordinator for the Attention of Human Rights of the State of Oaxaca in a meeting with mission participants.

The mission also documented human rights violations against 16 members of the CPUVO. One of these cases was that of Guadalupe Vazquez Ruiz, who was wounded in the arm and leg in June of this year while playing basketball in the town square. In the afternoon of June 16, a local official who supports the mining project began insulting and waving a gun threateningly at Guadalupe and his friends, yelling, “You are going to die.” Minutes later, he fired on the group, injuring Guadalupe in the arm and leg. Guadalupe and his friends were targeted because they are members of the CPUVO, and adamantly oppose the mine’s operation in their community.

As with this aggression, in most of the cases documented during the mission, the aggressors were local authorities or their proxies. These violations included arbitrary detentions, torture, and excessive use of force by security personnel. During a meeting with Oaxaca’s human rights ombudsman as part of the observation mission, the ombudsman stated that in San Jose del Progreso there exists a pattern of systematic violations to the human rights of community members.

Guadalupe Vazquez Ruiz shows the scars
from the gun wound he suffered (Photo: Sara Mendez)

The aggressions against these 16 members of the CPUVO also underscore one of the most problematic issues that the mission observed: the deep divisions within the community as a result of the mine’s presence in the town. This division has extended to all parts of community life, including the local schools and church. In interviews with mission members, mothers in San Jose del Progreso testified about the anxiety they suffer fearing that their children will be victims of the violence that has gripped the community.

To read the mission’s preliminary report, which includes more of the mission’s findings as well as its demands, click here.

Conclusion

The changes to Article 27 of Mexico’s Constitution and the 1992 Mining Law were some of the 120 modifications that were made in preparation for NAFTA’s ratification. Most of these neoliberal reforms were pushed by the U.S. and international financial institutions, like the World Bank, with the explicit intent of opening up Mexico’s economy to foreign investment and transnational capital. Twenty years later, we are seeing the consequences of the adoption of these policies in communities all across Mexico. In particular, the crisis in San Jose del Progreso illustrates how much national sovereignty the Mexican state has ceded in the service of transnational corporate interests. In the case of San Jose del Progreso at least, it is clear that free trade and neoliberal policies have brought nothing but violence, division, and human rights violations to the people of Mexico.

The mission participants listen to testimony
 from members of the CPUVO (Photo: Sara Mendez)

Despite the repression and violence they face, community members in San Jose del Progreso have vowed to continue resisting and organizing against the mine until it stops operating in their community. And they are not the only ones continuing to struggle against megaprojects being imposed without consultation in their communities. All across Mexico and Latin America, people are defending their land against transnational corporate interests that would destroy their environment and the social fabric of their communities. Networks like the Network of Those Affected by Mining (REMA by its initials in Spanish) are forming to strengthen these efforts. It is important for us, citizens from the countries where these companies are based, to stand in solidarity with these communities in resistance by educating ourselves and working to pressure these corporations to end their destructive practices abroad.

For more information on the conflict in San Jose del Progreso check out these sources:

-Witness for Peace interviews local activist Carmen Santiago Alonso about the conflict

- “Blood on the Silver: The High Cost of Mining Concessions in Oaxaca” by David Bacon

- “Tensions Flare over Vancouver-owned Mine in Oaxaca” by Dawn Paley

- “Bullets and Blood: The High Price of Anti-Mining Resistance in San Jose del Progreso” by Jonathan Treat

December 1: Mexican Presidential Power Transitions from one Human Rights Violator to the Next

by Carlin Christy, Mexico Team

Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto. Photo from lamendigapolitica.com

This December 1^st, it might have been possible for Mexicans to breathe a collective sigh of relief. The day will mark the official end of President Felipe Calderón’s 6 year term. His presidency is commonly referred to as “el sexenio de la muerte” or ‘the six year term of death,’ given the murders of around 80,000 people which began after Calderón launched a militarized war on drugs shortly after taking office in late 2006.  However, a respite from the massacres, kidnappings, disappearances, and human rights abuses does not seem to be on the horizon, as the presidential power will transition to Enrique Peña Nieto, a member of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which ruled Mexico for 71 consecutive years until the year 2000. 

Peña Nieto comes into office under questionable election results and with an already tarnished human rights record from his time as governor of the State of Mexico from 2005-2011. Certain actions he has taken since winning the July election also seem to indicate he won’t stray too far from the course of Calderón, or Mexico’s financial and strategic partner in the war, the U.S. government and military contractors. 

Although he has stated he will no longer seek to confront cartels head on by taking out capo leaders, Peña Nieto plans to create, strengthen, and professionalize a unified 40,000 strong police force, continue the use of the army until no longer necessary, and expand prisons. He will continue to cooperate strategically with the U.S. and just this week met with President Obama to discuss the continued economic and security integration of Mexico and the U.S.   

Considering Peña Nieto will not drastically alter the approach to fighting organized criminal groups, it is worth looking at the impact this militarized drug war has had on Mexican society under Calderón, with support from the U.S’s Mérida Initiative.

Statistics from Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) recently shared in a meeting with the Senate’s Human Rights Commission paint a dismal picture. The CNDH cited information compiled from January 1, 2005 to July 31, 2012. Five out of the seven and a half years were under Calderón’s administration. 

CNDH data reveals:

·         Cases of torture have increased 500% (In 2005 only 1 torture complaint was received, compared to over 2,000 complaints of torture and cruel treatment in 2011)

·         9000+ complaints of arbitrary detentions, which demonstrates that this is a recurring practice utilized by security forces. Arbitrary detentions increased 121% during this time period.

·         5,568 complaints were received about officials failing to follow required procedures in issuing or executing search warrants

·         2,126 cases of forced disappearances are under investigation and in general, forced disappearances saw massive increases

·         24,091 people are reported as missing

·         46,015 documented murders

·         15,921 bodies remain unidentified

·         1,421 bodies were found in mass graves

·         34,385 complaints against federal security forces were received by the CNDH. (An increase of 84% in the last three years.) Complaints mainly centered around illegal searches, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, and torture.

 For me, you were “The Employment President.” 

(image taken from Mexicambio on Facebook)

In addition to data from the National Human Rights Commission, a recent national survey on the perception of citizen security indicated that 55% of Mexicans believe Calderon’s strategy to fight organized crime “was unsuccessful”. Eighty percent indicated that insecurity was worse this year than in 2011. Just 31% of those surveyed were in agreement of the use of military operatives to combat organized crime- a ten percent drop from the start of Calderón’s presidency. 

Yet behind all of the data, statistics and numbers are stories of mothers searching for their disappeared children, families mourning their murdered loved ones, communities fighting to demand justice for crimes committed by security forces. Mexico’s social fabric has been torn apart over the last six years. The pain and suffering of people like Maria Trujillo Herrera, who has four disappeared sons, is indescribable. Yet she and many other victims continue to speak out, at the risk of their own lives, against the absurdity of fighting a war on drugs. 

Another woman who speaks out against the violence and impunity endemic to the Mexican state is Paty Torres. She is among the 26 women who were arrested, tortured, and sexually abused during the violent police repression of the town San Salvador Atenco in 2006.

Paty Torres, survivor of sexual assault by Mexican Police forces in 2006.

Photo by: Liliana Zaragoza Cano  courtesy of website: http://miradasostenida.net/ 

In 2001, the community located in the State of Mexico was the site of protest by a group of farmers opposed to the expropriation of their land to construct an international airport.  Opposition to the plan was so strong it was cancelled. When a conflict broke out over a highway blockade in May 2006, the state government, some say seeking revenge for the 2001 protests, responded by sending in thousands of federal police, armed with firearms and teargas.

Over two hundreds civilians, including members of the campesino group and their supporters, were arbitrarily detained and brutally beaten. Two young people were killed and women in particular were subjected to verbal and psychological abuse as well as sexual torture.  Several detainees remained imprisoned up to four years after the attack. 

The operation in Atenco, characterized by human rights groups as the ”excessive and indiscriminate use of force” occurred under Enrique Peña Nieto as governor. To date, no state or federal police officer or official involved in the attack has been brought to justice, despite a recommendation from The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to investigate and bring to trial those responsible. 

Twelve of the 26 women, including Paty Torres, have brought their case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, after failing to receive justice in the Mexican judicial system.

The Atenco case represents the flagrant abuse of human rights, criminalization of social protest, and total impunity authorized and employed by Peña Nieto while governor. Give this history, many civil society groups, activists, and human rights organizations believe the landscape for human rights in the next Presidential administration looks bleak.

The naming of Colombian General Oscar Naranjo as his top security advisor is further cause for concern. Gen. Naranjo is the former head of the Colombian National Police, and is seen as a key figure in the dismantling of Colombia’s major drug cartels.  However, Naranjo is accused of using back room dealings, favoring certain cartels over others, and utilizing corrupt DEA and U.S. Customs officials to achieve his aims.  In addition, the naming of Naranjo signifies Peña Nieto will be favorable to the U.S.’s agenda of military intervention into Latin America as a whole.

This December 1^st, instead of exhaling a sigh of relief that should have come after six years of unimaginable violence and insecurity, Mexican citizens may have to inhale even deeper, in order to face the next six years. Or instead, they can do as so many have done throughout the country’s history—organize, resist, and struggle against the powers that for so long have marginalized and repressed those who dare to demand justice and equality in Mexico.