Human Rights Attorney Assasinated

<p>Dear Friends,</p>

<p>It is with sadness and outrage that I send you this collection of articles
about the assassination of Digna Ochoa y Plácido, Mexican lawyer and human
rights defender.</p>

<p>In response to this murder we have taken direction from the Human Rights
Center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez and have written a letter to President
Vicente Fox, with demands for proper follow up and investigation into the
murder. The letter also requests that the Fox administration provide
protection for other human rights defenders under threat. You can add your
comments and send this letter as a fax from our website at:
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/mexico/digna102201.html</p>

<p>In the coming week, human rights organizations throughout the USA will be
organizing delegations and visiting their local Mexican embassies or
consulates to express their concern for this murder and it's implications
for human rights work in Mexico. If you would like to be involved with
coordinating these delegations, please call your local Mexico human rights
group, Carleen at Global Exchange (415 255 7296 ext.239) or Jessica at
Mexico Solidarity Network (415 621 8100).</p>


<p>1) Human Rights Lawyer Shot Dead in Mexico, Washington Post Foreign Service
October 21, 2001<br>
2) Mexican Human Rights Lawyer Is Killed, New York Times, October 21, 2001<br>
3) More than 80 NGOs demand an expeditious investigation into the
assassination of Digna Ochoa, La Jornada, October 20, 2001<br>
4) Chronicle of threats and harrassment against human rights defender linked
to the Human Rights Center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez, La Jornada,
October 20, 2001</p>

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<p>Human Rights Lawyer Shot Dead in Mexico
Ochoa Defended Many Who Accused Military of Torture; Colleagues Threatened</p>

<p>Kevin Sullivan<br>
Washington Post Foreign Service<br>
October 21, 2001</p>

<p>MEXICO CITY, Oct. 20 -- One of Mexico's leading human rights lawyers,
who had been kidnapped and threatened in the past for her defense of
clients alleging torture by Mexico's military and security services, was
found shot to death in her office.</p>

<p>Digna Ochoa y Placido, 37, a former nun, was found Friday with gunshot
wounds to her face and legs. A note found beside her threatened activists at
the Mexico City organization where Ochoa had done much of her work, the
Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center.</p>

<p>"She was a role model for all human rights defenders," the Rev. Edgar
Cortez, a Jesuit priest who runs the center, said at a memorial service
today attended by more than 100 people. "This act was a clear aggression
against the entire human rights community."</p>

<p>Mexico has a grim record of human rights violations, especially
involving the military. Human rights activists here generally work in
an environment of harassment and intimidation.</p>

<p>As a lawyer handling high-profile cases that often caught international
attention, Ochoa had received numerous death threats and was kidnapped twice
in 1999.</p>

<p>In one of the abductions, she was tied to a chair in her home for
nine hours while her captors interrogated her about her clients and their
possible connection to guerrilla groups. They opened a canister of natural
gas and left her to die, but she managed to free herself.</p>

<p>Perhaps Ochoa's best-known clients at the human rights center were
Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, two ecologists from Guerrero
state who have been jailed since May 1999 on weapons and drug convictions.</p>

<p>Human rights activists say the two were arrested simply for challenging the
government and powerful private logging interests. Montiel and Cabrera have
received several prestigious environmental awards while in prison.</p>

<p>Montiel and Cabrera say they were tortured for several days by Mexican
soldiers. Ochoa was an outspoken critic of the military's history of
torture, killings and disappearances.</p>

<p>In 1999 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a resolution
urging the Mexican government to protect Ochoa. Amnesty International
and the American Bar Association presented Ochoa with awards for her work.</p>

<p>Last year, facing more threats, Ochoa left the human rights center and moved
to Washington, where she worked for the Center for Justice and International
Law.</p>

<p>She returned to Mexico this year and was representing two brothers
accused of planting bombs that exploded outside a Mexico City bank in
August. The brothers are suspected members of a small Marxist guerrilla
group. Their first court appearance was scheduled for Monday. Ochoa's
friends called the timing suspicious.</p>

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2)</p>

<p>Mexican Human Rights Lawyer Is Killed</p>

<p>Ginger Thompson<br>
New York Times<br>
October 21, 2001 </p>

<p>One of Mexico's most prominent human rights lawyers was found shot to
death in her office here on Friday, bringing criticism of the
administration of President Vicente Fox from environmentalists and
rights advocates. </p>

<p>The lawyer, Digna Ochoa, 37, was a longtime advocate at the Jesuit-run
Miguel Agustin Pro Center for Human Rights. She was perhaps most widely
recognized for defending two jailed peasant farmers considered by Amnesty
International to be "prisoners of conscience." The two men, Rodolfo Montiel
and Teodoro Cabrera, protested logging by local political bosses and were
imprisoned in May 1999 on dubious gun and drug charges. They have lost
numerous appeals despite official findings that they were arbitrarily
detained and then tortured.</p>

<p>Ms. Ochoa, winner of Amnesty International's Enduring Spirit Award, had been
menaced by death threats for years, often in notes devised from newspaper
clippings that appeared under her door. In 1999, she was kidnapped and
beaten. Two months later, she was tied, blindfolded and tortured in her home
for nine hours. No arrests were made in the attacks.</p>

<p>Hoping the danger would pass, Ms. Ochoa spent several months outside Mexico.
She returned home in April, formally separating herself from the human
rights center but continuing to pursue high-profile political cases.</p>

<p>A number of her clients were accused of being members of guerrilla
organizations. Among them were two brothers accused in August of planting
small bombs near automatic bank teller centers in well-to-do neighborhoods
in Mexico City.</p>

<p>New threats against Ms. Ochoa began appearing in September. An
obscenity-laden note found Friday next to Ms. Ochoa's body warned former
colleagues at Miguel Agustin Pro that they could be next. Ms. Ochoa, a
native of the gulf coast state of Veracruz, had been shot at close range in
the head and thigh.</p>

<p>In a news conference on Saturday, investigators said they believed that Ms.
Ochoa's killing was political. Colleagues from across the world said that
her death stained the political transition being led by President Vicente
Fox.</p>

<p>"This is a horrible, tragic blow to human rights protection in Mexico,"
said Curt Goering, deputy executive director of Amnesty International
U.S.A. "The rhetoric of the Fox administration indicated that he was
prepared to deal with human rights issues differently than in the past.
Well, in the aftermath of an event like this, that rhetoric rings hollow."</p>

<p>Mr. Fox, whose election last year ended the 71-year rule of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party, had promised not only to open
investigations into past abuses of power but also to root out corruption
within the government. His commitment to ending torture by the military and
federal law enforcement agencies was applauded by human rights advocates
around the world.</p>

<p>However, 10 months after the start of Mr. Fox's presidency, his promise to
create a truth commission remains unfulfilled. Human rights officials were
alarmed when Mr. Fox appointed a military general as attorney general. Hopes
for real changes in the culture of impunity grew dim as months passed
without any significant reversals in the fate of prisoners like Mr. Montiel
and an Army brigadier general, Jose Francisco Gallardo.</p>

<p>General Gallardo was arrested in November 1993 on charges of slandering the
armed forces by criticizing abuses against civilians. The charges were
dismissed a year later, yet he remains in prison.</p>

<p>"President Fox seems to be more concerned about keeping the military happy
than he is about stopping their abuses," said Alejandro Queral of the Sierra
Club, which has supported Mr. Montiel's defense.</p>

<p>A statement issued by the Interior Ministry lamented Ms. Ochoa's murder and
reiterated the government's commitment to human rights.</p>

<p>Edgar Cortez, director of the Miguel Agustin Pro Center, was not encouraged.
At a memorial Mass for Ms. Ochoa, he called the killing "an ominous sign"
that impunity continues to undermine justice.</p>

<p>cited several recent incidents of assaults on human rights investigators in
Chiapas, including one lawyer whose home was set on fire and another who was
nearly run down by a speeding vehicle. Mr. Cortez said that law enforcement
agencies conducted only half-hearted investigations into such attacks.</p>

<p>"The general atmosphere of threats and violence has never been quashed," he
said. "Digna's murder is only the most heinous in a series of troubling
incidents."</p>

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<p>More than 80 NGOs demand an expeditious investigation into the assassination
of Digna Ochoa</p>

<p>The crime, ³directly damages the struggle for the enforcement of human
rights in Mexico,² they stated</p>

<p>Claudia Herrera Beltran<br>
La Jornada<br>
October 20, 2001</p>

<p>The assassination of the lawyer Digna Ochoa immediately mobilized more than
80 non-government organizations, to demand a public pronouncement by
President Vincente Fox regarding this fact, an expeditious independent
investigation to clarify it, as well as the effective protection of human
rights and its defenders in Mexico.</p>

<p>The national and international NGOs classified the homicide as a ³serious
step backwards² in the attempt to construct a different society in Mexico,
and signaled that this ³seriously questions² the government compromise in
advancing the enforcement of human rights in the country.</p>

<p>³The harassment, threats and execution, as well as the ineffectiveness
and/or lack of political voluntary of the justice apparatus in clarifying
this type of fact and penalizing those responsible darkens the hopes of
society for a process of democratization in the country,² they warned in a
statement which was sent out a day after the assassination.</p>

<p>Among the organizations that signed the letter were the Mexican chapter of
Amnesty International, Global Exchange, the Mexican League for the Defense
of Human Rights, the Fray Francisco de Vitoria Human Rights Center, the
Social Communication Center (Cencos), the Mexican Academy of Human Rights,
and the Christians for the Abolition of Torture.</p>

<p>General Condemnation</p>

<p>The 82 groups expressed their profound pain and condemnation for the
execution of this defender of human rights, which occurred last Friday in a
location in the Roma quarter.</p>

<p>This crime, they stated, is a direct offence to the struggle for the
enforcement of human rights in Mexico and in any other place, and that the
violent silencing of a voice that was always committed to the defense of
victims constitutes a serious step backwards in the search for a different
society.</p>

<p>They indicated that it very disturbing that these cases of harassment,
threats, and intimidation of defenders of human rights continue in different
regions of Mexico, like what happened to the director of the Fray Bartolome
de la Casas Human Rights Center, Marina Patricia Jimenez.</p>

<p>With this motive, they urgently demand the immediate establishment of
policies that guarantee the work and protection of the defenders of human
rights, in accordance with the declaration released by the General Assembly
of the United Nations.</p>

<p>In the specific example of Ochoa they demanded a pronouncement from Fox, and
that the federal and capital governments immediately recognize a report on
the investigations of the denouncements of threats and harassment of those
who have been victims, as have many of the lawyers of the Human Rights
Center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez.</p>

<p>In the General Office of Justice in the Federal District an investigation of
an expeditious and independent means was requested, in accordance with
Mexico¹s international obligations in these matters, so that those
responsible be judged and punished in conformance with the current justice
system.</p>

<p>The complete and effective protection for all defenders of human rights in
Mexico was also requested, specifically for the lawyers of of Pilar Noriega
and Barbara Zamora, family members and teams of colleagues, as well as the
members of the Miguel Agustin Pro Center.</p>

<p>In addition, it was requested that Mexico fulfill the recommendations
formulated by national and international human rights organizations in terms
of the protection of defenders, with the intention of establishing effective
means of protection in favor of this sector of frequently threatened
citizens.</p>

<p>At night, many of the NGO representatives agreed to carry out protests.
Erendira Cruz, the director of Cencos, signaled that the first of the them
will be a meeting in front of the Secretary of Government, this Monday at 4
pm, with the intention of pressuring the authorities to carry out an
exhaustive investigation of this case.</p>

<p>Cruz indicated that this crime ³is a strong blow² to the non-government
organizations that have fought for the democratization of the country, which
will have serious implications because it represents a transgression to the
process of transition which Mexico is experiencing.</p>

<p>Between the organizers of the protest in front of the Secretary of
Government, Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, president of the Eureka Committee, was
in attendance, as well as members of the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Center
and the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Center.</p>

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<p>Chronicle of threats and harrassment against human rights defenders linked
to the Human Rights Center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez</p>

<p>Claudia Herrera Beltran<br>
La Jornada<br>
October 20, 2001</p>

<p>1995</p>

<p>17th of August. David Fernandez, the Director of the Miguel Agustin Pro
Center of Human Rights, received two anonymous death threat calls, one at
his residence and the other on his cellular phone. Days before an interview
with Fernandez had been published in which he alluded to signs of a dirty
war in Mexico due to some actions in which the military had been involved.</p>

<p>2nd of October. Jose Lavanderos, a lawyer who is part of the defense team
for presumed Zapatistas, received deaths threats by telephone.</p>

<p>1996</p>

<p>13th of January. One day before traveling to Washington to attend an
audience with the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights to address
issues at the Center, Rocio Culebro received death threat calls.</p>

<p>10th of August. Pilar Noriega and Digna Ochoa, members of the presumed
Zapatista defense team, received written death threats with the following
messages: ³All members of the PRODH will die, especially this pair of
lawyers.²</p>

<p>7th of October. Threats were made against Noriega and Ochoa before they
traveled to Washington to participate in audiences with the ICHR.²</p>

<p>9th of October. Threats were received against Victor Brenes, Jose
Lavenderos, and Enrique Flora, members of the defense team for imprisoned
Zapatistas, and David Fernandez, director of the Center.</p>

<p>1999</p>

<p>9th of August. Digna Ochoa is kidnapped outside of her home. She is held
for around four hours.</p>

<p>3rd of September. Three threatening letters arrive at the Center.</p>

<p>8th of September. Four envelopes containing threats are found in the Center.</p>

<p>5th of October. Digna Ochoa finds her electoral credential, stolen from her
on the day of her kidnapping, in her private residence.</p>

<p>13th of October. An anonymous bomb threat is found in the Center
headquarters.</p>

<p>28th and 29th of October. The house of Digna Ochoa is broken into. She is
blindfolded and subjected to an interrogation in which she is questions
about the Center¹s supposed links to the EZLN, EPR and ERPI. On the same
day the offices are broken into and a table cover on one of the desks the
words ³Power of Suicide² are written in red.</p>

<p>17th of November. The International Court of Human Rights requires that the
Mexican government adopt, without any delay, any means necessary to protect
the lives and personal integrity of Ochoa and other members of the Center.</p>

<p>2000</p>

<p>31st of January. There are two more anonymous death threats against members
of the Center. These are sent in the context of a visit to the ninth
Military Region of Llano Grande, to verify the progress of the
investigations regarding the assassinations of three Mixteco Indians and the
rape of two indigenous women. In these days a hearing pertaining to the case
of the two imprisoned ecologists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera was
also to take place.</p>

<p>August. Digna Ochoa travels to the United States in interest of her personal
security.</p>

<p>25th of September. The PGR begins investigations into the threats.</p>

<p>2001</p>

<p>March. Digna Ochoa returns to the country.</p>

<p>9th of May. The PGR notifies the Center that the previous investigation of
this case has been put in the reserve archives with the intention of being
reactivated if new evidence is found.</p>

<p>31st of May. The Mexican government informs the ICHR that it has adopted the
recommended methods and asks that the application of the methods be
suspended because the threats have not continued. Three months later it
would reiterate its request.</p>

<p>22nd of August. The Court finds that the methods have attained their goal,
because there has been no objection in removing them.</p>

<p>19th of October. Digna Ochoa is found dead.</p>