URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To read the current Urgent Action newsletter, go to
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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa30109.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on November 9, 2009. Thanks!
3 December 2010
Further information on UA 301/09 (9 November 2009) and follow-ups (12 February 2010 & 26 May 2010) – Fear for safety
COLOMBIA
Ingrid Vergara (f), human rights defender
Cendy Torres Vergara (f), age 14
Members of MOVICE
The lives of Colombian human rights defender Ingrid Vergara and her family face new threats after an attack in their home. Ingrid Vergara has been documenting and exposing human rights violations committed by paramilitary groups.
On 1 December, two armed men entered the house of Ingrid Vergara in the city of Sincelejo, in the northern department of Sucre, while her mother and her 15-year old-daughter Cendy Torres Vergara were at home. The two men forced Ingrid Vergara's mother into a room and screamed "Where is the money, where are the millions?" One man then grabbed Cendy Torres by her throat and pointed an object into her back, which Cendy believes was a weapon. They screamed at her "Give us the documents and the camera. Don't look at me, don't look at me, we are going to kill you out here."
The men searched the room and forcefully removed the hard drive of a computer belonging to the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Movimiento Nacional de Victimas de Crimenes de Estado, MOVICE). Ingrid Vergara is one of the leaders of MOVICE. The hard drive contained information on work Ingrid had been carrying out related to land issues, specifically documentation for a public meeting scheduled on 3 December. The two men only took the hard drive, the monitor and 40, 000 Colombian Pesos (approx 20 US$), but no other valuables which were openly on sight. As they were leaving one man said "don't kill her, don't kill her".
This incident follows previous threats and acts of intimidation against Ingrid Vergara in the past weeks. On 20 November Ingrid Vergara received a call on her mobile phone. The caller told her "don't get into land issues" and then hung up after a silence. When she dialed the number, it was a public phone in Santa Catalina, a neighborhood of Sincelejo. Five days later, on 25 November two more calls were made from the same number.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 2 April 2008, unknown men threatened to kill Cendy Torres, supposedly in reprisal for her mother's work as a human rights defender. On 26 October 2009, Cendy Torres received a death threat addressed to Ingrid Vergara.
On18 May 2010 Rogelio Martinez, one of the leaders of MOVICE in Sucre department was shot dead. He had been campaigning for the right for truth, justice and reparation for displaced communities.
On 12 October 2010 Ingrid Vergara identified a possible attempt to kill her on the Majagual square in Sincelejo. One of her bodyguards, provided to her by the Ministry of Interior's protection programme, noticed three suspicious men near Ingrid Vergara talking about the absence of her second bodyguard. When two more men approached Ingrid Vergara on a motorcycle the bodyguard urged her to quickly leave the square.
MOVICE is a broad coalition of civil society organizations campaigning for truth, justice and reparation for the victims of Colombia's long-running internal armed conflict. Ingrid Vergara and her colleagues in MOVICE have documented and exposed many cases of killings and enforced disappearance carried out by the security forces and paramilitary groups in Sucre department.
The Colombian government has implemented some protection measures for Ingrid Vergara and Cendy Torres, including the provision of bodyguards, a mobile phone and a vehicle, but restrictions on the use of fuel have apparently limited Ingrid Vergara's mobility.
Activists campaigning for the return of lands stolen mainly by paramilitary groups over the course of the conflict have been particularly vulnerable to threats and killings in recent years. Most of these attacks are attributed to paramilitary groups. Guerrilla groups have also targeted human rights defenders and other social activists deemed to be a threat to their interests.
Despite government claims that all paramilitaries demobilized in a government-sponsored programme that began in 2003, such groups continue to operate and commit serious human rights violations against human rights defenders and other civilians. This is sometimes in collusion with the security forces, or with their consent.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of Ingrid Vergara and her family and urging the authorities to guarantee their safety in strict accordance with their wishes;
- Calling on the authorities to order a full and impartial investigation into the 1 December incident and previous death threats against Ingrid Vergara, her daughter Cendy Torres and her colleagues, publish the results and bring those responsible to justice;
- Reminding them to fulfill their obligations regarding the situation of human rights defenders, as laid out in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
APPEALS TO:
Vice President
Senor Vicepresidente Angelino Garzon
Vicepresidente de la Republica,
Palacio de Narino
Carrera 8a No 7-57,
Bogota,
COLOMBIA
Fax: 011 57 1 444 2158 (say "Me da tono por favor")
Salutation: Dear Vicepresident Garzon/Excmo. Sr. Vicepresidente Garzon
Minister of Interior and Justice
Senor German Vargas Lleras
Ministerio Del Interior y De Justicia
Carrera 9a. No. 14-10, Bogota
COLOMBIA
Fax: 011 57 1 599 8961
Salutation: Dear Minister Vargas /Estimado Sr. Ministro Vargas
COPIES TO:
Movice
Movimiento Nacional de Victimas de Crimenes de Estado
Calle 38 No 28 A 30
Barrio Bogota
Sincelejo,
COLOMBIA
Ambassador Gabriel Silva Lujan
Embassy of Colombia
2118 Leroy Place, NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 232 8643
Email: embassyofcolombia@colombiaemb.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 13 January 2011.
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
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Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
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For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa06310.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have
received the original UA when issued on March 15,2010. Thanks!
2 December 2010
Further Information on UA 63/10 (15 March 2010) - Fear for safety
MEXICO Obtilia Eugenio Manuel (f)
Cuauhtémoc Ramírez Rodríguez
Mexican Indigenous rights defenders Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and Cuauhtémoc Ramírez Rodríguez have received new death threats. They have been campaigning to bring soldiers to account for the rape of two Indigenous women in 2002. Their lives are at risk.
On 28 November a written death threat was delivered to the house where Indigenous rights defenders Obtilia Eugenio Manuel and Cuauhtémoc Ramírez Rodríguez live with their children in southern Mexico. Obtilia Eugenio Manuel is the president of the Me’phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (Organización del Pueblo Indígena Me’pha, OPIM) and Cuauhtémoc Ramírez is one of its leaders. They have been vocal in pursuing the case of two Me’phaa Indigenous women, Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú, who were raped by Mexican soldiers in 2002. In August the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Mexican state to deliver truth, justice and reparation and to take steps to avoid the repetition of this kind of abuses.
Parts of the threatening hand-written letter read: "Hello Obtilia. Now we know where you live why are you messing around with the Ines and Valentina issue stop fucking around with the issue of the sentence of the two women … calm down your organization’s members otherwise you’re dead" and "Cuauhtémoc calm down or you’re dead … stop fucking around saying that the government has to comply with the sentence the government is angry that’s why we are here stop fighting Ines and Valentina sentence" (Hola Obtilia. Ahora ya sabemo donde vive por que tanto molesta de la asunto Ines y Valentina deje estar chingando en la asunto sentencia de las dos mujeres … calmate con tu gente de la organización porque sino te va carga la chingada … calmate Cuauhtémoc porque se van carga la chingada … dejen estar chingando que el gobierno tiene cumplir la sentencia si esta enojado los gobierno poreso estamo aquí deje estar peleando sentencia Ines y Valentina) (sic).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Defending human rights can be a life-threatening job in Mexico. Scores of activists have suffered death threats, intimidation, and harassment in the last few years. Some of them have been killed for doing their job. The authorities have recognized that adopting and implementing an effective and comprehensive protection programme (mecanismo de protección), as requested by human rights defenders, is paramount. However, they have yet to fulfill their promise.
As founder and director of OPIM, Obtilia Eugenio Manuel has been the target of numerous threats, acts of intimidation and surveillance. One of the most recent threats was a written message delivered to the OPIM office on 6 March 2010 and, later that day, a man was seen overtly watching the OPIM office and taking pictures with on his mobile phone. On 17 March 2009 Obtilia Eugenio Manuel received three death threats by text message to her mobile phone. One of the messages also warned her that no human rights organization could protect her. In January 2009 Obtilia Eugenio Manuel was followed several times. She recognized one of the men following her as a supporter of a local political boss (cacique).
On 9 April 2009 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Mexican state to provide Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, her family and others with effective protection measures and to investigate the attacks. To date, only some of the agreed measures have been put in place and those behind the attacks remain at large.
OPIM activist Raúl Hernández spent more than two years in prison on fabricated charges. Amnesty International named him prisoner of conscience and he was eventually released on 30 August 2010. Four other activists had also been imprisoned with him for 11 months.
On 30 and 31 August 2010 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Mexican state to address the human rights violations suffered by Me’phaa Indigenous women Inés Fernández Ortega and Valentina Rosendo Cantú. They were raped by soldiers in two separate incidents in early 2002. The state must now fulfill its international obligation to deliver truth, justice and reparation for the two women and to take steps to avoid the repetition of these abuses. This includes scrapping military jurisdiction for human rights violations committed by members of the military.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, Cuauhtémoc Ramírez and their family;
- Urging the authorities to provide them with effective protection measures, in strict accordance with their wishes, and as requested by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;
- Calling on the authorities to carry out a swift, full and impartial investigation into these and previous threats and attacks, to make the results public and to bring those responsible to justice.
- Calling on the authorities to promptly and fully comply with the Inter-American Court sentences on the cases of Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo
APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior
Lic. José Francisco Blake Mora
Secretaría de Gobernación
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juárez,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc,
México D.F., C.P. 06600,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5063 3405
Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Minister/
Estimado Señor Secretario
Federal State Attorney General
Lic. Arturo Chávez Chávez
Procuraduría General de la República
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 211-213,
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, México D.F., C.P. 06500,
MÉXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5346 0908
Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Attorney General/
Estimado Señor Procurador
COPIES TO:
Local human rights organization
Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña "Tlachinollan"
Mina 77, Col. Centro, Tlapa de Comonfort, C.P. 41304, Guerrero,
MÉXICO
Email: tlachinollan.difusion@gmail.com
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Phone: 202 728 1600
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 13 January 2011.
----------------------------------
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible
to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
2 December 2010
Further information on UA 221/10 (14 October 2010) - Death Penalty/ Risk of Imminent Execution
USA Stephen West (m)
On 29 November, the Tennessee Supreme Court granted a stay of execution in the case of Stephen West, who was due to be put to death on 30 November. The stay is to provide more time for litigation to continue on the constitutionality of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures.
Stephen West had been due to be executed on 9 November 2010 for the murder in 1986 of Wanda Romines and her 15-year-old daughter Sheila. On 6 November, the Tennessee Supreme Court rescheduled the execution for 30 November to allow more time for proceedings in relation to Stephen West’s legal challenge to the state’s three-drug lethal injection procedures.
On 19 November, a Tennessee county judge ruled that the state’s lethal injection procedure was unconstitutional, on the grounds that, by not specifying a sufficient quantity of one of the three drugs, the anaesthetic sodium thiopental, the procedure “allows for death by suffocation while conscious”. On 24 November, the Tennessee authorities produced a revised lethal injection protocol. The new procedure included a process to assess the consciousness of the condemned prisoner after administration of the sodium thiopental, and to provide for an additional dose of this drug if the inmate was found to be conscious after the first dose. On 29 November, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued a stay of execution to Stephen West to allow the lower court judge to determine whether the revised protocol was sufficient to eliminate the deficiencies she had pointed to in the previous version of the protocol. At the same time, the state Supreme Court ruled that the burden was on Stephen West to show that the revised protocol carried a risk of harm that qualifies as “cruel and unusual” under the US Constitution.
The stay applied not only to Stephen West, but also to three other prisoners whose executions had been scheduled to be carried out in Tennessee in the next two months.
No further action by the UA Network is requested at present. Thank you to all who sent appeals.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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