Mexican Environmentalists Still in Jail Date
Global Response, http://www.globalresponse.org
August 21, 2000
Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"
Here's an update from the Just Earth! Network on the urgent need for more international pressure to release from jail Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodor Cabrera Garcia. The update is an excellent summary of the case.
Global Response initiated a letter campaign on behalf of these courageous Mexican peasant-environmentalists a year ago. Please send another urgent message to the president of Mexico, demanding the release of these prisoners of conscience. Thank you for taking a moment to act on behalf of two brave defenders of the planet.
Campaign Update -- August 2000
Mexican environmental activists await judge's verdict
Report by National Commission acknowledges use of torture
Mexican environmental activists and farmers Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who have been in jail since May of last year, await the verdict on their case, which may come as early as the third week in August. Meanwhile, a
recent report by Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights (Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos - CNDH) has confirmed the human rights violations against the two activists and their community. The report further states that the two men were not carrying weapons at the time of arrest ? as the authorities have claimed. Although the report could have an impact on the judge's decision, the men's lawyers at the Mexican human rights organization PRODH are still concerned that the lack of impartiality and rule-bending by the court will override any independent recommendations.
Since May 2, 1999, when members of Mexico's 40th Infantry Battalion stormed into the town of Pizotla, in the southern State of Guerrero, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera have been victims of shocking human rights violations. The two environmentalists endured several days of threats, beatings, and torture until they signed blank pieces of paper, which were later presented to the judge in the form of 'signed confessions.?
Their detention, torture, and possible sentence to a prison term appear to be retaliatory acts against the environmental movement they represent. Sierra Club and Amnesty International (also Global Response) have been working on behalf of these activists for more than a year.
Protecting Mexico's old-growth forests
In 1995 US-based Boise Cascade set up a wholly owned subsidiary (Costa Grande Forest Products) in Guerrero, Mexico, and formed business partnerships with ejidos -- communal farming associations that hold the title to most of Mexico's forests see ?Defending the Forests and Other Crimes? by John Ross, Sierra, July/August 2000. Boise's operations began to work around the clock, purchasing logs from the local ejido bosses and forest managers. Rodolfo Montiel and other campesinos were concerned about the magnitude and extent of the logging, especially when people began noticing changes in the local ecology.
In a recent interview, Montiel described how the rivers began to dry up soon after the logging operations began in 1995. ?By ninety-seven, there was nothing but garbage and plastic in the riverbed. Everyone knew it was the fault of the logging ? without the trees, the rivers dry up.?
In response to the rampant logging, Rodolfo Montiel founded the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists in 1998, which began a letter-writing campaign to Mexican environmental officials. When their letters did not receive a response, the group began peaceful blockades of the logging roads. Eventually, these protests put a halt to the logging.
Environmentalists under fire
Boise Cascade left Mexico in April of 1998 ?due to difficult business conditions.? Soon after, threats and intimidation against Montiel's organization and its sympathizers began in earnest. During the course of thirteen months, four members of the organization were killed and one remains ?disappeared.?
According to Montiel and other members of the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists, the caciques hired gunmen and, according to the allegations, were coordinating with the military in the area as they looked for local leaders of the environmental group. Locals tell stories of how the army would come into small towns asking the whereabouts of Montiel and other activists. These inquiries were often accompanied by death threats.
International recognition
On April 1, 2000, Amnesty International declared the two environmental activists ?Prisoners of Conscience?, and just a few days later Rodolfo Montiel was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, considered to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the environment. Unfortunately, Montiel could not travel to San Francisco (where the awards are usually given) and had to receive his prize inside the jail in Iguala. ?The only prize I was expecting was a bullet from the Mexican government,? Montiel said upon receiving the Goldman award.
Despite wide coverage in the Mexican and international press, the government of Mexico has been silent about the case. It has also been unresponsive to the letters sent by Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Global Response, activists worldwide, and members of the United States Congress. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has led the way in Congress by initiating letters to President Zedillo, President Clinton, and to the Judge presiding over the case. To date, neither Rep. Pelosi
nor any of the other members that signed those letters have received a response from the Mexican government.
Environmentalists must be released
Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera are certain they have not broken any laws. In fact, their only ?crime? was to protect the forests from destruction for short-term profit. Bewildered at his situation, Montiel stated at a press conference in April: ?First, the [Mexican] government tells us to protect the forests, but when we do it, they throw us in jail.?
The recent report by the CNDH acknowledged that Montiel and Cabrera were tortured, and that they were framed by soldiers of the Mexican army.
Article 8 of Mexico's Federal Law to Prevent and Punish Torture prohibits using confessions and information obtained under torture as evidence. Thus, the Mexican government must drop the charges and release Montiel and Cabrera immediately and unconditionally.
Your letters work
Already, letters from activists worldwide have contributed to the government of Mexico's decision to investigate the environmental consequences of logging in Guerrero. We must continue to pressure the government to release the two environmentalists and ensure that existing human rights and environmental laws in Mexico are enforced.
The outcome of the July 2 elections is an opportunity for the new administration of President-elect Vicente Fox to ensure that the rights of all Mexicans are respected. We must urge President-elect Fox to speak out on behalf of Montiel and Cabrera and to publicly recognize that the peaceful protection of the environment is not a crime.
Write to:
President Ernesto Zedillo
c/o Ambassador Jesus Reyes-Heroles
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20006
President-elect Vicente Fox Quezada
525 Paseo de la Reforma
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, D.F. CP11000
Mexico
"When someone kills many people, he is guilty of genocide. Someone who kills a lot of trees is guilty of ecocide. When I see a tree cut down, it wounds me inside." -- Rodolfo Montiel