ACTION ALERT: Protest Conviction of Mexican Environmental Activists & Unchallenged, Illegal Logging
09/10/00
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
by Forests.org
The Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan mountains in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, are undergoing extreme, criminal deforestation. Nearly 40 percent of the forests have been lost in just eight years. In a model case of community based organizing, the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists of the Mountains of Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan has actively denounced this excessive and illegal logging. Two prominent members of this group, Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, were framed with bogus criminal charges, tortured and falsely convicted for speaking out against widespread logging and in favor of protecting the forests. These committed activists earned the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for their efforts.
"Montiel and Cabrera are in jail for doing the work that the Environmental Prosecutor should have been doing -- ensuring that environmental laws are respected and that natural resources are protected. They were defending the forests. The real criminals -- the local caciques who murdered members of Montiel and Cabrera's organization, and the authorities who did not investigate logging practices, despite the organization's denunciations -- are not in jail," says Greenpeace Mexico.
Greenpeace requests that the environmental authorities be investigated for negligence and complicity for authorizing the logging and not investigating or stopping it after receiving the environmentalists' denunciations. Greenpeace also demands the release of Montiel and Cabrera. "Their imprisonment is the most shameful case of human rights violation and environmental injustice in Mexico, and one of the most well known worldwide," said Calvillo. It is unconscionable that overt and widespread illegal logging goes unpunished in Mexico, while those that organize to protect their heritage and ecological future are targeted for criminal harassment. Please take the time to respond to the following action alert, and contact Mexican authorities to protest the illegal logging and false imprisonment of activists.
g.b.
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
ITEM #1
Mexican environmental activists convicted
Just Earth Network via Global Response's "Quick Response Network"
September 8, 2000
Greetings, As you many of you already know Mexican environmental defenders Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia were convicted by the Fifth District Judge in Iguala, Guerrero on Monday, August 28th. Rodolfo was sentenced to 6 years, 8 months for the crimes of marijuana cultivation, possession of arms without a license, and possession of arms licensed exclusively to the military. Teodoro received a 10 year sentence for the crime of possession of arms licensed exclusively to the military. Their defense lawyers, from the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, are appealing the judge's ruling. This judgement was handed down despite the findings of Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights that the two men had been arbitrarily detained and tortured by members of the Mexican Army, and that the evidence on which they were charged was planted. The conviction of Rodolfo and Teodoro is clearly a gross miscarriage of justice. Thus, it is essential that we continue to exert pressure during the appeals process. One way to do this is to write personal letters of encouragement to both Rodolfo and Teodoro in prison. This will send a clear message to prison authorities that both Rodolfo and Teodoro have activists who are working on their behalf and concerned about their prison conditions. More importantly, your letters will help lift the spirits of Rodolfo and Teodoro who are distressed by the prison sentences. In past visits to the prison, both men have mentioned how uplifting letters from activists around the world have been to them. Your letters of support mean a lot to the defenders. You can write to them at the following address:
Centro de Re-adaptacion Social de Iguala
Carretera de Iguala - Tuxpan,
Iguala, CP 40101
Guerrero
Mexico
During the appeals process, be sure to keep up the pressure on President Zedillo asking that the men be immediately and unconditionally released. Letters to President Zedillo can be sent to:
Dr. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Palacio Nacional, Patio de Honor,
Primer piso, Col. Centro,
Mexico D.F. 06067
MEXICO
Fax: (+52 5) 515 5729 / 277 2376 / 516 5762
Function: President of the Republic
Salutation: Senor Presidente
In addition, President-Elect Fox has promised to make human rights and environmental issues a top priority of his government. Urge Mr. Fox to publicly condemn the human rights violations against Rodolfo and Teodoro, and to show the citizens of Mexico and the international community that the rights of environmentalists will be respected by immediate and unconditionally releasing the two Prisoners of Conscience upon taking office on December 1. You can write to President-elect Fox at:
President-elect Vicente Fox Quesada
525 Paseo de la Reforma
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, D.F. CP11000
Mexico
Thanks for your actions around this case and our campaign to defend the rights of those who speak out for the environment. Please stay tuned for further actions on this case.
ITEM #2
Greenpeace releases confidential information on deforestation in the Petatlan Mountains; confirms denunciations of Montiel and Cabrera
Greenpeace Mexico
September 4, 2000
Greenpeace Mexico obtained confidential information about deforestation that has occurred over the past eight years in the Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan mountains in the state of Guerrero. This information confirms denunciations made since 1998 by the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists of the Mountains of Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan, of which Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera are members.
"The region has suffered extreme deforestation: nearly 40 percent of the forests have been lost in just eight years. This information supports the claims of environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who were tortured and convicted for speaking out against widespread logging and in favor of protecting the forests," remarked Juan Carlos Cantu, coordinator of Greenpeace Mexico's biodiversity campaign.
According to satellite images taken between 1992 and 2000 of 18 areas in the Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan mountains, 86,000 hectares of forests were lost from the 226,203 hectares that existed in 1992. In other words, 38 percent of the forest has been lost to the excessive and illegal logging that the environmentalists were denouncing to the authorities.
Furthermore, the excessive logging and destruction of the region's vegetation led to a 446 percent increase of the area that has been clearcut in the last eight years. In 1992, 37,636 hectares had been clearcut; that figure reached 130,595 hectares by the year 2000.
"It is alarming that in only eight years close to 40 percent of the forests in the Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan has been lost. In 1998 the environmentalists predicted that if the logging continued, in ten years only bald mountains would remain in the region. This information on deforestation shows that they were right," Cantu added.
"It is important to point out that this information comes from the comparison of satellite photos taken in October 1992 and April 2000. This means that since April, the authorities have known about the severe deforestation in the region, but did nothing while Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera were being sentenced."
Deforestation in the region worsened in 1995, with the agreement signed by then-Governor Ruben Figueroa Alcocer with the US-based transnational timber company Boise Cascade. The agreement granted Boise Cascade exclusive rights to the exploitation of the forests on 24 ejidos. In mid-1998, the transnational company pulled out of the region, after the environmentalists staged roadblocks to prevent lumber from leaving.
However, illegal and excessive logging continues, now directed by the Ruben Figueroa Ejido Union, whose members transport lumber to sawmills, some of which are clandestine.
"Montiel and Cabrera are in jail for doing the work that the Environmental Prosecutor should have been doing -- ensuring that environmental laws are respected and that natural resources are protected. They were defending the forests. The real criminals -- the local caciques who murdered members of Montiel and Cabrera's organization, and the authorities who did not investigate logging practices, despite the organization's denunciations -- are not in jail," said Alejandro Cavillo, Director of Greenpeace Mexico.
"With this information, the sentence given to Montiel and Cabrera would have been different," he added.
"Up until now, attention on the environmentalists' case has been focused on the human rights violations they suffered, but the issue of serious deforestation has not received much attention. The environmental authorities should immediately publicize the information about this case and deliver it to the judge. If logging in Guerrero continues at this pace, in ten years there will be no more forests in the Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan mountains, just as Montiel and Cabrera have warned," Calvillo said.
Greenpeace requests that the environmental authorities be investigated for negligence and complicity for authorizing the logging and not investigating or stopping it after receiving the environmentalists' denunciations.
Greenpeace also demands the Montiel and Cabrera's liberation. "Their imprisonment is the most shameful case of human rights violation and environmental injustice in Mexico, and one of the most well known worldwide," said Calvillo.
For more information, contact Cecilia Navarro at 5590-6868, 9474, or 8350, or visit our webpage: www.greenpeace.org.mx.