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A list of human rights organizations are denouncing reports that Mexico’s intelligence agency is investigating and potentially filing reports that criminalize human rights defenders and lawyers who counsel the families of the disappeared Ayotzinapa students.
According to a lengthy report titled: “Ficha Cisen a abogado de normalistas” written in the electronic investigative journal, Reporte Indigo, Mexico’s Center for Research and National Security (CISEN) – an equivalent to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has opened dossiers on human rights defenders from the Human Rights Center of the Mountain “Tlachinollan” calling them “dangerous to governance.”
The report details that Vidulfo Rosales, lawyer and representative of the 43 families of the Ayotzinapa students as well as Tlachinollan’s director, Abel Barrera are “elements” that pose a “threat” to the government and that the two participate in “subversive” activities.
The two have been vocal supporters of the families and have played the authorized voice on behalf of the families during meetings with the Interior Sectretary, Attorney General and even the Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto.
“It is outrageous that public resources are used to weaken the human rights movement instead of using intelligence capabilities to combat infiltration and corruption by narco-governments and guarantee that serious human rights violations do not go unpunished,” declared a public letter signed by over a dozen reputable human rights organizationans.
“The proven track record of Vidulfo Rosales as a lawyer and Abel Barrera as director, in defending human rights, has been instrumental in the region to counter impunity and abuse of power for years. We condemn the federal government's attempt to discredit and harass the defense work in this context of profound risk due to their support of the families of the 43 students forcibly disappeared in Iguala on September 26th and 27th, 2014,” continued the letter.
The Human Rights Center of the Mountain “Tlachinollan” has defended and counselled the majority impoverished indigenous and farmworking communities of the “Montaña” region of Guerrero for years, gaining them considerable popular and base support by nearby communities.
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