AWARDED THE 2023 TATA VASCO AWARD.
Mexico City, January 7, 2024.
The Morelos Center expresses its concern over the rampant violence that ended 2023 and began 2024, and publicly expresses its outrage at the federal, state, and municipal governments’ ability to allow criminal groups to act freely, affecting the population of communities such as: * The events in Buena Vista de los Hurtado and Cashacuauitl in the municipality of Eliodoro Castillo. Videos that have circulated show several people murdered with great malice.
- The shooting of three women by armed men in the El Calvario neighborhood in the municipal seat of Chilapa de Álvarez.
- The indiscriminate attack on a municipal bullring in the municipality of Petatlán on the Costa Grande, where five people were allegedly killed and more than two dozen injured.
All the incidents of violence have been announced and allowed by authorities at all three levels, as the situation in the various regions and communities has previously been reported by the current victims and by the Morelos Center.
Eight days ago, at the beginning of 2024, the direct and indirect victims of violence—disappearances, executions, femicides, internal forced displacement, the penetration of indigenous territories by criminal groups, the mothers and fathers of our 43 fellow students from Ayotzinapa who disappeared on September 26 and 27, 2014, civil human rights organizations, and journalists—were all seeing the end of 2023 without definitive, favorable solutions. On the contrary, the number of victims is increasing. Even the forces of nature have taken their toll on our poorest brothers and sisters in Acapulco. Politicians from all parties and governments saw it as a perfect opportunity to generate the media impact they needed, while criminal groups saw it as an opportunity to reestablish themselves and increase control over a larger territory.
The three levels of government, following the maxim of “generate chaos to impose order,” have allowed narco-paramilitary and criminal groups to grow and strengthen, and have used this as a pretext to hand over all power to the army, creating a militarized “National Guard.” Both have been instructed not to touch narco-paramilitary and criminal groups, with the motto “hugs, not bullets.” This shows us that despite the “progress” and “changes” that some see in this government, the reality is that things are worse off.
** On December 16 and 17, 2023, the meeting of Victims of Internal Forced Displacement represented by the Morelos Center was held in the State of Morelos, to jointly carry out the analysis of Recommendation 171/2023 issued by the CNDH on September 29, 2023 after the corresponding complaint was filed in April 2021 for the benefit of displaced families from the municipalities of Zitlala, Gral. Leonardo Bravo and Gral. Eliodoro Castillo in the State of Guerrero. Displaced families from the municipality of Apaxtla de Castrejón attended the meeting to request our support. Over the course of two days, approximately 150 victims of internally forced displacement were able to learn about the recommendation, exchange experiences, and express their concerns, in order to understand its scope and limitations. They were also able to understand that there is still a long way to go and the need to remain vigilant. Representatives from the Morelos Center will remain in constant communication and coordination with the CNDH monitoring area to ensure that the recommendation is implemented by federal, state, and municipal authorities in accordance with international standards on internally forced displacement. For the victims and their representatives, this recommendation represents hope, as the displaced will be able to claim victim status and, when the time comes, will have access to relocation and reparation for their damages.
Aggressions, harassment of all kinds, and internally forced displacement against various media workers continue without the perpetrators being investigated and punished.
The high-risk situation, including forced internal displacement, delegitimization, harassment, and threats suffered by the Human Rights Defenders of the Morelos Center, and the risks faced by the legal representatives of the mothers and fathers of the 43 Ayotzinapa students—risks that increase as they continue to point out the military’s involvement—as well as the concealment of information. This becomes very complicated because, with the information the military has, it is quite possible that the involvement of high-level politicians from the State of Guerrero who currently hold elected positions at the federal level could also be revealed.
As we previously reported, when in April 2023, during meetings with federal institutions, state, and municipal authorities to begin charting a course for resolving relocation demands and reparations for damages, the threats against the director of the Morelos Center and representatives of the various communities increased and continued until the end of the year. It is very obvious that state and municipal authorities are behind this increased risk. Several families have even had to leave Chichihualco and Chilpancingo, and some are applying for asylum in the United States and Canada. It is clear that the state and municipal governments, under the guise of the federal government, prefer to pay narco-paramilitary and criminal groups to terrorize families into abandoning their demands or leaving the country.
In light of this worrying situation:
We hold the federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Guerrero, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Sandra Luz Valdovinos Salmerón, responsible for all aggression, harassment, threats, and any physical or psychological harm suffered by the members of the Morelos Center, representatives of the Displaced Families, as well as the representatives of the Mothers and Fathers of the 43 Ayotzinapa Students Disappeared on September 26 and 27, 2014, journalists, representatives of the various Collectives of Families of the Disappeared, and social activists.
Without a doubt, 2024 will be a year of heightened crime and terror, as it is an election year, where political parties, in collusion with narco-paramilitary and criminal groups, will impose their allies in various positions, and, as always, the people will continue to be the victims.
Sincerely,
Teodomira Rosales Sierra, Ms.
Director of the Morelos Center