Monday June 26th, 2006 Mexico City

Today the Follow-up Commission of the IV visit of the International Civil Commission for Human Rights Observation started to work. The Commission is once again working out of its office at c/ Fray Servando de Mier #92, a space that was kindly given to us again by the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UACM).

At 11 in the morning there was a press conference in the Auditorium of the UACM where we presented for the first time the Preliminary Report concerning the events of Atenco. For this presentation Juan Bañuelo, Adolfo Gilly, Magdalena Gómez, Gilberto López, and Ángel Benhumea, participated, and expressed their opinions about the report. In the words of Adolfo Gilly: "The report shows how Atenco has been an attempt planned and organized to transmit fear in the Mexican men and women, and especially a fear focused on those whose citizen rights and living standards are least protected."

In this press conference we informed that the Report would be handed in to the principal candidates for Presidency of the Republic, as well as the intention to get it in the quickest way possible to the President of the Republic, Vicente Fox Quesada. Tomorrow we will hand it in to all the institutions that were interviewed during the previous visit of the CCIODH.

We also informed of the commitment of the Follow-up Commission to hand in the Preliminary Report with greatest priority to the persons and organizations that presented their testimonies before the participants of the CCIODH. We also reported the new request to enter into the Santiaguito prison which the Follow-up Commission has expressed to the Lic. Alejandro Carmona (General Director of Prevention and Social Re-adaptation of the State of Mexico) with the objective of personally handing in the report to the men and women prisoners.

The press released finished with the showing of the video of the prisoners in Santiaguito which was recorded on the 2nd of June by the Commission. The announcement was received with a response from a huge influx of media and numerous copies of the Preliminary Report and the video of the prisoners will be distributed. The Follow-up Commission was interviewed throughout the day by a variety of press, among them the Spanish Television, France Press, and the newspaper La Jornada. The latter placed emphasis and special attention on the conclusions and recommendations of the CCIODH.

The agenda for Tuesday, June 27th includes a work meeting with different Human Rights institutions and organizations to hand in the Preliminary Report, as well as to study mechanisms of coordination that allow a better follow-up to the work done, including measures of attention and pyscosocial reparation for those affected persons. At 4 in the afternoon we will go to the Círculo Teatral (Veracruz Avenue #107) to do an public act to present the Preliminary Report to the Other Campaign in which the Delegado Zero, Juan de Dios Hernández (lawyer for various of the prisoners), the Front of Peoples in Defense of the Land, the women who were abused, and family members of the prisoners and ex-prisoners will be all be present.

Follow-up Commission of the CCIODH
Address: Fray Servando Teresa de Mier #92, 4º piso, col. Centro
Cellular phone in México: 044 55 34 67 67 63 - 044 55 32 75 81 22
E-mail: cciodh@pangea.org
Web-site: http://cciodh.pangea.org

The CCIODH is made up of 28 people from 7 different countries. It was in Mexico from the 29th of May until the 4th of June. It conducted 173 interviews with prisoners, family members, townspeople, social and political organizations, and government entities. They were able to access the Santiaguito prison, where all of the male and female prisoners were interviewed, making afterwards a 15 minute video including their statements. The (13) conclusions and recommendations consider it proven that there was an excess of police force, that the government turned to the public force without using all the possible non violent measures to resolve the conflict, that it did not act within the framework of a Rule of Law and did not respect the international standards of protection of human rights, among those the sexual tortures against most of the women detained. They recommend the immediate dismissal of Wilfrido Robledo Madrid, as well as Alejandro Eduardo Martínez Aduna, and those politically responsible for the police operatives. The release of the prisoners of Santiaguito and La Palma is also recommended under the principal of the presumption of their innocence, given the violations of the right to a due process with procedural guaratees.