© 2001 The Washington Post Company
November 9, 2001
By Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 8 -- President Vicente Fox, bowing to mounting questions about his commitment to human rights, today freed two imprisoned environmental activists whose case had become an international embarrassment for Mexico.

Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera walked out of prison this afternoon, ending an ordeal that began when they were arrested on arms and drugs charges in May 1999. Environmental and human rights groups worldwide said the two were victims of government persecution, including several days of torture by the soldiers who arrested them, because they had challenged powerful government and corporate logging interests in their home state of Guerrero.

"Today I feel like I did the day I was getting married," Montiel, 46, a father of six, said in a telephone interview. "Then, like now, I'm beginning a new life."

Fox took office nearly a year ago promising to clean up Mexico's human rights record. But many analysts said he had been reluctant to deal with this case for fear of damaging relations with Mexico's powerful military, traditionally the country's most closed and secretive institution. The army had no comment on Fox's decision today.

Criticism of Fox's human rights record intensified following the Oct. 19 murder of a leading human rights lawyer here. Digna Ochoa y Placido, a former nun who had represented Montiel and Cabrera in the past, was shot in the face by killers who left a note threatening other human rights activists.

Critics said the government's failure to protect Ochoa demonstrated that human rights abuses in Mexico continue despite Fox's promises. Dulce Maria Sauri, president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said today that "the stability of the country will be at risk if the [Ochoa] case is not resolved."

Fox announced the move at a news conference today, reading a terse statement without taking questions. "With these actions we show in deed the commitment of my government to the promotion and observance of human rights in our country," he said.

Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castaneda said in an interview that the "emblematic" case involved issues of human rights, the military, rural violence and the environment. "That's why Fox paid close attention to it and made the decision to free them," he said.

Mario Patron, the lawyer for Montiel and Cabrera, noted the men were not pardoned or declared innocent. Their convictions stand, he said, but the government lifted the remainder of their sentences, technically for "health reasons." Montiel had been sentenced to more than six years and Cabrera to 10.

Montiel said his release was an implicit recognition by the government that he and Cabrera, 55, were tortured by soldiers who arrested them while they were attempting to block logging projects that were destroying forests. Edgar Cortez, a Jesuit priest who heads the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center, which represented the men, said, "Freeing them does not erase the need to investigate those who tortured them."

Fox had said the case should be resolved by judicial process, not by unilateral presidential action, and that the president should respect the judiciary and not reverse court decisions by decree. But heavy criticism following the Ochoa murder seemed to have forced him to act.

"Fox came to power saying he would clean house," said Folabi Olagbaju, a human rights official with Amnesty International USA in Washington. "But it took a year and the death of a human rights lawyer to bring him to this point today."

Activists immediately called on Fox to free another man, former army Gen. Jose Francisco Gallardo, who has been imprisoned for eight years on what activists say are trumped-up corruption charges. Gallardo is considered a "prisoner of conscience," as were Montiel and Cabrera, by Amnesty International and his case is widely championed by international human rights groups. Gallardo's supporters say he is being punished by military leaders for suggesting that Mexico's insular military could benefit from greater public scrutiny.

Researcher Laurie Freeman contributed to this report. Error: Unable to read footer file.