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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
ACTION
ALERT: Protest Conviction of Mexican Environmental Activists &
Unchallenged,
Illegal Logging
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
09/10/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
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.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
ITEM #1
Title: Mexican environmental activists
convicted
Source: Just Earth Network via Global Response's
"Quick Response
Network"
Date: 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
Title: Greenpeace releases confidential information
on deforestation
in the Petatlan Mountains; confirms
denunciations of Montiel and
Cabrera
Source: Greenpeace Mexico
Date: 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.
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