WUNRN
Breaking the Silence, All Together
against Sexual Torture in Mexico
Submitted on: 12/10/2014
May 2014
marked the 8th anniversary of 11 women from the city of San Salvador Atenco who
were mentally, physically and sexually tortured at the hands of local police.
The survivors—Ana María, Italia, Claudia, Cristina, Edith, Mariana, María
Patricia, Norma, Patricia, Gabriela and Yolanda—launched the campaign Breaking
the Silence, All Together against Sexual Torture. For the past eight years
the women of Atenco have fought tirelessly to denounce the injustices they
faced in May 2006 and demand that Mexican authorities end the use of sexual
torture as an investigative method. A number of other women with similar
stories have joined the campaign, as well as the organizations that have
accompanied their cases: Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, Centro de Derechos Humanos de la
Montaña “Tlachinollan”, la Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos
Humanos, and JASS Mesoamerica.
On International Human Rights Day 2014, we share their stories:
Yecenia Armenta Graciano
On
July 10, 2012 in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, Yecenia Armenta was arrested by
state investigative police and was subsequently subjected to physical, sexual
and psychological torture. After 15 hours of torture, she was forced to confess
to murdering her husband, who eight days before had died in unknown
circumstances. For more than 2 years, Yecenia has been imprisoned in
Culiacán, Sinaloa. We invite you to read, sign, send and share the
attached letter urging the Third Federal District Judge of Sinaloa to resolve
Yecenia’s case and order her immediate release. More information about Yecenia’s case.
Claudia Medina Tamariz
Claudia
from the state of Veracruz, Mexico, was taken from her home in August 2012 by
members of the Mexican Navy and held in a local naval base. For the next 36
hours, Claudia was subjected to threats, strangling, electric shocks and sexual
torture by the Navy in order to incriminate her as a member of organized crime.
Later, she was presented before the media with six other individuals. While she
was interrogated in the Attorney General’s office, they told her they already
knew she was the leader of a criminal group. Then she was released on bail.
However, she continues to face false criminal accusations for weapons
possession and organized crime. The only evidence against her comes from her
torturers. The Attorney General’s Office has not investigated the acts
of torture against Claudia. More information.
Miriam Isaura López Vargas
In
February 2011, Miriam López, mother of four children, was unjustly arrested in
Baja California, Mexico by military police. She was raped and tortured with
electric shocks and strangled until she confessed that she was guilty and until
she falsely accused others. In September 2011, she was released without
charges. (No photo available for security purposes).
Miriam
has had the courage to denounce what has happened to her, but no one has been
held accountable. In September 2011, she denounced her aggressors for the
crimes of torture, false imprisonment and rape. On December 14, 2011, an
investigation (AP/PGR/FEVIMTRA-C/139/2011) was opened before the Special
Prosecutor for Crimes of Violence against Women and Human Trafficking
(FEVIMTRA). The criminal complaint also solicits protection measures for Miriam
Isaura López Vargas because of the harassment she has faced since being
released from prison. To date, those who perpetrated grave human rights
violations against Miriam have not been apprehended. More information.
Verónica Razo Casales
Verónica was
arbitrarily detained on June 8, 2011 by federal police in the Federal District
of Mexico, a few streets from her home. During her detention, she was a victim
of sexual violence. They moved her to the headquarters of the Federal
Investigation Office (AFI) where she was tortured physically, sexually and
psychologically (including electric shocks on her breasts and feet, punches and
threats). One day later, they took her to the Assistant Attorney General's
Office for Special Investigations on Organized Crime (SEIDO) and waited for her
to incriminate herself for the crime of kidnapping. Currently she
is in the Federal Rehabilitation Center (Cefereso) #4 in Tepic, Nayarit.
Verónica is waiting for a judgment that recognizes her innocence, restores her
liberty and delivers justice. More information.
Belinda Garza Melo
Belinda
joined this campaign to share that she is a victim of the war against organized
crime. She was arbitrarily detained on July 15, 2007 in Torreón, Coahuila by
the Federal Police (PFP) who tortured her physically, sexually and
psychologically for more than 40 hours. Three months later she was presented in
the media as a member of the Gulf Cartel. She regained her freedom on October
23, 2014 after more than seven years of unjust imprisonment in a maximum
security prison in Tepic, Nayarit, facing unjust accusations of involvement
with organized and drug-related crime. However, her innocence has not been
recognized by the government.
Her voice
is just one of many that have joined this campaign, demanding that her name be
cleared and calling out for justice so that no more women have to live through
sexual torture. More information.
Women of Atenco
On
May 3 and 4, 2006, approximately 700 police officers from the Federal Police
(PFP) and 1,815 municipal and state police agents carried out an operation in
the towns of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco in the State of Mexico, exercising
brutal repression against activists and supporters of the Community Front in
Defense of Land (FPDT), as well as people who were working or present in the
area. In a grossly disproportionate use of force by police, hundreds of
people were beaten and arbitrarily detained, including 47 women who, while
being transported to a detention center, were subjected to sexual torture by
the police. Eleven of those women took their case to the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, searching for justice. After more than eight years,
no public officials at any level have been punished for the repression and the
acts of sexual torture committed against the women of Atenco. More information.