translated from Spanish: AMLO government adds up to 45 activists killed; “there are crises”: DDT Network

In the first two years of López Obrador’s government, a total of 45 human rights defenders have been killed in Mexico, killing nearly two activists dead each month. 
This is documented by the All Rights for All Network (DDT Network) – made up of 85 civil society organizations in 23 states – in an annual report it presented on Thursday on the situation of human rights defenders in Mexico. 
In the study, the DDT Network points out that, although the message from the Federal Government is that human rights violations are no longer committed in the country, on the ground they documented that assaults and murders against activists, while a problem that comes from years and six years ago, is a practice that remains in force in the current government. 
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“A lot of what has been said in this new government is that nothing is happening anymore. But something else happens on the ground. It must be acknowledged that there is a human rights crisis in the country, and that aggressions against activists have not ceased. Human rights advocacy remains a very high-risk activity in Mexico,” he stressed in an interview with Political Animal Marianna Mendoza, coordinator of the protection area of the DDT Network. 
Against this backlash of attacks and killings, the report denounces that the government response has been marked by Mexican “state inaction,” and by a constant “criminalization and stigmatization” by the three levels of government and the justice system against the work of activists defending the territory of their communities in the face of mega infrastructure and mining projects , water and the environment, as well as women’s rights and sexual diversity, among others. 
Of the 45 defenders killed in this government, 10 were environmental activists, including Homero Gómez González, defender of the monarch butterfly in Michoacán; six were defenders of the land and community, including Texcoco’s communal leader Benito Peralta; and six other sexual diversity rights defenders, including Maria Elizabeth Montaño, the doctor who was dedicated to seeking good medical care for the transgender population.
Related to this: Two human rights defenders are kidnapped in Ocosingo, Chiapas
For entities where the assaults were committed, the case of Oaxaca is striking, where in these two years of the new government there were up to 11 murders of activists, followed by Chiapas, with five, and Chihuahua with five others. 
“Oaxaca has always been in the top 5 of assaults on activists. But in the last two years it has been detected that the attacks increased greatly,” marianna Mendoza said. 
Guerrero (4 murders), Morelos (4), Veracruz (3), Baja California (3) and Michoacán (2), are other states most dangerous to exercise the defense of human rights.
Face threats, harassment, and criminalization
Apart from the killings, the DDT Network report highlights that there is a pattern of aggression against activists and defenders who oppose the new government’s infrastructure megaprojects and state governments. 
An example, the document raises, is the case of the Integral Morelos Project and the Huexca thermoelectric plant, which was approved on February 25, 2019 through a popular consultation that, however, was not attended by those most affected, as documented by Animal Politics in this note. 
The report also recalls that activist Samir Flores, one of the fierce opponents of this project for its impact on the environment, was shot dead on February 20, 2019, while aggressions against the Morelos Land and Water Front of Peoples, Puebla, Tlaxcala (FPDTA) “multiply day by day.” 
Read also: Violence Pandemic: Systematic Attacks vs Journalists and Ddhh Defenders
“Human rights defenders face intimidation, stigmatization, threats, harassment, discredit and criminalization for their work, especially when their work appeals or uncomfortable with state actors,” emphasizes the report, which insists that Mexico’s President López Obrador “demonstrates a broad disrecognisement and discredit of the defense of human rights.” 
In addition, the study proposes that the criminalization of activists is carried out with the support of procuministry of justice in the country. And it gives as an example of a “serious case” that of Kenya Hernandez, an indigenous defender currently imprisoned, who has “been initiated processes with false evidence in at least three state prosecutors’ offices”.
“The criminal justice system works perfectly when it comes to criminalizing protest and human rights defenders, but it is slow and dysfunctional when it comes to prosecuting crimes against them,” said Marianna Mendoza of the DDT Network. 
Here you can read the full report.


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Original source in Spanish

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