Last week, our colleague from the Mexico and Central America office was among those attacked by security guards and police as he attempted to document events following a protest in in the Xochimilco and Tlalpan areas of Mexico City.
Demonstrators, including members of the Otomí community, gathered to call for water rights, the protection and preservation of land belonging to indigenous communities, and against land grabs. But the peaceful rally ended in violence when a group of people, some of them armed with knives and guns, attacked the protesters. When police and security forces arrived, they not only failed to protect the protesters, they violently assaulted them too.
Police detained 4 human rights defenders and a journalist at the protest, holding them in an undisclosed location for 5 hours. When family members and activists eventually discovered where they were being held and arrived at the location to demand their release, they too faced violence from security forces.
We condemn this physical aggression from the Mexican authorities – the very people who should be protecting their communities from violence and upholding their basic human rights.
These are the latest in a series of protests and violence in Mexico, against the backdrop of the government’s plans to drastically overhaul the judiciary, which rights activists warn will undermine the rule of law and say is a cynical tactic by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to secure greater powers. The reforms are set to be carried forward by incoming president Claudia Sheinbaum, AMLO’s political ally, who has promised to maintain continuity in government.
The new measures also aim to dissolve several independent authorities, among them the National Institute for Access to Public Information and Data Protection (INAI). This fundamentally threatens democracy in Mexico, given the key role the institution plays in ensuring transparency and the right to information and privacy.
On 10 September, Senate secured a narrow victory, drawing enough votes to introduce the constitutional reforms.
We join fellow freedom of expression and human rights organisations in calling for Mexican authorities to thoroughly investigate the events of 5 September, and to protect human rights defenders, protesters, indigenous communities and activists, and journalists. Police and other authorities must respect the right to freedom of expression and to protest.
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