Case History: Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez

Human rights defenders Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez and Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza have been subjected to ongoing attacks and intimidation due to their work in defence of human rights.

Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez is a Mexican human rights defender and member of the Asamblea de los Pueblos Indígenas del Istmo de Tehuantepec en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio – APIIDTT (Tehuantepec Ishtmus Indigenous Peoples’ Assembly in Defence of the Land and Territory), in the Santa María Xadani municipality, Tehuantepec Isthmus, Oaxaca. She is also a member of the movement of Civil Resistance against High-Electricity Prices, and has faced significant threats against her because of her human rights work on land rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza is a professor and member of the APIIDTT. The Assembly unites various indigenous peoples’ organisations in order to defend their land rights and traditions against human rights violations such as evictions and projects carried out without their previous, free, and informed consent, as per the criteria laid out in the International Labour Organisation Convention 169.

Since the beginning of 2017, both human rights defenders have being subjected to several attacks and acts of intimidation. On 29 April 2017, Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez reported that the office of the APIIDTT was under surveillance by unidentified men. At least two people in civilian clothes had been seen around the office for several hours of the day.

On 10 February 2017, Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza and some colleagues were robbed in front of their office by two armed men on a motorcycle. One of the criminals pointed the gun specifically at the human rights defender and demanded that he keep quiet. On 24 February 2017, an armed man entered the office where Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza works and enquired of his colleagues several times about his whereabouts. On 19 April 2017, the 92.7 radio station from Juchitán devoted several hours to broadcasting defamatory statements against the work of the human rights defender and Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez. On 26 April 2017, Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza found a handwritten note on his car when leaving his home, in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca. The note contained threats specifically directed at him and warned him that he was being monitored.

The attacks and intimidation are carried out in the midst of a campaign in support of the Zapotecos’ indigenous communities of Puente Madera, Rancho Llano and Loma Bonita de San Blas Atempa against the construction of an electrical substation in the Igúu Hill region.

The Cerro Igúu mining project is owned by the Tradeco company, which supplies materials to the Danish company, Vestas, and the Spanish company, Gamesa Eólica, for the construction of a wind farm. The mining project is also related to the construction of the Ixtepec airport and the substation of the Secretariat of National Defense – SEDENA.

The exploration and exploitation of resources in the Igúu Hill and the construction of the substation of SEDENA are being carried out without prior consultation with the local indigenous people. Both projects are located in communal Zapoteco land, in Oaxaca. According to article 2 of the Mexican Constitution and international human rights law, the State is required to undertake previous consultations with the local indigenous people affected by projects on their land, and is required to request their free and informed consent before work on the land can commence.

Front Line Defenders has previously reported on security risks faced by Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez. Since February 2012, she has been under protection measures by the Public Defender of Human Rights for the People of Oaxaca and, in November 2012, by the Federal Government's Protection Mechanism for Defenders and Journalists. Moreover, the Human Rights Ombudsman of the State of Oaxaca had previously granted protection measures in her favour on 14 November 2011. Despite being afforded the protection of these mechanisms, the attacks and harassment have not ceased.

Front Line Defenders expresses concern at the most recent attacks and acts of intimidation against Rodrigo Flores Peñaloza and Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez, and the heightened risk they face, as it believes they are linked to the work of the human rights defenders against illegal projects on their indigenous land.

The Sixth Judge of the District Court in the State of Oaxaca is expected to hand down the verdict in the case of human rights defender Ms Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez in the coming days. The human rights defender was charged with acts or omissions gravely affecting the “national consumption and national wealth” (el consumo y la riqueza nacional) and with illegally detaining individuals. The charges were brought in February 2012, but referred to events allegedly occurred during a peaceful protest ten months previously, in April 2011.

Since 2007, Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez has carried out work related to the human rights impact of the activities of multinational companies like Mareña Renovables, Gas Natural Fenosa, Demex (Renovalia Energy), and Iberdrola, which are establishing, developing and operating wind farms in lands in common use by indigenous communities in Tehuantepec. The projects were reportedly initiated without prior consultation with the ikjoots and binnizá, the peoples native to the area.

The charges against Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez are based on a peaceful protest carried out by the APIIDTT. On 13 April 2011, the APIITDTT organised a peaceful protest in front of the offices of the Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad - CFF), located in Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca State. They were protesting to demand respect for the rights to land of the ikjoots and binnizá peoples, and their decision not to accept the establishment, development and operation of wind farms in the area.

On 22 February 2012, at approximately 3:30 pm, Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez was arrested by officials of the Attorney General's office in the municipality of Santa Maríá Xadani, Istmo de Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. At the time of her arrest, she was with her lawyer as they were leaving a meeting between the APITDTT with the CFF. The police officials reportedly did not have an arrest warrant nor did they inform her of the reason for her arrest. However, it is reported that she was arrested on the basis of a federal judicial warrant.

Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez was held incommunicado for four hours before being taken to Tehuantepec prison to face charges of illegally detaining CFF staff. On 23 February 2012, Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez appeared before a judge who ordered her release on bail, which occurred in the early hours of 24 February 2012. Since then, the human rights defender has been obliged to sign in at the Public Prosecutor's Office on the 15th day of every month.

The security risks faced by Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez have been widely recognised. Since February 2012, she has been granted protection measures by the Public Defender of Human Rights for the People of Oaxaca and, in November 2012, by the Federal Government's Protection Mechanism for Defenders and Journalists. Moreover, the Human Rights Ombudsman of the State of Oaxaca had previously granted protection measures in her favour on 14 November 2011.

Front Line Defenders is concerned by the criminalisation and detention of Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez, as it appears to be solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate work promoting the rights of the ikjoots and binnizá peoples in Istmo de Tehuantepec in Oaxaca.