Case History: Alba Cruz
On 30 April 2013, human rights defender Ms Alba Cruz received a threatening message to her mobile phone. The tone of the message was similar to threats she had received before, in which she was told there was still unfinished business which needed to be acted on.
Alba Cruz is a human rights lawyer with the Mexican organisation Comitè de defensa integral de derechos humanos Gobixha -Codigo DH (the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights Gobixha), which has been under protection measures from the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights since 2007.
On 30 April 2013, human rights defender Ms Alba Cruz received a threatening message to her mobile phone. The tone of the message was similar to threats she had received before, in which she was told there was still unfinished business which needed to be acted on.
Another human rights defender, who works as in the department of communication of Codigo DH, Ms Susana Ramírez, was detained for 34 hours for covering a protest in the city of Oaxaca. She was held incommunicado for 14 of those hours.
In the early hours of 3 April 2013, the offices of human rights organisation Comité de Defensa de Derechos Humanos Gobixha AC – Codigo DH (Committee for the Defence of Human Rights Gobixha) in Oaxaca, Mexico, were broken into and some confidential documents were reviewed. Codigo DH is an organisation which works to provide legal, medical and psychological assistance to survivors of human rights violations in the Oaxaca region of Mexico.
On 3 April 2013, at 8:20am, a member of Codigo DH arrived at the office and found the door unlocked and the padlock open. On further inspection, it was found that one of the computers in the legal department was switched on and some confidential documents in the vicinity were in disarray. Codigo DH has reported the break-in to the Federal Police, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Public Prosecutor.
Codigo DH has lately been the victim of intimidation and harassment due to the nature of its work in the defence of human rights. They have had to organise accompaniment for their human rights defenders, some of whom have recently been imprisoned. On 18 April 2012, Front Line Defenders issued an urgent appeal on behalf of Ms Alba Cruz, who works as a human rights lawyer with the organisation, after she had been subjected to death threats on her mobile phone as well as an incident in which three unknown men in a truck tried to hit her vehicle. These threats were believed to be directly linked to her peaceful and legitimate work representing Mr Marcelino Coache, a trade unionist, former political prisoner and torture survivor.
In recent months the organisation has been actively supporting the community of San Mateo del Mar, in the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region, who are opposing proposed new wind farms. In Oaxaca, there is a growing climate of intimidation and harassment towards human rights defenders and Front Line Defenders expresses concern for the security of those working in Codigo DH following this break-in, which it believes to be solely related to their legitimate and peaceful work in defending human rights across the region.
On 13 and 14 April 2012 human rights defender and lawyer Ms Alba Cruz was subjected to death threats received to her mobile telephone.Alba Cruz has been subjected to numerous death threats and episodes of harassment since 2010 due to her representation of victims of torture and abuse which occurred in the Mexican state of Oaxaca in 2006. To date no persons have been found responsible or brought to justice for carrying out the threats and intimidation against Alba Cruz.
On 14 April 2012 Alba Cruz received a text message on her mobile phone which read “Empieza ahora putos” (It starts now bitches). The previous day, at approximately 2pm, a message arrived to her phone in which she was warned “... quedas advertida te mueres junto con el por pendejos” (... be warned you will die with him you idiots). The message is believed to refer to Mr Marcelino Coache, trade unionist, former political prisoner and torture victim, whom she is currently representing. Prior to this event, on 30 March 2012, Alba Cruz was travelling from a meeting near Oaxaca when a grey truck, with registration plates from Mexico City, with three men on board attempted to hit her vehicle. When she attempted to take a photo of the men, the van sped away.
In the past six months, her client Marcelino Coache has been the victim of harassment, intimidation and defamation for his active participation in social movements in Oaxaca. Minutes after Alba Cruz received the second abovementioned message, Ms Reyna Rivera, wife of Marcelino Coache, received a threatening message on her mobile telephone, which stated: “Te lo advertimos se acuerdan o se hacen pendejos, ahora cuidense ya acabaron” (We're warning you, either remember or make idiots of yourselves, now take care of yourselves you're finished). On 14 April 2012 Marcelino Coache received a second threatening message. All of the messages were sent from the same mobile phone number.
Front Line Defenders expresses serious concern for the security of Alba Cruz in light of the threatening text message she received on 13 and 14 April 2012. Front Line Defenders believes that this and previous threats received by Alba Cruz are directly related to her peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights activities, in particular the provision of legal advice. Front Line Defenders is concerned at the failure to bring those responsible for threats against Alba Cruz to justice.
