What Peña’s report doesn’t say “speaks volumes” Proceso

On September 1st, the Fifth Report of the Government was presented, boasting progress on poverty, employment, education and respect for human rights.

In contrast, a few days earlier, the sixth report on human rights violations against human rights defenders was published covering the period from June 2016 to May 2017 and documenting that within that time “four human rights violations occurred every day against persons defending human rights in Mexico.” This report reports that “a year and a half after the end of the period of Enrique Peña Nieto, 2426 arbitrary arrests are documented” since the beginning of his term of office. As for extrajudicial execution, it indicates that while during the period of former president Felipe Calderon 67 were documented, “in the period we have with EPN this repressive modality has increased to almost double, totalling 123 executions.” With regard to enforced disappearance, it indicates 11 cases in the period covered by the report. “In general, the report tells us that the use of extrajudicial execution is the most repressive mode used by the State in the period covered by this report compared to previous years, (…) This clearly shows that the State increases the intensity of repression for political reasons when faced with the will of the defenders to keep up their work.”

It also denounced that “the improvement of repressive techniques includes actions such as maintaining impunity for human rights violations committed, implying that the State covers the gaps in the investigations of the most serious cases of HRV to prevent them from reaching international bodies, that is to say, it does not investigate, but only in appearance complies with what the law dictates, without this being reflected in an advance in investigations. At the same time, it accepts the visits of the international bodies of HR, but disqualifies the reports made by these international representatives. It further discredits the defense of human rights in two ways: by allowing a campaign that equates human rights defenders as defenders of criminals and, secondly, weakening the international human rights system by strengthening international humanitarian law, which judges people and not state structures, claiming that HRVs are individual acts, of subjects infiltrated or stressed, but that there has never been an order of state structures to violate human rights.”

On another note, covering the beginning of the term of Enrique Peña Nieto on July 31, 2017, the National Network of Civil Organisms for Human Rights All Rights for All (Red TDT in its Spanish acronym), made up of 84 groups from 23 states in the country, reaches similar conclusions in the report Hope is not Over. Situation of Human Rights Defenders during the Presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, published in early September. It says that state governments are the ones that most violate human rights with 39% of cases, followed by the federal administration with 32%; municipal and community agents with 20%, and judicial officials with 18%. It also notes that 69% of the cases occurred in seven of the 30 states analyzed: Chiapas, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Guerrero, Veracruz, Puebla and the state of Mexico.

For more information in Spanish:

Desaparecieron 81 activistas y mataron a 106 este sexenio: ONG (6 de septiembre de 2017)

Informe completo « La esperanza no se agota. Situación de las personas defensoras de derechos humanos durante la presidencia de Enrique Peña Nieto » (Red Tdt, septiembre de 2017)

Boletín de prensa e informe completo – Sexto informe de violaciones de derechos humanos contra personas defensoras de los derechos humanos. “Defender los derechos humanos en México: La ejecución extrajudicial como respuesta del Estado. Junio de 2016 a mayo de 2017” (29 de agosto de 2017)

Lo que no dice el Informe de Peña “cuenta, y cuenta mucho (Proceso, 1ero de septiembre de 2017)

¿Qué dice el V Informe de Peña? Estos son los 5 ejes del texto (documento completo) (Animal Político, 1ero de septiembre de 2017)

Peña Nieto en su 5to Informe de Gobierno, ¿mentiras o verdades? (Animal Político, 4 de septiembre de 2017)

Los cinco ejes del informe de Gobierno de EPN (Sdp Noticias, 4 de septiembre de 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ :

Nacional : cuarto informe del gobierno de Peña Nieto(12 de septiembre de 2016)

Nacional: Múltiples críticas a la presentación del Tercer Informe de Gobierno de Peña Nieto (8 de septiembre de 2015)