Report No. 26 (2013) IACHR. Petition No. 1121-04 (México)

• Report Number: 26
• Petition Number: 1121-04
• Court: Inter-American Comission of Human Rights
• Case Type: Admissibility
• Alleged Victim: Rogelio Jiménez López y otros
• Respondent State: México

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REPORT No. 26/13¹ PETITION 1121-04 ADMISSIBILITY ROGELIO JIMÉNEZ LÓPEZ AND OTHERS MEXICO March 20, 2013

1. SUMMARY

1. On October 25, 2004, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter, the “Inter-American Commission”, “Commission”, or “IACHR”) received a complaint submitted by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (hereinafter, the “petitioners”). The complaint claims that the United States of Mexico (hereinafter, the “State of Mexico”, “Mexico” or the “State”) bears international responsibility for a number of violations of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter, the “Convention” or “American Convention”), to the injury of the cho’l indigenous people, who live in the northern region of the State of Chiapas. Specifically, the petitioners allege the forced disappearance of Minerva Guadalupe Pérez Torres and Mateo Arco Guzmán, and the extrajudicial executions of Héctor Pérez Torres, Rogelio Jiménez López, Sebastián Pérez López, Domingo Vásquez Avendaño, Nicolás Mayo Gutiérrez and Miguel Gutiérrez Peñate, all of whom were indigenous persons belonging to the cho’l people. Therefore, the petitioners claim that the State violated the rights enshrined in Articles 1.1 (the obligation to respect rights), 2 (duty to adopt domestic legal effects), 4 (right to life), 5 (personal integrity), 7 (right to personal liberty), 8 (right to a fair trial), and 25 (right to judicial protection) of the American Convention; in Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (the “Convention against Torture”); and in Article I of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons (the “Convention on Forced Disappearance”). The petitioners also claim that in the cases of Mateo Arco Guzmán, Rogelio Jiménez López, Miguel Gutiérrez Peñate, and Nicolás Mayo Gutiérrez, “as well as those of at least 3,618 forcibly displaced persons in the Zona Norte, out of 11,988 persons in the entire state of Chiapas²,” the State of Mexico violated Articles 1.1, 11 (protection of honor and dignity), 19 (rights of the child), 21 (right to property), 22 (freedom of movement and residence), and 24 (right to equal protection) of the American Convention.

2. The petitioners claim that the rights violations they allege were committed as a result of a counterinsurgency policy carried out between 1995 and 1999 in Chiapas and perpetrated with the acquiescence and cooperation of the State, by an allegedly paramilitary group. They argue that not all of the material and intellectual authors of the alleged acts have been punished and that, regarding the exhaustion of all remedies under domestic law, the exemptions addressed in Article 46.2.a, b, and c of the Convention are applicable.

3. The State, for its part, holds that the acts alleged in the petition were committed by members of the group “Desarrollo, Paz y Justicia”, which the State emphasizes was not a paramilitary group, but rather a group that arose out of a longstanding conflict over the control of indigenous lands in the northern part of the State of Chiapas. As for the admissibility of the petition, the State asserts that at the time it was submitted all remedies under domestic law had not been exhausted, that the petition does not characterize human rights violations because no agents of the State were involved in the alleged acts, adding that it has complied with investigating and punishing those responsible for the alleged acts. Therefore, the State requests that the petition be declared inadmissible because it fails to meet the requirements of Articles 46.1.a and 47.b and c of the American Convention.

4. Without prejudging the matter, after studying the positions of the parties and in compliance with the requirements contained in Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, the Commission hereby decides to declare the petition admissible for the purpose of examining the alleged violation of the following Articles: 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 25 of the American Convention as these relate to Article 1.1 of that Convention; Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture; and Article I of the Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, to the injury of Minerva Guadalupe Pérez Torres and Mateo Arco Guzmán, alleged victims of disappearance; Article 4 of the American Convention as it relates to Article 1.1 of that international Convention, to the injury of Héctor Pérez Torres, Rogelio Jiménez López, Sebastián Pérez López, Domingo Vásquez Avendaño, Nicolás Mayo Gutiérrez, and Miguel Gutiérrez, alleged victims of execution; Articles 5 and 7 of the American Convention as it relates to Article 1.1 of that international Convention, to the injury of Héctor Pérez Torres, alleged victim of execution; Articles 5 and 11 of the American Convention as it relates to Article 1.1 of that international Convention, Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, as well as Article 7 of the Convention of Belém do Pará, to the injury of Minerva Guadalupe Pérez Torres, alleged victim of sexual violence; Article 19 of the American Convention as it relates to Article 1.1 of that treaty, to the injury of the child Miguel Gutiérrez Peñate, alleged victim of execution; Articles 5, 8, and 25 of the American Convention as these relate to Article 1.1 of that international convention, and Article I of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, to the injury of family members of all the alleged victims. The Commission also declares admissible Articles 2, 21, 22, and 24 of the American Convention. The Commission hereby decides to notify the parties of this decision, to publish it, and to include it in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.

II. PROCEEDINGS IN THE COMMISSION

5. On October 25, 2004, the Commission received the petition and assigned it number 1121-04. On January 12, 2005, the Commission sent the pertinent portions of the petition to the State, requesting that it submit is response within two months, in accordance with the provisions of Article 30.3 of the Regulations of the Commission. Following a request for extension, the Commission received the State’s response on April 14, 2005, and forwarded it to the petitioners.

6. The IACHR received additional information from the petitioners on the following dates: December 15, 2004, September 6, 2005, July 5, 2007, July 18, 2007, October 19, 2007, October 7, 2008, December 23, 2008, May 18, 2009, November 6, 2009, and July 14, 2010. These communications were duly forwarded to the State.

7. The State also submitted additional information on the following dates: July 6, 2007, August 30, 2007, September 28, 2007, October 10, 2007, September 4, 2008, March 13, 2009, July 15, 2009, March 5, 2010, and October 26, 2010. These communications were duly forwarded to the petitioners.

7. On July 18, 2007, during the 128^th ordinary period of sessions of the IACHR, a public hearing was held³ in which both parties submitted allegations concerning the admissibility of the petition.

• Precautionary Measure 1016-04

7. On October 29, 2004, based on a request submitted by the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center together with petition 1121-04, the IACHR requested that the State of Mexico adopt precautionary measures to protect the lives and personal integrity of five members of displaced communities in the northern region of Chiapas and that of Armando Díaz López and family – a former member of the “Paz y Justicia” group who had been cooperating with the General Prosecutor of the Republic since 1999 – because, there were allegations that they had been the objects of harassment and threats by members of the “Paz y Justicia” group.⁴ On November 17, 2004, Mexico reported on the actions it had taken and continued periodically to submit information.

2. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES

1. The petitioners

7. The petitioners allege the forced disappearances of Minerva Guadalupe Pérez and Mateo Arco Guzmán, and the extrajudicial executions of Héctor Pérez Torres, Rogelio Jiménez López, Sebastián Pérez López, Domingo Vásquez Avendaño, Nicolás Mayo...