2004

14 January 2004: municipal police officers from Zapotitlán Tablas (Montaña) torture and kill 18-year-old Sócrates Tolentino González Genaro. They take advantage of the fact that the mother of the victim is indigenous and cannot read, and make her sign a letter that states that her son committed suicide.

May 2004: 15 warrants for arrest issued against leaders and members of the Organization of Campesino Ecologists from the Sierra of Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán (OCESP) – for the death of the son of lumber baron Bernardino Bautista Valle, which occurred on May 30, 1998 – are rescinded. There are various irregularities in the criminal process which allow to believe that the arrest orders are actually an act of political persecution against OCESP.

3 November 2004: Felipe Arreaga Sánchez, one of the OCESP leaders who was facing an arrest order, is detained. Despite decisive proof of his innocence, he is imprisoned in Zihuatanejo. (see Urgent Action)

2 December 2004 and the following days: Marco Antonio Suástegui Muñoz – a distinguished member of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota (CECOP), which opposes the construction of the La Parota hydroelectric dam in the municipality of Acapulco – receives death threats.

3-4 December 2004: the Human Rights Center of the Mountain Tlachinollan convokes the forum “Against Silence and Oblivion: The Voice of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico,” which leads to the elaboration of a state agenda for the integral and autonomous development of the indigenous peoples of Guerrero.

9 December 2004: Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, member of the Organization of the Tlapaneco Indigenous People (OPIT) and translator for Inés Fernández Ortega (raped by soldiers in 2002) receives death threats against her and her family for the speech she gave at the forum held during the previous days. A month later, at the request of various organizations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) will recommend that the Mexican government take precautionary measures to protect the human rights defender and her family.

20 December 2004: the autonomous municipality of Xochsitlahuaca inaugurates the community radio station Radio Ñomndaa (The Word of the Water), the first radio station to broadcast in the Amuzga language, for the municipality and surrounding communities. One month later, the traditional authorities denounce intimidations and repressive actions carried out against the community station.