PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 41/025/2009

07 May 2009

Further Information on UA 68/09 (AMR 41/014/2009, 9 March 2009) and follow-up (AMR 41/016/2009, 24 March 2009) - Fear for safety

MEXICO Marcelino Coache Verano (m)

Edgar Coache (m), aged about 15, his son

New names: Reyna Rivera (f), wife of Marcelino

Alba Cruz Ramos (f) ]

Yesica Sanchez Maya (f) ] human rights defenders

Beatriz Casas Arellanes (f) ]

Father Romualdo Francisco Mayrén Peláez ]

Oaxacan political activist Marcelino Coache and his family are still being harassed: his wife received a threatening message on her mobile phone on 25 April, as did other Oaxacan human rights defenders who have been supporting Marcelino Coache.

On 25 April, Reyna Rivera, Marcelino Coache’s wife, received a text message made up entirely of question marks, signed C ALBERTo (sic). Half an hour later she received a second text message, signed with the same name, saying that Marcelino should "stop fucking about" (quepare de chingar la madre). Reyna Rivera immediately called human rights lawyer Alba Cruz Ramos, who has been assisting Marcelino Coache to file a complaint about being abducted and tortured on 4 March. On her way to meet Reyna Rivera, Alba Cruz also received a text message threatening her with death. It came from the same phone number, and was signed the same way.

That day, prominent Oaxacan human rights defender Father Romualdo Francisco Mayrén Peláez, who runs a church human rights organization, the Diocesan Commission of Peace and Justice (Comisión Diocesana de Justicia y Paz) received a text message from the same source, threatening death to him and three human rights lawyers working on the case: Alba Cruz Ramos, Yesica Sánchez Maya (who works for the women's rights organization Committee for Parliamentary Dialogue and Equity- Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad) and Beatriz Casas Arellanes (who works for the Bartolomé Carrasco Human Rights Centre, Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos Bartolomé Carrasco).

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:

- urging the authorities to ensure that Marcelino Coacheand his family aregiven appropriate protection in accordance with their wishes, as they were threatened on 25 April;

- urging the authorities to provide appropriate protection, in accordance with their wishes, to human rights defenders Alba Cruz Ramos, Yesica Sanchez Maya, Beatriz Casas Arellanes and Father Romualdo Francisco Mayrén Peláez, so they can carry out their legitimate activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals;

- calling on the authorities to order a prompt and impartial investigation into the mobile phone threats received on 25 April by Marcelino Coache's wife, Alba Cruz Ramos, and Father Romualdo Francisco Mayrén Peláez, and to bring those responsible to justice.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of Interior

Lic. Fernando Francisco Gómez-Mont Urueta

Secretaría de Gobernación

Bucareli 99, 1er. piso,

Col. Juárez, Del. Cuauhtémoc,

México D.F., C.P.06600, MEXICO

Fax: +52 55 5093 3414

E-mail: secretario@segob.gob.mx

Salutation: Señor Secretario/Dear Minister

Governor of Oaxaca

Lic. Ulises Ruiz Ortíz

Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca

Carretera Oaxaca-Puerto Ángel, Km. 9.5, Santa María Coyotepec,

Oaxaca C.P. 71254, Oaxaca, MEXICO

Fax: +52 951 502 0530

E-mail: gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx

COPIES TO:

Human rights organization

Centro de Derechos Humanos "Bartolomé Carrasco Briseño"

Mariano Azuela 203, Col. José Vasconcelos

Oaxaca, MEXICO

Email: barcadh@prodigy.net.mx

Oaxaca State Human Rights Commission

Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Oaxaca,

Calle de los Derechos Humanos no. 210,

C.P. 68050, Oaxaca, MEXICO

Fax +52 95 1503 0220(if a voice answers, ask "me da tono de fax, por favor")

E-mail: correo@cedhoax.org

and to diplomatic representatives of Mexico accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 18 June 2009.