[R-G] Global Response Acts: Emerg: Protect Environ Activists Mexico; etc..

[james m nordlund]

Emergency Action: Protect Environmental Activists / Mexico
Global Response joins Amnesty International in calling for police investigations into acts of intimidation and violence against citizens who oppose mining in Cerro San Pedro, Mexico. Please read the Amnesty Urgent Action Appeal below, and write letters to Mexican authorities.

http://www.globalresponse.org/  

It is very important for Mexican authorities to know that the world is watching the situation in Cerro San Pedro and that we hold the Mexican government accountable for protecting the rights and safety of dissenters, in accord with the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA

22 July 2008

Further Information on UA 217/07 (22 August 2007) 

MEXICO 

Fear for the safety of: 

Jair Pineda (m), lawyer with Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), Broad Opposition Front
Armando Mendoza Ponce (m), FAO member
Mario Martinez Ramos (m), FAO member

And other activists opposing a mining project in Cerro San Pedro, San Luis Potosi state

Environmental activists and members of a coalition protesting against the activities of a 
mining company in the municipality of Cerro San Pedro, San Luis Potosi state, have been 
threatened and attacked. 

On 16 July a group of activists and members of Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), Broad 
Opposition Front, an umbrella organization opposing a mining project in Cerro San Pedro, 
demonstrated and briefly blocked the access road to the mine’s office on the occasion of 
the visit of the company’s new director. According to demonstrators, a municipal police 
van attempted to run over two protesters who were blocking the road. 

On 17 July, Mario Martinez Ramos, a member of FAO, was attacked by a group of armed people 
while he was in the village of Cerro San Pedro accompanying a couple of foreign 
journalists. He said that about 10 people, some armed with machetes and handguns, started 
chasing him. He managed to lock himself in his car and escaped, though the attackers badly 
damaged the vehicle. He contacted the municipal police immediately after the attack, but 
they did not investigate the incident. He filed a complaint for attempted murder with the 
local prosecutor’s office, identifying among the attackers some local residents who are 
believed to work for the mining company as security guards.

On the same day, FAO activist Armando Mendoza Ponce reported being threatened with death by 
the same man who allegedly tried to run over FAO members on 16 July. According to Armando 
Mendoza Ponce’s testimony, the man threw a large stone at him and said, ‘‘You will not live 
till the end of the week,’‘ (‘‘no pasas de esta semana’‘). 

Last year, Armando Mendoza Ponce’s van was shot at while it was empty, and another FAO 
activist, Jair Pineda, claimed that he was followed and intimidated by men believed to be 
employees of the mining company. There have been no further reports of threats or 
intimidation of Jair Pineda and no investigation has apparently been carried into the 
attacks nor has protection been offered to the activists.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The village of Cerro San Pedro is on a mountain that has been mined for gold and silver for 
centuries. Local activists claim that mining in the area is damaging the environment and 
water system. Residents and activists opposed to the mining operations have organized in 
several environmental defense groups, one of them being the umbrella organization FAO. The 
conflict has intensified since mining operations were allowed to resume in 2006.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- expressing concern that Mario Martinez Ramos and Armando Mendoza Ponce have been 
threatened and attacked because of their environmental campaigning work in Cerro San Pedro, 
San Luis Potosi state, and calling for a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the 
threats and attacks, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that they receive protection, in accordance with 
their wishes;
- expressing concern for the safety of members of the Frente Amplio Opositor and others 
opposing the mining operations in Cerro San Pedro; 
- reminding the authorities that the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibility of 
Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized 
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human 
rights defenders and their right to carry them out.

APPEALS TO:
Governor of San Luis Potosi
Marcelo de los Santos Fraga
Gobernador del Estado de San Luis Potosi
Palacio de Gobierno
Carranza y Jardin Hidalgo No. 11 
San Luis Potosi, 78000, SLP
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 444 8 12 2707
Salutation: Dear Governor/Senor Gobernador 

Attorney General of San Luis Potosi State
Lic. Francisco Martin Camberos Hernandez
Procurador del Estado de San Luis Potosi
Eje Vial 100, 1er Piso
San Luis Potosi, 78000
Estado de San Luis Potosi
MEXICO
E-Mail: pgjeinf at prodigy.net.mx
Fax: 011 52 444 8 12 5364
Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Senor Procurador

Minister of Interior
Lic. Juan Camilo Mourino Terrazo
Secretaria de Gobernacion 
Bucareli 99, 1er. piso, Col. Juarez, Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico D.F., C.P.06600
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5093 3414
E-mail: secretario at segob.gob.mx
Salutation: Senor Secretario/Dear Minister

COPIES TO:
President of the National Human Rights Commission
Dr. Jose Luis Soberanes Fernandez 
Presidente de la Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (CNDH) 
Edificio ‘‘Hector Fix Zamudio’‘, 6° piso
Blvd. Adolfo Lopez Mateos n° 1922 
Col. Tlacopac San Angel, Del. Alvaro Obregon
Mexico D.F., C.P. 01040
MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 56 81 81 25, then dial 9

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
Email: mexembusa at sre.gob.mx 


PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 2 September 2008.

** POSTAGE RATES **
To Mexico and Canada:
$0.72 - Postcards
$0.72 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.) 

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan at aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/ 
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566





Campaign Updates: Buffalo and Dams
Dear Members of Global Response’s “Quick Response Network:”

We don’t always pass on to you the “thank you” notes we receive from the grateful communities that we help with our letter-writing campaigns – but we should! You are the ones who deserve the credit and the gratitude for every letter you write. Successful Global Response campaigns depend entirely on your willingness to take the time to send your letters. WE thank you, and so do the embattled communities that ask for our help.

Here are excerpts from a couple recent email notes from busy activists:

(1) Stop Oil Shale Project in Wetlands / Australia

Note: to write a letter for this campaign, see http://globalresponse.org/emailcampaigns.php?record=2297

Hi Paula,

THANK YOU so much for doing this for us. We are so encouraged by all the support we are getting. And this Sunday 20th, Greenpeace arrives to support us with their ship the "Esperanza" (just completed anti-Japanese whaling tour in the Antarctic) on the start of their Energy Revolution tour. Wonderful for a local grass roots community group to have all this.

Cheers,

Suzette Pelt 
President Save Our Foreshore Inc 
www.saveourforeshore.com.au

(2) Stop Killing Wild Buffalo / Yellowstone Park USA

Notes: To write a letter for this campaign, see http://globalresponse.org/emailcampaigns.php?record=2295

To read an article about the wild buffalo slaughter in Harpers magazine, see http://harpers.org/archive/2008/06/0082064

Hello Paula,

Well, let me be the first to say THANK YOU for getting this alert together and out. We are so incredibly grateful for your help.

A thousand times, thank you.

In Solidarity,

~Stephany J. Seay 
Buffalo Field Campaign 
P.O. Box 957 
West Yellowstone, MT 59758 
406-646-0070 
bfc-media at wildrockies.org 
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

BFC is the only group working in the field every day in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.

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United States

Tel +303/444-0306 

Global Response organizes effective international letter-writing campaigns to protect the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples. See action alerts for adults, teens and children at www.globalresponse.org