Alerts in Mexico
Student Kicked Unconscious by Police
Action Alert
Date: 14 July 2009
Amnesty International has condemned the conduct of police in Chiapas state in southern Mexico after a sixteen-year-old student was beaten unconscious on 27 June. Jose Emiliano Nandayapa Gomez was reportedly attacked because of his ‘subversive haircut’. Over the course of an hour he was kicked and punched by three police officers, before losing consciousness.
Academic Threatened and Censored in Sinaloa
Alert
Date: 02 June 2009
Florencio Posadas Segura, a professor at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, UAS) has been censored after speaking on a morning radio programme ‘A Primera Voz,’ which airs on the university radio station, Radio UAS. On 13th and 15th May 2009 he commented on the topic of new university regulations, including the issue of succession of the rector, saying that they had not passed democratic and academic tests.
Teachers and Students risk arrest and police violence
Action Alert
Date: 21 November 2007
Teachers who have recently graduated from a teacher training college based in Ayotzinapa, municipality of Tuxtla, Guerrero state, and members of the Federation of Socialist Rural Students of Mexico, are demonstrating about employment rights, Amnesty International has said. The Guerrero state police, known for their excessive use of force, may use violence to disperse the demonstration.
Alert
Date: 03 November 2006
Associated Press and several Mexican Newspapers have reported of grave clashes between demonstrators and police in the Univesiry of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is reported that at least 20 protesters, 10 officers and three news photographers were injured. The teachers, students and leftist union have been protesting in the city since last May.
Government Continues Crack-Down On Striking Teachers
Alert
Date: 04 October 2006
Since May 2006 teachers working in the Oaxaca region in Mexico have been striking asking for a raise in salaries and an improvement in their working conditions. Over the course of the strike action the police and paramilitary units have cracked down on those teachers. Several people have been killed and four of the strike leaders been detained.
Fear for Safety for Teacher's Union Members
Action Alert
Date: 07 September 2006
Amnesty International reports that in the Mexican state of Oaxaca security forces have reportedly used excessive and disproportionate force against protestors the 22 August 2006. A number of protestors have been injured. Biologist Ramiro Aragon Perez and teacher German Mendoza Nube, both activists, are being detained and are at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
Teacher and Columnist Beaten to Death
Alert
Date: 01 September 2004
A Mexican teacher and columnist who wrote about government corruption and crime was beaten to death the 31 August 2004 in the city of Matamoros, near the United States border. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating whether the murder was tied to his reporting. Francisco Arratia Saldierna, 55, was a schoolteacher and also wrote a column called "Portavoz" (Spokesman) that appeared in four newspapers throughout the state of Tamaulipas - El Imparcial and El Regional, in Matamoros, and Mercurio and El Cinco, in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital.