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URGENT ACTION: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Mexico: Further information on fear for safety / death threats

Friday 6 July 2007, by Comité Cerezo México

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URGENT ACTION
Mexico: Further information on fear for safety / death threats

PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 41/033/2007

05 July 2007

Further Information on UA 245/06 (AMR 41/043/2006, 11 September 2006) Fear for safety/death threats

MEXICO Francisco Cerezo Contreras (m)
Emiliana Cerezo Contreras (f), his sister
Members of the Cerezo Contreras family
Members of the human rights organisation Comité Cerezo
New name: Alejandro Cerezo Contreras (m)

Members of the human rights organisation Comité Cerezo have received an email threatening the lives of the Cerezo Contreras family. Alejandro Cerezo Contreras, himself a member of Comité Cerezo, set up to campaign for the freedom of his brothers, has been photographed and received a threatening message on a phone whose number is supposed to be confidential. The family, and the Comité Cerezo, may be in danger.

The email was sent on 26 June to the Comité Cerezo address. It contained threats to the lives of the Cerezo Contreras family: …los tenemos bien cercas, a ustedes tres, a los de la palma y a tu querida familia […] los vamos a poner a ustedes desnuditos y bien cojiditos ("we are on to you three, the ones in La Palma and your beloved family […] we are going to make you vulnerable and fuck you up."), in a reference to the brothers working for Comite Cerezo and to the two detained in the La Palma penitentiary. The email also referred to allegations that the Cerezo Contreras family may be involved with guerrilla groups, putting them at risk of further harassment.

On 12 June, as Alejandro Cerezo was waiting in the lobby of a doctor’s office before an appointment, a man sat in front of him and pointed the camera of his cell phone at him as if to take pictures. On 20 June, Alejandro received a voice message on a cell phone which had been provided by the Interior Ministry with a confidential number, after the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights asked for protection measures for his family in October 2006. The message was a recording of a conversation between Alejandro Cerezo and his sister Emiliana. They did not know how the conversation had been recorded, but the meaning was clear: they were being watched and could do nothing about it.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Francisco and Emiliana Cerezo Contreras founded Comité Cerezo when their three brothers, Alejandro, Hector and Antonio Cerezo Contreras were arrested, with two other men, on 13 August 2001 in connection with explosions in a bank. They were reportedly tortured, and were convicted of organized crime offences. On 28 February 2005, Alejandro Cerezo won his appeal and was released for lack of evidence. On 13 August 2006, one of the two others arrested and convicted with the Cerezo brothers, Pablo Alvarado Flores, was released after completing his sentence. Antonio and Hector Cerezo Contreras remain in prison. Comité Cerezo campaigns for their release, and the release of other prisoners in Mexico.

AI Index: AMR 41/033/2007 5 July 2007


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