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This October, Witness for Peace Upper Midwest hosted Mexican human rights defender Francisco Cerezo of Comité Cerezo México for a Speaker’s Tour throughout the region. In numerous universities, churches, and community groups throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, Francisco spoke to over 2,500 people about the effects of U.S. Policy in Mexico.
Francisco presentingto "Advocates for Human Rights. This 1.6 billion dollar package, the great majority of which comes in the form (...)

To Witness for Peace Upper Midwest To those whose solidarity enabled us to accomplish this tour To all those who attended the presentations To those who interviewed us and broadcast our activities
Comité Cerezo México, through his coordinator Francisco Cerezo, thanks all the work carried out for the realization of the informative tour in the United States.
We thank the work done by the Witness for Peace Upper Midwest Organizer, Elise Roberts, and for all the time and effort put in to (...)

“We believe that the Mexican Army, instead of fighting the Cartels to stop the drug trade, is actually fighting them to control the drug trade,” Francisco said.
Nathaniel Dalton ndalt398 uwsp.edu
The University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point’s Latin American/ Caribbean speaker series coordinated with the activist group Witness for Peace to bring Francisco Cerezo, a founding member of the human rights organization Comité Cerezo, to campus last Thursday to speak about the effects the United (...)

The first event was put on by Comite Cerezo and Hasta Encontrarlos from the states of Guerrero and Michoacán. The two groups presented a manual on the case of enforced disappearances in Mexico
By Erik B Wilson and Alejandro Vélez Salas
August 30th marked the international day of recognition for victims of enforced disappearance. The day was commemorated in many countries around the globe including Mexico where 2 main events took place to honor the occasion.
The first event was put on by (...)

Mexican activists demand justice after campesinos found dead in Guerrero
Wed, 06/05/2013 - 14:57
Year: 2013
Length: 2:45 minutes (2.51 MB)
Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)

The Mexican petitioners [...] listed four frequent types of perpetrators: (1) military members, (2) persons in uniform, (3) paramilitary troops, and (4) persons who are highly armed and can maintain control over an area through violence and intimidation. Complete impunity for perpetrators allows the government to cover up and refuse to recognize these crimes, the petitioners said.
Commissioners: Felipe González, Dinah Shelton, Rodrigo Escobar Gil, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed (Assistant Executive (...)

With Comité Cerezo’s advising, the families prepared a detailed account of the youths’ disappearance and a review of the PGR and PGJ’s performance. The document was presented to the UN Committee of Enforced Disappearances, whose leaders accepted it, according to notification on November 10th.
For over five months they have spread the news throughout Europe and Canada about the disappearance of Ana Belém Sánchez Mayorga, Luis Enrique Castañeda Nava Maldonado and his cousin Diego Castañeda. The (...)

The human rights organization Comité Cerezo, itself under accompaniment protection because of death threats it has received, has documented a significant rise in politically motivated disappearances and extrajudicial executions by state-connected agents since the launch of the U.S.-funded Merida Initiative in 2008.
When 27-year-old Daniel Davis was gunned down by a gang member in Scarborough in July 2012, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford announced it was “time to declare war” on gangs. The _Toronto (...)