Mexican Environmentalists Convicted of False Charges
posted 8th September 2000

The Goldman Environmental Foundation today condemned the conviction of two Mexican environmentalists as a travesty to justice. Rodolfo Montiel, one of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize recipients, and Teodoro Cabrera were illegally detained, beaten and tortured in May 1999, by Mexican soldiers. They were forced to confess to trumped up charges of possession of illegal weapons and planting marijuana. In today's action, Judge Maclovio Murillo Chavez sentenced Teodoro Cabrera to 10 years in prison, and Rodolfo Montiel to 6 years, 8 months. At noon ... Tuesday August 28th at the Human Rights Center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez in Mexico City attorneys for Montiel and Cabrera [held] a press conference with several other human rights and environmental organizations to further protest and provide the true details of the case. "The international community should not tolerate the persecution of environmental activists.

The conviction of Montiel and Cabrera is unjust and is directly linked to their commitment to protect their forests. The Goldman Environmental Foundation calls on President-Elect Vicente Fox to prove his commitment to human rights and environmental protection by repealing the conviction of these men immediately upon assuming office," said Richard N. Goldman, president of the Goldman Environmental Prize. Montiel, one of the founding members of the Organization of Campesino Environmentalists of the Sierra de Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan, worked to organize farmers to oppose the rampant and possibly illegal logging in the mountains in Guerrero, Mexico. On May 2, 1999, members of the 40th Infantry Battalion of the Mexican Army arrested Montiel and Cabrera. During the raid, the soldiers shot and killed Salomi Sanchez Ortiz, a local farmer.

On July 14, Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights, a governmental organization, acknowledged that Montiel and Cabrera had been illegally detained and tortured by members of the Mexican Army. The report also rejected the allegation that the two men were carrying weapons at the time of their arrest. Forensic doctors working for the Danish section of Physicians for Human Rights confirmed the torture after examining Montiel and Cabrera, and concluded that the physical signs and symptoms coincide conclusively with the timing and methods of torture previously described by the two activists.."