PRESS RELEASE

IM-DEFENSORAS CONCERNED ABOUT NEW AGGRESSION AGAINST BETTINA CRUZ,

MEXICAN DEFENDER OF THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC TERRITORY (OAXACA)
Mesoamerica, May 13, 2015 The more than 690 women human rights defenders in ElSalvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua who are part of the Mesoamerican Women Human
Rights Defenders Initiative (IM-Defensoras) express concern over the new attack against Mexican
activist Bettina Cruz Velazquez, member of the APIIDTT (Asamblea de Pueblos Indgenas del Istmo en
Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of
Land and Territory), in Oaxaca, Mexico.
According to information from the APIIDTT, on April 16, 2015, around 12:00 AM, as Bettina Cruz
Velazquez and Rodrigo Pealoza were returning home after having participated in a consultation
meeting that took place in Juchitan, in which Katia Puga participated as the representative SENER
(Secretara Nacional de Energa - National Energy Secretariat), they were verbally assaulted and
harassed by a group of construction workers connected to the Elica del Sur company and who, it
should be noted, had escorted Katia Puga back to her hotel. These individuals, upon recognizing the
vehicle in which Bettina Cruz and Rodrigo Pealoza were traveling, began to insult them, until Rodrigo
Pealoza slowed his vehicle to a stop. Then, the group of men, some of them armed, ran towards
Bettina and Rodrigo hurling insults and with the clear intent of harming them, causing them to quickly
flee the scene.
It is worth noting that these acts took place while Bettina Cruz was under protective measures set in
place by the Mecanismo de Proteccin para Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas
de la Secretaria de Gobernacin (SEGOB Ministry of the Interior Protection Mechanism for Human
Rights Defenders and Journalists) and that, according to the woman human rights defender herself, the
Panic Button issued by that Mecanismo did not work during the attack.
Nor should we forget that Bettina Cruz recently got out of a long process of criminalization by the
State, during which she was accused of nonexistent crimes with the sole intention of punishing,
hindering and repressing her work in the defense and promotion of the human rights of Tehuantepec
Isthmus communities in resisting the imposition of the Mega Wind Project that threatens their territory.
In relation to the latter, it is important to note that during the meeting preceding these acts, the
representative of SENER, Katia Puga, decided unilaterally to end the "informative phase" of the
process of consulting the indigenous community of Juchitan on the development of Eolica del Sur's
Wind Power Project, without discussing the conditions, while the information provided to the
community on the project's impact is entirely inadequate and does not meet international standards that
can ensure and legitimize having conducted a duly informed consultation that was carried out without
any coercion.

Therefore, in compliance with the recommendations issued by the UN Human Rights Council in 2013
on the protection of journalists and human rights defenders, IM-Defensoras urges Mexican state and
federal authorities to:

Guarantee the security, physical and moral integrity of the woman human rights defender
Bettina Cruz Velazquez (beneficiary of the Federal Protection Mechanism) and other members
of the Asamblea de Pueblos Indgenas del Istmo en Defensa de la Tierra y el Territorio.
Prevent, prosecute and appropriately punish any act of aggression, coercion, threats, etc.,
against members of the Asamblea de Pueblos Indgenas del Istmo en Defensa de la Tierra y el
Territorio, whether by representatives of any institution or level of State government or by
private actors.
Guarantee the hosting of an open, pre-announced and informed consultation of the indigenous
community of Juchitan regarding the implementation of the Elica del Sur project as required
by international standards in the field.

The women human rights defenders who make up the Mesoamerican Initiative for Women Human
Rights Defenders remain vigilant around the actions taken by the Mexican State in favor of the human
rights defender Bettina Cruz and all women human rights defenders in Mexico, so that they can carry
out their work in safety, freedom and equality.

Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Guatemala

Defensoras de Nicaragua