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Alert

IACHR urges government to adopt precautionary measures on behalf of Oaxacan newspaper editor and employees

(CENCOS/IFEX) - The following is a 31 October 2005 CENCOS press release:

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) today informed CENCOS that it is asking the Mexican government to adopt precautionary measures to protect Ericel Gómez Nucamendi, the director of the Oaxaca newspaper "Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca", and 116 newspaper employees.

The IACHR has petitioned the Mexican state to urgently adopt the measures, as stipulated in Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure.

The IACHR also requested that the Mexican state provide information on its compliance with the precautionary measures, within 15 days and periodically thereafter. The precautionary measures will be in place for six months. After hearing observations from the parties [the government and those granted the measures], the IACHR shall decide if the measures will have to be continued or can be lifted, according to IACHR Executive Secretary Santiago A. Cantón.

Never in the history of the freedom of expression has the IACHR granted precautionary measures to a collective group.

Since 17 June 2005, the "Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca" newspaper has been subjected to harassment and persecution by the Oaxaca state government led by Ulises Ruiz, in the form of a supposed strike declared by the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos, CROC) without the support of any of the workers in the newspaper, as well as a series of aggressive acts against the paper's journalists and publishers. The Oaxacan government is apparently attempting to silence this media outlet for its criticisms of the state's government.

Given this situation, the IACHR has requested that the Mexican government adopt the following measures:

1. Implement without delay all measures necessary to guarantee the personal safety and freedom of expression of Ericel Gómez Nucamendi and the 116 employees of the "Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca" newspaper.

2. Investigate the events that motivated the IACHR to issue these precautionary measures, in order to identify those responsible and punish them appropriately.

3. Allow the beneficiaries of the measures to participate in their planning and implementation and, in general, to keep them and the IACHR informed about advances in carrying them out.

A complete list of all the employees is appended to the IACHR's recommendations; this list includes non-professional workers, as well as the newspaper's chief editor and sub-editor, reporters, printers, designers, chauffeurs and guards, etc.

Below are the names of some of the people covered by the precautionary measures requested by the IACHR:

Ericel Gómez Nucamendi
Floriberto Reyes Germán
Norberto Solis Ventura
Eutimio Galván Ruíz
Porfirio Andrés Ramírez Sánchez
Catalina Cristina Vázquez López
Alma Delia Vázquez Mendoza
Guillermina Antonina García López
Delfina Concepción Robles Torres
Adelfa Oliva Gómez
Josué Alberto Ángeles Ibarra
Ignacio García Jiménez
Sara María Holder Oliva
José Alfredo López González
Juan Cecilio Martínez López
Saturnino Martínez Luis.

Another 100 people are also listed.