martes, 25 de agosto de 2009

La triste histoire de Jacinta

La triste histoire de Jacinta, une indienne otomí condamnée à 21 ans de prison, pour avoir supposément pris en otage 6 policiers fédéraux 1/2

2009 août 24
by Jade Latargère







La semaine dernière, Jacinta Francisco Marcial, une indienne otomí de l’Etat de Querétaro, a été déclarée « prisonnière de conscience » par l’organisation Amnistie Internationale.

Avec cette déclaration, Aministie Internationale espère aider à la libération de Jacinta, qui a été condamnée à 21 ans de prison par les autorités mexicaines, pour avoir supposément pris en otage 6 policiers fédéraux.

L’organisation mexicaine Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez A.C, qui assure la défense légale de Jacinta, a précisé lors de la conférence de presse, qu’avant de clamer l’innocence de Jacinta, elle a « réalisé un ardu travail de documentation, qui lui permet de cautionner cette affirmation ».

Les faits

Le 26 mars 2006, 6 policiers fédéraux de l’Agence Fédérale d’Investigation (AFI) sont arrivés dans le village de Santiago Mexquititlán, dans l’Etat de Querétaro. Les policiers affirmaient qu’ils avaient reçu l’ordre de confisquer les stupéfiants et DVD pirates qui se vendent sur la place du marché (comme dans tout le Mexique).

Mais curieusement, les policiers « ne portaient pas d’uniforme et aucun papier officiel où on leur ordonnait de réaliser cette opération ». Face à cette situation plus ou moins irrégulière, plusieurs commerçants de Santiago Mexquititlán se sont opposés à être dépouillés de leurs marchandises et ont exigé le remboursement des produits abîmés par les policiers. La tension est rapidement montée, et les policiers ont finalement accepté de se rendre dans le village voisin pour réunir de quoi compenser les commerçants. Il se décida qu’un des policiers resterait aux côtés des commerçants en guise de garantie du retour de ses coéquipiers. Selon plusieurs témoins, le policier est resté à tout moment en communication avec ses supérieurs et n’a souffert aucune agression. L’incident s’est terminé à 19heures, après que les commerçants aient reçu l’argent voulu.

Mais ce que les commerçants ignoraient, c’est qu’immédiatement après avoir abandonné le village de Santiago Mexquititlán, les policiers se sont rendus à la Procuraduría General de La República pour présenter une plainte pour privation de liberté (« secuestro » en espagnol). Le 3 août 2006, Jacinta Francisco Marcial, qui vend des glaces et des boissons fraîches sur le marché de Santiago Mexquititlán, est arrêtée, accusée d’avoir pris en otage les 6 agents, et condamnée à 21 ans de prison. Deux autres femmes du village, Teresa González et Alberta Alcántara, sont également arrêtées.

Les arguments de la défense

Pour les organisations Amnistie Internationale et Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez AC, Jacinta Francisco Marcial est « aujourd’hui en prison à cause de différentes caractéristiques qui la rendent très vulnérables face aux graves déficiences du système de justice mexicain : son origine ethnique, sa condition de femme et sa situation économique ».

Car pour les avocats de Jacinta, aucun policier n’a été pris en otage le 26 mars 2006 à Santiago Mexquititlán.

« Pour nous le délit de privation de liberté n’a pas été commis, car il s’agit d’une réponse légitime des commerçant face aux abus des policiers », a expliqué Leopoldo Maldonado Gutierrez, avocat du Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez A.C, à Infosmexique.

« Le droit pénal peut ouvrir la voie à d’autres chefs d’accusation, par exemple, dégât matériel, une faute administrative, mais en aucun cas on peut parler de privation de liberté, car la loi précise qu’il faut d’autres éléments objectifs et subjectifs pour qu’un tel délit soit commis ».

Dans tous les cas, même si les juges persistent à croire que les policiers ont été effectivement pris en otage par les commerçants, la responsabilité de Jacinta ne peut être mise en cause, car elle n’était pas présente durant l’incident.

« Pendant le temps où les policiers étaient supposément pris en otage, Jacinta vendait des boisson sur le marché aux cotés de sa famille, puis elle est allée à la messe, et s’est rendue à la pharmacie pour se faire faire une injection », raconte Leopaldo Maldonado.

« A un moment, Jacinta s’est approchée pour écouter les négociations entre les autorités et les commerçants, et on l’a prise en photo, c’est cette photo qui sert de base à l’accusation, mais même le journaliste qui l’a prise a déclaré lorsqu’il a été appelé à comparaître devant le juge qu’il n’est pas certain que les policiers aient été pris en otage ».

Face à cette situation, Amnistie Internationale et le centre PRODH considèrent que Jacinta a été choisi comme bouc-émissaire par les autorités pour sa grande vulnérabilité. Car Jacinta parle peu l’espagnol, on ne lui a pas accordé d’interprète durant le processus judiciaire et personne n’est venu lui expliquer qu’elle avait le droit de se défendre. Elle représentait donc un blanc facile pour les autorités qui désiraient prendre des représailles contre les commerçants de Santiago Mexquititlán.

Plusieurs organisations civiles exigent la libération immédiate de Jacinta

Compte tenu de ces irrégularités, Amnistie Internationale et le centre PRODH exigent la libération immédiate de Jacinta.

Mais les autorités mexicaines ne semblent pas de cet avis.

Bien que le 17 juillet 2009 la Commission des Droits de l’Homme ait résolu que de graves irrégularités ont été commises durant le procès, Jacinta continue à l’heure actuelle en prison. Et elle pourrait y rester longtemps encore. Car après que la défense ait fait appel, la justice mexicaine a décidé de recommencer le procès et confronter les différents témoins, un processus qui pourrait durer plusieurs mois, voire plusieurs années. Aux grands dammes de Jacinta et de sa famille. Car comme le dit Jacinta, « quand tu fais quelque chose de mal, tu te dis « j’ai fait l’erreur, je dois payer les conséquences », mais quand tu sais que tu n’as rien fait, c’est très dur…. »

viernes, 21 de agosto de 2009

I was convicted of kidnapping six Mexican federal agents. I didn't even know what the word meant

I was convicted of kidnapping six Mexican federal agents. I didn't even know what the word meant

* Interview by Jo Tuckman
* The Guardian, Thursday 20 August 2009
* Article history

I am a Mexican Indian and growing up I didn't learn Spanish. I spoke only my mother tongue, Otomi. I spent my childhood looking after sheep and selling chewing gum on the streets. When I had my own children I was determined they would have shoes and an education. I had to work very hard, but all six of them went to school. On Saturdays we would all get together: sometimes we could only afford tortillas and beans, but my neighbours said we laughed so much they thought my daughters were my sisters. Now all that has been taken away.

On 26 March, 2006, I had set up my stall as usual selling ice lollies in the weekly market. I went to mass and afterwards everyone was talking about a police raid on the pirate DVD vendors. Later on, I took my daughter to the chemist and on our way back we noticed an argument between some women and a man. People said he was one of the Mexican federal agents who had taken the DVDs from the vendors without a warrant. The agent was paying compensation for the discs. I stopped to have a quick look then went back to my stall.

I forgot all about it until, on 3 August, a man and a woman came to get me. They said I had to answer questions at the police station about a tree that had been cut down. As I couldn't speak Spanish, my husband came to translate. When they put me into a car I noticed there were other cars on the street corner filled with men with big guns. But I wasn't frightened because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong.

At the police station I saw the two women who had been arguing with the police in the market and we were all taken into a room full of press photographers. I was separated from my husband and I still didn't understand why I was there. Now, I know that six federal agents said they were kidnapped by the market stallholders and were claiming they had not been paying compensation, but a ransom. Someone had taken a photograph of me looking on at the argument and now they were arresting me for kidnap – although at the time I didn't even know what the word meant.

I was taken to prison where they made me take off my traditional dress and put on overalls. Then I was taken to court. The other women arrested could speak Spanish but they wouldn't tell me what was going on. Instead they talked and talked to a court official. I sat in a corner and went to sleep until they woke me up to give me papers to sign.

It wasn't until a week later that my cellmates saw the news on the television and tried to explain to me what was being said. I was really scared and for a long time all I could do was cry. At night I hid under my blanket and wept. I never left my cell in the day. I had always been with my husband, my children and my people and I didn't know anything about prison.

Last year my daughter, who is a teacher, found Centro Pro Juárez, a human rights organisation, who agreed to help. They say they know I couldn't have kidnapped six men and that I mustn't lose heart. In December the court clerk told me I had been sentenced to 21 years. I had been praying to God to make me strong when I heard the news, and at first I was able to stay calm, but that night was terrible. I called my husband and we cried together. I will appeal, but even if there are people who believe me, if the judge doesn't want to let me out what can I do? I never saw the judge throughout the trial, only court officials. I wanted to tell him the truth about what happened, how they tricked me when they arrested me and how nobody explained to me what was happening. I wanted to ask him why he had sentenced me to 21 years if he had never met me.

Sometimes I am frightened that the police will do something to my family. They know it wasn't a kidnapping, but they will never admit their mistake. They are very bad people and might retaliate because I am daring to fight back. I know there are lots of people like me in prison. People don't understand that the police just pick you up and take you to prison, where nobody listens to you and nobody believes you.

When I first arrived a few of the prisoners would call me "dirty Indian", and the prison guards would pick on me, but now I speak Spanish I can stand up for myself. I am learning to read and working in the prison workshop. I still get desperate, like the other day when my niece told me that the plants in my patio have all dried up. All I want is to go home to the way things were before. But things will never be the same.

Jacinta Francisco Marcial was talking to Jo Tuckman
Source:The Guardian

jueves, 20 de agosto de 2009

Amnistia Internacional declara "Presa de Conciencia" a Jacinta Marcial

RELEASE JACINTA FRANCISCO MARCIAL
TAKE ACTION NOW!

The first night in my cell it was raining and it was very cold with the bars open onto the main courtyard and in that moment I felt bad because I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong and I was in prison. And yes, I started to cry, I cried and I asked myself “what now?” And when I heard doors opening I thought perhaps they’ve come to let me out, and I would stand up and look through the bars to see if someone was coming to let me out, but they never did.’ Jacinta Francisco Marcial, June 2009.

Jacinta Francisco Marcial, an Otomí Indigenous woman from Santiago Mexquititlán, Querétaro state, Mexico, has been sentenced to 21 years in prison charged with the kidnapping of six agents of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI). The AFI agents claim they were held hostage by market stall holders during a disturbance on 26 March 2006. Jacinta is the mother of six children and before spending what is now three years in prison, she sold ice creams and soft drinks with her husband to support her family on a market stall on Santiago Mexquititlán square.

Amnesty International believes that Jacinta has been imprisoned solely due to her marginal status in society as a poor indigenous woman with limited access to justice. The organization has documented many cases of the misuse of the criminal justice system to unfairly prosecute indigenous people and other vulnerable or marginalised people. Amnesty International considers Jacinta Francisco Marcial to be a prisoner of conscience and is calling for her immediate and unconditional release.

On 26 March 2006 six plain clothed AFI agents entered the street market in the main square of Santiago Mexquititlán. The AFI agents claim they were carrying out an operation to locate drugs and pirate DVDs. However, the fact that it was the weekend and the agents were not wearing uniforms has signalled to many that their intention was not official, but rather to steal the dvds. During the ostensibly official operation, theyconfiscated the local market stall holders’ goods and damaged their merchandise. Tension between the market vendors and the AFI agents grew and some of the stall holders tried to prevent them from removing their goods and punctured the tires of the AFI agents’ vehicles.

That same day the AFI Regional Chief and a prosecutor of the Federal Attorney’s General Office arrived at Santiago Mexquititlánsquare to facilitate a dialogue with the market vendors. It was agreed they would drive to a nearby town to collect money to compensate the market stall holders. One of the AFI agents was ordered to remain with the people as a guarantee that they would return. According to many witnesses from the local community, the remaining agent was in communication with his superiors at all times and he did not suffer any physical aggression or coercion. The incident ended at 7pm after money for the damages had been delivered to the some of the local vendors affected and all the agents left the town.

Unbeknown to the local community, that same evening the six AFI agents filed a complaint with the Federal Attorney General’s Office in which they alleged that they had been kidnapped for several hours by the protestors on Santiago Mexquititlán’s main square. More than four months later, on 3 August 2006 Jacinta Francisco Marcial was arrested and taken to the Federal Attorney’s General’s Office in Querétaro having been falsely informed that she was going to be questioned about the felling of a tree. Jacinta spoke very little Spanish and did not understand what was happening. Her right to an interpreter was not upheld at any time during the judicial proceedings and the state appointed public defender never spoke to her to explain her rights or defence. According to Jacinta Francisco Marcial he did nothing while she was pressed to sign papers she did not understand. Only when she arrived at the Centro de Readaptación Social de San José El Alto prison did she realize that she was being charged, together with two other women, of having kidnapped six AFI agents during the incident in the market of Santiago Mexquititlán on 26 March 2006.

Jacinta Francisco Marcial did not participate in the protest of the market-vendors against the AFI agents on 26 March 2006. The only evidence on file to implicate her in the events of that day is a newspaper clipping from the local newspaper “Noticias” taken when Jacinta was passing at the back of the crowd of protestors. Numerous witnesses have testified that Jacinta did not take part in the protest: during the disturbances she was seen attending mass, selling ice creams and went to the local pharmacy to have an injection.

In their original statements on 27 March 2006, the AFI agents made no reference to Jacinta Francisco Marcial. The agents mention only two women, neither of whom resemble Jacinta. Only a month later, when shown the photo from “Noticias”, did the six AFI agents accuse Jacinta of involvement in the alleged crime. No other evidence to prove her involvement was ever presented and the AFI agents never appeared during the trial proceedings to substantiate their claim or confirm her identification. Local lawyers believe there are no grounds to allege a kidnapping even took place on 26 March. Though minor damages may have been caused to AFI property during the disturbance, there is no evidence on file to justify charges of kidnapping.

Amnesty International believes that the imprisonment of Jacinta Francisco Marcial is in retaliation for the way the local market stall holders of Santiago Mexquititlán reacted in protest on 26 March 2006. The organization considers that the charges against Jacinta were fabricated and that she has been framed as a convenient target simply because of her marginal status in society as a poor indigenous woman. Amnesty International is currently investigating the cases of the other two women co-accused of kidnapping the six AFI agents together with Jacinta.


HOW CAN I HELP?
1.Please write letters in Spanish or your own language, making the following points:

*Stating the belief that Jacinta Marcial is a prisoner of conscience imprisoned simply because of her status as an indigenous woman, and calling for her immediate and unconditional release;

send your appeals to:

PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

Lic. Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de "Los Pinos", Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
México D.F., C.P. 11850, México.
Fax: (+ 52 55) 50 93 53 21
Salutation: Estimado Presidente / Dear President

FEDERAL ATTORNEY GENERAL

Eduardo Tomas Medina Mora Icaza
Procurador General de la Republica
Procuraduría General de la República
Av. Paseo de la Reforma 211-213
Col. Cuauhtémoc
Delegación Cuauhtémoc
C.P. 06500, Distrito Federal, México.
Fax: (+52 55) 53 46 09 08
Salutation: Señor Procurador General/Attorney General

Representative of the Federal Attorney General’s Office in Queretaro

Lic. Norma Patricia Valdez Arguelles
Delegada Estatal de la PGR en Querétaro
Domicilio para recibir correspondencia
Av. Estadio S/N, Col. Colinas Cimatorio
Querétaro 76090, México
Fax: (+52 442) 238 6801. Ask for “tono de fax”.
Salutation: Dear Madam/ Estimada Delegada

Governor of Queretaro

Lic. Francisco Garrido Patrón
Gobernador del Estado de Querétaro
Palacio de la Corregidora
Pasteur esq. 5 de Mayo
Col. Centro
Querétaro 76000
Estado de Querétaro, México.
Fax: (+52 442) 238 5008
Salutation: Dear Governor/ Señor Gobernador


2. You can also write to Jacinta to show your solidarity, please send your messages to: Centro de Derechos Humanos, Serapio Rendon NO. 57-B, Colonia San Rafael, Delegación Cuauhtemoc, CP 06470, Mexico DF or email: jacinta@centroprodh.org.mx

Amnesty International August 2009 AI Index: AMR 41/041/2009

Amnesty International

lunes, 10 de agosto de 2009

Yo soy Jacinta y Teresa y Alberta

Ricardo Rocha
Detrás de la Noticia
08 de septiembre de 2009


Yo soy Jacinta y Teresa y Alberta

Por supuesto que regocija la posibilidad de que pronto pueda repararse una injusticia brutal para la memoria de este país: la prisión a que se ha visto sometida durante tres largos años Jacinta Francisco Marcial. Como saben, una indígena otomí del estado de Querétaro condenada a 21 años de cárcel, acusada por la Procuraduría General de la República de secuestrar a seis gorilones agentes de la AFI.

Luego de un largo y tortuoso proceso, el único secuestro ha sido el de la propia Jacinta, que no entendió nunca de qué la acusaban porque entonces todavía no hablaba español. Iniciándose así una larga cadena de aberraciones jurídicas ampliamente documentadas ante la opinión pública.

Ahora, después de todo este tiempo, la PGR informa en un escueto boletín que en el caso de Jacinta aplica la figura legal denominada “duda razonable” concerniente “única y exclusivamente a la responsabilidad penal de Jacinta Francisco Marcial”, por lo que adelanta que al cierre de la instrucción se presentarán “conclusiones no acusatorias”.

De ello se desprenden una verdad y una amenaza: primero, que la PGR nunca tuvo ni tiene elementos de prueba contra Jacinta; tampoco tuvo ni tiene los tamaños y el valor de reconocer que todo se debió a un capricho para castigar al pueblo de Santiago Mexquititlán por su rebeldía a los abusos de los afis; y que mintió tan flagrantemente que el agente que dio por secuestrado jamás se ha presentado a ratificar su declaración.

Pero, en el colmo de una necedad abyecta, la PGR amenaza desistir de la aberración con Jacinta, pero persistir en el atropello a Teresa González y Alberta Alcántara. También acusadas por los mismos hechos, también mujeres, también pobres y también indígenas ñha-ñhus, que seguirían en la cárcel otros 18 años y cuya única diferencia procesal es que ellas fueron defendidas por abogados particulares y no por el Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez que asumió la defensa de Jacinta.

Pareciera que el gobierno federal a través de la PGR quiere enviar un doble y absurdo mensaje: a la opinión pública, que no se equivocaron del todo en este vergonzoso episodio; y a sus esbirros, que pueden seguir abusando impunemente de los más desprotegidos.

Se equivocan también por partida doble. Nada de lo que hagan ahora podrá eximirlos del juicio popular que derivará en un juicio penal. Y si alguna vez fuimos Jacinta, ahora también sabremos ser Teresa y Alberta. Y todas las Jacintas, Teresas y Albertas que para vergüenza de este país siguen presas en este México que ya no está para más injusticias. Ni le busquen.