Urgent action to demand Rocio Moreno’s freeing

Rocío Moreno, a student from the History master’s degree at the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG) and a representative form the Community Assembly (Asamblea de Comuneros) from Mezcala de la Asunción, Poncitlá­­­n, Jalisco, was arrested on Tuesday, September 6th, at 18:00 at the entrance of the offices from the newspaper Milenio Jalisco.

Rocío Moreno arrived to the newspaper after someone pretending to be a member of the editor’s office from said newspaper arranged to meet her there.

At the same time, the person that made the appointment with Rocío Moreno called the police from the Procuraduría General de Justicia from Jalisco (PGJEJ) and told them she would be there. The police arrested her arguing that there was an arrest warrant issued against her by the judge from Ocotlán, Jalisco, as a product of a criminal report for arson made by Crescenciano Santana, who reported a solar panel dismantling last April 10th. It’s important to say that the panel was located in a community area, so by sovereign decision the community members decided to remove it. Poncitlán's local police borne witness to this facts and afterwards they removed the structure.

In addition to the big ploy that lead to her arrest, it’s full of lots of irregularities; as an example, she was not in Mezcala on the date of the reported facts because she was in Guadalajara.

It’s not a coincidence that her arrest is done less than a month before the agricultural authorities issue the final sentence about the rights from the community of Mezcala on their land. It's clear for us that her arrest is staged in order to provoke, distract the attention and delay the appliance of justice in favor of the community.

The undersigned are convinced that this is part of a staging and a direct repression against a respected leader in Mezcala, who has stood out in the defense of their land and the fighting against the invasion of the land by the businessman Guillermo Moreno Ibarra for the last 10 years. The whole Mezcala community knows that the alleged community member Crescenciano Santana is in fact the front man for Guillermo Moreno.

We also report that there are arrest warrants issued against other 13 community members coming from the same report made by the front man from the invader, Guillermo Moreno.

The rough arrest from Rocío Moreno makes us think that the judge who issued the arrest warrant and the PGJEJ agents who arrested her are acting as representatives of the invader Guillermo Moreno.

We urge the president of the judiciary, Celso Rodríguez González, the state attorney Tomás Coronado Olmos and his boss, the president Emilio González Márquez, to prove that they are not acting in favor of an invader of community land that has been reported for the last 10 years, but on the contrary, they are in favor of legality and justice appliance.

If so, Rocío Moreno must be freed immediately free of charges, and justice should be done to the community of Mezcala, restoring the land that has been invaded for a decade.

We exhort the people, associations, civil groups, human rights networks and justice defenders to pronounce in favor of the freeing of Rocío Moreno, who is right now a political prisoner for defending the rights of her community.

Asamblea de comuneros de Mezcala

Grupo Libertario Solidaridad

Colectivo Cuadernos de la Resistencia

Comité Salvabosque en defensa del Nixticuil

Brigada Callejera

Colectivo Rebelión Cotidiana

Seminario Movimientos Sociales, Sujetos y Prácticas

If you agree with this statement, please send e-mails or make phone calls to:

Celso Rodríguez González

Presidente del Poder Judicial de Jalisco

E-mail: presisti@prodigy.net.mx

Telphone: 1200 1400 1200 1500

Tomás Coronado Olmos

Procurador de Justicia del estado de Jalisco

E-mail: tomas.coronado@jalisco.gob.mx

Telphone: 52 (33) 3837 6000

Emilio González Márquez

Gobernador del estado de Jalisco

E-mail: emilio.gonzalez@jalisco.gob.mx

Telphone : 52 (33) 3030 - 4800