Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders

On Saturday, the 19^th of  October  2013 , around 1:00 pm, Rocío Mesino Mesino, leader of the Peasant Organization of the Southern Sierra (OCSS ), was killed in the town of Mexcaltepec, municipality of Atoyac de Alvarez, in the state of Guerrero, Mexcio. Rocio Mesino, leader and social activist, was supervising the rehabilitation of a bridge affected by the recent rains when two men arrived on a quad, one tried to distract her by asking how to cross the river, while the other fired several times against her. Once Rocío Mesino fell to the ground, the attacker shot again in the back. Then he threatened the witnesses against following them.

Rocio Mesino was dedicated to various social issues in Guerrero: the release of political prisoners, the right to claim the truth, the justice and the reparation for people who disappeared during the “Dirty War,  the accompaniment of the Sierra de la Costa Grande peasant struggles, and the continued demand for justice and punishment of the perpetrators and the intellectual authors of the slaughter of Aguas Blancas in 1995. In 2005, her brother Miguel Angel Mesino, also a member of the OCSS, was killed under similar circumstances by unknown individuals in the same municipality of Atoyac, Guerrero. Her father, Hilario Mesino (Don Layo) was one of the founders of the OCSS .

OCSS members have suffered constantly serious human rights violations; its members Gilberto Vázquez Romero, Benito Bahena and Fredy Nava have been victims of enforced disappearance since 1995. Human rights defenders, activists and social leaders continue being attacked in the state of Guerrero, in the last two months alone 5 persons have been killed: Rocío Mesino, Arturo Hernández Cardona, Rafael Flag Felix Roman, Roman Angel Flores Ramirez and Raymundo Velasquez. A proper investigation, as well as other preventive measures have to be taken by the relevant authorities and should prevent that more people pay with their lives for their commitment to defending human rights.