The families of Allende take the Moreira's to the International Court of Justice at the Hague

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Sinembargo article

Subject Matter: Allende massacre, Governors of Coahuila
Recommendation: See link to article about Allende by BB reporter Valor

Reporter: Juan Luis Garcia Hernandez
The organization Families United, a group of families of victims of disappearances in Coahuila, prepares a complaint before the Internation Penal Court for crimes against humanity in Coahuila. The Lawyer of the association, Ariana Denise Garcia Bosque, detailed that the complaint is against the perpetrators, but also the public functionaries that had responsibility for the omission, like the brothers Humberto and Ruben Moreira. Recently, Sergio Aguayo, an academic from the College of Mexico, was sued by the ex Governor Humberto Moreira for defamation. For his part, the columnist argues that the cause of the action is an investigation into what happened at Allende.

Humberto Moreira announces his withdrawal as president of the PRI

The ex Governor of Coahuila Humberto Moreira Vales is the subject of new accusations about the massacre at Allende. The documentation about the forced disappearances came to a head during his term and of his brother Ruben Moreira Valdez will be entered before the International Penal Court before the end of the year, by Families United, an association made from the families of the victims.

Ariana Denise Garcia Bosque, legal representative of the association, detailed that the testimonies of a Court in Texas summarized the documentation of the association for the international complaint.

"We could speak of an isolated event, where its not necessary for a person of public function to have the obligation to see what is going on, but speaking of these terrible events like Allende or the complaint that was made against the State with the Commission for Human Rights denouncing the illegality of GATE (Grupo de Armas y Tacticas Especiales), we could venture to say that yes we could deduct a responsibility", said the activist.

In past days, Rodrigo Humberto Uribe Tapia, an ex member of Los Zetas, accused high functionaries of the administration of Governor Humberto Moreira received money from the cartel to operate in freedom.

The statements were presented during a trial in Texas against alleged Zeta leader Marciano Millan Vazquez. The payments were made to Vincente Chaires Yanez, personal assistant of Moreira, and Jesus Torres Charles, ex State prosecutor, according to the statement of a witness, spread by the news outlet San Antonio Express News.

About Allende, families of the victims and organization have accused that it was Los Zetas, helped by the absence of local public security forces, who perpetrated in the towns of Allende and Piedras Negras, the massacre and disappearance of at least 300 people. To date there have only been 28 disappearances and 11 murders, on the part of the authorities.

 The complaint made by Garcia Bosque three years ago will not be the first to be submitted for the Allende case before the International Penal Court. This week aspiring Governor candidate, Armando Guadiana Tijerina, filed a lawsuit for crimes against humanity before the Court of the Hague.

The majority of the disappearances in Coahuila were carried out in masses, detailed Blanca Martinez Bustos, member of the organization Families United for our Disappeared, one month ago during a presentation informed "Undeniable Atrocities" of open society. To prove her point, she said, well the Juan de Larios Center registered between 2007 and 2015 a total of 494 disappearances, grouped in 164 cases.

The Lawyer Ariana Denise Garcia Bosque

 In an interview with Sinembargo, Garcia Bosque explained that one could say that the Governorships of the Moreira brothers committed forced disappearances.

"How are they documenting the information about the forced disappearances?

We have three years work, we know that before presenting a complaint of this nature before the IPC, its not enough to just turn up and complain that something happened. Today we are working on that supportive information, because it is common knowledge that in the USA that there is a judgment against a person who has alleged links to organized crime. All of the necessary documents and statements we needed, we have, and are working now to present all of the collected information before the IPC.

"What testimony will you incorporate and what relation will it have to the complaint trial?

"We have the truth and that is public, and is carried by publications like the San Antonio Express News. Obviously, the trial archives are now public. We have testimony where names appear that are of those among the disappeared. It is for this that we will link the testimony about events in the State. Also, we have cases since 2007, that the association started to work on in 2013. The have added to our persons that had fear of denouncing the disappearances, following with criticism of the authority itself to make them desist with the idea that something bad could happen to them if they did."

"You have registered some instances of authorities hiding or altering cases of disappearances on the part of State Authorities?"

"There have been two occasions that the State has promoted theories of what allegedly happened in Allende. The first of theirs was in 2014 with the discovery of 4000 bone fragments according to the version of the prosecutor."

"Publicly they said that these fragments were impossible to get DNA fragments from for the families. Not 15 days had passed, when we already had publications in which they were handing over the remains to the families."

"But more than that, the State Governor, Humberto Moreira, in a public interview admitted that they were not given the remains of their loved ones, just earth from the crime scene, and justified this as symbolic of giving the families something at their request."

"What we asked was that if this was a symbolic handover why also did they issue death certificates?"

"Of how many acts are we talking?"

"It is presumable, from the information about who was the assistant prosecutor in the area could not be located, so we treat it as 11 cases."

"How many witnesses are integrated into the complaint presented before the IPC?"

"We cant give a level for the amount of witnesses, because  a single case could involve multiple witnesses. Here is the point, to talk about the two stages in which the disappearances have been perpetrated by the State."

"One is the unfortunate case of Allende where they started to perpetrate disappearances during 2009, though it was not until 2012 when people started to talk about the terror implemented by these criminal groups. At the end of 2013, we have another type of disappearance, documented by us as forced disappearances and that they perpetrated by GATE of the State Government, that is currently called the Coahuila Force."

"How do GATE operate?"

"They carry out arbitrary detentions, after that they hide the person. The witnesses assert that people have been kidnapped. The families took to the institutions to look to see if their family members were in the cells, but its always negative." (Otis: see link to article by my colleague Lucio R about GATE abuses).

"Sometimes three or four days pass before the families know where they were. That is called forced disappearance, because its a disappearance, second that they hide the person, and the perpetrators were directly employed by a political corporation. We have 15 people that are still missing, 15 of the 85 cases of forced disappearance."

"What happened to those that were found?"

"Of those that were found, were all subject to torture by this corporation. This corporation called GATE had no legal basis when it began operating. There is talk of it being created in 2009, and by 2015, this corporation had not been recognized within a legal framework."

"They didn't follow the law of the State Commission for Security because legally they didn't exist. Later they made a change of denomination and now this corporation is called Coahuila Force."

"Too many of the forced disappearances were committed by GATE, like those of Allende committed during the Governorships of Humberto Moreira and the actual Governor Ruben Moreira, will the complaint have implications for them?"

"Obviously, we are here talking of the participation of the perpetrators. But also we are speaking of an agreement of the organic Law of the Public Administration of the State, all of the superior functionaries: that is to say, Governor, Secretary of Government, Prosecutor, and Commissioner of Security, all have responsibility for obscuration."

"They had an obligation to see and supervise the security of all of citizens in the State. Resultingly, its impossible to believe that these persons didn't say anything about what was happening. Then, it could be pointed out the responsibilities of the functionaries. Already at this time, for every instance they will have to answer yes or no to what were the obligations of each functionary. To see if they had an obligation, then must of known what was happening.

"How will the existing complaint by Governor candidate, Armando Guadiana influence what you will present?"

"I suppose that is very different process. I don't know exactly the route they are going down in his complaint. We are talking about crimes against humanity. The most evident being homicide, torture and forced disappearances. With existing participation of the State, concretely, and the directors of the prison. This has been documented in the complaint, for those in command of the State."

"Taking into account, the statement given by the State regarding this alleged error, that people were taken to the prison and incinerated. They speak of 150 people. We will have to see if the Court decides to make an accumulation at a particular moment and take on the two aspects."

Original article in Spanish at Sinembargo