One year after the confrontations between inhabitants and Mexico state police at the village of San Salvador Atenco, 174 of the 204 originally detained still face charges, mostly of "attack on the means of communication" (road blocks), and 25 on charges of "kidnapping" (detaining police agents accused of rights violations). None have been sentenced. 28 remain behind bars at the top-security prisons of Altiplano, Santiaguito and Molino de Flores. Another three are fugitives, including América del Valle, daughter the director of the People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), Ignacio del Valle. (El Universal [2], May 3) Amnesty International marked the anniversary by releasing a statement protesting the lack of progress in probes of rights abuses by the state and federal police, saying that impunity remained "rampant." (El Universal [3], May 3)
See our last posts on Mexico [4], Atenco [5] and the human rights crisis [6].
