Philippine human rights organization Karapatan joined various organizations under the International League of Peoples’ Struggles in a protest action in front of the Embassy of Mexico in Makati City to demand justice for Mexican activist Gustavo S. Delgado, a leader of the Frente Popular Revolucionario de Mexico (FPR-Revolutionary Popular Front).
Philippine human rights organization Karapatan joined various organizations under the International League of Peoples’ Struggles in a protest action in front of the Embassy of Mexico in Makati City to demand justice for Mexican activist Gustavo S. Delgado, a leader of the Frente Popular Revolucionario de Mexico (FPR-Revolutionary Popular Front).
Delgado was abducted on February 3, 2015. He was found tortured and decapitated the next day in the State of Morelos, Mexico. His abduction and killing were reportedly perpetrated by state security forces in Mexico, as he has been a subject of threats, harassment and illegal arrest in the course of his organizing and campaign work among the youth, workers and communities in Mexico.
“We extend our sympathies to the family of GA Salgado Delgado, to his colleagues in FPR, and to the people of Mexico for the loss of a staunch adefender of human rights. We are one with you in your quest for justice,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan and coordinator of ILPS Commission 3 on the cause of human rights, including the rights of political prisoners.
Delgado led the FPR in supporting the struggle of more than 40,000 workers of the Union of Mexican Electrical Workers who were laid off in 2008; of communities against energy projects detrimental to the welfare of the people of Huexca, Tlaxcala and Morelos; migrant agricultural workers of La Costa Chica and Montana de Guerrero displaced by violence and natural calamities; and the demand for justice for the 43 students of the Rural Normal School “Raul Isidro Burgo” in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero who were disappeared and killed.
Mexican authorities merely qualified the crime against Delgado as a case of homicide, which is a much lesser offense. His family and members of the FPR are denied access to documents on the investigation, and have since been experiencing harassment and intimidation from “uniformed civilian and military personnel.”
“We call on Mexican Pres. Enrique Pena Nieto to conduct a full and transparent investigation into the killing of Gustavo Delgado and to stop all forms of threats and violence against the community of Emiliano Zapata, the Ayala indigenous camp, members of the FPR, and relatives, sympathizers and friends of Delgado,” Palabay said. ###