Luis Alfonso de Alba is not only the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, but also was the first President of the United Nations Human Rights Council. So, his speech on Thursday November 20th at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) was an opportunity to speak to a powerful figure who has worked for human rights causes.
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He was the keynote speaker for the Ethics in Intelligence, Security and Immigration: The Moral and Social Significance of Gathering and Managing Information and Borders in the Global Community Conference. I was present and brought up Brad’s case and got a vague response. Meanwhile, outside, students held a protest over influence of the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security on their campus. Specifically, the IGKNU, (Integrated Global Knowledge and Understanding Collaboration) is seen by protesters as Homeland Security and the CIA using a partnership with the University to recruit for and legitimize the role of covert and surveillance agencies. Homeland Security is responsible for implementing many problematic policies for those living close to the border who have seen their families separated by recent border policies, increased violence and militarization, and destruction of local economies. A presentation by leftist professors earlier in the day highlighted the history of abuses of the CIA.
Nick: My name's Nick Cooper. I work with the group Friends of Brad Will, the American journalist who was killed in Oaxaca two years ago. I've been very concerned about the human rights situation in Mexico because instead of charging the off-duty policemen who were shooting at Brad from across the street during the protest in Oaxaca, the Mexican government has gone along with a very strange narrative that it was the members of the Popular Assembly of Oaxaca… 20 people have been charged now with complicity in a murder of their friend. And the people who were shooting guns from across the street and are on video shooting guns were detained for a couple hours and let go, and I'm very concerned about the human rights issue for my friend who was killed in Oaxaca.
De Alba: Well, that's not precisely a question but I can tell you that I share your concern. The conflict involves the local authorities and the federal authorities. The National Commission on Human Rights has also made an investigation on it. As in several conflicts, what I think is the fundamental point is that we need, as a government, we need to commit to clarify all the facts and to prosecute whoever is responsible, and we have not been able to do it in all cases. But the will to do it -- we have even opened some of the processes including in Oaxaca to foreign assistance and participation of NGOs and institutions to clarify the situation. We should be aware that the situation in the country because of a lot of reasons does not allow us always to reply, but we need to try to clarify the situation and the facts. We have the video that you claim -- I am not a lawyer, I can not tell you exactly whether it has been used properly or not by the authorities. But this is an investigation that I hope as well as you that it will be clarified.
Nick: I was hoping that the PGR would consider this fact, but I feel in some ways since none of the other deaths during the uprising in Oaxaca were actually investigated, just this one, and instead of going after the people who were firing the guns they went after other activists, it thought it was particularly trying to punish us for demanding human rights. It was almost as if they said -- "You want a human rights investigation? We'll tell you what -- we'll arrest his friends, these activist." It was kind of a way of showing that concern about human rights -- they can just snub it in the face in a way.
Not only in Mexico, in a lot of places, human obstacles to enhance security or to develop certain policies -- the question of human rights needs to prevail. Certainly you can not claim to protect human rights and then disregard them on a particular situation. You have to understand also that we need to work on different levels. The commitment of a government is something that takes time. It's the same case in the U.S. So that it takes a commitment from the very policemen to the judge to the tribunal to the society. And then you can have a system that develops and can address the violators. I don't know what to tell you but unfortunately it's not the only case. We have been trying to do, and I am certain that information that we have about the investigations - keep an eye on the issue. We have some periodic reports that we'd certainly be willing to share with anyone interesting. We normally share it with concerned NGOs and other institutions. We certainly report frequently to the human rights commission, High Commission on those topics so we can share that information.
