8
despite the State’s contention in the minutes of that meeting that “it [would] carry out
a high-level meeting” to address this issue, to date Mexico has not reported on its
results, and the military prosecutor continued to investigate the case.
The
representatives added that SEDENA opened two preliminary inquiries into this case and
“has refused to transfer these investigations to the civil sphere” in contravention of
international standards on the issue. They also noted that the State has not provided
copies of these files to the Military Prosecutor’s Office and expressed their view that if
any investigation continued to be the province of military jurisdiction or if civil
authorities requested the military’s intervention in solving the matter, it “c[ould]
seriously hinder any inquiries that may be undertaken.” The representatives reported
that on May 19, 2010, the second meeting was held and that in it “the State failed to
respond to requests for investigations and protection,” and State officials “abandoned
the meeting without any warning,”15 which in the representatives’ opinion evinced “a
total lack of will and interest in this serious case of disappearance.” They added that
since the last meeting, the State “has not communicated with the petitioners to inform
them [regarding] the investigative measures [or] the protection requested,” and that
the representatives also have not been summoned by any civil court since that date.
The representatives were insistent in their contention that since the granting of
provisional measures, no meeting has been held relating to their fulfillment and that
the information the State submitted to the Court is not updated. For this reason, the
representatives are unaware whether the State has taken any steps in fulfillment of
these measures. In their November 22, 2010 observations, the representatives noted
with “great concern” that the State “continues to provide information already offered in
other [previous] briefs.”
12.
Regarding the actions and formalities about which the State provided
information, the representatives observed in September 2010 that “more than 200
days [had] passed since the disappearance” of the Alvarados, which leads them to
conclude that the State’s efforts “have not given the case the relevance it requires.”
They noted that the PGR and the PGJE “have only gone so far as to submit affidavits
which, in Mexican law, are [merely] a statement of facts [that] do not obligate
investigation of a crime.” They stressed that FEVIMTRA is “the only civil instance with a
preliminary inquiry” without it being clear “why the prosecutor [assigned to the special
division] for the treatment of women would be investigating a case of forced
disappearance and whether this prosecutor has the capabilities, power, and resources
members and representatives of the victims to military barracks; provide copies of the preliminary
investigations in the possession of the Military Prosecutor’s Office; provide information regarding the name
and rank of the State’s designated person responsible for conducting the investigation into the forced
disappearance; establish a working group in which every 15 days all case files and ongoing investigations are
reviewed so that the representatives are made aware of what has been done; and provide information on the
name of the Army general that confiscated the truck in which the beneficiaries Nitza and José Ángel Alvarado
were traveling when they were allegedly detained arbitrarily on December 29, 2009.
15
In this regard, together with their brief of September 21, 2010 (supra Having Seen 3), the
representatives submitted a copy of the May 19, 2010 affidavit filed by the representative of the Chihuahua
State Commission on Human Rights who had attended the meeting. At that meeting, this government
representative exclaimed that “we had moved to request from the heads of the [State] institutions [present]
their timely response to questions asked during the meeting held last March 10th [2010] about issues raised
that were not substantially resolved, and to address the security measures to protect the life and right to
humane treatment of those involved. Because of the lack of viable proposals to solve this matter, it was
agreed to end the discussion and proceed to a reading and signing of the memorandum; however, this did
not happen because the heads of the aforementioned agencies left the room where the session was being
held, with the exception of the SEDENA members who remained until the end” (Attachment 4 from the
representatives’ September 21, 2010 brief). Together with their October 1, 2010 (supra Having Seen 3)
brief, the representatives also submitted a copy of the informational note from the National Commission on
Human Rights, who had also been present at the meeting and whose note (written at the representatives’
request) states that “at the close of the [meeting held on May 19, 2010] the representatives of the agencies
that participated in this meeting left the property without explanation, leaving only the personnel from [the]
SEDENA, the Chihuahua State Commission on Human Rights, the undersigned [representative of the National
Commission on Human Rights], as well as the representatives and family members of the aggrieved” (Sole
attachment to the representatives’ October 1, 2010 brief).