Ayotzinapa delegation to testify before civil society and policy makers about human rights crisis in Mexico

April 10, 2015

Family members and representatives of 43 missing students touring Canada for the first time calling for end to state violence and lack of accountability in Mexico

Canada -- Hilda Legideo Vargas, a single mother and crafts seller whose son was disappeared in the September 26th attack; Jorge Luis Clemente Balbuena, a member of the student committee of the Ayotzinapa teachers' college; and Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, a lawyer from the human-rights center Tlachinollan who is the legal representative of the families of the 43 disappeared students will be touring across Canada, meeting with law-makers and civil society groups in British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario to press Canadian parliamentarians and policy makers to acknowledge the human rights crisis in Mexico. On April 28th, they will testify before the Subcommittee for International Human Rights at the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.


Public events & media briefings

April 12, 2pm: Presentation at SFU Harbour Centre, Vancouver

April 13, 10am: Media briefing outside Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver with Grand Chief Stewart Phillip (Union of BC Indian Chiefs) and Vancouver-East MP Libby Davies*

April 17, 6pm: Fundraiser at Commercial Dr. Royal Canadian Legion Hall, Vancouver

April 22, 6pm: Presentation at Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM)

April 23, 9am: Media Briefing at the Quebec National Assembly, Quebec

April 24, 7pm: Cultural event and solidarity night at Parroquia San Esteban, Toronto

April 25, 5pm: Feast and panel discussion, Shelldale Community Centre, Guelph

April 26, 12pm: Community gathering at Six Nations

For full schedule of events see: http://makemexicosafe.ca/ayotzinapa2ottawa/#events


BACKGROUND

On September 26, 2014, Mexican state security forces attacked a group of students from the teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, killing 6 people and forcibly disappearing 43 others who were never seen again. The crime has pulled the veil off an acute human rights crisis in Mexico. The search for the students has uncovered more than 15 mass graves in neighbouring areas of the state of Guerrero, none of them containing the bodies of the students.

In 2012, two way trade between Mexico and Canada totalled $20 billion. As a signatory to NAFTA, Mexico is Canada’s 5th largest export destination. Despite the human rights crisis in Mexico, Canada’s refugee system has deemed it a “safe country.” Ms. Legideño Vargas, Mr. Balbuena, and Mr. Rosales Sierra will be pressing Canadian parliamentarians and policy makers to acknowledge the human rights crisis in Mexico, felt with particular acuteness by the country’s indigenous population; hold the Mexican government to international human rights norms; review Canada's program of cooperation with Mexico; and eliminate barriers for people seeking protection in Canada.

Source:
Ayotzinapa to Ottawa Caravan
http://makemexicosafe.ca/ayotzinapa2ottawa/


Media contact: ayotzinapa2ottawa@gmail.com

Press contacts by region:

British Columbia
CIPO-Vancouver
Gil Aguilar
604-828-8909 (cell), cipo.van@gmail.com

Montreal and Ottawa
Comite pour les droits humains en Amerique latine:
Marie-Eve Marleau
514-358-2227, info@cdhal.org

L'Entraide missionnaire:
Gerardo Aiquel
438-875-6261

Toronto
Common Frontiers:
Raul Burbano
416-522 8615 (cell), burbano@rogers.com

Guelph
Sergio Pochon
226-499-0161 (home), 226-978-1533 (cell)
alternativalatinoamericana@gmail.com

For more information contact:
-
Phone: -
Email: ayotzinapa2ottawa@gmail.com