ERICA SERRANO FRIAS – Lawyer representing environmentalist network “ROGAZ” and her family
NOÉ AGUIRRE OROZCO – Member of “ROGAZ” and his family
On 23 February 2006 a hand grenade was found outside a restaurant owned by lawyer Erica Serrano Farías’ family in Zihuatanejo. Ms. Serrano’s clients include Red de Organizaciones Ambientalistas de Zihuatanejo (Network of Environmentalist Organizations from Zihuatanejo – ROGAZ), which she represents in its opposition to the constructions of a tourist development, Marina Puerto Mío, in the Bay of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero. Ms. Serrano was arguing ROGAZ’s case before the Latin American Water Tribunal in Mexico City when the hand grenade was found. Her family reported the grenade to the municipal police, who were apparently reluctant to remove it. Although the detonator had been removed, the grenade, found by the young son of one of the restaurant staff about one meter away from the building’s front door, may have been left there to frighten Ms. Serrano.
Municipal police did not open an investigation into the finding of the grenade until Ms. Serrano filed a complaint with the Ministerio Público Federal.
ROGAZ member Noé Aguirre Orozco has also been threatened in an incident that is believed to be connected to his environmental campaigning against the construction of Marina Puerto Mío and the ecological damage caused by other tourist developments in the area. On 6 June 2006 Noé Aguirre Orozco’s father, Francisco Aguirre received a threatening phone call from a man who told him that they were watching his son. The caller warned that Noé Aguirre Orozco’s life was in danger. Later that day, a man dressed in a police uniform pointed a sub machine-gun at Noé Aguirre Orozco and his father. Noé Aguirre has filed a complaint about the incident with the Oficina del Ministerio Público, State Prosecutor’s Office in Zihuatanejo. His case and that of Erica Serrano has also been brought before the Human Rights State Commission in Guerrero (Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos en Guerrero).
LRWC ACTION
Letter by Monique Pongracic-Speier sent on March 13, 2006 and June 20, 2006
