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246089
2010-01-28 20:50:00
10MEXICO294
Embassy Mexico
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
09CIUDADJUAREZ339|09MEXICO3175
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RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 000294 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
WHA DAS JACOBSON 
NSC RESTREPO AND O'REILLY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR MX
SUBJECT: Murder of Juarez "Human Rights Activist" Clouded by Drug 
Ties 
 
REF: 09 CIUDAD JUAREZ 0339; 09 MEXICO 3175 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  Josefina Reyes, the mother of an alleged 
Juarez Cartel hit-man and drug trafficker, was killed January 3 by 
gunmen in her hometown of Guadalupe, Chihuahua.  Reyes became an 
outspoken opponent of the Mexican military's operations in 
Chihuahua after the army detained her son in 2008.  While locally 
known to have this connection with organized crime, the national 
press portrayed her death as the killing of a human rights 
defender.  Domestic and international human rights organizations 
have brought significant pressure to bear on the Government of 
Mexico (GOM) to act on Reyes' killing.  As overall threats to human 
rights defenders have been on the rise in recent years, we have 
made improving dialogue between the GOM and the NGO community, with 
a view to reducing hostility and threats against human rights 
defenders, one of the priorities for our dialogue with local human 
rights NGO.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Alleged Sinaloa cartel gunmen murdered civic activist 
and former local politician Josefina Reyes Salazar January 3 in 
Guadalupe, Chihuahua, a small community 20 miles east of Ciudad 
Juarez.  Reyes was the mother of purported Juarez Cartel hit-man 
and drug trafficker, Miguel Angel "El Sapo" Reyes Salazar. 
Although press reports vary, it appears that a group of armed 
gunmen entered the "Barbacoa Marios" restaurant and attempted to 
kidnap Josefina Reyes.  When she resisted, they shot her in the 
head saying, according to some witnesses, "You think you're so 
[expletive] because you belong to those organizations?" 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Josefina Reyes allied with elements of the Juarez human 
rights community in opposition to the Mexican army's presence in 
the city after the army detained and later released her son in 
¶2008.  Reyes called her son's detention a kidnapping.  In September 
2009, the army arrested the same son when they captured high level 
Juarez Cartel operative Jose Rodolfo "Rikin" Escajeda.  (Note: 
Escajeda is awaiting extradition to the United States on drug 
charges.  He is also believed to be responsible for the 2009 
murders of Amcits Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar (ref. A). End 
Note.) 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Reyes gained both wanted and unwanted recognition for 
her activism.  She drew public attention in 2008 when she launched 
a hunger strike to protest her son's 2008 detention and to demand 
information on his whereabouts.  She led multiple marches and 
protests in Ciudad Juarez and participated in the Forum against 
Militarization and Repression organized by the National Front 
Against Repression (FNCR).  While she formed alliances with 
numerous local and international NGOs, according to press accounts 
she also was detained by authorities for leading protests and 
marches.  She maintained that she began receiving death threats as 
early as 2008 and that same year reported that the military twice 
entered her home, broke windows and doors, and stole her 
belongings. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Human rights NGOs have condemned Reyes' killing with 50 
of her allies, staging a public demonstration on January 7 outside 
the federal attorney general's offices in Ciudad Juarez to protest 
and draw attention to her death.  Some editorialists and 
commentators have criticized strongly the government for not 
protecting Reyes and they have urged officials to do more to 
protect her collaborators.  Notwithstanding the Reyes family's ties 
to organized crime, Amnesty International (AI) characterized her 
murder as an aggression against human rights defenders.  AI called 
on the GOM to "provide immediate and effective protection" for 
Juarez rights activists. 
 
MEXICO 00000294  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) announced 
that it would open an official investigation into Reyes' death, 
which it claimed was "as assault on rights defenders and the rule 
of law" and that it reflects a larger trend.  In 2005, CNDH 
documented 24 cases of attacks against human rights defenders, but 
in 2006 that number decreased to 18 and in 2007 it decreased 
further to 16.  However, in 2008, CNDH reported 24 attacks against 
activists and 25 in 2009.  The UN's Office of the High Commissioner 
for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report in October 2009 in which 
it documented 128 aggressions against human rights activists that 
occurred between January 2006 and August 2009, including ten 
murders and three kidnappings (ref. B).  AI specifically appealed 
to the GOM and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to 
seek protection for three activists who collaborated with Reyes. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Comment:  Threats against human rights defenders are 
real and apparently on the rise in  Mexico.  We have stressed our 
commitment with the Mexican human rights community to facilitating 
a more constructive dialogue between it and the government on 
reducing threats and violence against human rights defenders.   In 
this instance, information available to the Consulate in Ciudad 
Juarez suggests that Reyes' murder had more to do with her ties to 
organized crime than her work with human rights organizations. 
Nevertheless, until the government does more to protect human 
rights defenders and investigate threats and violence against them, 
its bona-fides on this important matter will continue to come under 
fire by the local and international human rights community.  End 
Comment. 
FEELEY