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Mexico: Report Denounces Enforced Disappearances by Nayarit Public Prosecutor’s Office, Urges ICC to Investigate

(Mexico City, Paris) — Between June and September of 2017, at least 47 people were forcibly disappeared by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Nayarit, Mexico as part of a systematic attack perpetrated by or with the acquiescence of state actors, as documented in a report published today by FIDH and one of its Mexican member organisations IDHEAS. We urge the new International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan to consider initiating an investigation for possible crimes against humanity in Mexico.

Based on the evidence obtained by FIDH and IDHEAS Litigio Estratégico en Derechos Humanos AC, these crimes were presumably perpetrated by members of the Nayarit Public Prosecutor’s Office and other actors belonging to the regional government of Nayarit, possibly including the former governor of Nayarit, Roberto Sandoval, who was detained on 6 June 2021, accused of receiving funds from illicit sources.

The 56-page report, Criminal structure within the Nayarit Public Prosecutor’s Office and Crimes Against Humanity, is based on documentation of 71 cases of enforced disappearances and the finding of 140 bodies in clandestine graves in Nayarit. It describes how authorities of the State of Nayarit, including State Police and employees of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, carried out at least 47 enforced disappearances, with the open use of government resources. Based on the evidence available, there is a reasonable basis to believe that these 47 victims of enforced disappearance were targeted by the State of Nayarit as part of a systematic attack, which constitute crimes against humanity under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The report demonstrates how between 2011 and 2017, former Governor Roberto Sandoval and Public Prosecutor Edgar Veytia, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States for participating in an international narcotics distribution conspiracy, created a criminal structure within the Nayarit Prosecutor’s Office, through which they would have committed acts of homicide, torture, theft of property, extortion and enforced disappearance.

"It is outrageous that the Office of the Prosecutor of Nayarit, which families looked to carry out an investigation, was in fact the entity that committed the enforced disappearances."

• Jimena Reyes, FIDH director for the Americas

The report also details the lack of action and negligence of local Nayarit authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases of enforced disappearance committed during Sandoval’s government, despite arduous efforts by Nayarit-based collectives of relatives of victims of enforced disappearance to obtain some measure of justice. As of November 2020, at least 140 bodies had been found in clandestine graves located in the State of Nayarit and the total number of enforced disappearances between 2017 and 2019 has been estimated to range between 120 and 300. To date, no perpetrator has been found liable for the cases of enforced disappearance that took place between June and September of 2017.

“Since 2014 we have been documenting the existence of crimes against humanity in Mexico, committed by organised crime groups, State authorities or both acting jointly. It is outrageous that the Office of the Prosecutor of Nayarit, which families looked to carry out an investigation, was in fact the entity that committed the enforced disappearances. For those reasons, we ask the federal authorities of Mexico to both recognise the crimes against humanity and refer the case to the ICC,” declared Jimena Reyes, FIDH director for the Americas.

FIDH and IDHEAS, together with Nayarit-based collectives of relatives of victims of enforced disappearance, ask the newly-elected Governor of Nayarit, Miguel Ángel Navarro and the State of Mexico to implement reforms through a dialogue with the victims aimed at avoiding the continuation of enforced disappearances in Nayarit, and the ICC to consider initiating an investigation for possible crimes against humanity in Mexico, including Nayarit.

FIDH’S AND PARTNERS’ 9 YEARS OF DOCUMENTING ATROCITIES IN MEXICO

Since 2012, with the emergence of Mexico’s crisis of violence and insecurity, FIDH has worked together with its Mexican member organisations IDHEAS and the Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH), as well as with other ally organisations, including Comisión Ciudadana de Derechos Humanos del Noroeste (CCDH), Familias Unidas en Búsqueda y Localización de Personas Desaparecidas, Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en México, Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios and Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte, to denounce the situation of rampant impunity in Mexico for violations of human rights and international criminal law. In particular, FIDH and its partner organisations have documented and reported on the commission of potential crimes against humanity, including cases of murder, torture, rape, severe deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance. In order to document these cases, the FIDH and its partner organisations have worked hand in hand with relatives of disappeared persons, analysing documentation from various sources and carrying out interviews in different states.

In particular, FIDH and its partner organisations in Mexico have documented and reported on the alleged commission of crimes against humanity in the states of Baja California, between 2006 and 2012; Coahuila, between 2009 and 2011; and Chihuahua, between 2008 and 2010. In all of these reports, FIDH and its partner organisations have exposed the possible existence of a systematic attack involving Mexican state actors or organised criminal networks in the commission of these crimes, which may amount to crimes against humanity. Relying on this documentation and working with local collectives of relatives of disappeared persons, FIDH and its partners have been in contact with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sharing information and urging the ICC to open a preliminary examination of the situation in Mexico.