Certain events over the years became “defining moments” for me, events that were embedded in everyday life and that caused me to pause and reflect more deeply on human behaviour – the good, the bad and the mediocre. This account is about one of those moments.
As many of you know, I am the founder and (volunteer) Executive Director of Atzin Mexico, a non-profit humanitarian organization operating in an impoverished and violent area of rural Mexico since 1997, with support from Atzin Canada, a sister charitable organization (www.atzin.org). We concentrated intentionally on a single large rural Nahua community, understanding that progress in such a complex setting would take steady accompaniment. In fact, in 2006 CBC The National featured our work in Tlamacazapa, a coverage that highlighted water scarcity in the midst of acute poverty and insecurity. All told, advances have been hard won under relentless, demanding circumstances.
This year, for the first time, we were almost overwhelmed. Our colleague, Xochitl Ramirez, was arbitrarily arrested on the street by three police officers in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico on May 3, 2023, and taken to the state prosecutor’s office. Later that evening, Xochitl was transported to Atlacholoaya state prison and is being held there in abysmal conditions. She was falsely charged with aggravated kidnapping, a serious criminal event that actually occurred four years earlier in March 2019. The kidnapped victim was rescued by police on the fourth day, and three men were arrested and sentenced to seventy years in prison. A woman also actively participated, but it wasn’t Xochitl.
Xochitl has worked with Atzin since 2005; she started as an intern and office assistant and later, coordinated our social development programs. Aware of the risks involved, Xochitl has worked tirelessly as a community organizer and trainer, defending the human right to a life with dignity.
Xochitl is innocent. She did not commit this, or any other, crime. On the day of the 2019 kidnapping, Xochitl was working with the Atzin team in Tlamacazapa, Guerrero, and, on subsequent week days, with us in the Atzin office.
In Mexico the probability of an innocent person being sentenced is high. Although Mexican law says that a person is innocent until proven guilty, the presumption of guilt is the actual starting point. A national Senate Forum held last month in Mexico City openly pointed to the constant “fabrication of guilt” by a judicial system that results in innocent people going to prison, as there is much to be gained from a “case-closed” status. We debated: how to extract Xochitl without poking the bear, as they say? Or, would carefully-considered documentation help to expose and eventually contribute to the release of the innocent? What were the risks?
Lawyers are constructing a legal defense to prove Xochitl’s innocence at her next hearing on November 9th. But that will not be enough – for Xochitl to have any chance of release, her case needs to stand out from the hundreds of others, putting public pressure on the legal system.
The bright side of this traumatic event is the fact that the local coordinators and promoters in Tlamacazapa are stepping up, taking on more and more responsibility in program administration and planning - their work is praiseworthy! Just goes to show once again that a person learns to manage responsibility by having responsibility, in this case because of the sheer necessity to do so.
What I know for sure is this: our worlds are interconnected, and authentic development requires resolve - a gritty, persistent determination to build and protect our rights and freedoms. Social justice, then, becomes personal, and only when personal, is it possible to keep up the work over time. After resting and reflecting, we are not quitting any time soon!
Support justice for the innocent in prison! Justice for those trapped in poverty!
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