IBO : Basque Refugees in Mexico

I take this opportunity to present to you a statement made by the International Basque Organization for Human Rights regarding the situation of the six Basque political refugees being held captive in Mexico over some peregrine accusations by the Spanish government:

STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL BASQUE ORGANIZATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE MEXICAN POLICIES REGARDING BASQUE POLITICAL REFUGEES

In a general context of ideological persecution in the Basque Country, alarming irregularities have been occurring during several years on the part of the Mexican government, regarding the Basque political refugees who live there.

IBO is an organization created by Basques of the diaspora, in reaction to the constant violations of human rights of the Basques. We have decided to make an analysis of the specific situation in Mexico, using four different examples. (See http://www.euskojustice.org/Articulos.htm)

We ask for the worldwide support of all the Basque Diaspora for our Basque-Mexican collegues. As in Euskal Herria, the irrational persecution against nationalism ideology is having such an effect that even people without involvement in politics are suffering the retaliations. During the last years, dozens of Basque political refugees have been handed to the Spanish government without the established procedures being followed, and avoiding the respect for their rights. If interested, please refer to dossier in www.euskojustice.org

We are also extremely worried about the safety of the Mexican citizens who are in solidarity with the attacked collective. The charges of "collaboration with terrorism" are being applied arbitrarily to the general group of refugees and its acquaintances. Even the programs of assistance to immigrants, whether refugees or not, given by Centros Vascos (Basque Centers) have suffered damage to their reputation, by media campaigns, and the presence of members of the Spanish police who unlawfully participate in harassment actions like detentions, interrogations executed by the Mexican police. The concern other human rights organizations have expressed about the situation of such rights in Mexico make us express in even in a stronger manner our plea for the help of the entire world to protect and to actively survey the Basque refugees in Mexico and the Mexicans who support them.

We must pinpoint the cases of Arronategi, Artola, Gorrotxategi, Garcia, Urkijo and Alberdi. All of them are imprisoned under different excuses, waiting for a decision about their extradition. The arbitrariness of the measures taken against them and the record of similar cases lead us to suspect that their extradition can be used by the Mexican government to obtain political or economical favors from Spain. They were arrested without warrant, with ridiculous accusations (manufacture of chemical weapons, laughable bank transactions...), and their houses were raided and inspected without proper authorization. Their cases are loaded with irregularities that are being argued with complete attention by the Mexican society, affected before an attitude of the Mexican judiciary that is causing an enormous damage to their own legal rights. We can not forget the ludicrous case of Lorenzo Llona, who after being "strongly requested" to act as an informant of the Spanish police in Mexico, and refusing to do so, was incarcerated under the charge of participation in a violent killing in the Basque Country in 1981 (which occurred exactly the same day he was in Mexico City, working on his papers to obtain his resident visa). In despite of having real and valid proof of that, Llona has been withheld in jail for the last five months waiting for a possible extradition to Spain. Fortunately, he was freed a few days ago, in part due to the social and political pressure of certain Mexican politicians, and also after completing a hunger strike which damaged his health permanently.

In the case that the detained Basque refugees are extradited, they could end up in the hands of the Spanish Security Forces, who are well known (by Amnesty International, among others) of practicing torture on Basque prisoners. On March 6th, 1986, Mexico signed the Convention Against Torture, which states in article 3: "No one State will proceed in the extradition, returning or ejection of persons when there are solid reasons to believe they are in jeopardy of being tortured". In such a case, of Mexico giving in to the pressures of the Spanish government, our countrymen and countrywomen will suffer most probably the same fate of Begonia Sanchez, Vicente Sagredo, Koldo Dominguez, Jesus Mari Gonzalez, Josu Larrea, Santiago Izpura... and others who have denounced being tortured by the police before being submitted to the judiciary authorities.

There is also the probability of facing what is call "penas de banquillo" (bench punishment) which is an immoral practice used quite often by the Security Forces and the Spanish Exception Tribunals (in charge of political offenses and whose partiality and fairness have been questioned by several law experts), as well as the Basque Autonomous Police. This paralegal punishment consists of building cases without any existing basis, in such a way that when they arrive in court, the accused is absolved or the case is dismissed. This process (temporary imprisonment, sometimes for years, payment of astronomical bails, police booking, damage to personal reputation...)becomes a very compelling tool of pressure to threaten anybody who does not want to "collaborate with the police", therefore, the Security Forces do not hesitate to apply such punishment against citizens.

The intention of IBO is to keep an eye on Mexico, permanently. We will proceed to spread this situation among the international media and also among organizations focused on the defense of human rights. We request to the Mexican government to honor its historical, long standing tradition to receive people who are being pursued because of their political beliefs, without yielding to the pressures of the Spanish government. We want to encourage the mobilization of over four million Basque descendants worldwide to demand the end of injustice being applied to Arronategi, Artola, Gorrotxategi, Garcia, Urkijo and Alberdi.

For more information contact:

International Basque Organization For Human Rights
PO Box 225
Corte Madera, CA 94976
www.euskojustice.org

.... ... .