CNDH reports abuse of force against migrants in Tapachula, Chiapas

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued a recommendation to Rosa Icela Rodríguez Velázquezhead of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, and Francisco Garduno YanezCommissioner of the National Institute of Migration (INM) for violations of the human rights of 28 migrants by authorities of the Federal Protection Service (SPF), National Guard (GN) and the INM.

The CNDH detailed, in recommendation 215/2022, that on March 25, 2020, a group of between 50 to 100 people from Honduras and El Salvador, who were housed at the INM’s Siglo XXI immigration station in Tapachula, Chiapas and who They protested their prolonged stay in said place, were attacked by elements of the GN.

The document indicates that the elements that entered the immigration station were wearing riot gear, to dissuade the protesters, and that they separated 24 subjects who were identified by the authorities. These people, the recommendation states, were physically and verbally assaulted in the local bathrooms and, later, they were transferred to the INM Provisional Stay in San Cristóbal de las Casas and to the Immigration Station in Palenque, Chiapas.

The recommendation adds that, after reviewing the victims’ injuries, it was concluded that the attacks could have been committed by agents with canes, hammers, iron bars, stones, or hard surfaces such as the floor or wall; In addition, it was proven that GN and SPF personnel used excessive and disproportionate force during the control of the protesters, which led to violations of the right to integrity of at least 28 people.

Also, the CNDH was able to verify that the deployment of SFP and GN agents was contrary to what is established in the National Law on the Use of Force and in the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms; and considered that the physical attacks suffered by the victims were “unjustified, unnecessary and lacking in all proportionality.”

The Commission asked the heads of the SSPC and the INM to immediately repair the damage caused to the 28 victims. Also, they must be registered, in accordance with the law, in the National Registry of Victims; fair compensation must be awarded; and if they require it, they must have free medical attention and medicines in accessible places and with the consent of the victims.

In addition, they requested the institutional collaboration of the recommended authorities to file and follow up on the administrative complaint, before the Internal Control Body of the INM and the Internal Affairs Unit of the GN against public servants who are indicated as responsible .