The spokesperson for Mexico’s #YoSoy132 pro-democracy youth
movement in the port of Ensenada, Baja California, has gone missing. (Update: Aleph Jiménez has since been found alive).
Aleph Jiménez was reported
missing to the Attorney General for the state of Baja on Saturday,
September 22.
Jiménez works as a science instructor in the department of
physical oceanography at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher
Education of Ensenada (Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de
Ensenada).
According to the state Attorney General’s office, Jiménez
was last seen around 4:30 pm on Thursday, September 20 at the Santander bank in Ensenada.
He was wearing beige trousers, a white shirt, a camouflaged backpack, and a black
and white cap. He is of fair complexion, with green eyes, and may have a beard.
He had previously filed a complaint with the Human Rights
Ombudsman, alleging that he and some friends were physically attacked on
September 15 during Mexico’s Independence Day celebrations.
A communiqué from the Legal and Human Rights Committee for #YoSoy132
has “urged authorities to present our colleague alive,” adding a request that “public
servants from the three levels of government stop the acts or omissions that
violate the human rights of members of #YoSoy132 in Ensenada, as well as in the
rest of the country.”
The communiqué is notable for the directness of its
supposition that the Mexican State, at all levels, bears some responsibility
for Jiménez’s safety.
This may be due to the fact that on Tuesday, September 18, Jiménez
led a press conference to clarify the events of the night of September 15. During
the conference, Jiménez alleged that members of #YoSoy132, journalists, as well
as “concerned citizens” were assaulted by members of the Municipal Police.
This disappearance raises concern that, as president-elect Peña
Nieto brings the PRI back to power on December 1st, a “dirty war”
against journalists and dissenters is now under way. Though not necessarily
orchestrated from Los Pinos
(Mexico’s White House), government inaction could act as tacit approval for
such repression.
There is widespread concern, for example, regarding the
disappearance of the Mexican blogger Ruy Salgado of the “El 5antuario” (The
Sanctuary) website. Salgado went
missing on Saturday, September 8.
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
Twitter: @TimothyEWilson
(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)
Twitter: @TimothyEWilson
Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com
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If my friend who is a Mexican citizen names me, a US citizen on her property as a beneficiary in Baja California, if she were to die would the property then be mine under my name or would it be transferred to the Mexican government?
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