Mexico's Military and the Murder at Zongolica (II)

Major discordances in the death of elderly woman

In the first part of this article we reported the news of an alleged
rape and killing of an indigenous 73-year-old poor woman, Ernestina
Ascencio Rosario, in the town of Soledad Atzompa, state of Veracruz.
Atzompa citizens accused Mexican army soldiers patrolling the area of
committing the crime. President Felipe Calderon and the Defense
Ministry stood up to defend the soldier's innocence, while opposition
political parties, nongovernmental organizations and alternative media
suggested otherwise. The implications of the case, despite the outcome,
could become far-reaching.

During a newspaper interview, Mexican President Felipe Calderon
declared, without being asked, that Ascencio's death was natural, due
to a "neglected chronic gastritis," when investigations where
inconclusive. Accordingly, five days later (1), Jose Luis Soberanes,
ombudsman of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), agreed with
this theory. Soberanes refused to acknowledge the possibility of rape,
participation by military personnel, or facts to suggest an
assassination. "It could be for natural causes," he assured based on a
second autopsy made by the CNDH. Strangely, in a previous March 3 press
release (2) the CNDH stated that Ascension "died due to the lesions she
received."

The CNDH later explained, "We have histopathologic data indicative of
acute anemia caused by secondary digestive tube bleeding and to peptic
gastric ulcers in a subject who suffered a malign hepatic neoplasia and
a pneumonic process in recovery" (3).



The human rights institution issued preliminary results of a second
autopsy made by its staff just five days after Calderon's "gastritis"
statement. The document reads, "It is noticeable the inexistence of
vaginal tearing on the victim … presence of a rectal perforation was
also discarded" and also denies any kind of "craneoencephalic trauma,
fracture or cervical vertebrae luxation." The report totally
contradicted the Veracruz state investigation. Rene Huerta, spokesman
of an indigenous coalition in Zongolica, was cautious. He respected the
inquiries and pleaded to wait for the report from the special
prosecutor appointed by Gov. Fidel Herrera to compare results (4).



An independent human rights NGO supported by Amnesty International,
Centro Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez, criticized the speedy recount made by
the CNDH compared to other high profile crises undertaken with
lateness, like state repression in Atenco in 2005 or in Oaxaca in 2006
(5).



The Veracruz attorney general office informed on March 29 that three
forensic experts in charge of Ascencio's necropsy were suspended and
being subjected to a "rigorous investigation." The Mayor of Soledad
Atzompa, Javier Perez (Democratic Revolutionary Party; PRD), attacked
Soberanes and said the CNDH is "allied with the army and now it's
against the affected indigenous people … we feel terrible knowing Mr.
Soberanes is trying to leave unpunished this attack on our older
sister." Mayor Perez requested an audience with President Felipe
Calderon and with the head of CNDH. He also set a 15-day ultimatum for
the Defense Ministry to bring the men responsible to justice and
publish the last autopsy results, otherwise protests would erupt in
Veracruz and Mexico City.



On March 30, the main opposition force in Congress, the leftist PRD,
tried to bring Soberanes to testify before congressmen but the
initiative was boycotted by Jorge Zermeno, head of Congress, a militant
of the ruling conservative PAN party (6).



In an interview (7), Jose Luis Soberanes reaffirmed "there was no rape.
No homicide" and that the first necropsy was "badly done. It was
totally irregular, full of omissions and negligence." He promised to
sue the forensic officers of Veracruz for these acts.



That same day (8), Fidel Herrera, governor of Veracruz, backed his
experts at a press conference. He showed copies of the death
certificate (number 172772) showing the violent acts and told the
media, "It was a crime, not natural death."



Similarly, Noemi Quirazco Hernandez, president of Veracruz State
Commission of Human Rights (CEDHV), said, "I don't know a single case
were a women denounced a rape act against her without being true, and
much less being a 73-year-old woman. I don't believe it at all [the
natural death story]" (9).



A day later Maria del Rocio Garcia, president of the National Women's
Institute (INMUJERES), defended the army: "She was dying, she was
babbling, I'm not trusting on what she said."



But five of Ascencio's children broke their silence and assured the
press their mother was not suffering from gastritis and was not
complaining of any kind of chronic illness. Julio Ascencio, the older
sibling, asserted that his mom had a good appetite and went sheep
grazing, walking eight kilometers each day. "She was never ill; she had
check-ups at the clinic" (10). Meanwhile, the Veracruz government
informed that forensic experts were preparing a report about the case
suggesting their initial opinion could be sustained and presented to
Governor Herrera in the coming days (11).



Let's review some of the major discordances in Ascencio's death:



1. Ministry of Defense press release number 019 of March 6 stated that
"forensic experts are … comparing samples of seminal fluid taken from
the body of the death women, with blood samples taken from military
personnel" (12).



2. The following day, the ministry published press release number 020,
assuring that "these samples, along with the semen sample taken from
the perished will be sent to Mexico City… to obtain a genetic
footprint, compare it and bring conclusive results" (13).



But recently the Public Relations Department in the Defense Ministry
said there was no "seminal fluid supposedly founded in Mrs. Ascension's
body … because Veracruz government would be in possession of such
samples" and that "to this date the Ministry has not received such
samples to test them" (14).



3. An activist and public servant of Soledad Atzompa, Julio Atenco, told Proceso
magazine that in the first days of March the local governing body
(cabildo) had interviews with two members of the CNDH, Pedro Armendariz
and Francisco Platas, "who told us all evidence gathered so far aimed
at the military responsibility … they accepted the raping of our
sister." Atenco mentioned that on Feb. 26 just hours after the crime,
Col. Jose Soberanes reported in front of 300 people that four soldiers
were arrested and were the subject of an investigation, but the next
day said, "we don't have soldiers under detention" (15).



4. Results from the death certificate made by Dr. Juan Pablo
Mendizabal, from the first autopsy performed by three forensic experts
(number 070276634), from reports from the Veracruz attorney general
office, from investigations by the Special Agency on Sex Crimes Against
Family and the Public Ministry Agency of Ciudad Mendoza revealed a
gruesome death and sexual aggression against the elderly woman (16).



The Community General Assembly of the Nahua town of Zongolica requested
an urgent meeting with President Calderon (17) and considered it
"worrisome that those responsible of this absurd and unheard crime are
being protected … because they're sending a clear message to the
Mexican society that this act could have military or political
objectives."



According to Modesto Antonio Cruz, an Atzompa police officer, just
three weeks before the Ascencio incident he sent an official "bad
behavior" complaint (petty theft, abuse of authority and mistreatment
of citizens) against some soldiers to their superior, Lt. Col.
Alejandro Orozco, with copies to Galvan at the Defense Ministry and
President Calderon. Officer Cruz assured, "I think this complaint is
related to aggressions of our big sister Ernestina. It could be a
retaliation act, a warning message" (18).



The CNDH is facing the most critical challenge to its credibility since
its creation in 1990. Its recommendations are not binding to federal or
local governments and its role denouncing massive human rights
violations has been questionable at best according to activists and
academic specialists. Isabel Uriarte, a lawyer from Centro Miguel
Agustin Pro, accuses Soberanes of not following another five cases like
this since 1999. Sergio Aguayo, head of Fundar, says the $63 million
annual budget of the CNDH exceeds by far any other human rights agency
in the world, but its results are more deficient than other local or
foreign agencies. Also, the CNDH lacks transparency compared to other
NGOs, since it refuses to make public the files of finished cases, and
charges $9 per copy for a requested document. The most disconcerting
aspect of this opacity is the strict confidentiality regarding
Soberanes' reelection in 2005 (19).



If the CNDH is right and Ascencio died from natural causes, then the
state of Veracruz and the citizens of Soledad Atzompa will have to
clarify their reasons for attacking the integrity of the army,
especially in light of the presence of alleged drug traffickers and
guerrilla groups in the region. But if a violent death is demonstrated
then Congress and society will have to pressure President Calderon to
make a formal apology for his mistake and fire his secretary of
defense, Galvan. Destitution will be inevitable to Soberanes for hiding
the truth. And of course, those directly responsible will have to be
punished for their abominable actions.



Let's hope justice will prevail in a country where impunity is almost a tradition.