Human Rights Watch writes to the Minister of the Interior to ask for information about military investigations of abuses against civilians, as a follow-up to the report entitled “Uniform Impunity: Mexico's Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations.”

The government has failed to adequately implement basic security measures it agreed with the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, the Guerrero-based NGO that took these cases to the Inter-American system. These include providing cellular and satellite phones to some beneficiaries, and police protection through twice-daily visits to the homes of the widows of Mr. Ponce Rosas and Mr. Lucas Lucía and police escorts upon request.

We are writing to you with deep concern for the human rights and reproductive health of women in Guanajuato, particularly the lack of access to safe, legal abortion in cases of pregnancies resulting from rape, and the prosecution of women who arrive at public hospitals for post-abortion care, and the pending constitutional reform to “protect life from the moment of conception.” All of these constitute violations of basic human rights of women and girls, including their rights to life, the highest attainable standards of health, autonomy, dignity, and security.

We are writing to urge you to vote against the proposed changes to article 18 of the Puebla state constitution that claim to be for the purpose of “guaranteeing the rights of the family according to the contents of treaties, conventions and other international instruments ratified by Mexico in this matter.” In fact, certain proposed revisions contravene those same international agreements. They would actually violate many of the international human rights protections for families as well as the rights of women, and leave them more vulnerable and less protected.

We are writing to you with deep concern for the human rights and reproductive health of women in Guanajuato, particularly the lack of access to safe, legal abortion in cases of pregnancies resulting from rape, and the prosecution of women who arrive at public hospitals for post-abortion care. We are also concerned with the low number of prosecutions and convictions for rape and sexual violence in Guanajuato.

We are writing to express our profound concern regarding the deaths of Raúl Lucas Lucía and Manuel Ponce Rosas, president and secretary of the Organization for the Future of the Mixteco People, which defends indigenous rights in the state of Guerrero.

I am writing to thank you for your response to our letter of March 6, 2008, expressing Human Rights Watch’s observations to the justice reform package that was approved by the Mexican Congress that day. We value your government’s stated commitment to human rights. However, your administration’s response does not address our fundamental concerns regarding the constitutional reform proposal. In light of the recent approval of the reform package by a majority of state legislatures, your government must take necessary steps to adopt measures that would prevent serious human rights abuses.

I am writing to express my profound concern regarding credible reports that your administration has asked Ms. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), to dismiss Mr. Amerigo Incalcaterra as her representative in Mexico.