National Commission for Democracy in Mexico, USA 601 N.
Cotton Street, #A103
El Paso, Texas 79902
Phone/fax: (915) 532-8382
Email: moonlight@igc.apc.org
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Cecilia Rodriguez, November 3, 1995
0n Thursday, October 25, 1995 in what was a simple
excursion in broad daylight I was raped and sodomized by 3
armed men in what was supposedly a tourist attraction, the
Lakes of Montebello in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
On the advice of a human rights worker, and because of the
suspicious circumstances of the assault, I left San
Cristobal the next day. I filed a complaint with the
American embassy on October 31, 1995 in Mexico City. When I
presented the complaint, I asked vice-consul Nicholas J.
Manring for information . Who or what offices should I file
the complaint with in Mexico City? He told me that as far
as he knew, 1) I should file a police report in the
municipality where the crimes occurred; 2) that he would
not recommend that I return to the state of Chiapas. My
husband then asked him to forward the report to appropriate
police authorities. He assured us he would and then
commented "they never prosecute here in Mexico".
The United States likes to say it is a defender of
democracy and justice. I am an American citizen, and I will
be interested to see whether any American authority will
see fit to challenge the state of impunity in Mexico since
the only thing they seem to care about is a "stable"
environment able to protect high-powered investors.
I firmly believe that the Mexican as well as the American
government will at best busy themselves with bureaucratic
procedures and at worst, and more than likely accuse me, as
they do all women, of hysteria, of lying, exaggerating, and
demand details that I am unable to remember.
Mine is not the first sexual crime to be committed in that
area and unless the low-intensity war being conducted
against the people of Chiapas ends, there is little hope
that it will be the last . I know there were three Tzeltal
women raped at a military check point, and three nurses
raped and almost killed at the site of the peace talks,
San Andres Larrainzer . How many other women whose stories
we do not know have suffered through this hell? Women who
have never said anything publicly because they fear for
their lives?
I have decided to make a public statement, because I hope
my experience will illustrate the brutal nature of the low
intensity war being waged in Chiapas. I am one more piece
of evidence of the use of sexual violence as a weapon
specifically directed against women in this war.
It is very humiliating to make this public statement. My
pain and stigma will be material for public speculation and
mockery, the pain of my husband, my parents, my brothers
and sisters and my three children will be part of the
public domain. If my public humiliation can serve no other
purpose than to expose to the general public the horror
being endured in Mexico then it will be worth it.
I ask for justice, not from the governments of the United
States and Mexico because they are complicit in this war,
but from the people of Mexico and the United States. Look
into my suffering and multiply that by the hundreds of
women, men and children whose voices you do not seem to
hear, who suffer on a daily basis the humiliation and
terror of a military presence which intends to suffocate
the very human aspirations for democracy, liberty and
justice.
I am a casualty of a low-intensity war sanctioned and more
than likely facilitated by the government of the United
States. I am a victim of a state of social deterioration in
which journalists, opposition party members, and any
unarmed civilian no longer enjoy safety and tranquillity,
even in broad daylight and in which those in power have no
more recourse than to use assassination, terror, and
conspiracy even in the settling of their own differences.
As citizens of the United States, we can not also be
complicit in this war. We cannot abandon the indigenous
communities trapped behind a military barricade.
I ask you to remember always the women of Mexico, to fight
for their right to be safe and secure and to live in a
country where the Zapatista demands for democracy, liberty,
and justice are a reality.
I have a question of those men who raped me. Why did you
not kill me? It was a mistake to spare my life. I will not
"shut up", I will not stop my work or travel to Chiapas or
my work in the United States as a representative of the
Zapatistas, this has not traumatized me to the point of
paralysis. I will follow the example of the other thousands
of Mexicans who continue to work for a true democracy in
Mexico in spite of the danger to themselves and their loved
ones, who tell the truth in spite of physical and mental
suffering. You have left me my life and from this will come
the strength to continue to work.