Salgado to be transferred out of high-security prison

2015-05-20 11:57:00

NEWS DESK (DİHA) - Nestora Salgado, the indigenous woman who has been detained by the Mexican state for the last two years for founding a community self-defense group, will be transferred out of a maximum security prison after a two-week hunger strike related to the conditions of her detention.

Nestora left the U.S., where she had lived since she was 20, to return to her hometown of Olinalá in the state of Guerrero, where the violence of the so-called drug war has terrorized the largely indigenous local population. She founded a community self-defense group. Since the Mexican state arrested her on dubious charges in 2013, she has become a figure of indigenous women's resistance. Nestora, who was initially denied meetings with her lawyers and family, has been tortured, deprived of food and refused medical attention for her existing medical conditions.

On May 5, Nestora started a hunger strike against the conditions of her detention. Mexico's Minister of Human Rights and Guerrero state officials met on Monday as Nestora's hunger strike was entering its third week. They have ruled to transfer Nestora from the high-security prison far from her family, where she is currently detained, to a lower-security prison in Mexico City.

Despite the fact that the Mexican Attorney General ruled in 2014 that there was no evidence for the crimes Nestora is charged with, she continues to be detained. Solidarity protests have taken place for Nestora in at least five countries. In January, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission ruled that the Mexican state needed to immediately provide Nestora with medical attention within fifteen days, but the call was ignored. The recent decision means Nestora's conditions will likely improve, but her family and solidarity committee say they will continue to work for her release.

(cm/nt)