Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/formnewsroom Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829 Author: Diana Washington Valdez MEXICAN AGENCY, GROUP SEEK PROTECTION FOR JUAREZ ACTIVISTS A Mexican government agency and Amnesty International have urged authorities to protect other activists in Juarez after the recent murder of a woman activist. The federal Mexican National Commission on Human Rights asked Chihuahua officials to provide safety for the activists, including Cipriana Jurado, a longtime labor advocate. Jurado said federal officers detained her in 2008 while she was investigating the death of Saulo Becerra Reyes, who was among a group of men who were picked up by federal authorities on Oct. 21, 2008, on suspicion of ties to drug-trafficking. Amnesty International said a death certificate states Becerra died from a brain hemorrhage a day following his detention. However, authorities never acknowledged Becerra's detention, and Becerra's body was not found until March 2009. Mexican authorities freed Jurado after several nongovernmental groups came to her aid. Amnesty International said Jurado also accompanied the late Josefina Reyes in marches and other protests involving alleged abuses by soldiers and federal agents, who were sent to Chihuahua state to battle the drug cartels. Josefina Reyes, who was shot to death Jan. 3 in her Valle de Juarez community, was the mother of Miguel Angel Reyes Salazar, one of several suspects federal authorities detained last September with Rodolfo "Rikin" Escajeda, a man U.S. and Mexican investigators said was a dangerous drug dealer. Mexican authorities presented Escajeda and Reyes Salazar at a press conference in Mexico City, but Reyes' mother claimed she had no contact with her son and therefore could not verify he was still alive. Julio Cesar Reyes, another one of her sons, was killed in 2008 in Valle de Juarez. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart