To the disappointment of environmental and human rights activists, a Mexican judge on Tuesday rejected evidence that two environmentalists had been tortured into confessing to drug and weapons charges. Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who have been sentenced to seven and 10 years in prison respectively, led peasant farmers in Mexico’s southern state of Guerrero in protests against rampant logging in their region. Mexican Green Party lawmakers on Tuesday proposed giving amnesty to the two men. “There are plenty of elements to suggest [the case] was a reprisal for having touched powerful economic interests,” the proposal read. Amnesty International and the Sierra Club have vowed to keep fighting for the men’s freedom and are calling on President-elect Vicente Fox to intervene on behalf of Montiel and Cabrera after he takes office in December.
