The long struggle of two environmentalists who accuse Mexican authorities of arresting them on phony charges and torturing them has reached in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Mexican anti-logging activists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera were arrested on drug and weapons charges and allegedly tortured by the Mexican army in 1999 after they had participated in a movement of small farmers organized by the Campesino Environmentalist Organization of Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán (OCESP). The farmers opposed logging subcontractors were doing for the U.S.-based Boise Cascade timber company in their home state of Guerrero. Although Montiel and Cabrera were freed on humanitarian grounds by former President Vicente Fox in 2001, their convictions were never overturned. “We are asking the court to... [Log in to read more]