The offices of the Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres A.C.- CEDEHM (the Centre for Women's Rights) were broken into on 6 April 2010. CEDEHM is a non-governmental organisation, based in the city of Chihuahua, which promotes and protects the rights of women and offers legal and psychological support to women victims of violence.

Further Information

On the night of 5 / 6 April 2010, the Centre for Women's Rights was broken into. The window into one of the internal offices in the Centre was broken and a 32-inch Samsung plasma screen television, a DVD player, a ladder and a grill were stolen from that office. Another window into a second office containing office files was also broken but it appears that the intruders did not manage to enter this office.

During the night of the break-in, one of the members of the Centre, Mr Gabino Gómez, was notified by the alarm company that one of the sensors in the reception area of the Center had been activated but that the alarm had then been deactivated. They agreed to call him again if the alarm went off again. They did not contact him again that night. The break-in was reported to the municipal police on 6 April 2010.

This is not the first time that CEDEHM has been targeted. In November 2009, two men approached Ms Luz Estela Castro Rodriguez, CEDEHM's coordinator, as she was leaving the Centre and asked her if she worked there. When she replied that she did, one of the men showed her a gun. However, the two men fled the scene when one of Luz Estela Castro Rodriguez's colleagues joined her.

On 21 October 2009, Luz Estela Castro Rodriguez received a threatening email which read “Crees que no sé quien fue?? solo te digo cuidate” (Do you think I don't know who it was? I am just telling you to be careful). Prior to this, in May 2009, Luz Estela Castro Rodriguez received a threatening phone call in which the caller threatened to kill her and to destroy the Centre.

Several members of CEDEHM have also had their cars vandalised over the last year. In November 2009, the car windscreen of the the secretary of CEDEHM was smashed.

On 3 September 2009, CEDEHM's receptionist discovered that her car had been tampered with. On another occasion that month, her car was broken into and the keys of her house were stolen.

In another incident, on 22 August 2009, the windscreen of the car of Ms Irma Villanueva, a lawyer with CEDEHM, was also smashed. On the same day, Irma Villanueva was followed by a motorcycle when she left her house in her husband's car. In April 2009, the car of another member of CEDEHM was also tampered with and the car battery was stolen.

Front Line believes that the break-in at CEDEHM and the ongoing acts of intimidation and harassment against the members of the Centre are directly related to the peaceful and legitimate activities that the organisation carries out in defense of human rights, in particular the rights of women. Front Line fears for the physical and psychological integrity of the members of CEDEHM.