C'est La Vie!

Life...or something like that

Friday, August 18, 2006

Betrayed

A story that is truly disturbing,which I wished again and again would be a work of fiction.

In October 2001, the body of the world-renowned Mexican human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa was found shot in the leg and head, covered in starch and arranged beside a written death threat other "sons-of-bitch" human rights lawyers.

There was no doubt that she was murdered.

She had been harassed,threatened,kidnapped twice and raped because she took on the Mexican govenment and the military on behalf of the poor subsistence farmers and the authorities turned a blind eye each time.

In July 2003,the Mexican ruled her violent death to be a 'probable suicide' and slammed the case shut.

Linda Diebel,a three-time recipient of the Amnesty International Media Award,through extensive research and interviews makes mincemeat of the suicide theory and reveals a cover-up so blatant that is shocking - Digna Ochoa was betrayed at every step, by her jealous colleagues,local authorities,those in power who promised her protection.

What Mexico is like behind the colorful tourist posters is chilling.

Diebel's book is a tribute to a courageous woman who continued to fight for the most persecuted people in Mexico,when most would have lost the nerve and fled, someone who rose from poverty and went on to win both a MacArthur "Genius" Award and Amnesty's Enduring Spirit Award and as per Diebel's expose,someone who ended up being a victim twice - first of murder,then of character assasination.

Betrayed : The Assasination of Digna Ochoa- a must read for all!