Manuel Manriquez - Music
- Artist/Author/Producer: Manuel Manriquez San Agustin
- Confronting Bodies: Federal District's judicial police
- Dates of action: June 20, 1990
- Location: Mexico City, Mexico
- Description of the Art Work
- Manriquez is a musician and a member of the Otomi indigenous community of
Rancheria Piedra Blanca.
- Description of incident
- On June 2, 1990, Manriquez - who spoke no Spanish - was arrested without
warrant by the Federal District's judicial police in Mexico City. He
remained incommunicado for four days under police custody where he was
tortured and forced to sign papers he could not understand. Despite the
illegality of his detention, the clear signs of torture, and the lack of
evidence other than his signed statements without an interpreter,
Manriquez was charged with murder.
In July 1991, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison
- Results of incident
- Since his arrest, Manriquez has learned to speak Spanish, and in
September 1991, co-founded a human rights organization with other
indigenous prisoners: The Comision de Defensa Campesina e Indigena del
Comite Ricardo Lopez Juarez, campaigning on behalf of the rights of
indians and peasants imprisoned in Mexico.
Source: Amnesty International
