5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
November, 19 2010, 09:20am EDT
Contact:
Salvador Sarmiento, RFK Advocacy Officer
(202) 463-7575, ext. 232; sarmiento@rfkcenter.org
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Ceremony Honors Abel Barrera Hernandez of Mexico
WASHINGTON
Abel Barrera Hernandez, Founder and Director of the Tlachinollan Center received the 2010 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award for his courageous defense of the rights of rural and indigenous peoples living in Guerrero State in southern Mexico.
Since 1992, Mr. Barrera and his colleagues at the Tlachinollan Center have put their lives on the line to accompany indigenous communities in their struggle to bring justice to some of Mexico's most marginalized communities. The Tlachinollan Center's record of accomplishment under exceptionally dangerous working conditions is a testament to the relentless determination of Mr. Barrera and his entire staff.
Tlachinollan has created an independent police-monitoring organization, worked to establish the first state law on forced disappearance, secured the release of numerous illegally detained people, forced a mining company to pay fair rent for the land it utilized, and with the strength of rural farmers, stopped the construction of a dam that would have displaced tens of thousands of people. By leading the courageous journey of survivors of military and police abuses, Tlachinollan and partner organizations have achieved precedent-setting decisions by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, most recently in the cases of Valentina Rosendo and Ines Fernandez, two indigenous women who suffered rape and torture at the hands of the Mexican military in 2002.
A year into his presidency, President Calderon deployed the army throughout the country as the central component of his war on drugs. From 2007 to date, reports of human rights abuses have increased almost 1,000%. The approximately 4,300 reported abuses include cases of theft, rape, torture, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial executions committed by members of the military.
- more -
Mr. Barrera is an outspoken critic of militarization in Mexico and the resulting disregard for human rights and lack of civilian jurisdiction in criminal matters involving military personnel. He and his colleagues have called on the U.S. to stand in solidarity with the Tlachinollan Center in denouncing these abuses.
Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy presented Mr. Barrera and the Tlachinollan Center with the 2010 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in a ceremony attended by Ms. Kerry Kennedy and other members of the Kennedy family. Mr. Barrera joins 42 RFK human rights laureates in 25 countries as the recipient of the 27th annual prize.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Barrera vowed to continue the struggle for justice. "In the same way as the indigenous people of Guerrero, we will raise our voices to stop the war, to stop the criminalization of the human rights defenders' fight for justice, to prevent any more innocent blood from spilling, and to stop the asylum of impunity."
"Mr. Abel Barrera Hernandez inspires us with his unrelenting determination to bring justice to the marginalized people of Mexico. His example challenges all of us to do more. His courage speaks to our better angels," said Ms. Kerry Kennedy, Founder and President of the RFK Center during her remarks.
In his keynote remarks, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Democracy and Labor, Michael Posner, spoke of the realities facing human rights defenders in Mexico. "Human rights defenders are threatened with death and subject to arbitrary arrest, disappearance and executions." He went on to state that despite these challenges, "Abel has given his community a voice, he has appealed their cases before the courts, and he has provided for their basic needs."
"The situation is critical for those, like Abel, who stand against impunity in Mexico. 107 human rights defenders in the state of Guerrero have been issued protective measures by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, including every member of Tlachinollan, yet they are still threatened." said Monika Kalra Varma, Director of the RFK Center for Human Rights. "We look forward to working alongside Abel and his courageous colleagues to further Robert Kennedy's vision of real justice for all persons."
LATEST NEWS
As Trump Threatens to Escalate Further, Majority of Americans Say Iran War Has Already 'Gone Too Far': Poll
Trump is considering putting US troops on the ground in Iran. Only 12% of Americans want that to happen, according to a new Associated Press-NORC poll.
Mar 25, 2026
Nearly six in ten Americans say President Donald Trump's war in Iran has gone too far, according to a poll out Wednesday from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The war launched late last month by the US and Israel has led to the deaths of more than 1,400 Iranian civilians, according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), and the displacement of more than 3 million. It has spiraled out across the region while creating a global economic crisis that has caused gas prices to spike to nearly $4 per gallon in the US.
Now, 59% of American adults say it's "gone too far," compared to just 26% who say it's "been about right" and 13% who say it's "not gone far enough," according to the survey of 1,150 people.
Those opposed to continuing the president's war of choice include 90% of Democrats and 63% of independents. Most Republicans, 52%, say the amount of force used by Trump has been “about right.” Just 20% want him to go further, while 26% say he’s gone too far.
In recent days, as Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz has wreaked havoc on global oil prices, Trump has sent thousands more servicemembers to the region and reportedly mulled deploying American ground troops in hopes of reopening the crucial waterway.
Experts have warned that a ground deployment could turn the war into an even greater quagmire. Already, 13 US soldiers have been killed since February 28.
An even larger share of Americans, 62%, said they oppose the idea of deploying US troops on the ground in Iran, while just 12% say they support it and 26% say they have no opinion.
While a minority says it is very important for the US to stop Iran from threatening Israel or to replace its government with one more favorable to the US, Americans are prioritizing issues at home.
Ninety-three percent said it was very or somewhat important for the US to keep oil and gas prices low, which has so far not happened—in less than a month, they have spiked by about a dollar and have not shown signs of coming down, even as Trump has deployed emergency fuel reserves and lifted sanctions on some Iranian oil to juice supply.
A majority of Americans, 65%, also said they felt that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon—one of Trump's stated objectives for the war—was a very important foreign policy goal.
However, as journalist and commentator Adam Johnson pointed out in a piece for The Real News on Tuesday, the US public is "grossly misinformed" about the subject—25% wrongly believe Iran already possesses a nuke while 45% believe they are working towards developing one, which has been refuted by US intelligence assessments and reporting based on the testimony of US officials.
The unpopularity of the war with Iran is in line with previous polls showing that the majority of Americans believe the war benefits Israel more than the US and want the war to end quickly.
With Trump having returned to office on the explicit pledge to avoid war with Iran and the cost of living already at the center of the president's near-historic unpopularity, Republicans' outlook for this year's midterm elections looks as grim as ever.
Polling aggregators predict Democrats will easily flip the House, and the Senate is now a toss-up, though Republicans still hold a slight edge.
According to polls, Republicans’ midterm chances truly began to tank in January amid outrage over federal immigration agents' killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis. Though surveys haven't shown GOP numbers getting markedly worse since the war began, recent opinion polling suggests it is not a non-factor.
A poll last week from the Institute of Middle East Understanding found that 43% of voters said they're less likely to support Republicans in the midterms as a result of the war, compared to 31% who said they're more likely.
Keep Reading
Show Less
With No End in Sight, Cost of Trump's Illegal Iran War Balloons to at Least $25 Billion
The new estimate comes amid warnings that the war, now in its fourth week, could "cost the US trillions of dollars in the decades to come."
Mar 25, 2026
The price tag of US President Donald Trump's illegal war on Iran is on track to surpass $25 billion by the end of this week as more American troops head to the Middle East, signaling a protracted conflict and possible ground invasion that would explode the war's already massive financial and human costs.
The latest estimate of the dollar cost of the Iran assault to US taxpayers, who are also facing significantly higher prices at the pump because of the war, comes from the Center for American Progress (CAP). The liberal think tank noted Tuesday that, based on a combination of official figures from the Pentagon and outside estimates, "the Iran war’s cost has likely surpassed $20 billion already and will likely surpass $25 billion by the end of this week."
CAP found that $25 billion would be enough to provide Medicaid coverage to around 3.1 million people for a year, or fund free school lunches for more than 29 million children for a full school year.
"While the cost of the war is funded through the Pentagon’s budget, and that money could not have been legally spent on domestic social programs, the spending nonetheless reflects a choice both Congress and the president made in allocating the country’s limited resources," wrote Bobby Kogan, CAP's senior director for federal budget policy. "This trade-off is particularly salient as Congress considers the president’s upcoming request."
"Before Congress chooses to provide $200 billion in new funding for the US Department of Defense," Kogan added, "it should seriously consider other ways that funding could be used, including improving people’s lives."
"One of the officials lamented that Americans would be paying off the war for generations."
The updated price tag came amid reports that the Pentagon approved a deployment of around 2,000 elite Army soldiers to the Middle East, heightening concerns that the Trump administration is preparing for a deeply unpopular ground invasion of Iran even as the president publicly declares victory.
Experts believe the true financial cost of the Iran war is likely much higher than what publicly available estimates indicate so far.
The Intercept's Nick Turse reported last week that the Trump administration is "drastically undercounting the price tag of the US war with Iran, peddling fragmentary estimates that offer Americans a skewed understanding of the costs."
Citing analysts, lawmakers, and unnamed US officials briefed on Iran operations, Turse reported that "the war is burning through between $1 billion and $2 billion per day—or roughly $11,500 to $23,000 per second."
"The cost, the officials told The Intercept, could rise to a quarter trillion dollars or more over the coming months," Turse added. "Even that is a drop in the bucket compared to the long-term expenses, which could cost the US trillions of dollars in the decades to come. One of the officials lamented that Americans would be paying off the war for generations."
Keep Reading
Show Less
US Military Reportedly Feeds Trump a Daily Propaganda Reel of ‘Stuff Blowing Up’ in Iran
"Every day the Pentagon makes a video of cool explosions from Iran for the president of the United States to watch, so he can bounce up and down in his high chair, clap his little hands, and cry 'Yay! Make it go boom again!'"
Mar 25, 2026
A Wednesday report from NBC News is raising concerns that President Donald Trump may be getting a rose-colored view of the unprovoked and unconstitutional war he started with Iran.
According to NBC News, US military officials show Trump a daily two-minute video montage of operations conducted in the Iran war, featuring "the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets," with one official telling NBC that the video essentially consists of "stuff blowing up."
Two sources in the administration told NBC that "the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving—or absorbing—the complete picture of the war," and one official told the network that "the information Trump gets about the war tends to emphasize US successes, with comparatively little detail about Iranian actions."
The video montages are also leaving the president confused about why the media is covering negative ramifications of the war, which he believes to be an unqualified success, NBC reported.
Critics of the president were quick to slam him and his administration over the reported war highlights montage.
"Sounds like Trump is getting a Centcom propaganda video briefing of things blowing up every day," commented foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen, "but not being briefed when things go wrong."
Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent for BBC, wrote that it appears Trump is "getting an overly rosy picture from his generals of how an unpopular war is going."
MS NOW columnist Paul Waldman contended that the president's behavior as depicted in the NBC report was positively childlike.
"Every day the Pentagon makes a video of cool explosions from Iran for the president of the United States to watch," wrote Waldman, "so he can bounce up and down in his high chair, clap his little hands, and cry 'Yay! Make it go boom again!'"
National security attorney Bradley Moss summarized the NBC report with a single five-word sentence: "The emperor has no brains."
Keep Reading
Show Less
Most Popular