CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION _________________
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A RESOLUTION urging the authorities in the Mexican federal government and the state of Guerrero to release Nestora Salgado, and requesting that the U.S. State Department increase its efforts to secure her release in its diplomatic discussions with Mexico.
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WHEREAS, Nestora Salgado is a dual citizen of Mexico and the United States, who raised a family in the greater Seattle area, and who upon returning to her hometown in Guerrero, Mexico, formed a legally sanctioned community police force to defend itself against corrupt local officials with ties to drug cartels, as explained in La Jornada; and
WHEREAS, Nestora Salgado was arrested on August 21, 2013, on charges of kidnapping after she began investigating local government officials for corruption and complicity in drug and sex trafficking; and
WHEREAS, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an international panel of independent human rights experts, communicated on February 1, 2016, that Nestora Salgado's detention is illegal and arbitrary, and that she must be released immediately; and
WHEREAS, Nestora Salgado displayed extraordinary courage by taking a stand against the drug cartels and corrupt government officials in Mexico, especially considering the Mexican National Institute of Statistics reports that more than 164,000 people were killed in the country's drug wars from 2007 to 2014, and the Association of Local Mexican Authorities reports that 1,000 municipal officials and nearly 100 mayors have been assassinated; and
WHEREAS, Nestora Salgado has, according to the Metropolitan King County Council, "experienced serious abuse of human rights, lack of adequate medical attention, and lack of due process throughout her detention" in August of 2013; and
WHEREAS, on August 29, 2014, two U.S. Senators and seven U.S. Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, explaining that "representatives in the Mexican feder...
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