Ernestina Ascensión Rosario


Ernestina Ascención Rosario was indigenous Nahua native to the mountains of Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico. Her death at 73 years of age caused uproar across Mexico as a result of the accusations that she had been raped and murdered by several Mexican soldiers, but these allegations could not be officially substantiated. Authorities later determined her death to be of natural causes, without criminal implications. This version has not convinced the family or human rights advocacy groups.

Case description

Ernestina Ascención Rosario died while herding sheep in Tetlatzinga community. She was found, lying on the grass, still alive, and allegedly managed to say that she had been assaulted by soldiers. The first autopsy confirmed that she had been the victim of rape.
The social outrage in Soledad Atzompa, Veracruz, was such that the detachment of soldiers assigned to the area were forced to withdraw. Previously, the behavior of these soldiers had been the subject of written complaints to the local authority, but no action had been taken. The National Defense Secretariat denied any connection to the death of Rosario, whose death was blamed on natural causes. This version of events was also defended President Felipe Calderón.
The controversy reached the municipal, state and federal level, to the highest echelons of the military, the opposition political parties and the National Human Rights Commission.
Conflicting accounts of the events have continued to be the subject of disagreement. While some maintain that she died at the hands of the soldiers stationed nearby, others say she died due to complications from an ulcer. The first was initially defended by the government of Veracruz, the second by the Presidency of the Republic and then by the National Human Rights Commission.
Her death and the subsequent confusion over its cause reflect different problems in Mexican political and social life, such as indigenous rights, women's rights, poverty, democracy, the role of the military in peacetime, and the objectivity of the media amongst others.

Chronology of events

2007

The case of Ernestina Ascención Rosario had national impact and related to other abuses of authority, as the events of police repression in Atenco or the Oaxaca teachers' conflict, in which several women were assaulted by state and federal police.
The National Commission on Human Rights, led by Dr. José Luis Soberanes, acted for the perpetrators and was called before the federal deputies responsible for making recommendations to the agencies involved in the case, including SEDENA.

Case closure

The Attorney General of the State of Veracruz began an investigation into the case, which ended on 1 May 2007. Having determined that Rosario's death was a natural death "by parasitosis", no criminal action was appropriate.