MEXICO CITY, May 21 (UPI) -- Three leaders of a protest against high electrical rates have been held for months in Mexico on what could be a trumped-up charge, a rights group said Friday.
Sara Lopez, Joaquin Aguilar and Guadalupe Borja, arrested in July in the state of Campeche, announced a hunger strike May 14, Amnesty International said. The group accused the government of keeping them in jail because of their role as community leaders in the National Movement Against High Electricity Tariffs.
The three have been charged with taking an employee of the Federal Electricity Co. hostage during a 2008 protest. An appeals court found in January there was insufficient evidence to justify holding them, but the national attorney general has refused their release.
"Sara, Joaquin and Guadalupe have gone on hunger strike as a last resort to demand their release. It is a desperate act to protest against their unfair imprisonment," said Kerrie Howard, deputy director of Amnesty International's America's program.
The protest involved residents of the village of Candelaria. The electricity company had cut power to the village because many residents were behind on payments either as a protest against high rates or because they could not afford to pay, Amnesty International said.
