Elderly man arrested for planting a tree on the streets of Mexico City

“As if we were 'El Chapo' Guzmán,” is how Alfredo Carrillo described his arrest at the hands of elements of the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC) of the Benito Juárez municipality on January 21, according to an interview with Infobae Mexico.

Carrillo, 67, was arrested while participating in a reforestation activity in Mexico City, where, together with the organization Naturaleza Sostenible CDMX, he is dedicated to planting trees and distributing them free of charge for their care and maintenance. On this occasion, he was trying to plant a lemon tree when he was intercepted by the authorities.

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According to him, they have always had the support of various mayors to carry out their environmental initiatives in urban spaces, based on what is established by the Constitution regarding environmental protection. “UNAM, which is the head of the program, is based on this constitutional foundation,” he said in the interview.

However, on that morning of January 21, while he was preparing to plant two lemon trees with a volunteer on Ticomán Street, in the Del Lago neighborhood, at least ten officers arrived at the scene in three patrol cars.

“A young lady who seemed to be the group's commander came down. I explained the situation to her and she hesitated, so she decided to call us on the radio. She said: 'Hey, it's an elderly man who is planting a tree,' and on the other end they responded: 'No, they have orders to arrest him, arrest him,'” Carrillo said.

After taking pictures of him before putting him in the patrol car, the activist mentioned that the same person with whom the officer had previously communicated ordered him to be handcuffed, arguing that he was a “criminal”.

Carrillo tried to clarify the situation by contacting the person in charge of the program at UNAM, but he said that the authorities did not want to listen to his version. Later, When he was brought before the Control Judge, he learned that his arrest had been justified on the grounds of “damage to the sidewalk,” although at the time of his arrest he was told it was for planting a tree.

After being arrested for more than 72 hours, he was transferred to the North Prison, where he lived with people accused of serious crimes. “There were about 60 of us in a very small cell. In the early hours of the next day they moved us to another building with the Control Judge and they had us crammed into a space of two by three meters, there were 25 people standing and packed in,” he said.

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During his detention, he only received one meal despite being told that he needed to take medication for his hypertension. In addition, according to his lawyer, no accuser ever appeared at the trial, which left open the possibility of irregularities in the process. Currently, Carrillo is awaiting the resolution of the appeal he filed to determine the legality of his arrest.

The version of the Benito Juárez mayor's office

Following the controversy generated by Carrillo's arrest, the Benito Juárez mayor's office issued a statement justifying the police action based on a complaint from residents. According to the document, the arrest occurred because the activist and another volunteer were caught damaging the sidewalk with tools such as sledgehammers and chisels.

“When questioned, they said they belonged to the Sustainable Nature Association and acknowledged that they did not have permission from any authority to remove the sidewalk. After reading their rights, they were sent to the competent authority, along with the tools they used to damage the public road,” reads the official statement.

However, Carrillo argued that his intervention on the sidewalk was not intended to damage it, but rather to create a space for planting trees. “We have all the necessary tools. We have done this all over Mexico City. We cut the sidewalk so that it forms a well-defined, planter-type square without affecting the structure,” he explained in an interview.

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