Overview
The Mexican human-rights organisation Centro Prodh’s printable security protocol for marches and protest actions in high-risk contexts — marshal positions, communication trees, and arrestee-tracking sheets.
How it works
Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro Prodh) is a Mexican human-rights legal centre that has represented victims of state and paramilitary violence since 1988; its Protocolo de seguridad para marchas y acciones is the operational security protocol the centre developed for human-rights defenders organising public actions in Mexico’s high-risk environment [source: centro-prodh-protocolo-marcha]. The protocol’s underlying assumption is that the action must be planned as if the police response could be hostile — even when the action is nominally peaceful and declared [source: centro-prodh-protocolo-marcha].
Coverage: marshal positions — pre-defined marshal points at the head, sides, and tail of a march, with role sheets distributed at the staging area; communication tree — the chain of contacts (legal observer, lawyer, jail support, ambulance, family) and the triggers for escalation up the tree; arrestee tracking — a single-sheet tracking form that follows each person from arrest through release; evidence preservation — the cameras, witness lists, and contemporaneous notes the legal team needs to defend the action in court [source: centro-prodh-protocolo-marcha]. The protocol is explicit that in high-risk contexts, the action’s first goal is the safety of the participants; the political message is secondary until everyone is safe and free.
Published as CC-BY-NC in the lists — short quotes and adaptation with attribution; verify on the document itself [source: centro-prodh-protocolo-marcha]. The protocol is the natural partner of Comité Cerezo’s security manual (T3 owner) and Front Line Defenders’ protection planning template (T2 owner) for Latin American contexts.
When to use it
Designing a security protocol for an ES-language action in a high-risk context; integrating marshal positions, communication tree, and arrestee tracking into one printable document.
Related methods
- affinity-groups
- boycotts-and-strikes
- dilemma-actions
- escalation
- framing-and-narrative
- leadership-development
- methods-of-nonviolent-action
- noncooperation
- nonviolent-direct-action
- one-to-ones
- pillars-of-support
- public-narrative
- structure-tests
- the-tactic-star
Open questions
- Confirm current URL; Centro Prodh periodically updates the protocol.
- Verify the CC-BY-NC license line on the actual document.
- Note Mexico-jurisdiction specifics; for ES-speaking contexts elsewhere, pair with jurisdiction-specific KYR.