Amnesty International Report 1998 - Mexico

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)   Scores of prisoners of conscience were detained. Human rights defenders and journalists were victims of death threats, attacks and other forms of harassment. Torture and ill-treatment by the army and police were widespread. At least 30 people "disappeared" and scores of people were extrajudicially executed. President Ernesto Zedillo increased the participation of the army in law enforcement, anti-narcotics and counter-insurgency operations. There was a marked increase in the number of human rights violations, including torture, "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions, by members of the security forces and paramilitary groups. In July the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (pri), Institutional Revolutionary Party, lost its absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time, while Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano, of the opposition Partido de la Revolución Democrática (prd), Democratic Revolutionary Party, won the governorship of Mexico City, a post formerly appointed by the President. Allegations of vote-rigging by the pri in Campeche State led to protests, during which scores of prd activists were beaten by the police. Peace talks between the government and the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (ezln), Zapatista National Liberation Army, an armed opposition group, remained suspended throughout the year (see Amnesty International Report 1997). In May the Ejército Popular Revolucionario (epr), Popular Revolutionary Army, another armed opposition group, launched new attacks on military targets. Serious human rights violations continued to be reported in the context of the conflict with the ezln and epr In June the UN Committee against Torture concluded that torture "continued to be practised systematically" in Mexico. The Committee criticized the impunity benefiting perpetrators and the courts' persistence in admitting as evidence statements extracted under torture. In August the UN Special Rapporteur on torture visited Mexico for the first time In January the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for the immediate release of Brigadier General José Francisco Gallardo, but he remained in prison at the end of the year (see below and Amnesty International Report 1997). Scores of prisoners of conscience were held. Benigno Guzmán, a leader of the Organización Campesina de la Sierra del Sur, Southern Sierra Peasant Organization, was arrested in January in Mexico City and imprisoned in Acapulco, Guerrero State, following unsubstantiated accusations that he had links with the epr. Bertoldo Ramírez Cruz, a leading human rights and prd activist in Guerrero State, was arrested in Acapulco in February. Chinantec Indian leaders Juan Zamora González and Marcos Zamora González were arrested, tortured and imprisoned in Veracruz, Veracruz State, because of their peaceful activism over community land rights. Ignacio García Muñiz, a human rights and prd activist, was arrested and tortured by soldiers in Guerrero State, and imprisoned on false drug charges. They all remained in prison at the end of the year. Prisoners of conscience detained in previous years continued to be held. They included Manuel Manríquez San Agustín (see Amnesty International Reports 1994 to 1996), Brigadier General José Francisco Gallardo, and six members of the Sindicato de Trabajadores Petroleros de la República Mexicana, the Mexican oil workers' union (see Amnesty International Report 1997). Gerardo Demesa Padilla, a leader of the Comité de Unidad de Tepoztlán, Committee of Unity of Tepoztlán, was sentenced in August to eight years' imprisonment (see Amnesty International Report 1997). His appeal had not been heard by the end of the year. Some prisoners of conscience were released during the year. Cecilia Elizalde Mora and Maximina Excobar Sánchez were released in May, Hilario Mesino Acosta was released in June, and former trade union leader Joaquín Hernández Galicia was released in December (see Amnesty International Report 1997). Scores of human rights defenders and journalists investigating human rights violations or official corruption received death threats. The authorities consistently failed to bring those responsible to justice (see Amnesty International Report 1997). Among those targeted were dozens of leading members of non-governmental organizations (ngos), such as María Luisa Mussot, of the Coordinadora de Mujeres en Defensa de la Seguridad Social, Women's Coordinating Committee for Social Security; Father Miguel Concha Malo, a Jesuit priest from the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria, Centre for Human Rights Fray Francisco de Vitoria, in Mexico City; Fathers Javier Ávila and Camilo Daniel, Roman Catholic priests from the Comisión de Solidaridad y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Commission for the Defence of Human Rights and Solidarity, in Chihuahua; and Cleotilde Porras from the Coordinación de Organismos No Gubernamentales por la Paz, Coalition of ngos for Peace, in Chiapas. In November Roman Catholic Bishops Raúl Vera and Samuel Ruiz survived an armed attack by members of a paramilitary group while visiting Indian communities in Chiapas State. Bishop Samuel Ruiz had suffered previous death threats for his human rights advocacy. Journalist Daniel Lizarraga, investigating police corruption for the daily Reforma, was detained, beaten and threatened with death in early September by plainclothes policemen in Mexico City. René Solorio and Ernesto Madrid, television news reporters investigating police killings, were detained, beaten and threatened in mid-September by members of the Federal District police in Mexico City. Hundreds of politicians, civil rights activists, and witnesses or relatives of victims of human rights violations also suffered death threats and other abuses. Víctor Quintana Silveyra, federal deputy for the prd, was abducted in Mexico City in June by unidentified men who beat and threatened to kill him. María Estela García Ramírez and Riquilda Hernández Martínez, who had witnessed the murders of their husband and father, respectively, by members of the Oaxaca State police, had to flee their homes with their families, following repeated death threats by the authorities to make them withdraw their complaints. Foreign human rights monitors faced restrictions on their work, and at least three were expelled from the country on charges of having infringed immigration laws. In April Benjamín Cuéllar, a Salvadorean, and Vilma Núñez de Escorcia, a Nicaraguan, members of a delegation from the International Federation of Human Rights, were expelled after visiting prisoners in Guerrero State. Hundreds of detainees were allegedly tortured or ill-treated by the security forces, including the army and paramilitary groups. The victims were denied medical treatment. The courts continued to accept confessions extracted under torture, and no perpetrators were convicted of torture. In March Gerónimo Hernández López and Gonzalo Rosas Morales, Jesuit priests and leading members of local human rights and indigenous organizations in Palenque, Chiapas State, were detained with at least five Indian community leaders by the state police. All were tortured by being beaten, burned and subjected to mock executions before being released without charge days later. In May Alberto Gómez García, a public prosecutor, and six members of the judicial police in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora State, were arrested and then held in unacknowledged detention for two weeks. During interrogation they were beaten, given electric shocks and nearly suffocated with plastic bags. Martín Barrientos Cortés, a peasant activist, was abducted by soldiers on 28 May, near his community in El Cucuyachi, Guerrero State. The army denied holding him and he remained "disappeared" until 9 June, when he was released without charge. He was beaten, given electric shocks and semi-asphyxiated, and accused of links with the epr. He complained to the local authorities to no avail. Between late May and early June at least 14 street children in Mexico City were arbitrarily arrested and beaten, and at least two were raped by policemen. They were also threatened with death to deter them from complaining to the authorities. In September César Guzmán Santiago, a local pri leader, was arrested by police in Cunduacán, Tabasco State. Despite forensic evidence that his confession to a robbery had been extracted under torture, the courts admitted it as evidence. He remained in pre-trial detention at the end of the year. In September Gloria Roque Bautista, a human rights activist, was raped and tortured by two soldiers who interrogated her about her human rights activities. At least 20 people, including children, reportedly died as a result of torture. Erik Cárdenas Esqueda, aged 16, was detained in January by the municipal police in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, then transferred to a local police station. He was beaten to death for insulting the police. Alberto Alonso Salmerón, a renowned environmental, human rights and indigenous leader arrested in July in Aranza, Michoacán State, was tortured and died in a local police station. He had received previous death threats. Víctor Hernández Martínez, a journalist, was detained and beaten to death in July behind the headquarters of the federal judicial police in Mexico City. He had repeatedly accused the police of corruption. Those responsible for the death of Valentín Carrillo Saldaña in 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997) were not brought to justice. At least 30 people "disappeared" following detention by members of the security forces, including the army, mostly in the context of anti-narcotics and counter-insurgency operations. Most were held in unacknowledged detention for short periods, tortured and then released following campaigns on their behalf. However, at least 10 remained "disappeared" at the end of the year. Among those who "disappeared" after arrest by anti-narcotics agents were Raúl Berber Campos, Cecilio Beltrán Campos and Rogelio Berber Campos, who were detained in January in Tijuana, Baja California Norte State. Alejandro Enrique Hodoyán Palacios, a us citizen, "disappeared" following his detention in March in Tijuana, Baja California Norte State. Also in March, José Guadarrama García, a former policeman who specialized in anti-kidnap operations, was abducted by former colleagues and "disappeared". Wilfredo Guinea, a Jesuit priest, was abducted in Mexico City in June, and "disappeared". Political activists also "disappeared", including 16-year-old Freddy Nava Ríos, a community activist arrested in May by the army in El Cucuyachi, Guerrero State. He remained "disappeared" at the end of the year. The whereabouts of hundreds who "disappeared" in previous years remained unknown. Scores of people, including children, were extrajudicially executed by the security forces and paramilitary groups. In most cases the perpetrators were not brought to justice. Guadalupe Valentino López Carrasco and his wife Nicasia Hernández Petatán, prd members, were shot dead in front of their grandchildren by gunmen linked to local authorities, who raided their home in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero State, in March. In April Gerardo Hurtado Arias, a human rights and peasant activist, was gunned down at close range by members of the security forces in Tepetixtla, Guerrero State. Twelve-year-old Benito Juárez Gutiérrez was killed in June by members of the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia, Peace and Justice, who opened fire on a group of unarmed peasant supporters of the prd in Sabanilla, Chiapas State. Juan Carlos Romero Peralta, aged 17, and five other young men were seized in September by members of a combined army and police unit operating in Mexico City. Their bodies, discovered days later, revealed that they had all been shot dead after being tortured. In December, 45 men, women and children were gunned down in the village of Acteal, Chenalhó, Chiapas State. Members of a paramilitary group widely reported to have links with the authorities were accused of the massacre. Days later, following a national and international outcry, 39 people, including the pri mayor of Chenalhó, were charged with murder and other criminal offences. A high-level Amnesty International delegation visited Mexico in September. The delegates addressed a memorandum to the government stressing the need to halt gross human rights violations, bring an end to impunity, and implement reforms to the administration of justice. They were unable to meet some relevant officials, but held talks with the Attorney General and the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Supreme Court of Justice. In October the organization met President Zedillo during his visit to France and presented the memorandum to him. In April the organization published Amnesty International's concerns regarding torture and ill-treatment in Mexico. In December Amnesty International called for those responsible for the Acteal massacre to be brought to justice and urged President Zedillo to ensure a public and independent investigation into allegations that paramilitary groups were involved in this and previous killings. The authorities rejected the appeal as "unacceptable interference in Mexico's internal affairs". Amnesty International issued scores of appeals on behalf of victims of human rights violations throughout the year. The authorities replied to many of those appeals but failed to respond satisfactorily to the concerns raised by the organization.