V.RECOMMENDATIONS

The president should instruct the attorney general to take steps to strengthen the ability of the Special Prosecutor's Office to handle its large and difficult caseload.Specifically, the attorney general should:

Assign more prosecutors, investigators, and administrative personnel to the office;

Designate a special team of forensic experts and provide forensic equipment to the office;

Designate a special team of police investigators that works exclusively with the office and under the orders of the special prosecutor;

Provide more extensive training to the office's prosecutors and investigators, as well as to the police investigators assign to work with them;

Conduct a thorough audit and assessment of the resource allocation within the office.

The president should instruct the interior minister to take steps to promote greater access to the government archives that contain information about past abuses. Specifically, the Interior Ministry should:

Provide the Special Prosecutor's Office and independent researchers with indexes and catalogues of the contents of the relevant archives;

Develop a more precise and limited definition of what constitutes "private" information off limits to independent investigators;

Redesign the procedure for obtaining archived files so that the responsibility for the release of information does not rest with a single person (or small number of people).

The president should instruct the minister of defense to take steps to ensure that the PGJM provides full support to the Special Prosecutor's Office.Specifically, the defense minister should:

Order the PGJMo do all it can to locate documents and information requested by the special prosecutor;

Order the PGJM to cede jurisdiction over the cases under investigation by the special prosecutor.

The president should take steps to help the special prosecutor address the legal hurdles it faces in prosecuting the cases under investigation.Specifically, he should:

Convene a task force or commission consisting of distinguished jurists, as well as representatives of key institutions of the state, that would work to generate greater clarity and consensus about the nature of the legal hurdles and to assess the advantages and disadvantages of strategies that the special prosecutor's office might adopt to overcome them.

The government should consider taking additional measures to reinforce work of the Special Prosecutor's Office.Specifically, it should:

Consider legislative measures that would strengthen the investigative powers of the special prosecutor-by, for instance, allowing prosecutors to reduce the sentences of minor offenders who provide information that substantially advances the investigation and prosecution of human rights crimes.

Develop a program to systematize and disseminate the findings of the investigations to victims, victims' relatives, and the Mexican public generally-including the publication of a comprehensive report on the history of "dirty war" abuses, prepared by the Special Prosecutor's Office, its "Support Committee," or an independent "truth commission."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Daniel Wilkinson, counsel for Human Rights Watch's Americas Division, wrote this report. Joanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas Division, Wilder Tayler, Human Rights Watch's Legal and Policy Director, and Joseph Saunders, Deputy Program Director, edited it. Americas Division associates Marijke Conklin and Jon Balcom worked on the research logistics and production.Everett Intern Tania Uriarte provided invaluable research support.Human Rights Watch would like to thank the Overbrook Foundation for its generous funding of our work in Latin America.

Human Rights Watch

Americas Division

Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world.

We stand with victims and activists to bring offenders to justice, to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom and to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime.

We investigate and expose human rights violations and hold abusers accountable.

We challenge governments and those holding power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law.

We enlist the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all.

The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Michele Alexander, development director; Rory Mungoven, advocacy director; Carroll Bogert, associate director, Barbara Guglielmo, finance director; Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Iain Levine, program director; Maria Pignataro Nielsen, human resources director; Wilder Tayler, legal and policy director; and Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative. Jonathan Fanton is the chair of the board. Robert L. Bernstein is the founding chair.

Its Americas division was established in 1981 to monitor human rights in Latin America and the

Caribbean.Jose Miguel Vivanco is executive director; Joanne Mariner is deputy director; Sebastian Brett, Robin Kirk and Daniel Wilkinson are researchers; Jonathan Balcom and Marijke Conklin are associates. Lloyd Axworthy is chair of the advisory committee; Marina Pinto Kaufman and David E. Nachman are vice chairs.

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