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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We dedicate this report to the memory of
Digna Ochoa, a courageous lawyer who devoted her life to defending the
victims of human rights abuses in Mexico. Digna never shied away from taking
on the most sensitive cases -- including several of those documented in this
report-even in the face of repeated harassment and threats against her
life. When asked last April if she was afraid she might be killed, she
responded, "I knew from the outset that this line of work involved risks."
Asked if she ever considered quitting, she said no.
On October 19, 2001, Digna Ochoa was found
dead in her Mexico City law office. She had been shot in the head. A note
left by her side warned members of the human rights organization where
she had worked until recently that the same could happen to them.
Digna Ochoa's example of dedication and
courage lives on as an inspiration to us as we continue her struggle for
the respect of fundamental human rights in the region.
* * *
Daniel Wilkinson, Orville Schell Fellow
in the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, researched and wrote this
report, drawing on information gathered during fact-finding missions to
Mexico City and Guerrero state in March, April and June of 2001. Joanne
Mariner, deputy director of the Americas Division, contributed to the research.
Anne Manuel, consultant to Human Rights Watch, and Human Rights Watch Program
Director Malcolm Smart edited the report. Human Rights Watch General Counsel
Wilder Tayler and Americas Division Executive Director José Miguel
Vivanco also reviewed the text.
Human Rights Watch is grateful to the
many organizations, government officials, and individuals who assisted
during the research of this report. In particular, we acknowledge with
thanks the assistance provided by members of the Miguel Agustín
Pro Juárez Human Rights Center, including Edgar Cortez, Mario Patrón,
and Alfredo Castillo. In Guerrero, we received support from journalist
Maribel Guttierez, as well as from Hilda Navarrete, president of the human
rights organization, "Voice of Those Without Voice." We thank Miguel Sarré and Pilar Noriega for providing advice on the legal issues, and Laurie Freeman for her valuable assistance identifying and researching cases.
Human Rights Watch also extends its thanks to the following Mexican government officials: Subsecretary for Human Rights and Democracy Mariclaire Acosta, the Foreign Ministry's General Director of Human Rights Juan José Gomez Camacho, Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission Francisco Olguín Uribe, and
attorney general of military justice Brig. Gen. Jaime Antonio López
Portillo Robles Gil.
Finally, we would like to thank the victims
and their families and the other witnesses who agreed to tell us their
often painful stories.
I.
SUMMARY
Over the past decade Mexico has increasingly
relied on its army to police its countryside -- combating insurgent groups
in the mid-1990s and waging war on the illegal drug trade in recent years.
Unfortunately, the Mexican government has not found an adequate way to
police the army itself. Under the current system, soldiers who commit abuses
in the line of duty are legally accountable to military authorities, but
neither they nor the military court system are accountable to civilians.
This arrangement has resulted in human rights violations going unpunished.
When President Vicente Fox took office
in December 2000, bringing an end to seven decades of one-party rule in
Mexico, he promised to take aggressive steps to improve Mexico's human
rights record. He appointed several people known for their advocacy of
human rights to important official posts from which they have since begun
to implement changes. Under Fox's leadership Mexico has become active in
promoting the concept of the universality of human rights principles and
in opening the country to scrutiny by international human rights monitors,
something that previous governments considered anathema.
At the same time, President Fox has also
declared his intention to wage a "war without quarter" against drug trafficking,
raising concerns that aggressive policing practices by the armed forces
could take insufficient account of the protection of human rights. Recently,
in releasing prisoners Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera García,
President Fox himself showed an awareness of this problem. The two men,
environmentalists from the state of Guerrero, had been abused by soldiers
who arrested them in 1999. In ordering their release, President Fox cited
several international human rights treaties binding on Mexico and stated
that his action was meant to demonstrate his government's commitment to
human rights norms.
Human Rights Watch visited Guerrero state
in southwestern Mexico in April and June of 2001 to examine how the Mexican
government has handled abuse allegations by Montiel and Cabrera and other
civilians in the region. Guerrero is an important site of illegal drug
cultivation and trafficking and has one of the highest levels of military
activity in the country. Examining human rights cases there from 1997-2001,
we found a disturbing pattern of abuse and impunity:
· soldiers have been able to use
their policing power to commit serious human rights violations against
civilians;
· the government has failed to
investigate and punish alleged abuses;
· this failure has exacerbated
a climate of fear and distrust that reinforces the impunity of military
personnel in the region.
Underlying this pattern of abuse and impunity
is a simple matter of jurisdiction. At present, abuses committed by military
personnel are not subject to the jurisdiction of civilian courts. Instead,
exclusive authority to investigate and prosecute these abuses is granted
to the military justice system. But, as this report shows, the army prosecutor's office has proven to be unable to properly investigate human rights cases.
Under international law, the Mexican government has an obligation to investigate and punish all serious human rights violations committed by army personnel. Currently it is failing to meet this obligation.
Based on this research, Human Rights Watch believes that Mexico will only be able to fulfill this obligation to punish army abuses once it ends military jurisdiction over all cases involving human rights violations.
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