Soldiers as Police? In Mexico, a Push to Get Them Back to the Barracks Whitney Eulich - The Christian Science Monitor
go to original October 18, 2015

Clara Gomez Gonzalez listened at a July news conference in Mexico City to present a report about the Tlatlaya case. Ms. Gomez Gonzalez's daughter Erika, 15, was one of 22 people killed in the Army patrol attack. (Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

When a Mexican Army patrol killed 22 people – many of whom had already surrendered – in rural Tlatlaya in June 2014, it was a startling reminder of the risks of using soldiers as police.

The Army has deployed across the country for nearly a decade to fight criminal groups and drug traffickers. But human rights activists have long advocated getting soldiers back to the barracks, arguing that they’re trained for combat, something that is not compatible with civilian policing.

The issue of military misconduct as well as government follow-up has recently taken on new importance, with soldiers implicated in a number of high-profile cases of abuse over the past year and a half. And the Tlatlaya case grabbed headlines once again this month when it was announced that only a few soldiers involved in the attack would be put on trial.

Yet amid the troubling allegations, there have been promising developments to hold soldiers accountable for their actions. Particularly noteworthy was a congressional vote last year to place the military under civilian jurisdiction for crimes committed on the job. The move was hailed as an important step toward transparency, taking allegations of military torture, disappearances, or massacres out of the shadowy proceedings of military trials and into the public's view.

Read the rest at The Christian Science Monitor

Al Jazeera's Rachel Levin reported on the case in last year from Mexico City. Warning: This video contains graphic images which some viewers may find disturbing. (Al Jazeera English)

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