Torture Continues to Haunt Mexico Despite Laws Meant to Eliminate It Christopher Sherman and E. Eduardo Castillo - The Associated Press
go to original November 17, 2016

Luis Edgardo Charnichart Ortega, left, Evanibaldo Larraga Galvan, center, and Juan Carlos Soni Bulos stand in Soni's terrace at his home, in Tanquian de Escobedo, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The three men were detained by Mexican Marines, tortured and spent more than a year in prison on weapons and drug charges, without trial until a judge in March 2015 threw out the case. (AP/Marco Ugarte)

In the face of strong international condemnation, Mexico says it is taking steps to stop the use of torture by its security forces. After the United States withheld $5 million on account of Mexico's human rights record, the U.S. State Department in September recommended to Congress that full funding be restored. The nearly $2.5 billion Merida Initiative pays to equip and train Mexican security forces and support justice system reforms.

However, there is still widespread impunity around the use of torture by security forces. From December 2006 through October 2014, the Attorney General's Office registered 4,055 complaints of torture, nearly one-third of them against the military. Yet over almost the same period, only 13 police and soldiers were sentenced for torture. Nobody has been charged in Soni's case.

Also, one in five reports on torture cases filed by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission between 1994 to 2014 were against marines, according to the nonprofit Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights. But none of those sentenced over roughly the past decade were marines. The marines and the defense department did not respond to requests for an interview.

...Mexico's Interior Department deputy secretary for human rights, Roberto Campa, said eradicating the use of torture is a top human rights priority for the government, and he expects to see a significant increase in sentences against those responsible. He also noted that under Mexico's new justice system, evidence obtained through torture is thrown out.

"For many years there were police forces that considered torture as an investigative method," he said.

Read the rest at Daily Bee

Related: Mexico: Release of Women Tortured to Confess Brings Glimmer of Hope to Many Others (Amnesty International)

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