Human Rights Case Brings Mexico's War on Drugs to International Court Mimi Yagoub - InSight Crime
go to original November 30, 2016

Forced Disappearances Hit Record High Under President Pena Nieto (teleSUR)

An international human rights court will see its first case of a forced disappearance related to the so-called "drug war" in Mexico, exerting pressure on a country that continues to call on its military to combat crime despite the poor human rights record associated with this strategy.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has submitted a case of forced disappearance at the hands of Mexico's armed forces to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after determining that the Mexican government had not done enough to fulfill the commission's recommendations regarding the crime.

Military agents took cousins Rocío Irene Alvarado Reyes, Nitza Paola Alvarado Espinoza and José Ángel Alvarado Herrera by force and without an arrest warrant on December 29, 2009, in a rural area of Buenaventura municipality, Chihuahua, according to the IACHR. Family members immediately began searching for the subjects, while military officials initially denied evidence that local agents had taken part in their arrest (pdf). The three cousins remain missing to this day.

The incident is the first forced disappearance "in the context of the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime in Mexico" to be examined by the court, and it is exemplary of how the investigation and prosecution of such cases are covered up and obstructed, the press release states.

The IACHR has repeatedly criticized the Mexican government's lack of progress in its inquiry into the events, alleging that "the investigations related to military personnel are not being followed" (pdf). Before passing the case to the court, the IACHR had recommended that Mexican authorities investigate the location of the subjects, prosecute those responsible, and take measures to tackle the crime and associated impunity.

Family members have denounced being harassed and threatened by military agents, and at least 11 have been forced to flee to the United States.

Col. Élfego José Luján Ruiz is suspected of ordering the disappearance of the Alvarado cousins, and was recently sentenced by Mexico's justice system to 33 years in prison for the death of two other civilians in Chihuahua in 2009. http://pvangels.com/news-mexico/images/201206/edpmxed032616.jpg

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Related: UN Representative for the Office on Drugs and Crime in Mexico Says Security Must be Handled by Civilians, Not Armed Forces (The News)

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