International Law
Mexico: Our Soldiers Raped & Tortured
Posted Sep 21, 2007, 04:51 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A human rights commission run by the Mexican government has reportedly accused some of the country's own soldiers of rape and torture and recommended that the Mexican army be removed from ongoing national efforts to control drug-trafficking there.
An Associated Press article details four cases of alleged abuse that National Human Rights Commission President Jose Luis Soberanes said Mexican soldiers were responsible for. The commission's investigation centered on evidence and testimony provided by claimed victims and other witnesses, because the army was largely uncooperative, according to Susana Pedroza, a commission official.
Soldiers have pursued Mexican President Felipe Calderon's campaign to retake what the AP describes as "large swaths of territory controlled by powerful drug cartels," because, as the AP puts it, they "are seen as less corrupt than the nation's police force."
Soberanes called for punishment of those responsible in the four alleged incidents documented by the commission, and recommended that Calderon "return the soldiers to their barracks and stop sending them on missions they aren't prepared for."