Skeletons in the closet: Amnesty International decries Mexico's human rights record. (Spotlight).

The Mexican military and police forces continue to torture citizens, according to a recent report by the worldwide human rights organization Amnesty International (AI). Over the past 35 years, AI has documented hundreds of cases of arbitrary detention, torture, "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions in Mexico. Although the rate of abuses has varied considerably over these years, the organization said, torture and ill treatment by military, federal, state and municipal law enforcement officers continue to be widespread.

"Amnesty International commends President Vicente Fox for his public commitment to respect human rights, and recognizes that his administration has inherited a flawed judicial system," noted Dr. William F. Schultz, executive director of AI's U.S. section. "Now it is imperative that words translate into definitive actions that produce immediate and tangible results."

The report, Mexico--Justice Betrayed: Torture in the Judicial System, is part of AI's yearlong campaign to fight torture.

According to the report, most of the torture reported in Mexico takes place during the hours following the arrest, while detainees are under the jurisdiction of the judicial police and prosecutors--seeing a judge. While Mexican law says only statements made by a defendant in the presence of legal counsel, or before the Public Ministry or a judge, have judicial value as evidence, in practice, confessions extracted under duress are routinely used as evidence in trial proceedings. Most judges, the report says, continue to convict defendants on the basis of these initial confessions, even when detainees later retract their previous statements and no other evidence is available to substantiate the charges against them.

"The burden of proof in cases of alleged torture currently falls on the victim," AI noted, "and even on the occasions when judges are presented with compelling forensic evidence of torture, they invariably fail to order an investigation into the allegations."

Another factor that promotes the continued use of torture and other human rights violations, AI said, is the Mexican government's practice of using military personnel to combat insurgency and organized crime (particularly drugs and arms trafficking), allowing the armed forces direct access to the civilian population. AI cites a 1998 report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which says "the emergence of new dissident armed groups of various types has led not only to a resumption of measures of control by the security forces but also to the indiscriminate repression of social organizations and leaders."

Another area of grave concern cited by the report is the fact that the vast majority of military and civilian officers who commit torture and other human rights violations go unpunished. Because military personnel are not tried in civilian courts, cases of torture by military officers against civilians are brought before army tribunals that, more often than not, rule in favor of the accused.

"Impunity for human rights violations in Mexico is endemic," the report found. "Impunity is not only an affront to the victims, their relatives and the wider society, but it is a negation of the rule of law and a vicious circle which encourages further human rights violations."

During an official visit to Mexico in March, AI discussed a series of unresolved cases of human rights violations with President Fox. One of those was the highly publicized case of environmental activists Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera who have been imprisoned in the State of Guerrero since May 1999, when they were arrested by the Mexican army. During five days of detention, the men, who were kept incommunicado, were beaten and tortured into confessing to trumped-up charges of drug trafficking and illegal arms possession. Their torture has been confirmed by forensic experts from the non-governmental organization Physicians for Human Rights and by the Mexican government's National Human Rights Commission.

The case, which received worldwide publicity, has become a kind of thorn in the side of the Fox administration. In his March 13 meeting with AL Secretary General Pierre Sane, President Fox stated "we want them out." Nevertheless, the two men remain in prison.

In its report, AI recommends a series of reforms to help Mexico eradicate torture within all government institutions.

Anne Geyer is a member of Amnesty International USA's Business & Economic Relations Group.