Mexico's human rights under fire (Mexico should be criticized for a lot of things--but not this).

BBC ^ | Thursday, February 8, 2007 | Duncan Kennedy

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Law and order is President Calderon's top priority

Mexico's human rights record has been severely criticised in a new report by the rights group Amnesty International.

The group says that arbitrary detention and torture are systematic and that it is Mexico's poor who suffer most.

It also highlights the problem suffered by millions of indigenous peoples at the hands of the authorities.

The government's use of soldiers to tackle drugs gangs is criticised but the Mexican government has said that it is working to clean up the abuses.

'Systematic abuses'

Amnesty International cites case after case of people who it says have had their legal rights abused.

In one example, it says police arrested a political activist and bundled him into a vehicle, even though he was paraplegic.

His wheelchair and medicine were discarded and he spent two months in jail before being released without charge.

Amnesty says unfair trials, torture and other abuses are systematic across the country.

It says even the presumption of innocence is not yet enshrined in the country's constitution.

There are just 82 lawyers to represent 13 million indigenous people.

Amnesty says that the Mexican government is signing up to regional and global human rights conventions and that President Felipe Calderon has made law and order his first priority.

But, Amnesty says, a strong criminal justice system is the cornerstone of a just society and major improvements are needed in Mexico.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Gangs should be countered by troops, if that is what works. Obviously, policemen aren't.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Mexico ping.

[Global2010]

I was asking Why are top Govt leaders President included don't do anything about corruption that has seeped across the border and tiernery1 (sic) post this link.

El Andar: Los Amigos de Bush
Address:http://www.elandar.com/bush/amigos.html

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Scamnesty International...

[DH]

In Mexico:

There are just 82 lawyers to represent 13 million indigenous people.

In the US:

There are just 13 million lawyers to represent  82 indigenous people.

[StJacques]

Jedi Master Pikachu, thank you for the post and for the ping.

A Mexican Left Watch ping going out here. The subject of this article relates to several of the threads we discussed on the APPO crisis, which you can trace at:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=stjtranslation

You may recall that following the arrival of the Mexican Federal Preventive Police in Oaxaca City at the end of October that IndyMedia began circulating reports of supposed human rights violations committed by the PFP in Oaxaca, including ones they allege were inflicted upon members of indigenous minorities. Some of those stories were picked up by UN agencies who added their voice to the chorus. And now we see that Amnesty International, an organization that once had a neutral position on human rights during the Cold War but has since been captured by the looney left, wants to sing along too.

From the content of the article it is obvious that the very heavy-handed crackdown on major drug-trafficking operations Felipe Calderon has lauched in Michoacan, Guerrero, and elsewhere is drawing criticism. I would defend Mexico in this instance, because the "rules," such as they exist, for dealing with the Mexican drug cartels do not provide an environment for restrained civic-minded law enforcement. Do I need to say more to put that into focus? I think not.

It is with particular reference to the crackdown in Michoacan and Guerrero, and especially Michoacan in this instance, that indigenous minorities have become wrapped up in the law enforcement effort. The Mexican government has found large enterprises in marijuana and opium poppy cultivation in the more remote areas of this mountainous Mexican state west of Mexico City. Guess who's land the drug traffickers are using? That's right, the land upon which these indigenous minorities live. So it should not be surprising that the Mexican federal government would detain members of these indigenous minorities if marijuana and/or opium was found growing on their property.

Torture may be a different matter. I know that the APPO allegations of torture were vastly overblown, given that there were witnesses to some events in which APPO alleged torture to have taken place who saw things quite differently, and APPO's proven record in lying gives us a good indication as to who we should believe. With regard to possible torture in the drug-related crackdown, I have not seen anything specific. But I will point out that the Mexican police are cracking down on criminal operations that have shown incredibly murderous intent in the past, so it might not be surprising that the process looks less than neat. But I'm going to have to see this kind of information come from a reputable and trusted source -- I'm sorry, but Amnesty International has lost credibility with me -- before I take it seriously.