Torture By Mexican Police 'Widespread And Unpunished,' Says Amnesty International

A new report from Amnesty International released on Monday criticizes the Mexican government for neglecting to take action to ensure those in custody of police and other security forces are not subject to torture. “Use of torture and ill-treatment by security forces remains widespread throughout Mexico, and impunity rife,” the group wrote in the report. “Mexico has made numerous commitments to prevent and punish torture and ill-treatment, but these measures are inadequate and largely ignored ... In Mexico the government argues that torture is the exception rather than the norm, but in reality abuse by police and security forces is widespread and goes unpunished”

Amnesty cites a January report from Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) saying it had received over 7,000 reports of torture and ill treatment at the hands of security forces since 2010. Other human rights groups say that since 2006, when the administration of then-president Felipe Calderon sent the military to key pieces of drug-cartel turf to perform law-enforcement work, reports of abuse grew precipitously. Few reports of abuse by soldiers went punished: the military prosecutor’s office investigated almost 5,000 cases of alleged human rights violations by soldiers between 2007 and 2012, with only 38 resulting in prosecution. And in spite of his earlier promises to clamp down on the practice, little has changed since president Enrique Peña Nieto took office, charges the group, saying that there has persisted “a culture of impunity and denial” among officials.

Mexico was one of five countries which came under a lens in the report, which was released to coincide with the 30th decade of the United Nation’s adoption of the Convention Against Torture in 1984. Several other Latin American countries earned briefer mentions, with the group denouncing “routine” abuse by security forces during public demonstrations in Chile and Venezuela as well as “increasing” abuse by Brazilian police and military forces during protests and anti-drug operations in shantytowns.