MEXICAN AUTHORITIES SEARCH FOR DIRTY WAR VICTIMS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 001248 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CA KCRM MX PGOV PHUM PREL SUBJECT: MEXICAN AUTHORITIES SEARCH FOR DIRTY WAR VICTIMS IN LIGHT OF INVESTIGATIONS ¶1. Summary: Mexico waged a sporadic campaign against leftist groups in the late 60s thru the early 80s that reportedly produced the disappearance of hundreds. Relatives of those who disappeared have long insisted on justice and demanded the remains of their family members be returned to them. After three decades without serious investigations leading to successful prosecutions of those responsible for hundreds of forced disappearances, Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) has touted fresh efforts to conduct investigations into disappearances that occurred in the course of the dirty war. Non-governmental organizations (NGOS),however, charge that the GoM's recent focus on this issue is narrow and stems mostly from pressure brought to bear by a case under review by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). End Summary. -------------- -------------- HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DISCUSSES DIRTY WAR INVESTIGATIONS -------------- -------------- ¶2. Over the course of three decades, hundreds of Mexican civilians and armed militants were allegedly murdered or disappeared by military and security forces seeking to contain the "threat" to national security posed by leftist groups. In 2001, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) published a report that specifically identified 275 individuals who had allegedly disappeared in the 1970s and 80s. Thousands more were illegally detained and reportedly tortured. ¶3. Before the Fox administration which took office in 2000, no Mexican Government had ever made more than a token effort to investigate allegations of abuses during the dirty war. In 2002, responding to a CNDH recommendation, President Fox created the Special Prosecutor's Office for Social and Political Movements of the Past (FEMOSPP) and tasked it with investigating human rights abuses committed during Mexico's "dirty war." Before FEMOSPP, no entity existed to investigate crimes of the past. Fox touted the unit as reflective of his administration's commitment to address this issue and deliver justice to aggrieved family and friends of victims. ¶4. Creation of the unit, however, ultimately failed to live up to the expectations of aggrieved friends and family of victims. According to Amnesty International, an unofficial February 2006 draft report cited 700 cases of enforced disappearances, more than 100 extrajudicial executions and more than 2,000 cases of torture committed by the armed forces and security agencies. However, Raul Plascencia, Undersecretary for the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH),told POLOFF that the Fox Administration never officially published that report. Plascencia complained that many of the prosecutors hired by FEMOSPP had established an ineffective record on prior commissions. Many human rights organizations and family members refused to work with FEMOSPP alleging some of its members were tied to the Mexican military. FEMOSPP was blamed for not exacting fuller cooperation from the military and not challenging the military's assertion of jurisdiction over cases. In November 2006, Fox closed the office down claiming it had completed its work. ¶5. When President Calderon's assumed office in December 2006, he decided not to create a new office to replace FEMOSPP. Rather it was decided that the Attorney General's office would reclaim the lead for investigating crimes committed in the course of the dirty war as part of its regular responsibilities. The Secretariat of Government's Director of the Human Rights, Carlos Aguilar Suarez stressed the GOM commitment to investigating these cases but was not optimistic about producing results given the fact that decades had elapsed since the time most of the crimes were committed. To date, the GOM has not prosecuted anybody for crimes committed during this period nor been able to identify the human remains of anybody who reportedly disappeared during that time. -------------- -------------- NGOS DESCRIBE RECENT GOM INVESTIGATIONS AS REACTIVE -------------- -------------- ¶6. Most NGOs share CNDH's skepticism about the GoM's efforts -- past and present -- to investigate crimes committed during the dirty war. Over recent months, the GOM has drawn attention to its investigation of disappearances conducting excavations in the state of Guerrero, the cite of many reported disappearances. However, Julio Mata Montiel, President of the Association of Relatives of the Detained, Disappeared and Victims of Human Rights Abuses in Mexico (AFADEM),insists this recent activity is more the product of pressure brought to bear by a case before the Inter-American MEXICO 00001248 002 OF 002 Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) than its own commitment to justice on these cases. Montiel referred specifically to the case of Rosendo Radilla Pacheco, a man who purportedly provided support services to the Atoyac community in the state of Guerrero and was allegedly detained by the military in 1974. Radilla's daughter, Tita Radilla Martinez and AFADEM applied to have the case against Mexico heard at the IACHR in 2002 after filing complaints with the State of Guerrero, CNDH and the military. The case was admitted to the Commission in 2005 and on April 1, 2008, the IACHR sent the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (reportedly the first Mexican case ever to go to the Inter-American Court on the dirty war) charging the GOM with failure to comply with IACHR recommendations in determining the whereabouts of the victim, identifying and punishing those responsible for the crime. ¶7. Montiel and others believe the IACHR focus on this case is driving the GoM's more active investigation of disappearances in Guerrero. According to Montiel, the IACHR decided to send this case to the Inter-American Court for Human Rights because of the lack of GoM progress on the case. Meanwhile, GoM maintains the family failed to exhaust all domestic appeals before taking the cases to an international forum. To the GOM's credit, Jamie Wick from the Peace Brigades International (PBI) agreed that Radilla's case may have contributed to the publicity surrounding recent investigations but that PGR's efforts to investigate have been ongoing over past years. ¶8. Comment: While members of civil society disagree on the motives behind the recent surge in investigations of dirty war crimes, government officials from Mexico's Secretary of Interior (SEGOB) and CNDH both insist PGR investigations of these crimes have been underway since 2002 when the GoM created FEMOSPP. Few parties are optimistic about prospects for these investigations producing the kind of closure aggrieved family and friends of victims are looking for either in the form of recovered remains or prosecutions -- in large measure given the time that has elapsed but also because of the potential political ramifications. Civil society representatives, however, have signaled a readiness to return to the IACHR with more cases in the face of continued GOM failure to produce progress on the array of outstanding cases. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / GARZA