In a fairly shocking announcement,
the head of Mexico's National Human Rights Commission [the CNDH], José Luis Soberanes [pictured below],
has accused the Mexican Attorney General's office of "torture" and "extrajudicial executions."
CNDH: PGR uses torture
...The national ombudsman said Thursday that the federal Attorney General´s Office (PGR) engages in "torture and extrajudicial executions."
José Luis Soberanes, who chairs the autonomous National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), also accused the PGR of resorting to threats and intimidation to obstruct his panel´s attempts to investigate alleged abuses by federal law-enforcement personnel.
The CNDH held a news conference to highlight three cases involving purported torture or murder by PGR agents, allegations the panel said it probed despite a "lack of cooperation" from the PGR...PGR officials sought to prevent those cases from seeing the light, according to Soberanes aide Guillermo Ibarra, who noted that one of his office computers was stolen early this month.
A longer excerpt below. Please visit the link for the original full length article appearing in
El Universal's English-language section, appearing in the
Miami Herald.
CNDH: PGR uses torture
The ombudsman also accuses the government of using extrajudicial killing
El Universal
August 25, 2006
The national ombudsman said Thursday that the federal Attorney General´s Office (PGR) engages in "torture and extrajudicial executions."
José Luis Soberanes, who chairs the autonomous National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), also accused the PGR of resorting to threats and intimidation to obstruct his panel´s attempts to investigate alleged abuses by federal law-enforcement personnel.
The CNDH held a news conference to highlight three cases involving purported torture or murder by PGR agents, allegations the panel said it probed despite a "lack of cooperation" from the PGR.
PGR officials sought to prevent those cases from seeing the light, according to Soberanes aide Guillermo Ibarra, who noted that one of his office computers was stolen early this month.
Ibarra said a number of commission members and employees, including Soberanes, have been the recipients of "crude" threats delivered anonymously by telephone.
He also described the opening of criminal proceedings against CNDH personnel - and the filing of administrative complaints against the organization as a whole - as attempts by the PGR to intimidate the rights watchdog.
The report presented Thursday said the PGR´s office of deputy attorney general for human rights even tried to persuade people who had filed complaints with the commission about PGR misconduct to withdraw the charges.
"The office of the deputy attorney general has become the shield for the human rights violations of the PGR," Soberanes said.
In each of the three cases raised Thursday, the ombudsman said, the PGR rejected the commission´s recommendations to pursue investigations by pointing to the "lack of circumstantial evidence."
"It´s infantile," Soberanes said of the PGR´s stance. "I don´t know if they think Mexican society is composed of mentally handicapped people."
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