MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico is not doing enough to punish troops suspected of involvement in several cases of murder, rape and torture as they fight drug cartels, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Wednesday.
President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of troops to take on the powerful gangs that control the bulk of smuggling to the United States and whose turf wars killed some 6,300 people in spiraling drug violence last year.
Mexico’s own human rights commission has found reports of abuses by some soldiers, including arbitrary detentions and the use of torture, but the army has denied any misconduct.
“The Mexican military court system is failing miserably to provide justice in cases involving military abuses against civilians,” Human Rights Watch said.
It said civilians with no connection to the drug cartels had suffered rights abuses at the hand of troops in recent years, saying such crimes “directly undermine the goal of stopping drug-related violence.”
Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, said troops suspected of crimes must be properly investigated and tried.
“Our central point is that if you’re going to use the army for law enforcement activities, the army has to be subject to clear, efficient and credible accountability, which is not happening now,” he told Reuters.
The report cited several cases of torture, rape, killing and arbitrary detentions of dozens of people during security operations in various Mexican states in 2007 and 2008.
Vivanco noted that a US aid package which has promised around $1.4 billion to help Mexico with its war on drug gangs called for “the full, fair and effective investigation of human rights abuses. … That’s why this report is relevant.”
Calderon has made reducing the power of the drug cartels the centerpiece of his presidency, but drug violence has continued apace with some 2,000 deaths so far this year.
Mexico’s drug cartels smuggle some $40 billion in illegal drugs every year into the United States and Washington is worried that drug violence is spilling over the border.