HomeNewsBriefHRW: Neither Rights nor Security
BRIEF

HRW: Neither Rights nor Security

HOMICIDES / 11 NOV 2011 BY INSIGHT CRIME EN

In this 213-page report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documents over 200 cases of "killings, torture and disappearances" committed by Mexican security forces. The abuses were committed by police, army and marines, all institutions which have received U.S. aid and/or training.

The report focuses on the five states most significantly affected by drug violence: Baja California, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Nuevo Leon and Tabasco. Some important trends highlighted by HRW include the shortcomings of Mexico's judicial system, with just 22 convictions for offenses tied to organized crime since 2007. This is a mere fraction of the nearly 1,000 investigations into crime-related homicides conducted by the Federal Prosecutor's Office.

The report also criticizes the incompetence of justice officials:

Judges who admit evidence that was likely to have been obtained through torture, prosecutors who obtain 'confessions' from defendants who are being held incommunicado on military bases, and medical experts who omit or play down signs of physical injuries when they examine detainees.

In addition, HRW casts doubt on the legitimacy of the government's own murder statistics. According to HRW, President Felipe Calderon has claimed that 90 percent of the "drug war's" 35,000 victims were involved in criminal activity. HRW questions these numbers due to the lack of convictions, as well as numerous cases in which security forces tampered with crime scenes, in order to make it look like homicide victims died in a shoot-out between rival gangs.

Get full version (pdf) here.

Lea versión en español (pdf) aquí.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FENTANYL / 9 NOV 2021

A recent seizure of fentanyl in Mexico has shed further light on the capacity of organized crime groups to mass-produce…

CHINA AND CRIME / 29 SEP 2021

Mexican geoduck clam populations are suffering as legal harvests are threatened by rampant poaching, which has driven the species onto…

COVID AND CRIME / 22 JUL 2021

After peddling fake tests and vaccines for the coronavirus, criminals are now selling counterfeit vaccination certificates in Mexico City, allowing…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…