If the Mexican Senate approves the most recent bill introduced by President Felipe Calderon, military members could be tried in civilian courts.
On Tuesday, the Senate received the president’s bill to exclude from military jurisdiction crimes such as torture, rape and forced disappearance.
The bill represents a serious attempt to make the army accountable for crimes or human rights violations against ordinary citizens. Under the bill, if an army member were accused of rape, torture or forced disappearance he/she would be judged in federal courts. During and after the trial, the military suspect would remain in custody in a military prison to avoid their being recruited by organized crime.
Calderon said the bill complies with the 2009 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ symbolic sentence that condemned the Mexican government for the disappearance in 1974 of Rosendo Radilla, a political activist from the state of Guerrero. Padilla disappeared during the Dirty War period, in which the army fought guerrillas and leftist groups around the country. The army took an active role in the disappearance, torture or killing of many of them.
In its ruling, the IACDH recommended the government to pay reparation to Radilla’s family and to investigate, prosecute and punish the people responsible for his disappearance. It also asked the government to amend its military and criminal code to make it compatible with international laws.
In a 2009 report, Amnesty International, documented several recent cases of human rights violations committed by the Mexican Army.
“The new cases of this report illustrate a pattern of serious human rights violations perpetrated by member of the armed forces…Among the abuses reported are forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture and arbitrary detention. Information published by the Secretary of Defense and by the national and state’s human rights commissions indicate that the trend has increased significantly in the last two years.”
The IACDH has also analyzed and condemned the Mexican government in the cases of several indigenous women raped by military men.
Considering this situation, Calderon’s bill is a good sign and it shows a willingness to address a problem that has affected the lives of thousands of people and has also damaged the reputation and credibility of the armed forces.
It would have been desirable that the initiative included a wider variety of crimes, such as arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial executions, all of which were denounced by Amnesty International in its reports.
However, the legislators still have an opportunity to improve the bill, making it more complete and to guarantee that the abuses committed by the armed forces could be punished now and not 30 years later as it happened in the case of Radilla and hundred of other recent cases.
The mexican army has been,for years (untouchable) they killed,tortured,and raped at will,Calderon's bill is a FARSE,and a slap on the face of the mexican people,and as for all of these murderes,thugs they were supposed to be locked up in solitary confinment in military prisons,because civilian "prisons" are like vacation time out for them and they get released as soon as the "bosses" pay the MORDIDA,and that's the truth ask any Juarez resident,how do I know? I was born and raised in Juarez !!
Posted by: luis lopez | 10/23/2010 at 03:35 PM