Reuters: Mexico's Federal Police is open to an investigation into its possible use of excessive force, particularly in two incidents this year that claimed the lives of dozens of people, police chief Enrique Galindo said on Thursday.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commision (CNDH) on Wednesday said six people died unlawfully after police were excessive in their efforts to restrain a group of protesters in the violence-wracked city of Apatzingan in Michoacan state. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label police corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police corruption. Show all posts
Dec 17, 2014
Damning Report Claims Mexican Federal Police Participated In Disappearance Of 43 Students
Huff Post Latino Voices: Mexico's federal police collaborated with local forces in the September attack on 43 students whose disappearance and presumed killings have led to mass protests in the country, according to an investigative report published Sunday in the Mexican magazine Proceso.
Federal authorities also likely tortured key witnesses who offered critical testimony for an investigation by the Mexican attorney general's office into the disappearances, the lead reporter for the Proceso story told The Huffington Post. Read more.
Apr 21, 2013
Another domino in Mexico's collapsing drug prosecutions
Retired Gen. Tomas Angeles, freed from prison with charges dropped, says his arrest was political. His was the second high-profile Calderon-era case in as many days to be dismissed.
Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson
April 20, 2013
Gen. Tomas Angeles Dauahare, who once held the plum post of military attache to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, was rumored to be the next defense minister of Mexico.
Until that day in May last year when he and three other top military men were arrested on suspicion of working on behalf of a notorious drug cartel.
It was the largest indictment of army officers on charges of drug-trafficking in recent memory, hailed in many quarters as proof of then-President Felipe Calderon's determination to root out corruption at every level.
But one night last week, Angeles stepped from the Altiplano maximum-security prison, all charges dropped. Read more.
Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson
April 20, 2013
Gen. Tomas Angeles Dauahare, who once held the plum post of military attache to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, was rumored to be the next defense minister of Mexico.
Until that day in May last year when he and three other top military men were arrested on suspicion of working on behalf of a notorious drug cartel.
It was the largest indictment of army officers on charges of drug-trafficking in recent memory, hailed in many quarters as proof of then-President Felipe Calderon's determination to root out corruption at every level.
But one night last week, Angeles stepped from the Altiplano maximum-security prison, all charges dropped. Read more.
Nov 15, 2012
End police abuse in Juarez
El Diario de Juarez November 11, 2012
Translated by Borderland Beat
[Translator's note: There have been numerous news reports of police abuse in Juarez this past year, to the point that Police Chief Leyzaola recently pulled some surprise inspections in several police districts and ordered the release of dozens of detainees who had been arrested because of their physical appearance or because they did not have official identification on them when stopped by a cop. Although the number of homicides has declined measurably in Juarez, extortion, robbery and kidnapping appear to have increased. A big problem is that the police agencies have not earned the public's trust. --un vato] .
Trust in police agencies, an essential element if one wants to talk about consolidating advances in the area of public safety, will never be possible so long as its agents -- especially municipal police in their current phase-- abuse the citizen they were supposed to protect and become the criminals they are supposed to fight.
Any statistical gain from a decrease in criminal matters will be of little use if in the collective imagination an intervention by police generates fear instead of security.
It's no longer a matter of isolated cases. The complaints, the stories that have developed with police officers as antagonists of law-abiding citizens are a constant that does not allow any minimizing or dissimulation. Read more.
Translated by Borderland Beat
[Translator's note: There have been numerous news reports of police abuse in Juarez this past year, to the point that Police Chief Leyzaola recently pulled some surprise inspections in several police districts and ordered the release of dozens of detainees who had been arrested because of their physical appearance or because they did not have official identification on them when stopped by a cop. Although the number of homicides has declined measurably in Juarez, extortion, robbery and kidnapping appear to have increased. A big problem is that the police agencies have not earned the public's trust. --un vato] .
Trust in police agencies, an essential element if one wants to talk about consolidating advances in the area of public safety, will never be possible so long as its agents -- especially municipal police in their current phase-- abuse the citizen they were supposed to protect and become the criminals they are supposed to fight.
Any statistical gain from a decrease in criminal matters will be of little use if in the collective imagination an intervention by police generates fear instead of security.
It's no longer a matter of isolated cases. The complaints, the stories that have developed with police officers as antagonists of law-abiding citizens are a constant that does not allow any minimizing or dissimulation. Read more.
Nov 9, 2012
Shaky Case Against Suspect in Mexican Journalist's Murder Raises Suspicions
InSightCrime, Written by Geoffrey Ramsey Friday, 09 November 2012
The arrest of a man accused of the murder of a journalist investigating crime and corruption in Veracruz raises more questions than answers, pointing to the failures of law enforcement and power of criminal groups in the Mexican state.
On October 30, Veracruz's attorney general announced that police had arrested Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva, alias "El Silva," on suspicion of involvement in the April murder of journalist Regina Martinez Perez. The official said that the suspect had confessed to helping another person commit the crime. The man who physically carried out the murder, according to authorities, is Jose Adrian Hernandez Dominguez, alias "El Jarocho," allegedly Martinez's romantic partner, who remains at large.
Yet as El Proceso reports, there is reason to doubt Silva's involvement in Martinez's murder. The day after his supposed "confession," the suspect said he had been coerced into admitting guilt by police who tortured him and threatened to kill his mother. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) notes that without the confession, there appears to be little proof of Silva's involvement, as prosecutors have made no mention of eyewitness, DNA or fingerprint evidence linking him to the scene of the crime. Nevertheless, authorities ordered Silva to be held in pre-trial detention on November 2. Read more.
The arrest of a man accused of the murder of a journalist investigating crime and corruption in Veracruz raises more questions than answers, pointing to the failures of law enforcement and power of criminal groups in the Mexican state.
On October 30, Veracruz's attorney general announced that police had arrested Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva, alias "El Silva," on suspicion of involvement in the April murder of journalist Regina Martinez Perez. The official said that the suspect had confessed to helping another person commit the crime. The man who physically carried out the murder, according to authorities, is Jose Adrian Hernandez Dominguez, alias "El Jarocho," allegedly Martinez's romantic partner, who remains at large.
Yet as El Proceso reports, there is reason to doubt Silva's involvement in Martinez's murder. The day after his supposed "confession," the suspect said he had been coerced into admitting guilt by police who tortured him and threatened to kill his mother. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) notes that without the confession, there appears to be little proof of Silva's involvement, as prosecutors have made no mention of eyewitness, DNA or fingerprint evidence linking him to the scene of the crime. Nevertheless, authorities ordered Silva to be held in pre-trial detention on November 2. Read more.
80% of Unfit Police Still Working in Mexico
InSightCrime, Written by Geoffrey Ramsey Wednesday, 07 November 2012
Eighty percent of Mexican police officers who failed vetting procedures and were found unfit for duty are still employed, according to the government, highlighting the slow pace of police reform in the country.
In a November 6 press conference, Mexico's National Public Security Minister Oscar Vega Marin said that 333,540 of the some 500,000 local, state and federal police officers have been subjected to background checks, lie detector tests and other vetting procedures. Of these, 15 percent -- some 50,000 agents -- failed, yet only 20 percent of them have been dismissed.
The official said that measures to clean up the police have been seriously delayed, with only six states (Zacatecas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala and Colima) carrying the procedures out in full. Vega also identified the four states which have made the least progress in vetting their law enforcement officials: Tamaulipas (which has reviewed 24 percent of its police), Jalisco (23 percent) Chihuahua (21 percent) and Quintana Roo (just 5 percent). Read more.
Eighty percent of Mexican police officers who failed vetting procedures and were found unfit for duty are still employed, according to the government, highlighting the slow pace of police reform in the country.
In a November 6 press conference, Mexico's National Public Security Minister Oscar Vega Marin said that 333,540 of the some 500,000 local, state and federal police officers have been subjected to background checks, lie detector tests and other vetting procedures. Of these, 15 percent -- some 50,000 agents -- failed, yet only 20 percent of them have been dismissed.
The official said that measures to clean up the police have been seriously delayed, with only six states (Zacatecas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala and Colima) carrying the procedures out in full. Vega also identified the four states which have made the least progress in vetting their law enforcement officials: Tamaulipas (which has reviewed 24 percent of its police), Jalisco (23 percent) Chihuahua (21 percent) and Quintana Roo (just 5 percent). Read more.
Oct 22, 2012
Torture by Federal police and the Army increases during Calderon's term
El Diario, October 7, 2012
Translated for Borderland Beat
Distrito Federal. Torture and cruel treatment of civilians by federal forces increased during the administration of President Felipe Calderon. From 2006 until May 31, 2012, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) received 89 complaints against Army, Navy and Federal Police members involving torture.
At the beginning of (Calderon's) six year term, there were three complaints; in 2007, (there were) 7; in 2008, 15; in 2009, 19; in 2010, 11, and in 2011, 28. There were six complaints up to May, 2012.
Meanwhile, the files for cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment went from 85 to 1,497, according to the organization's statistics, obtained via "transparency" (Ley Federal de Transparencia; similar to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.)
According to the report, Chihuahua is the state with the most complaints, followed by San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Baja California and Coahuila. Read more.
Translated for Borderland Beat
Distrito Federal. Torture and cruel treatment of civilians by federal forces increased during the administration of President Felipe Calderon. From 2006 until May 31, 2012, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) received 89 complaints against Army, Navy and Federal Police members involving torture.
At the beginning of (Calderon's) six year term, there were three complaints; in 2007, (there were) 7; in 2008, 15; in 2009, 19; in 2010, 11, and in 2011, 28. There were six complaints up to May, 2012.
Meanwhile, the files for cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment went from 85 to 1,497, according to the organization's statistics, obtained via "transparency" (Ley Federal de Transparencia; similar to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.)
According to the report, Chihuahua is the state with the most complaints, followed by San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Baja California and Coahuila. Read more.
Sep 26, 2012
Marines in Mexico detain 35 Veracruz police officers
LATimesBlog: MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's marines on Monday said they detained 35 Veracruz state police officers who were allegedly working for the Zetas drug cartel.
In a short statement, authorities said the police officers were detained Saturday in two groups, 16 at the airport in the city of San Luis Potosi, in a neighboring state of the same name, and 19 in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz.
The marines released the names of the suspected officers but did not offer other details on the arrests or say why they were suspected of working for the Zetas. Four of those arrested were women, the marines said.
Veracruz's government did not have an immediate response to the announcement. Read more.
In a short statement, authorities said the police officers were detained Saturday in two groups, 16 at the airport in the city of San Luis Potosi, in a neighboring state of the same name, and 19 in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz.
The marines released the names of the suspected officers but did not offer other details on the arrests or say why they were suspected of working for the Zetas. Four of those arrested were women, the marines said.
Veracruz's government did not have an immediate response to the announcement. Read more.
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