Mexican Army Accused (Again) Of Torture In Drug War

Tchort

Tchort

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
2,390
Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon called on the armed forces to join the fight against violent drug trafficking organizations, observers have warned that involving the military in law enforcement is a recipe for human rights abuses. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported allegations from victims, families, political leaders, and human rights monitors that the army has carried out forced disappearances, illegal raids, and acts of torture as it wages war on the so-called drug cartels. It is by no means the first time such allegations have been made.

The Post report shows a clear pattern of human rights abuses across Mexico. In a mountain village in Guerrero, residents told how soldiers stuck needles under the fingernails of a disabled farmer, stabbed his 13-year-old nephew, fired on a preacher, and stole food, milk, clothing, and medicine. In Tijuana, 24 police officers arrested on drug charges in March allege that they were beaten and tortured in order to extract confessions.

It is an old story. Earlier this year, after the Mexican army roared into the border town of Ciudad Juarez to put an end to a wave of killings, residents there reported similar abuses. Last year, the Chronicle reported on soldiers killing civilians in Sinaloa and Sinaloa human rights activist Mercedes Murillo's campaign to rein in the abuses. More than 2,000 other cases, with allegations ranging from theft and robbery to rape, torture, and murder, have been filed with local and national human rights monitors.

"What happens is the army takes [suspects] back to their bases -- and of course a military base is not a place to detain people suspected of a crime -- and they begin to ask questions," Mauricio Ibarra, who oversees investigations for the national human rights commission. "And to help them remember or to get information, they use torture."

The US supports the Calderon offensive against the cartels through the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative, but under that legislation, 15% of those funds must be withheld until the secretary of state reports that Mexico has made progress on human rights. That report is due to be delivered to Congress within weeks. It is going to be hard for the State Department to argue that the human rights situation in Mexico is improving, but with drug war politics at stake anything could happen.
Click to expand...

Drug War Chronicle

07/10/2009

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/593/mexico_army_accused_of_torture_in_drug_war
 
Substituting one violent criminal organization for another. Big improvement.
 
I hope most people finally start to realize what we are accepting instead of just accepting drug legalization.

Then again, I'm sure there'd still be people who would willingly die so drugs could be illegal and consequentially very available.
 
It is fucked how cruel these military personnel are, they are no better than the evil drug cartels from the sounds of it.

They have only made the situation worse by giving these animals free reign imho.
 
GOOD JOB OBAMA! Force the Mexican Nation to totally stop the drug cartels to the point of 'martial law.'
 
STOP THESE FUCKING G*D DAMN MURDERERS! this shit makes me so mad i wanna explode!
 
no not really just personnal consumption

they would use ressources on the dealers
that's a good thing

but I don't think it would change alot
 
it would be like in spain, then? good on mexico!

it will help at least liftening some of that oppressive puritan spirit of america in their laws, if not from over the border
 
Chainer even if Mexico completely legalized personal use of drugs in Mexico the cartels would still exist because the money is in smuggling to America.
 
JahRed24x said:
GOOD JOB OBAMA! Force the Mexican Nation to totally stop the drug cartels to the point of 'martial law.'
Click to expand...

obama didn't force this on anyone. mexico is fucked-up-shit central, drug cartels warring in the streets are killing civilians and kidnapping innocent people to levy political power and supplement a criminal organization that is more intent on control than simply making money.

i hate to break it to you, and everyone that is thinking like you, but drugs are just another source of funds to criminal organizations that benefited greatly from their illegal status. every country on earth could legalize drugs and these cartels would just look to even more daring sources of income to grow their power base.
 
^are you implying that if drugs were legalized that it would be even worse for society as they would be arms/human/other terrible shit trafficking more? I beleive if that was the case they would still make money but their power wouldn't extend to the depths of basically every state in America(through drugs). These men are horrible people and of course would turn to other ghastley ways to earn their means but this way is just too way for them to make billions IMO.
 
Yeah I saw that article in the post the other day.

Thujone has a decent point, but I'd like to see it referenced somewhere:\.


The killing will only get worse, and the blaming will continue to shift as the attention is diverted by the American News & Media. This is what I have come to believe as true.

Too many people profit for this to just go away and become legal. Supervised decriminalization is one thing Tchort made a good point about in the 'Bart Simpson Thread', but I'm not saying thats happening anytime soon. The bible belt would exlpode, haha, kidding.
 
thujone said:
i hate to break it to you, and everyone that is thinking like you, but drugs are just another source of funds to criminal organizations that benefited greatly from their illegal status. every country on earth could legalize drugs and these cartels would just look to even more daring sources of income to grow their power base.
Click to expand...

I disagree. If the whole world legalized drugs, most people wouldn't rely on the cartel as a source.

The way it is now, most people do, and they don't necessarily realize it.

Look at the history of alcohol prohibition - the crime and death rate that was associated with illegal alcohol production and distribution essentially disappeared after alcohol was reintroduced into society in a legal way.

A lot less people would die on a yearly basis if we legalized all drugs. A lot of non-drug users would get to live as a result.

skoat said:
but I'm not saying thats happening anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Well, that's not that great of an argument considering some US States have marijuana dispensaries.

If the US doesn't change their ways "anytime soon" then a lot of people are going to migrate to Europe.
 
Last edited:
Well, that's not that great of an argument considering some US States have marijuana dispensaries.

If the US doesn't change their ways "anytime soon" then a lot of people are going to migrate to Europe.
Click to expand...

This has happened before. The British 'Heroin epidemic' in the 1960's was caused by American and Canadian Heroin addicts who moved to the UK to access the NHS Heroin prescription program %)

Beginning about 1960, a modest change occurred in the British heroin problem. A group of fifteen Canadians plus a smaller group of Americans migrated to London to take advantage of high-quality, low-cost, legal heroin there-and proceeded to set up a "heroin subculture" on the American and Canadian model. They made a number of friends, and these friends also became addicted.

Only a moderate commercial black market developed, however. For at the very point when a potential black-market customer became addicted, be simply went to a physician and secured higb-quality legal heroin without paying the black-market price. The availability of lowcost legal heroin also made it unnecessary for this new crop of British addicts to become thieves or prostitutes.

Nevertheless, the British during the 1960s became understandably distressed as more and more young people became addicted to heroin. The numbers remained exceedingly small by American standards, but the trend seemed ominous (see Table 3).

The 162 new heroin addicts reported to the United Kingdom Home Office in 1964 may be contrasted with the 10,012 new addicts reported in that year to the United States Federal Bureau of Narcotics-with the warning that the British count was far more complete than the American count, since the British gave free heroin to those willing to be counted, while Americans who let their addiction become known risked imprisonment. If the British trend continued, of course, that country could expect several thousands of addicts during the 1970s.
Click to expand...

http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/CU13.html
 
Captain.Heroin said:
If the US doesn't change their ways "anytime soon" then a lot of people are going to migrate to Europe.
Click to expand...

i expect that sometime in the near future, the only citizens of the american empire will be those that either work for the government or worship the government.
 
Its so sad. All the lives that could be saved by ending the drug war and ending the profit chances of the cartels. So many lives. And not just drug war violence victims, system victims. users in prison instead of getting help and safe ways and places to use like a bunch of countries in Europe are starting to establish. Switzerland has prescription heroin and clincics for addicts. No more street cut crap for them, and a safe place to use, taper, and get clean. They get that, we get prison. just so many damn lives. Its crazy. Not to mention the economy, which equals more lives saved in more ways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top