President of the Human Rights Commission of the Senate Angélica de la Peña Gómez proposed a meeting with the heads of the National Security Commission and the Federal Police to discuss the extrajudicial executions of the 22 civilians that took place in Tanhuato, Michoacán. According to de la Peña Gómez, these executions require new legislation concerning the legitimate use of police force.
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) conducted an investigation earlier and concluded that the police force had not handled these cases responsibly and that the executions were unjustified. De la Peña said that it was vital that the National Security Commission and the Federal Police publicly give an explanation for what happened between the Federal Police and the members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in May of 2015.
“I think that it is important that we come together to meet to get on the same page. It is no longer possible for us to let time pass without taking action,” she said. “We have been conducting investigations and making recommendations for quite some time now. And it is not only us, we are receiving recommendations from other parties, like the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the UN, and the general consensus is that Mexico needs a national law concerning legitimate use of police force. We need to do it so that when we have an event like this, we know how to proceed.”
De la Peña Gomez supported the investigation carried out by the CNDH and said that there was absolutely no justification for the executions.
VÍCTOR MAYÉN
