Now, the State Department of the United States government is not only putting the spotlight on Mexico as a place where torture is perpetrated, but is also pointing out the army and the police as the red light that is causing our country to have high levels of impunity and human rights violations related to the actions of the Mexican security forces.
Undoubtedly, it is a serious accusation and, although it is not the first time it happened, it does represent an escalation that is taking the Mexican government by surprise.
And our government has already entered into that spiral in which a breach of laws that safeguard human rights prevails, leading to an infection that has no antibiotic or vaccine, and which puts the country, again and again, under the international spotlight and in a bad position.
However, in cases such as the one of the brutal video recorded in Guerrero, where a woman wearing an army uniform points a gun to a young woman and tries to smother her in the presence of another soldier and a member of the Federal Police, one must recognize two aspects. One is the reaction of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) regarding the prosecution of those responsible. And the second one is the strong reaction of National Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos, who condemned the event and apologized to the Mexican public.
But we must also be realistic, because there are already many pending cases where the military and the police have committed abuses to the degree where they create national and international criticism.
The least one can say about this is that there has been an extremely exculpatory attitude by the previous governments regarding cases like this. And now, when we have cases such as the ones of Tlataya, Ayotzinapa, cases of torture and accusations from the U.S. State Department, the federal government should be deeply concerned.
In this context, we still don’t know how many have disappeared. We still don’t know — regardless of the laws that have been written — who, within the government, has the responsibility of finding the identity of those Mexicans who lie in mass graves and in the universe of the unknown.
The situation is very serious. Not only because the sectors of the government are not fulfilling their obligations, but because all the questions and answers that are up in the air, and the excessive accusations may eventually form the overwhelming panorama which the U.S. Department of State now describes regarding our country.
