Use of torture by authorities has risen in Mexico, groups say
Source: Los Angeles Times
Use of torture by authorities has risen in Mexico, groups say
Under ex-President Calderon, incidents of torture soared, according to human rights organizations, as well as testimony collected by The Times.
By Tracy Wilkinson
December 30, 2012, 7:29 p.m.
Los Angeles Times
MEXICO CITY — On the eve of Mexico's Day of the Dead this year, authorities in Veracruz declared triumphantly that they had solved one of the decade's most notorious slayings of a journalist in Mexico.
They trotted before reporters a sad-sack figure, one Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva. They proclaimed him guilty of the April slaying of Regina Martinez, a highly respected reporter for the national Proceso magazine. He had confessed, the Veracruz government said, and the motive was robbery.
Case closed, they said with an almost palpable sigh of relief. The coastal Veracruz state had become the most deadly place for journalists in a country considered one of the deadliest places in the world for journalists. And Veracruz authorities were coming under enormous pressure to do something about the killings and disappearances, which were giving the state a bad reputation and hurting tourism.
Someone forgot to tell Hernandez Silva to play along. Hours after he was presented to reporters, he appeared in court at the local equivalent of an arraignment. There he blurted out that he had been tortured by state officials bent on extracting a confession. They forced water up his nose and threatened to kill his mother. He had nothing to do with Martinez's slaying, he declared.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-torture-20121231,0,7355136.story
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