Tomorrow, Mexico's President Vicente Fox Quesada
will celebrate one year in office. His election ended 71 years of
authoritarian rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party and was
welcomed by many as an opportunity to usher in a new era of respect
for human rights.
After one year in office, however, human rights
abuses remain routine. Extrajudicial executions,
"disappearances," torture and unjust imprisonment continue
to be documented and deplored by organizations such as the
Organization of American States' Inter- American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR), the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the
Center for Justice and International Law, Amnesty International, PEN
International and the Sierra Club.
Among the multitude of cases of abuse, one stands
out as unique and central to the prospect of reform. That is the
case of Brig. Gen. General Jose Francisco Gallardo Rodriguez, who
has been imprisoned since 1993, when he called for the creation of
an independent ombudsman to investigate complaints of human rights
violations committed by the Mexican military.
Mexico's armed forces have long been involved in
human rights violations. The lives of hundreds of Mexicans have been
destroyed or broken by such abuses. So much evidence points to the
military in so many cases that the need for an ombudsman is
self-evident.
President Fox must stand up to the armed forces and
send a strong signal that they will no longer be able to enjoy
impunity when it comes to human rights. It is time to shift the
weight of the office of the presidency from maintaining the status
quo when it comes to human rights and the military, to defending
Mexico's citizens.
I recently spent a week with Gen. Gallardo's
youngest son. While pursuing his father's release through peaceful
and legal means, he has been shot at and narrowly escaped a
kidnapping attempt. Those responsible have not been brought to
justice.
In a recent meeting with relatives of Lt. Miguel
Orlando Munoz Guzman, a soldier in the Mexican army who
"disappeared" in 1993, I learned that suspicion again
falls on the military. His case has been taken up by the IACHR,
giving his mother some hope for learning of his fate.
Human rights advocates welcome the Nov. 27
announcement by the Mexican government of its intention to prosecute
members of the military responsible for the torture and
disappearance of hundreds of citizens during the "dirty
war" era of the 1960s through the 1980s. However, as the cases
of Gen. Gallardo and Lt. Munoz Guzman demonstrate, the problem is
not limited to the "dirty war" period, but rather is
ongoing.
One reason why President Fox's administration has
not lived up to promises made in his inaugural speech to address
human rights issues vigorously is his appointment for attorney
general of a member of the military, Gen. Macedo de la Concha.
Besides being generally unresponsive to human rights concerns, as
attorney general of military justice, he headed the prosecution of
Gallardo.
On Nov. 13, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus
heard testimony about Gallardo. Almost 40 members of Congress have
written to President Fox on the case. The National Security Council
has been briefed on Gallardo more than once, and the Department of
State, which receives regular updates, lists him as the only
political prisoner in Mexico. Trained at West Point, a decorated
officer with a distinguished career including being the youngest
brigadier general in Mexico's recent history, Gallardo is fast
becoming Mexico's national embarrassment.
Why is it so difficult for President Fox to assert
his authority over the armed forces? A terrifying example of what
happens when the military is challenged is the execution on Oct. 19
of Mexican attorney Digna Ochoa. Many of her clients' cases involved
allegations of violations by the military. She worked tirelessly to
defend human rights, despite having been kidnapped, tortured and
living for years with death threats. When she was shot to death in
her office, a note left beside her body threatened other members of
a human rights organization for which she had worked.
Among Ochoa's clients were two peasant
environmentalists, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, who were
detained after peacefully protesting illegal logging in the state of
Guerrero. They were sentenced to prison on evidence obtained under
torture. Although they were recently released, they have not been
cleared of charges, and the soldiers who tortured them have not been
brought to justice.
The release of Gallardo and the swift initiation of
a program to eliminate corruption and abuse of power in the Mexican
armed forces will go a long way toward building a new understanding
between the United States and Mexico, in keeping with the cordial
relationship between Presidents Fox and Bush of mutual admiration
and respect.
