Human Rights Report on Mexico Does Not Include Homicide Victims Who Are U.S. Citizens

Monday, March 15, 2010

By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

Mexican Navy Marines escort an injured man after he was detained at a clinic during an operation in the outskirts of the northern city of Monterrey, Mexico, Friday March 12, 2010. According to local media, the Navy detained six men and a woman at the clinic, where they were recovering from wounds allegedly suffered during a gun battle against federal forces at a highway a day earlier. (AP Photo)


(CNSNews.com) – The State Department's latest report on human rights practices in nations around the world mentions the 8,000 people, mostly Mexicans, who have died in Mexico from drug-related violence. Some of those victims are named, and details of their deaths are disclosed.

But none of the 30 U.S. citizens who were murdered in Mexico between Jan. 1, 2009 and June 27, 2009 are included in the report.

When asked why that was the case, Michael Posner, assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, told CNSNews.com that the report “is intended to give a broad view.â€