Thread: Military General Accused of Ordering Executions - 47,000 Cartel Murders

Military General Accused of Ordering Executions in Ojinaga

justiceinmexico.org
Posted by dheyden on January 31, 2012

General Moreno Aviña has been charged with accepting bribes from traffickers, obtaining information from ex-hitmen associated with the gang La Línea, permitting raids without judicial approval, planting weapons on detainees, and deciding which detained individuals would be referred to the Public Ministry (Ministerio Público), and which would disappear.

Major General Manuel de Jesús Moreno Aviña has been accused of systematic abuses between April of 2008 and August of 2009 in front of the military garrison of Ojinaga, Chihuahua. According to Reforma, General Moreno Aviña is responsible for at least seven extrajudicial executions.

According to Reforma, one such execution was that of José Heriberto Rojas Lemus that occured in July 2008. Rojas Lemus, a 20 to 25 year-old male from Uruapan, Michoacán, was subjected to torture by electric shock in a military outpost in Ojinaga, and is believed to have died of consequent cardiac arrest. Officials and soldiers of the Third Independent Infantry Company (Tercera Compañía de Infantería No Encuadrada, CINE) allegedly incinerated the body hours later with 60 liters of diesel fuel.

In addition to abuses of this nature, General Moreno Aviña has been charged with accepting bribes from traffickers, obtaining information from ex-hitmen associated with the gang La Línea, permitting raids without judicial approval, planting weapons on detainees, and deciding which detained individuals would be referred to the Public Ministry (Ministerio Público), and which would disappear.

The case of General Manuel de Jesús Moreno Aviña is one of at least eight other cases in which there has been a request for clarification as to what type of court military personnel will be tried for crimes against civilians. According to the precedent set by the case of Radilla, a forced disappearance in 1974, the likelyhood is that the hearing will take place in a civilian court. This case also comes on the heels of the Federal Government speaking out against Human Rights Watch’s recent allegations of abuse by military officials.

Source: Military General Accused of Ordering Executions in Ojinaga « Justice in Mexico

Mexico Denies Human Rights Watch Allegations

At a recent press conference, the director of the Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, José Miguel Vivanco, challenged Segob’s response by asking them to prove their claim that the majority of the 47,000 deaths that have occurred as a result of narco trafficking violence in Mexico are a direct result of crime and violence between the cartels themselves.

justiceinmexico.org
Posted by alizano on January 28, 2012

Mexico’s Interior Ministry (Secretario de Gobernación, Segob) sent out a formal complaint to Human Rights Watch (HRW) stating that the accusations it makes about Mexico in its recent reports are untrue and “do not reflect the real status in Mexico.” On January 21, HRW released its annual “World Report,” which examines the status of human rights around the world. (Read the Mexico chapter by clicking here).

Over two months before, on November 9, 2011, HRW also published a 212-page report titled “Neither Rights Nor Security: Killings, Torture, and Disappearances in Mexico’s ‘War on Drugs,’” which can be found here. Between the two publications, HRW alleges that certain branches of the Mexican military have committed serious human rights violations against Mexican citizens during President Calderón’s “war on drugs.” They also provide statistics as to the number of complaints made by Mexican citizens and what kind of response the government has made in return. The reports further comment on the fact that these violators continue to receive impunity from their alleged actions, which undermines both justice and the rule of law throughout the country.

Two days after the publication of the “World Report,” the Mexican Federal Government reported that the Interior Ministry had sent a response to HRW regarding the accusations made in the November report highlighting the discrepancies in the publication. It was also pointed out that HRW neglected to include the Mexican government’s response to the November report when it discussed the current state of Mexican human rights in the “World Report.”

In its defense, Segob reiterated that the Army (Secretaría de Defensa Nacional, Sedena) and Navy (Secretaría de Marína, Semar) both “put the security and the integrity of the people” above all else when fighting against narco trafficking groups.

Additionally, as Grupo Fórmula reported, the Mexican government stressed the following points in its recent response to HRW: that the number of complaints registered with the National Commission on Human Rights (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH) does not reflect the actual number of human rights violations committed; that of the 6,065 complaints received against Sedena, only 98 (1.61%) of them were turned into recommendations, which have been adopted and consistently followed by Sedena; and that 17 out of the 800 (2.12%) complaints against Semar were adopted as recommendations.

Thus, the government has tried to show the difference in the number of complaints of violations being filed versus the actual number of cases of human rights violations that have been proven.

At a recent press conference, the director of the Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, José Miguel Vivanco, challenged Segob’s response by asking them to prove their claim that the majority of the 47,000 deaths that have occurred as a result of narco trafficking violence in Mexico are a direct result of crime and violence between the cartels themselves.

Miguel Vivanco questioned how 90% of these crimes fall into this category when investigations are not properly conducted into these deaths. He added that he hopes the “next administration revises its security strategy” and is willing to “examine conducts and accept criticisms and suggestions” from international organizations.

Source: Mexico Denies Human Rights Watch Allegations « Justice in Mexico