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  1. #1
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    Report: Juárez suspects tortured

    Report: Juárez suspects tortured

    02:27 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 11, 2005


    By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News



    CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – An independent review has found that some suspects in the decade-long killings of women in this border town were tortured into confessing to the crimes, casting serious doubts on an ongoing investigation by the federal government.

    "The findings confirm what many in Juárez have said for years: the culprits remain free," said Guadalupe MorfÃÂ*n, the federal commissioner President Vicente Fox appointed to coordinate local and federal investigations. "These killers continue to be a threat to women and the public at large. All the while, innocent people remain behind bars."

    Ms. MorfÃÂ*n ordered the review, which was overseen by the Mexican Human Rights Commission.

    Since 1993, more than 340 mostly young women have been killed in the Juárez area and Chihuahua City. About 120 of them showed signs of having been sexually assaulted. A number of the bodies were found in shallow graves just outside Juárez.

    Ms. MorfÃÂ*n dismissed the state of Chihuahua's previous investigation of the slayings as a "façade, an apparent cover-up."

    State prosecutor's office spokeswoman Claudia Banuelos declined comment.

    The Dallas Morning News has published stories detailing issues with the state's handling of the killings, including allegations by rights advocates that the investigation was bungled by corrupt law enforcement and judicial authorities.

    The paper also has reported that informants told authorities a group made up of renegade police and drug traffickers kidnapped and killed women during sex parties that often followed drug-smuggling runs across the Texas-Mexico border.

    Ms. MorfÃÂ*n said at least three suspects in the killings – Cynthia Kiecker and her husband, UlÃÂ*ses Perzabal, and David Meza – were tortured.

    She added that the case of Abdel Latiff Shariff, the first suspect arrested in Juárez and a man some have labeled a serial killer, should be reviewed. His 1995 conviction is "dubious and questionable," she said.

    And she said Victor Javier GarcÃÂ*a Uribe, alias "El Cerillo," sentenced to 50 years in prison for killing eight women, should be released because all authorities have on him "is a confession taken under torture… There is no element to keep him behind bars."

    Ms. MorfÃÂ*n said the cases showed "a troubling pattern" and that torture charges must be investigated.

    She criticized the investigative efforts of state officials during the administration of the previous governor, Patricio MartÃÂ*nez. But she praised the current administration of Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza for "having the courage to look into these cases and we hope this sends a message that these illicit acts will not be tolerated any more."

    That in turn "will help restore legitimacy to the state government, the attorney general's office and the judicial system in general," she said.

    Some human rights activists said they remain skeptical that the latest findings will cause the release of any jailed suspects.

    "In Mexico, just proving that you were tortured isn't enough to invalidate your confession," said Laurie Freeman, Mexico associate with the Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA. "You have to prove you're not guilty. You have to prove your confession isn't true, because in Mexico you are considered guilty until proven innocent."

    Dante Almaraz, Mr. GarcÃÂ*a Uribe’s Juárez attorney, agreed.

    "One thing is freeing an American women and her husband (Ms. Kiecker and Mr. Perzabal) because of intense pressure from the U.S. government," he said, "and another thing is freeing a defenseless bus driver who's nothing more than a convenient scapegoat for the messy lies in Juárez. If the state lets El Cerillo go, then the theater falls apart."

    Chihuahua state authorities have jailed 16 men in connection with the killings and are now seeking to discipline rogue detectives and prosecutors for alleged misconduct in the investigation.

    Relatives of David Meza, 28, said they've known, since his arrest on July 14, 2003, that he was physically and psychologically tortured. The human rights commission said Mr. Meza was held incommunicado after his arrest and had bruises on his body consistent with electric shocks.

    A Chihuahua state court will determine, sometime next month, whether to release Mr. Meza, a migrant activist from Chiapas who arrived in Chihuahua City a week after his cousin, Neyra Azucena, had gone missing.

    Prosecutors said Mr. Meza hired two men to kidnap Ms. Azucena, and that he then traveled to Chihuahua City, raped his cousin, shot her in the head and returned home.

    Mr. Meza has said he was targeted after he criticized Chihuahua authorities as "incompetents." His story has been made into a 16-minute documentary by WITNESS, a New York City group that trains human rights advocates to use video to document abuse. "We won one battle, but we're still in the middle of a war against our own government's lies," said Mr. Meza's mother, Carmen. "I've learned to live with the same courage that my son has demonstrated and by fearing these liars, these criminals in Chihuahua."

    In the meantime, the killings continue. Last week, authorities discovered the bodies of two women – raising this year's tally so far to 13, compared with a total of 19 in 2004.

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    Sounds like a really GREAT work force of people only wanting to do the jobs that us fat-stupid-lazy American CITIZENS will not do.

    Heck, import up 3 or 4 of these fine upstanding people for me, to watch my kids, clean my house, and mow my grass

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    Quote Originally Posted by Husker
    Sounds like a really GREAT work force of people only wanting to do the jobs that us fat-stupid-lazy American CITIZENS will not do.

    Heck, import up 3 or 4 of these fine upstanding people for me, to watch my kids, clean my house, and mow my grass :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
    This is the one that was so funny.
    FAR BEYOND DRIVEN

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