Antonio Baranda/ Reform Agency
Saturday, March 25, 2023 | 11:07
CDMX.- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made a “storm” over the US State Department’s annual human rights report, which notes the prevalence of serious human rights violations in Mexico, including executions, disappearances and torture.
Although the report unleashed the anger of the President, to the extent that he called it “bodrio”, the content of said document is similar -and in some paragraphs practically identical- to that of previous reports, including those corresponding to the years of the man from Tabasco in the can.
The State Department supports the presentation of its human rights reports to the US Congress, in light of the Foreign Assistance Act and the United States Code, which require that its trade and foreign policy take into account the performance of countries in terms of human rights and workers.
The reports are produced using information from US embassies and consulates, government officials abroad, international and non-governmental organizations, legal scholars and experts, journalists, academics, activists, and pre-published reports.
For example, the Report on Human Rights Practices in Mexico, corresponding to 2021, warns that there are “credible reports” of unlawful or arbitrary homicides by police, military, and other authorities.
“Although the authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces, there were cases where elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control,” the document read.
“There were credible reports that members of the security forces committed some abuses. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings by police, military and other officials.”
The same report reports forced disappearance by State agents, torture and degrading treatment by security forces, “harsh and potentially” deadly prison conditions, as well as arbitrary arrests or detentions.
There were even warnings of restrictions on freedom of expression, violence against journalists and insufficient investigations into cases of gender violence, such as domestic and partner violence.
In previous six-year terms, the tone of the State Department’s annual reports was no different. In the 2017 report, during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto, the collusion of police, military and state officials with criminal organizations was pointed out.
As in other reports, the United States government warned of “unlawful” homicides, disappearances and torture, “harsh and potentially deadly” prison conditions, arbitrary arrests and detentions, intimidation and corruption of judges, and violence against journalists.
This 2017 report specifically mentions the case of Tanhuato, Michoacán, where elements of the extinct Federal Police arbitrarily executed 22 people after a shooting at a ranch where evidence was tampered with.
In Felipe Calderón’s period, serious human rights violations were also pointed out. In the 2011 report – the most violent year of the PAN’s six-year term – the State Department stressed that the most serious problems arose from the fight against organized crime.
He indicated that the government’s strategy involved frequent confrontations between security forces and criminal organizations, while the cartels and gangs linked to them fought each other to establish or maintain control of trafficking routes and markets.
“In multiple instances, (criminal organizations) used brutal tactics and continued to be the largest perpetrators of violent crime in the country, showing disregard for civilian victims,” it warned.
This week, following the publication of the State Department’s 2022 Report, López Obrador lashed out at the US agency, which he accused of lying, slandering and even protecting “conservatism” in Latin America and the world.
In his morning conference on Wednesday, AMLO minimized and disqualified the report on the situation in Mexico released on Monday, which he described as “bodrio” and said that it had been prepared by a “little department.”
“If you see the report from the little department of the State Department, it is a mess. You have to check the dictionary for what it means. They say: according to experts, it is presumed, it is pointed out (that there are serious violations of human rights). There is no support, they use slander,” he said.
The same day, and in response to a question from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, stated that drug cartels control territories over and above the López Obrador Administration.
