Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think you can ask this question of the authorities of the State of Mexico. The students represented agents of change. They represented a rural school—in other words, an opportunity for these students to study and an opportunity to denounce what was happening in Mexico. Two year

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The problem for us is that it is cyclical. As I said, there's criminal violence, and the state reacts in turn with violence against the criminals. This in turn has become a situation where if a crime is committed, the state as a reaction also commits a crime. One thing you have

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The answer that was given by the Mexican state, in addition to denying the situation, was to not take specific steps to redress the situation. I'm referring here to reforms in Mexico that were sponsored by civil society, not specifically emanating from the government. The end res

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, definitely the message is that Mexico cannot be called a democratic country that observes the rule of law when there are such scandalous numbers for human rights abuses, when there is no justice for certain cases, and when there is no investigation of what happens in the ch

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. Forced disappearances are also caused by elements within the Mexican government, as with the 43 students from Ayotzinapa. The municipal police was involved and there is documentation to that effect. In Tlatlaya in the state of Mexico members of the military executed civili

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Unfortunately, recently it has become a norm. What is not normal is to have severe human rights violations like summary executions. In Mexico, based on publicly available information, we have an index of lethal activity by the armed forces. The navy kills 34 civilians for each

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think it is an example of what is happening in the country. When the rapporteur against torture visited a number of state prisons and federal prisons in Mexico, he met with organizations of the civil society, spoke directly to victims of torture, travelled with a team of expert

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When it comes to impunity, on the one hand we have over 7,000 denouncements of torture, but we know of only two sentences that have been handed down against public authorities for committing the crime of torture. The Centro Prodh, my organization, has accompanied a number of peop

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Good afternoon. First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak here on Ángel's case and on the human rights situation in Mexico, knowing that your committee is studying and reviewing what is happening in Mexico. Today there's a severe human rights crisis