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- From: ZAHNISER_S%CUBLDR.Colorado.EDU@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu
- Subject: "Mexico: A Human Rights Emergency" (351 lines)
- Message-ID: <1992Aug26.004232.16078@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 00:42:32 GMT
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- Lines: 351
-
- "Mexico: A Human Rights Emergency?," Forty-Fifth Annual Conference on World
- Affairs Conference, Boulder, Colorado, Series XXII, April 8, 1992.
-
- FILE LENGTH: 351 LINES
-
- This file contains my notes from this series of presentations. The notes are
- not perfect but I believe they reflect the gist of what was discussed. Often
- I was unable to write down precisely some Spanish language names. Also, I was
- less attentive during Mr. Bonpane's presentation, so my notes from his
- presentation are a bit sketchy. Nevertheless I hope that my notes assist
- those persons interested in Mexico. Eventually I hope to obtain a transcript
- from this series of presentation or, at the very least, to construct a
- transcript myself from the recording made by the conference.
-
- Steven Zahniser
- zahniser_s@cubldr.colorado.edu
- Boulder, Colorado
- 14 August 1992
-
- Andrew Reding, Hemispheric Affairs Analyst, World Policy Institute, New York.
-
- Mexico presents itself as a democracy but it is not. "Not!"
-
- August 1990. Mario Vargas Llosa was invited to Mexico City to
- appear on Televisa (private TV monopoly and PRI-mouthpiece) to celebrate
- the ascendancy of neo-liberal economic policy. Vargas Llosa surprised his
- hosts over live TV by describing Mexico as "the perfect dictatorship."
- Mexico is not Communist, is not Cuba, but instead is a camouflage dictatorship
- that allows sufficient freedom and criticism of the political system so that
- the Mexican government can portray itself as a democracy.
-
- Labor. In December 1989, Ford Motor Co. workers struck for backpay.
- In January 1990, CTM buses carrying armed goons entered Ford Motor offices,
- received accreditation, and went on a shooting spree of sit-down strikers.
- Seven strikers were injured, one was killed. Elections were held at Ford.
- There was no opposition slate and workers were forced to cast an up or down
- slate vote in public and without secret ballots.
-
- Matamoros, January 1992. A local union headed by Agatito Gonza'lez
- (sic) went amok causing strikes in maquiladoras. Matamoros maquila workforce
- is 100 percent unionized. Gonza'lez was arrested without cause.
-
- Freedom of the press. Victor Manuel Oropeza (sic?) of Ciudad Jua'rez,
- a long-time suffrage activist was questioned, denounced corruption of the
- judicial police, and was murdered in his office (he was a medical doctor).
- Money in the office was left alone. Federal government sent in a high-level
- group of investigators who accused Oropeza of being homosexual and a child
- molester. But no one would testify against Oropeza. Street kids were tortured
- into confessing that Oropeza had molested them, but the kids later recanted
- their story.
-
- Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Two main newspapers: El Norte and El Porvenir.
- El Porvenir editor Jesus Cantu' published anti-Salinas editorials, especially
- regarding the use of the army in civilian cases (ex. the arrest of La Quina)
- in violation of the Constitution. Cantu' was warned that criticism of the
- President and the Presidency is taboo. Government cut off the accreditation
- of El Porvenir's reporters. Late last year, Cantu' resigned from the paper.
-
- National Human Rights Commission. Created by Salinas, reports to the
- President, is barred from hearing labor and political petitions from citizens.
- Is part of the Secretari'a de Gobernacio'n.
-
- El Fisgo'n, political cartoonist, La Jornada, Mexico City.
-
- Joked that he had taken an informal poll of two persons in the Mexico
- City Judicial Police building regarding whether police torture was a problem
- in Mexico. The first person, holding a cigarette, said no, it was not a prob-
- lem. The second person, whose flesh had recently been burned by a cigarette,
- said yes, it is a problem.
-
- Mexican police are very experienced in not only the use of torture
- technology but also have developed and even exported their own torture tech-
- nology. The Fountain (La Fuente), mineral water with chile peppers poured
- down the throat of the victim in copious amounts. All mucous membranes from
- nose to lungs are severely irritated and victim experiences sensation of
- nearly (usually) drowning.
-
- Mexican regime has never respected human rights.
-
- Tlalteloco, January 1971. Famous example.
-
- Solomon (last name?), mayor of Aguilerilla (sic?), Michoacan. Member,
- Partido de la Revolucio'n Democra'tica (PRD). Lost one testicle to a beating,
- was falsely accused by the police of murder, was released after two years in
- custody without an apology.
-
- Major human rights problems in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and
- especially Chiapas. In Chiapas, local landowners and bosses (caciques) hire
- armed goons to repress peasant population, often with government complicity.
- Governor of Chiapas, is known as "the Butcher," a very brutal man. Peasants
- are in the process of making a three week march to the D.F. El Fisgo'n hopes
- that their demands will be met.
-
- Mexican police often torture their suspects. An estimated 90 percent
- of those incarcerated in Mexican jails have been tortured.
-
- Ricardo Lo'pez Jua'rez. Accused of kidnapping a child. Upon interro-
- gation, confessed to the kidnapping to avoid being tortured. Interrogators
- wanted to know where the child was. Lo'pez Jua'rez could not answer and was
- tortured to death. Beaten, flooded, torched, had his feet broken, was forced
- to stay awake for a week. His mother was tortured in front of him.
-
- Mari'a Elisa Sa'nchez Cortez. Accused of murdering her boyfriend. Her
- nipples were pulled off with pliers while in police custody.
-
- National Human Rights Commission. Source of prestige for Salinas.
- Has solved the cases of Lo'pez Jua'rez and Aguilerilla. Has been limited
- in its effectiveness. Commission published facts on the Lo'pez Jua'rez case
- only after international human rights organizations had publicized the facts
- of the case.
-
- "What kind of regime would tolerate such behavior? A cruel regime....
- Torture is not an accident in the Mexican political scheme. It is a need."
-
- Minimum wage in Mexico: $4.00 a day. El Fisgo'n argues that this
- itself is a human rights violation.
-
- Julie Fisher, International Development Consultant, Fisher, Peck Associates,
- New Haven, Conn.; visiting fellow, Yale University; non-profit organizations
- researcher; Amnesty International (AI) member.
-
- Curiously there is a Carlos Salinas from Chile who is an AI member.
-
- AI focuses on torture. An estimated 80 to 95 percent of those picked
- up by the Mexican police are tortured. Methods of torture: often leave no
- visible signs, being dunked in a latrine or hung upside down. Even police
- officers who are arrested for human rights violations have been tortured.
-
- Right after AI report on Mexico, the National Human Rights Commission
- published a similar report about the same cases.
-
- 1990: 95 Americans arrested in Mexico on drug trafficking charges
- were tortured.
-
- With respect to fast track and the FTA, the Bush Administration is not
- going to allow anything to get in its way. But human rights should be an issue
- with respect to free trade and not just certain sectors of the U.S. economy.
-
- Fisher's son participated in the Amigos program in Mexico during
- the time of the 1988 election. Spoke with a woman who counted the number of
- voters who had visited one particular polling place. The official tally of
- total voters greatly exceeded this woman's tally.
-
- The Mexican political system is illegitimate. Historically, it has been
- very good at coopting independent movements. Nevertheless, the independent,
- non-governmental sector offers a ray of hope in Mexico. Even in Mexico, non-
- governmental organizations (NGOs) are beginning to enlarge political space.
- Hundreds of NGOs are working in Mexico. Those NGOs working in the area of
- human rights are possibly in danger, but usually NGOs do not directly threaten
- the political system and thus are not subject to repression. There are 11
- NGOs in Mexico working in the area of women's rights.
-
- In most of the Third World, NGOs are aware of the need to stay auto-
- nomous, at least for a while, before they start to link up with those policy-
- makers who want change. This model will probably not hold in Mexico. Autonomy
- will be maintained much longer. If this is indeed the case, this facet of
- Mexican NGOs will be very important to the development of democratic civil
- society in Mexico.
-
- Verne Lyon, Director, Des Moines (Iowa) Hispanic Ministry.
-
- Twenty-three years ago, Lyon made his first visit to Mexico. His driver
- had to made a detour due to a student-tank confrontation. This was in 1968,
- just before the Olympic Games, and Lyon was then a CIA employee. At that time,
- Lyon was not concerned with human rights. He thought that Mexicans already
- enjoyed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to the same extent as in the
- United States.
-
- Up until Echeverri'a, the CIA would deliver $250 million to each of the
- Mexican presidents via courier "to pave the way for our will to be done in
- Mexico." (It was not clear whether this was $250 million per year or per
- "sexenio.")
-
- Mexico is "a good cheap labor pool, ... for multinationals and now U.S.
- companies."
-
- Any party in power as long as the PRI has to have maintained power
- corruptly. The Mexican government is corrupt from the top down. Example:
- recent shootout between the Mexican military and the federal drug police over
- who would take possession of a drug load.
-
- Former CIA colleagues instructed Mexican in torture techniques. "That
- was U.S. government policy, to stand by and watch, and to correct when mistakes
- were made."
-
- At Des Moines Hispanic Ministry, many people who stop by are from
- Mexico. They are processed similarly by the ministry as Central American
- refugess. The Mexicans are usually impoverished and speak of lack of work,
- large families, and torture. They are beaten by coyotes, who charge high prices
- for their services, and then turned over by the coyotes to the INS. Often
- entire families are in transit, and the coyotes steal all of their possessions.
-
- "We (the U.S.) are responsible for the economic crisis in Mexico. We
- feed it, we maintain it. I don't know what the answer is.... There is a cri-
- sis. It is not a new one. It is documented more and more."
-
- "All we can do in Des Moines is provide Band-Aids and hope and a few
- dollars."
-
- Blaise A. Bonpane, Director, Office of the Americas, Santa Monica, Calif.
-
- During the Carter Administration, treatment of foreign countries was
- conditioned on their respect of human rights. Carter was thanked by the
- Argentine people for his efforts. Reagan abandoned this policy.
-
- With respect to cheap labor, there is only one perspective to take:
- no more cheap labor anywhere. The richest elements of the U.S. bring in
- undocumented workers and tell them: When we say work 12 hours, not eight,
- you work and if you don't we'll call the INS in to arrest you.
-
- The Mexican people know that Cuauthe'moc Ca'rdenas is their president.
- Mexicans consume more soft drinks per capita than any country in the world
- because of lack of potable water. 18,000 cases of leprosy, 200,000 cases of
- typhoid (no time frame given)--these are the results of institutionalized
- violence.
-
- The dismantling of the ejidos is a human rights violation. Until
- recently, the Banco Ejidatario did not deliver credits to (small farmers?).
-
- 30 percent unemployment, 60 percent underemployment.
-
- 50 percent of primary children drop out of school.
-
- The wealthiest 10 percent of Mexicans possess 33 percent of the
- country's wealth.
-
- 1990 and 1991. Undocumented migration up 90 percent. 1,460,000
- persons detained by INS, 96 percent Mexicans.
-
- In recent months, 810 disappearances, 120 political prisoners.
-
- Mexican Constitution of 1917. A wonderful document, torn to pieces.
- Said that the riches of the earth were to be the property of the people.
-
- Wall Street Journal depicts Mexico as a political democracy. U.S.
- apathy with respect to Mexico is equal to total disgust.
-
- Article 27 altered to destroy the ejidos.
-
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed (by U.S.?). Here in
- the U.S., people decompose in our jails.
-
- Police beating of Rodney King. Expert on police training. "Is it
- policy to is a prisoner who is lying on the ground 56 times with a metal
- stick?" "Yes, sir, that's our training."
-
- Question and Answer Time
-
- Q. to El Fisgo'n: Why has La Jornada been able to survive?
-
- A. (El Fisgo'n): 1. Luck. 2. Public demand. 3. La Jornada
- generally plays by the rules.
-
- Also, there are always five ways of telling the truth. The most
- important rule is not to attack the president directly but instead to
- criticize what he does. "It is a good deal, we think."
-
- Reding: Newspapers have a limited circulation. Mostly among
- intellectuals. The government points to La Jornada as evidence of press
- freedom. Reding was invited to write an op-ed piece by La Jornada's editor
- on the new electoral law. Reding was harshly critical of the law. His op-ed
- piece violated one of the key precepts of Mexican journalism: criticizing
- the president by name. The piece was never published.
-
- Also Reding (?): Mexican government's control of television is
- very important because there are no alternative networks. The government
- controlled TV networks are watched by millions. "Presidentialism is the
- disease of Mexico.
-
- Fisgo'n: La Jornada has great influence because the number of its
- readers far exceeds its circulation. One copy is often shared during political
- rallies by many people as the one source of reliable information.
-
- Q. Does the 90 percent figure for the proportion of detainees who
- are tortured reflect the middle class? Are there class differences?
-
- Payne: The woman who was raped and went public was from the middle
- class.
-
- Fisher: 95 Americans were tortured in the past year. It can happen
- to anybody.
-
- Reding: The reason why it happens is that Mexico has not judicial
- system. There is no training of investigators because there is no capability
- of obtaining a conviction. Torture thus becomes a substitute for investiga-
- tion in order to obtain information. Even government officials can be
- tortured.
-
- Fisgo'n: Mexico's judicial system is completely monopolized by the
- government. Whoever get caught is usually tortured. What can help prevent
- you from being tortured is that Mexico is a very old bureaucracy. Politicians
- are rarely tortured. The son of a rich person may possibly be treated very
- well and receive the red carpet treatment. Everybody has someone to appeal to.
- This does not always spare you from torture, however.
-
- About the case mentioned by Bonpane: More and more people are
- looking at torture that should not happen in any case. People once were afraid
- to talk. After being torture, people were afraid to talk. Personal escorts
- of former Mexican Attorney General Javier Pollo Trejo got to an agreement, saw
- a nice woman in a car, put her partner in a car, and gang raped the woman at a
- distant point. Woman spoke out in an act of civil courage. The counsel,
- chief investigator, Val Verde, lives in Washington, D.C. and works in the
- Mexican consulate. The perpetrators themselves were tortured by the police.
- The lesson: don't get caught at any price. The thicker the personal influence,
- the less one's chance of getting caught.
-
- Q. from a Peruvian-American whose documents were stolen in Mexico
- and who was nearly raped by five Mexican policemen. She has worked for AI
- and is familiar with the Mexican situation. The question: Why do we have to
- wait for the situation to get to the extremes of Chile and Argentina?
-
- Fisher: It is important to praise the efforts of the Carter Administra-
- tion in the area of human rights. Policy is important.
-
- Q. (notes unclear) In light of the FTA, are all foreigners doing
- business in Mexico involved in human rights violations?
-
- Bonpane: It depends on the entrepreneur.
-
- Fisgo'n: Main attraction of the FTA to the U.S. is cheap labor in
- Mexico. The FTA is thus a way of legalizing a natural violation of human
- rights. This is "a cruel element" [of U.S.-Mexico relations?]; it is "a
- cruel act. It is deliberate."
-
- Q. Why do we Japan-bash but not Mexico-bash?
-
- Reding: Japan has an advanced economy--more advanced than ours.
- It is a challenge. Mexico does not. It is backward.
-
- When salaries increase in Japan, so does the domestic market.
- Somehow our leaders don't see this.
-
- Fisher: Compare the U.S. to Germany prior to 1989. U.S. is becoming
- similar to that (????).
-
- Fisgo'n: There should be no Mexico bashing. The U.S. owes a lot
- to Mexico. Mexico's external debt is a subsidy of the U.S. economy.
-
- Fisgo'n wishes to tell a joke so that the gathering ends on "a positive
- note." There is a competition among a Mexican judicial policeman, an FBI
- agent, and a member of France's L'Securite (sic?). The judge of the contest
- asks each of the officers of the law to bring back a rabbit within 15 minutes.
- The FBI agent returns in 14 minutes, 3 seconds with a rabbit. Next goes the
- member from L'Securite. He returns in 12 minutes flat. The person from the
- judicial police goes last. He returns in three hours with an elephant who
- has a bottle of mineral water stuck in his trunk. The judge is furious.
- "What is this?" he asks of the Mexican policeman. "Why, it's a rabbit," he
- replies. "This isn't a rabbit!" the judge exclaims. "Oh yes I am," exclaims
- the elephant.
-
- END OF FILE
-