海角大神

鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

The very government and security forces meant to protect Mexicans from the violence that has overwhelmed the country during its drug war played a role in the disappearance of nearly 150 people over a six-year period, with little or no investigation into the cases, Human Rights Watch announced yesterday.

The new report, entitled 鈥淢exico鈥檚 Disappeared: The Enduring Cost of a Crisis Ignored,鈥� documents some 249 cases of disappearances between December 2006 and 2012, with 149 providing 鈥渃ompelling evidence鈥� that state security officials were involved. The involvement is not limited to Mexico鈥檚 notoriously corrupt local police, but includes evidence of participation by members of all security branches, including the Army, federal and local police, and the oft-lauded Navy.

In more than 60 cases, the human rights group found proof of collaboration between state agents and crime syndicates. One example cited in the report was the case of 19 construction workers 鈥渁rbitrarily鈥� taken into police custody in May 2011, only to be handed over to an organized crime group. The men have not been seen since then, and Human Rights Watch postulates in cases like this security forces and crime groups work together to disappear citizens in order to extort their families.

But the 249 cases investigated in the report do not represent the entirety of Mexico鈥檚 population that has gone missing over the past six years.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Atty. Gen. Jesus Murillo Karam said in late 2012 that thousands of people were disappeared during President Felipe Calder贸n鈥檚 six-year term in office.

This week, a senior government official placed the number of disappeared in Mexico at 27,000. Human Rights Watch, however,聽finds the government鈥檚 tally incomplete, reports The New York Times. 鈥淎mong other problems, the list fails to distinguish how many were eventually found or how many people left by choice,鈥� though it is a good indicator of the scale of the problem, The NY Times notes.

"President Pe帽a Nieto has inherited one of the worst crises of disappearances in the history of Latin America," said Jos茅 Vivanco, the Americas director of Human Rights Watch. Countries like Argentina, which is still dealing with the repercussions of the state鈥檚 role in the disappearance of citizens during its military dictatorship that ended in 1983, illustrate the long-term implications of such activity.

According to 海角大神, President Calder贸n, who left office in December, attempted to fight organized crime head on, with often deadly results. An estimated 70,000 people died in Mexico since 2006.

Human Rights Watch has called on the new administration of Enrique Pe帽a Nieto, which began in December 2012, to account for those who are missing. It recommended reforming the military justice system and creating a national database that could link the missing with the thousands of bodies that have been left unidentified during Mexico鈥檚 drug-war violence.

The Wall Street Journal reports that President Pe帽a Nieto has taken some steps to change the nature of fighting crimes since taking office.

A separate 海角大神 Science Monitor story notes that although Pe帽a Nieto hasn鈥檛 backed away from using the military to fight crime, his administration has 鈥減romised a more multi-faceted approach.鈥�

A Human Rights Watch delegation presented copies of its report to representatives of the current administration, which responded by saying it is 鈥渨orking to prevent disappearances and improve search methods,鈥� reports the LA Times.

But Nik Steinberg, an author of the report, said, "As positive as that is, none of this can work until the government starts to do what the previous government never did and determines who is responsible and brings them to justice.鈥�

Investigating crimes and bringing justice to victims is an ongoing challenge in Mexico. According to 海角大神, the Mexican justice system has the capacity to pursue some 4,000 cases of homicide each year.聽 But given the ongoing drug war, homicides have gone up to close to 25,000 annually, overwhelming the justice system and its resources to try all types of crimes. 聽

President Pe帽a Nieto has also taken steps to address the needs of victims through legislation such as The General Law of Victims, which passed this year after stalling under Calder贸n鈥檚 administration. According to The Monitor:

Reuters reports that family members of some of the disappeared "have asked for soldiers guilty of rights abuses to be judged like civilians." Mexico鈥檚 Supreme Court has approved such measures.

"To us it just seems that the military is untouchable," Laura Orozco, who says she witnessed her brother's military-led abduction, told Reuters. "They're bulletproof."