MEXICAN SOLDIERS ARE ACCUSED OF RAPE, TORTURE, REPORT SAYS

Panel: Pull Troops Out of Drug War

MEXICO CITY - A government-run human rights commission accused
soldiers of rape and torture on Friday and recommended the army be
pulled out of Mexico's nationwide drug war.

The report by the National Human Rights Commission is the first
official document to back up long-standing allegations of human rights
abuses by soldiers who are under orders by President Felipe Calderon
to retake large swaths of territory controlled by powerful drug cartels.

Military officials declined to comment on the report, saying any
response to the allegations would come in writing.

Calderon ordered the nationwide crackdown shortly after taking office
Dec. 1, and has said the war against drug trafficking is his top priority.

Calderon's office staff said they were reviewing the
report.

Jose Luis Soberanes, the commission's president, said his staff was
able to document four cases of abuse.

One case was from 2006, before Calderon took office. The commission
said soldiers allegedly raped 14 women and tortured and beat seven
police officers in a small town in the state of Coahuila, apparently
in retaliation for the brief kidnapping of a soldier by local officials.

One woman, who was five months pregnant at the time, was so brutally
attacked and raped that she miscarried her baby, the report said.