REPORT - CORRUPTION FUELS MEXICO ABUSES

Corruption among government and law-enforcement officials is
contributing to human-rights abuses in Mexico, including the border
region, according to a U.S. State Department report just released.

The report refers to several Juarez-related crimes: last year's murder
of reporter Jose Ramirez Puente, violence against women, drug-related
killings and the U.S.-Mexico "mass graves" investigation that looked
into the disappearances of dozens of people -- including several El
Pasoans.

Thursday, the State Department is also expected to issue its U.S.
certification review of Mexico's drug-fighting efforts.

The State Department report said "widespread police corruption and
alleged police involvement in narcotics-related crime continued."

Antonio Meza, Mexico's consul general in El Paso, couldn't be reached
for comment on the report.

El Pasoan Jaime Hervella, founder of the Association of Friends and
Relatives of Disappeared Persons mentioned in the report, said "we've
always known about the involvement of law-enforcement officials in the
disappearances."

This week, Jose Larrieta Carrasco, the Mexican official in charge of the
U.S.-Mexico "mass graves" investigation, resigned amid allegations of
corruption.

Larrieta was last in El Paso in September when the U.S. attorney's
office announced murder indictments against alleged Mexican drug lord
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

El Paso FBI Special Agent Al Cruz said that "despite what's occurred,
the FBI will continue to work with and assist in the investigation of
the disappeared persons ... and work with the Mexican government."

The State Department report also said Mexican "police regularly obtain
information through torture, prosecutors use this evidence in courts and
the courts continue to admit as evidence confessions extracted under
torture."

Amnesty International, a human-rights organization, reported Monday that
Mexico is the leading importer of U.S.-made equipment used to torture
people.