Human Rights Group Says Mexican Reform Efforts Failing

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 14—Legal reforms designed to strengthen the rule of law
and end deep-seated corruption in Mexico's justice system are largely
failing, according to a new report.

The 123-page report released today by Human Rights Watch, an international
human rights group, says that the use of illegal arrests and detentions,
torture, forced confessions and fabricated evidence are still widespread
and that top government officials and judges deliberately look the other way.

Numerous judicial reforms implemented by Mexico in recent years have
provided a framework for a cleaner, more accountable judicial system, the
group acknowledged. But instead of being used to bring about real change,
they are being used to quiet domestic and international criticism of a
system that still tolerates abuses.

"Mexico's continuing human rights problems can be attributed to the
government's preference for rhetoric designed to mollify . . . critics over
action that would resolve specific human rights problems," the report said.
"Through willful ignorance of abuses or purposeful fabrication of evidence,
prosecutors routinely prosecute victims using evidence obtained through
human rights violations, including torture and illegal detention, and
judges avail themselves of permissive law and legal precedent to condemn
victims while ignoring abuses."

The Mexican government, which in the past has responded to international
criticism of its rights record with blanket denials and denunciations of
meddling in its internal affairs, was more conciliatory this time, saying
it would forward the report to a special commission.

Legal experts and political analysts in Mexico and abroad frequently cite
Mexico's corrupt justice system as a fundamental barrier to the country's
democratic evolution. The problem has become acute in recent years, with
drug traffickers spending billions of dollars on bribes to infiltrate every
level of Mexico's legal system.

The key problem, the report says, is the government's refusal to follow
through with concrete actions in specific cases of rights violations, even
though it generally concedes that serious problems exist. The report says
that officials justify excesses as necessary to counter the country's
violent rebel insurgencies, soaring crime rates and growing drug problem.