MEXICO'S MILITARY DRAWS NEW FIRE FOR COVERING UP RIGHTS ABUSES

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's military, under attack for human-rights abuses
during the country's "dirty war" some 30 years ago, faced new fire from a
prominent human-rights organization that accused the military justice
system of shielding soldiers who have allegedly tortured and killed
civilians more recently.

In a report released Wednesday, Washington-based Human Rights Watch urged
the Mexican government to end the military justice system's jurisdiction
over cases where soldiers are accused of abuses against civilians, and
instead try these cases in civil courts. "Notorious violation of human
rights such as disappearances and torture should be considered common
crimes to be investigated by civil and not military justice," said Jose
Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights
Watch.

During the last decade, Mexico's army has fought small guerrilla groups and
faced off against drug traffickers in the conflict-torn state of Guerrero,
the focus of the report. The army's heightened police role has led to an
increase in reports of abuses, ranging from rape to murder, most of which
have gone unpunished.

The report is the latest blow to Mexico's army, which has been in the
spotlight for human-rights abuses. Last week, President Vicente Fox said he
would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate human-rights abuses,
including the disappearance and presumed executions of more than 500 people
during the 1970s and 1980s, when the army and other security forces fought
the so-called dirty war against rural guerrillas.

Mexico City prosecutors are also expected to question military men
regarding the recent assassination of lawyer Digna Ochoa, whose clients
included people accused by the army of drug trafficking.