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Mexico knows how to torture--no doubt

Submitted July 4, 2008 - 12:29 pm by Kristin Bricker

Miguel--I am completely in agreement that Mexico already knows how to torture.  I'm not sure anyone would disagree with that.

The troubling aspects to this story, however, are:

  1. A US private contractor was involved.  Taken in the context of the rampant abuses and impunity in Iraq by private contractors, and the US's increasing reliance on these mercenaries, this is troubling.  Mexico's foray into the dirty private contractor world can only exacerbate the current human rights crisis in Mexico.  But again, it is not a necessary component to Mexican police's ability to torture.
  2. This is official training (not just some "bad apples") that is being defended by the government.  Its legality is being defended, the necessity is being defended...
  3. The United States will be funding these sorts of trainings by these sorts of contractors (up to 50 foreign contractors, and more if the companies can recruit Mexicans) very soon.  If Plan Mexico's 2008 funding is retroactive, the US might very well pay for the training we saw in the video.

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