Mexico's Dirty War

(Mexico City) A draft report leaked by a special prosecutor's office accuses former Mexican Presidents of conducting a "dirty war" against innocent civilians. A group of 27 researchers, historians and activists prepared the draft report of government counter-insurgency operations during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

From GWU.edu:

The National Security Archive posts on its Web site today a work of history in progress -- a draft of an unprecedented report by Mexico's government on the nation's "dirty war" of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

This document is the result of four years of work by the office of Mexico's Special Prosecutor for Social and Political Movements of the Past (Fiscalía Especial para Movimientos Sociales y Políticos del Pasado - FEMOSPP), Dr. Ignacio Carrillo Prieto. The office was created in 2002 by President Vicente Fox to investigate human rights crimes.

The crimes detailed in the draft report were committed during the administrations of Presidents Diaz Ordaz (1964-1970), Echeverría (1970-1976) and López Portillo (1976-1982). In those years, hundreds of Mexican citizens -- uncounted innocent civilians as well as armed militants -- were murdered or "disappeared" by military and security forces. Thousands more were tortured, or illegally detained, or subjected to government harassment and surveillance.

The final report has not yet been made public. However, according to Kate Doyle, Director of the Mexico Project of the National Security Archive, "We are posting the draft report because the families of the victims of the "dirty war," and the Mexican public, have a right to know."

I would agree. I would also ask why Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, et al. haven't been all over this issue for the past several decades.

Companion post at In The Bullpen.