By Nima Nayebi
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – In an effort to curtail drug-related violence, the Mexican army has been engaged in domestic policing, but a lack of training and accountability has led to allegations of rampant human rights violations according to a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

President Felipe Calderón initially recruited the army in the effort as part of a 2006 emergency plan. Since then more than 1,230 reported cases of human rights violations have prompted Mexican human rights organizations to ask the U.S. to halt American military aid to Mexico. While abuses include disappearances, killings, torture, rapes, and arbitrary detentions, none of the military investigations and trials has led to the conviction of accused soldiers. According to Raúl Benítez, defense specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, part of the problem is that “[h]aving military officers commit abuses is seen as the lesser evil. People just want the army to protect them from the narcos.”

The HRW report details seventeen graphic cases of abuse in 2007 and 2008 involving more than seventy individuals. HRW recommends that civilian courts, rather than military tribunals, hear military abuse cases to ensure proper prosecution and deterrence. The Mexican Interior Department has promised to study the report, but has stressed that military court rulings may be appealed in civilian courts.