Nov. 18, 2006, 11:52PM Summary
Report blames 'high levels' in Mexico for massacres
Prosecutor says 3 ex-presidents knew that leftists were being killed
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican government released a long-awaited report Saturday that for the first time officially blamed "the highest command levels" of
three former presidencies for the massacres, tortures and slayings of hundreds of leftists from the 1960s to the 1980s.
The report ends a five-year investigation by a special prosecutor named by President Vicente Fox to shed light on past crimes, including a 1968
student massacre and the disappearance of hundreds of leftist activists in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The authoritarian regime, at the highest command levels, broke the law and committed "crimes against humanity" that resulted in "massacres, forced
disappearances, systematic torture and genocide to try to destroy a sector of society that it considered ideologically to be its enemy," said the
report, based partly on declassified Mexican military documents.
Special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo, who was appointed in November 2001, handed his report to the Attorney General's Office late Friday. It was later
posted on the Internet for the public, and Carrillo said it would be presented to Fox before he leaves office Dec. 1.
The incidents occurred during the administrations of Presidents Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Jose Lopez Portillo and Luis Echeverria.
Asked whether the presidents knew of the atrocities but did nothing, Carrillo replied, "Yes."
Carrillo said the report is only the beginning — that the Mexican government must prosecute those responsible. The state also must compensate victims'
families, he said.
"This was not about the behavior of certain individuals," Carrillo said. "It was the consequence of an authorized plan to do away with political
dissidents."
No
Dave - 11-19-2006 at 05:57 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by villadelfin Will this affect any baja land deals made by former administrations?
