Mexico military abuses brought to Inter-American Commission

A case of rights abuses allegedly committed by the Mexican armed forces is coming up for a hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), where it joins a long list of accusations against the army in this Latin American country. As part of the IACHR's 137th Period of Sessions, which began in Washington Monday, a hearing will be held Thursday on "Public Security and Human Rights in Tijuana, Mexico" at which activists and victims' relatives will report human rights violations allegedly committed by Mexican soldiers. "We want to denounce what is happening as a result of the public security model, which is generalized throughout the country but has had specific consequences in certain areas, like Tijuana," in the northwestern Mexican state of Baja California, activist Humberto Guerrero with the non-governmental Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told IPS. The complaint, one of five cases against Mexico being heard Thursday, will air the case of a group of municipal police in Baja California who were detained and tortured by members of the military. In addition to federal and state police forces, there are 2,022 municipal police forces in Mexico's local administrations. The municipal police are the worst paid and least trained and many have been linked to organized crime.