Mexico’s Military Malpractice

Mexico’s Military Malpractice: Business As Usual Or About, Face?

President Felipe Calderón’s aggressive counter-narcotics campaign in Mexico has begun to sprout a disturbing trend of abuse emanating from the Mexican armed forces. The human rights violations allegedly authored by the military rest on the underbelly of a drug conflict that has created frenzy throughout much of the country. As the country has seen an increase in military personnel patrolling its streets, so too has the public witnessed an increase in complaints of human rights violations. This disturbing trend highlights the reforms that need to be implemented in order to improve Mexico’s flawed human rights record. If advancement is to occur in safeguarding society, such abuses must be properly investigated and tried in a court of law.

History of Mistrust

The Mexican military’s murky past is, to a large extent, the source of the public’s instinctive mistrust. Much of its history is characterized by the Dirty War that overshadowed the 1960s and 70s. During that period, the military was repeatedly involved in aggressively disappearing and silencing many young dissidents and activists, with over 1,200 such casualties recorded for the period. The armed forces’ brutal tactics peaked during the tragic clash with students at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City. On October 2, 1968, Mexican military units confronted the most serious challenge to domestic tranquility at the time by putting a violent end to massive student-led protests. While the number of those killed is still debated, a recent public disclosure of secret official documents suggests that the military fired upon the protestors without any threatening provocation. The resulting ferment following the Tlatelolco massacre was met with a governmental resolve to modernize and strengthen the military. From 1960 to 1980 armed forces’ personnel doubled in size from 60,000 to 120,000 active members of the military. Changes in organization, structure, and the military’s curriculum followed. The National Defense College, established in 1981, with the aim of advancing the education of senior officers, expanded the traditional and administrative military curriculum. These steps helped reinforce Mexico’s military capabilities in the decades that followed, but little was done to improve the military’s image or to enhance human rights courses in its syllabus. To this day, the courts have yet to convict anyone for the crimes committed during the country’s Dirty War, or to release some of the more revolting documents pertaining to the Tlatelolco massacre.

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Henry A. Garcia-Valderrama

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