International human rights commission files 'dirty-war' complaint against Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

International human rights commission files 'dirty-war' complaint against Mexico

The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
MEXICO CITY: An international court will review for the first time allegations that Mexico's government failed to adequately resolve the disappearance of a guerrilla sympathizer during the country's "dirty war."

The complaint was submitted to the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights on March 15 at the request of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, Alejandro Juarez, a spokesman for the independent organization, said Tuesday.

The case involves the disappearance of Rosendo Radilla, 25, in the southern state of Guerrero on Aug. 25, 1974. He was allegedly detained by soldiers in the city of Atoyac, then a hotbed of activity by leftist guerrilla groups.
(snip)

While such cases have been brought in Mexican courts, this is the first time they have been taken to the Inter-American court.

Mexico's governmental National Human Rights Commission said in a 2001 report that an estimated 275 people had been disappeared, mainly in the 1970s and 80s, though other rights activists say the figure could be 1,200 or more.




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