Posted by DD Republished from New York Times
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MEXICO CITY — International human rights officials are demanding an investigation into the brutal sexual assaults of 11 Mexican women during protests a decade ago — an inquiry that would take aim at President Enrique Peña Nieto, who was the governor in charge at the time of the attacks.
The demand is part of a multiyear examination by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights into abuses during a 2006 crackdown ordered by Mr. Peña Nieto on San Salvador Atenco, a town in Mexico State where demonstrators had taken over the central square. During the operations, which left two dead, more than 40 women were violently detained by the police, packed onto buses and sent to jail several hours away.
The case was brought by 11 women to the international commission, which found that the police tortured them sexually. The women — a mix of merchants, students and activists — were raped, beaten, penetrated with metal objects, robbed and humiliated, made to sing aloud to entertain the police. One was forced to perform oral sex on multiple officers. After the women were imprisoned, days passed before they were given proper medical examinations, the commission found.
“I have not overcome it, not even a little,” said one of the women, Maria Patricia Romero Hernández, weeping. “It is something that haunts me and you don’t survive. It stays with you.”
For Mr. Peña Nieto, the human rights commission’s call for an investigation is another blow to a presidency under siege. Corruption scandals and continued violence have already dragged his approval ratings to the lowest of any Mexican president in a quarter-century. His invitation of Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate reviled in Mexico for his statements critical of Mexican immigrants, plunged his administration even further into controversy.
The assaults are also a reminder of countless other cases in the country that remain unresolved, including the haunting disappearance of 43 college students two years ago. International officials contend that the investigation into that case was actively undermined by Mr. Peña Nieto’s government.
The president’s office noted that the commission did not accuse Mr. Peña Nieto of wrongdoing or explicitly name him as a target of the investigation into the sexual assaults. Beyond that, his office said, legal cases in Mexico that have thoroughly investigated the attacks have never held him responsible.
“There is no one who can point to an order permitting the abuse of force,” said Roberto Campa, the under secretary for human rights in the Mexican Interior Ministry.
But the international commission found Mexico’s efforts to investigate the abuse insufficient so far. Instead, it demanded a much more thorough inquiry to uncover responsibility across the entire chain of command, which would most likely make Mr. Peña Nieto part of the investigation because he ordered the crackdown.
It also called for disciplinary or criminal action against any authorities who contributed to the denial of justice for the women.
The commission delivered its findings last week to the Inter-American Court, an independent judiciary with legal authority over Mexico. If the court agrees with the commission, it can order Mexico to broaden its current inquiry into the case, a requirement that could force the state to investigate its own president.
The commission suggests that the state government under Mr. Peña Nieto had sought to minimize and even cover up the events. Perhaps the most lurid example is whom the government chose to prosecute: Rather than go after the police who committed the sexual torture, the state initially prosecuted the women instead. Five were imprisoned for a year or more, on charges like blocking traffic, detentions the commission found arbitrary.
Days after the episode, the state denied the accusations of the women, essentially calling them liars. Mr. Peña Nieto told a local newspaper at the time that it was a known tactic of radical groups to have women make accusations of sexual violence to discredit the government. Others in his administration made similar claims.
Since then, while the government has acknowledged the veracity of the accusations, not a single person has been convicted of any crime related to the assaults in Atenco. Most recently, five doctors charged with ignoring evidence of sexual abuse had their cases dismissed.
The case is an example of the lengths victims must go to in pursuit of justice in Mexico. The women endured more than 10 years of threats, intimidation and psychological trauma. They watched as men who assaulted them walked free.
But by refusing to drop the case, the women pushed it to an international level, making it a symbol of the broken rule of law in Mexico and the widespread impunity that ensures it never heals.
While it is unlikely that Mr. Peña Nieto’s government will conduct an investigation into whether he knew of or covered up the assaults, the admonition of an international body is a deep embarrassment for him.
Having been presented to the court, despite several attempts by the Mexican government to delay and derail it, the case offers a rare opportunity for accountability in a country where only a tiny percentage of crimes are ever solved. The women refused to settle the case for years, with legal assistance from the human rights organization Centro Prodh, turning down promises of free homes and scholarships. In interviews with all 11 victims, a fundamental desire emerged: a public reckoning of what happened to them and who ordered it.
The residual trauma of the assaults has marked each woman differently. For some, family and friends offered a way to recover, if not entirely, and move on with their lives. A few found ways to connect their struggle to the broader push for justice and rights in Mexico. But others found no such comfort, with time’s passage a useless salve.
be alive and well today, to feel pretty again, to
love me and see me in the mirror and
recognize the person I saw. It was that they
stole from me, my way of being, of loving, of
feeling.”
Patricia Torres Linares, 33
“The stigma that falls upon you is terrible.
My boyfriend didn’t want to be with me,
friends used to treat me as if I was going to
break all the time, as if I was made of glass. I
had to come to terms with the fact people —
my family included — didn’t know how to
treat me.”
Norma Aidé Jiménez Osorio, 33
Norma Aidé Jiménez Osorio, 33
something that haunts me and you don’t
survive. It stays with you. I could never tell
my son and my father of the fact I was raped
by not one but several policemen, because
they would have gone mad.”
Maria Patricia Romero Hernández, 48
happened I had no short- or long-term plans, I
just figured out how to get my life back
together, to regain trust and hope that this
world wasn’t a horrible place.”
Bárbara Italia Méndez Moreno, 37
difficult and at the same time very beautiful.
Regardless of the fact we started it so hurt,
so broken, physically and emotionally, we had
and held each other and we didn’t let it
destroy us.”
Mariana Selvas Gómez, 32
“They took the most valuable thing from me,
which is time, because no one would sell
their time, not even one second for a
thousand dollars. You can’t ever get that
time back.”
Suhelen Gabriela Cuevas Jaramillo, 30
which is time, because no one would sell
their time, not even one second for a
thousand dollars. You can’t ever get that
time back.”
Suhelen Gabriela Cuevas Jaramillo, 30
Court is a way of accepting that we were
really affected. It was not an accident but
rather a state practice towards social
movements, and the people in general, and it
is a step forward into putting an end to all of
this.” Georgina Edith Rosales Gutiérrez, 60
college. What am I supposed to do? Because
of the criminal record no one would give me
a job recommendation.”
Yolanda Muñoz Diosdada, 56
what happened. My son, who was 8 at the
time, promised he would become a lawyer to
get me out of jail. My youngest daughter
used to draw policemen with blood
all over them. She was 6 years old then.”
Cristina Sánchez Hernández, 50
part of this entire process, watching those
who attacked us go free. I was full of anger,
thinking nothing happens, even when you find
the guilty party, the very person who
attacked you, they walk away free.”
Ana María Velasco Rodríguez, 43
Atenco is gone. She was someone who would
fight for equality and for other people’s
rights, and she did it without fear. Now, I am
scared all the time.”
Claudia Hernández Martínez, 33
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