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Mexican military defends record on human rights

This is absolutely ridiculous.  Over 2000 abuse claims have been made, yet denial and US dollars continue:

By NACHA CATTAN
Associated Press
2009-07-24 07:22 AM

“The Mexican military defended its human rights record Thursday, saying most abuse complaints against soldiers prove unfounded and are filed in an effort to discredit the government’s battle against drug cartels.

The autonomous National Human Rights Commission has found the military culpable in only 35 out of 2,200 abuse claims filed since President Felipe Calderon deployed troops to fight drug gangs in December 2006, the Defense Department’s human rights director, Jaime Lopez, said.

“The fact that a large number are determined to be unfounded shows that there are not very many human rights violations,” Lopez said at a news conference. “We should not have any (violations), but we do. But the number is very low.”

The U.S. government has conditioned 15 percent of a $1.4 billion anti-drug aid package on State Department confirmation that Mexico meets human rights and police corruption goals.

Despite increasing abuse complaints, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated last week the United States is committed to the Merida Initiative, which is aimed at helping Mexico train and equip anti-narcotics forces.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has urged the U.S. to withhold the aid, saying the National Human Rights Commission has received a surge of abuse complaints against the military _ including torture and rape _ since 2006.

The group has also criticized Mexico’s reliance on military tribunals to investigate soldiers charged with abuse, saying such cases should be handled in civilian courts.

Lopez blamed the rise in complaints on increasing contact between soldiers and civilians and on efforts to discredit the government’s battle against drug traffickers.

He defended the use of military tribunals to prosecute troops for rights violations, saying 12 soldiers have so far been convicted of torture, murder and other abuses, and 53 have been arrested.”

http://www.newser.com/article/d99kf1g00/mexican-military-defends-record-on-human-rights.html