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La Jornada: Fernando Camacho Servín
The announcement of the creation of a National System for Search of the Disappeared will probably remain an act of mere rhetoric and will not succeed in giving victims access to justice, since the ones principally responsible for this crime against humanity are part of the structures of the State and, therefore, protected from any attempt to investigate and punish them, lamented activists specialized in the subject.
Julio Mata, executive secretary of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared and Victims of Human Rights Violations in Mexico (AFADEM) believes that the emergence of such a unit would be important if it did not remain at a declarative level, as has happened before with similar bodies.
"The State is what has disappeared a lot of people by its action, omission or acquiescence by means of the Army, the Navy or various police forces. Is the Attorney General's Office (PGR) now going to prosecute them, those that are under the command of the President? We say no, so stop passing the time while pretending to do something," he deplored.
An example of the actual unwillingness of the authorities to end the disappearances, he added, is the lack of investigation and of search protocols in agreement with international standards, which not only impedes finding missing persons alive, but also lets the perpetrators go unpunished.
Another example, he said, is that the newly created Unit for Search of Disappeared Persons has only twelve prosecutors in its service to attend to more than 26,000 cases recognized by the PGR, which is "absurd".
Another example, he said, is that the newly created Unit for Search of Disappeared Persons has only twelve prosecutors in its service to attend to more than 26,000 cases recognized by the PGR, which is "absurd".
Blanca Hernández, director Diego Lucero Foundation, agreed that the authorities just want to make a "flashy" announcement that will not guarantee victims the right to justice, the historical truth and ending the crime.
"They are delaying tactics. They want to return to deceit to deny us justice, as is customary. At the time of Vicente Fox, the Prosecutor (Special for Social and Political Movements of the Past) did not produce results and could not remand anyone but Luis Echeverria [Mexico's president, 1970-1976] and Miguel Nazar Haro [Mexican politician, head of old Federal Security Department], but as they were already more than 70 years old, they sent them to house arrest," she said.
For the activist, the National System for the Search of the Disappeared will only last for the next six years, until the end of Enrique Peña Nieto's presidential term, thus repeating the failure of other similar schemes. Spanish original