From an Amnesty International email that just landed in my inbox:
Last month, the Mexican Supreme Court confirmed that women in San Salvador Atenco suffered major physical and sexual abuse at the hands of police officers. But even with the affirmation of the highest court in Mexico, the women in Atenco are still waiting for these officers to be held accountable for their crimes.
The current Attorney General of Mexico, Eduardo Medina-Mora, remains suspiciously silent on this case that his office is responsible for handling. But it doesn’t take much investigating to find out why: At the time of the attacks, Medina-Mora was in charge of the same police officers who were implicated in the assaults. Any real investigation into the attacks and arrests could surely place significant blame squarely on his shoulders.
If securing justice continues to rely on Attorney General Medina-Mora, then the police officers guilty of brutally beating and raping the women in Atenco will remain free to roam the streets, a threat to those they’re meant to protect.
According to the petition they’re asking people to sign, 26 women have come forward with complains of police torture and sexual violence. Again, that’s just the number that has come forward — I can only imagine what the real figure looks like. From the other reports a Google search has taken me too, it looks like the number is high.
More background information on the violence (including beatings, rapes and murders) committed by police in Atenco on May 3 and 4, 2006, can be found here and here — both links come with trigger warnings.
Sign the petition demanding justice from President Calderón now, and pass the information along.
The hardships that women face in Mexico are appalling. Many of them try to flee this violence by heading northward to the U.S., but are told to expect to be raped and sexually assaulted on their journey northward. To still make this journey in spite of that knowledge, as one blogger put it, reeks of desperation. When they reach the U.S., if they are taken into custody by immigration they are then denied access to abortion. The whole situation is so sad…
http://vidadenanda.com/2009/03/17/immigrant-women-rape-victims-denied-access-to-abortion-in-immigration-custody/