Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2001 El Paso Times Contact: P.O.Box 20, El Paso, Texas 79999 Fax: (915) 546-6415 Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Author: Diana Washington Valdez REPORT - CORRUPTION FUELS MEXICO ABUSES Corruption among government and law-enforcement officials is contributing to human-rights abuses in Mexico, including the border region, according to a U.S. State Department report just released. The report refers to several Juarez-related crimes: last year's murder of reporter Jose Ramirez Puente, violence against women, drug-related killings and the U.S.-Mexico "mass graves" investigation that looked into the disappearances of dozens of people -- including several El Pasoans. Thursday, the State Department is also expected to issue its U.S. certification review of Mexico's drug-fighting efforts. The State Department report said "widespread police corruption and alleged police involvement in narcotics-related crime continued." Antonio Meza, Mexico's consul general in El Paso, couldn't be reached for comment on the report. El Pasoan Jaime Hervella, founder of the Association of Friends and Relatives of Disappeared Persons mentioned in the report, said "we've always known about the involvement of law-enforcement officials in the disappearances." This week, Jose Larrieta Carrasco, the Mexican official in charge of the U.S.-Mexico "mass graves" investigation, resigned amid allegations of corruption. Larrieta was last in El Paso in September when the U.S. attorney's office announced murder indictments against alleged Mexican drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. El Paso FBI Special Agent Al Cruz said that "despite what's occurred, the FBI will continue to work with and assist in the investigation of the disappeared persons ... and work with the Mexican government." The State Department report also said Mexican "police regularly obtain information through torture, prosecutors use this evidence in courts and the courts continue to admit as evidence confessions extracted under torture." Amnesty International, a human-rights organization, reported Monday that Mexico is the leading importer of U.S.-made equipment used to torture people. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk