Mexican General could be charged in death of detainee
2011-08-19
Posted by: badanov
By Chris Covert
A senior Mexican army officer in Morelia state is facing charges in the disappearance of two young men and the murder of one of them, both men said to have been accomplices in a high profile murder last March, according to Mexican news accounts.
General Leopoldo Diaz Perez was relieved of command of the Mexican 24th Military Zone two weeks ago and ordered to Mexico City. The decision was made likely from Mexico City when two young military officers were arrested and confessed to the murder.
At the moment of this post, the extent of criminal liability is being assessed by the Secretaria Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the agency that controls the Mexican Army. Diaz Perez is still under command at SEDENA and has not been charged or detained. At the moment, the military justice system is investigating and determining the general's status.
Reports say General Diaz Perez could be tried by a civil court under the new set of rules concerning human rights violations of Mexican citizens by members of the Mexican military. Those guidelines were spelled out by a Mexican Supreme Court decision last July 12th. The incredibly vague decision as to the effects on current procedures has been brought into greater focus since last week when two high profile human rights cases involving rapes that took place in Guerrero state in 2002, was transferred from a military justice section of the national attorney general's office to the civil section.
To read about the 2002 human rights cases recently transferred to the civil section of PGR, click here
It is likely that new cases, after the military finishes its investigation will be turned over to civil authorities for prosecution.
The deceased, Jethro Ramses Sanchez Santana was arrested in May 25th in Veracruz along with Horacio Cervantes Demessa on charges of murder of Juan Francisco Sicilia Ortega, and then turned over the Mexican Policia Federal, who then turned the two over to the Mexican Army. Reports say the two were tied to the Cartel Pacifico Sur, which is a part of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Sicilia Ortega was the son of Javier Sicilia, a Mexican leftist writer and poet who is currently the leader of the Movement for Peace Justice and Dignity.
Sanchez Santana and Cervantes Demessa were one of eight individuals along with Pacifo Cartel Sur leader Julio de Jesus Radilla Hernandez and Jose Luis Luquin arrested by Veracruz municipal police before being turned over to the Policia Federal.
Sanchez Santana was found dead August 11th in Atlixco, Puebla.
Sicilia Ortega was found along with six other victims in a car in Cuernavaca March 28th after they were abducted from a bar. Reports say the seven victims were smothered to death.
Polcia Federal agents released to a group of soldiers who were commanded by an army lieutenant, and they watched as the pair were driven away in an official vehicle. Cervantes Demessa was later found in Coatetelco colony in Miacatlan municipality badly beaten.
Reports say the two men were taken to the facilities of the Mexican 21st Infantry Battalion. While Cervantes Demessa was left in a vehicle, Sanchez Santana was taken to a blacksmith shop the military used to interrogate suspects.
According to a statement made by army private Cristian Andrade Rodriguez, who had been posted as sentry for Cervantes Demassa, both men herd screams and cries of pain for 30 minutes, presumably as Sanchez Santana was beaten. Reports suggest Sanchez Sanata, since he was drunk ,probably died from aspirating his own vomit as he convulsed during the beating. Some news reports say that the two soldiers who killed Sanchez Sanatana, upon realizing their detainee was dead was advised by a individuals identified only as "The Colonel" to take the body somewhere and dump it.
"The Colonel" is thought to be Colonel Jos� Guadalupe Arias who was apparently at the scene of the beating, and allegedly gave the order to dispose of the body.. This detail is one possible link between the two men who killed Sanchez Santana and General Diaz Perez. Colonel Guadalupe Arias is currently a fugituve.
Reports also say that the office of Diaz Perez denied having possession of the two detainees for several weeks, statements which later cast suspicion on the general of his involvement in the murder.
On July 4th Tenetes Jos� Guadalupe Orizaga and Guerra and Edwin Raziel Aguilar Guerrero were arrested after they confessed to detaining and beating to death at a military facility, then dumping the body in Puebla.