When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto next week at the 鈥楾hree Amigos鈥� summit in Ottawa, Claudia Medina Tamariz hopes that torture will be on his mind.
Medina Tamariz said she was whisked away to a naval base in Vera Cruz state during the early morning hours one day in August 2012.
Tamariz says she was blindfolded, sexually abused, and strangled over the course of 36 hours. She was only allowed to leave after signing a confession stating she was a member of organized crime.
鈥淲hat is most etched in my mind are the electrical shocks,鈥� she told CTV鈥檚 Omar Sachedina through a translator in Ottawa. 鈥淭hey tied electrical wires around my toes and whenever the current was passed they played heavy rock music, and the higher the volume the stronger the electrical shocks.鈥�
Despite counselling, she still has trouble walking by places where loud rock music is playing, she said.
Tamariz recanted her forced confession and all charges were dropped in court. However, she said no one was ever punished for the torture and a human rights complaint went nowhere.
Tamariz points out that such torture and killings by authorities are widespread in Mexico, where authorities have the right to hold organized crime suspects without charge.
鈥淔orced disappears are rampant,鈥� she said. 鈥淭ake the example of the students at Ayotzinapa,鈥� she added, referring to the 43 teachers college students who disappeared under murky circumstances in 2014.
Amnesty International reports that more than 100,000 people have been killed and 27,000 have disappeared since 2006 in Mexico. The activist group is providing support to Tamariz and other campaigners trying to raise the issue internationally.
Juan Mendez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, visited Mexico in 2014 and found torture present in police forces 鈥渇rom almost all jurisdictions鈥� and in the armed forces, which are used to fight organized crime.
Mendez also noted 鈥渢olerance, indifference or complicity on the part of some doctors, public defenders, prosecutors and judges.鈥�
He wrote that he found 鈥渄isturbing similarities鈥� among the stories told by alleged victims.
鈥淕enerally speaking, people report having been detained by individuals dressed as civilians, sometimes hooded, who drive unmarked cars, do not have an arrest warrant and do not give the reasons for the arrest,鈥� Mendez wrote.
鈥淲hen people are arrested at home, such individuals generally enter the home without a warrant and property is damaged and stolen,鈥� he added.
鈥淭hey are blindfolded and driven to unknown locations, including military bases, where the torture continues,鈥� he went on.
The torture they endure, according to Mendez, includes:
- electric shocks, usually to the genitals
- punches, kicks and beatings with sticks
- asphyxiation with plastic bags
- waterboarding
- forced nudity
- suspension from limbs
- threats, and insults.
Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, said that Trudeau must raise the torture and disappearances with Pena Nieto and 鈥渋nsist that the impunity that fuels these violations is brought to an end.鈥�
With a report from CTV鈥檚 Omar Sachedina
