WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that a culture of "impunity and corruption" persisted in Mexico and gave rise in 2006 to more murders, kidnapping, torture and arbitrary arrests.That is the main conclusion of the Mexico portion of the department´s annual report on the situation of human rights worldwide.
Although it praises the investigation, bringing to trial and sentencing of public officials and members of the armed forces implicated in human rights abuses, the report emphasizes that in 2006 "a deeply entrenched culture of impunity and corruption persisted, particularly at the state and local level."
According to the document, in Mexico there are problems with "unlawful killings" by the security forces, kidnappings - occasionally linked to the police - torture, prison overcrowding and arbitrary arrests.
In addition, during the past year a number of cases of corruption, inefficiency and lack of transparency in the judicial system came to light.
Also on Washington´s long list of complaints about circumstances in its southern neighbor were the intimidation of journalists and the fact that statements were at times obtained by torture and then accepted as evidence by the authorities.
The State Department also said impunity prevailed in cases of violence against and murder of women, people trafficking was widespread and both occasionally occurred with the presumed consent of the authorities.
The report also says child labor continues to be a feature of the Mexican employment picture and social and economic discrimination against the indigenous population still exists.
The violence generated by drug trafficking also figures in the report, which discusses the participation of active-duty and retired law enforcement and military personnel in illegal activity.
The document was released less than a week before U.S. President George W. Bush is due to arrive in the Yucatán Peninsula to meet with President Calderón.
