Mexico Under Martial Law. Still.

Since taking office in 2006, Mexican president Felipe Calderon has replaced local law enforcement with federal troops armed with U.S. firearms, loyal to him. Only the most politically naive would accept the move as a necessary “emergency” effort to replace corrupt cops and combat the drug lords who’ve banked billions by controlling the illegal drug trade between Mexico and the U.S. Especially when you consider the fact that less than 100 troops have died in the resulting “police” effort—compared to some 40 thousand civilians (including drug thugs) who’ve been kidnapped, tortured and/or killed. Many by the Mexican Army. Hence a recent visit to Mexico by the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, South Africa’s Navi Pillay. So, how’d that go . . . ?

[The president of Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission Raul] Plascencia said the CNDH and the ombudsmen from the country’s 32 states agreed to cooperate more closely [with the U.N.] in fighting torture.

“The possibility was discussed of carrying out a joint strategy of training, prevention and, above all, of analyzing this phenomenon, which, day by day, has been spreading across the country,” Plascencia said.

Human rights officials will work with the United Nations to develop reliable indicators on public safety and education, and they will try to promote measures to prevent abuses in Mexico, the ombudsman said.

Mexico’s institutions have been strengthened in recent years with regard to compliance with human rights standards, Plascencia said.

Soldiers accused of committing human rights violations should be tried in civilian courts, which is not the case now, the ombudsman said.

The story from laht.com also reveals that Plascencia acknowledges that the Mexican military will retain control of the country’s law enforcement for the foreseeable future.

“It is desirable and it would be helpful if a larger number of police officers had already been trained” both at the municipal and state levels to let them do their work so the soldiers can return to their barracks, Plascencia said.

“However, day by day, this is not the reality, so a review will have to be made, a detailed study to determine whether it is worth it, it makes sense, and is acceptable to let the army continue exercising a power that belongs to civil authorities … or whether it belongs to and should continue to be exercised by civil authorities,” the Mexican ombudsman said.

In other words, Mexican martial law continues. Democracy is dead. The killings will continue, from both the military and the drug thugs. Innocent, unarmed Mexicans will still be caught in the crossfire, with no hope of protecting their lives or liberty from either side of this brutal conflict.

Meanwhile, America will continue to sell guns and armaments to the Mexican military, import oil from Mexico, outsource jobs to our southern neighbor, allow illegal immigrants to pour across our border and make nothing more than a token effort to interdict the illegal drug trade between our nations, which funds and supports the autocracy of President Calderon.

Business as usual. At the point of a gun.