Government's Mass-Killing Prosecution Will Test Mexican President Pena Nieto Tracy Wilkinson - The Los Angeles Times
go to original September 29, 2014

Mexico Military Under Probe Over Deaths. Warning: The report contains graphic images which some viewers may find disturbing. (Al Jazeera)
 

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto faces a major test of his commitment to human rights and accountability after his government took the rare step of arresting an army officer and seven soldiers in connection with a shooting that killed 22 people.

With outside pressure mounting, the army announced the arrests last week, nearly three months after the killings.

The army described the June 30 shooting deaths in Tlatlaya, 150 miles southwest of Mexico City, as a fierce gun battle with an armed gang. In addition to 22 of the gang members dying, one soldier was wounded, the army said.

But journalists who reached the site found evidence, including blood splatters on walls, that suggested not a battle but a one-by-one killing of the gang members. An unidentified witness told journalists that she saw soldiers torture and “execute” the gang members, many of whom were already wounded or had surrendered, including her 15-year-old daughter.

Human rights groups in Mexico and abroad have demanded a thorough investigation, and the federal attorney general’s office said it would look into the incident.

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