Fax: 202.647.2283

July 29, 2003

Dear Secretary Powell:

As a coalition of human rights organizations, we are writing to express our concern over the continued use of torture to extract confessions in the investigations of murder in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Since 1993, over 258 women have been murdered in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. These murders, centered in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City, have mostly gone unsolved and are often not even investigated. On occasion, the responsible state authorities have carried out arrests to quell public concerns over the murders. Consistently, the detainees have been tortured into providing false confessions that are later contradicted by more reliable forms of evidence. On May 29, 2003, an American citizen, Cynthia Kiecker, became the latest scapegoat in this story.

One of the most disturbing and blatant uses of torture took place shortly after the bodies of eight women – showing signs of extreme brutality and sexual violence – were found in an empty lot in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua on November 7, 2001. Two days later, state police arrested two bus drivers, Victor Garcia Uribe and Gustavo Gonzalez Meza, and tortured them with beatings and electric shocks into confessing to the eight murders. Garcia and Gonzalez had burns and bruises on several parts of their bodies as a result of the torture. A judge ignored the evidence of torture and ordered them to stand trial for the murders, although the confessions are the only evidence against them. In February 2002, state police shot and killed Gonzalez’s lawyer, who was actively denouncing the use of torture, claiming he had been mistaken for a fugitive. A state judge ruled the police were acting in self-defense and would not be tried for the homicide. Still denouncing his torture, Gonzalez was found dead under suspicious circumstances in his jail cell on February 8, 2003.

The use of torture in procuring confessions is not unique in Mexico to Chihuahua. According to the State Department’s 2002 Annual Human Rights Report for Mexico, “torture continues to occur in large part because confessions are the primary evidence in many criminal convictions. Many human rights groups link torture to the prevalence of arbitrary detention and claim that torture often follows an arbitrary arrest, sometimes without a warrant, as police or prosecutors attempt to justify the detention by securing a confession to a crime. Poorly trained and inadequately equipped to investigate crimes, police officers often attempted to solve crimes by rounding up likely suspects and then extracting confessions from them by force.”

Cynthia Kiecker and Ulises Perzábal are the latest victims of the use of torture by police investigating the Chihuahua murders. She was arbitrarily detained by Chihuahua state police on May 29 and allegedly tortured into confessing to the murder of Marcela Viviana Rayas. In efforts to strengthen their case against Ms. Kiecker and her husband, the Chihuahua authorities also detained three state witnesses against them just days later. In a press conference on June 30, two of the three witnesses alleged that they were tortured into confessing against Ms. Kiecker and Mr. Perzábal.

Forensic evidence has revealed that Ms. Rayas died from crushed vertebrae due to violent strangulation. This evidence is in line with over 93 murder cases that are potentially linked to a serial murderer, all of which show similar signs of violent strangulation. We are concerned that the Chihuahua authorities are not seriously pursuing this line of investigation. Instead, to conceal their lack of both political will and investigative capacity, the Chihuahua authorities round up persons such as Ms Kiecker and Mr. Perzábal, who they torture into accepting responsibility for some of the murders. In the meantime, the real perpetrators continue to murder women.

We believe that the situation in Chihuahua state represents one of the longest-running and most serious human rights tragedies in Mexico. We are asking that the U.S. Department of State make their concerns over these problems known in the following ways:

First, the Department of State should ask for a quick and thorough review of the charges against Ms. Kiecker and her husband, and for a complete investigation into their allegations of torture. If the charges against them cannot be substantiated by evidence, they should be released immediately.

Second, the Department of State should indicate its concern for the status of all detained suspects in the Juarez murders that have credible allegations of torture. As with Ms. Kiecker’s case, other detainees should have their cases reviewed and be released if no solid evidence can be found against them.

Third, the Department of State should insist that Mexican authorities refrain from using torture in their ongoing investigations of the Juarez murders. Resorting to tortured confessions has prevented serious investigation, and denies the victims’ families the justice that they have a right to obtain. All future suspects should be detained on the basis of solid evidence and not fabricated confessions.

Fourth, the Department of State should call on the Mexican federal and state authorities to detail concrete lines of investigation that will lead to the responsible perpetrators of these crimes. Only a serious investigation into the Chihuahua murders will put an end to the crimes and a need to produce scapegoats through torture.

As Ms. Kiecker’s case demonstrates, these problems affect those who call the border region home, regardless of their nationality. The U.S. government has demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with Mexican authorities in the Chihuahua murders – currently the FBI provides technical assistance to the investigators. We appreciate your willingness to look at these concerns, and urge you to raise these serious issues in your ongoing dialogue with the Mexican government.

Sincerely –

Joy Olson, Executive Director
Washington Office on Latin America

Brian Hinman, Associate Director for Public Policy
Church World Service

Marie Dennis, Director
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Sister Dianna Ortiz, Executive Director
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
Laura M. Furst, National Organizer
The Committee for Inter-American Human Rights

Emily S. Goldman, Program Officer
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights

Margaret Swedish, Director
Religious Task Force on Central America & Mexico

Phil Jones, Coordinator
Church of the Brethren Washington Office

Rev. Jerrye G Champion, National Board President
Church Women United

Wes Callender, Director
Voices on the Border

Rev. Séamus P. Finn, OMI, Director
Missionary Oblates Of Mary Immaculate
Justice and Peace/ Integrity of Creation Office

Jennifer Allen, Director
Border Action Network

Rev. Ruth Chavez Wallace, Program Associate, Latin America and the Caribbean
United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada

Tom Hansen, National Coordinator
Mexico Solidarity Network

Katherine Hoyt, National Co-Coordinator
Nicaragua Network

cc: Ambassador Antonio Garza
Consul General Maurice Parker
Roberta Jacobson

For more information, please contact Sean Garcia, Senior Associate for Mexico Policy, at the Latin America Working Group at 202.546.7010.