UN Rapporteur reiterates that torture is widespread in Mexico

The UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Mendez, reiterated on Wednesday that torture in Mexico is “widespread” and it is practice in a “context of impunity” despite the government assures the contrary.

“My statement that torture is widespread in Mexico is based on hundreds of testimonies that I picked up on my visits to prisons and detention centers in Mexico, where almost everyone, including children, said they had suffered acts of brutality during their arrest,” Mendez said at a press conference.

The rapporteur was responding to the Mexican government, which denied widespread torture in the country.

Both in the report and presentation to the Council, the rapporteur said that torture and maltreatment during times following the arrest and prior to the provision of justice are widespread in Mexico.

Mendez visited Mexico between April 21 and May 2, 2014 and drafted a report he submitted on Monday before the plenary of the Council for Human Rights of the UN.