Mexican military veteran backs torture
Print Edition
THE Mexican military veteran recalls overseeing interrogations during which his men beat suspects, wrapped their faces in plastic bags to cut off their oxygen and jolted them with electric shocks.
Although the screams still haunt the retired service member long after he left the military, he is unapologetic about using torture to find drug lords and rescue kidnapping victims.
It was the only way to break the code of silence of criminals who would otherwise refuse to speak, the 30-year veteran said on condition of anonymity.
“The information obtained in those interrogations becomes intelligence,” said the former official, who asked that his rank, military branch and location be omitted in order to speak freely about the torture sessions he witnessed.
The rough interrogations gave criminals “the same dose (of torture) they give” captured government forces, he said.
The stark admission comes as President Enrique Pena Nieto’s government faces torture scandals against troops and police amid a decade-long drug war.
Last week, a general was sentenced to 52 years in prison for ordering the torture of a man who died and whose body was incinerated by troops.
Last month, foreign experts investigating the disappearance of 43 college students said there was evidence the authorities tortured at least 17 suspects.
And in mid-April, the defense minister issued a rare apology after a video emerged showing soldiers and police putting a plastic bag over a woman’s head to cut off her oxygen as they interrogated her.
The military veteran, who was deployed in some of the country’s most dangerous regions near the US border, said he was “following orders” from above to torture suspects.
The army and navy did not respond to requests for comment about his claims.
Many service members suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, he said.
“You think I’m going to sleep calmly for four hours while hearing the screams? Screams from torture?” he said.
Although he feels guilty “spiritually speaking,” he is sure “all of them were criminals.”
The torture would begin with a “punch” when a suspect claimed to know nothing, the veteran said. Then a plastic bag would be placed over the head.
“When there was no more oxygen, they had to breathe and (water) is poured in the nose,” he said.
Electric shocks came next.
“You have to get them wet” first, he said, justifying his actions by saying troops and police have been “completely cut to pieces, decapitated, tortured” by criminals.
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