Mexico’s Choice: Barbarism or Law

Death threats have recently been received in Mexico City by author Jorge G. Castaneda, whose commentaries frequently appear in The Times. In the latest episode, his secretary reported she was detained briefly by armed men who ordered her to warn Casta n eda to stop his political writing. Th e threats inspired this editorial published Tuesday in La Opinion, a Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles :

The death threats received by academic Jorge Castaneda cannot go ignored in Mexico by either public opinion or by the government. The episode shows that respect is slipping for one right essential to democracy: The right to dissent. This must be remedied as fast as possible. If this kind of incident is not cleared up, over time it invariably reaches uncontrollable levels.

It is true that President Carlos Salinas de Gortari himself, and his high-level spokesman, Manuel Camacho Solis, hastened to condemn the incident and guarantee that those responsible would not go unpunished.

But these verbal commitments must be translated into action. There should be a rigorous, ceaseless investigation into the episode and the people connected to it. And the investigation must be used as a foundation for punishing those responsible for the crime, no matter what their station.

Castaneda is right to hold the government responsible for his safety and that of his family. This is clearly among the state’s responsibilities to citizens. If that were not so, Castaneda would have to choose between taking his chances and taking his family’s defense into his own hands. Either option is a return to barbarism.

This episode takes place when human rights in Mexico have deteriorated sharply. It would be naive not to conclude that events such as the murder of well-known human rights attorney Norma Corona or the brief kidnapping of Castaneda’s secretary by armed men anxious to make her the bearer of threats against the journalist are not related.

They stem from the same mentality that allows arbitrary criminal acts.

Human rights and political freedom are also closely related. It is no accident that many rights violations were linked to elections in the states of Michoacan and Guerrero, where jailings and assassinations perpetrated by shadowy forces are a symptom of government insecurity.

There is no doubt that narcotics trafficking has contributed to human rights violations in Mexico and that combatting traffickers has generated a new damnation: The great and arbitrary power of the police forces created to combat drugs is a new factor in human rights abuses.

Little by little, nonetheless, the general public and human rights defenders have begun to distinguish between the war on drugs and police excesses.

The Salinas administration has attempted to distance itself from the police and has condemned such criminal activity. The government, however, can’t stay on the sidelines as events occur, pretending it has nothing to do with it.

Now is the time for President Salinas, through the recently created Human Rights Commission, to translate his verbal commitment to human rights and political freedoms into concrete measures.