Tijuana Torture Claims Stir Feud : Beatings: Government panel says claims of abuse of youngsters unproven. Activist assails panel.

A persistent crusade by a Tijuana human rights activist alleging widespread torture of minors by police has erupted into a public war of words with the Mexican national government commission that investigates human rights abuses.

At issue is a recent report by the Mexico City-based National Commission for Human Rights on its investigation of allegations against Tijuana state and local police by Victor Clark Alfaro, a veteran activist and anthropologist. Clark heads the Bi-National Center for Human Rights in the border city.

Clark had compiled 75 cases of teen-agers and juveniles who say they were tortured and beaten in 1988 and 1989 by police, and forwarded the allegations to the national commission. After some prodding, the commission launched what it termed an extensive probe in 1990; it concluded last week that his allegations lacked sufficient proof or documentation to confirm abuse in all but three of the cases.

The commission’s report has been widely publicized in Mexico and interpreted by some as a blow to Clark’s credibility.

Others, including Clark, see it as calculated retaliation for his recurring criticism of the commission for allegedly remaining passive in the face of continuing human rights abuses in Mexico.

“This has been done to discredit me,” Clark said. “The commission did a half-hearted investigation . . . fortunately they do not have much credibility.”

Representatives of the commission in Mexico City could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Recent years have brought reforms at both state and national levels intended to combat human rights abuses by police, long considered an endemic problem in Mexico. In addition to the national commission created two years ago, the state of Baja California formed a government-sponsored ombudsman’s office to investigate human rights issues last year.

But Clark has maintained that, beneath the cosmetic changes, torture and abuse persist. His dispute with the national commission points up the continuing tensions between governmental and non-governmental agencies created to fight human rights violations in Mexico.

Jose Luis Perez Canchola, head of the Baja human rights office, said that the infighting is unfortunate.

“What has happened is lamentable,” he said. “Mexican society needs all the human rights groups that exist to join forces.”

And, although Perez Canchola and Clark both deny ill feelings toward one another, there is little communication or cooperation between the two. Clark acknowledged Wednesday that personal rivalry is to blame.

Clark has worked closely over the years with Amnesty International and Americas Watch, two international human rights organizations, and both are expected to make statements on the dispute this week.

There appears to be little middle ground: The national investigators determined that most of the victims Clark listed could not be found because their addresses were unknown and they were not listed on jail records. They also said that Clark failed to cooperate with investigators who visited Tijuana, and that his investigatory methods were deficient.

Clark says he did cooperate, and that basic assertions discussed in the report--the number of cases he had alleged, the description of most of the victims as migrants as opposed to Tijuana residents--were incorrect.

Joel Mielke, a San Diego representative of Amnesty International, offered words of support for Clark Wednesday.

“Amnesty is satisfied that the abuses occurred,” Mielke said. “The ball is in the commission’s court.”

Amnesty International officials in London have corroborated Clark’s findings to the extent possible, Mielke said, but he did not know what type of research had been done.