Mixed Picture for Rights : Survey of Latin America finds both gain and persistent abuses

Respect for human rights in Latin America improved last year, according to the State Department’s annual survey, but some ugly blotches mark the record.

The encouraging trend shows that civil society has gained strength, with democracy taking root in every country except Cuba, the Washington assessment says. Perhaps we should credit the improvement to the many new institutions that have sprung up in defense of human rights. Their voice sounds louder each day, and their message is widely heard.

But the road to civility is hard. Across the continent, political assassinations, kidnappings, arbitrary detention, denial of fair trial, and torture and other types of physical abuse persist. Frequently the executioners are members of the same institutions created to protect and serve the people, such as the police or the army. The corrupting influence of the drug trade has created an enormous problem of cops turned bad who end up organizing criminal bands specializing in kidnapping and robbery. Given the defects in Latin American justice systems, many cases of police brutality and worse simply go unpunished.

On the democracy scorecard, freedoms of conscience, expression, assembly, association, religion and movement are systematically violated by governments like that of Cuba. On the social scale, discrimination against and mistreatment of women continue to be major problems. And in zones of continuing conflict, like Guatemala, gross violations of human rights are the rule. The terrible shadow of past crimes by the military in countries like Argentina, Chile and El Salvador demands a continued effort to establish accountability before reconciliation can occur. Colombia must do far more to control the violence related to drugs and politics that so damages its image and democratic system.

The same criticism applies to Mexico, where in two abominable incidents dozens of people were ambushed and killed by lawmen in the states of Guerrero and Veracruz last year. Those responsible have yet to come to justice.

While this picture seems dark, 1995 was better than 1994, in Washington’s view. Perhaps 1996 will be even better. Progress breeds progress.