Faced with the scourge of forced disappearances, Mexico must seek the truth, says a UN committee

One day in December 2013, when Yonathan Mendoza Berrospe was 17 years old and was in the house where he lived with his family in the city of Veracruz, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, a group of six men violently entered his home and beat and handcuffed him before loading him into a black van.

The men they carried long and short firearms, balaclavas, police boots and bulletproof vests with the word “police” on them. in the front and back. Outside the house, another dozen men waited in what appeared to be a security operation.

Witnesses stated that the attackers arrived and left in various vehicles; some of which They belonged to the Naval Police, dependent on the Secretary of the Navy, and others to the Veracruz State Police.

He UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances stated on Thursday that the mexican state breached its obligation to conduct an investigation prompt, exhaustive and impartial of this abuse despite having received the complaint from his family in a timely manner.

In its first decision on an individual complaint against Mexico, the specialized entity argued that the State had sufficient evidence of the participation of some of its agents, therefore it had the obligation to prove, through a prompt investigation, that the disappearance did not occur with your authorization or acquiescence.

In the absence of such an investigation, the Committee concluded that the victim had been subject of enforced disappearance.

One of the members of the Committee highlighted the importance of this decision, explaining that it establishes and specifies for the first time the standards for diligent search of the victims of forced disappearance and to carry out effective investigations that allow those responsible to be brought to justice.

The scourge of disappearance hits Mexico

“We hope that the guidelines established in this case provide Mexico with the necessary tools to fight against the scourge of forced disappearance, which plagues the country, and to put an end to a situation of almost absolute impunityof which this case is just a sample,” said Juan José López Ortega.

In its opinion, the Committee stressed that the investigation of this type of complaint must be undertaken seriously and not as a mere formality preordained to be fruitless. “It cannot depend on the procedural initiative of the victim or her relatives or on the private contribution of evidence, without the State effectively seeking the truth”, he abounded.

timely complaint

After the gunmen took Yonathan away, his family went to the detention center of the Naval Police in Playa Linda to look for it. There they saw some of the vehicles that had allegedly participated in his disappearance.

The family filed a complaint to the state tax authorities and filed an amparo before a district court in Veracruz, challenging the secret and illegal detention of the minor.

However the amparo was archived in June 2015 for not having received information from the security forces or from the local, state, and federal tax authorities regarding the disappearance of Mendoza Berrospe.

None of the investigations (state and federal) led to the whereabouts of the adolescent, nor was there any trial, so Yonathan’s mother presented the case before the Committee in July 2021, shortly after Mexico recognized its competence to examine individual communications about events under its jurisdiction.

late inquiries

The Committee found that most of the investigative actions mentioned by the State were carried out after 2019, and that most of the search actions mentioned by the State party were carried out after 2021, that is, six and eight years after the disappearancerespectively.

These findings led the Committee to declare that the State authorities did not proceed with diligence to initiate an investigation.nor did they take all the necessary measures to search for the victimas required by the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons Against Enforced Disappearances.

The Committee also noted that Mexico violated the right to truth and reparation of the victims, since the fate and whereabouts of the young man are still unknown.

In this context, the Committee urged Mexico to ensure exhaustive search of Yonathan Mendoza Berrospe, and an impartial and rigorous investigation into his disappearance in order to prosecute those responsible and make adequate reparations to his family.

The Committee regretted that the Yonathan’s case is marked by impunity, like many others in Mexico.

However, he trusted that, after the decision issued today, all the authorities of the State fulfill the commitments assumed by Mexico by ratifying the Convention and grant justice to the victims, clarifying the fate of Yonathan Mendoza Berrospe and punishing the perpetrators of his disappearance.