Video showing torture of suspect in Torreon

This is well out of my wheelhouse, but this video purportedly shows a suspect undergoing a beating administered by Policia Federal and then presumably signing a confession.

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The Torture Comes "From Above"

Borderland Beat

Increases in beatings, threats, and sexual abuse against detainees

Javier Valdez / Ríodoce

Among the "techniques of torture" used by agents of the State Ministerial Police to force detainees to plead guilty are death threats, threats of raping close relatives, drowning, beating, stripping, and making the suspect feel as if he's about to be dropped from the top of a bridge. 

Human rights advocates differ on whether or not torture is on the rise, but most agree that it is rising in high-profile cases which involve a notable member of the community. In particularly visible cases, the implications of torture often can become a greater scandal than the initial crime being investigated.

Data from the State Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) shows that 2008 was the year with the most cases of torture in Sinaloa, totaling 21 complaints, of which six recommendations were issued.  In 2009, the figure dropped to 17 complaints with five recommendations. 2010 there were 14 registered complaints  with one recommendation . In There were only 10 complaints  in 2011 and one recommendation while there were 13 in 2012, with three recommendations.

In total, 75 complaints were filed by citizens against the different police organizations during the years of 2008 -2012.  16 recommendations were issued. So far in 2013,  there has been one recommendation.  It is concerning the case of Yesenia Armenta Graciano, charged with the murder of Alfredo Cuen Ojeda, the brother of the former president of the UAS and former mayor of Culiacan, Héctor Melesio Cuen, who is the current Sinaloense party leader (PAS), and 13 cases left in 2012, four were completed and nine are pending.

Juan Jose Estavillo Rios, president of the CEDH, said of 1,000 complaints last year, only three recommendations came out of the 13 in which it was considered that there were elements of torture.

"There isn't a high incidence, in contrast, it has been dropping. It is no longer a constant in the investigation process for the vast majority of crimes. Now it's only done in very significant, very private matters. Seriously, that's a fact. It is serious because in the lexicon of human rights violations these facts are significant, so much so that the United Nations Organization (UN) urged us to sign an international agreement known as the Istanbul Protocol," Rios said.

This protocol, he said, represents the unification the medical, psychological, legal criteria, and in the case of Mexico, only the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) can practice, as in the case of Yesenia Armenta.

In addition to the case of Cuen's widow, which led to a recommendation of February 25, the defense team of Juan Carlos Cristerna Fitch, who was arrested for the May 2012 murder of University Autonomous of Sinaloa professor, Perla Lizet Vega Medina, alleges that Fitch was tortured by ministerial agents twice, once as presumed guilty and the second time as apprehended

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