Torture Haunts Mexico Despite Laws Meant to Eliminate It

Soon after the June raid, Soni sought advice from his contacts at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. They told him to get help from the Mexican government's protection program.

Soni was enrolled in the program as of June 26, 2013, government records show. He had assurances from the Attorney General's Office there would be no more trouble. The government programmed an emergency "panic" number into his cell phone.

"It gave me some peace of mind," he recalls thinking.

On the morning he was taken, Soni was trying to find the panic number. It was too late.

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Even in its own assessment, the U.S. State Department notes that "there continue to be serious, ongoing challenges in Mexico, including reports of law enforcement and military involvement in forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, the reported use of torture, impunity and violence and threats against journalists and human rights defenders." In its recommendation to restore funding, the State Department cites several measures taken by the government, but Soni's case suggests they do not go far enough:

-- The U.S. mentions the Mexican government's program for protecting human rights defenders and journalists, known colloquially as "the mechanism." But Soni was enrolled in that program five months before the marines took him anyway.

-- The U.S. cites the autonomous National Human Rights Commission, which investigates and reports on human rights abuses. That body only issued its report on Soni's case in late September, nearly three years later. It concluded there was mistreatment, but not torture, without making any reference to the hours the victims spent in the warehouse. The victims' lawyers are now litigating those omissions.

-- The U.S. points to a new law against torture that passed the Mexican Senate in April and still needs to pass the lower chamber. But even though torture was already illegal in Mexico last year, the human rights commission still received 628 complaints of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and 49 of torture by government officials.

-- The U.S. pays special attention to a more transparent justice system Mexico has implemented in all 32 states and at the federal level. But a study released by two prominent Mexican think tanks in October found that even when injuries caused by abuse were documented, judges in one state did not order investigations or throw out evidence.

The U.S. Embassy offered comment in a statement.

"Mexico has launched an ambitious effort to modernize and reform its law enforcement and justice system," the statement said, noting that the recommendation was based on specific criteria established by Congress. "We are committed to supporting Mexico's own efforts to increase respect for human rights."

Mexico's Interior Department deputy secretary for human rights, Roberto Campa, said eradicating the use of torture is a top human rights priority for the government, and he expects to see a significant increase in sentences against those responsible. He also noted that under Mexico's new justice system, evidence obtained through torture is thrown out.

"For many years there were police forces that considered torture as an investigative method," he said.

At times through tears, Soni and the others recounted what happened to them in the garden of his home, now surrounded by a tall fence and numerous surveillance cameras paid for by the government.

As the marines led Soni away, he asked to pause before a wooden figure of Jesus outside his front door. Steered toward its base, Soni knelt, kissed its feet and prayed: "Lord, only you know where they are taking me. Help me return well."

Then a marine shouted, "Enough already, bastard!" and dragged him to his feet by a handful of his long hair.

Later, as marines drove him to the warehouse, Soni told them he was in the protection program. "I have government protection," Soni said to his captors. "You're making a mistake."

"Yes, you're very influential, you son of a bitch," came the response.

In the warehouse, they were forced to kneel on the concrete floor, he recalls. When their blindfolds were removed, they saw people dressed in black. One took their photographs with a tablet computer and blindfolded them again.

The marines rubbed a gel on their hands and told the men to touch some baggies and metal objects -- apparently setting them up to have their fingerprints on weapons and drugs. When the men resisted, they were punched and kicked.

Biu, who was also taken, recalls the Marines giving them electric shocks, especially when they got to Soni.

"Now we're going to give it to fatty to see if he can take it," one marine said in reference to Soni.

"No more! No more!" Biu heard him scream. "Tell the truth," the marine shouted back. They held the probes near Biu's ear so he could hear the humming current.

Soni says the marines beat him, gave him electrical shocks and did things he does not want published.

"Everything, everything," he says.

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There has been no justice for Soni — and many others.

In April, a video circulated that showed soldiers and federal police torturing a young woman. In it, a female military police officer yanks on the woman's hair and pokes a rifle barrel against her head. A female federal police officer also pulls a clear plastic bag over the woman's head and holds it until she nearly passes out.

It led to an unprecedented public apology from Mexico's defense secretary, but the victim remains in prison on weapons charges.

Soni and the others were also held on weapons and drug charges. They spent more than a year in prison in the western state of Nayarit without trial until a judge in March 2015 threw out the case.

From the day of their arrest through the day when the judge finally ordered the charges be dropped and signed their release, the men never once saw the judge. Soni hopes that this will change under Mexico's new justice system, where both sides will have to present arguments and evidence in open court. His case is now being handled by a special unit created a year ago to investigate torture.

All the men bear scars from the experience, and some prefer not to speak about the details of their torture. Soni's older nephew, Evanibaldo Larraga Galvan, still has a lump on his neck where a marine grabbed and choked him that morning.

Luis Edgardo Charnichart Ortega, a teacher and childhood friend of Soni's who was sleeping over that night, asks, "Is there even sufficient punishment to pay for all the damage done?"

Charnichart has struggled to work since his release.

"My mind, the psychologists say, they still have it," he recounts. "After they take you, nothing of you can remain. That is their objective, make you disappear, plant death inside you and leave it to consume you until the end of your days."

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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