MEXICO CITY (AP) – The arrest of a former Mexican governor on charges of ordering the torture of a journalist has given hope to activists who believe the case could reveal links between powerful businessmen, politicians and organized crime. could strike a blow against Mexico’s notorious impunity.
Mario Marín, who ruled the central state of Puebla for the Institutional Revolutionary Party from 2005 to 2011, was arrested in Acapulco on Wednesday and transported to a jail in Cancun. He is charged with human rights violations in connection with the illegal arrest and torture of journalist Lydia Cacho, who in her 2005 book outlined the role of other powerful men in a pedophilia ring that exploited young girls.
The press freedom organization Artículo 19, which represents Cacho, said Marín could face up to 12 years in prison for the charge of torture if convicted.
Marin, 66, requested during a court appearance on Thursday to await the process under house arrest, citing problems with his kidneys and the fear that he would catch COVID-19 in jail. The judge rejected the request, Artículo 19 said via Twitter.
According to Leopoldo Maldonado, lawyer for Article 19, there is ample evidence against Marín, including recorded telephone conversations. He said the fact that the judge rejected his request for house arrest was a good initial sign.
Marín’s trial could be a “watershed” that “cracks open the impunity pact that has prevailed in Mexico for decades,” Maldonado said.
Cacho’s “The Demons of Eden” describes the exploitation of girls and accuses the powerful textile magnate José Kamel Nacid of buying girls for $ 3,000. Nacif sued Cacho for libel and asked his friend Marín to arrest her.
Cacho recalled in an interview with W Radio on Thursday that Marín had instructed her to be tortured so that she would withdraw everything she had published. In December 2005, Marín sent police to arrest Cacho in Cancun and drive to Puebla. During that 20-hour ride, she was tortured.
“He is the first governor arrested for torturing journalists and also linked to a ring of acting girls and boys,” Cacho said.
Home Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero admitted on Thursday that there were ‘violations’ of Cacho’s rights when she was a Supreme Court justice, and that she spoke of ‘psychological torture’ that had been endured. She added that the suspicion of innocence against Marín should be upheld to ensure a fair trial.
Evidence collected by Cacho contributed to the arrest of businessman Jean Succar Kuri in 2004 in the United States. He is serving a sentence for child pornography in the same jail in Cancun where Marín is being held.
“The mates are reuniting again, but now in very different conditions,” Cacho wrote via Twitter on Thursday. ‘There are no more luxury parties, nor girls who are the victims. There is no toast or celebration. Journalism is the way to justice. ”
Cacho has been under threat for years and currently lives outside the country because she fears for her safety. She took her case to international bodies when the Mexican legal system did not act.
In 2018, the United Nations Human Rights Committee acknowledged the violation of Cacho’s human rights. In January 2019, the current Mexican government publicly apologized to Cacho for her arbitrary arrest. At the time, Cacho said, “We want everyone and the masterminds to be tried.”
Marín moved freely in public for years despite Cacho’s allegations. Finally in 2019, a judge in the state of Quintana Roo issued a warrant for his arrest.
“Lydia is very excited but aware that the risk is increasing,” Maldonado said Thursday.
A police officer convicted of torturing Cacho has been sentenced and sentenced to prison. But there are still three police jailers awaiting sentencing and four more people who are refugees, Maldonado said.
Among the refugees is Nacif, which is the Mexican Attorney – General’s office in Lebanon. Another one is the former head of Puebla’s judicial police.
Jan-Albert Hoosen, Mexico’s representative of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, celebrated Marín’s arrest, but warned that this “piece of justice that has been pending for years is just a step because other suspects are awaiting arrest.”
Cacho said experts had warned her that the chances of retaliation could increase with Marin’s arrest, but she said Thursday she would consider her pursuit of justice.
“Things will change if we continue,” she said.