Obtained by us during the statements of the people detained by the Federal Public Ministry:
HERMELINDA GARCIA
She rejects the statement that they made her sign and in denunciation, said:
I was detained in Yanga, Veracruz on Wednesday, (February 8, 1995)
I was blindfolded until I got here.
I was beaten on the head and the bust. All of my clothes were taken off and I was touched all over my body. Later they brought us here, and I was beaten again in the jail.
ALVARO CASTILLO GRANADOS
He presented visible signs of physical mistreatment with profoundly cut and beaten wrists and cuts on the face. He complained of a pain in his chest from the beatings he received.
He was detained in Yanga, Veracruz on Wednesday, February 8.
He declared:
"I am not in agreement with the alleged statement... I was blindfolded, held in communicado and terrorized.
I am not a teacher but I give primary school classes to adults, as I have a secondary school education. I earn $10/day for this work.
The contents of the statement are not correct. It is not the truth. I signed the statement under physical and psychological pressure.
I never mentioned the name of the so-called "German".
I was at the point of asphyxiating from a bag that they had put over my head. I was beaten in my private parts, and all over my body. When they detained me, they took me out while beating me. They blindfolded me. Since I saw them, they said that they now had alot of information about us, and they forced me to say that I knew "German" and "Marcos" and that the things that they found in the house were for other parts of the Republic and not for Chiapas.
They showed me photos and forced me to say that I know them.
LUIS SANCHEZ NAVARRETE
He was detained in Yanga, Veracruz on Wednesday February 8. He was not in agreement with the alleged statement. The statement was signed under pressure and torture. Denouncing, he said that moments before appearing in public they were being intimidated in the halls by the guards of the jail.
He declared that about a year ago he began working in the workshop and not just 11 days ago. That he worked on soldering, doing work that he did not know what it was for. The salary was 40-80 pesos a week.
He was beaten and handcuffed.
They tried to asphyxiate him by covering his head with a canvas bag. They pulled his hair and the handcuffs left marks.
ROSA HERNANDEZ
She was detained in Yanga, Veracruz on Wednesday, February 8.
She is 20 years old.
She declared:
I am not in agreement with the statement that is being presented. That at the workshop people came to get their bicycles repaired and that is all I saw.
When I was detained, they wrapped in chains and blindfolded my eyes. When they put in the car, they tied my feet and that's how they brought me in.
Then they covered with a blanket and I was at the point of asphyxiating.
The people who detained me did not identify themselves.
When we were detained, they told us that we were part of the EZLN.
When they brought me in, they covered me with a wet sheet and they gave me electrical shocks all over my body.
I have been blindfolded from the time they detained me until now.
RICARDO HERNANDEZ LOPEZ
He was detained in Yanga, Veracruz on Wednesday, February 8. He was not in agreement with the alleged statement.
Lathe operator. Born in Puebla. Knows how to read and write.
He declared:
They made me sign under pressure and threats.
That if I did not admit what they told me, they were going to take me away from where I was and they were going to beat me. They had me blindfolded.
When I entered the house, I saw them beating the others. I remained blindfolded until getting to the jail. I was beaten when I was detained and blindfolded immediately.
They did not tell me why they detained me.
The aggressors never identified themselves when they detained him. They did not present to him an arrest order nor a search warrant. They made him sign a statement that they did not let him read. There wasn't an attorney for him present at the time that he signed the statement. He never knew where he was, of what he was accused, or why.
MARIA GLORIA BENAVIDES
She was detained in 30 Tenayuca Street, in the neighborhood of Letran Valle in Mexico City.
She declared:
They detained me on Wednesday, February 8 at 6pm. I was alone in my home.
First they knocked at the door, saying that it was a friend of my in-laws. When I opened the door, I thought I was being assaulted. I was surrounded.
They did not identify themselves upon entering.
The treatment that I received was relatively bad. They did not beat much but they did pressure, threaten, torture with noise, and hold me incommunicado. They forced me to call the daycare center. They blindfolded me and accosted me.
They threatened to hurt or kill my son.
I lost track of the time because of the continuous questioning and all of the noise.
They forced me to sign statements that they had done.
They did not allow me to read the statements, they thought that I wasn't in any condition to do so. A person read one part. He did not read the first or the last part.
They never presented an arrest or search warrant, nor did they identify themselves as police.
In these actions ordered by the Justice Attorney General, Lozano Gracia, there was violated all the existing laws not only of Mexico but also the international laws recognized by Mexico
The current prisoners were not detained, they were kidnapped.
In all the cases, search or arrest warrants were not presented, if they even existed.
The police agents never identified themselves.
The detainees never were informed of the reasons for their detention.
They wrote statements that included naming other people, and described deeds that they did not know about.
They forced them to sign these statements without permitting them to read their contents.
There were no defense attorneys or confidants of the detainees during the taking and signing of their alleged statements.
All of the detainees were kept incommunicado, blindfolded, beaten, and tortured.
Those who ordered and carried out these actions committed at least the crimes of : KIDNAPPING, AGGRESSION BY USE OF THREATS, TORTURE, CRIMINAL ASSOCIATION AND ABUSE OF AUTHORITY.
THE LAW WAS NOT DEFENDED; IT WAS VIOLATED.
(translated by Cindy Arnold, volunteer, National Commission for Democracy in Mexico)