Giordano: Police Testify that the Beatings and Arbitrary Arrests in Atenco Were Committed on Explict Orders from Above
June 5, 2006
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Al Giordano reports from the Other Mexico on new police testimony that further reveals how the Atenco atrocities were
planned and authorized from the top levels of the chain of command:
"Two reports this morning in the Mexican media demonstrate that the furor from below in response to brutality by
government and media continues to turn on the perpetrators of the Atenco atrocity that shakes the conscience of the
world. Early last month, more than 200 citizens were arrested, most of them beaten and tortured, and most of the 47
women among them were sexually abused or raped. The titanic efforts by officials of the federal government of President
Vicente Fox and that of State of Mexico Governor Enrique Peña Nieto to stonewall, deny responsibility for the crime, and
commit new violations of human rights to cover up those committed on the third and fourth of May, continue to unravel as
the true facts surge from below.
"The front page of Mexico's largest daily newspaper, El Universal, today reports: 'At least fifty' of the state troopers
that participated in the police raid on San Salvador Atenco on May 4 have testified that their brutality on that day was
carried out on orders from their superiors.
"Rogelio Cortez Cruz, state police chief, who directed the raid, gave specific orders to brutalize the population and
enter homes without a search warrant to carry out the arrests. He literally ordered the troopers to 'break the mothers'
of the citizenry, to 'fuck them all' and to do so indiscriminately. The troopers testified that they received the same
orders via police radio. At least fifty state troopers have testified to it in written statements, according to the
newspaper."
Giordano reports that there are more signs that police are turning on their bosses in Mexico; a news crew from the
Televisa network was run out of Atenco by angry townspeople while police looked on and did nothing. Read the full report
here, in The Narco News Bulletin:
From somewhere in a country called América,
Dan Feder
Managing Editor
The Narco News Bulletin