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URGENT ACTION
Mexico: Impunity/Legal concern:Ricardo Miguel CAVALLO
PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 41/004/2001
UA 15/01 Impunity/Legal concern 23 January 2001
MEXICO Ricardo Miguel CAVALLO (also known as Miguel Angel CAVALLO)
An Argentine former naval captain was arrested last August in Mexico, where a
judge has since ruled that he can be extradited to Spain to face charges of
genocide and terrorism committed in Argentina when the country was under
military rule. This decision must now be ratified by Mexico's Secretary of
Foreign Relations, who is expected to take the decision within days. Amnesty
International is concerned that if the former officer is not extradited or else
tried in Mexico, he may never be brought to justice.
Ricardo Miguel CAVALLO (also known as Miguel Angel CAVALLO), was assigned to
the notorious Naval Mechanics School (Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada, ESMA)
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where many of the victims of the military junta
that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983 were taken and last seen. He was
reportedly known as ''Serpico'', ''Marcelo'' and ''Ricardo''.
Cavallo had been working for some years in Mexico, where a company he runs had
won a government contract to set up the country's National Registry of Motor
Vehicles, Registro Nacional de Vehículos. He was arrested by Interpol-Mexico on
24 August 2000, reportedly on suspicion of involvement in the illegal
importation of used cars.
In September the Spanish authorities asked Mexico to extradite Cavallo to Spain
for ''the alleged crimes of genocide, terrorism and torture'' (''por los
presuntos delitos de genocidio, terrorismo y torturas''), on the grounds that
he was implicated in such abuses against victims held at the ESMA. Amnesty laws
passed in 1986 and 1987 in Argentina protected those implicated in human
rights abuses from prosecution in Argentina.
On 12 January 2001, a court in Mexico ruled that there were grounds for
complying with Spain's extradition request regarding the allegations of
genocide and terrorism, but not of torture. However, Amnesty International
believes that allegations of torture must be tried in a court of law,
regardless of the nationality or status of the accused or the victims, or when
or where the crimes were committed.
Mexico and Spain have universal jurisdiction in torture cases where this is
provided for by an international treaty. When a torture suspect is found on
their territory, Article 7 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and
other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment requires the state
party to comply with extradition requests or else prosecute that person
themselves. Mexico and Spain ratified the Convention against Torture in January
1986 and October 1987, respectively.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The ESMA is one of the secret detention centres recorded in the report by the
National Commission on Disappeared People, Comisión Nacional sobre la
Desaparición de Personas, which was created in Argentina in 1983 when civilian
rule was restored. Reports of systematic torture at ESMA have been confirmed by
numerous testimonies, including that of a former naval officer. Those in
captivity were either killed under torture or sedated and thrown from naval
aircraft into the Atlantic.
In July 2000, the candidate for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI) lost the Mexican presidency for the first time since the party was
established in 1929. The winner, opposition candidate Vicente Fox Quesada of
the National Action Party, pledged full respect for human rights in his
inaugural speech before Congress on 1 December.
| AI Index: AMR 41/004/2001 | | 23 January 2001 |
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