Mexico's long forgotten dirty war

by BBC (reposted)

Sat, Jul 19, 2008 4:16PM

Mexico's dirty war - in which political dissenters "disappeared" - was much less publicised than similiar events in other Latin American countries. But the first attempts are now being made to find some of those who were buried in mass graves in the 1960s and 70s.

I have always found it strange and sad that the most awful things happen in the most beautiful of places.

I remember in Kosovo - during the conflict between the Serbs and ethnic Albanians - being taken down a country track.

The trees on either side leant over in exact, interlocking, symmetry and formed a lush green tunnel ahead of us.

It could have been New England or Provence.

Mass grave

But at the end of this track was a mass grave full of decaying corpses.

It was the same with my trip to Western Mexico.

An hour or so north of Acapulco lies the town of Atoyac.

A pretty, but typically poor Mexican town, where you negotiate the potholes with care.

We had come to find its former army base.

After being pointed in the right direction, we arrived at the gate of the base, the same barrier that once must have instilled terror into those who had been brought here against their will.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7513651.stm

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§Mexico looks for "dirty war" graves on army base

by more

Sat, Jul 19, 2008 4:16PM

ATOYAC DE ALVAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Forensics experts began digging for secret graves on an army base in southwestern Mexico this week to find proof of government atrocities during the country's 1970s 'dirty war.'

Using high-tech scanners, picks and shovels, they searched for bodies of community leaders who were abducted by soldiers, taken to the isolated base at the Pacific town of Atoyac de Alvarez in Guerrero state and never heard from again.

Human rights advocates said it was the first time dirty war excavations have taken place at a Mexican military base.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0745846820080709

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