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Mexican 'dirty war' architects facing arrest for genocide

Authorities are preparing an array of charges that include genocide and kidnapping against 10 former government officials implicated in the disappearance of hundreds of activists in the 1960s and 1970s, the special prosecutor investigating Mexico's past crimes said Thursday.

Ignacio Carrillo said that beginning next week, his office would ask judges to issue arrest warrants against ex-domestic spy chiefs Luis de la Barreda and Miguel Nazar Haro, the men who led a feared but now-defunct government intelligence agency from 1970 to 1977 and 1978 to 1982, respectively.

Carrillo said eight other ex-government officials would also be charged in the forthcoming warrants, but he refused to say who they would be.

"There will be military officials and civilians charged," Carrillo said.

Former President Luis Echeverria, whose tenure in office spanned from 1970 until 1976, has been called to testify in the cases of missing leftists, but would not be among those officials charged next week, Carrillo said.

The special prosecutor said at least one of the former government officials would be charged with genocide and that others would be accused of kidnapping, but he refused to elaborate and wouldn't say what other charges those named in the arrest warrants will face.

Hundreds of people disappeared between the early 1960s and the late 1970s during government campaigns to crack down on activists, which Carrillo's office has characterized as a state-sponsored effort to crush a leftist free-speech movement.

Two years ago, President Vicente Fox appointed Carrillo to investigate crimes committed during what has become known as Mexico's "dirty war." The office eventually gave Fox a list of 275 leftists who were disappeared at the hands of government forces.

Several former police officers and government and army officials have been called by Carrillo's office to answer questions or hear charges read against them that state forces illegally detained, tortured and killed leftist leaders for nearly two decades.

Those implicated include de la Barreda and Haro, as well as Echeverria, who served as interior secretary before becoming president.

Carrillo's comments came a day after Mexico's Supreme Court cleared the way for the possible arrest of former officials implicated in dirty-war cases by ruling that kidnapping or political disappearances were not subject to the statute of limitations.

The unanimous ruling by a four-justice committee of the 11-member court allows arrest warrants to be issued over the 1975 kidnapping of the son of a renowned Mexican human rights activist.

"After the court's decision, we are going to see a cascade of charges," Carrillo said.
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